Romance of Dragons and Snakes

In the evening, the family of three ate dinner. There was stir-fried bok choy, pickled vegetables, tofu, and hot and sour peppers. Wang Chao’s parents let out a sigh; their faces filled with exhaustion. Wang Chao’s father worked at a supermarket. He left early and came back late every day. The tough labor had already taken a heavy toll on this forty-year old body.

“En.” Wang Chao’s mother ate two small mouthfuls of food and then put down her chopsticks. She silently pinched her pockets. Her face was yellow due to an illness she got last year. Even though it had been cured, the treatment used up who knows how much of their savings.

Wang Chao understood all this, but he didn’t say anything. He just silently ate his food with his head lowered.

“I’m done. I’m going to go take a walk.” Wang Chao knew about their family’s financial crisis, but there was nothing he could do about it. But now, his confidence had grown, his head as well. He was already thinking of ways to make money.

“Come back early and be careful of the cars.” His mother reminded him. Wang Chao replied and then left.

The day was gradually getting darker. The scenery at night was beautiful. Wang Chao walked and walked until he reached the South Sports Center.

The South Sports Center was a huge place for many things. There was a place for video games, a basketball court, and even many Taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai schools. However, there was no school that taught Guoshu.

“All in!”

“Show your hand.”

“Ah, Golden Flower! Brother Liang, your luck is so good.”

The rowdy commotion got the attention of Wang Chao. Not too far away from him were five or six guys playing mahjong on a ping pong table. The leader was a young, bald male wearing a leather jacket. He had a knife scar across his throat, making him look extremely menacing.

Wang Chao had immediately recognized this male called brother Liang. He was a ruffian with around ten underlings. He frequently hung around outside of the school to cheat students of their money and flirt with girls.

In his first year, Wang Chao had once walked a bit close to a girl. One of his underlings saw this and said to brother Liang that Wang Chao was flirting with his girlfriend. He had forced Wang Chao to hand over his money and only after finding out that Wang Chao truly didn’t have any money on him, and so he punched and kicked Wang Chao a few times.

At that time, Wang Chao could only bear the humiliation because he was too afraid to fight back. But now his confidence had risen. Suddenly, out of the corners of his eyes, he noticed an underling next to brother Liang who was smoking and playing around with his lighter. He was the very same underling that had beat him up last year.

Wang Chao immediately flared up; his blood rushing to his face.

He was especially irritated when he saw the stacks of red hundred yuan bills on the table.

Blood rushed towards Wang Chao’s head as his anger rose and hatred boiled in his heart as he silently plotted.

“I’ve got a grudge and today, your daddy’s going to take revenge and make some profit at the same time.” Wang Chao quickly thought, “So many people. How am I going to fight this? I should first take out some people and then I’ll go from there. Should I take some money and then leave? Or should I do something else?”

Wang Chao calculated the various outcomes of his plan for a moment. Then, he sucked in a deep breath and then walked forward.

The group of people was focused entirely on the mahjong tiles. Hundreds of yuan bills were passed back and forth. It seemed like no one had noticed Wang Chao just yet.

“Brother Guang, it’s your turn to bet. I’m betting fifty!” A red-haired ruffian tapped the table towards Brother Guang. This brother Guang was the ruffian who had beaten up Wang Chao a year ago.

“What are you yelling for, you bitch.” Brother Guang seemed to have lost. He wasn’t happy at this fact and used his hands to slam the table.

“Lil’ Guang, don’t be so angry. Wait a bit and I’ll ask brother K to find a nice little girl for you to play with!” Brother Liang wiped his tiles and then puffed out a stream of smoke.

At this moment, Wang Chao had already reached brother Guang’s back. He suddenly grabbed Brother Guang’s hair and pulled backwards violently!

“Ah!” Brother Guang hadn’t been on guard when he was suddenly met with such a dirty trick and howled loudly towards the sky in pain.

*Kacha!* Wang Chao grabbed his hair and dragged both brother Guang and even the chair along the ground.

