Chapter 114: Kung Fu

[Mission: Teach Pei Xin martial arts, ensuring she learns at least one style. Time limit: one week.
Temporary Skills:
Martial Arts Master: Mastery of martial arts from ancient to modern, domestic and foreign, with combat ability far beyond ordinary people.
Distinguished Teacher Produces Outstanding Students: When instructing, able to make it easier for students to understand.]

This was the task that had just appeared.

The reason Jiang Zheng suddenly changed his mind was because this mission popped up.

If it weren’t for the task, Jiang Zheng wouldn’t have agreed to teach Pei Xin. Even if someone tried to persuade him, he would remain unmoved.

Jiang Zheng looked at Pei Xin and said, “If you want to learn, start tomorrow. After lunch, come find me on the playground.”

“Huh? Starting tomorrow? Isn’t that a bit too soon?” Pei Xin feigned shyness.

Jiang Zheng rolled his eyes and replied, “Whether you come or not is up to you. If you don’t show up, don’t blame me.”

“I’ll definitely come! Senior, you must wait for me tomorrow,” Pei Xin said eagerly.

Jiang Zheng nodded and then said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be off.”

“Senior, don’t you want to stay with me a little longer?” Pei Xin said pitifully.

“Hmm, no, I don’t,” Jiang Zheng said bluntly.

Pei Xin hadn’t expected him to be so straightforward. Her usual pitiful act seemed to have no effect on him anymore.

Jiang Zheng didn’t linger and strode toward the school gate.

Watching Jiang Zheng’s retreating figure, a faint, interested smile curved Pei Xin’s lips.

“This is somewhat interesting.”

Carrying his laptop and peripherals, Jiang Zheng headed back to the dormitory. To avoid running into Pei Xin, he even took a detour, deliberately avoiding passing by the playground.

Once back in the dorm, Jiang Zheng opened the packaging. Paid-for items truly made a difference; even the packaging was especially secure.

Taking out the laptop, he immediately felt a different quality in his hands—that’s the difference a good computer brings.

“Old Fourth, that laptop doesn’t look cheap, does it?” Liu Hua came over to ask.

Zhou Quanyi stood nearby silently. He could tell that the price of this laptop was definitely not cheap.

Of course, the laptop he currently used wasn’t cheap either.

What surprised him was that Jiang Zheng actually sold such a laptop. That didn’t align with Jiang Zheng’s usual frugal image.

This laptop alone must have cost over twenty thousand yuan. When had Jiang Zheng ever been willing to spend so much on a laptop?

For a moment, Zhou Quanyi was filled with confusion.

“Not too bad, not very expensive,” Jiang Zheng said.

Liu Hua looked intrigued and said, “Old Fourth, I’m thinking about upgrading my laptop too. Tell me about yours. It looks pretty good. Maybe I’ll get one for myself.”

He wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about computers; to him, the main use was gaming, and as long as it could handle games, that was enough.

At that moment, Wang Bing suddenly spoke up, “That laptop should be from Alienware. Their computers generally cost over ten thousand yuan.”

Liu Hua exclaimed, “That expensive?”

“Nowadays, laptops costing over ten thousand yuan is quite normal. It’s not really expensive,” Zhou Quanyi said.

“I just can’t understand it,” Liu Hua said.

He thought spending five or six thousand yuan on a laptop was enough; spending over ten thousand seemed extravagant.

He didn’t continue asking about the laptop. Such an expensive computer was out of his reach; knowing more wouldn’t help.

The others didn’t gather around either.

Jiang Zheng remained silent the entire time, quietly enjoying his new computer.

After familiarizing himself with some basic operations, Jiang Zheng said, “Guys, want to play some games?”

“I’m in if it’s League of Legends,” Zhou Quanyi replied.

“Me too. Old Fourth, carry me to victory,” Liu Hua said.

“Count me in,” Wang Bing added.

“Why don’t I invite one more person? We can form a team,” Zhou Quanyi suggested.

“Sure, leader, you bring a pro. I’ll just follow along and relax,” Wang Bing said.

“I want to relax too. I’m tired of trying,” Liu Hua said.

Recently, Jiang Zheng had been deepening his understanding of games, so he played often.

They all knew Jiang Zheng’s skills had improved greatly. Every time they played with him, he would carry them to victory.

So they liked to team up with Jiang Zheng; after all, having such a strong teammate was a blessing.

Jiang Zheng didn’t mind playing with them. Playing with familiar people meant he could pick whatever hero he wanted without worrying about teammates stealing his role.

They formed a team and started gaming.

Under Jiang Zheng’s leadership, they won one match after another, and Jiang Zheng earned much admiration and praise along the way.

After a while, Jiang Zheng lay on his bed and searched for martial arts videos on his phone.

Nowadays, when people talked about martial arts, most just scoffed dismissively, seeing nothing remarkable about it.

That was because many modern martial arts were flashy but lacked substance, and even worse, some used the name of martial arts to deceive others.

Many had been exposed as frauds, so in the public eye, martial arts had become nothing more than performance art.

There were many instructional martial arts videos online, but their quality varied greatly, and ordinary people could hardly tell which ones were authentic.

But to Jiang Zheng, it was a different story.

As he watched each martial arts instructional video, it was as if a small figure in his mind was practicing day after day, year after year, through spring and winter, regardless of the weather.

Many images and concepts surfaced in his mind, as if a switch had been flipped, awakening something that had always belonged to him.

A vast amount of martial arts knowledge came to him naturally, and he even developed some unique insights.

Jiang Zheng studied voraciously, watching all the common traditional martial arts videos.

He focused exclusively on traditional Chinese martial arts, skipping taekwondo, Muay Thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and similar styles.

One reason was his limited time; the other was his greater interest in traditional martial arts—perhaps something ingrained in his DNA.

After watching several traditional martial arts videos, the flood of knowledge in his mind allowed him to truly grasp the essence of martial arts.

At this moment, he hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether to teach Pei Xin authentic martial arts.

These styles were genuinely practical, not just flashy moves.

But such martial arts were unlike the graceful motions he had imagined; some moves were even rather ugly.

Moreover, many techniques were fierce. He worried that with Pei Xin’s temperament, learning such martial arts might cause trouble.

Jiang Zheng frowned deeply, torn.

If he didn’t teach her, he couldn’t complete the mission; but teaching her might endanger her or others.

Martial arts training begins with cultivating the right mindset.

Jiang Zheng rubbed his temples, feeling a throbbing headache.