Xia Lei did a lot on his first day in Jingdu. He had signed the contract for the military production line, chosen a plot of land for the factory and learnt two of the Tang sect’s techniques; Qinggong and hidden weapons. Tang Yu-Yan had taught him Tang Qinggong and only demonstrated the use of hidden weapons a few times but those demonstrations were almost like passing the techniques on with his special X-ray ability and his perversely high learning capabilities.

The day’s bounty was not too bad.

Tang Yu-Yan offered to let him stay overnight but Xia Lei still went back to Long Bing’s place.

“Chosen a plot of land yet?” asked Long Bing as soon as Xia Lei stepped through the door. She was in the living room watching the telly.

“I have. I picked the cheapest one,” said Xia Lei.

“She likes to stick to you, right?”

Xia Lei paused, then said awkwardly, “You mean Tang Yu-Yan?”

“Who else?”

Xia Lei sat on the sofa opposite Long Bing. “She asked me to teach her Wing Chun.”

“You taught her?”

“Nn,” said Xia Lei, “But not for nothing. I got her to teach me Tang martial arts too.”

“I asked her to teach me in the past but she refused. This wench. She taught you and not me? Huh. And we’re good friends too - she’s neglecting our friendship for a new love.” It was a strange feeling to see words like these come from Long Bing’s mouth.

“We’re sort of exchanging martial arts. I have something she wants to learn and she has something I want to learn,” said Xia Lei awkwardly.

“You don’t understand her, nor the Tang clan. They’re an ancient clan hundreds of years old and fairly old-fashioned. The Tang clan has strict family rules - you won’t get to learn the real Tang martial arts if you’re not part of the clan. She’s likely teaching you some nonsense and keeping the real martial art from you... Eh. Don’t say this to her,” said Long Bing.

Tang Yu-Yan might have planned on doing that but anyone on this planet who wanted to pull the wool over Xia Lei’s eyes had to first fulfil a condition, and that was to first fool his eye. Even if Tang Yu-Yan refused to teach him the core techniques of Tang martial arts, Xia Lei could still steal her techniques by asking her to demonstrate them.

“Thanks. I won’t tell her.” Xia Lei had his own plans.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“Now, let’s move on to official matters.”

“What is it?”

“We’ve already confirmed that that killer is indeed the Gu clan’s man and he’s named Danny. He’s an orphan Gu Ding-Shan adopted. His death was faked 16 years ago and he was sent to the South Asia region to undergo assassin training. He has no identity and he’s just a shadow. He’s dangerous.”

“Why not catch him since your people have confirmed his identity?”

“My men have started to move but there has been no leads as yet.”

“What about the Gu clan? Can members of the Gu clan be arrested if Danny can’t?”

“You’re seeing the matter too simply. How can we arrest someone without evidence? I’m telling you this so that you’ll be more careful. This is Jingdu and Gu Ding-Shan has more power here than in Haizhu.”

Xia Lei smiled wryly. “Is that it? Wait for Danny to come assassinate me again? Even if we catch Danny, I’m sure you won’t be able to get anything useful out of him. I know how the Gu clan operates. They will deny having any connections to Danny.”

Long Bing was quiet for a bit before she said, “Do you want Gu Ding-Shan dead?”

“Of course.” Xia Lei asked probingly, “What do you mean by that?”

“Then start thinking. You’re a smart man. Gu Ding-Shan can set you up so you can set him up too. You don’t have to just defend; you can attack too,” said Long Bing.

Xia Lei stared blankly at her as her words echoed in his head.

“Think hard.” Long Bing stood from the sofa. “I’ll get changed.”

“Why change? Are you going out?” asked Xia Lei in confusion.

“I’m changing so you can teach me Wing Chun. Since you’re willing to teach Tang Yu-Yan, this must mean you’ll surely teach me, right?”

Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded.

Indeed, the relationship between him and Long Bing was one where they trusted each other with their lives. It was way beyond the relationship he had with Tang Yu-Yan. If he could teach Tang Yu-Yan, then how could he not teach Long Bing?

Long Bing came out of the bedroom in a few minutes in a black sports bikini. Her mysteriousness and sexiness combined could freeze a man.

A sports bikini again? Xia Lei felt uneasy...

After almost two hours of torment, Xia Lei was finally able to return to his room. He lay on the bed and shook his head several times to shake the images of Long Bing from his head.

