Chapter 23: The Sudden Invitation from the Hong Family

But to return to the matter, given Old Master Zeng’s situation at the time, it was simply impossible for him, with his temperament, to stand by and do nothing. Moreover, tonight’s sudden incident with the masked men was entirely outside his expectations! Well, it was all in the past now; at least he was safe.

Zhang Pu forced himself to let go of it. Next, he wanted to rest, planning to make medicine for the old master tomorrow. He figured that, after his infusion of true energy, the old master wouldn’t have another attack for several days. He had to look out for his own life too! If he forced himself to make medicine tonight and overexerted himself, he might collapse. It seemed he could no longer casually transmit his true energy for others.

Once Zhang Pu lay down in bed, though he tried not to think about medicine-making, another matter lingered in his mind. It was the sudden appearance of those three masked men tonight. Who on earth were they?

He had only just arrived in Qingwu City and had never offended anyone back home. Could it really be that Zheng Furen or Gao Lixia had hired someone? Highly likely! Zhang Pu had predicted that these two campus tyrants would resent him after he turned the tables on their protection racket, so it was no surprise if they found people to deal with him.

Even so, Zhang Pu wasn’t particularly alarmed, because from what he saw, the three were little more than common thugs with mediocre skills. If not for his unusual condition today, he could have dispatched them as easily as he had dealt with Zheng Furen and Gao Lixia and their gang. Should they fail and call for reinforcements, what could they do? Even if they clung to him like sticky candy, he would soon recover; today’s mishap was only an accident.

Zhang Pu truly believed that nothing in Qingwu City at present could threaten him.

After a night’s sleep, his physical strength recovered, though his spirit did not fully return. The next day, through absorbing certain medicines, Zhang Pu managed to forcibly restore most of his true energy. The old master’s subordinate had transferred a generous sum to him via WeChat, and the herbs he purchased for the old master’s pills didn’t even use half of it. Zhang Pu decided to spend a large portion of the remaining money on herbs for himself, and, using an absorption array from the cultivation world, he managed to restore his true energy and regain his strength that day.

With the masked men's first attack outside the school, who could say there wouldn’t be a second? He had to be prepared for that. He didn’t know who Zheng Furen or Gao Lixia might secretly hire next. Last night, the leader of those masked men was clearly injured by him; they would never let it go so easily. Worse, it felt like he was in the dark while the enemy was in the open. Zhang Pu thought that even if he confronted Zheng Furen or Gao Lixia, they would never confess, not in a million years. Yet their actions would surely continue in secret.

Thus, Zhang Pu believed he needed to restore his strength as quickly as possible. If the enemy had just a few more men, or their martial prowess was a bit higher, he might have been defeated last night. Even a minor injury would make his life here miserable.

That day at school, Zheng Furen and Gao Lixia behaved as usual, hurriedly avoiding him whenever they saw him, pretending to be busy.

Zhang Pu thought it was time to start making medicine for the old master, and with the weekend approaching, he estimated he could finish the first ten pills for him by then. After all, Old Master Zeng couldn’t, like Zhang Pu, use cultivation to set up an absorption array and directly take in the essence of the herbs; he still had to rely on pills.

Time passed quickly, but Zhang Pu hadn’t expected the Hong family to call and invite him to dinner over the weekend.

Hong Guishan called, and so did Xu Huiping. Xu Huiping even said that Zhang Pu had been eating out lately, surely not getting enough nutrition, and she felt guilty about it. Yet, since Zhang Pu insisted on living outside, she had no choice but to respect his wishes.

Her words were pleasant, almost evoking a sense of maternal warmth. Though Zhang Pu’s temperament had grown hardened in the cultivation world, in his previous life he was gentle. Xu Huiping’s words struck a chord, making him feel a pang of homesickness.

So, somehow, Zhang Pu agreed to the Hong family’s invitation.

In truth, he had been especially busy lately, subsisting on fast food and takeout for most meals—hardly the fare of a real home.

Yet, even as he accepted, Zhang Pu couldn’t help but feel suspicious: by all rights, Xu Huiping should be happy to have him as far from her home as possible; why was she suddenly so warm, as if the sun had risen in the west?

What had prompted her sudden enthusiasm?

He reasoned that the incident with Zheng Furen and Gao Lixia—his intimidating them—was not something he would mention, nor would those two openly broadcast their own defeat, not even to Xu Huiping, let alone Wu Xiaomei or Hong Yingying. Even if they found out Zhang Pu had secretly bested the school bullies, at most Wu Xiaomei and Hong Yingying might look at him differently; it would never be a reason for Xu Huiping to show him warmth.

At school, only a handful of people might harbor vague suspicions about him; honestly, he wasn’t even remotely famous in this modern high school.

Still, despite his doubts, Zhang Pu went to the Hong family’s dinner when the time came.

Upon arriving, he found things much as they had always been.

Hong Guishan’s nature was just as he remembered. He would look after classmates’ children when he could, but, having grown up in the city, his innate sense of superiority was hard to hide. He was neither particularly good nor bad. Zhang Pu respected him but kept his distance, feeling they could never truly become close.

He thought, when Hong Guishan was classmates with his own parents, he must have been more genuine, and the group of young people likely got along well. But years spent living in a prefecture-level city must have changed him somewhat.

Zhang Pu didn’t concern himself much with Hong Guishan, treating him as just another elder.

Some people are capable of forming friendships across generations, but Zhang Pu felt such a bond was impossible between himself and Hong Guishan.

As for Wu Xiaomei and Hong Yingying, they remained, in Zhang Pu’s mind, porcelain dolls. They still looked down on him as the boy from the countryside, maintaining polite appearances only for their parents’ sake.