Apprenticeship (Please Keep Reading)

"Going to work." Li Xiuwen smiled ingratiatingly, deftly pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket, and lit one for Brother Ji.

"A Wen, you got paid a few days ago, didn't you?" Brother Ji said with a smile as he smoked. "Don't you want to treat your brothers to a good meal?"

"Brother Ji, didn't my uncle-by-marriage just pay 180 this month?"

"What your uncle-by-marriage paid was for your family. What you pay is yours. Those are separate matters."

"This..." As Li Xiuwen hesitated, someone landed a heavy punch on his back. He staggered and fell to the ground.

It turned out the punk behind him had made his move.

"A Wen, hand over the money," the punk said with a grin, looking utterly slovenly.

He was only seventeen, younger than Li Xiuwen.

If it were just this little brat, Li Xiuwen would not have been afraid.

But Brother Ji was a trained fighter. His arms were as thick as Li Xiuwen's thighs.

Li Xiuwen smiled and said, "Brother Ji, you know I'm useless. Please don't think this little money is too little."

He took out fifty from his pocket, bent at the waist, and offered it to Brother Ji with both hands.

Brother Ji snatched the money and patted Li Xiuwen on the shoulder.

Li Xiuwen's face was pale as he lowered his head and coughed.

"A Wen, about what happened last month, Brother Ji owes you an apology." Brother Ji grinned. "How was I supposed to know you were such a weak chicken? One pat and you passed out."

After tossing out those words, Brother Ji left with his men.

Li Xiuwen gasped for breath. Only after Brother Ji had disappeared from sight did he leave in another direction.

How could anyone survive in this shithole without learning boxing? Getting bullied every day, watching people's faces, living in constant fear—there was no point to it.

Some time later, he quietly arrived before a tong lau on the edge of The Enclave.

The sign on the tong lau read: [Night Heron Martial Arts Hall].

He knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Someone here to take a master."

The tong lau's iron door was pulled open by a bare-chested, cross-eyed youth, revealing a remodeled training ground.

It was not large, but it was spacious by The Enclave's standards. There were not many people either—only seven.

Those who could come here to learn martial arts were all considered "young masters and young ladies" of The Enclave.

Among them stood out a blond-haired youth whose face still carried a trace of childishness, yet whose towering build was no less imposing than Brother Ji's. He stood head and shoulders above the rest, with an exceptional air about him.

The youth who opened the door said to the blond-haired youth, "Senior Brother, someone's here to learn boxing from Master."

The blond-haired youth told everyone to continue practicing, then walked over and asked, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-one."

"Too old... Find another place."

"May I ask if you are the hall master?"

"Our Night Heron Martial Arts Hall is a respectable and orthodox school, not one of those jianghu swindlers who cheat and deceive. We do not accept anyone over sixteen, not even if they pay."

"I would like to ask the hall master himself."

"Leave. The hall master is cultivating in seclusion. I'm being polite when I speak; he'd only tell you to get lost."

Seeing there was no way through, Li Xiuwen did not insist. He turned and left.

"You can try the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall next door. They welcome all comers there—as long as you have money, you can get in."

The blond-haired youth shut the door and laughed at his junior brothers. "Who knows where that old scallion came from? At his age, he still wants to learn boxing."

"Exactly. By sixteen, your bones and frame have already taken shape. Twenty-one, rounded off, is... thirty," said the cross-eyed youth who had opened the door, laughing.

Some time later, a tall old man with a lean face, silver hair, and a youthful complexion came down to the first floor, dressed in a Daoist robe.

Behind him followed a blonde foreign beauty with wavy hair, wearing a low-cut qipao. Her figure curved in all the right places, and her fair face seemed to glow.

"Longlegs Seven, was someone here to learn boxing?" he asked the blond-haired youth.

"Master, he was twenty-one. I sent him across the street."

"Knowing there was no hope, I spared him the expense. Unlike Old Huang, who covets every last coin all day long and takes anyone who comes through the door. He's fallen into a money pit."

