Challenge

The world wasn't causing trouble—it was Jiaming himself who was the troublemaker.

The Huang Family's New Year was an elaborate affair, but for an unimportant child like Jiaming, it was easy enough to slip away from. What he had to attend was the ancestor worship, the New Year's Eve dinner, and the next day's New Year's greetings for red packets. When Huang Haobing and the other children saw him, they looked like they wanted to beat him up but didn't dare—it was hilarious. Like a husband whose wife had dumped him, and now that she'd remarried, every time he saw her he wanted to hit her, but her new husband was too tough, so the thought stayed locked in his heart, written all over his face, but never put into action.

He had no love for this big family. After collecting a few red packets on New Year's Day, Lingjing called him to the martial arts school, and from then on he spent almost every day there. The school was called the Ye Family Martial Arts School, with a training hall in front, a courtyard in the middle, and living quarters in the back. During the New Year, there weren't many students. Besides Lingjing, who monopolized the entire small sparring platform, there were two kids circling around her all day. Father Ye often sat off to the side of the hall, reading a book. Jiaming occasionally grabbed a book from the shelf, only to be scolded by Lingjing for pretending to be cultured.

Sometimes Lingjing would call him up to the platform to be her practice dummy. For Jiaming, watching those clumsy, flaw-ridden punches without striking back was torture, so whenever a guest came to pay New Year's calls, he'd hop down to help serve tea. When the guests asked Old Ye when he'd gotten another son, Father Ye would always answer, "This one's my real son. Lingjing is just the child bride I'm raising here." Then Lingjing would sulk for half the day.

Of course, he couldn't stay at the martial arts school all day. Occasionally Father Ye would take the four kids out to play, flying Bamboo Dragonflies and setting off Firecrackers. Jiaming had to put on a stupid act of being super interested, cheering and jumping around. Only at times like this did he hate that the phoenix hadn't sent him to when he was eighteen or nineteen.

On the fifth day of the New Year, Liu Huaisha, dressed in fiery red, came to formally request apprenticeship as promised.

She arrived around nine in the morning. On the small sparring platform, Jiaming was using two pads as Lingjing's punching bags. Seeing a kid come in, he first waved at Lingjing. Father Ye thought she was Lingjing's friend and smiled as he greeted her: "Little friend, are you here to play with Lingjing?"

"Ah, hello, are you Lingjing's dad?" Liu Huaisha bowed, took off her snow-covered fiery red boots, looked at the two people on the platform, and twirled her fingers in the air cutely. "No, I'm here to... Challenge!"

"Ah? A challenger?" Father Ye's expression was clearly stunned. Then Liu Huaisha pointed at the platform. "I want to compete with him!" She wasn't pointing at Ye Lingjing, but at Gu Jiaming, who was standing there dumbly holding the hand pads.

At these words, everyone was a bit surprised. Lingjing said, "He... he doesn't know how to fight." Jiaming shook his head in agreement.

"No way, he's wearing your school's uniform, so he's a member of your school. Yesterday when he was being bullied, he needed a girl to protect him. I came here to learn, but if after learning I can't even beat a girl, then what's the point of learning?"

"Hmm, well, martial arts is for strengthening the body, not for fighting..." Father Ye said, stroking his beard. He glanced at Jiaming on the platform, then changed his tune: "Ahem, but since it concerns our school's honor, Jiaming, you'll have a match with this little girl."

"Ah?" Jiaming opened his mouth. This Ye Han clearly wanted to see him make a fool of himself. He heard him continue: "Well, winning or losing doesn't matter. What's important is that you have the guts. We can't let our school be laughed at."

Ye Lingjing frowned, turned back, and said, "Alright, Jiaming, just have a match with Sister Huaisha. Anyway... I'll secretly tell her to go easy on you."

"Uh... then how should I fight?"

"Just... just run for your life."

"Oh." Jiaming smiled helplessly to himself. Run for his life, huh. That was a good strategy. He'd just play along. It wasn't like he'd be afraid of a little girl.

A moment later, Lingjing got off the platform and whispered something to Liu Huaisha. The girl in red nodded. Once on the platform, she said softly, "I hate boys who need girls to help them. Just you wait!"

The two bowed to each other. Ye Han struck a small bell beside him and called out "Begin!" The girl in red let out a shout and threw a punch. The punch was well-formed, and with that yell, it really had some momentum. However, it hit nothing but air, because the moment Father Ye said "begin," Jiaming had already yelled "Help!" and turned to run.

The platform was a bit smaller than a standard boxing ring. Though it was big enough for kids, catching someone within its bounds should have been simple. Watching the boy just run around the platform yelling "Help," Liu Huaisha felt contempt. Her father had said a real man should face any challenge without fear. Let's see how far you can run, she thought, and charged forward.

A moment later, she realized this boy was as slippery as an eel. Running, jumping, rolling, using the platform ropes' bounce to accelerate—no matter how she chased, he always managed to scramble to the other side of the platform, often brushing right past her. After about five minutes of chasing, she still hadn't even touched his clothes.

"Stop running..."

"Help!"

"Just wait till I catch you..."

"Help!"

"Run again and I'll kill you..."

"Help!"

Soon, the chase on the platform turned into a farce in everyone's eyes. Lingjing's shouts gradually changed from "Jiaming, run fast..." to "Jiaming, run fast, Sister Huaisha, go!" Ye Han was holding his belly, laughing so hard. The laughter made Liu Huaisha feel even more embarrassed.

"Stop running!"

"Help!"

"I quit!"

Panting from the chase, little Huaisha finally couldn't help but call a halt. The moment the words left her mouth, Jiaming's body stopped instantly. He leaned against a post, breathing lightly. "Really?"

"You only know how to run."

"So it's a draw? I didn't beat you, and you didn't beat me?"

The girl in red panted heavily, her eyes slanting toward Jiaming. Jiaming smiled and moved closer. Suddenly, the little girl let out a loud "Ah!" and pounced at him, claws bared: "I'll kill you!"

Jiaming leaped back, dodging a kick. He raised both hands to guard his head while lowering his body. Cornered now, it wasn't so easy to dodge flexibly. Little Huaisha's second punch slammed into Jiaming's arm. Delighted, she threw another punch, but this time it hit nothing.

It wasn't that Jiaming had escaped—he'd dropped into a half-crouch. The missed punch threw her off balance, sending her stumbling forward. Just as she did, Jiaming lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. The little girl's body flew into the air.

Thump. The little girl hit the ground hard, and Jiaming landed on top of her, about to throw a punch. If this had been a professional fighting match, such a move would have been seen as an outstanding performance. But in Ye Han's eyes, it was just little Jiaming's dumb luck. Seeing the look in Jiaming's eyes at that moment, little Huaisha couldn't help but cry out, turning her head away and squeezing her eyes shut. But the next moment, she realized Jiaming had only tightly grabbed both her hands.

"Let me go!"

"No!"

"Let go!"

"You'll hit me!"

"Ah—"

On the platform, the little girl pinned underneath thrashed wildly, screaming nonstop, even trying to bite him. But no matter what, Jiaming just held her hands down firmly, refusing to let go no matter how much she yelled.

"Ah—I'll kill you—"