Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Cao Yi hadn’t neglected Zhu Jia at all and escorted her back in a police car. She lived in the southern part of downtown where it was a little isolated. Even at the door, Zhu Jia had been inconvenienced by her ankle and so she had Wang Chao accompany her to the elevator.

There were 15 floors to the building, but it wasn’t as big as Wang Chao thought. There were two lounges and had an elegant arrangement. There was calligraphy paintings on the walls with green setose asparagus plants decorating the place. By the windows, there were wind chimes that rang out with a melodious sound each time a wind passed through it, giving the place a scholarly and elegant feel. It was not like some of the other female houses where several dolls could be seen.

“Ah, sit down.”

When Zhu Jia was sitting on the sofa with her eyes closed, she had suddenly realized she was lacking manners and quickly invited Wang Chao to sit down.

“Is your ankle alright?” Wang Chao looked around the place with a reserved glance.

“There’s no pain now. If I go to sleep, it’ll be fully healed I’m sure.” Zhu Jia shook her leg as an attempt to feel it. Sure enough, it was not as bad as before, allowing her to make a cup of tea for Wang Chao. “I’ve troubled you today, allow me to treat you out to a meal another day as thanks.”

Taking a sip of the tea, Wang Chao began to think about the fight he had with the Crane styled Wingchun expert Lin Lijun, “It was a one sided battle. I couldn’t keep up with his offense; his martial arts was really too amazing. Zhao Xinglong’s words about the coast having a lot of strong martial artists weren’t a lie after all. Right now, I’m truly the frog at the bottom of the well. But that Chenshi Corporation, this has to be the third time I’ve heard about them. Just what is their history?”

The first time he had heard about the Chenshi Corporation had been when Cao Jingjing had been kidnapped. The second time had been when Zhao Xinglong talked about the multimillion bet. This third time was in regards to the criminal drug trafficking ring and that they were stationed in Singapore.

“No wonder they wanted to use Cao Jingjing’s kidnapping as a way to force Cao Yi into their group. It would open up a drug route into the mainlands.”

Connecting the series of events together, Wang Chao was able to look at it from a bystander’s perspective and piece together several more clues.

Wang Chao had a feeling that in the future, he would be coming across the Chenshi Corporation many times.

But this wasn’t a sudden realization. After hearing Zhao Xinglong’s story, he knew that the number one expert in the coastal area was Chen Aiyang. As a martial artist, Wang Chao wanted to know what he was like. But right now, he didn’t have the right to even see him,

“Hello, is it Shanshan? Did you want to come over tonight? I’m bored and need someone to talk to!” Just as Wang Chao was preparing to say goodbye, Zhu Jia was making a phone call. “What, you’re working overtime? That’s fine, another time then.”

Putting down the phone, Zhu Jia began to put in another number, “Hello, Honghong? I’m bored at home today, want to hang out? What? You’re with your boyfriend? Ah…that’s fine then…”

Calling number after number, Zhu Jia wasn’t able to find a single person and grew depressed with each phone call.

“After killing someone with a gun for the first time, it would be a problem if she wasn’t afraid.” Wang Chao understood just what feelings Zhu Jia was going through.

“Is your marksmanship good? I heard that if a person with not enough training were to shoot a person standing still, it would fail to land, is that true?”

When Wang Chao asked his question, Zhu Jia instantly thought back to her circumstances and began to tremble. Forcing out a smile, she nodded, “That’s true for the most part. A bullet will miss its mark 60 or 70% of the time. There’s also a good chance of injuring yourself, but I’ve practiced target shooting before already.”

Because many of the past martial artists had died by gunfire, Wang Chao naturally had an interest in them. But in reality, he wasn’t willing to bother trying to learn marksmanship and instead just wanted to understand it.

Although he wanted to ask more about it, Wang Chao knew what was going on in Zhu Jia’s heart. Not willing to dwell anymore on it, he quickly changed the topic.

“Do you live by yourself in this place?”

“Yes, it’s just me. My house is in the capital, so this is just a temporary home for me.” Zhu Jia nodded.

“This place is pretty nice and quiet.” Wang Chao spoke before adding on his goodbyes, “You should rest up, I’ll be returning now.”

“Hold on, stay for a moment longer.” Zhu Jia seemed as if she was afraid of being alone, so when Wang Chao said that the place was quiet, her face scrunched up subconsciously. “I’ll take a shower, so just stay here for now. In a moment I want to interview you. I am quite interested in making a martial artist exclusive interview.”

Back during the interview amongst the gunfire, she had been courageous and did not appear to be afraid. But now that everything was over, the fear was creeping up on her.

For the sake of speaking to dilute her fear, she had asked Wang Chao to remain behind, but her words were already almost incoherent.

“Alright.” In that moment, Wang Chao seemed as if he had already grasped the enemy’s movements and prepared to understand how Zhu Jia’s heart worked.

“People have said that a woman’s heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. Just how is it that I understand what she is thinking about?” Shaking his head, Wang Chao tried to dispel any random thoughts from his mind, but Zhu Jia had already walked out of the room.

Soon enough, the splashing sounds of water could be heard from the bathroom on the other side of the room.

Instead of having any perverse thoughts, Wang Chao began to think about the fight he had with the Crane styled Wingchun expert Lin Lijun.

Unknowingly, he stood up and began to go through the motions of recreating the fight. He was deeply immersed in the memories of his fight with Lin Lijun.

“What are you imitating now, how did you get so meticulous with your training?”

Out of nowhere, a sound had jolted Wang Chao out from his thoughts. Tilting his head, Wang Chao saw Zhu Jia appear out of nowhere dressed in relaxed clothing and her hair wrapped with a towel. She looked much more charming than when she was in her business suit which made her seem cold.

“A boxer must stick to his task, and rest a singer’s mouth should not ask!” Wang Chao stared at Zhu Jia, “A day without practicing is to grow slow in both hand and leg. Two days without practicing is to lost half of everything. Three days of no practice is to become an amateur, and four days is to become blind to martial arts.”

“Pwomph!” While Wang Chao was talking, Zhu Jia had sat back down, “Okay, let’s talk then. With your martial arts, can you use a reed to cross the river or fly across the skies?”

“Those are just myths.” Wang Chao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry before beginning to set things straight.

Zhu Jia had only wanted a person to talk to. As they talked, Wang Chao’s words began to grow more and more amiable and enthusiastic before Zhu Jia suddenly blurted out. “Why is it that you don’t sweat at all? I could see that your movements were always so fierce and intense.”

Smiling, Wang Chao explained it to her. Then, he began to ask his own questions like her family, work, and even her age. Even her seventh uncle and eight aunt had been talked about.

After a while, Zhu Jia’s eyelids began to droop before finally falling asleep on the sofa. After being frightened, she had finally succumbed to her fatigue.

After seeing this, Wang Chao could only leave the place. Out on the streets, the sky was already quickly turning bright with even the birds tweeting out loud.

With the sky all bright now, Zhu Jia had woken up with a start. After inspecting her body for anything wrong, she began to think about yesterday night’s events.

“Did I actually let a guy stay overnight?” Zhu Jia thought to herself in amazement.