“Dinner is served! Time to eat.” Xia Lei walked out of the kitchen with freshly-cooked carrot-and-ribs soup, calling Liang Zheng-Chun and Liang Si-Yao to come eat.

Liang Zheng-Chun smiled wryly and shook his head. He could now see that his prestige as Master was far lower-ranked than his daughter. He had told Liang Si-Yao to make dinner and she had told Xia Lei to make dinner, then... dinner was ready.

The three of them sat around a table and ate and drank merrily.

Liang Si-Yao picked a kidney from the red simmer-fried chicken with her chopsticks and put it in Xia Lei’s bowl. “You’re injured so you have to eat more. Nourish yourself.”

Xia Lei felt rather ill when he looked at the white chicken kidney in his bowl. He had a wound on his leg - how was eating chicken kidney for nourishment going to help?

Liang Si-Yao picked up a piece of potato and put it in Liang Zheng-Chun’s bowl. “Have more vegetables, Dad.”

Liang Zheng-Chun rolled his eyes at Liang Si-Yao.

Liang Si-Yao was quite pleased with herself. “Wish I was there too to see you defeat that arrogant American. You must’ve been so dashing then.”

Xia Lei smiled wryly. He knew clearly the danger he was in back then and the brute strength that person had. He could not even beat Liang Zheng-Chun so how could he beat Bruce Long, who had defeated him? He could do so only thanks to the power of his left eye and the time he had spent researching acupuncture points. He had actually had the idea to attack Bruce Long’s Shanzhong point even before Liang Zheng-Chun had gone into the ring to fight him because that point was easiest to attack and could fell a foe in one move. When he had gone up the platform, he had feigned weakness in the beginning, only defending and seeking for an opportunity to attack. Dong Wu had then reminded Bruce Long of his injured leg and Bruce Long focused on his leg afterwards. He had let him attack his leg repeatedly and waited for Bruce Long to extend himself before he made his move, attacking his Shanzhong point and finishing the fight. If he had made the slightest mistake during this whole process, there would have been a possibility of him being beaten into the platform. The result was fairly difficult to predict.

There was just no way he could tell either Liang Zheng-Chun or Liang Si-Yao of this process.

Liang Zheng-Chun looked at Xia Lei. “Right, Lei, Lu Sheng was present when we were on our way back so it was not convenient to ask... We are all family here now so tell me - how did you defeat that American?”

Xia Lei extended his right fist and made his knuckle stick out. “I hit his Shanzhong acupuncture point with my fist like this, and he fell.”

“Acupuncture point?” Liang Zheng-Chun looked surprised. “Even I can’t do that and you’ve already learnt it.”

Xia Lei smiled as he said, “Master, I am learning about medicine. Your study has some volumes on acupuncture and moxibustion and I read those. I knew what attacking that acupuncture point would do because I learnt acupuncture. I didn’t learn any acupuncture martial art - I just used my knowledge of acupuncture in Wing Chun.”

Liang Si-Yao spoke too, “Dad, Lei learns super fast. He can build the most advanced lathe from Germany with his own two hands. Oh, and he also cured Shentu Tian-Yin’s father. That guy was paralysed for three years and he used acupuncture to heal him. He’s so awesome; incorporating acupuncture in our Wing Chun is not strange.”

Liang Zheng-Chun did not find it strange how Xia Lei was able to do so many miraculous things but felt rather proud. He pondered for a bit, and a smile spread across his face. “I already knew about your learning capabilities but it’s greater that I’d thought. Using acupuncture in Wing Chun doesn’t seem so strange now that I think about it.” He raised his cup. “Beautifully done. A toast from your Master.”

Before Xia Lei could drink, Liang Si-Yao said, “Dad, don’t make him drink so much. If he drinks too much it’ll... be bad.”

Would drinking too much affect something? Her word-stumble made one’s head fill with thoughts. Xia Lei still drank in the end. It was a toast from his Master and he would drink it even if Liang Si-Yao did not like the alcohol on his breath. He’d just hold a piece of xylitol in his mouth when kissing...

After dinner, Liang Zheng-Chun retired early to bed - this had nothing to do with being an early bird and everything to do with not wanting to be a third wheel. He was very satisfied with Xia Lei’s character and other characteristics and Xia Lei had also challenged Bruce Long on his account despite the danger to himself. That had made him like Xia Lei even more and there was nothing he could find wrong with him anymore. What was there to be unhappy or dissatisfied with as a father when he could hand his daughter over to a man like this?

Liang Si-Yao went to the kitchen to wash the dishes and Xia Lei stayed in her room to use her notebook computer to research guns. The martial arts seminar was over and his attention went back to the matter of modifying the sniper rifle for Long Bing. Long Bing would help him settle his issues whenever he gave her a call so he naturally did his best when she asked for his help.

Modifying a sniper rifle to become better than the best was not so difficult for Xia Lei but the manual Long Bing had included in the box for him was definitely not enough.

