Ancient Martial Arts Heir in the Fighting Gym

Procedures were not the reason!

Regulations were not the reason!

There was only one real reason: the abilities Lin Xiaosu had displayed during this operation had been too astonishing, drawing the wariness of certain people within Qianlong.

That was why they had rejected his entry in the most absolute manner, without even giving him a chance to appeal.

Where there were people, there was the martial world.

Even if this place was the holiest of all.

Those who had done shameful things were like moles draped in glossy finery. Were cats what they feared most? No. Even if a cat stood right beside them, if it could not see through their disguise and mistook them for people, it would never be able to catch them.

What they feared most was an Insight Eye. Once such an eye entered the Gate, they had no confidence they could hide from it. And once they were exposed, the cat's claws would await them!

The best solution, naturally, was to shut that Insight Eye outside the Gate and never let it come near them.

If Lin Xiaosu had still been an innocent youth who had never left home, he would only have been depressed by the road ahead being cut off.

But he was not!

He possessed Humanity Orchidheart. Humanity Orchidheart—his thoughts spun in circles.

He had also seen too many cases of Spy Warfare. One case after another unfolded in his mind, telling him how treacherous and unpredictable the storms of the world could be...

Though he had not yet even gained a year at his age, his state of mind was already nothing like before.

He had told Changye before: some things were done, not spoken of.

Changye understood...

So they did not discuss it. Each went their separate way...

Lin Xiaosu came down from Tashan, drew a deep breath, hailed a taxi, and stepped on the gas all the way home.

The moment he got home, he saw his mother working in the vegetable patch. From far away, Lin Xiaosu piled a smile onto his face and called out affectionately, "Mom!"

Down to the fields...

His mother's hand trembled. She slowly raised her head and stared at him blankly.

Lin Xiaosu came up behind her. "Hey, the seaweed I planted last time has grown this big. This is the fruit of my own labor..."

"You... I called you so many times, and every time you were out of the service area! What happened?" His mother's chest rose and fell lightly.

"We went to an underground city. There was no signal inside."

"An underground city? There's a damned place like that?"

"Yeah. There were all kinds of games, plus cinemas and bars. Lots of people played in there for years at a time. I was good—I only played for a week, just to release the tension from all that long-term studying," Lin Xiaosu said.

"You, you, releasing the tension from long-term studying... Now perk yourself right back up for your mother!" His mother said. "This exam, you... you failed again!"

Lin Xiaosu's face changed. "The results are out?"

"Before I left home, I had your cousin check. Your name isn't on the interview list!"

"Defeated in the second war... Is this leaving a man any way to live?" Lin Xiaosu slapped his forehead.

The tragic expression made his mother's heart ache. She grabbed his hand. "Son, don't be like this. You can do it, you definitely can! Isn't there still the national civil service exam half a year from now? We'll try again. If the second war doesn't work, then the third, the fourth!"

She stopped picking vegetables and went home to make her son something good to eat.

Watching his mother bustle about in the kitchen, Lin Xiaosu felt a little smug. The first hurdle was over!

If his mother knew that her son had voluntarily given up the civil service exam, she would definitely grab a shoulder pole and enforce family discipline, beating him first and asking questions later. But when she only saw that he had failed to make the final interview list, her response was entirely different. Her son had failed the exam and was hurting inside—how could a mother beat him? She would cook him good food to comfort him!

But his mother was far too passionate about civil service. The next step was still a problem. He needed to find a way to cut off that notion of hers. Lin Xiaosu lightly tapped the table with his fingers and began to rack his brains...

The food was served, and Lin Xiaosu wolfed it down like a whirlwind sweeping fallen leaves. His mother sat nearby drinking tea, circling around a few times before finally asking cautiously, "Ask that girlfriend of yours whether she made it or not."

"Is that necessary?"

"What do you mean, is that necessary? It's absolutely necessary!" His mother said. "If she made it, you need to guard against her chopping off her sweetheart after getting ashore."

Good heavens...

"Mom, where did you learn all these trendy phrases?"

"From short videos. Everyone says civil service is a ditch. If the man gets over and the woman doesn't, the future is promising. If the man doesn't get over and the woman does, nine times out of ten she'll wield her sword and chop off her sweetheart... That's human nature!"

"Mom, look at it this way. If she's that sort of person, then it's better if she cuts me off. If she isn't, she won't swing the sword. Adversity reveals one's nature; time reveals one's heart..."

"The reasoning is sound, but call her first!"

Lin Xiaosu could only pick up his phone, walk outside, pretend to make a call, then return looking radiant with spring breeze on his face. "She didn't make it either..."

His mother was baffled. "She didn't make it, yet you're glowing all over?"

Lin Xiaosu said, "She gave me a new idea, and I think it's pretty good. She said we might as well give up the exams and start a business together to make big money."

"What?"

His mother's brows shot up and her eyes flared...

This had touched her reverse scale!

Lin Xiaosu added, "That was Xiaoye's idea."

His mother's eyebrows trembled, then slowly relaxed...

Watching her expression, Lin Xiaosu began tentatively touching her reverse scale...

