Bai Pengyu's Handle

Troubled, Su Ziyang flipped through a book to pass the time. At last, noon arrived.

As soon as he stepped out of the consultation room, Su Ziyang ran right into Daoist Jin from next door. Daoist Jin rolled his eyes, snorted, and stalked off with his lips pursed.

Su Ziyang had no idea where he had offended Daoist Jin and made the old Daoist dislike him so much. All he could do was head helplessly outside.

The moment he stepped out, several dark figures appeared around him and grabbed his arms before he could react.

Su Ziyang got a good look at them. They were the same men whose acupoints he had just unsealed.

The refined-looking man in the lead chuckled. "Doctor Su, Brother Su! You finally came out. Come on, come on, hurry! Take Doctor Su to... to... to the restaurant we booked."

Su Ziyang had only undergone two months of special training in sealing acupoints. He wasn't a professional fighter and had never received professional combat training, so naturally he couldn't break free of four burly men. All he could do was let them carry him into the car.

"Fuck, are you kidnapping me?!" Su Ziyang struggled to no avail and could only resort to swearing.

The refined-looking man laughed as he drove. "Come on, Doctor Su. Kidnapping is against the law. We don't do anything illegal! Didn't we just say we were treating you to a meal? We booked a table!"

"Fine, fine, fine! I'll eat! Get these two to let go of me. They've pulled my arms numb!" Su Ziyang said helplessly.

"Quick, quick, you two, let Doctor Su go. It's not like he's going to jump out of the car!" The refined-looking man waved a hand and laughed.

As the car drove on, Su Ziyang realized they had arrived at a familiar place-the Wind and Waves Pavilion.

"Aren't you guys from out of town?!" Su Ziyang asked curiously as he stood at the entrance.

"Yeah!" The refined-looking man nodded. "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this place? The decor and everything look pretty good!"

Su Ziyang hurriedly waved his hands. "No, I mean, how did you find this restaurant?"

"We just picked an app online and searched. We thought this place looked pretty good, so we booked it!" As the refined-looking man spoke, he opened the door and ushered Su Ziyang inside.

The group entered a private room, where Su Ziyang saw four familiar dishes from last time: sweet-and-sour crispy pork, dry-fried green beans, pork knuckle, and harvest stew.

This time there was also sweet-and-sour pork with pineapple, braised beef, husband-and-wife lung slices, fish in chili oil, and pig-slaughter stew.

"Doctor Su, I haven't introduced myself yet." Once everyone was seated and all the dishes had arrived, the refined-looking man introduced himself. "I'm Bai Pengyu. From left to right, these guys beside me are Li Ziqiang, Zhang Xian, Li Yanji, and Zhang Jun. They're all good buddies I've known and hung out with since we were kids!"

The men greeted Su Ziyang and offered him toasts, and Su Ziyang returned each one.

After everyone had introduced themselves, Bai Pengyu stood up with his glass in both hands and addressed Su Ziyang. "Doctor Su, last time we came looking for trouble without asking what had happened. We were definitely in the wrong! But don't take us for professional thugs or bad guys. Xing Zhiyu is a friend's younger cousin. He called me and said someone had pushed him around, and since my friends and I have learned a little fighting, we thought we'd help him vent! I hope you won't misunderstand, and I'd like to apologize! Thanks for being the bigger man and not holding it against us!"

You didn't slap a smiling face, much less when it belonged to such an open and forthright fellow. Su Ziyang hurried to his feet and clinked glasses with Bai Pengyu. "I guess we had to fight before we could become friends! There's no need to dwell on it, and I injured a few of you too! I'm pretty sorry about that!"

Seeing how gracious Su Ziyang was, the others relaxed. They were around the same age to begin with, and they soon hit it off. After three or five bottles of beer, Bai Pengyu put an arm around Su Ziyang's shoulders. "Brother, I'm a little older than you, so I'll call you brother. Honestly, your kung fu is pretty formidable, hurting people without leaving a trace. I heard my master say it might be the legendary Blood-Blocking Technique. They say that when this technique strikes someone, if it wants you dead at the third watch, you won't live till the fifth!"

The moment Bai Pengyu said this, the room fell silent. Everyone pricked up their ears to hear what Su Ziyang would say.

Su Ziyang waved a hand and chuckled. "It's not that mystical! Haha. Look at you guys, aren't you all fine? To put it plainly, it's just a self-defense technique. Honestly, I didn't know what you wanted that night, so I had to make a move! Brother Yu, you said you practice martial arts. What do you practice?"

Bai Pengyu lowered the glass in his hand. "We all practice the Great Accomplishment Fist. What we practice is external martial arts, a kind of hard skill. It's not quite the same as your internal martial arts, and it can't compare to a secret technique passed down exclusively like yours!"

Su Ziyang shook his head. "No technique is inherently superior or inferior; mastery of kung fu runs deep or shallow!"

When the others heard this, they immediately said in unison, "Good, good! Well said, mastery of kung fu runs deep or shallow! Come on! A toast to Teacher Su. Teacher Su has taught us another lesson!"

Everyone burst out laughing, and the room was soon lively. Just then, Zhang Xian suddenly said, "Doctor Su, show us what you can do. Our master said this technique needs strength in the hands. Give us a demonstration!"

