Chapter 21: Teacher (Requesting Recommendations)

Looking at Zheng Fa, the expression on the curly-haired old man's face was hard to describe:

It was an expression mixed with surprise, curiosity, and awkwardness.

Clearly, he had also recognized Zheng Fa.

He glanced at the tree branch above Zheng Fa's head, held up his hand to indicate a height above his own head, and said to Zheng Fa cautiously:

"Y-Young hero? Is this kung fu?"

"No! I'm practicing high jump!"

"Young hero, stop lying to me... I've practiced high jump!" the old man said with a touch of pride: "When I was young, I even won first prize in track and field at our city's sports meeting! Your movements show you don't know how to high jump at all!"

"... I just practiced blindly."

"I understand! Young hero, a secret not passed on, a hidden sect!" the old man wore an expression of complete understanding: "But look at me, when I was young, I also practiced qigong!"

"Your hobbies are quite broad..."

"Who says otherwise? My master back then thought the most of me. It was just that an accident happened later; otherwise, I should have some reputation in the Jianghu by now."

"Accident?"

"Oh, he was taken away, accused of fraud."

Zheng Fa: "..."

The old man looked at Zheng Fa, forcing a sycophantic expression onto his wrinkled face: "Young hero, I think my master wasn't lying when he said my aptitude was good. How about you see if I can... learn your skills? I can become your disciple!"

Zheng Fa felt a bit numb.

"Grandpa, there's no kung fu in this world! We must believe in science!"

"Nonsense! How shallow can science be? Seeking truth from facts is science. If something like kung fu appears in the world, then science should study kung fu!" the old man said with a stern face: "Isn't I just conducting scientific research?"

Zheng Fa had to admit, the grandpa actually made some sense.

"How do you plan to study it? Slicing?"

The old man's expression grew a bit strange as he sized Zheng Fa up and down: "I just wanted to try practicing it myself. However, if you have that need, although I'm not a specialist in this field, I can still find someone to slice you up."

"Don't! You also know, my sect has rules; the Dharma is not lightly transmitted."

"Tsk!" the old man even started complaining: "You people are just like this, hoarding your own brooms, isn't that how you decline?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Zheng Fa listened to his lecture while running away.

The old man probably saw that Zheng Fa truly had no intention of communicating with him about this, so he stayed in place, though his gaze was quite reluctant to part.

By the afternoon, the atmosphere in the class had become somewhat restless.

Gao San at Qingshui Middle School has no double weekends off.

Zheng Fa and the others rest for two days every two weeks; school ends Friday night, and they return for evening self-study on Sunday night.

Friday night is when students are most excited; many day students choose to play for a while before going home.

"Zheng Fa! Let's go play basketball after school!"

Wang Chen invited Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa's basketball skills weren't great, but he was tall, and years of farm work gave him good stamina, so among the boys in the class, he didn't drag the team down.

"No, I have an appointment with someone."

Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu in the front row.

"An appointment with someone? Who?" Wang Chen was stunned; from childhood to now, he had never seen Zheng Fa have any other close friends.

Following Zheng Fa's gaze, he looked at Tang Lingwu.

"Tang Lingwu!" Zheng Fa had never seen such a rich expression on Wang Chen's face.

If forced to interpret it, it was probably a blessing delivered through gritted teeth.

"A few days ago you showed no signs of anything, and now you're playing this big?"

"... She invited me."

"Father, I want to learn this!"

Seeing him even call out "Father," Zheng Fa knew the kid truly believed it...

"Trust me, girls just love this!"

At the entrance of the milk tea shop, Wang Chen urged Zheng Fa with absolute certainty.

"Let me explain again, I just want to express my gratitude."

Zheng Fa tried to explain.

Speaking of it, since Tang Lingwu was willing to take him to meet her teacher, Zheng Fa should express gratitude both emotionally and logically.

But in this world, he hadn't really interacted much with girls his age.

He asked Wang Chen, and Wang Chen brought him to the milk tea shop at the school gate.

This shop was indeed very popular, especially on Fridays, with many girls buying milk tea there.

However, Zheng Fa had never been there before.

A cup of milk tea costing over ten yuan was still a bit of a luxury for Zheng Fa.

"Give me a cup of your shop's most popular one."

Since he didn't know which one tasted good, he said this to the clerk.

Whether it was the most popular or not was unknown, but this was probably one of the more expensive milk teas in the shop; the price of twenty-eight made Zheng Fa feel truly ripped off.

Tang Lingwu and Zheng Fa made their appointment near the faculty housing complex.

Zheng Fa arrived first; Tang Lingwu didn't appear until nearly half an hour later.

"Sorry, my family needed something from me." As soon as she saw Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu opened with an apology.

"It's fine, I haven't waited long either."

Zheng Fa indeed saw that behind the corner, a black sedan was following Tang Lingwu.

He didn't understand cars, but by his simple aesthetic, this rather conspicuous car probably wasn't cheap.

"This way."

Tang Lingwu led the way ahead, and Zheng Fa took the milk tea in his hand and extended it toward her.

"This is for you."

Tang Lingwu silently fired a question mark at him.

"It's just to thank you for bringing me here."

Tang Lingwu nodded, Shen Shi Yi that she understood, but she waved her hand in front of her chest: "I accept your gratitude, but I don't want the milk tea."

"Ah?"

"I don't drink milk tea; it's unhealthy."

Zheng Fa felt a bit regretful, wasting twenty-eight yuan!

He should have asked Tang Lingwu beforehand.

But since she didn't want it, he didn't intend to force it on her; he just thought he would drink it himself later.

Qingshui Middle School has eight teaching buildings.

Tang Lingwu led Zheng Fa into the more remote one; as soon as they entered the corridor, Tang Lingwu stopped, extending her hand in front of Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa looked at her five slender fingers.

Then looked at the milk tea in his own hand.

Silently placed the plastic bag into her hand.

Tang Lingwu didn't walk further either; she stood in the corridor and greedily took a huge gulp.

"Isn't it unhealthy?"

"Are you stupid? My mom is watching from the car!" Tang Lingwu rolled her eyes at him: "I don't drink it because my mom won't let me!"

Understood.

The waving was just your acting.

"Wait a moment, we'll go up after I finish!" It was clear that Tang Lingwu was experienced in struggle.

While happily slurping the milk tea, she introduced to Zheng Fa:

"The teacher who teaches me for competitions should be a distant grandfather of mine; my mom knows him and can't let him see me drinking milk tea."

"Is he also a teacher at our school?"

Thinking that he also lived at Qingshui Middle School.

"No, his daughter works at our school; he has already retired." Such a big cup of milk tea, Tang Lingwu finished it in three or four mouthfuls, looking somewhat unsatisfied: "He used to be a university professor, and it seems he was previously a member of the Olympiad question-setting team."

"Sounds quite impressive."

"Yeah, my mom worked hard to find someone to speak well of him; although he's called a distant grandfather, there wasn't much contact before." Tang Lingwu paused and said.

Zheng Fa looked at her face; there was a sentence he didn't say.

It was clear that your family is quite impressive too.