His internet search results for modifying guns were mostly related to games and the information on modifying game guns were definitely not useable in real life. Xia Lei then gave up and searched for information about sniper rifles. He found some leads this time and the information he got was detailed and professional. He could understand the workings of a sniper rifle from what he’d found and the performance index, structure and so on. Once Xia Lei had a grasp on this knowledge, he would gain a better understanding of the sniper rifle and make his job of modifying the sniper rifle much easier.

His phone suddenly rang while he was reading up on sniper rifles.

Xia Lei took his phone out, looked at the screen and smiled. He unlocked the phone to receive the call. “Hey, where have you gone off to die while I was away? Closed-door training, oh maaan, I’m so tired I could die. I’ve become so tanned too! Let me tell you, that instructor was super abnormal - I suspect she’s got some mental illness... ” Jiang Ru-Yi’s voice came from the phone like a tap which had been turned on, the water flowing continuously.

Xia Lei had a feeling of fondness as he listened to her prattle; he hadn’t heard from her in a long time. He listened patiently, saying a few words now and then, and seemed to enjoy it.

After spewing a load of crap, Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly changed the topic. “Where’d you die off to? I knocked for so long but there was no response. I’ll splash paint on your door next time if you don’t open it.”

“Do you have paint?” asked Xia Lei laughingly.

“No...” Jiang Ru-Yi snorted, “I can go buy some! If not, I can splash soy sauce on your door!”

Xia Lei was speechless.

She was the same as always and the long training hadn’t changed her one bit. He didn’t know if Jiang Ru-Yi’s instructor really had a mental illness but he was sure she had frequent headaches.

“Hey, talk. Where did you go? I haven’t seen you in a while. I want to see you and give you a good scolding.”

Xia Lei laughed dryly. “You want to see me to scold me?”

Jiang Ru-Yi spoke matter-of-factly, “Of course. I feel uncomfortable not scolding you for such a long time. See, aren’t I too good to you?”

Xia Lei didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at that logic. “I actually want to tell you a piece of good news.”

“Are you going to buy me a nice car or a big house?” Jiang Ru-Yi giggled.

“I’ll buy you one if you like it. Really. I made a lot of money and was thinking of getting something for you but you weren’t around,” said Xia Lei.

“Oh, that really is good news. I want a house, I want a car, I want... Whatever! Buy, buy, buy!” Jiang Ru-Yi seemed rather excited.

“This isn’t the good news I wanted to tell you,” said Xia Lei laughingly.

“Then what is it?”

“Si-Yao and I are dating, heh heh,” said Xia Lei with a laugh, “You can’t say that I can’t get a girl now, eh?”

“What did you say?” Jiang Ru-Yi’s voice turned abnormal.

“I said that Liang Si-Yao and I are dating. I’m at her place now. You’re happy, right?”

“Happy, my foot! You pervert, pervert, stinky... I’m cutting ties with you!”

“Hello?” Xia Lei was at a loss as to what to do.

Jiang Ru-Yi had already hung up.

Xia Lei sat dumbly before coming back to his senses and mumbling to himself, “What did she flare up at me for? Weird.”

He did not take what Jiang Ru-Yi said to heart, though. She had ‘cut ties’ with him over a thousand times from when they were children growing up together. The longest she had ‘cut ties’ was just three days, and she had enticed him to take the initiative to talk to her with ice-cream. Thinking about this made him feel warm and amused.

Liang Si-Yao walked through the door at that moment and asked with a smile, “Who were you on the phone with?”

“Jiang Ru-Yi. She’s back,” said Xia Lei.

A strange gleam appeared in Liang Si-Yao’s eyes but she pretended to be not bothered by it, “Oh, your neighbour, huh? She doesn’t know that we’re together now?”

“She knows. I told her but she didn’t seem happy about it,” said Xia Lei from the sofa.

A smile appeared on Liang Si-Yao’s face. She climbed onto Xia Lei’s lap, then pressed her body against his and said gently in his ear, “Let’s not talk about her. You weren’t by my side last night - I missed you the whole night.”

Liang Si-Yao was a fascinating, pretty young thing. Her softness and her mesmerising smell, coupled with her long legs spread wide open made Xia Lei’s loins heat up. It felt like a flame burning quietly and it made his mouth go dry; he was restless and eager to do something.

“Let’s go to the bed.” Xia Lei had zero resistance to Liang Si-Yao.

Liang Si-Yao just smiled. “I’m especially happy today. I want to reward you.”

“Reward?” Xia Lei looked at her uncomprehendingly.

Liang Si-Yao pressed close and slid down his body, her body soft as if it had no bones.

There was a small ‘schlick’ as Liang Si-Yao sheathed the sword.

Xia Lei’s mouth suddenly became an O, like a fish gasping for breath. This was the first time in his life that he’d tasted such a thing.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ru-Yi threw a soy sauce at Xia Lei’s door. She was still mad, so she grabbed two sanitary napkins and stuck them on his door in a cross. She then stared dumbly at the hideous mess of a door as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.

Love was like this. While someone tasted bliss, another was left hurt in a lonely corner.