His girlfriend Xiaoye was now wholeheartedly bent on doing business and making money. They had discussed it many times in the underground city. He did not know which screw had come loose in her head, but she was convinced that business could make money. She had even said that if he agreed to go into business with her, they would stay together; if he did not agree, they would split up. Now, Mom, I'll listen to you. If you want me to find a wife, I'll find one. If you want me to dump this good-for-nothing girl, I'll cut ties with her immediately and prepare for a third attempt.

His mother circled the living room three times, drank two bowls of tea, set down her tea bowl, and walked out. She forced down every word she had wanted to say.

As the sun set, his mother came back.

She set down her hoe and went to wash clothes with a heavy heart. She washed while Lin Xiaosu helped her hang them up. Once the last garment had been laid flat, his mother raised her head and declared, as though making an enormous decision, "Forget it. You two can make your own decisions about your affairs."

"Mom, you're not forcing me to take the civil service exam anymore?" Lin Xiaosu was a little surprised. He had thought such a major change would take days of slow grinding, but his mother had come around in just one afternoon.

His mother gently shook her head. "Why did I force you to take the civil service exam? Because I wanted it to be easier for you to find a wife in the future. If you can truly make things work with Xiaoye, then as long as she doesn't mind, what is there for me to say?"

"Don't worry, she won't mind. She has some money, too. When I came back, she even wanted to give me three hundred thousand."

"Stop sweet-talking your mother. Is there really a girl like that? If there is, then even if I have to smash the pots and sell the iron, sell these two floors of shabby houses, I'll still marry her into this family for you..."

In that setting sun, Lin Xiaosu finally understood completely.

In his mother's mind, the key considerations had an order of priority. Finding a wife ranked first, while getting into civil service came second. Therefore, he could not ruin his chances with a wife because of civil service exams. If the primary and secondary were reversed, that would be gaining a sesame seed and losing a watermelon.

Back in his study, Lin Xiaosu felt as though he had taken off heavy winter clothes. With a sweep of his hand, he tossed the study materials on the desk into a large cardboard box and shoved it beneath the bed.

He tidied the books on the shelf as well.

After finishing all that, he took out an item.

A leaf.

It was a leaf from that Green Orchid on Prison Mountain. On it remained a smiling face Xin Yue had scratched with her fingernail.

That girl had always stood on the opposing side—overbearing like a bull, unfathomable like the mist of Prison Mountain.

But in the end, she had given him a leaf and drawn a smiley face to comfort him.

Was this the harvest of this adventure?

He tucked the leaf into a book...

Someone knocked outside the courtyard. "Is Xiao Su back?"

It was the voice of Second Aunt from next door.

Hu Ya's mother.

His mother opened the door, and Lin Xiaosu came downstairs as well, meeting Second Aunt in the living room.

They had not seen each other for half a month. Second Aunt looked a little haggard, and the moment she saw Lin Xiaosu, she asked, "Xiao Su, did you see Diandian?"

Yes, her daughter had been taken away by the Provincial Public Security Department, and there had been no news for half a month. Her phone could not be reached, and she had nearly worried herself to death. Earlier that day, she had even gone to Qingyuan Temple on Tashan to draw a fortune stick for her daughter. She had only just returned and learned that Lin Xiaosu was back, so she had come knocking that very night.

"I saw her, Second Aunt, so don't worry! Diandian is doing very well."

With those words, a rosy glow spread across Second Aunt's face at a visible speed. "Then why hasn't she come home? Her phone can't be reached either."

"She hasn't come back? Oh, right, she mentioned it. The national team noticed her and wanted her to bring glory to the country. She's probably in closed training!"

His mother smiled happily. "Sister-in-law, I told you Diandian has real skills. She was bound to achieve great things someday. Now she's become a national-team fighting athlete—that brings honor to the ancestors."

Second Aunt's face glowed. "I'm just afraid that girl will be like last time, breaking rules at the drop of a hat..."

"She won't, she won't!" Lin Xiaosu reassured her. "Closed training teaches all those fundamentals. Once she comes out, she'll definitely be reborn and become a completely different person."

"That's wonderful! Xiao Su, I've always said it—apart from me and your Second Uncle, no one in this world treats her as well as you do..."

After a round of warm chatter and cheerful conversation, the knot in Second Aunt's heart was completely untied. The facts proved that as long as the topic did not involve Second Uncle staying out all night or Feng Widow bathing, Second Aunt was perfectly normal and quite pleasant to talk with.

Lin Xiaosu smiled throughout, relaxed throughout...

The national team—he could not really be said to be lying to Second Aunt.

Wasn't Qianlong a national team?

Fighting?

It really was fighting, and the truly free kind at that.

He did not know how Hu Ya was doing at the moment, but no news was the best news. After her genetic mutation, her combat strength had risen again. She would have a place in Qianlong.

Qianlong members fought for the country, which indeed counted as bringing glory to it...

"Sister-in-law, if Diandian becomes part of the state in the future, will she still keep that fighting gym open?" His mother turned the conversation in another direction.

Second Aunt smiled. "That fighting gym was just something she used to fool around with. She only put in ten or twenty thousand, half a year's salary, and she had long earned back her investment. There's no future in running that. What she's doing now is the proper path! Since she's gone, her friend from the Miao Family has been holding down the fort there temporarily. Tomorrow I'll go tell her she doesn't need to anymore. Diandian may not come back in the future."

"The Miao Family?" Lin Xiaosu's heart stirred. "The Miao Family from Flowerstone Bridge?"