Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Wang Qian and Li Kun didn’t know where the broken branches flew from, but the motorcyclists believed they knew the answer. They thought it was Wang Qian and Li Kun since the two of them were close and the only ones who could have pulled off the stunt. The branches had caused them serious pain, if it wasn’t for their protection gear, they might not have been able to stand up anymore.

  “This is a warning, mind your own business!” One of the bikers cried out, pointing at them, his voice muffled by his helmet.

  Even now, they didn’t ease their grip on the bag.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun never wanted to cause trouble, as they have yet to complete their cultivation of immortality. Right now, they should be keeping a low profile instead of taking on challenges way out of their league.

  However, when it came down to it, they weren’t afraid of trouble. In unison, they let out a cry as they flung their malatang bowls towards the two motorcyclists.

  The two bowls of malatang were fresh out of the pot. The soup was at least 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

  The motorcyclists wore helmets, but due to the fall, they now had cracks. However, the oil from the malatang splashed onto their visor and made their view blurry. For ventilation purposes, the helmets were windproof, but not waterproof. Once the hot soup made its way through the small ventilation slits of the helmet, they bellowed in agony and wrapped their hands around their head, trying to remove their helmet.

  With the success of their attack, Wang Qian and Li Kun’s confidence grew. Taking of advantage of the fact that the motorcyclists were unable to see clearly, the two of them rushed forwards and started punching and kicking the two motorcyclists.

  “How dare you steal someone’s bag! I hate thieves!”


  “Scr*w you! Flaunting how fierce you are? Don’t you know we’re trained?”


  “Give him a good one!”


  They were pumping themselves up with all the trash talk, punching, and kicking.

  By the time the motorcyclists took off their helmets, they had already suffered from a number of blows. They seemed to be the same age of Wang Qian and Li Kun, although their exact appearance couldn’t be made out because of the soup and strings of translucent vermicelli hanging from their ears. The spicy soup had made its way into their eyes, making them unable to open their eyes.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun had only ever trained their verbal skills, their punches and kicks lacked strength and experience. They didn’t dare take things too far as they were afraid of what would happen if the two motorcyclists suffered from serious injuries, so there wasn’t substantial damage done to the motorcyclists.

  However, it was a different matter for the motorcyclists. They had to flee the scene as the police might arrive soon, so they had to do everything they could to get rid of the two troublemakers quickly.

  Desperate times call for desperate measures, and a punch was thrown towards Wang Qian’s face.

  Wang Qian was panic-stricken, he instinctively closed his eyes and subconsciously cast his palm outwards.

  “Aiya!”


  The person who went down wasn’t Wang Qian, but the motorcyclist who threw the punch. He was holding his ribs in pain, it seemed like Wang Qian had delivered quite a heavy blow.

  However, the sensation in Wang Qian’s fingertips told him that he barely brushed the side of his body. If he didn’t use great force, why is the motorcyclist in so much pain?

  Li Kun had a similar situation. His opponent dodged his punch, but for some reason, went limp and fell towards his fist, suffering a solid blow. Li Kun punched him in the chest, but the motorcyclist held onto the back of his neck.

  “Wow! You guys are really impressive!”


  “Yeah, have you guys practiced before?”


  The surrounding crowd were amazed and clapped excitedly. Under the night sky, no one was able to see the fight clearly, so they all believed that it was really Wang Qian and Li Kun who took down the thieves with one move.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun were dumbstruck, they couldn’t figure out why their opponents were so weak. Could it be that during their long period of time spent by master’s side, they had unknowingly succeeded in their cultivation of immortality? They heard that the most bada** practitioners were able to cultivate while they were asleep, could it be that they awakened such ability by chance?

  Li Kun picked up the designer bag and handed it back to its owner, who was also a Binhai University student. The bag was a Christmas gift from her boyfriend, so along with its monetary value, it also had sentimental value.

  She was very thankful to both Wang Qian and Li Kun, she kept thanking them until they felt embarrassed.