Wang Chao had already calculated what he would do next. The instant he grabbed the hair, his other hand swept the table. He didn’t know how many red bills he had grabbed, but he felt that his hands were full and quickly stuffed the bills into his pocket.

This time, everyone at the table noticed him and immediately stood up.

Wang Chao kicked the table over. he then fiercely stamped on Brother Guang’s face and then jumped back two or three meters like a monkey.

Wang Chao’s leg strength had increased by quite a bit through practicing the “Horse Stance”, and since “Monkey Stealing the Peach” was an attack move, it would not do.

Practicing the three integrals of the body had taken an effect on Wang Chao as well. His spirit brimmed with energy and his strength was abundant. Wang Chao wasn’t even breathing hard after the quick combo.

These movements had already been calculated ahead of time by Wang Chao. And just as expected, the gang wasn’t able to react in time.

Hearing Brother Guang roll on the ground screeching made Wang Chao feel extremely satisfied as if Zhu Bajie had eaten ginseng. Every pore in his body opened with excitement.

“Hitting people really does feel good! I’ve lived for so many years and today I get to blow off all my steam! How great!”

“Son of a bitch, you’re looking to die!”

Brother Liang was the first to react. He picked up a wooden stool and threw it at him. With just one look, you could see that he was extremely experienced in fighting.

Wang Chao hastily dodged the chair but brother Liang had already closed in and kicked towards Wang Chao’s stomach.

Brother Liang’s stool into kick move was very practiced, a clear reflection of the countless fights he had been in.

Wang Chao had never fought before. His experience was clearly lacking a bit and he was hit by Brother Liang’s kick.

Luckily, the results of practicing the Horse Stance so often had paid off. Wang Chao being kicked hadn’t resulted in him tumbling towards the ground. He moved back two steps, but his stomach didn’t even hurt.

“If I had fell, then I’d have been done for! Fortunately, his kicks have no strength behind them. It doesn’t hurt at all!” When Wang Chao stepped back, he saw that five or six nearby ruffians had lifted up their stools or their bats.

Wang Chao stood with his three integrals form and breathed lightly. He still had some ability to defend himself.

Brother Liang truly was someone who frequently fought with others. Seeing how his kick hadn’t caused Wang Chao to collapse, he stared blankly for a brief moment, and then pounced over with his fists clenched.

Wang Chao hastily turned around, leaving his back facing Brother Liang.

Brother Liang’s fist hit Wang Chao’s back. Wang Chao endured the pain as he suddenly turned around and used a “Lifting Yin Palm”.

Wang Chao had practiced the Lifting Yin Palm nearly ten thousand times in the past two months. He couldn’t have been any more proficient in this move if he tried.

Brother Liang reacted to it, but even though he blocked the elbow, Wang Chao’s arm shot out like a bullet onto Brother Liang’s testicle.

Brother Liang immediately crouched down, clutching his pants as he rolled on the ground in agonizing pain, losing the ability to continue the fight. Wang Chao turned on his heel and ran away immediately.

That was because there were still six or seven people surrounding him.

Wang Chao didn’t even have the time to pick up the scattered red bills on the ground.

But Wang Chao was a little curious as he thought: “These gangsters gambled with quite a lot of money. Where’d they get it all from?”

The Sports Center was very large, but it was enclosed on all four sides. The only exit was being blocked by two ruffians. Wang Chao knew that if any one of them grabbed him, he’d immediately be surrounded by the others and it’d be over for him. He continued to run and headed towards the stairs.

The six or seven people shouted as they chased after him.

The fight had given rise to quite a riot, causing people from all over the sports center to come and watch the excitement. The place was like a bustling food market.

Wang Chao’s legs were quick and he had a lot of stamina. After running for a bit, he was finally able to shake them off.

“Should I go over and beat them up some more to gain experience?”

Just as these evil thoughts arose in Wang Chao’s head, he suddenly heard the sounds of sirens. A police car had driven in. Someone had been watching the fight and had called the police.