Exercise

After triple the pleasure, Lin Rui was utterly drained. He emerged from the bathroom like a limp shrimp, his feet treading on cotton, soft, unsteady, and weightless.

He usually presented a shrewd, capable image, so his rare embarrassment tonight sent the Jones family into gales of laughter.

Only Linda seemed somewhat displeased. As she drove him back to the little chapel, she murmured in a teasing tone, "Do you like being rewarded that much? Shall I reward you too?"

"No, no, no... I'll die." Lin Rui promptly admitted defeat. "Once is great, twice is still okay, but three times is going too far. If it were four... I'm afraid my soul would leave my body."

Linda had teased Lin Rui more than once, joking about his age, but this time, watching him get "rewarded again, and again, and again" had instead stirred a powerful surge of jealousy in her.

What the hell? This kid isn't my boyfriend. Why am I unhappy? Linda tried to comfort herself, but the more she did, the angrier she became. She cursed inwardly, Those three Jones sisters are hateful!

"Linda, I think I ought to work out." Deep down, Lin Rui was still somewhat unwilling to admit defeat, and he felt a strong sense of impending crisis.

He still remembered that his wager with the three Jones sisters had not been fully settled-Toby getting a B was only the first stage. Getting an A and making the top five in his class still lay ahead, with even richer rewards.

Unable to take it though he might be, after tasting "triple the pleasure," he would be more upset than anyone if the wager were called off.

"Working out couldn't be easier. Whatever else New York lacks, gyms are everywhere, and they're cheap. You're not short of money now, either. You can pay for a personal trainer," Linda said.

Gyms were extremely common in the United States, and working out on your own cost very little each month.

Twenty-dollar-a-month "iron gyms" were everywhere. Some budget gyms charged only fifteen dollars for a monthly membership, less than the price of a meal.

Even the more upscale ones only cost two or three hundred dollars.

As for personal trainers, rates started at fifty dollars per session; whether to go lavish or frugal was up to you.

But Lin Rui did not want to go to a gym, because the smell of a bunch of muscle bros shooting up hormones like mad and playing "nine dragons pulling a coffin" together was simply unbearable.

"I want to find somewhere more ordinary and work out on my own first. Forget a personal trainer. I'm not that rich yet."

Linda understood instantly. Wasn't the brat just a little shy, afraid he would find himself surrounded by muscular hulks with bulging limbs at the gym and be unable to handle it mentally?

"How about coming to a women's gym with me for aerobics?" Linda said with a laugh. "With your looks and image, plenty of women are bound to give you their numbers."

Give me a break. Western girls don't smell any better after sweating. Lin Rui rejected the option in his mind and shook his head in polite refusal.

Back at the little chapel, he had no dreams that night, much less entered the Nightmare Space. He slept straight through until dawn.

The person who solved his workout problem was the old pastor, Essen Borg.

While chatting over breakfast, the old pastor learned that Lin Rui wanted to find a "suitable" place to work out and recommended a gym in the neighborhood that had closed down.

"It's a vacant property that originally belonged to a white couple. They were getting old and moved into a nursing home ten years ago, so they donated the property to the church."

The old pastor led Lin Rui to a dilapidated low-rise building in Forty Block.

New York had urbanized very early. While urban development in Manhattan changed by the day, other neighborhoods were full of aging, run-down buildings for lack of money.

The building was very basic, just a two-story brick structure with a locked sheet-metal door. The exterior wall beside the door was covered in graffiti, and the corners were filthy. People had relieved themselves there, and the stench rose to the heavens.

When the door opened, it revealed a considerable pile of exercise equipment inside, all equally old. Some of it had even been homemade by welding iron pipes together-quite literally lumps of iron.

But things like dumbbells, barbells, benches, and cable crossover machines had not seen much technological advancement anyway. However fancy they became, they would not help much more with fitness.

"The church always wanted to put this place to use. At first, we opened a shelter and allowed homeless people to stay here.

"But too many of the homeless were drug users. After several violent incidents, even the volunteers felt the place was too dangerous, and we had no choice but to close it.

"Later, the church rented the place to a budget gym. It barely managed to stay open for two years before going out of business too.

"The gym owner simply vanished, abandoning even the equipment.

"Leon, if you want to work out, come here. Two floors, over a thousand square meters, empty and quiet. Use it however you like."

The old pastor tossed Lin Rui the building's key. "If you can develop this place and make it generate some returns, like running the food truck, that would be even better."

Lately, Lin Rui had had the feeling that the old pastor was not unaware of the food truck's considerable earnings. He also understood perfectly well that Lin Rui had probably reached a profit-sharing agreement with the Jones family, turning a tax-exempt charity project into their own private little treasury.

The old pastor had come from high society in the first place. He was no stranger to the ways of the world.

He simply cared little for fame and fortune, and preferred the rare wisdom of playing dumb. He saw through things without spelling them out, occasionally dropping a remark or two to indicate that he was not unaware, asking only that Lin Rui and the others not go too far in raking in money.

As for this vacant building, he had probably offered it on a whim too, wanting to see what Lin Rui could make of it-after all, the old pastor was getting on in years and lacked the energy and stamina to fiddle around.

Lin Rui did not have many ideas either. He really just wanted to find somewhere quiet to work out, put the enhancement from "Steel Lungs and Viscera" to use, and improve his strength, constitution, and agility.

"Pastor Borg, why did this place close down before?"

"Because public safety around here is so poor. Gang members often hang around nearby at night. Over time, naturally, no one wanted to come anymore.

"So come during the day if you want to work out. Lock the main door tight after dark, and whatever you do, don't open it. If anyone else wants to exercise here, I have no objection in principle, as long as they don't make a mess of the place."

Lin Rui nodded, having gotten a general understanding of the situation. He planned to train five days a week, coming over for two hours every afternoon, and strive to develop abs within a month.

That day, he spent the afternoon clearing a space of several dozen square meters in the abandoned gym and moving over a few basic pieces of equipment, starting with the simplest exercises, such as squats, deadlifts, and bench presses.

Day one: the cleanup was quite invigorating and brought a real sense of accomplishment. But cleaning was pretty tiring too, so he might as well rest today. He still had to go to Broadway that evening to run the food truck and earn money.

Day two: he warned himself not to slack off and worked out for two hours, sweating buckets. The abandoned gym's showers actually still had running water. He showered and went home, feeling wonderfully comfortable.

Day three: sore all over. Rest. Better go sell burgers at the food truck and earn money.

Day four: still sore. Rest. Making money came first.

Day five: Lin Rui, oh, Lin Rui, how can you be so lax? Have you forgotten the suffering after "triple the pleasure"? Tomorrow, you absolutely have to go work out.

Day six: rain. How about calling it off today? One fewer workout a week won't matter.

Day seven: he had worked out only once all week. Wracked with guilt, he swore he would pull himself together tomorrow.

Day eight: Cynthia called and said Toby's teacher had praised his considerable progress that week. He was very likely to get an A.

On top of that, the food truck's earnings had held steady that week, substantially improving the financial circumstances of everyone involved. The Jones family planned to celebrate together and invited Lin Rui along.

"Leon, Samantha, Andrea, and I have discussed it. Since you've helped everyone make money, we're planning to give you an enhanced version of 'triple the pleasure.' Want it?"

After hanging up, Lin Rui was excited and weak in the knees, his face full of chagrin. "I need to work out. I absolutely need to work out."