My son has what it takes to enter Capital Martial University?

The living room television was showing the midday news. The female anchor's voice was gentle and measured, but no one was listening.

Li Xiulan sat on the sofa, looking at the screen while her thoughts were elsewhere. She could not suppress the smile tugging at her lips.

Unable to hold back any longer, she asked her husband beside her, "What do you think Xiao Hao's surprise is? He's being so mysterious, insisting on waiting until he gets back to tell us in person."

Lin Rongshan leaned against the sofa, an unlit cigarette between his fingers, his face visibly relaxed. "Haven't you already figured it out? What else could it be? His blood qi must have passed 1.0, and his combat power probably passed too."

"That's what I think, but... but it just doesn't feel real."

Li Xiulan shook her head, her smile complicated. "For twelve years, we've watched him every day, getting up before dawn to practice his punches and staying up until midnight.

"I... so many times, I wanted to tell him to stop training and just find an ordinary job. Now that he's actually made it, it feels like a dream."

"A dream? Where would you find a dream this wonderful?"

Lin Rongshan put away his cigarette, abandoning any thought of smoking. "As long as he gets into an ordinary martial artist university, he won't have to spend his life scraping by at the bottom like us.

"All these years, we gritted our teeth to keep him in martial arts classes. Wasn't this the day we were hoping for?"

"You make it sound so easy now." Li Xiulan laughed. "Who was it who told me in the middle of the night that if Xiao Hao really couldn't make it, he'd pull some strings to find him a job stocking supermarket shelves? You even said being safe and sound mattered more than anything."

Lin Rongshan gave two dry coughs. "I was worried, wasn't I? Think about it. Jiang City has over three hundred people taking the Martial Artist Examination every year, but only fifty or sixty get into martial artist universities. That's less than a twenty percent chance."

"Exactly." Li Xiulan sighed, her voice brimming with pride. "How many final-year high school students are there in all of Jiang City, including the academic students? Only a few dozen become martial artist university students, and our Xiao Hao is one of them. He really is amazing."

"Heh, naturally. A tiger father doesn't sire a dog of a son." Lin Rongshan smiled smugly too.

"Keep bragging. You didn't even make it to your final year of high school, and you have the nerve to call yourself a tiger father," Li Xiulan said, amused by her husband.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

But just as she was about to say more, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"That must be Xiao Hao!" Li Xiulan immediately stood and hurried to the door. "Didn't he say he was going grocery shopping? Why is he back so soon? Could he not know what to buy?"

"Open the door!" Lin Rongshan got up too, his steps light. "Let's welcome our family's future martial artist university student!"

But as the door opened, the smiles froze on both their faces.

Six or seven people stood outside, all neatly dressed and composed, utterly out of place in this old mining district family housing compound.

They recognized only one of them: Lin Qing's superior, Zhang Qishan, director of the West City Martial Arts Branch Bureau.

Of course, they were not particularly familiar with Zhang Qishan either. They had only met him a few times because of Lin Qing.

What was Director Zhang doing at their home?

And why had he brought so many people?

Li Xiulan's heart gave a violent jolt, and cold sweat seeped from her palms.

Her voice sounded unnatural with nerves. "D-Director Zhang? Has... has something gone wrong again with Qingqing and Xiao Hao's case?"

The smile vanished from Lin Rongshan's face too. He stepped forward and supported his wife's arm. "Director Zhang, if there's anything you need our cooperation with, we'll do everything we can."

At those words, City Lord Wei Cang, standing beside Zhang Qishan, frowned almost imperceptibly. His gaze swept over Zhang Qishan and Zhou Zheng beside him.

Both men's hearts tightened as they felt the pressure.

Zhang Qishan hurriedly waved his hands and explained, "No, no! Please don't misunderstand! We've already cleared up Lin Qing and Lin Hao's case. Neither of them is in any trouble!"

"That's right." Zhou Zheng hurried forward too, wearing his gentlest smile. "I'm Zhou Zheng, director of the Jiang City Martial Arts Discipline Inspection Bureau.

"Our work fell short in this matter, causing Comrade Lin Qing and your family to be affected.

