Taking a Master

"Off to work, are you?" Li Xiuwen smiled apologetically, and with practiced ease pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket and lit Brother Ji's cigarette for him. "Ah Wen, you should have gotten your pay a few days ago, right?" Brother Ji said, smoking and smiling. "Don't you want to treat your brothers to a good meal?" "Brother Ji, didn't my uncle just pay his hundred and eighty this month?" "What your uncle pays is for your family. You pay yours. Each counts separately." "That's..." While Li Xiuwen hesitated, a heavy punch landed on his back. He staggered and fell to the ground. So it was the kid behind him who had thrown the punch. "Ah Wen, hand over the money," the kid said with a grin, slouching with a cocky, careless air. He was only seventeen, younger than Li Xiuwen. If it were only this brat, Li Xiuwen wouldn't have been afraid. But Brother Ji had studied boxing and was a trained fighter. His arm was as thick as Li Xiuwen's thigh. He smiled and said, "Brother Ji, you know I've got no skills. It's not much. Don't think it's too little." He took fifty from his pocket and, bending at the waist, offered it to Brother Ji with both hands. Brother Ji snatched the money and patted Li Xiuwen on the shoulder. Li Xiuwen's face was pale. He lowered his head and coughed. "Ah Wen, about last month—Brother Ji owes you an apology." Brother Ji grinned wide. "How was I supposed to know you were such a weak chicken? One pat and you passed out." Having said his piece, Brother Ji left with his men. Li Xiuwen gasped for breath, and only once Brother Ji was out of sight did he set off in the other direction. "This broken place—how can you get by without learning to fight? Bullied every day, always reading other people's moods, living in constant fear. What's the point of a life like that?" Some time later, he quietly came to a tenement building on the outer edge of the Walled City. On the signboard above it were the words: NIGHT HERON MARTIAL ARTS HALL. He knocked on the door. "Who is it?" "I've come to take a master." The iron door was pulled open by a bare-chested, cross-eyed youth, revealing a converted training hall—not large, but roomy by Walled City standards, and with only a few people inside. Just seven. Anyone who could train here counted as one of the Walled City's "young masters and misses." Among them, one yellow-haired youth stood out like a crane among chickens—a boyish face, but a build no smaller than Brother Ji's, and a presence all his own. The youth who had opened the door said to him, "Eldest Senior Brother, someone's here to see the master about learning boxing." The yellow-haired youth told the others to keep practicing, came over, and asked, "How old are you?" "Twenty-one." "Too old... Try somewhere else." "Might I ask, are you the master of the hall?" "Our Night Heron Martial Arts Hall is an upright, respectable school, not one of those con men out to cheat people. Anyone over sixteen is turned away. No exceptions—money won't change that." "I'd like to speak with the master myself." "Be on your way. The master is in seclusion, and I'm being polite. He'd only tell you to scram." Seeing it was no use, Li Xiuwen didn't press the matter. He turned and left. "You can try the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall next door. They turn no one away—pay up and you're in." The yellow-haired youth shut the door and said to his juniors with a laugh, "Where did that old geezer come from, wanting to learn boxing at his age?" "Right? By sixteen your innate physique is already set. Twenty-one—round it up and that's... thirty," the cross-eyed youth who had opened the door said, laughing. ... Some time later, a tall old man with a lean face, white hair and a youthful complexion, dressed in a Daoist robe, came down to the ground floor. Behind him followed a tall blonde foreign woman with wavy hair, wearing a low-cut qipao, full-figured, her face so fair it seemed to glow. "Gaojiao Qi, someone wants to learn boxing?" he asked the yellow-haired youth. "Master, the man is twenty-one. I sent him across the street." "When there's clearly no hope, I don't let a man waste his money. Not like Old Huang, greedy for every last coin, taking anyone who comes. He's got money on the brain." As he spoke, his eyes rested on another martial arts hall not far down the street, its signboard reading FOUR SEAS. "Master, won't you check his physique? What if his innate physique is good? Wouldn't it be a shame to miss him?" one of the disciples asked. "At that age, even a good physique is mostly ruined. Not everyone can bloom late in life." The tall old man turned and left. He had a small reputation in the Walled City, and over the years plenty had come seeking apprenticeship. But he refused most of them. For those scraping by at the bottom of the Walled City, earning a few coins was no easy thing. He was a kind man. He couldn't bear it. ... In front of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall. "Calling me an old geezer at twenty-one, damn him. In my last life, sixty was still an age for grinding away and making money. I'll remember that little yellow-haired punk." Grumbling inwardly, Li Xiuwen knocked on the door of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall. This time it was opened by a slender woman of about thirty, tall and graceful. She wore a slit qipao, was prettily turned out, brimming with charm, in full bloom. She looked Li Xiuwen up and down, smiling. "What brings you here, young man?" Li Xiuwen felt a flicker of suspicion. He turned and looked around, confirming that this was not a red-light street and that he hadn't gone the wrong way. "I've come to learn boxing. And you, miss?" Li Xiuwen cupped his fists in salute and smiled, imitating a man of the jianghu. "Come in. I'm Madam Huang—call me Boss Lady, or Third Auntie, either's fine." The woman turned and led the way, hips swaying, showing off her long legs. "The martial path is a good thing—worth the training," Li Xiuwen thought to himself. He let his eyes drift, casually, to her calves—well proportioned, strong yet soft—and knew she was a trained fighter. Rumor had it that the martial arts big shots of Xianghai kept clouds of wives and concubines, every one of them a beauty, some even blonde foreign women from across the ocean. Now he had seen it for himself. In Xianghai, foreigners were the elite. They looked down on yellow-skinned people. On the ground floor of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, punching bags, weapon racks, wooden dummies and all manner of boxing equipment were scattered around a cramped training space. A dozen or so bare-chested men and women in undershirts crowded into the little room, some paired off in practice, others working alone. It was far livelier than the Night Heron hall. A short-haired middle-aged man in a blue gown stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He was about five foot seven, in cloth shoes, holding a folding fan, and was just then correcting one of the girls. "The fundamentals of the Sea Sand style come down to one thing: power starts from the ground and sinks down with crushing weight! Your fist hasn't even gone out and your body's already floating upward—how do you expect to hit anyone?" The girl said nothing, her face flushed red. Noticing someone come in, the middle-aged man raised his eyes. Third Auntie said, "Master, someone's here to learn boxing." "Li Xiuwen pays his respects to the hall master!" Li Xiuwen said, cupping his fists. The middle-aged man told the girl to practice on her own, then beckoned to Li Xiuwen. "Follow me." ... In a small study, rather elegant and old-fashioned: "I, Huang Sihai, like to get straight to the point. Did you bring money?" Li Xiuwen took out a stack of bills and bowed, presenting it to the middle-aged man. "Three thousand five hundred. Please have a look." Without even looking, the man said: "Not enough." "I saw the recruitment ad in the newspaper—three thousand apprenticeship fee, five hundred a month... I'll study one month first, no more than that." "That was before. Not long ago I beat a foreign devil in the third arena match. Too many people seeking apprenticeship now." "How much is it now?" "Three thousand four hundred apprenticeship fee, six hundred a month," Huang Sihai said blandly, eyes closed. "I'll take my leave." Li Xiuwen turned to go. So in the end it was the same price as the Night Heron hall. "Wait." "What would the hall master have me do?" "You're from Sheng, aren't you?" "Yes." "You and I are countrymen, more or less. Fine—I'll do you a favor. Three thousand six hundred for you. I'll knock four hundred off. How's that?""