Teacher (Please Recommend)

Teacher (Please Recommend)

Looking at Zheng Fa, the expression on the curly-haired old man's face was hard to describe:

It was a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and embarrassment.

Clearly, he had recognized Zheng Fa as well.

He glanced at the branch above Zheng Fa's head, raised a hand over his own head to indicate a height, and cautiously asked Zheng Fa:

"Yo... young hero? Is this kung fu?"

"No! I'm practicing the high jump!"

"Young hero, don't try to fool me... I've practiced the high jump!" The old man spoke with some pride. "When I was young, I even won first prize in track and field at our city sports meet! With those movements of yours, you clearly don't know how to high jump!"

"...I'm just messing around."

"I understand! Young hero, an unpassed secret art, a hidden sect!" The old man wore an understanding expression. "But look at me—I practiced qigong when I was young too!"

"You have quite a wide range of hobbies, sir..."

"Exactly! My master thought the world of me back then. If not for what happened later, I ought to have made at least some name for myself in the martial world by now."

"What happened?"

"Oh, he got arrested. They said he was running a scam."

Zheng Fa: "..."

The old man looked at Zheng Fa, forcing a fawning expression onto his deeply wrinkled face. "Young hero, I don't think my master was lying when he said I had good aptitude. How about you see whether I can... learn your skills? I can become your disciple!"

Zheng Fa felt a little numb.

"Sir, there's no kung fu in this world! We have to believe in science!"

"Nonsense! How can science be such a shallow thing? Seeking truth from facts is science. If something like kung fu appears in this world, then science should study kung fu!" The old man said sternly. "Isn't that exactly what I'm doing—scientific research?"

Zheng Fa had to admit that the old man actually made a little sense.

"How do you plan to study it? Slice me up?"

The old man's expression turned a little strange as he looked Zheng Fa up and down. "I just want to practice it myself and see. But if you have that need, I'm not in that profession, but I can find someone to slice you up."

"Don't! You know, my sect has rules. The teachings cannot be passed on lightly."

"Hah!" The old man even began complaining. "People like you are always like this, cherishing your broom as a treasure. Isn't that why things decline?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Zheng Fa listened to the old man's lecture as he ran away.

The old man probably saw that Zheng Fa truly had no intention of discussing this with him, so he stayed where he was, though his gaze was rather reluctant to part.

By the afternoon, the atmosphere in the class had become somewhat restless.

Qingshui Middle School's senior year students did not get every weekend off.

Every two weeks, Zheng Fa and the others had two days off. They were dismissed Friday night and returned Sunday night for evening self-study.

Friday night was when students were most excited. Many day students chose to have some fun before going home.

"Zheng Fa! Let's go play basketball after school!"

Wang Chen invited Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa was not much of a player, but he was tall, and years of farm work had given him good stamina. Among the boys in class, he was not exactly dead weight.

"No, I have an appointment with someone."

Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu in the row ahead.

"An appointment with someone? Who?" Wang Chen froze for a moment. From childhood to now, he had never seen Zheng Fa have any other particularly close friends.

Following Zheng Fa's gaze, he looked at Tang Lingwu.

"Tang Lingwu!" Zheng Fa had never seen such a rich variety of expressions on Wang Chen's face.

If he had to interpret it, it was probably a blessing delivered through gritted teeth.

"A few days ago, you didn't seem to be making any moves, and now you're going this big?"

"...She asked me."

"Godfather, teach me this!"

The moment he called him godfather, Zheng Fa knew this guy had really believed it...

"Trust me, girls like this!"

Outside the milk tea shop, Wang Chen urged Zheng Fa with complete certainty.

"Let me explain again. I just want to express my thanks."

Zheng Fa tried to explain.

After all, Tang Lingwu was willing to take him to meet her teacher. By both sentiment and reason, Zheng Fa should thank her.

But in this world, he had barely interacted with girls his own age.

When he asked Wang Chen, Wang Chen brought him to the milk tea shop outside the school gate.

This shop really was popular. Especially on Fridays, many girls came here to buy milk tea.

But Zheng Fa had never been here.

A cup of milk tea costing more than ten yuan was still a little extravagant for Zheng Fa.

"Give me the most popular drink in your shop."

Since he did not know which one tasted good, he said this to the clerk.

Whether it was popular or not, he did not know, but this was probably one of the more expensive milk teas in the shop. The price of twenty-eight yuan truly made Zheng Fa feel like he had been fleeced.

Tang Lingwu had arranged to meet Zheng Fa near the family housing buildings.

Zheng Fa arrived first. Tang Lingwu did not show up until nearly half an hour later.

"Sorry, my family needed me for something." The moment she saw Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu apologized.

"It's fine. I haven't been waiting long."

Zheng Fa had indeed noticed a black sedan following Tang Lingwu from around the corner behind her.

He did not know much about cars, but by his simple standards of taste, that rather conspicuous car was probably expensive.

"This way."

Tang Lingwu led the way in front. Zheng Fa took out the milk tea in his hand and held it out to her.

"This is for you."

Tang Lingwu silently shot him a question mark.

"It's for troubling you to bring me here."

Tang Lingwu nodded to show that she understood, but she waved her hand in front of her chest. "I accept the thanks, but I don't want the milk tea."

"Huh?"

"I don't drink milk tea. It's unhealthy."

Zheng Fa regretted it a little. What a waste of twenty-eight yuan!

He should have asked Tang Lingwu first.

But since she did not want it, he had no intention of forcing it on her. He only thought he would drink it himself later.

Qingshui Middle School had eight teaching buildings.

Tang Lingwu led Zheng Fa into one of the more secluded ones. The moment they entered the corridor, Tang Lingwu stopped and held her hand out in front of Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa looked at her five slender fingers.

Then he looked at the milk tea in his hand.

Silently, he placed the plastic bag in her hand.

Tang Lingwu did not keep walking. She stood right there in the corridor and eagerly took a huge gulp.

"Wasn't it unhealthy?"

"Are you stupid? My mom's watching from the car!" Tang Lingwu rolled her eyes at him. "I don't drink it because my mom won't let me!"

Got it.

That hand wave had only been part of your act.

"Wait a moment. We'll go upstairs after I finish it!" It was clear Tang Lingwu had plenty of experience in this kind of struggle.

As she cheerfully guzzled her milk tea, she introduced the teacher to Zheng Fa:

"The teacher who coaches me for competitions is probably a distant granduncle of mine. My mom knows him, so I can't let him see me drinking milk tea."

"He's a teacher at our school too?"

Zheng Fa had assumed that since the man lived at Qingshui Middle School, he would be.

"No. His daughter works at our school. He's already retired." Tang Lingwu somehow finished that huge cup of milk tea in just a few gulps, looking as if she still wanted more. "He used to be a university professor. I think he was also once a member of the Olympiad problem-setting committee."

"He sounds pretty impressive."

"Mm. My mom had a hard time finding someone to put in a good word for us. Though he's called a distant granduncle, we hadn't really been in much contact before." Tang Lingwu paused as she spoke.

Zheng Fa looked at her face and kept one sentence to himself.

It looks like your family is pretty impressive too.

(End of Chapter)