When the Night Was Still

"Hey, Senior Brother, what are you spacing out for?"

Lin Yuan snapped back to his senses. "I was just digesting the knowledge Junior Sister imparted. Wu Style Tai Chi truly is extraordinary. I've benefited greatly."

"Of course. So, Senior Brother, shouldn't you thank me properly?"

Lin Yuan frowned slightly and suddenly lowered his head to look at his watch.

"Junior Sister, look at my memory. I nearly forgot something. I have plans with someone tonight, so how about I thank you another day?"

Wu Zihan looked suspicious. "Plans with someone? Who? Don't tell me it's your girlfriend?"

"No, no. Just a buddy I grew up with."

"How about you bring me along? I'm free tonight too. It'd be nice to meet your childhood buddy."

"Cough... cough. That might not be very convenient."

"Fine, then. Let's add each other on Feixin first. We can hang out together when we have time." Wu Zihan said unhappily.

At around nine that night, Lin Yuan leaned against the balcony railing, staring at his phone screen with hesitation in his eyes.

A few minutes later, he dialed a number.

"Beep... beep... beep..."

"The number you have dialed is not answering. Please try again later."

When the call failed to connect, Lin Yuan seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

But not long afterward, the other side called back.

Lin Yuan looked at the screen, hesitated for a moment, then answered.

"Hello, Mom."

"Hello, A Yuan. My phone was charging just now, so I didn't hear it. I was actually thinking of calling you today."

"You weren't busy until now again, were you?"

"No. I finished the odd jobs a little after five this afternoon. Then I went back to feed the pigs, picked some of this year's peanuts, tidied this and that... I don't know how it got past nine."

"Didn't I tell you not to do odd jobs anymore? You barely make any money from them. Didn't I send you thirty thousand yuan a while ago?"

"I was just helping people out. It's no big deal. You're not getting any younger now, and bride prices are so expensive. Mom has to save up more for you. Do you remember Aunt Zhang's daughter next door? The pretty one? She got engaged to a man from the city last month, and the bride price alone was two hundred and eighty thousand yuan."

"Why are you worrying about their family's business? We just need to live our own lives well."

"You can't say that. As long as you aren't married, Mom can't truly rest easy."

Hearing those words, Lin Yuan felt awful.

His mom had worked herself to the bone for half her life, raising him alone, providing for his food, clothes, and schooling. Back in the village, when she helped others with odd jobs, she would work from morning until dark.

His mother had been a city girl who had never done much hard labor growing up. She had married into the countryside because his maternal grandfather had owed someone money at the time.

As for his father, he had started a business back then and opened a brewery in their area. It had flourished for a time, which was how that marriage came about.

But good times did not last. The factory later went bankrupt due to poor management, and his father died after falling seriously ill.

He remembered that he had been in first grade at the time.

After his father passed away, his mother raised him by herself.

His mother had married his father when she was eighteen. Back then, she had been about the same age Lin Yuan was now.

From then on, she took on the burden of the household, seeming to mature overnight.

She learned to feed pigs and ducks, farm the fields, and shyly ask others how to take on odd jobs.

His mother used to say that she had been terrified of bugs, rats, snakes, and things like that when she was in school. But from that time onward, it was as if she had never been afraid again.

He remembered one time, when he was in fifth grade, the school was collecting tuition fees and there was no money at home.

That incident had left a particularly deep impression on him. His mother rode a bicycle and took him to borrow money from his uncles.

They visited two uncles' homes and talked for a long time before they finally managed to scrape together enough tuition.

On their way back, it began to pour. The road was slippery, and his mother lost her grip on the handlebars. The two of them fell into a field.

His mother held him as they sat in the field, rain pelting her face.

But he knew that besides rainwater, there were tears on her face as well.

His mother was crying, yet she forced herself not to make a sound, only holding him tightly.

From that day on, he swore to himself that he would make something of himself and give his mother a good life.

Later, he got into a prestigious university. He had thought his mother would finally be able to enjoy an easy life, but even now, she was still worrying and working for him.

He really was useless!

"A Yuan, do you have something on your mind? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Lin Yuan wiped at his damp eyes, cleared his throat, and said, "Mom, I miss you."

"A Yuan, did something happen at work? If something's wrong, you need to tell Mom."

"Mom, I want to come home."

"It's fine. If you want to come back, then come back. Mom hasn't seen you in over half a year. Come home and help Mom dry the peanuts while you're at it."

A mother knew her son best. Li Xiuqing, on the other end of the call, seemed to have guessed something, but since her son had not taken the initiative to say it, she did not ask.

