The ward was quite noisy, but for a moment, it seemed that the two of them couldn’t hear anything.

  After a long time, Jin Wenwen covered her chest and asked, “What happened?”


  “He was stabbed in the back and his right arm was cut off.” Roland stared her in the eye. “He lost a lot of blood. They’re still trying to save him.”


  Jin Wenwen was half-lying on the bed. After hearing the news, she wanted to sit up, but she immediately fell on the bed due to the pain in her chest.

  Then she asked, “You’re telling me this partly for my information and partly to see if I’m involved with the attack, right?”


  Roland shook his head. “Not exactly. Qi Shaoqiu’s father mentioned that it was probably because of him. I’m simply telling you that Qi Shaoqiu was wounded.”


  Jin Wenwen pursed her lips. “Please tell me the result when it’s out. My phone number is XXXXXXX.”


  Roland saved her phone number and left the ward.

  Very soon, Jin Wenwen’s eyes became red, and she seemed even weaker than before.

  Roland returned to the ER. The Qi family all slightly nodded at him upon seeing him.

  The atmosphere was rather dull. Qi Shaoqiu’s father was holding a cigarette, but he dared not light it up, fearing that the smoke would drift into the ER, distract the surgeons, and get his son killed.

  Time passed.

  No one spoke.

  Because of their anxiety, the Qi family had sweated a lot, but they were in no mood for any water.

  Five hours later, the ER door finally opened. Two nurses pushed a gurney out, with Qi Shaoqiu lying on it unconscious. There were oxygen tubes in his nose too.

  Qi Shaoqiu’s mother and Night Tide Sands immediately followed the gurney.

  Qi Shaoqiu’s mother asked quickly, “Nurse, how is my son?”


  “He’s all right for now. He’ll stay in the ICU for a couple of days. When his condition is stabilized, he will be transferred to the regular ward.”


  Everybody was finally pacified upon hearing that.

  Qi Shaoqiu’s mother and Night Tide Sands followed the gurney away.

  His father and Roland stayed behind.

  Then, the middle-aged surgeon who came out of the ER asked Qi Shaoqiu’s father, “You must be Qi Shaoqiu’s father, right?”


  “Yes, yes.” Qi Shaoqiu’s father nodded quickly.

  “Your son was gravely wounded. His arm was cut off, he lost a tremendous amount of blood, and the stab to his back pierced his kidney, causing severe internal bleeding in his abdomen. We had to excise half of his broken kidney after we removed the condensed blood.”


  Qi Shaoqiu’s father shivered. “Will his life be affected?”


  “More or less, but not too seriously,” said the middle-aged doctor with a smile. “Normal people have two kidneys. They can live even if one of the kidneys is removed. It’s fine since your son only lost half of it.”


  Qi Shaoqiu’s father was greatly relieved.

  “We’ve reattached his right arm too,” the doctor continued. “I have to say that he’s very lucky. The way that his wounds were treated and the decision to wrap up and freeze the broken arm were very professional. I have performed almost a hundred similar surgeries, but I’ve never seen any ordinary people who were so professional at first aid. Your son’s survival was largely due to that, or he would’ve died from hemorrhage. Even if he didn’t, I don’t think that his arm would’ve been reattached so successfully if it weren’t frozen and kept active with ice in such hot weather.”


  ex

  see

  Hearing all the “good” news, Qi Shaoqiu’s father was greatly relieved.

  Roland took a breath of relief too.

  Then, he and Qi Shaoqiu’s father went to the ICU, but they were stopped from going in.

  The nurse responsible for the unit even said, “Just go back. You can’t help with anything now that he’s been sent to the ICU. You might as well go home and take a rest. Just make sure that you take all your calls. We’ll inform you to come if anything happens.”


  That was fair and reasonable, but anybody with the slightest love for their family would feel uneasy to see them lying in the ICU. They wouldn’t dare to go far away, much less get some sleep.

  The Qi family didn’t go home but sat down in the lobby.

  Roland said to Night Tide Sands, “I’ll go back to the saber arts club and help you take care of things there. Call me if anything is wrong.”


  Night Tide Sands nodded softly.

  In terms of the time they started learning the saber art, Roland was the earliest. In terms of capabilities, Roland was even stronger than Qi Shaoqiu, so it was fine for Roland to substitute for him.

  After all, this was a traditional saber arts club, and many people were willing to listen to Roland who was sort of a “senior brother.”


  So, it was a rather rational decision that he went there to take care of the saber arts club.

  Roland nodded at Qi Shaoqiu’s parents and left the hospital.

  After Roland left, Qi Shaoqiu’s mother turned her head and asked Qi Shaoqiu, “Is he that Huang Wenwei that you and Shaoqiu talked about a lot?”


  Roland’s real name was Huang Wenwei.

  Night Tide Sands continued nodding.

  “He’s not bad. He was willing to escort Shaoqiu here and help with the procedural work. He paid for the emergency treatment, didn’t he?” Night Tide Sands said softly, “I would’ve been too anxious to know what to do without his help.”


  Qi Shaoqiu’s father sighed. He would’ve been smiling happily now that his daughter had found a good guy if his son weren’t still in the ICU.

