“Xia Tian, what’s going on?” Mei’er sat up groggily from the bed, looking at me in confusion.
I smiled. “It’s nothing. Two mice got in, and I just chased them out.”
“Then Mei’er will go back to sleep…” Mei’er yawned, lying back down to resume sleeping.
Those two thieves had already received a solid beating from me; I even kicked them down the stairs. But I did them a small favor by rearranging the face of the bigger thief a bit to look like a boss. If he went out to rob looking like that, he’d certainly be intimidating.
The frustration I felt from my blocked progress was eased significantly after pounding those two fools.
Not feeling like training, I lay on the sofa and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.
In the following two weeks, I continued to train daily under Long Qingyang, though it was no longer a simple beating. Out of the six special forces trainees, I could now take down five, just one short of graduating from practicing with them. Even if the victories were hard-won, it was progress.
I’d also become quite skilled at pickpocketing, and luckily, Old Man Long Qingyang hadn’t asked me to practice unhooking bras off women on the street, which was a huge relief.
“Old man, I’ve already mastered this technique. Doesn’t that mean I can stop training now?” I asked, sitting on a bench, looking at Long Qingyang as he meditated.
Long Qingyang opened his eyes, glanced at me, and said, “You’re still far from done!”
“Hey, I can pick up and put back the same item three times in a row now! Isn’t that good enough?” I was a bit speechless. I’d been pleased with my progress, but in Long Qingyang’s eyes, I was still far behind.
“That was just the hand technique. It’s passable. Next, you’ll be training in movement techniques!” A gleam of light appeared in Long Qingyang’s eyes as he looked at me with a smile.
I had a feeling this training would be as bizarre as the last.
“So, how do we train it?” This old man had clearly said I’d been training movement techniques, but now he’s saying what I’d learned was just hand technique. Wasn’t this obviously a trick?
Long Qingyang took a puff from his pipe and then said, “Do you see that bag of peanuts on the table?”
“I see it. What’s up?” I reached for a peanut to pop in my mouth, but as soon as I lifted my hand, I found the peanut back in the bag, courtesy of Long Qingyang’s quick hands.
He pointed with his pipe at the center of the empty space. “Stand in the middle.”
I didn’t know what he was up to, but I obediently moved to the center. By now, I’d developed a kind of blind trust in Long Qingyang. Whatever he asked me to do, I’d just do it.
“Now we’re going to…” I started to ask, but before I could finish, Long Qingyang tossed a peanut at me. I dodged it easily with a quick sidestep.
Long Qingyang stroked his beard. “This is how you’ll train your movement techniques.”
“Just this?” I asked, slightly unimpressed. Dodging peanuts seemed way too easy.
“Try now!” Long Qingyang scoffed, tossing a handful of peanuts at high speed. I dodged as best I could, but a few still hit me.
“Hey, that was a sneak attack, it doesn’t count!” I protested helplessly. This old man was really shameless.
“Enemies won’t give you a warning before they pull the trigger!” Long Qingyang said seriously.
Hearing this, I froze. He was right. If someone wanted to kill me, they wouldn’t give me any hints.
Still, I muttered, “But bullets don’t usually come all at once like this…”
Before I could finish, Long Qingyang silently tossed another handful of peanuts at me. This time, I was prepared and immediately dropped to the ground, dodging all the peanuts.
I chuckled, a bit proud of myself. “Not too hard, huh…” But before I could finish, another handful of peanuts came flying at my face, hitting me dead-on, with one even getting half-stuck up my nose.
As I tried to pull out the lodged peanut, Long Qingyang threw another handful at me, which I barely managed to dodge.
A barrage of peanuts followed, not one of which I managed to evade. Eventually, Long Qingyang stopped throwing, but I didn’t dare let my guard down, keeping my head low and covering it with my hands, not even daring to peek.
Those peanuts that hit me might seem harmless, but Long Qingyang’s throws packed a punch, and they caused me more pain than the attacks of special forces soldiers.
After ten minutes with no more peanuts coming my way, I cautiously lowered my arms and saw Long Qingyang relaxing, smoking his pipe, with an empty peanut bag beside him.
Good grief! He could have told me when he ran out of peanuts instead of letting me stay tense for so long.
“Pick up the peanuts on the floor and get ready for another round.” Long Qingyang tapped the ashes from his pipe.
“Another round?!” I muttered, grumbling, but still obediently started gathering the peanuts from the floor and putting them back in the bag.
By the time I was done, it was lunchtime. I was worn out from the intense exercise, but surprisingly, the secretary hadn’t brought lunch as usual.
I looked at Long Qingyang, confused. “Old man, where’s the lunch delivery today?”
“Today’s lunch is peanuts!” Long Qingyang tossed a peanut into my mouth with an amused expression.
I nearly choked, coughing twice before spitting it out and catching my breath. “You’re kidding, right? Lunch is just these peanuts?”
“Yes, just peanuts!” Long Qingyang laughed.
Just as I despaired, the secretary walked in with a bunch of lunch boxes.
So this old man was just messing with me! I hurriedly stood up, ready to grab a lunch box from the secretary.
Before I could touch it, Long Qingyang flicked a peanut at my hand, stopping me. He turned to the secretary and said, “He doesn’t get a lunch box today. Leave two for me.”
The secretary nodded, setting down two boxes next to Long Qingyang, then distributed the rest among the six retired special forces soldiers.
“Old man, this isn’t fair!” I shouted at Long Qingyang.
Long Qingyang chuckled. “What’s unfair about it?”
“Why do they all get lunch, and I don’t?” I asked indignantly.
“Who says you don’t? You’ve got this!” Long Qingyang gestured to the peanut bag.
Fine! Eating something is better than nothing.
I took a peanut and started chewing on it dryly.
As Long Qingyang ate his boxed lunch, he turned to me and said, “You’re only allowed nine peanuts. The rest are for training this afternoon.”
What! Only nine peanuts for lunch? And these tiny things, too!
“You’re eating two lunch boxes, and I only get nine peanuts? No way, I’m taking one of your lunch boxes!” I reached for one on the table.
Long Qingyang swatted my hand with his pipe. “Don’t you know to respect your elders?”
Seriously! How did respecting elders get dragged into this?
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