Jinghai is full of spring. Although the weather here is not as good as that on the Gold Coast and the sky is always grey due to industrial pollution and exhaust emissions, this is my hometown after all and there is a sense of familiarity here.
After passing Fang Hongjin on the beach of the Gold Coast, Zheng Yubai did not bother him again. Thinking that he still needed to escort Ding Rulong back to China, he gave up the idea of bloodsplattering five steps, suppressed the murderous intention of Fang Hongjin, and chose to remain silent.
After returning to Jinghai safely, Zheng Yubai didn't have to worry about the rest. Ding Rulong immediately started to fight back as soon as he returned to Jinghai. He made a high-profile appearance in the media, criticized the Americans' sinister intentions, and set off a wave of opposition to American commercial hegemony and fraud. Zheng Yubai didn't want to ask about these. He just accepted Ding Beibei's invitation to drink coffee once, and regarded this as her reward.
In fact, if friends are capable, it doesn't matter if they take risks to do something. Especially for an enthusiastic person like Zheng Yubai, even if he didn't have vague feelings for Ding Beibei that day, he would definitely go on this journey without hesitation.
Sometimes, everything is said without words. I don't know whether it was because she had figured it out or because she was too happy about her father's return, but Ding Beibei was in a very good mood. The two of them just drank coffee and talked about the thrills of this trip. As for the emotional problems that made everyone embarrassed and troubled, they did not mention it.
For more than half a month after that, Ding Rulong dominated the media and successfully put Americans in a wave of criticism. Because this matter was related to the vital interests of many businessmen, they united to support Ding Rulong. Under pressure, the US government also stated that there were indeed problems in the handling of this incident and apologized to Ding Rulong.
The Ebola company that set the trap was put in the spotlight this time. They thought they could take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money from Ding Rulong and monopolize the new drug market, but they didn't expect that it would backfire. Now all their products are refused import, sales have suffered a huge blow, and the valuation on Nasdaq has fallen, and investors are complaining.
Ding Rulong took the opportunity to beat the downtrodden dog and launched the new drug at the right time, seizing the market of Ebola. In order to save the situation, Warner Group, the parent company behind Ebola, could only issue a statement hoping to reconcile with Ding Rulong.
Ding Rulong was in full swing over there, almost rising to the level of the entire national interest. Zheng Yubai was also living a leisurely life here. Xu Jin and Yu Luo's computer service company opened, mainly to help customers solve some network security problems. For the top hacker Yu Luo, it was easy to take over a computer. And if you can block her firewall for five minutes, you can be very qualified to resist the attacks of 99.9% of the world's hackers.
Because of the hacker master Yu Luo, the company became famous after a few orders and attracted many customers. Although the two old guys Xu Ruoyu and Du Bisheng didn't know computers, they were both very smart and slick. Together with the beautiful and generous Xu Jin, they contacted customers and various business orders came in like snowflakes.
The business of the computer service company was booming, and the four of them were so busy that Zheng Yubai had some free time. Naturally, Sang Biao and Jin Yanhui were in charge of the safe apartment, so Zheng Yubai had some free time. He just sat in the computer company every day and played Spider Solitaire or something like that. He was used to the adventurous life of going through fire and water, and it felt good to spend a few days doing nothing.
"I lost again..." Zheng Yubai really had no talent for playing games. For example, if it was Yu Luo, he could easily complete the highest difficulty of Spider Solitaire in two minutes. But Zheng Yubai had a hard time even dealing with the lowest difficulty. It turned out that God was fair. If he gave people superhuman abilities in some aspects, he would deprive them of some things in other aspects.
Xu Jin was discussing cooperation with a fat man in the reception room. It was said that if the deal was done, it would bring the company about 100,000 yuan in revenue every month. For a newly opened company, this was a big deal.
"Looking at the look in that pig-head's eyes, this deal must be okay." Xu Ruoyu muttered. He and Du Bisheng had planned to get more business, but the clients had no interest in the two old men. Although they were cunning, their success rate was only a pitiful 10%. Compared with Xu Jin's brilliant record of winning 100% of male clients as long as he made a move, they were indeed a little ashamed.