As he spoke, his gaze rested on another martial arts hall farther down the street, bearing the sign [Four Seas].

"Master, shouldn't you have felt out his bones? What if his natural frame was good? Wouldn't it be a pity to miss him?" one disciple asked.

"At that age, even a good natural frame would already be half wasted. Not everyone can become great late in life." The tall old man turned and left.

He had a modest reputation in The Enclave. Over the years, quite a few people had come to take him as their master.

But he had turned away most of them.

For the people at the bottom scraping out a living in The Enclave, earning a little money was not easy.

He was kindhearted and could not bear it.

Outside the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall.

Damn it, I'm only twenty-one and they called me an old scallion. In my previous life, sixty was still an age for striving and making money. I'll remember that little blond brat.

Li Xiuwen grumbled inwardly and knocked on the door of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall.

This time, the door was opened by a slender woman in her thirties.

She wore a slit qipao and was dressed beautifully, brimming with mature charm—ripe to perfection.

She looked Li Xiuwen over with a smile. "What brings you here, little brother?"

Suspicious, Li Xiuwen turned his head to look around, making sure this was not the red-light district and that he had not come to the wrong place.

"I'm here to learn boxing. And you are, miss?" Li Xiuwen said with a smile, cupping one fist in the other like a jianghu man.

"Come in. I'm Madam Huang. You can call me Boss Lady or Third Aunt." The woman turned around, swaying her waist as she led the way ahead, her long legs exposed.

The Martial Way is a fine thing. I really need to practice it, Li Xiuwen thought.

His gaze inadvertently fell upon the woman's well-proportioned, powerful calves—strong yet not lacking in softness. He knew she was a trained fighter.

Rumor had it that the Martial Way big shots of Fragrant Sea kept wives and concubines in droves, every one of them beautiful as a flower. Some even had blonde foreign beauties from across the ocean. Now he had seen one.

In Fragrant Sea, foreigners were people above people. They looked down on yellow-skinned folk.

On the first floor of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, punching bags, weapon racks, wooden dummies, and all sorts of boxing equipment were scattered throughout the cramped training ground.

More than a dozen bare-chested men and women in undershirts crowded into the small space, either sparring in pairs or training alone.

It was far livelier than the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall.

A middle-aged man with short hair, dressed in a blue robe, stood with his hands behind his back.

He was about one meter seventy, wearing cloth shoes and holding a folding fan as he instructed one of the girls.

"The fundamentals of the Sea Sand Style emphasize power rising from the ground and dropping with the weight of a thousand jun! Before your punch has even gone out, your body is already floating upward. How are you supposed to hit anyone?"

The girl said nothing, her face flushing red with embarrassment.

Noticing someone had entered, the middle-aged man raised his eyes.

Third Aunt said, "Master, someone has come to learn boxing from you."

"Li Xiuwen greets the hall master!" Li Xiuwen said, cupping his fist in his palm.

The middle-aged man told the girl to continue practicing on her own, then beckoned Li Xiuwen over. "Come with me."

In a small study with an elegant, antique air, the middle-aged man said, "I, Huang Sihai, prefer to get straight to the point. Did you bring the money?"

Li Xiuwen took out a stack of banknotes and bent forward to offer them to the middle-aged man. "Three thousand five hundred dollars. Please inspect it."

Without even looking, the middle-aged man said:

"Not enough."

"I saw the enrollment ad in the newspaper. The initiation gift was three thousand, and the monthly fee was five hundred... I only want to study for one month, no more."

"That was before. Not long ago, I defeated a foreign devil at the Third Ring. Too many people have come to take me as their master."

"How much is it now?"

"The initiation gift is three thousand four hundred, and the monthly fee is six hundred." Huang Sihai closed his eyes and spoke lightly.

"Farewell."

Li Xiuwen turned to leave. So it cost the same as the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall after all.

"Wait."

"What instructions does the hall master have?"

"You're from the Prosperous State, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we are fellow townsmen of a sort. Fine, I'll do you a favor while the current carries the boat. Three thousand six hundred. I'll waive four hundred for you. How about it?"