That evening, in the bedroom!
Chen Shouyi's body was like a spring, all his muscles fused into one. His feet seemed to tread on air as his steps shifted unpredictably. He suddenly advanced, then retreated; suddenly moved left, then right. He thrust once with his left hand, then again. Every thrust flowed like clouds and running water, carrying a unique charm and an odd, beautiful grace.
His hand was precise and steady. Each time he drew his sword, it shot out like a bullet from a gun barrel, while the muscles throughout his body rippled like waves.
The sword tip pierced the air, giving off a dense series of hissing sounds.
This was the result of what he had learned at the cram school over the past month. As his various Sting Sword techniques became second nature and he combined them with increasingly practiced footwork, his swordsmanship had already begun to show its might.
This could already be seen from the fact that his swordsmanship had advanced from Beginner to Proficient 3.
At that moment, he suddenly stopped in the midst of his high-speed movements.
He tilted his ear and listened for a while, then quickly put away the Wood Sword and took a few steps to sit down at his desk. He pulled out a reference book and pretended to read attentively.
Before long, the sound of his parents' footsteps on the stairs grew increasingly clear.
Immediately afterward, Chen Shouyi heard the door to his younger sister's bedroom open across the hall.
"Mom, I'm going to the Martial Arts Assessment Center for testing tomorrow!"
Chen Shouyi's ears immediately perked up!
"You child, how could you not tell us about something this important sooner? We'll go with you tomorrow." Chen Dawei's voice was filled with pleasant surprise.
"Dad, there's no need. You two can go about your own business. My classmates will go with me. I'll get nervous if you come."
"A boy? Or a girl?" Mother Chen asked warily.
"Mom! Of course they're girls." Chen Xingyue spoke coquettishly.
"That's still not acceptable. What do you children know? If something happens, you won't even know how to deal with it. How about this—have your brother go with you. At least you'll have someone to look after you." Mother Chen spoke.
Over the past month, Chen Shouyi had changed greatly. He had become more mature and steady, so Mother Chen could reluctantly set her mind at ease.
She immediately knocked on Chen Shouyi's bedroom door. "Shouyi, come out for a moment."
"Mom, what is it?" Chen Shouyi asked, pretending to look puzzled.
"Your sister is going to take the Martial Arts Assessment tomorrow. Go with her." Mother Chen, suspecting nothing, continued, "I'll transfer five hundred yuan to you later. You can eat out then!"
Chen Shouyi glanced at Chen Xingyue. A hint of disdain could faintly be seen on her wooden face. Clearly, she did not want to go with her brother. His heart tightened, but his expression did not change at all as he agreed, "Sure, Mom. I understand."
Early the next morning, after finishing his morning exercises in the bedroom, he went to the bathroom and took a refreshing shower.
Just after he returned and put on his clothes, his younger sister Chen Xingyue burst in.
"I knew this would happen." Chen Xingyue folded her arms, looking as though everything had gone exactly as expected. "You're going out dressed like this?"
Chen Shouyi looked at the baggy shorts and sandals on his feet, then at the T-shirt he was wearing. He did not see anything wrong with them and asked, utterly baffled, "Mom bought all of these a week ago. I've only worn them once. They're all new clothes."
Over the past month, Chen Shouyi's body had grown stronger at an astonishing rate. His old clothes had begun to feel rather tight, so the previous week Mother Chen had bought several sets of clothes at once from the shop next door.
"Brother, don't take this the wrong way, but with your taste in clothes, you'll never find a girlfriend." Chen Xingyue spoke with undisguised disdain.
Chen Shouyi immediately understood. "It's so hot out. Do you expect me to wear a shirt and long pants just for the sake of appearances? Besides, Mom bought these clothes. Be careful, or I'll tell her."
Chen Xingyue immediately grew frantic. "Dressing like this is perfectly normal at home or when you're out shopping, but we're going to the Martial Arts Assessment Center. It's a formal place, and you're going to dress so casually?
"One of my close classmates is coming too. When I introduce you as my brother, you won't care if you embarrass yourself, but I'll be the one losing face."
Chen Shouyi's old face flushed slightly. Though he knew he was in the wrong, he still stubbornly tried to save face in front of his sister. "Fine, fine, fine. You choose for me. I'm not getting involved."
Chen Xingyue let out a sigh of relief. She had finally convinced her stubborn brother.
She immediately opened the bedroom wardrobe. Before long, she picked out a pair of blue-and-white cropped jeans and then took out a pair of canvas shoes washed pale with wear. "Put these on."
They were siblings, so Chen Shouyi had no qualms about changing in front of his sister. He merely turned around, took off his baggy shorts, changed into the jeans, and put on the canvas shoes.