"I think he will pay 20 percent higher than the market price." Du Bisheng took a sip of Pu'er tea, his words sounding like sour grapes.
"Of course, my daughter is so beautiful, does he want to see her for nothing?" Xu Ruoyu was a little jealous of his daughter's achievements at first, but later he became complacent after realizing that raising such a daughter was his great contribution. Now he has drawn a clear line between himself and Du Bisheng, and he is clearly like a capitalist who sits back and enjoys the fruits of his labor.
Zheng Yubai was listening to the two people bickering with great interest when his cell phone rang. He took it out and saw that the number displayed was from his hometown.
Zheng Yubai's parents rarely called him. He usually called home once every two weeks to chat with his mother and report that he was safe. As for Zheng Jingzhe, the rude man, he didn't care about his son's affairs at all.
"Hello." Zheng Yubai instinctively felt that it was his mother calling. It had been over a week since he last called home. Perhaps his mother missed him.
But what came out of the phone was Zheng Jingzhe's rough voice: "Son, pick me up at the train station tomorrow night. My car will arrive in Jinghai at 9:30."
Zheng Yubai was confused. He didn't know why his father came to Jinghai, so he asked hurriedly, "Dad, what are you doing in Jinghai?"
"What? Participating in the Xingyi Conference, don't you know?" Zheng Jingzhe said.
"Xingyi Conference..." Zheng Yubai was stunned, and then he remembered that although his father had stayed away from the affairs of Xingyi Sect, he was still one of the sixteen deacons of Xingyi Sect. However, he had not been involved in the affairs of Xingyi Sect for more than ten years, so why would he come to participate in the Xingyi Conference held every five years this time
After expressing his doubts, Zheng Jingzhe said with a smile, "That old guy Sun Yunqing wants to be the president of the Wushu Association. I'm going to flatter him this time."
Thinking of the complicated feud between his father and Sun Yunqing, Zheng Yubai knew that it would be useless even if he tried to persuade them.
"Then I'll pick you up at 9:30 tomorrow night. Be careful on the way." Zheng Yubai's words of caution were not meant to remind Zheng Jingzhe to be careful or anything like that. What he meant was actually to tell his father that if he encountered any blind thieves or hooligans, he must be gentle. If someone really died, it would be troublesome even if he was acting bravely.
After hanging up the phone, Zheng Yubai thought about it and decided to call Yang Feiyun to ask him if he knew about the Xingyi Conference.
"How come you don't know? This matter has spread throughout the martial arts world a long time ago." When Yang Feiyun heard Zheng Yubai's question, he seemed even more surprised than him.
"I'm not a martial artist..." Zheng Yubai blushed a little when he said this. He was a gambling god but he quit gambling. He was a champion of the martial arts conference but he did nothing to promote the spirit of martial arts. In some ways, he was really an irresponsible guy.
Fortunately, Yang Feiyun was not a person who liked to joke. He simply told the recent events in the martial arts world directly.
For more than a decade, the Secretary General of the National Wushu Association has been Weng Dongcheng of Hongquan. This old man is highly respected for his martial arts skills. Although he did not promote martial arts, he was well-behaved and respected. However, Weng Dongcheng is already 85 years old this year, and his mind is a little confused. It is a bit difficult for him to continue to be the Secretary General. Therefore, at the Wushu Association's conference to be held in the middle of the year, a new Secretary General will be elected.
This so-called secretary-general is not a position with real power. The Wushu Association is a loose semi-official group that usually organizes some large-scale competitions and exchange activities. It is neither a lucrative position nor a formal official. Moreover, the affairs are quite busy, so it should not be a coveted position.
But what is the best thing about people in the martial arts world
The answer is face and reputation. Many doctors in the martial arts world are unwilling to admit defeat, just to protect their face and reputation. Although being the secretary general of the martial arts association is a bit thankless, it is a very prestigious position. At least all the martial arts world people have to look up to this secretary general. For this reason, as soon as the news of this empty title being vacant came out, many people immediately stared at it.
