ADTCP Ch22part2

“Sorry, young man, I didn’t prepare properly. It’s the first time this kid has ever brought someone here to eat, and he didn’t warn me in advance. Did you like the dishes today? Should I whip up a couple more for you?”

“No, not at all, everything was delicious! I loved every single dish. In fact, I’d even like to pack two more to take with me later!”

Ignoring the lingering sting on his tongue, Tao Zhen beamed, then turned to Zhu curiously. “So… you two know each other? Are you close?”

Uncle Jiang just gave Zhu a meaningful smile, tied back the apron on his shoulder, and returned to the kitchen.

Zhu sat back across from Tao Zhen, poured him a glass of cold water, and finally answered softly under those bright, curious eyes:
“He’s my master.”

Tao Zhen froze, Zhu Wensheng’s master?

In what? Fighting?

“Mm. He’s amazing. In his youth, he nearly won the championship belt, but injuries forced him to retire.” Zhu Wensheng seemed to read Tao Zhen’s mind, calmly adding: “He started teaching me martial arts when I was little, until I was sixteen. After that, he picked up his old passion again and opened this private kitchen.”

Tao Zhen widened his eyes slightly. He never would’ve guessed the man he just met was so accomplished, not only skilled in fighting but also an excellent cook. Like a hidden master living quietly in the city.

Before they left, Jiang Long stuffed two bags of steaming dishes into his hands and firmly refused payment.

Unable to argue with someone who had almost been a world champion, Tao Zhen had no choice but to leave with Zhu.

The alley was too narrow for taxis, so they walked out to the main road.

Tao Zhen strolled ahead with a spring in his step, peeking at potted flowers outside doorsteps and weeds sprouting from walls. He looked like a well-fed kitten, bounding around to burn off energy.

Zhu only spoke up when he was about to head into a dead end; otherwise he walked silently behind, carrying the takeout bags.

One behind the other, they left the neighborhood. At the roadside, while waiting for the car, they happened to run into a group of elegantly dressed socialites.

Fanning themselves uncomfortably, they asked their leader: “Where’s that private kitchen you mentioned? We’ve been circling and still can’t find it.”

The leading lady looked helpless: “Last time I came, it was inside a courtyard house. I must be lost this time…”

“Why didn’t someone come out to fetch us? What kind of arrogance is this, only serving one table a day, and so hard to book.”

“More than that, they won’t even allow takeout, saying it ruins the flavor. The chef must be something else. I heard he’s connected to the Zhu family…”

At the familiar words, Zhu Wensheng turned his head and gave the women a cool, fleeting glance.

The women didn’t notice him; after complaining, they headed back into the alley. Tao Zhen, however, had caught his glance and asked curiously, “Huh? Besides Uncle Jiang, there’s another private kitchen around here?”

Zhu Wensheng paused. “…Probably.”

Tao Zhen tried to take a few of the takeout bags he’d been carrying for a while. “Well, from the way they sounded, that place is pretty popular, kind of full of itself.
Uncle Jiang’s cooking is so good… I hope he surpasses them someday!”

A car pulled up in front of them with its hazards on.
Zhu Wensheng didn’t let Tao Zhen carry anything and motioned for him to get in, his dark eyes holding an unreadable look. “Mm.”

The ride back was quick; they stopped a little ways from the club entrance.
Before going in to greet Bai Yuxuan and Da Hai, Tao Zhen suddenly remembered something. He tugged Zhu along and turned down the narrow alley between the tall building and the club.

He craned his neck, peering around for a while; then, as if spotting something, he gave a delighted “Ah!” He pulled a boxed dish from Zhu Wensheng’s bag and walked it over in that direction.

Zhu Wensheng blinked and followed on instinct.

Behind the trash-sorting station in the alley crouched a grimy, disheveled teenager, about fourteen or fifteen, in a ragged school uniform.

Whatever had happened to him, he looked listless and miserable, glancing anxiously toward the club while tracing circles on the ground with a finger.

When he noticed someone approaching, his first reaction was to jump up and run.

But this time Tao Zhen was faster, thrusting the warm takeout box into his arms first:
“Hey! Eat something, at least!”

“…” The boy staggered back two steps with the fragrant food in his arms, then turned, dazed.
He recognized Tao as the person who’d been watching him from the mouth of the alley a couple hours earlier.

“You look like you’re still a student, what are you doing here all alone?”

Tao Zhen’s tongue still hurt, so he spoke slowly. Seeing the boy didn’t resist, he reached out and brushed plastic bits off the kid’s shoulder. “Did classmates bully you? No money to get home?”

Head down, the boy said nothing.

Tao Zhen didn’t take offense at the cold shoulder. “Don’t be embarrassed to tell an adult. Losing money, bombing a test, those aren’t big deals.”

“I’ll lend you five hundred for the trip,” he said, pulling several bills from his wallet and stuffing them into the boy’s hand. “Head home early, okay?”