"How am I supposed to demonstrate that? Should I seal your acupoints again?" As Su Ziyang spoke, he pointed a finger at Zhang Xian, frightening him into leaping a long way from his seat. Everyone burst out laughing again.

Hearing Zhang Xian's words, Bai Pengyu seemed eager to try his own skills. After they had fooled around for a while, he too said, "Brother, show me what you can do. Let us broaden our horizons!"

"What would count as a demonstration?" Su Ziyang was at a loss. He couldn't very well try it on someone again!

"Do this! Look, what we practice is a hard skill!" As Bai Pengyu spoke, he picked up a beer bottle from the table. Holding it in his left hand, he raised his right in a palm strike and gave a soft shout: "Break!"

His right hand chopped down on the beer bottle, and it shattered with a crack. As his brothers cheered, Su Ziyang noticed something different: the instant Bai Pengyu's hand touched the bottle, it gave off a faint red glow. It was a manifestation of internal energy.

"Haha! Brother Yu, you're not being straight with us! What you just did isn't something ordinary hard skills can pull off! That was internal energy, wasn't it?"

With a single sentence, Su Ziyang exposed what Bai Pengyu had been keeping to himself. Bai Pengyu scratched his head and gave a sheepish grin. "Heh, brother, you really are an expert. I can't hide it from you, so I'll admit it. I have practiced internal martial arts-the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic! Haha!"

"Oh! I knew it! Brother Bai, Master really has been giving you special lessons!"

With that, Zhang Xian and the others raised their glasses and gave Bai Pengyu a thorough grilling.

"When we get home, we'll make Master teach us the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic too! Brother Bai, that's not fair of you, keeping it all to yourself!!!"

Bai Pengyu scrambled to deal with his brothers' onslaught, his face turning a little red. "Come on, cut it out. If Master finds out I told you about this, won't he beat me to death? Besides, oh! You can't practice this technique!"

"Bullshit, why not? If you can practice it, why can't we?" Zhang Jun said with a laughing curse.

Bai Pengyu's face grew even redder. "Come on, I told you, you can't practice it, and that's that! Stop asking!"

Su Ziyang glanced around at the men at the table and laughed. "All right, cut it out, guys. I'll tell you. Your Brother Bai is too embarrassed to say it, but only a virgin can master the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic. You guys can't do it!"

The moment Su Ziyang said this, the room fell silent. Bai Pengyu turned red all the way down to his neck. Then, in an instant, the quiet room erupted in a tremendous roar of laughter.

"Hahaha! Brother Bai, Brother Bai. Every time you go out with Sister-in-law, do you two sleep in separate beds?!"

"Brother Bai, Brother Bai! That's incredible! Hahahahaha!"

"Brother Bai, Brother Bai! Even so, Sister-in-law has stayed with you for seven years. That really hasn't been easy, Brother Bai! True love exists in this world, and genuine affection is everywhere, Brother Bai!"

Bai Pengyu covered his face and lay across the table without saying a word. At that moment, Li Yanji, who had spoken little all along, took out his phone and sent a WeChat voice message. "Honey, I just learned a secret today! Brother Bai is still a virgin. Ask Guoguo how he's been dating Brother Bai for seven years!"

Bai Pengyu, who had been covering his face, flew out of his seat. "Yanji, I'll fucking kill you! I'll fight you to the death! To the death! Aaaaah-"

Everyone started fooling around again. Su Ziyang hadn't been part of such a lively gathering in a long time, and watching them carry on, he joined in their laughter.

"Cut it out! Cough, cough, cough!" Li Yanji held up his phone while Bai Pengyu had him in a chokehold from behind.

"Take the message back and I'll let you go!"

"Too late! It's been over two minutes, hahaha. I can't take it back!!! Hahahahaha!" No sooner had Li Yanji finished speaking than a call came in.

A woman's voice came over the phone. "Li Yanji, really?! Hahahahaha. Just wait, I'm going to find Guoguo right now. I have to question him!!!! Hahahahaha!"

With that, the call ended with a series of beeps. Like a deflated ball, Bai Pengyu released Li Yanji's neck and slumped in his chair, muttering, "It's over, it's over. I can't show my face anymore... Fuck, I'm finished..."

"Hahahahaha!" Seeing Bai Pengyu's expression, everyone burst out laughing again.

After a minute of silence, Bai Pengyu suddenly turned to Su Ziyang, who was watching the show from the side. Waves of murderous intent flared in his eyes. "Ah! Su Ziyang. Fuck! I'll kill you! You actually exposed my secret!"

Su Ziyang laughed as he dodged Bai Pengyu's attacks, which came at him like a ravenous wolf. "Cut it out, cut it out. Brother, brother, I was wrong, I was wrong! How about this, how about this? I'll show you what I can do too. Want to see?"

Su Ziyang's great distraction technique worked as expected. As soon as he said that, everyone stopped using Bai Pengyu's secret as a handle to tease him and immediately turned to Su Ziyang. For a group of martial artists, nothing was more appealing than having a kung fu expert broaden their horizons.

Although he had never struck a beer bottle before, Su Ziyang didn't lose his nerve. He copied Bai Pengyu's stance, but where Bai Pengyu had used his palm, Su Ziyang used his fingertips. Su Ziyang channeled strength into his fingertips and stabbed sharply at the bottle. With a crack... the beer bottle shattered.