The most popular candidates in the martial arts world are none other than the masters of the three major internal martial arts. Yang Huting of Taijiquan is old and well-known, and is the most popular. Luo Hengyang of Baguazhang is both civil and military, and is also a popular figure. As for Sun Yunqing of Xingyiquan, he is highly skilled in martial arts, has many disciples, and is the most powerful among the three major internal martial arts schools. He covets this position. Sun Yunqing held this Xingyi Conference in order to unify the opinions within the Wushu Association before the election, so that his disciples can fully support his election.
After hearing this, Zheng Yubai realized that this was just another old story of seeking fame. Just like the heroes in martial arts novels who struggled to win the illusory title of the leader of the martial arts world, Sun Yunqing was also a little obsessed.
"Is your grandfather interested in running for election?" Zheng Yubai thought of Yang Feiyun's passion for promoting martial arts, and intuitively believed that if Yang Huting was elected, it might be a good thing for the development of the martial arts community.
"My grandfather won't participate, but I will." Yang Feiyun said with a smile.
Zheng Yubai couldn't help but be stunned. Although there was no age limit for the position of Secretary-General, in the martial arts world where seniority was most valued, Yang Feiyun dared to compete with his elders as a junior. This had to be said to be a very bold act.
"Does your grandfather support it?" Zheng Yubai thought carefully, this is a choice that is very consistent with Yang Feiyun's personality. If Yang Feiyun is not interested in the position of secretary general, then it is not his personality.
"My grandfather didn't support the last martial arts conference, but the result was very good. This time he said he would fully support me." Yang Feiyun said.
"I support you too." Having met Yang Feiyun many times, Zheng Yubai admired this young man who had his own firm ideals and was always working towards his ideals. Yang Feiyun's organizational and activity abilities could be seen from the holding of the Wulin Conference. If he could really be elected as the Secretary-General, it would be a good thing for the transition and development of the martial arts community.
"Thank you so much. It would be even better if you could tell me the inside information of the Xingyi Conference." Yang Feiyun was honest and straightforward. As soon as Zheng Yubai expressed his position, he planned to train Zheng Yubai to be a spy.
Thinking that Zheng Jingzhe would definitely be willing to do this, Zheng Yubai readily agreed. It was not that he had no feelings for Xingyiquan, but he felt that if someone like Sun Yunqing became the secretary general, it would not only fail to bring glory to Xingyiquan, but might even bring shame to Xingyiquan at some point. For the long-term reputation of the sect, Zheng Yubai also firmly stood on the side of his father and Yang Feiyun.
The next night at the hotel, Zheng Yubai drove the new car provided to him by the Safe Apartment to the train station. As soon as he arrived at the station entrance, he saw his father Zheng Jingzhe staggering out with a large travel bag on his back.
"Dad." Zheng Yubai hurried over and looked at the big travel bag in confusion, "Why did you bring so many things?"
Zheng Jingzhe smiled mysteriously: "Don't ask yet, let's go home first."
Zheng Yubai took the travel bag and felt it was heavy. He didn't know what was in it. He stuffed the travel bag into the trunk and drove Zheng Jingzhe home.
When they returned home, Xu Jin had already prepared a table of food and even cooked a bowl of delicious noodles for Zheng Jingzhe.
"Eat dumplings when you get on the bus and noodles when you get off. The noodles are delicious." Zheng Jingzhe was a little hungry after sitting in the bus for a whole day. He slurped up a big bowl of noodles and even drank up all the soup. Only then did he feel satisfied.
"Your cooking skills are good. When you become my daughter-in-law in the future, Yu Bai will live a happy life." After eating, Zheng Jingzhe started talking nonsense.
Zheng Yubai and Xu Jin's faces were as red as red cloth, but Xu Ruoyu and Du Bisheng on the side burst into laughter. The three old guys started nagging about arranging the wedding in a disrespectful manner, and ignored the hero and heroine.
"My dad was just talking nonsense, don't take it seriously." Zheng Yubai helped Xu Jin clean up the dishes and wipe the table, and said to Xu Jin while they were both in the kitchen.
