Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Looking at the mysterious studio, Lou Cheng glanced at the light and the staff. At last, his eyes fell on the host of the program.
She wore a white shirt and a black suit dress, and stood in the middle of two sofas which were facing each other. Her legs were very beautiful, but too thin, just like bamboo. Lou Cheng could barely look at them. It was as if her legs would be broken off by the wind. He felt like he was looking at something very horrible.
This hostess was one of the TV celebrities that he was quite familiar with, because he often saw her when he was watching programs with his parents. What was more important, she had also taken charge of the last session of the Apotheosis of Youth Fighters. He had watched it several times, so he was deeply impressed with this beautiful and intelligent hostess.
Five years ago, Wei Ya had become a hostess on satellite TV in Xing province. She had then become more and more famous, and gradually began to host some famous programs. As for her age, Lou Cheng never paid attention. But he did know clearly that she had appeared on television frequently this year. It seemed that her status was quite high at this television station.
Curious about the celebrity, Lou Cheng did not cover up his staring. He found that the present image of Wei Ya was completely different from how she had looked at the beginning of her career. Her long hair was raised in a high bun and she was painted with exquisite makeup which deliberately highlighted her intellectual elegance. It was clear she was trying to appear more mature but not old-fashioned.
“She looks more beautiful in reality than she does on TV, but still not as good looking as my Ke...”, Lou Cheng’s mind flashed as the corners of his mouth upturned. He recalled Yan Zheke’s smile, “My little fairy is so perfect!”
Of course, I probably feel this way because beauty is the eyes of the beholder.
Aware of his staring, Wei Ya turned around and looked back at him.
As they made eye contact, Lou Cheng smiled slightly and nodded to greet her with becoming modesty.
At first, Wei Ya showed a look of surprise, and then she recognized that he was today’s guest. She gently nodded as a response before she continued to communicate with the assistant
“Mr. Lou, this is the outline for today’s interview. You can look through it, so you have a general idea in mind. You don’t need to recite it, as long as you have a preliminary draft in mind. It seems more real if you make some mistakes or you stammer a little in the interview.” Little Zhao, with his messy haircut, gave him some papers and said with a flattering smile, “In short, you can answer the questions as you wish. You just need to determine which questions are okay and which you don’t want to talk about.”
“Thank you.” Lou Cheng accepted the outline. While he was reading, the staff member tied a black box-shaped speaker to his pants. Then they covered the speaker with his clothes. The wire raised up inside his clothes to the collar where it connected to the microphone.
After being reminded of some other issues, Lou Cheng turned off his cell phone. He stood at the entrance, listening to the director conduct other staff.
After a few minutes, someone said, “Action!”, and then Wei Ya stood up from the sofa. Facing the camera, she elegantly introduced the Youth Tournament of this session, “... this time, we will call the top four fighters in the Apotheosis of Fighters, The Four Heavenly Sons. They were born to be great and will have a bright future... Let’s welcome the champion of this session, the genius fighter who is only nineteen years old, ‘Sky Shaking Roar’-Lou Cheng!”
Even though he had known this nickname in advance, Lou Cheng still didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he heard the words ‘Sky Shaking Roar’-Lou Cheng. He even quivered several times.
What the f*** is with these people!
Judging them silently, he walked onto the stage and arrived at one of the sofas.
“Lou Cheng, it’s your first time to participate in this kind of program, right?” Wei Ya led the rookie with a soft gesture.
“Yes.” Lou Cheng tried to calm down and appear at ease.
This is a high-ranking program which means thousands of people will see it. So, if I make an embarrassing mistake, Ke will certainly laugh at me for a lifetime.
When I am old, she will still laugh at me because of this embarrassing moment, even sitting next to the fireplace.
Wei Ya smiled, “First, please say hello to the audience watching at home.”
“Hello, everyone.” Lou Cheng made a slight bow towards the camera.
After finishing the greeting process, they both sat down. Wei Ya put her legs to the side to show her delicate and mature elegance. She laughed, “Lou Cheng, I should call you student Lou. You are still a student ah... You achieved the Dan stage less than a year after you began to learn martial arts. Now you have become the leader of your fighters group in one province. You really can be called a legend. I am curious, before university, you had really never come into contact with martial arts?”
“No, I certainly knew about it before. With the popularity of modern martial arts, if a person really didn’t know anything about martial arts, he must be isolated from society, right?” Lou Cheng answered with a smile and tried to make his words sound humorous, “but I mostly knew it from media, like watching matches, talking about the Mighty Ones and collecting related data. As for the systematic practice of the martial arts, Well, uh, should PE class be considered?”
“No, mostly not,” said Wei Ya with a smile, “Since you had never learned any martial arts practically before turning eighteen, why did you join the Martial Arts Club as soon as you got to college?”
“I have always loved the martial arts. In my home, the wall is covered with posters of several fighters of physical invulnerability. I did not pass the selection before, and I felt that I would never succeed in this aspect. I chose to focus on studying and trying my best to take the exams.” Lou Cheng smiled.
Wei Ya understood. She said, “So, after you entered university, the pressure on studying was reduced. And you also had more free time, so you joined in the Martial Arts Club with the passion and love you had for the martial arts? This is the reason that you suddenly began to learn martial arts?”
“No.” Lou Cheng shook his head with a serious face.
Both joining the Martial Arts Club and beginning to learn the martial arts are because of my fairy!
“Well, then what did you want to say just now?” Wei Ya kept calm, relying on her rich experience.
Since it wasn’t the reason, then what did he mean by saying so many things about it just now!
Dude, do you know that your answer is quite irrelevant?
Lou Cheng smiled and said, “This is why I did not begin martial arts for the previous eighteen years. But the reason that I joined the martial arts club as soon as I entered university is another story. And this story I don’t want to share with other people just yet. ”
Brother-in-law, I am so happy that you set a good example!
