Chapter 3

Usually, the martial arts school only had Huo Dongjun, Xi Rong, and Master Li Jianqing eating together, which was very quiet. However, tonight was much livelier. Chen Zhiwei, Li Zhihong, Li Zhibang, Sun Zhijie, and Zhao Zhihe, who should have gone home, all stayed behind. Including Deng Zhiyong, the entire dining table was packed. Compared to the people around the table, the dishes on the table were pitifully few: a plate of roasted meat, a plate of roasted chicken, a dish of green vegetables and tofu, and a plate of salted fish. The youngest, Xi Rong, started from Huo Dongjun and Deng Zhiyong, serving rice to her senior brothers one by one. After she had served herself, Huo Dongjun said, "Let's eat."

Deng Zhiyong picked up the largest chicken leg and put it in Xi Rong's bowl, saying, "Xi Rong, you're the most obedient, so you should have the biggest chicken leg."

Xi Rong's face was filled with a sweet smile, her big eyes curved into crescents. "Thank you, Third Senior Brother."

"No need to be polite, you're so obedient." Deng Zhiyong then picked up the second largest chicken leg and put it in Zhao Zhihe's bowl, who was slightly older than Xi Rong. "Ahe, you get the second one."

"Thank you, Third Senior Brother." Zhao Zhihe was a boy with a tiger-like head and a tiger-like brain, holding the bowl with both hands, with rice grains still sticking to the corners of his mouth, and he smiled at Deng Zhiyong.

Sun Zhijie, Li Zhibang, Li Zhihong, and Chen Zhiwei, in order of age from youngest to oldest, received the other parts of the roasted chicken from Deng Zhiyong. Then, Deng Zhiyong picked up the only remaining chicken butt from the plate and said to Huo Dongjun with a mischievous grin, "Third Senior Brother, this roasted chicken only has the butt left. I should have offered it to Master, but since Master isn't here, I'll offer it to you."

Huo Dongjun put a piece of green vegetable in his bowl and glanced at Deng Zhiyong, saying, "I thank you, but this kind of delicacy can only be enjoyed by you."

"Hey, you all saw that, right? Third Senior Brother said the chicken butt is mine, not that I didn't offer it to him!" Deng Zhiyong bit into the chicken butt and, after swallowing it, said, "Delicious!"

"Third Senior Brother, why do we call you Third Senior Brother, but you call Second Senior Brother Third Senior Brother?" Zhao Zhihe seemed to have noticed the inconsistency in Deng Zhiyong's words and asked, holding his bowl.

Deng Zhiyong was taken aback and looked at Huo Dongjun, who shook his head. "Except for Zhiwei and Xi Rong, the other junior brothers who joined later don't know about this."

"Then it's better not to say anything. If they find out and blab about it, Master will beat them." Deng Zhiyong said.

After the meal, except for Deng Zhiyong and Xi Rong, the other junior brothers all went home. They were all young boys living near Dakan Village, and the martial arts school had no place to provide them with beds. After Chen Zhiwei and the others left, Deng Zhiyong sneaked into the inner room of the martial arts school and soon came out with a bottle of white wine and two small cups. Huo Dongjun glared at him, saying, "If Master finds out you're drinking his wine, he'll skin you next time he sees you."

Deng Zhiyong laughed and said, "Third Senior Brother, you're the most loyal. If you tell Master that you drank his wine, he won't get angry. He favors you the most, Xi Rong, put away the roasted meat for you and Third Senior Brother to enjoy later, and go find a piece of tofu from the kitchen, sprinkle some salt on it."

"Hey, eat your roasted meat. Xi Rong doesn't lack food. You, on the other hand, are always absent, and when you show up, you look like a refugee. You always bring meat to share with everyone at the martial arts school, but you should eat more yourself." Huo Dongjun pushed the remaining roasted meat, which was still more than half full, to Deng Zhiyong. "Salted tofu as a side dish for drinking, but eating too much can be harmful to your health."

"Right, Third Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother prepares eggs and milk for me every day." Xi Rong, leaning on the other side of the table, looked at her two senior brothers and said.