Unexpectedly, Xu Jin raised his eyebrows and said angrily: "What do you mean, don't you want me to be your father's daughter-in-law?"
This was a bit of a roundabout way of saying it, and Zheng Yubai didn't understand it for a moment. He scratched his head for a moment before he came to his senses and said hurriedly, "How could that be? Of course I thought about it."
Xu Jin said rather proudly: "That's more like it. Don't you see that Dad likes me very much? Humph, if you do anything to let me down in the future, let Dad deal with you."
Zheng Yubai looked at Xu Jin with a sad face as she was cleaning up the dishes with a smile. Then he saw her serving tea and water to the three old men, saying sweet words to them and making them smile. He knew that he had completely lost his status.
After eating and drinking and talking enough, Zheng Jingzhe said to Zheng Yubai: "Son, bring me the travel bag."
Zheng Yubai brought the travel bag over and gently placed it on the ground. Zheng Jingzhe unzipped it and revealed the contents.
"This is..." Zheng Yubai looked at the things inside, slowly bent down, and took one out with his hand.
It was a mace, made of fine steel, covered with rust, as if it had gone through many years of wind and rain. Zheng Yubai was very familiar with this mace. When he was a child, he had seen his father smash watermelons with it when he was not as tall as the ice mace. Later, perhaps because it was too troublesome, he just smashed the watermelon with one punch, and the thing was no longer useful. Now if you look closely, the mace seems to still have watermelon seeds from more than ten years ago.
Below the mace were the Judge's Pen, Tiger Crossing Basket, Eight-Gate Golden Lock, Dragon Bone Axe, Netherworld Ghost Hand, Soul Chasing Claw, Mother-and-Child Mandarin Duck Axe, and Deadly Double Hooks, all of which were well-known and unpopular weapons in the martial arts world. Zheng Yubai took them out one by one. He had seen these weapons since he was a child and had practiced with several of them, so he was not very surprised. But Du Bisheng, Xu Ruoyu, and Xu Jin were speechless.
"Old Zheng, what are you doing?" Du Bisheng walked over and lifted up the Eight Gates Golden Lock with great effort and shook it. The Eight Gates Golden Lock looked like a spider climbing on a plate, with a strange shape. Ordinary people would not know how to attack it even if they held it in their hands.
"These are the gifts I want to give to Sun Yunqing." Zheng Jingzhe laughed, with a weird expression on his face. It was obvious that he was up to something bad.
Zheng Yubai looked at the strange weapons in the travel bag and there was only one thought in his mind: How did he bring so many dangerous goods onto the train
"I thought you were going to start a riot..." Du Bisheng said, waving the Eight Gates Golden Lock and smashing the strange weapon like a brick. In fact, it was made of fine steel, and if it really hit the head, it would definitely break and bleed.
"When Sun Yunqing and I first met, we often competed with each other. These were the bets he lost to me when we competed. This time he wants everyone in the Xingyiquan school to submit to him, and I want to humiliate him." Zheng Jingzhe said proudly.
"Is that all?" Zheng Yubai took out a dragon bone axe. Zheng Jingzhe was not careful about the preservation of these weapons. He probably hadn't even wiped them for many years. This dragon bone axe was originally a very sharp weapon, but now it was full of pits and rust. Zheng Yubai vaguely remembered that his father had used it to chop firewood for a while.
"Of course it's not just that." Zheng Jingzhe laughed and took out another iron bag from the bottom of the travel bag. This was a prop used when practicing martial arts. It looked very old and the edges and corners were polished very smooth.
"Look." Zheng Jingzhe turned the Iron Bagua over, and everyone saw that there seemed to be words on the back.
The handwriting was carved with a sharp object like a knife. It was crooked and a little blurry, but it was still recognizable. Zheng Yubai leaned in and read, "I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone against Brother Zheng. If I disrespect Brother Zheng in the future, I will die from a stitch in the side while boxing."
"What does this mean?" Everyone looked at Zheng Jingzhe.