The two chatted for a while longer. Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Yuan was worried about disturbing his mother's rest, so he did not keep talking.

After hanging up, Lin Yuan immediately booked a ticket home for the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow, he would pack up his things and mail home everything that could be sent.

He would also let the landlord know and terminate the lease on this rental.

The day after tomorrow, he would set off for home!

It was almost eleven by then. Lin Yuan put his phone on the bedside table to charge, turned around, went into the bathroom, took a shower, and then lay down on the bed.

Just as he was about to turn off the lights and sleep, his phone suddenly received a message.

Lin Yuan looked at the screen. It was from Wu Zihan.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, are you asleep? Are you asleep?"

How boring. Lin Yuan immediately turned off the screen, lay down, closed his eyes, and began trying to fall asleep.

"Ding... ding ding... ding ding ding ding."

Those who disturb my dreams cannot remain today.

"Ding!"

"Ding ding."

"Ding ding ding ding ×20"

After a while, Lin Yuan picked up his phone with a dark expression, intending to set it to silent mode.

But just then, a message suddenly popped up in the notification bar. "Senior Brother~, save me~"

Lin Yuan froze. Without hesitating, he immediately opened it, only to see the messages above.

"..."

There were dozens of messages, all saying things like, "Save me, save me, save me," along with all sorts of memes.

"You'd better have a good reason." Lin Yuan typed those five words and sent them.

"Hehehe, Senior Brother, you're not asleep yet? I thought you were sleeping."

"???"

"Senior Brother, I haven't even asked what your name is today."

"Lin Yuan."

When Wu Zihan saw his reply, she could not help but feel surprised.

"Aren't you a Yang Family member? [Stunned]"

"When did I ever tell you today that I was a Yang Family member?"

"If you aren't a Yang Family member, how can your Yang Style Tai Chi be so good?"

"Can't someone who isn't a Yang Family member be good at it? Didn't your family ancestors not have the surname Yang either? Didn't you eventually form your own school as well?"

"That seems right. Then you must have taken one of the Yang Family masters as your teacher. Let me guess, which senior was it? Uncle Yang Ruichang, or Grandpa Yang Changshuo?"

"No."

"Then it's Grandpa Yang Feng."

"No."

"Then who was it?"

"Can't I be self-taught?"

"Hmph. If you don't want to say, then don't."

Wu Zihan did not believe him at all. Self-taught? He could lie without even drafting a script.

The true Yang Style Tai Chi was not something that could be learned so easily.

"I'm adding you to a group. Are you interested?"

"What group? A Rich Women Group?"

"Pah! Keep dreaming!"

"Then forget it. I'm not interested in other groups. I'm going to sleep."

Wu Zihan, sitting on her bed and fiddling with her phone, was so angry that her cheeks puffed up.

She had just told the group today that she had met an expert at Yang Style Tai Chi.

But no one in the group believed her. They said she was bragging.

Among the Yang Family's younger generation, weren't the best practitioners Yang Huai'an, his sister Yang Wanrou, and Yang Taohai from a branch line?

Since none of them believed her, she had no choice but to seek out Lin Yuan and planned to have him testify for her.

But all he wanted was to join a Rich Women Group! It was infuriating.

What was so good about rich women? Were they as fragrant as little fairies?

Originally, she did not want to keep talking to him. After all, even a little fairy like her needed to save face.

But when she thought of the people in the group constantly mocking her, her once "unbending" self began to turn fawning again.

"Senior Brother~ Just say yes, okay? Join the group for a bit. I won't hide it from you—I'm actually a rich woman myself. Joining this group is basically joining a Rich Women Group.

"And there really are plenty of rich women inside, like Yang Wanrou and Sun Xuemei. Their families are ridiculously wealthy, the kind with several Siheyuans in Beijing. We aren't asking you to do anything. We just want you to join and exchange martial arts knowledge. Everyone inside is from the younger generation of different schools—there's Wu Style Tai Chi, Sun Style Tai Chi, Baji Quan, Wing Chun..."

Seeing this, Lin Yuan, who had been half-asleep, immediately perked up.

Rich women did not matter. The important thing was martial arts exchange.

The system had previously indicated that Zhang Sanfeng's Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi required five Tai Chi styles to be trained to Great Perfection. He had been worrying about where to learn more Tai Chi.

After returning today, he had searched online.

Although there were some Tai Chi instructional videos from other schools, none of them were as complete as the Yang Style Tai Chi from before.

"Add me in!"