If I had answered truthfully, this news would be spread very quickly. The whole country could be watching. Although the fact that he’d begun to learn martial arts so that he could catch the girl he loved could be regarded as a romantic story, his father-in-law and grandparents certainly wouldn’t think the same...
The headline would be, “The champion of the Youth Tournament of this session fought with others on the street, and was beaten black and blue by an old man of seventy years old!”
Hearing of this, Wei Ya bit her teeth tightly, slightly agitated. She controlled her temper and asked him with a perfectly elegant smile, “Student Lou, I feel you are very humorous. Maybe now that you’ve said this, we are eager to know more.”
“Really you want me to tell the story? That’s okay, but does it mean anything that you would be listening to several minutes worth of lies? Isn’t this a waste of time?” Lou Cheng was gradually adapting to the atmosphere of the exclusive interview, so he behaved more comfortably and easily. Of course, it also meant he showed his true colors completely.
Wei Ya could not help laughing and said, “Well, I won’t ask then, in case you have to make up a story now. Student Lou Cheng, with only one year of studying martial arts, you have become a fighter of Professional Ninth Pin. Would you say that the mind can’t keep up with the progress? Because other fighters usually begin to learn martial arts around the age of ten. They improve step by step, and they gradually adapt to realizing that they are stronger than the majority of people around them. Also, this helps them to avoid the arrogant mentality, so they don’t look down on normal people.”
“Maybe a little.” Lou Cheng thought for a moment and answered, “My parents are ordinary people. So are most of my other relatives and friends. So I never had any prior mentality. But, after I mastered the martial arts, my thoughts became more direct and different from the past when I am dealing with things.”
“Oh, what kind of thoughts?” Wei Ya asked with interest.
Lou Cheng chuckled, “Thoughts like ‘nothing would fix things better than a fight’.”
Wei Ya laughed with her hands covering her mouth. It took her many efforts to stop laughing, “You are more humorous than you look.”
“In the past I was not so funny. Maybe when a person develops abilities, he becomes more confident. I am that kind of person. Also with the guidance of my friend and mentor, no, it should be with the influence, of their words and deeds, I can communicate with people more leisurely and easily.” Lou Cheng said eloquently.
The interview was going quite smoothly. Lou Cheng didn’t use too many smart words or scintillating witticisms, but he showed his own style and shared some of the martial arts experience as well as some interesting things that could be spread.
After finishing the interview, Wei Ya stood up and offered to shake hands with Lou Cheng. She smiled and praised,
“You have done a very good job in this interview. To behave so well at your age the first time you have an exclusive interview, that’s great.”
“Thank you. Owing to your good guidance.” Lou Cheng answered her modestly.
After chatting for a while, the staff came to take back the collar microphone and megaphone. He turned casually. As he was walking out of the studio, he turned up his phone and never looked back at the hostess.
Wei Ya paid no attention to this. She had interviewed a lot of people, and had naturally met all kinds of men; men who begged for her phone number, men who always looked at her sensitive parts, men who had a habit of having affairs with female stars, men who were arrogant and strong enough to ignore her and men who were frank and only treated her with good manners.
...
Walking out of the studio, Lou Cheng saw that there were a lot of missed calls and unread messages on his phone.
He called them back one by one, according to the relationship. First, he called his mother who told him that they had checked out and were ready to return to Xiushan. Also, she warned him to come back home as soon as he was finished.
Then he called Fatty Jiang who said that because Qiu Hailin and Cao Lele had been out for too long time, their parents felt a little worried. They would also check out this afternoon, and they would take Lou Cheng’s parents back with them.
After that, he called Qin Rui who asked him whether he wanted to go back home by bus.
Suddenly, words like “happy ending” and “All good things must come to an end”, flashed in Lou Cheng’s mind. He smiled and sighed. He told everyone that he would like to stay here for another two days.
As for the other messages, most of them were sent to congratulate him.
Suddenly, there was a new call. Lou Cheng readily answered and heard a girl’s polite voice,
“Hello, Mr. Lou Cheng, tonight there will be a celebratory cocktail party at seven o’clock. You are the champion, so we hope that you can take the time to attend it. The invitation card has been sent to your hotel’s front desk.”
“Okay, I will attend.” They had just rewarded Lou Cheng with six hundred thousand Yuan, so he was certainly willing to cooperate with them. What’s more, he also wasn’t a poser. He believed that people should respect each other.
Hanging up, he suddenly remembered the scene when he as the audience had watched Zhang Zhutong followed by many cameras going up step by step before the pre-match party.
“Things really change so fast... ” Lou Cheng thought. He had time to send Yan Zheke a message that he had finished and was ready to pick her up.
As he was waiting for the girl’s reply, his phone rang again. This time the call was from a familiar number.
Master? Lou Cheng was shocked and inexplicably frightened.
Don’t I always call him? Why is my Master taking the initiative to call me today?
Did I not share the good news with him last night?
“Hello, Master?” Lou Cheng connected the phone cautiously, like holding a bomb in his hand.
Geezer Shi coughed and said, “Little boy, you have become more and more well-known now. Well, you asked for a leave recently. You need to go to Wu Yue for I have to let you know our faction.
“Damn, my original idea was that this brat could achieve the Eighth Pin at the end of the summer break, then I could coach him for another six months. Until he truly mastered his ability, I would take him back to visit the fellow disciple and officially take him as my apprentice. However, he not only entered into the Dan stage within a month, but also became the champion of the Youth Tournament. He has become known by a lot of people which made me receive interrogatory calls in the morning.”
To acknowledge my faction and to visit the fellow disciples? Lou Cheng suddenly felt a little nervous.