Tianli Fighting Gym

Dating took money. Zhang Shuai didn't have much, and after setting aside the money for his car, he had less than thirty thousand yuan left.

He wanted to take advantage of his free time to find a way to earn some money. Once Lin Xiuwen and the others started school, he planned to audit courses in ancient script studies at the university. He'd hardly have any time to make money then, and with his current expenses, he had no idea how long what he had would last. A man needed to have some money on hand to feel more confident.

Although Lin Xiuwen's family was wealthy, Zhang Shuai felt he was capable enough now. How could he keep using a woman's money? It would make him lose face in front of Lin Xiuwen.

Since he had some free time, Zhang Shuai thought he'd enter a boxing or fighting competition to earn some money. With his skills, it shouldn't be hard to make a little from competing, right?

He didn't tell Lin Xiuwen about his decision, so she wouldn't worry.

Zhang Shuai didn't know how to get into a boxing match, but that wasn't a problem. Qingshui City had a famous fighting club called Tianli Fighting Gym, whose students competed in all the major boxing and fighting tournaments in the country.

Zhang Shuai wanted to visit Tianli Fighting Gym and see if he could take part in a few matches to earn some money.

Tianli Fighting Gym was located in the western suburbs of Qingshui City and covered a vast area of over eight thousand square meters. It was one of the better-known fighting clubs in the Dragon Kingdom and had placed well in several major competitions.

That morning, Zhang Shuai took a cab straight to Tianli Fighting Gym.

At the security booth by the entrance, the guard assumed Zhang Shuai had come to sign up for fighting lessons and casually handed him a course schedule.

Zhang Shuai took a look. Tianli Fighting Gym offered more than a dozen courses, with fees ranging from two thousand to ten thousand yuan. There were short courses lasting half a month and longer ones that ran for three months. It seemed fighting gyms could make pretty good money. If they had enough students, the registration fees alone would bring in a hefty sum over the course of a year.

But Zhang Shuai hadn't come to sign up for fighting lessons. At his current level, why would he need to train?

"Sorry, I'm not here to sign up for fighting lessons. I want to compete in domestic and international tournaments through Tianli Fighting Gym. Could you introduce me to the person in charge?"

The guard froze, then gave Zhang Shuai a wary once-over. "Have you studied fighting or martial arts before?"

"Sort of," Zhang Shuai replied with a smile.

As he spoke, Zhang Shuai pulled a pack of Furong Wang cigarettes from his pocket and offered it to the guard. "Brother, could you introduce me to the person in charge? I'd like to discuss this with your gym's owner."

The guard hesitated. This was the first time he'd encountered someone showing up so abruptly. Usually, when the gym wanted to find fighters for competitions, the owner contacted skilled people in the field himself. It was rare for someone to come knocking. Besides, he was only a security guard—how could he contact the owner? But seeing that Zhang Shuai had given him a pack of Furong Wang, he decided to make an exception.

"How about this? I can't decide something like that. I'm just a security guard, and I don't have the authority to contact the owner. Go inside and find the receptionist. She can help you get in touch with him."

Following the guard's directions, Zhang Shuai entered Tianli Fighting Gym and went to the first-floor lobby.

The receptionist was a young woman in her mid-twenties. After hearing why Zhang Shuai had come, she looked surprised, but she still dutifully called the owner.

The owner of Tianli Fighting Gym was Huang Tianli. He had won an international fighting championship twice and had taken several national combat sports titles. After retiring, he'd returned to his hometown and founded Tianli Fighting Gym. He'd also hired a world-class champion and Gold Belt holder as the gym's head coach, while several assistant coaches were experienced boxing and fighting experts. After more than a decade of growth, Tianli Fighting Gym had made a name for itself in the industry.

The day before, Huang Tianli had attended a meeting organized by the Culture and Sports Bureau. Now, he was baffled by the bureau leaders' inexplicable orders. He'd just called several colleagues who ran fighting clubs and discovered it wasn't just his gym—almost every martial arts school, boxing gym, and fighting club had received tasks from the Culture and Sports Bureau.

What was the country trying to do? Why was it promoting Big Dipper Long Fist so aggressively and holding the first "Dragon Kingdom Big Dipper Long Fist Martial Arts Grand Tournament"? The government was even offering large prizes to support and reward participants. Nothing like this had ever happened before, and Huang Tianli couldn't make sense of it.

Even more baffling was how much importance the government attached to the matter. It was beyond anything he could have imagined!

One of the tasks assigned to Huang Tianli by the Culture and Sports Bureau was to start teaching Big Dipper Long Fist at his gym in Qingshui City. That wasn't a big deal; adding another course was a minor matter for the gym.

But the bureau had also tasked Tianli Fighting Gym with organizing and hosting the Qingshui City preliminary rounds of the Big Dipper Long Fist Martial Arts Grand Tournament. They'd even hinted that the gym had been chosen because, for now, it wasn't appropriate for the government to lead the organization of this kind of martial arts competition. Government staff would soon be secretly stationed at Tianli Fighting Gym to help Huang Tianli organize the tournament and carry out his assignment.

That was what Huang Tianli found most baffling—and most alarming. He only ran a fighting gym. It wasn't an important high-tech company or a vital industry connected to energy or people's livelihoods. Yet the government was actually sending people to work out of his gym? It was absurd. If the Culture and Sports Bureau leaders hadn't said so themselves at the meeting, Huang Tianli would never have believed something so ridiculous.

Still, the thought of government officials soon being stationed at his gym left Huang Tianli deeply uneasy. Clubs like his had their share of shady dealings. For instance, he'd sent people to compete in underground fights and made quite a bit of money. Once government staff arrived, there'd be no more underground fights.

Just then, Huang Tianli got a call from the receptionist. She told him that a young man in the first-floor lobby wanted to see him.

Huang Tianli's heart skipped a beat. His first thought was that the man might be someone from the Culture and Sports Bureau. But wasn't this too soon? The meeting had only been yesterday, and they were already sending someone today?

Whether or not that was the case, Huang Tianli didn't dare keep him waiting. He hurried downstairs to the lobby. When he saw the young man the receptionist had mentioned, he felt a little puzzled; the fellow didn't look like someone from the government.

Even so, Huang Tianli politely invited Zhang Shuai into the reception room and personally made him a cup of tea.

"Sir, what brings you to Tianli Fighting Gym?"

Zhang Shuai was a little flattered. The gym's owner was a successful man by any measure, wealthy enough to rank among Qingshui City's rich. Yet he treated people with such warmth and modesty. It seemed that the success of every accomplished person was no accident.