After Meng Chuan saw the Tree of the Future, he began to doubt whether he had enough money in his pocket.
Before coming, he'd heard people online say that a single pink pineapple here cost over a thousand.
Meng Chuan really wasn't good at shopping. After doing a quick search online to get a rough idea, he went straight to Shizu Bird and bought his master a black windbreaker. He felt it suited Teacher Luo's cool, aloof temperament.
Then he picked out a blue one in the same style for his uncle. His uncle's jackets were all blue, so he couldn't go wrong with that color.
For his aunt, he bought a handbag from LX, a major international brand. It pained him to spend over forty thousand on it.
His aunt cooked for him every day and even made medicinal dishes for him. She worked harder than anyone.
A couple of days ago, he'd accidentally overheard his aunt talking on the phone with a close friend. He'd heard her friend gush about buying an LX bag that cost over twenty thousand.
So Meng Chuan decided to buy her an even more expensive one, so she could hold her head high in front of her friend.
Then there was his chubby buddy Wang Yue. Meng Chuan simply ordered a black Maisu treadmill with variable-speed controls to be delivered to his home.
Wang Yue had to lose weight if he wanted to pursue Qin Mengya. Buying him a treadmill was helping him out. Nothing wrong with that.
He'd bought nearly everything he needed. As he reached the exit, Meng Chuan suddenly remembered that the principal had treated him well, too. Not only had he driven him to the Martial Arts Association for his Guoyi Fist test, he'd also pulled some strings for him.
But there was no way he could buy the principal anything too expensive. Deep down, Meng Chuan was still quite thrifty.
Besides, even if he bought the man something pricey, the principal probably wouldn't accept it. He didn't want to get the principal in trouble just by giving him a gift.
After turning it over in his mind, Meng Chuan spent a few hundred yuan on a pair of exquisite handmade teacups for the principal. The two little cups were beautifully decorated with carved dragons and phoenixes.
Meng Chuan opened the pretty gift box and admired them to himself:
One for the principal, and I can use the other one when I visit.
"Ladies and gentlemen, ta-da! This is Yong'an City's new landmark, the Tree of the Future!"
Wanxiang World was the newest mall to open in Yong'an, and it had invited lots of influencers and livestreamers to promote it from inside the mall.
Liu Yue was the most popular among them, with over a hundred thousand people currently watching her livestream.
"Forget the tree. Show us your legs."
"Your pen fell, streamer. Could you pick it up?"
Liu Yue's livestream style involved holding a selfie stick and singing as she walked.
At that moment, she was chatting with her viewers:
"Friends in the stream, how about this? Once we hit ten million likes, we'll randomly pick a store and choose an outfit for me to change into and show you!"
The guys in the livestream weren't having it:
"Don't pick randomly. I'll start a poll. Type 1 if you want her to go to a lingerie store."
"1, 1, 1..."
Liu Yue felt helpless as she watched the comments, but there was nothing she could do. The viewers were kings.
She pretended she hadn't seen them, then changed the subject and kept chatting to maintain her popularity.
"Ah! I'm being robbed!"
Liu Yue's scream shattered the quiet. A tall, burly man took advantage of her reading the comments and snatched her bag.
The livestream exploded, and the number of viewers instantly doubled.
"Is this real? This is way too good for the stream."
"What's wrong, Yueyue? What happened?"
"I called the police for you, Yueyue. They'll be here soon."
Some sharp-eyed viewers spotted something amiss:
"Damn, that robber's a Martial Practitioner! He's fast!"
Meng Chuan was carrying bags of purchases as he headed out. Since he'd bought all his gifts, there was no reason to hang around. He wanted to hurry home and train.
Suddenly, he heard a rush of wind behind him. Meng Chuan turned and saw a burly man sprinting toward him, a clearly woman's crossbody bag clutched in his hand.
"Get out of my way!"
The burly man charged toward him, shouting rudely.
"Huh? The stuff that kid's carrying..."
The burly man had a sharp eye. The things in Meng Chuan's hands were all famous brands, and they instantly caught his attention.
Meng Chuan was in a hurry to get home and practice his fists. He hadn't wanted to bother with the man, but the other suddenly stopped in front of him and held out his hand.
"Hand over the stuff and get lost!"
Meng Chuan looked at him, then slowly set his bags on the ground.
Seeing this, the burly man stepped forward to take them.
"Did I say you could have them?"
Meng Chuan slowly moved in front of his things, blocking the burly man. He rolled his neck slightly, and it cracked.
"You little punk, you think you can defy me?"
The crowd gradually gathered around them. Worried that more people would show up, the burly man decided to knock Meng Chuan down, grab the goods, and make a run for it.
He charged forward and threw a heavy punch straight at Meng Chuan's face.
That punch exposed the burly man's true strength. In Meng Chuan's eyes, his movements were full of openings.
Meng Chuan twisted his waist to dodge the punch, then shot out his left hand and clamped down on the man's extended elbow. He sank his waist, channeled his strength, and used the momentum to flip the burly man over his shoulder.
After hitting the ground, the man was dazed, but he wasn't stupid.
That over-the-shoulder throw told him exactly where he stood. He knew he couldn't afford to mess with this kid, so he scrambled up and charged into the crowd to escape.
"Did I say you could leave?"
Meng Chuan burst forward in an instant. With his fist eye turned upward, he unleashed a six-beat Pao Fist strike into the man's lower back.
The burly man felt a sharp pain in his lower back. Then his vision went black, and he collapsed unconscious.
There was a reason people said the Cun Step was the perfect partner for Pao Fist.
That punch made Meng Chuan realize that the Cun Step was more than just footwork. It was more like a catalyst for Pao Fist.
The tremendous explosive force the Cun Step gave his body further amplified the power of Pao Fist.
As the ancients said: The longer you build momentum, the stronger your punch.
While the Cun Step increased his speed, more importantly, it also accelerated the process of building momentum.
Meng Chuan called his uncle and briefly explained what had happened. Before long, nearby patrol officers arrived.
Meng Chuan didn't know exactly how many blood-and-qi gates the patrol officer leading them had opened, but he could vaguely sense that the man was a little stronger than him.
On the way there, Meng Yongzhi had already explained the situation to the officer. He walked over to the unconscious man and examined him.
"Meng Yongzhi's my colleague. You've trained well, kid. You're impressive."
"Sorry to trouble you, sir."
"Go on home. You don't need to worry about things here."
Considering that the officer was his colleague, and that Meng Chuan was still a kid, the officer in charge waved him off. There was no need for a statement or anything.
Meng Chuan gathered up the things he'd just bought and picked them up, ready to leave.
The streamer came over just then. After checking that her bag was intact, she thanked Meng Chuan:
"Thanks, handsome."
"Everyone, this is the handsome guy who got my bag back!"
The streamer pointed her phone at Meng Chuan and introduced him to her viewers.
With his hands full, Meng Chuan couldn't cover his face. He hurriedly turned away, but the camera still caught him for a moment.
"This little bro's pretty shy. Who would've thought he could take down that big guy? That contrast is adorable. I'm in love!"
"Streamer, get his WeChat for me. I'm in Chengdu, Sichuan. I've already booked my flight."
Meng Chuan paid no attention. After thanking his uncle again, he burst forward with a Cun Step and vanished into the distance.
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