"Yeah!"
Chapter 12: Kicking the Door Open!
Hu Ruoyun turned her head and caught Li Changjiang finally losing control of his expression, his face a picture of utter despair.
His eyes stared at her, brimming with speechless disbelief, as though asking, "This is the good student you called honest, sincere, clever, lovable, astonishingly persistent, and unyielding?"
Hu Ruoyun covered her face.
She heard Li Changjiang give a long, meaningful sigh beside her. "What a talent..."
Hu Ruoyun snorted, her gaze hostile. "Enough of your snide remarks!"
Watching Zuo Xiaoduo's retreating figure disappear, Li Changjiang suddenly remembered something. His whole body jolted, and he knitted his brows. "Wait... that's not right. I seem to have overlooked something."
Still utterly speechless, Hu Ruoyun asked, "What's not right?"
Li Changjiang frowned, quickly running through everything in his mind. At last, a gleam of understanding flashed through his eyes, followed by a shock he could not conceal, written plainly across his face.
He murmured, "It was... at the beginning... when the money was offered the first time, that thing Zuo Xiaoduo said? Didn't he say... 'I'm here for a trial anyway'... didn't he say that?"
Hu Ruoyun also came to a startled realization. "Yes! Yes! He did say that! How ridiculous that I didn't notice anything wrong at the time..."
They stared at each other, each seeing the shock in the other's eyes.
Li Changjiang said gravely, "It's perfectly normal for him to remember what he experienced after he came out. But this illusion is an instinctive illusion. It's impossible to enter it with a clear mind and all your memories intact. In an instinctive illusion, all that remains is a person's purest instinctive reactions. That's why it's called three touches, five evaluations, because these are the reactions of a person's inherent nature."
"But Zuo Xiaoduo clearly remembered."
Hu Ruoyun grew solemn as well. "Then that means..."
Li Changjiang reached for the phone on the desk, surprise and delight on his face. "This must be reported. If Zuo Xiaoduo truly has the ability to resist an instinctive illusion, then his mental strength has reached a level beyond that of ordinary martial artists. That would make him an outstanding talent."
"Don't!"
Hu Ruoyun pressed down on Li Changjiang's hand and urgently asked, "Who else can see Zuo Xiaoduo's trial besides you, the principal?"
Li Changjiang paused. "At this school, I'm the only one with that authorization."
Hu Ruoyun's eyes shone. "So no one else can see it besides you?"
"That's right." Li Changjiang was puzzled. "What are you trying to say?"
"This absolutely must not be reported!"
Hu Ruoyun seized Li Changjiang's phone. "Reporting it will only increase Xiaoduo's chances of being exposed... if he really is an outstanding talent in mental strength, every additional person who knows will only add another measure of risk!"
Li Changjiang hesitated. "If Xiaoduo has this record of his genius, then even if he crosses the thorny path in the future and the higher-ups learn of his left dao demon heart evaluation, they'll give it more consideration. There are still benefits."
"No! Wait until he naturally grows to that point, then report this. The result will be the same."
Hu Ruoyun would not yield. "But once that record of his genius gets out, it will bring countless dangers down upon Xiaoduo. The chance of him dying before he matures is too great! I can't let my student bear that risk!"
Li Changjiang frowned. "You don't trust...?"
Hu Ruoyun refused to budge. "Can you trust them?"
Li Changjiang surrendered under his wife's gaze. "All right."
Hu Ruoyun pressed him fiercely. "What's all right?"
Li Changjiang said dejectedly, "Not reporting it is all right."
Hu Ruoyun snorted and swept gracefully out.
"At least you know what's good for you!"
Li Changjiang watched Hu Ruoyun leave. For a long while, his expression shifted uncertainly. Remembering what Zuo Xiaoduo had done before leaving, he could not help snorting. Seeing that he was now the only person left in the spacious office, his expression immediately relaxed.
He walked to the window and saw that Hu Ruoyun had already jogged far away. Only then did he truly feel that pressure disappear completely, leaving his whole body at ease. He took a breath, then suddenly sprang into the air with a little puff and wiggled his backside.
"Yeah!"
After lunch.
Martial Warrior Class Nine.
Hu Ruoyun had brought Zuo Xiaoduo to report to class.
The doorway was right over there.
The teacher inside did not come out to welcome them. There was no handover of any kind.
A martial artist had to walk the martial artist's road himself and push open the martial artist's door himself.
Seven or eight meters from the doorway, Hu Ruoyun stopped, turned to look at Zuo Xiaoduo beside her, and smiled fondly. "Xiaoduo, go on. Walk the road ahead of you. Push open the door to the martial path that belongs to you!"
The rims of her eyes were already reddening.
Looking at Zuo Xiaoduo's still-youthful little face, Hu Ruoyun felt the reluctance of parting with a fledgling she had raised, now about to fly away and leave her far behind.
But she could not stop him.
She knew how deeply Zuo Xiaoduo had longed for this day.
Zuo Xiaoduo was silent for a moment, then said, "Yes."
He turned and walked toward the doorway, step by step.
Hu Ruoyun remained where she was, watching his retreating figure move farther away with every step. At last, she said in a trembling voice, "Xiaoduo, no matter how much hardship you endure, how much you suffer, you must, you absolutely must, leap over the Dragon Gate before you turn twenty!"
Zuo Xiaoduo's footsteps did not falter, as though he had not heard.
Only after ten steps did he stand before the door.
He paused, then suddenly turned and raced back to Hu Ruoyun as if flying, throwing his arms around her as though embracing a mother seeing him off. His head rested on her shoulder, and for a long, long time, he said nothing.
Hu Ruoyun smiled with relief and patted Zuo Xiaoduo's shoulder. "Go on, you child. We're still at the same school. It's not as though we'll never see each other again."
Though she said that, her own voice was already growing choked.
Before her eyes, time seemed to flow backward, scene after scene of Zuo Xiaoduo's efforts over the past six years flashing past.
After a long while, Zuo Xiaoduo finally raised his head and said with utter earnestness, "Teacher Hu, thank you!"