  He could only heave a sigh. “He’s a good kid. You should see him more often.”


  Night Tide Sands slightly lowered her head. “Let’s talk about that after my big brother wakes up.”


  Roland found a public bike outside the hospital and rode it all the way back to the saber arts club.

  The saber arts club was in a strange atmosphere at this moment.

  More than twenty students were gathered. They pointed at the condensed blood on the ground and talked, some surprised, some gloating, and some simply scornful.

  Of course, more than half of them looked worried.

  They were all ill at ease!

  That was understandable. Their teacher was already gravely wounded. Could he still teach them saber arts?

  After Roland arrived at the field, many students found him and immediately gathered around him, asking about Qi Shaoqiu’s condition.

  Hearing that Qi Shaoqiu was all right for now, they were greatly relieved.

  After all, they were all acquaintances, and people tended to hope that others were safe as long as their interests didn’t conflict.

  However, some people always thought differently.

  “Senior Brother……” A man around nineteen years old shouted in a queer voice. “Master Qi was heavily wounded. Even if he makes a full recovery, I don’t think he can teach us anymore with a severed arm. Can you ask Night Tide Sands if we can have a refund of our tuition fees?”


  “Qi Shaoqiu’s arm has been reattached. He will probably be back to teach you in one to two months.” Roland looked around and added, “Until then, I’ll be your teacher.”


  Many students were relieved.

  They had been studying saber arts here for a long time, so they had all seen Roland sparring with Qi Shaoqiu and knew that Roland was stronger than Qi Shaoqiu at this point.

  Naturally, they were happy that Roland was willing to take over the teacher’s job.

  However, a third of the students weren’t aware of that.

  After all, Roland had barely come to the saber arts club in the recent half-year.

  He had spent most of his time practicing the Daoists’ Nourishment of Life at home to build up his mental power.

  Even if he did come, he was only here for Night Tide Sands’ breakfast. He only watched his friends exercise with each other, and he barely went to the field anymore. So, the new students didn’t know exactly what he was capable of.

  People could do all kinds of things because of ignorance. This third of students began to grumble.

  “We know you’re a student just like us. Why are you being so pretentious? Do we have to pay tuition fees to you too?”


  “We’re told that you’re even stronger than Master Qi. Then why didn’t you start a saber arts club of your own? Are you staying here because of Night Tide Sands?” “I want to quit. Can I ask for a refund?”


  The six men challenged Roland by saying that.

  They surrounded Roland, not exactly because they wanted to beat him up, but because they wanted to look more intimidating.

  Hearing what they said, the students who didn’t want to quit before were thinking to ask for a refund and leave too.

  Roland glanced around at the six students and said, “You’re new here, you can get a full refund. However, we’ll charge you for your equipment. After all, it costs money to make all the equipment.”


  “How much is the equipment?” A young man took a pull of his cigarette and then exhaled the smoke, before he asked disrespectfully, “It doesn’t happen to be exactly the amount of the tuition fees, so that you don’t need to give us any money back, right?”


  “Not very much. Just one thousand.” Roland smiled. “Some of you paid by installments. You should know how much money you can get back.”


  Thanks to Roland’s suggestion, the saber arts club now had different plans and accepted monthly installments. The students could pay the tuition fees over six, twelve, or thirty months; they didn’t have to pay all at once like before.

  “I’d like a refund right now. Can I?” the smoking guy asked with a smile. “Three of us have paid in full. The other four have paid for several months too. Together, we’ve probably already paid 100,000 yuan. Do you have that much money?”


  Roland smiled. “Of course I do. Then, are you sure you want a refund?”


  “I certainly am.” The smoking young man blew a ring of smoke. “This miaodao technique is absolutely useless. He was stabbed without being able to put up any resistance.” “That’s because he was ambushed. In an open battle…… not just two people, even the six of you couldn’t have been a match for Qi Shaoqiu.”


  The smoking young man sneered. He crossed his arms and raised one of his hands that was holding the cigarette he’d almost finished. “I believe that Master Qi can defeat six ordinary people, but he’s in the hospital now. You’re the one teaching us, and I don’t believe that you can beat six!”


  “Let’s try it.” Roland smiled.

  “Let’s.” The young man with a cigarette smiled. “But I don’t use miaodao. I want a straight sword. Do you have any in this place?”


  Roland was stunned at first. Then he smiled happily as if he had seen prey. “It’s in the warehouse. Let’s put on wooden armor before the match.”


  “Are you afraid of being hurt by us?” asked the smoking young man.

  “I’m afraid that you’ll be maimed.”


  Looking at the confidence, if not arrogance, on Roland’s face, the young man suddenly didn’t feel very good.

  The other students were delighted to watch the drama.

  About fifteen minutes later, six men wailed and writhed on the cement floor.

  The wooden saber could be very painful, even though they were wearing armor.

  The other students looked at Roland in admiration. Those who were thinking to quit all dropped the idea.

  The few people spent fourteen minutes putting on the armor, selecting weapons, and warming up.

  It took Roland only one minute to beat them to the ground.

  The saber was fast and heavy, but Roland didn’t even break a sweat.

  It was definitely a bargain to learn from such a master!

  Why on earth should they ask for a refund?