"Finished? If you're finished, go heat some water and take a bath, then go copy books and write. I'll check later." Huo Dongjun looked at Xi Rong, who was still leaning on the table, and smiled. "Leaning on the table and not wanting to leave, are you being lazy?"

Xi Rong pouted her tender lips and slowly turned to walk toward her room, looking back pitifully at her two senior brothers, hoping her Second Senior Brother would change his mind and let her off the hook for copying books tonight.

"Are you a pervert, Second Senior Brother? Xi Rong is only eleven years old. She practices boxing and learns medicine during the day, and has to copy books at night? She's a little girl, not a superhero!" Deng Zhiyong, moved by Xi Rong's pitiful look, voiced his dissatisfaction with Huo Dongjun's decision.

"Xi Rong may not be able to go to school to study, but she can learn to read and write at the martial arts school. She's already eleven and a girl. Do you want her to end up like you and the First Senior Brother, unable to even write her name?" Huo Dongjun saw that Xi Rong was still looking back and pointed at her with one finger. "Helping with everyone's dinner tonight, you can reduce the number of words by a hundred, so you only need to write two hundred. Go do it before I change my mind, or I'll add another two hundred."

Xi Rong, who had just been pitiful, immediately jumped into her room like a frightened deer. Huo Dongjun then said to Deng Zhiyong, "Now that no one is around, tell me why someone came looking for you today."

Deng Zhiyong scratched his head. "They thought I was taking their business, so they wanted to take my money."

"Are you doing something shady like Second Senior Brother?" Huo Dongjun placed his hands on the table and gently tapped the surface with his fingers.

"Of course not. I just help people place bets. I earn a small commission. I've learned boxing, so they think I can tell which side is stronger in a fight, and they're willing to let me help. It's not my fault that I helped a small brother of Big Strong win a few hundred dollars, so this time Big Strong placed a big bet and asked me to help. Zhong Qi thought I was taking his boss's business." Deng Zhiyong recounted the events of the day, sounding aggrieved.

After finishing, he took out a few banknotes from his jacket pocket and placed them on the table. "Four hundred dollars. I made a thousand dollars today, gave five hundred to my mom, and spent about thirty dollars on the roasted chicken and meat. These four hundred are for Master, and the rest of the loose change I kept in my pocket."

"Master won't accept it since you've stopped learning boxing." Huo Dongjun glanced at the four banknotes on the table.

Deng Zhiyong said impatiently, "If Master won't take it, you take it for him! Before Master and you, I wasn't worried, but now with Xi Rong, there's another mouth to feed. How much can we earn from this clinic? I really don't understand you and Master, a pair of oddballs. What's so good about this martial arts school? I've learned Cai Li Fo for four years and can't even beat Zhong Qi's gang, who only learned Thai boxing and Jeet Kune Do for three months! You should follow the First Senior Brother and become a driver. You can earn two thousand dollars a month easily, look good, and show off in a fancy car. It's better than guarding an empty martial arts school!"

Huo Dongjun sighed and didn't respond to Deng Zhiyong. Instead, he turned to look at the dilapidated martial arts school.

He was a person reborn. In his previous life, he died unexpectedly before turning thirty and was reborn in 1986 Hong Kong as a disciple of Hong Yihai's martial arts school. His current body was eighteen years old, but he had been practicing Cai Li Fo under Master Li Jianqing for eleven years. At the age of five, due to having many siblings, his parents sent him to Li Jianqing's martial arts school as an apprentice. Apprentices could work in exchange for tuition, and he only formally became a disciple at the age of fourteen. This identity gave Huo Dongjun a sense of belonging. In his previous life, after leaving the children's welfare home at eighteen, he worked and learned Chuojiao from an old rural martial arts master for ten years. This time, he learned Cai Li Fo, still martial arts, and he felt no discomfort. On the contrary, his previous life's experience and knowledge helped him understand Cai Li Fo quickly. Huo Dongjun had no interest in changing his current life using his past experiences. Even if he wanted to, he had no idea where to start because he had focused solely on martial arts in his previous life and paid no attention to other things. For him, having a martial arts school, a master, food to eat, and a bed to sleep in was enough. His previous life was like this, and continuing his practice in this life was natural.

