strictlysupreme Chapter 5 The Zhang Family
Chapter 5 The Zhang Family
Looking at the young man who was about the same age as him but dressed worse, Lu Li realized that he was already an "old-timer" who had been in the martial arts school for nearly four months.
"Lu Li," Lu Li announced his name.
Zhang Wu nodded upon hearing this, then returned to his bed, took a bag of flatbread from it, and offered it to Lu Li in a fawning manner:
"Senior Brother Lu, these are pancakes made by my sister herself. Please accept them."
This caught Lu Li off guard. He instinctively wanted to refuse, but then he heard the voice of another "old man" in the dormitory:
"Senior Brother Lu, please accept it."
The large dormitory room at the White Crane Martial Arts School has three beds. Besides Lu Li and Zhang Wu, the other one is Liu Zheng, who joined the school half a month later than Lu Li.
At that moment, Liu Zhengzheng was chewing on a pancake with a big bite, and said happily:
"Junior Brother Zhang and Sister Zhang's cooking is really good; they even put sugar in it."
Upon hearing this, Lu Li ultimately decided to accept the cakes.
In this world, ordinary people have a hard time, so naturally they don't eat very well.
Take my third uncle's steamed bun shop, for example. It seems like he sells steamed buns, but in reality, he mainly sells multigrain steamed buns and cornbread.
The flatbread that Zhang Wu is giving us now is not just a plain white flour flatbread, but also has sugar in it, which is truly a thoughtful gesture.
Besides, Liu Zheng has already accepted the cakes. If I don't accept them, wouldn't I be labeled as "self-righteous"?
"Thank you, junior brother. If you have any questions about cultivation in the future, I, Lu Li, will do my best to answer them for you." Lu Li also put on a kind smile.
"Then thank you very much, Senior Brother," Zhang Wu said with a smile.
After exchanging pleasantries, Lu Li packed his clothes and prepared to do laundry.
But before he could take two steps, he was stopped by Zhang Wu again.
Zhang Wu wore a fawning smile on his face.
"Senior brother, let me wash these clothes. You wouldn't believe it, I've loved washing clothes since I was a kid!"
As he spoke, Zhang Wu, fearing Lu Li wouldn't believe him, pointed to the clothes hanging outside:
"I'm the one who washes Senior Brother Liu's clothes."
Lu Li glanced at the clothes hanging outside and sighed inwardly.
The young man in front of them was too clever. He knew he was new and wanted to quickly integrate into their little circle, so he kept taking on tasks and trying to please them.
"There are some personal items inside, so I won't trouble you this time, Junior Brother." Lu Li ultimately declined Zhang Wu's offer.
It wasn't that he was arrogant; it was just that he hadn't had the habit of bothering others for many years.
Humans have two hands, and they should be able to earn their own living.
Lu Li was busy for another half hour, took a bath, washed and hung up his clothes, and then fell into a deep sleep.
The next day.
Lu Li woke up early, basked in the sunlight, and came to the familiar stake. He took a deep breath and was about to leap up when he heard several voices sighing beside him:
"Those Wild Wolves are truly scoundrels!"
"Who says otherwise? They suffered a loss at the hands of the Tiger Gang, yet they only dare to target ordinary people..."
Wild Wolf Gang?
Lu Li frowned, and then Zhou Quan's image appeared in his mind.
"I need to go back and take a look," Lu Li thought to himself.
Firstly, he still vividly remembered Zhou Quan's threat; secondly, he had just heard that the Wild Wolf Gang had attacked ordinary people, which made Lu Li feel vaguely uneasy.
Even if my third uncle's family is not necessarily persecuted, I still want to go and see them.
Lu Li glanced at the stone lock beside him, then stepped forward, exerted force with both hands, and easily lifted the eighty-pound stone lock.
"In close combat, I should be able to take on three to five strong men."
The biggest change in Lu Li's life after more than twenty days of arduous training was never his physique, but rather his mindset.
The future looked bright, and that hope gave him an indescribable confidence.
Soon, Lu Li found his second senior brother, Duan Kang.
"Senior brother, I want to go home and visit today."
The large White Crane Martial Arts School naturally has a set of management procedures, which involve many aspects. The school owner does not care about miscellaneous matters, and the senior disciple, being a wealthy young man, is even less inclined to deal with such trivial matters.
Only the second senior brother came from a poor background and was very responsible, so not only did the disciples ask Duan Kang for advice, but even Qin Yan had to ask Duan Kang to do many things.
"Okay, I'll give you three days off."
Duan Kang stepped off the stake and glanced at Lu Li.
He remembered Lu Li.
Initially, he thought Lu Li was just an arrogant, irresponsible person who wanted to curry favor with his senior sister.
However, recently, because Lu Li has been practicing martial arts from early morning to late at night, and has arrived earlier than him on several occasions, his attitude towards Lu Li has taken a complete turn.
He was pleased to see the person who had gone astray realize their mistake and return to the right path.
"Thank you, Senior Brother." Lu Li clasped his hands in gratitude.
Immediately, Lu Li strode out of the martial arts school and headed towards his third uncle's steamed bun shop.
Throughout the journey, Lu Li observed his surroundings.
There are fewer street vendors along the way, but there are many more homeless people.
Despite their different social statuses, each of them carried a degree of vigilance and unease on their faces.
Lu Li quickened his pace, and what usually took more than an hour, he arrived at his third uncle's shop in just one hour today.
My third uncle's steamed bun shop doesn't just operate in the morning; they also sell leftover steamed buns from the morning at noon and in the afternoon. In addition, they also sell some noodles. Although it's not always packed with customers, it's a place that people frequent. However, at this moment, it's almost noon, right at lunchtime, but the shop is tightly closed.
Lu Li felt uneasy, so he walked around the street, found the back door of the shop, knocked on the door, and went inside.
Inside the house, Lu Zhiyuan and Madam Han looked worried.
Lu Zhiyuan and his wife were somewhat surprised to see Lu Li enter the house.
"Xiao Li, why are you back today? Did you run out of money?"
Lu Zhiyuan's brows relaxed, and he greeted him with a smile:
"Are you hungry? Your third uncle will steam you some big meat buns."
"Third Uncle, what's going on?"
Lu Li wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that his third uncle's legs were a little weak today.
"What could possibly happen?"
"Why didn't you open the door if there was nothing wrong?"
After stammering for a while, Lu Zhiyuan finally managed to say, "I've been a bit tired lately, and I was thinking... I should take a break."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Lu Li, his tone tinged with skepticism, walked to the side and picked up the broken stool, now only half intact: "What happened here?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Zhiyuan turned to his wife, Han, and said in a low voice, "Why didn't you put this away!"
Han hesitated and ultimately remained silent.
"Xiao Li, let's not talk about this anymore." Lu Zhiyuan changed the subject: "Remember that matchmaker I mentioned to you before? That girl's at home! I've been waiting for you to come back so I can take you to find her!"
"Now that you're back, let's go see her tomorrow morning!"
"Once you get married, your aunt and I will have completed our mission."
After saying that, Lu Zhiyuan ignored Lu Li's wishes and went to steam buns and cook noodles on his own.
Han shook her head and sighed, turning her head away as if unwilling to let Lu Li see her worried expression.
Lu Li had a vague suspicion in his mind when he felt someone tugging at his clothes from behind.
Turning around, it was Lu Yu'er!