Teaching Long Bing Wing Chun was different from teaching Tang Yu-Yan. He was more familiar with Long Bing, and had even slept on the same bed as her. She didn’t care about her skin touching his but he did. For every move he taught, Long Bing would pester him to practice it with her and this practice could not do without physical contact. Long Bing was also competitive and would fall back on her familiar grappling techniques when using Wing Chun put her at a disadvantage. She would suddenly grab Xia Lei and throw him to the floor, then wrap her thighs around his neck. She would sneak up on him from behind and press him down with her body after throwing him to the floor, then pull him by the neck to her chest...

As he gradually calmed down, what Long Bing said to him earlier rang in his head gain. ‘Gu Ding-Shan can set you up so you can set him up too. You don’t have to just defend; you can attack too’.

‘True, I’ve never started trouble with the Gu clan, much less killing off one of theirs. Long Bing was obviously suggesting that I do something by saying that, but I’ve never killed anyone. If I kill the pillars of the Gu clan like Gu Ding-Shan or Gu Ke-Wu, will they seek revenge? It isn’t difficult to kill them but can I deal with the Gu clan’s revenge if I do that?’ Xia Lei was conflicted.

It was easy to kill - what was difficult was facing what came after the killing. Besides, he had never experienced something like this and didn’t know what to expect.

Xia Lei got off the bed after lying down for a while. He stood in the empty space in front of the bed and the scene from when Tang Yu-Yan was demonstrating Qinggong replayed in his head. His left eye transmitted everything he saw - Tang Yu-Yan’s bones, muscles, blood vessels and the moment when she made that change in movement. Everything was displayed clearly in his mind.

Xia Lei copied Tang Yu-Yan’s movements. His legs bent at a 45-degree angle and his upper body’s bones and muscles moved to the same position as Tang Yu-Yan’s. He then took a deep breath and pushed his breath with his internal energy, gathering them in his legs.

“Up!” Xia Lei bounced violently with a shout. In that instant, he felt like there were springs under his feet and he was bounced up.

The floor was pulled afar in his vision. The ceiling was not very high - just over three metres. Tang Yu-Yan’s high-class neighbourhood was full of new buildings and her modern home had ceilings at least four metres high. Xia Lei had secretly learnt some of the secrets of the Tang Qinggong but it was not complete. He could not reach the same level as Tang Yu-Yan.

However, Tang Yu-Yan had started practicing from childhood and that meant over twenty years of practice; it was just Xia Lei’s first day. This showed how frighteningly quick Xia Lei was able to learn! If he continued practicing and gained experience while grasping more secrets, he would probably learn all of the Tang Qinggong and maybe even surpass it!

“What are you yelling about?” came Long Bing’s voice from beyond the door.

Maybe it was his excitement or maybe he was possessed, but Xia Lei did not reply; he snatched up the ham sausage he had put on his bedside table for a late-night snack, and threw it at the door.

This was not a casual throw. His head was filled with the images of Tang Yu-Yan throwing her hidden weapons and he had copied some of her technique. It was not a perfect match but he had matched at least 30% of her movements.

In the instant the ham sausage left his hand, the door suddenly opened and Long Bing appeared in the doorway.

“You...” A ham sausage shoved itself abruptly in her mouth before she could finish her sentence.

Xia Lei froze.

Long Bing froze too. She was surprised at suddenly having to hold a sausage in her mouth.

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

Ten seconds later, Long Bing slowly plucked the ham sausage from her little mouth. She glared at Xia Lei. Her eyes were not that of a human anymore - her eyes were like those of a feral cat.

Xia Lei coughed. “Uh, I’m so sorry, I... I didn’t think that you’d come in without knocking.”

“So you threw this at me?” Long Bing lifted the sausage.

Xia Lei laughed dryly and put on an innocent expression. He thought how lucky he was that that sausage was a small one; he would be in bigger trouble if it was bigger.

“You punk!” Long Bing threw the sausage at Xia Lei.

Xia Lei hopped aside as he yelled out, “Don’t be rash! I didn’t do it on purpose, really!”

“I’ll make you come clean!” Long Bing took her footwear off and started smacking at him, left, right.

Xia Lei dodged the right but could not dodge the left and the slipper hit him in the face. Long Bing charged over before he could open his eyes again and she leapt in a scissor-kick at his neck. She then twisted by the waist and threw him to the ground.

Her thighs were around his neck and the back of his head pressed to the place which made imagination run wild; his nose was also full of her mesmerising scent. Xia Lei had torn himself from this torture earlier but it was back again.

“Madam, I just threw a sausage at you... Why do you have to get so angry?”

“You threw it at me and into my mouth. You’re being obscene, aren’t you?”

Xia Lei was speechless.

With such a violent personality, whoever married her in the future should have metal furniture.