Romance of Dragons and Snakes

But the skin on his face and hands hadn’t the slightest of wrinkles and was a rosy red. He clearly maintained his own health well.

As Wang Ziwen walked forward, two plain-clothed soldiers came with him. As he approached, there was a kind smile on his face before shaking Wang Chao’s hand.

“Ah, a genius is a genius. You share the same surname as I do, that makes us family. A few dozen years ago, our ancestral family had came out with the “War Saint” Wang Xiangzhai, but I never would have thought that in today’s world, our family would come out with yet another young expert.”

When Wang Ziwen came up to shake Wang Chao’s hand, he shook it twice before slapping him on the shoulder in an affectionate manner as if he was the older generation rewarding the younger generation. Combined with the power gained from his status, this had given Wang Chao a type of respect meant for the wise.

“When minister Wang came to hear about your battle with Duan Guochao, he came to look over this matter personally. It was minister Wang that had resolved your problem.” The investigator at the minister’s side responded.

“Xiao Li, don’t speak of our work matters. I came here today to greet the talent within my ancestral family in a personal capacity.” Wang Ziwen shook his hand while staring at the sword in Wang Chao’s hand, “Were you practicing the sword so early in the morning? I heard that your martial arts with your hands and feet were quite well, but I didn’t think you would be well-versed in the art of the sword as well. Come, come, let me take a look at your delicate swordplay.”

“Minister Wang….”

“Eh? Don’t call me that, just call me uncle. We are both men from the same family after all.” Wang Ziwen corrected Wang Chao before affectionately patting him on the shoulder once more.

This series of speech and actions had been done in a natural, kind, and affectionate manner that reflected well with his status without any air of arrogance.

If any other talented person were to be clapped on the shoulder, had his hand shaken, and praised by Wang Ziwen, they would have been moved and impressed. But Wang Chao had already a first impression of Wang Ziwen.

To Wang Chao, Wang Ziwen was a bureaucrat that had just been reprimanded.

“Just what is Wang Ziwen planning? With his status, a group of armed guards and a group of doctors follow him wherever he goes. Even his urinal matter is analyzed on a day to day basis to prevent poisoning. Him visiting me in such an affectionate matter, just what is he thinking?” Although I can fight a little, I am nothing but a stone in his line of work. I don’t wish to get involved in politics, so I should not be so accepting of this kindness of his.”

Wang Chao was no longer the foolish little boy he was a long time ago. After living for so many years, he had already a good understanding on how people worked.

“Just this morning, a man named Jiang Hai came to compete with me. I took his sword, prompting him to leave after that.”

Wang Chao hadn’t called Wang Ziwen uncle and had explained in a calm and peaceful voice. But hidden within the depths of his voice was an arrow ready to spring so that Wang Ziwen’s power from his official position wouldn’t be able to take hold of him.

In front of this major figure, Wang Chao gave no leeway of appearing weak to him.

If Wang Ziwen’s might was established due to his political clout, then Wang Chao’s might was honed by the many life or death battles and cultivated by the spirit of Chinese boxing. He would naturally have the air of a master.

A practitioner would have the unyielding spirit of one. Even up against the world itself, they would remain calm.

When close at hand, a man could overtake a country, and when a horse was angry, blood could spilled before five steps were taken. It took ten steps to kill a man, and a thousand steps would mean none was spared. A true chivalrous practitioner wouldn’t bother to scrape and beg at the knee of a prince and would instead be like a hawk that finds its prey from above a temple.

“The son of the Jiangs? Jiang Hai?” When Wang Ziwen saw that Wang Chao hadn’t moved an inch and hadn’t bothered to call him uncle, there was a brilliant flash of light in his eyes. “Another man with the same haughtiness as Duan Guochao. He takes himself to be a man of power that could defy the aristocracy and slow the government.”

In an instant, Wang Ziwen had ascertained Wang Chao’s personality.

But suddenly, he felt that something was wrong.

“Eh? This isn’t right–this youngster’s aura. Even in front of him, I still feel pressured. He acts as if he is of a higher status than I am to him. A feeling like this is akin to what I feel when I look to the elder of my own family, but why?”

