The Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center
As soon as Li Bai got home, he chased Qingyao Demoness away from the laptop. She had been following orders and causing trouble at the "17th Floor," and he needed it to look online for a new place to rent.
He didn't want to live too far from the Seventh People's Hospital where he worked. But rents near the hospital were generally expensive, so finding a suitable place meant carefully comparing several options.
Officer Xiao Wang from the Nanhu District Public Security Bureau, who had taken Li Bai's statement twice, gave him a pleasant surprise. Just after noon, he recommended a rental with great value for money. It was cheaper than the run-down apartment Li Bai was living in now, had more space, and was closer to the Seventh People's Hospital. It was only two bus stops away, or half an hour on foot at most.
Using the address Xiao Wang had sent him by text, Li Bai found the place.
It had a large, conspicuous sign facing the street, but the business beneath it was a martial arts gym.
The Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center was in a mixed-use apartment building. It occupied half of the ground floor facing the street and the two floors above it. The other half of the street-level storefront was shared by an outdoor sports shop and a beauty salon.
Floors four through fifteen were office spaces. Floors sixteen through twenty-two were residential apartments, fully equipped with utilities. The top two floors, twenty-one and twenty-two, formed a huge duplex. A fabulously rich tycoon had bought it, giving him a sweeping view of the surrounding hills and the whole business district, as well as a distant glimpse of West Lake in the city center.
After checking the address and unit number Officer Xiao Wang had given him several times, Li Bai was surprised by what he found. He could hardly believe there was an affordable, decent place to rent in such a location.
The apartment was on the nineteenth floor. Li Bai didn't hurry upstairs; instead, he went straight into the Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center.
"...Focus your mind on your dantian, lower your center of gravity, and hold your horse stance steady..."
The first floor had a reception desk and a martial arts training area. As soon as Li Bai entered, he heard the instructor bellowing. Dozens of young people in training clothes were holding horse stances. The broad, transparent glass wall facing the street served as a display window, too.
"Hello! Are you here to work out?"
The young receptionist was bright and friendly. The moment she saw Li Bai, she greeted him.
"I'm here to see Xiao Jiangnan. I just called him."
The landlord's name Xiao Wang had given Li Bai belonged to none other than the owner of the Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center.
"Please wait a moment!"
The receptionist picked up the phone to confirm, while Li Bai curiously watched the beginners practicing their stances.
Many had been holding their positions for a while, and their calves were beginning to tremble uncontrollably. Any significant wobble drew a stern reprimand from the instructor.
Noticing someone watching them with barely concealed amusement, some of the trainees rolled their eyes, some looked embarrassed, and some simply glared at Li Bai. Most pretended not to see him.
"Sir, is your surname Li?"
The receptionist quickly confirmed the appointment.
"That's right. I'm Li Bai!"
Li Bai nodded.
"Mr. Xiao's in the general manager's office on the third floor. You can take the stairs over there."
The receptionist pointed him toward the stairs.
Apart from the emergency exit, which connected it to the rest of the building, the Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center had its own separate staircase, serving only the first through third floors.
The second floor had a weights area and shower rooms. Part of the third floor was for yoga and other low-impact training, while the rest housed the gym's administrative offices: a storage room, the Finance Office, the clerical office, and the instructors' lounge. The general manager's office was there, too.
Standing before the heavy solid-wood door of the general manager's office, Li Bai wore a strange expression. Faint shouts and dull thuds came from inside.
If the Glazed Heart, whose range had shrunk to just three feet, could return to normal, he would have been able to sense everything inside.
Knock, knock!
Li Bai knocked, but got no answer.
Knock, knock!
He knocked again, harder this time.
At last, someone inside responded.
"Someone's knocking!"
"Wait, we haven't decided who won yet. Take this!"
Click! The dark-red wooden door had barely swung inward when a clear, ringing "Take this!" reached Li Bai's ears.
The young man opening the door suddenly paled. He reflexively sidestepped, and a slender foot in a white sneaker, trailing a gust of wind, shot straight toward Li Bai's face.
"Watch out!"
The young man realized that dodging would make things even worse, but by then it was too late to stop her.
In the blink of an eye, Li Bai took an unprompted half-step backward. The foot's momentum finally ran out, stopping a foot from the tip of his nose.
Its owner was a tall, slender beauty with long hair and delicately arched brows. The young man reacted in time to catch her and hold her back inside the doorway.