Zheng Jingzhe laughed and said, "Once he had a duel with me and I beat him so hard that his teeth were all over the floor. He cried and begged me to spare him. I said he would never accept it and if he didn't want me to beat him again, he should write a note. There was no paper or pen at the time, so he carved this on it with a knife."
Everyone was speechless after hearing this. They had never expected that Sun Yunqing, who looked like a great master, had done such a shameful thing before. If this were to be spread out, it would be really embarrassing.
"Later, this guy became more powerful and tried again and again to get the Iron Bagua back. Hey, I didn't give him the chance. Later, he became jealous of me and made up some fictitious things to frame me. Now I'm going to expose all his past deeds and see how he can put his old face." Zheng Jingzhe said with some pride.
Seeing his father's childish look, Zheng Yubai felt three black lines on his forehead. Isn't this a trick to quarrel with two children, one of them spreading the news that the other wets the bed every night
However, Zheng Yubai also knew that the grudge between his father and Sun Yunqing could not be simply explained. Sun Yunqing was indeed a despicable person. He relied on unscrupulous means to control the Xingyiquan sect, but fortunately, the major branches were deeply rooted and could not be easily controlled by him, which did not give him the opportunity to do whatever he wanted. But if he was elected as the secretary-general this time, his true nature might be exposed.
After a period of preparation for the Xingyi Conference, representatives from the 16 branches of Xingyiquan gathered in Jinghai to jointly elect a new leader.
In fact, this election was just a formality. Sun Yunqing has been the head for ten years. As long as he does not make a particularly serious mistake, he will not step down. In particular, the masters of the major branches are not interested in the position of head, which is only a nominal position. Therefore, Sun Yunqing's position should be as stable as Mount Tai.
"Brother Li, I haven't seen you for five years. How are you?" At the gate of Jinghai Xingyiquan, Sun Yunqing led a group of disciples headed by Sun Haitong to welcome representatives from various branches. When each person arrived, Sun Yunqing greeted them warmly. Whether the other person was an elderly elder of the sect or a rookie who was sent to gain experience, he was very polite.
This Senior Brother Li, named Li Chengxiu, is the oldest of Sun Yunqing's generation, already over seventy years old. According to the tradition, he should be the direct descendant of Li Cunyi, and can be said to have inherited the essence of Xingyiquan. Sun Yunqing dared not neglect him at all.
"Haha, I'm fine." Li Chengxiu smiled, "I haven't seen you for five years, and it seems that Junior Brother Sun has made great progress." As the oldest senior brother of this generation, he naturally has some unique skills. As soon as he saw Sun Yunqing and touched hands with him, he immediately knew Sun Yunqing's realm.
When martial artists have reached a high level, they dare not fight unless they have a grudge against each other. Because once they fight, they cannot control the strength, and a single exertion of force may cause death or injury. Therefore, good friends can test their strength by just shaking hands. It is said that when Xue Dian, a master of Xingyiquan, just returned from his training, he would say, "You are too late" every time he shook hands with someone.
The so-called "too late" is a polite way of saying it, which means to implicitly tell the other party that his strength is not as good as yours. After hearing Xuedian's words, everyone thought about it and realized that they were indeed "too late". This is the tradition of the older generation of martial artists, and it is also a very frank approach. However, these traditions have long been replaced by bravery, fighting, brute force and bluffing. The decline of martial arts is not only in terms of ability, but also in terms of spirit.
"Brother, you are too kind." Sun Yunqing was very proud. Just ten days ago, he had just realized a new realm in the state of sudden enlightenment, and his skills had improved. Although his character was not good, it had to be admitted that Sun Yunqing was indeed a martial arts genius.
While I was chatting with Li Chengxiu, several other people arrived. While everyone was talking happily, a car came closer and stopped on the side of the road.
The car door opened, and Zheng Jingzhe got out of the car carrying his travel bag. He smiled from afar and said, "It's really lively. I haven't seen you brothers for more than ten years. Have you forgotten me?"
Everyone looked at Zheng Jingzhe, casting surprised glances at this fellow from the Zheng clan who had not appeared in more than a decade. (To be continued)