  It didn’t take long for the police to arrive.

  As the incident happened in the vicinity of Binhai University, and to one of their students, the school’s security team leader arrived at the scene with his men and persuaded the students that weren’t involved to return back to school.

  Since the details of the incident were obvious, and since there were a number of witnesses, the police were able to gather statements and leave with the two motorcyclists in their custody quickly.

  “Are you two students of Binhai University?” The security team leader overheard Wang Qian and Li Kun giving their statements to the police earlier, so he came over to investigate further.

  “Yes.” They wouldn’t be able to hide anything even if they wanted to, so they were honest when they gave their class, names, and student identification numbers.

  The security team leader took down their information, smiled as he gave them a pat on their shoulders, and said, “Good job! Being brave for a honorable cause is a great thing that doesn’t happen often. Have either of you received any honors or badges of recognition before?”


  Wang Qian gave it a thought and said after a moment, “Does one from primary school count?”


  Li Kun added, “I once made it to Diamond Rank in King of Glory.”


  Ever since they were young, their academic results had always been average, far from any honorable achievements. Even in games, they had never once made it to the top ranks.

  The security team leader replied, “Forget it, you guys can head back. If we need anything else, I’ll look for the two of you again.”


  “Will what we’ve done be considered as actions made for a just cause?” the unsure two asked. It was an impulse decision to dump their bowls of soup onto the motorcyclists head, if it counted as excessive self-defence things could get messy.

  “If what the two of you described indeed happened, then yes it’ll be considered as actions made for a just cause,” he explained. “The two of you stopped lawbreakers who committed a crime. They refused to let go of the bag and only did so when you took them down. Once they let go, the two of you stopped hurting them. If that’s not actions made for a just cause, then I don’t know what is. Even if it’s not, rest assured the school will take it to court for the two of you.”


  The girl whose bag was stolen, spoke up, “Don’t worry, I’m willing to testify for the both of you. Everyone else only stood by, while the two of you helped retrieve my bag!” It was clear that she had opinions about the onlookers who did nothing.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun both let out a sigh of relief. They really wanted to say that they weren’t the ones who stopped the motorcycle and that they didn’t have such capabilities, but things would get complicated, so they kept it to themselves.

  “It’s getting late, the two of you should head back,” the security team leader said. He gave them a meaningful look before saying, “Remember to keep your phones on, in case the school wants to reach you.”


  Bewildered, Wang Qian and Li Kun nodded.

  The security team leader and his men took the female student back to school. As the crowd slowly dispersed and the vendors packed up, the small alley soon became silent.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun both felt like they had just experienced a dream.

  “Sh*t! The malatang was dumped before I even had a bite!” Wang Qian whined as he slapped his thigh.

  Li Kun too felt his pain, but after a second thought, he laughed, “It’s okay, we didn’t pay for it anyway.” The two of them soon brightened up, turning their previous sorrow to joy.

  Wang Qian, remembering they had business to take care of, counted his remaining cards, “I still have a few pieces before I’m done, you?”


  Li Kun was dazed for a moment. “Oh sh*t! Speaking of, while I was picking up the bag for the lady, I think I stuck my last piece onto her bag.”


  “…”


  Li Kun seemed to realized that he did something wrong. “You can’t blame me for this, I’m used to it! What do you think will happen when her boyfriend finds the sticker on her bag?”


  “Sh*t happens,” Wang Qian answered with finality.

  There was a cold breeze at the same time their blood boiled. They had finally surpassed their master in one thing, separating a couple.

  “Will her boyfriend take revenge on us?” Li Kun asked.

  “Who knows? I think it’s best if we visit the pet store more often or stay at home. We need to avoid going to school so often, someday we just might get stabbed to death.” Wang Qian sensibly made a decision.

  The two of them followed the other side of the pathway back, walking along as they discussed what happened. They couldn’t figure out what caused the motorcycle to flip? Was it a mechanical fault or was it something paranormal? What about the broken branches?