The space outside the general manager's office fell silent. The young man and woman were both deathly pale.
"Are you all right?"
Realizing she had nearly hurt someone, the long-haired beauty quickly steadied her breathing and looked at Li Bai apologetically, afraid he would start bleeding from the nose and collapse unconscious at any moment.
Li Bai shook his head. What a completely undeserved mishap.
In a world where looks were justice, a beautiful woman deserved special treatment. If it had been an ugly, fat man, the Great Demon would have slapped him dead on the spot.
"I told you someone was knocking, but you just kept chasing her around, refusing to stop."
The young man looked reproachful. He noticed that Li Bai was smiling and seemed unharmed—not even a hair out of place—and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"May I ask which of you is Xiao Jiangnan?"
Li Bai didn't take the accident to heart. After all, he hadn't been hurt.
"I'm so sorry. I'm Xiao Jiangnan. You must be Doctor Li, right? I'm sorry we startled you. This is my younger sister, Xiao Wei!"
Xiao Jiangnan hurriedly stepped aside to let him in, then shot a glare at his sister, who had nearly caused trouble. "Go make Mr. Li some tea!"
Xiao Wei blushed shyly, stuck out her tongue at Li Bai, and darted past her brother like a nimble little deer to prepare tea.
The siblings had been fighting in the general manager's office. His competitive younger sister had nearly hit an innocent bystander.
"Please, come in and have a seat!"
Xiao Jiangnan warmly invited him inside.
"Thanks for having me."
Li Bai sat in a chair before the general manager's desk and glanced around the unusual office.
Unlike an ordinary business office, the space covered more than a hundred square meters and was practically a small training hall. The bookshelves, desk, and a few potted plants occupied only a small corner. Most of the room was open carpeted floor, with exercise equipment and cold weapons arranged along the walls.
It was obvious that the general manager was a martial artist himself. Founding the Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center was both a passion and a business.
Even in modern times, learning martial arts cost a fortune.
Finding a renowned master, paying for the expensive diet and nourishing herbs, and covering equipment and training space—learning martial arts with a genuine lineage was beyond the means of most comfortably off families. They could just about manage some watered-down tai chi for show, but training seriously without the resources would leave them wrecked in two or three years, plagued by injuries like professional athletes. By old age, they'd be worse off than dead. (My cousin met a real martial artist. His only impression was that the guy was a bottomless pit—he could eat like you wouldn't believe.)
"Wang Xuan and I grew up together. Doctor Li is his friend, which makes you my friend, too."
Xiao Jiangnan had a martial artist's straightforward nature. With one sentence, he brought them closer.
Li Bai smiled. "It's fate that brought us together."
He hadn't expected Officer Xiao Wang to be so close to Mr. Xiao. The fact that he'd turned to his childhood friend for a rental showed that he considered Li Bai one of his own, so Xiao Jiangnan's warm welcome came as no surprise.
Xiao Wei leaned against her brother Xiao Jiangnan's executive chair, resting her arms on the desk. She asked curiously, "Big Brother Li, what kind of doctor are you? What department do you work in?"
She looked like a quiet, refined young lady. It was hard to imagine the fierce heroine she'd been moments earlier.
"Psychiatry!"
Li Bai waited calmly.
Just as he'd expected, Xiao Wei reacted with a startled shout.
"Psychiatry? Isn't that for mental illness?"
In modern medicine, especially in China, people with psychiatric conditions were particularly reluctant to seek treatment. Like drunk people, few were willing to admit they had a mental disorder, even though many people in society were in poor mental health and could break down at any moment.
"That's right. I specialize in mental illness—well, I specialize in dealing with people who won't listen!"
Li Bai made a little joke.
What was the point of denying the truth? Didn't psychiatrists specialize in dealing with people who wouldn't listen?
Did anyone dare tell a psychiatrist they refused to cooperate?
They'd be taken in on the spot, tied up and hauled off to the hospital. Once through those doors, they'd be lost to the world, and their family would become strangers. The slogan on the banner might as well be, "Welcome to the Harem!" With Granny Wang guarding the place, evil spirits would be kept at bay. Under that kind of authority, even the Public Security, Procuratorate, and Judiciary couldn't help you.
Doctors in other departments didn't have that kind of power.
Xiao Wei laughed so hard she swayed, and even Xiao Jiangnan chuckled. The psychiatrist was quite the wit. He said, "Perfect timing. Let me show you the apartment first. We can talk about the rent afterward!"
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