It was afterwards that he had realized that this young man’s aura had hidden a great amount of pressure within this calmness of his. In his eyes especially, it had managed to oppress even him.

Every single time he went to the military district and see his old man, he would be scolded. The feeling that his old man gave him was the exact same as this one.

“How can that be? From the body of a youngster, the aura of my old man can be felt? Is my health failing me, or is my head growing senile?” Wang Ziwen scrunched together his eyebrows and tried to calm his nerves.

In truth, Wang Chao had been enlightened on the way to hone the heart when he had been with the elder Li. To have the aura of a man from the previous generation had been nothing strange. But there would be no way for Wang Ziwen to know of such a fact.

“So it was the son of the Jiangs. That kid has some skill that I heard was on par with Duan Guochao. But if Duan Guochao lost to you, then Jiang Hai’s defeat at your hands was to be expected. Youngster, your victory over Duan Guochao had many people of mine object over it. While I managed to rein over some of them, there will be some that will personally come to challenge you. But still, a youngster going around fighting and killing isn’t a good thing. In the case a serious problem occurs, it will be hard to hide it.”

Wang Ziwen smiled, “Youngster, the women in my family all enjoy learning some martial arts here and then. If you have the time, please come to my household and teach them a thing or two.”

“I will.” Wang Chao nodded.

“Youngster, work hard. Do not waste the time and discipline of the organization.” Wang Ziwen spoke those two words and turned around to walk away. After taking two steps away, he suddenly turned his head around, “Ah, youngster, a part of your files and that Lin Yanan’s files are all located at the 18th bureau of the Ministry of State Security. Now that the investigation is over, take it back with you. It’ll be considered gone as soon as you hand it over to your higher ups. Furthermore, do take the time to talk with those other youngsters so that their hostility may become friendships. It’ll save you and the organization some trouble in the case that another disagreement happens again.”

With that, Wang Ziwen turned around for the last time. And with the other guards, he entered his car without another look.

Wang Ziwen had came this time to determine just what type of person Wang Chao was, but he never would have imagined that he would be the one feeling pressured instead of Wang Chao. This was completely unexpected to him.

“What a fellow. Even in front of Wang Ziwen, you kept your cool.” The investigator Xiao Lai gave a thumbs up to Wang Chao after seeing that Wang Ziwen had left.

“Where is the 18th bureau located? Am I to pick up my records now? After doing so, where do I hand them off to?” Wang Chao asked.

“You’ve a month to rest. After picking up the records, you can just hand it off to your higher ups.” Xiao Li spoke. “Your ban has been lifted already. But the courtyards will be reused for the investigation bureau, meaning that you cannot stay here. If you wish to remain in Beijing, then you must reserve a hotel by yourself or contact your higher ups.”

As Xiao Li spoke, he nodded to the two guards that had been watching over Wang Chao for the past three days. The two of them immediately helped Wang Chao tidy up his things before handing them over and closing off the courtyard.

Wang Chao had changed into a clean pair of clothes before walking out of the courtyard with the sword he had taken from Jiang Hai. As he walked out, he could see the investigation team locking up the courtyards before climbing a car and disappearing off into a distance without a cloud of dust to be seen.

“I feel as if I am a newly-released prisoner. There is no food to eat, neither a place to stay now that I am released. There is no residence, and no food. It is a good thing I have money. If not for that, things would be quite difficult.”

Wang Chao had developed a good habit that no matter the situation, he would have several thousand RMB tucked away somewhere along with an ATM card with a generous amount of money.

In total, he had over ten million RMB on him.

This had been the habit he had developed from his impoverished past to his rich present.

After he found a nearby hotel, he reserved a room and deposited the sword and clothes inside. Then, taking his papers and changing into his military uniform, he hired a taxi to drive off towards the Ministry of State Security.

Like industry and commerce, state revenue service, military affairs, banks, and public security, the Ministry of State Security had its own specialized building.