The boy flinched and looked up in surprise. “You… I don’t need…”

But Tao Zhen seemed to see right through the bravado to the fragile kid beneath it. He pressed the money on him anyway, patted his shoulder again, and told him to eat while it was hot.

The boy clutched the cash awkwardly, his shoe scraping the ground with a squeaky, uneasy sound.

Tao turned, took Zhu Wensheng’s sleeve, and was about to leave.
Zhu Wensheng, however, pulled out his phone and gestured: “I’ll call Uncle Jiang. I’ll be right back.”

Tao Zhen didn’t think anything of it. He smiled, waved, and carried the other takeout boxes back into the club.

Only after watching Tao Zhen disappear did Zhu Wenshengput his phone away.
Looking down at the boy from above, his gaze dark and calm, he said evenly, “Tell the truth. What are you doing here?”

“!”

The boy jolted and instinctively took two steps back, wary. “W-what do you mean…”

“Your shoes and clothes say you’re not short on money, and those marks aren’t from a fight,” Zhu Wensheng said coolly. “Also, I saw you at Light a couple of days ago.
You came with your parents to get a membership card, and when they weren’t paying attention, you slipped into the pro fighters’ training area.”

The boy stared, stunned. “…How do you know that?”

Zhu Wensheng didn’t answer. He said, indifferent, “First make it clear: why have you been lurking outside the club for so long?”

“…”
The boy bit his lip, weighed the gap in strength between them, and gave up resisting. He muttered, embarrassed, “I want to sign with the club, become a professional fighter, go to the UFC, win the belt. I finally talked my parents into bringing me to take a look, but they only agreed to a regular gym membership and won’t let me take time off school to train professionally. They think it’s too dangerous, so they don’t want me learning it… I couldn’t get through to them, so I ran away from home…”

Zhu Wensheng’s black eyes were deep, his presence oppressive.

Under that gaze, the boy’s voice got smaller and smaller. He realized even as he spoke that it didn’t sound right, but he stubbornly added,

“They’re always going on about safety, afraid I’ll get hurt, treating me like I’m three.”

“…Gege, if you could tell I’d snuck into the training room, you must be a pro yourself. Could you help me…?”

Silence fell. The reek from the trash station gusted over in waves, needling the nerves.
Zhu studied this indignant teenager for a moment, then shut down the attempt at familiarity without mercy. “No.”

“Light doesn’t sign minors without a guardian’s consent.”

As the hope faded from the boy’s eyes, Zhu Wensheng coolly took out his phone and opened the dial screen. “Staying here won’t help you. Call your family and have them take you home…”

Before he finished, the boy stamped in impotent fury and shoved Zhu Wensheng hard, then bolted.

His speed and strength were laughable to Zhu Wensheng; he didn’t bother to chase, just dusted off his clothes and looked away.

As a bystander, he had no right to interfere in other people’s family matters, other people’s lives.

Fighting is a sport where blood and injury are inevitable, more direct and brutal than most “competitive” sports. In the early days it was closer to a freak-show spectacle than a formal contest.

It was normal for the boy’s parents not to accept it. Any ordinary, caring parents would worry.

The boy didn’t understand how precious that worry was.

Zhu Wensheng stood quietly for a few seconds, then turned back toward the club.

As in countless times before, he walked alone past the noisy crowds, slipping back into the octagon with a shadowed face.

But this time, something changed.

The moment he stepped inside, the blond boy spotted him, and immediately bounced on his toes to wave, his voice bright and clear: “Zhu Wensheng, you’re back!”

The harsh white lights made Zhu blink; the dazzling smile caught him off guard.

Tao Zhen’s fair little face was all curved eyes and brows, his gold hair catching the light like a tiny sun fallen to earth, hazy and stunning.
Zhu Wensheng’s long-still heartbeat kicked again; heat flooded his veins and rushed to his head. He answered with a low “Mm” and strode over in big steps.

When he reached the table, Tao Zhen grinned and showed off the emptied takeout boxes, lavishing praise on Uncle Jiang’s cooking. Then, lowering his voice, he asked, “Did you see that student at the door when you came back?”

Zhu Wensheng listened, fell silent for a moment, and then said, “I did.”
A tangle of emotions pushed him to add,

“He’s not actually poor. He fought with his family and ran away from home. That’s why he made himself look like that.”

Tao Zhen blinked in mild surprise. “Really?”
“That’s good then, thankfully he only ran away, and nothing worse happened!”

He exhaled in relief, eyes crinkling. “I was just worrying about how to help him…”

A sour, indescribable feeling squeezed Zhu Wensheng’s chest, like a lemon pounded to pulp, spraying bitterness everywhere.

He suddenly cut in: “Tao Zhen, is it that whenever you see someone pitiful, a poor student, you always want to help?”

“If I happen to see them, of course I’d…”

Tao Zhen blinked, hearing something off in Zhu’s tone. “Why are you… asking me that all of a sudden?”

Zhu Wensheng’s eyes were dark as ink. “What about me?”
“Did you start… keeping me because you thought I was pitiful too?”