  They put up the few remaining cards on their way back. To avoid suspicion, they kept one to paste it outside the pet store.

  Not far behind them, on the roofs of neighboring stores, a ghostly figure loomed, making use of billboards, damaged lightboxes and various objects to keep hidden. The occasional exposure under moonlight wasn’t to catch it as it was so fast, people suspect that they’ve been seeing things.

  The figure wore a bamboo hat and a thin mandarin jacket. Just one look into its bright yellow eyes, it was clear that they didn’t belong to a human. Yet, those eyes don’t instil fear as hidden within them lies peace and overflowing strength.

  Old Time Tea followed Wang Qian and Li Kun from above. They were too engrossed in their conversation to notice.

  Raising its head to look at the night sky, it saw only a handful of stars. A cat’s eyesight is inherently unsuitable for long distances. It was only after taking on the form of an elfin that it was now able to clearly see what a night sky looked like.

  Today, it had suggested to Zhang Zian that it would accompany Wang Qian and Li Kun on their trip. Zhang Zian was surprised and tried to persuade it to change times, as it was too cold at night. Lately, Old Time Tea felt that if it stayed in the store any longer, its bones and body would start rusting, so it persisted on tagging along. Who knew that it’d help out Wang Qian and Li Kun, who wouldn’t have been able to get through the incident at the female student’s hostel.

  Taking down the motorcyclists was unexpected. Old Time Tea would never let criminals get away, so it made its move to punish the two motorcyclists, while conveniently giving the credit to Wang Qian and Li Kun. They’ve been diligent and hardworking in the pet store, so they deserve a reward.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun made a turn up ahead, taking the shortest route back to the pet store.

  Old Time Tea picked up a small pebble and threw it in the other direction, to remind them to head home instead of returning to the pet store. However, the noise only heightened their suspicions that it really was a paranormal incident, so they both intentionally avoided going home.

  Old Time Tea couldn’t help, but smile. The two boys were straightforward people, often thinking one way and not the other. When they do try, it usually ended wrong, so there was nothing to do, but to let them continue.

  These days, Old Time Tea had a feeling that Zhang Zian has things on his mind, and although there was no proof, its gut feeling said that the matter is related to itself.

  Was it the new year that reminded him of the issue with its age?

  Old Time Tea felt that such concerns were unnecessary. Zhang Zian was still young which is why he worried about such stuff. Getting old and passing on is the cycle of life, even for cats. To try going against it, to change fate, the price is severe.

  Even so, does a way to challenge the course of nature, to change one’s own fate even exist?

  Soon the pet store is in sight, the light on the second floor is already off, leaving only the bathroom light on. Wang Qian and Li Kun arrived at the doorstep and realized that there was no need for them to return back to the pet store.

  They softly discussed for a moment, stuck the last card onto the shutter door, said their goodbyes to one another and headed back to their respective homes.

  Once they left, Old Time Tea leapt up to the window of the second-floor bathroom, silently opened the window frame with its claws and made its way into the store. After it was safely inside, it shut the window and locked it.

  “Grandpa Tea, you’re back.”


  Zhang Zian hadn’t gone to bed. He felt a breeze blow in and knew that Old Time Tea was back. He intentionally left the toilet window unlocked for Old Time Tea.

  “Zian, why aren’t you asleep yet? Didn’t I tell you that you didn’t have to wait for me?” Old Time Tea removed his bamboo hat. Returning from the cold, it found itself liking the warmth of indoors more.

  Zhang Zian pointed towards the direction of the living room, dimmed lights were seen through the darkness.

  “It’s okay, Pi isn’t asleep either.”


  Old Time Tea nodded its head. “Go to bed, tomorrow is another early day for you. The two kids went home safely, nothing much happened.”


  It didn’t intentionally hide what happened. It just felt that punishing two criminals was insignificant compared to its eventful cat life.