After the taxi had arrived at his destination, Wang Chao alighted to look at the prestigious doors to the Ministry of State Security along with the gun-toting soldiers standing guard near it. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, “I am the one that killed Duan Guochao. Not many people here will look kindly to that. What will I do in case a fight does break out? Wang Ziwen said to exchange hostility into friendships and get to know some more people. In order to lessen the chance of conflict, I was to directly take the records and hand them over to my higher ups, he was adamant that I was the one to take it. Should I call Cao Yi first? But there’s no point to that either. I’ll have to consider it later, but first, what experts does the Ministry of State Security have? In these past few days, I have been stuck in the courtyard and yearned of the same achievements of Yang Luchan.”

Lifting his legs, Wang Chao walked towards the grand building before being stopped by the guards almost instantly.

Needless to say, these guards were very dedicated to their work. Just a little bit, they resembled the paper inspectors hired by Vladmir Ilyich Lenin from the Soviet Union.

But when Wang Chao flashed his military credentials and spoke of his mission, the guards gave a look over the papers and immediately relented the way.

“The halls of the Ministry of State Security is quite awe-inspiring and majestic. It beats the Ministry of Public Safety in lavishness.” As soon as he stepped into the hall, Wang Chao let out a single thought of praise.

The hall had been rather sparse and desolate, unlike the female receptionists at the reception desk. Scratching his head, Wang Chao had no idea where the 18th bureau would be or who to ask about it.

But when Wang Chao was in S province, he had learned form Yao Xiaoxue how most government buildings were managed. Immediately turning around several times, he walked down a corridor with his ears listening for any sound. Hearing something from an office, he immediately opened the door.

Two uniformed females could be seen sitting inside facing a computer. The rapid clattering sounds of the keyboard could be heard along with the shaking of their bodies. Evidently, one of them were playing the recently popular game, “Audition Online”.

Neither of the two moved away from their spot. Their eyes were transfixed on their screen. On the other monitor, the dark green light of the stock line diagram could be seen.

Even after shouting several times, neither of the two women seemed to have heard him.

“Why is it that we both work for the government, but while I spend my days fighting to the death, these two females sit in leisure in this office room? When man compares oneself to another, only anger will result.” Wang Cao laughed involuntarily. He was slightly envious of those office workers who had a cup of tea in one hand, and the daily newspaper in the other.

One woman was playing Audition Online, the other was speculating the stocks, but the both of them were mesmerized. Without any other choice, Wang Chao put some force in his legs and forced out the Jin of the Pounding Fist.

Immediately, the ground began to shake. Straight away, the woman staring at the stocks immediately came back to awareness, “Was that an earthquake?”

“It was not.” Wang Chao smiled.

“You are….” She looked at Wang Chao’s clothing, “What business do you have here?”

“Where might the 18th bureau be located?”

“The 18th bureau? That’s the 18th floor.”

Now that he had the answer, Wang Chao spoke his thanks. Before he could even turn around, the woman had already turned back to her screen. From start to end, the woman playing Audition Online hadn’t turned to look. From her appearance, even if she was assaulted, she still wouldn’t notice.

Ignoring them, Wang Chao headed straight for the 18th floor. Upon his arrival, he immediately heard several voices come from within an office space, “Brother Duan’s death was untimely, that bastard of a Wang Chao or whomever, he is far too much a bully!”

“I agree. That Wang Chao opened up a school in Laoshan I heard. Why don’t we find some time to go and challenge the school? I doubt that with so many people, we won’t be able to defeat him.

“Brother Duan was from the Shaolin Temple, does anyone know what the temple is doing in preparation?”

“I don’t know about the Shaolin Temple, but I heard that kid Jiang Hai went to challenge Wang Chao. I wonder how that went.”

“Boss Ma went to the Yiquan dojo earlier today. I heard that he went to find someone to deal with that Wang Chao in private.

From the many voices, Wang Chao could hear the anger and fury.

Shaking his head, Wang Chao walked in. Sure enough, the office space was wide. About 100 square meters–similar to that of the office building of a giant company. A series of tables could be seen arranged in a tidy order with about 30 to 40 men and women sitting together. Several of the women were sitting on top of the desk making fun of each other while several of the men talked amongst themselves.

As soon as Wang Chao entered through the door, nearly a hundred eyeballs swiveled to look at him.