Chen Xingyue stared him up and down for a full dozen seconds before letting out a faint sigh. "Your hair... Forget it, there's no time. We'll have to make do. Fortunately, I wasn't expecting much anyway."
Chen Shouyi felt frustrated. He returned to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Prompted by his sister, he realized that his hair did indeed seem a little long.
After the two of them ate breakfast, they called a taxi. In just over ten minutes, they arrived at the entrance to the Martial Arts Assessment Center.
"Xingyue, over here, over here!"
The moment Chen Shouyi got out, the two girls waiting at the entrance began waving and calling out to her.
"Didn't I say eight o'clock? Why did you come so early?"
"We only got here a short while ago!" said a fair-skinned girl in a pink-and-gray floral dress, smiling with pursed lips. "We were eating breakfast nearby earlier, so we came over on the way."
"Xingyue, you're amazing! If you pass this time, you'll be first in our class. When that happens, just look at Xia Feifei's face. It'll probably be awful." The other girl was wearing a short-sleeved top and hot pants. She bounced about as she spoke, looking full of energy.
Chen Shouyi finished paying and walked over. A trace of embarrassment flashed across Chen Xingyue's face, and she hurriedly lowered her voice. "Stop talking. I came with my brother!"
"This is my brother, Chen Shouyi." Seeing that Chen Shouyi had reached them, Chen Xingyue quickly introduced him. "These are my good friends, Lu Shuyuan and Zhang Qianru."
"Hello, Brother Shouyi!" Lu Shuyuan—the girl in the pink-and-gray floral dress—called out in a clear, sweet voice.
Zhang Qianru covered her mouth and giggled, then immediately imitated her.
The two girls' clear voices, like beads rolling onto a jade plate, seemed to course through Chen Shouyi like electric currents, leaving his whole body tingling and his hairs standing on end.
Seeing that Chen Shouyi seemed distracted, Chen Xingyue secretly cursed him and quickly pinched him.
"Oh, hello, you two junior schoolmates!" Chen Shouyi's waist throbbed with pain, and his old face reddened slightly as he hurriedly greeted them.
In truth, the two girls could only be considered above average in appearance. It was just that he rarely interacted with girls, so when faced with this kind of teasing, he inevitably failed to react in time.
Zhang Qianru and Lu Shuyuan exchanged a glance and giggled.
Chen Xingyue found it embarrassing that her brother had made a fool of himself in front of her friends. She pretended nothing had happened, wiped her smooth forehead, and changed the subject. "It's getting a little hot outside. Let's go in."
The Martial Arts Assessment Center was a five-story building. The four of them quickly walked into the lobby.
Since the Martial Apprentice Assessment was held only once a month, there was already quite a long line inside even though half an hour remained before the actual assessment.
Some had come with their parents, some with friends, and there were naturally others who had come alone.
Chen Shouyi's eyesight was already quite good, and he could roughly distinguish which people were taking the assessment and which were merely accompanying them.
He found that most of those taking the assessment were fairly old. Many were already over thirty, while young people like him made up less than a quarter. As for those as young as his sister, there were only two or three—pitifully few.
"I'll wait in line. You get some rest and don't let it affect your condition," Chen Shouyi said.
The girls were all rather well-behaved in front of Chen Shouyi, but the moment he left, they gathered together and began chattering away.
"Xingyue, your brother treats you so well. I'm so jealous that you have a brother like that."
"It's actually nothing!" Chen Xingyue gave an awkward laugh. "He's just rather naggy. Sometimes I can't stand it."
That immediately drew another wave of envy from her friends.
But inwardly, she muttered, That's because you don't have a brother. If you did, you wouldn't think that way.
Had he not bullied her when they were children simply because he was older? She remembered every bit of it.
"Is your brother in high school too?" Lu Shuyuan asked curiously, her large eyes wide open.
"Yes, he's in his senior year."
"Which high school does he attend?"
"What, have you taken a liking to my brother?" Chen Xingyue teased. She deliberately avoided answering. She found the high school her brother attended far too embarrassing to mention.
Dongning City had eight high schools in total. No. 1 High School was a provincial key school. No. 4 and No. 3 were somewhat worse, but still passable. As for the rest—including No. 5, where Chen Shouyi studied—they could only be considered lousy schools.
Lu Shuyuan's fair face flushed faintly, and she spoke coquettishly. "I just want to get to know him. Xingyue, you're so amazing, so your brother must be amazing too, right?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Zhang Qianru was lively by nature, and she joined in at once. "We're all good sisters, so your brother is our brother too."
Chen Xingyue wanted to help her brother save face, but after thinking it over, decided against it. It would be too easy to expose the truth.
"His grades... aren't very good. He goes to No. 5 High School. But he still works very hard. He studies every day until very late before going to sleep."
Before you continue