Then I was depressed for a long time. I even thought that, given the loss in the exhibition match, should I have moved up one place in the ranking I was aiming for...?
Chapter Five: Sister-in-law Huyan
When I arrived at the hotel that evening, I received a call from Secretary Liu. I initially expected him to unleash a torrent of abuse, but to my surprise, he offered some words of encouragement, expressing satisfaction with our second-place finish and hoping we would continue our efforts. Later, I learned that he hadn't attended the competition that day because of a standing committee meeting at the municipal government, so he was completely unaware that we had to participate with 300 brooms. Considering his fragile heart, I didn't tell him the truth, and I had to pay for the 300 brooms myself.
I sat on a leather sofa in the hotel lobby, answering a phone call while checking tomorrow's competition schedule. Tomorrow is the individual singles competition, with each team sending four players, using a best-of-three, single-elimination format. That means a quarter of the participants will be eliminated tomorrow alone.
Just then, the hotel door opened, and Tiger strode in, leading his twelve bodyguards, each carrying bags of various sizes. Tiger spotted me immediately and came over to sit next to me. We lit cigarettes, and Tiger said with a smile, "Brother Qiang, I heard about the exhibition match. You were really wronged. Actually, practicing your boxing routine without a stick would have been fine, why bring a broom?"
I rubbed my face and said, "Sigh, never mind, let's learn our lesson. Hey, what are you guys carrying?"
Tiger took a bag, opened it, and showed it to me: "Protective gear. Isn't there a competition tomorrow?"
I asked in surprise, "Protective gear?"
The tiger, equally surprised, said, "Yes!"
I slapped my forehead. Tiger immediately understood what I meant, and he said with a face full of black lines, "You're planning to have your men wear TV boxes on the field for tomorrow's competition?"
"I'll go buy it right now!" I said, standing up and running.
Tiger grabbed me and said, "You can't buy good stuff in such a hurry. Don't worry about it. I'll have someone bring it to your room later."
I sat down awkwardly. Tiger looked at me and laughed. He touched his bruised scalp and said, "I thought I was the only one who would do something like not bringing a pen to an exam."
I said, "Back then, I did bring everything, except that I studied Chinese the day before because I had a math exam the next day."
"Well, I'll need it when I take the Chinese exam anyway."
"No. I later found out that the Chinese exam was already over—I had remembered the exam date wrong."
We laughed heartily, a sense of camaraderie washing over us, like old friends from the same day. I patted him on the shoulder and asked, "Tiger, what ranking are you aiming for this time?" Tiger chuckled and said, "I'm just leading my apprentices to watch the fun. This year's event is many times bigger than the last one I participated in. Last time I didn't even make the top 10, so I'm even less interested this time. But Brother Dong might make it into the top 5."
I quickly stood up again and said, "Right, I need to finalize tomorrow's list as soon as possible."
Tiger was taken aback: "Wasn't the list already..." But then he realized that our team couldn't be treated like any other team, so he waved his hand and said, "Then you go ahead and do your work."
I asked the hotel manager for the key to their conference room, and the door jingled as I entered. Even as a privileged class, I sometimes faced envious glances. You see, with a major battle imminent, having such a place for pre-battle mobilization was the dream of countless people.
I sat casually in the chairman's seat and picked up the internal phone to dial their numbers one by one. Lu Junyi, not there; Wu Yong, not there; Lin Chong, no one answered... The more I dialed, the more frustrated I became. Finally, someone answered in one room, and the person said quietly, "Hello—" By this time, I was already furious and shouted, "Who are you?"
The man said, "Guess—"
I was so angry I wanted to kill him, and I roared, "You..."
The man spoke first: "You exude murderous intent!"
I was taken aback: "Xiao Zhao? You haven't gone home yet?"
Jing Ke answered the phone and asked, "Can he live with me?"
Having fallen into the hands of two idiots, I could only suppress my anger and say, "Let him stay put for now, and tell him to stay away from the power source. I'll call his dad in a bit."
Keep fighting. "Hey, who are you looking for?" Qin Shi Huang!
I hung up and called again. "Cousin, why can't I get online here?" Li Shishi! I told her that hotels all have Wi-Fi now, and my laptop is outdated.
I kept calling until finally a normal person answered. I heard a voice and asked, "Brother Gou?"
Duan Jingzhu was in a very low mood, and said with a sob, "What's wrong?"
Where are our people?
Duan Jingzhu said absentmindedly, "Brother Junyi and Strategist Wu said they went out for drinks to celebrate our school getting second place today."
"Did Zhang Qing and Dong Ping go with them?"
"No. They considered coming in second place a disgrace and were very upset."
I never expected that such a carefree and unrestrained person would have such a strong sense of collective honor. I couldn't help but feel a little moved and asked, "Where are the others?"
"Because they were so depressed, they went drinking too—they actually left first."
Me: "...Are there any brothers who neither feel they should celebrate nor feel depressed?"
Yes, there are quite a few.
"And what about them?"
"When they saw everyone going out to drink, they followed suit..."
I yelled in frustration, "Why don't you just tell me they all went drinking?" Duan Jingzhu didn't say anything, and I could hear sniffling coming from the other end.
Then I asked with concern, "Why aren't you going?"
"I'm watching 'Autumn in My Heart,' it's so damn touching, 55555." Duan Jingzhu burst into tears.
I hung up the phone, turned around, and stood forlornly with my back to the empty conference room. A thug leading a bunch of drunkards stood at the forefront of the martial arts tournament; it was no wonder he was doomed. At that moment, I couldn't help but imagine myself as Yu Ge from Gaixia, sword hilt in hand, cloak draped in a long robe, my resolute face expressionless, a fierce battle raging within me between pride and compromise. Yu Ji, with her melancholy and resentment, yet already harboring a death wish, sang as she danced with her sword: "The Han army has seized the land, the songs of Chu echo from all sides. The King's spirit is broken, what reason do I, this lowly concubine, have to live?" In my heart, Yu Ge, the King of Chu, pondered: To live or to die, that is the question…
As Tiger led his men upstairs, they passed an empty conference room. He peeked inside and looked around, then said to me, who was still immersed in a sense of tragic grandeur, "Can I borrow this conference room?"
...Then I watched as Tiger explained the precautions to his apprentices, giving them a pre-battle pep talk. After listening for a while, I consciously closed the door for them from the outside.
That night, I urged them to come home like an old-fashioned person nagging their daughter who hadn't returned late at night. The first reply I got was: they were listening to An Daoquan tell stories about his twelve female lovers, and he was already on the ninth one…
The second response was: There was a gorgeous young woman dancing with Du Xing in the venue, and I said I wanted to watch too. They said, "Hey, why didn't you say so earlier? It's almost over."
The third reply was: We're leaving soon, waiting for someone to go to the restroom.