If there was one difference between his past and present life, it was that this life had several senior and junior brothers and a little sister, giving Huo Dongjun a sense of camaraderie he had never experienced before.

"I might as well learn Thai boxing." Seeing that Huo Dongjun didn't respond, Deng Zhiyong suddenly clenched his fist and placed it on the table, determined. "If I learn Thai boxing, I don't think Zhong Qi will dare to mess with me."

"Thai boxing and Cai Li Fo are completely different. Cai Li Fo is a martial art, while Thai boxing and Jeet Kune Do are more like combat techniques. These techniques are created for fighting, but Cai Li Fo and other Chinese martial arts exist for more than just combat. For example, Cai Li Fo includes not only boxing and weapons but also lion dance, drumming, and medical skills. Thai boxing and Jeet Kune Do, on the other hand, only focus on combat techniques. So they are called combat techniques." Huo Dongjun turned to look at Deng Zhiyong and said, "Don't let Master hear what you just said, or he'll beat you."

"Learning martial arts is for self-defense. If I want to stay fit, I might as well do aerobics. The aerobics instructors are so attractive. I learned Cai Li Fo because it was famous in Hong Kong, but I never thought that after learning for so long, I still can't even beat someone." Deng Zhiyong poured himself a cup of wine and drank it in one go.

Huo Dongjun smiled. Indeed, many Hong Kong people learned Cai Li Fo because of its fame. Cai Li Fo and Hung Kuen were known as the two major martial arts in Hong Kong. There was even a magazine called "Cai Li Fo" published in Hong Kong, with a new issue every half month. There were also dedicated Cai Li Fo associations, such as the Hong Kong Cai Li Fo Beisheng Association and the Hong Kong Cai Li Fo Hongsheng Association. However, Hong Yihai did not belong to the Beisheng or Hongsheng branches. Li Jianqing, Hong Yihai's master, taught the Hongsheng lineage, which was directly passed down from the founder, Chen Heng. Because of the "Hongsheng" name, Hong Yihai was in a very awkward position among the various martial arts schools and practitioners in Hong Kong.

Li Jianqing's master was Chen Heng's grandson, Chen Yaohui, and his disciple, Song Tianyang. Song Tianyang and his junior brothers Hu Yunchao, Qiu Bichi, and Jian Yingjie were known as the "Four Heavenly Kings of Cai Li Fo" in Guangdong. However, Song Tianyang had a serious issue compared to the other three: he was a northerner who learned martial arts from a master, and in Guangdong, he was called an "outsider." Similarly, Li Jianqing, Song Tianyang's disciple, was also considered an "outsider" in Guangdong, and like his master, he learned martial arts from a master.

Thus, Li Jianqing, who opened a martial arts school in Hong Kong, was not accepted by the various Cai Li Fo associations due to his "outsider" status. He could not use the "Hongsheng" name and instead had the awkward name "Hong Yihai," which almost became a laughingstock in the Hong Kong martial arts community.

To have the four characters "Yihai Zanglong" (Yihai Conceals Dragons) hanging above the martial arts school, Li Jianqing paid the price of losing a leg. Unfortunately, when people in the martial arts community mentioned Hong Yihai, they only recognized it as a Cai Li Fo school, and the Cai Li Fo branches still refused to accept Hong Yihai into their association because Li Jianqing was marked as an "outsider."

Huo Dongjun was indifferent to food, clothing, and shelter. From the age of five, when Li Jianqing brought him to Hong Yihai, until now, he had been helping his master, who could no longer spar with others, to continue guarding Hong Yihai. This was deeply ingrained in Huo Dongjun's bones. He wanted to, like his master, wait for an opportunity to tell the entire Hong Kong martial arts community that there was a martial arts school named Hong Yihai in Hong Kong.