"We will investigate whoever was pulling strings behind the scenes all the way to the bottom and give you a satisfactory answer."

"So everything really is all right?" Li Xiulan's heart settled a little. "Actually, we know about the underhanded dealings involved. It's just..."

Lin Rongshan nudged Li Xiulan's arm with his elbow, signaling her not to continue.

After all, they still did not know why Zhou Zheng had come, or what his relationship with Zhao Man was.

It was not appropriate to bring up Zhao Man now.

Besides, they had no evidence at all.

"It's all right. Whatever you know, please tell me," Zhou Zheng immediately said, his manner sincere. "No matter who it is, if they've violated regulations, we absolutely won't let them off."

"It's nothing, nothing." Li Xiulan waved her hands repeatedly. "I was just guessing."

Lin Rongshan changed the subject, turning to Zhang Qishan and asking politely, "Director Zhang, then today you've come to..."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the people beside Zhang Qishan.

They all looked somewhat familiar, as though he had seen them somewhere, but he could not recall where.

"Oh, look at me. I forgot to introduce everyone." Zhang Qishan stepped aside, indicating the people beside him in turn. "This is Comrade Wei Cang, our city lord here in Jiang City. This is Comrade Shen Ce, deputy city lord and director of the Jiang City Martial Arts General Bureau.

"This is Comrade Chen Jingshan, head of the City Defense General Administration. And this is Comrade Huang Keming, head of the Finance and Resource Coordination Administration."

At once, Lin Rongshan's and Li Xiulan's minds went blank. They wondered whether their ears were playing tricks on them.

Now Lin Rongshan knew why these people looked familiar.

These were Jiang City's highest-ranking leaders, people who frequently appeared on the local news.

The city lord!

The deputy city lord!

The head of city defense!

The head of the coordination administration!

These were important figures whom they would ordinarily find it harder than ascending to heaven to meet even once.

Yet now, they were all standing together at his doorstep.

Was... was this a dream?

Seeing their unease, Wei Cang stepped forward with a gentle smile. "There's no need to be nervous. We've come specifically to offer our congratulations today. It seems Lin Hao hasn't had time to tell you the good news yet."

"Congratulations?"

Lin Rongshan froze for a moment before coming to his senses and hastily stepping aside. "Look at us, making you stand at the door all this time. Please come in, please! Our home is small and untidy. Please don't mind."

"Not at all. You're too polite." Wei Cang smiled and entered the living room, his gaze passing over the childhood photographs of Lin Hao hanging on the wall.

Li Xiulan immediately bustled about, fetching cups and pouring water, repeating, "The house is such a mess. How embarrassing.

"Xiao Hao called and said he had a surprise for us, then went grocery shopping. He said we should have a proper celebration tonight. He should be back soon."

"Then our timing is rather unfortunate. We're going to reveal Lin Hao's surprise before he can," Shen Ce said with a smile.

Lin Rongshan and Li Xiulan exchanged a look, each seeing shock and anticipation in the other's eyes.

Just moments ago, they had been guessing that Lin Hao's surprise was that his blood qi had passed 1.0 and he could get into an ordinary martial artist university.

But if that was all, how could it possibly have drawn the city lord's attention, bringing him to their home in person with so many other leaders?

If it was merely a matter of getting into an ordinary martial artist university, never mind the city lord-even a branch bureau director like Zhang Qishan could not possibly have made a special trip over something so minor.

Looking at their expectant faces, Wei Cang spoke solemnly. "Congratulations to you both. This morning, at the Jiang City Martial Artist Assessment Center, Lin Hao passed his one-star martial artist certification through an exceptional admission.

"His blood qi was 2.79, and his combat power was 9.21. He killed the Wind-Rending Swift Leopard used for the assessment in three moves.

"With his current strength, barring any surprises, he should have no trouble getting into Capital Martial University this year."

As he finished, everyone turned to Lin Rongshan and Li Xiulan with smiles.

For a moment, the living room fell quiet, with only the sound of the news still coming from the television.

But to the two of them, those sounds seemed to come from behind a thick wall, reaching their ears as nothing more than an indistinct murmur.