Chapter 973: Finding the Past

After the SUV drove into the central city, Cheng Zitong looked around. He had returned to the central city for business before over the years, but this time he felt something was obviously different.

In his impression, Central City is a prosperous but chaotic place, where a large number of non-citizen immigrants gather. Street violence, gang conflicts, trafficking of illegal drugs and implants, organ smuggling, arms trade by private armed groups, corporate conflicts, etc. are staged every day.

But now on the way into the city, I rarely hear gunshots or conflicts. The number of city patrol vehicles is still frequent, and you can see one every once in a while, but there is a sense of order, and no longer the mess and laziness of before.

The news on the world screen was refreshed from time to time, most of which were about the news that the skyline would be connected soon, and the promise of city patrols to ensure citizen safety. In addition, a new biotechnology park was being built in Hongsheng District, and this old district was undergoing a new round of renovation, which would absorb a large number of employed people.

He sighed, "The Central City is not the same as before." He clicked on the lower world certificate, found an address and sent it to Chen Chuan, "Xiao Chuan, come here and take a look first."

Chen Chuan looked at it and saw that the place was in Shenwei District. He nodded and said, "Okay, teacher."

The SUV first went up the viaduct, and after more than half an hour, it turned into the Shenwei District. Cheng Zitong pointed to a place.

"Xiao Chuan, do you see that rooftop? I used to practice boxing there alone. There was no interference here, and only some drug dealers would occasionally come out at night."

Chen Chuan looked over and saw that it was a dilapidated building more than ten stories high, covered with ivy. However, the view was good. If he stood there, he should be able to see tall buildings in the distance. There were no tall buildings around, and he could see a simple football field nearby.

He said: "I remember the teacher said before that you used to live in Wuding District?"

Cheng Zitong nodded, "I have been trained by this old man with my fellow apprentices since I was a child. I have not received any special treatment. If I don't tell them, people who are not familiar with me don't know that I am his biological son. I eat and use the same things as my fellow apprentices. If I don't train well, the old man will come up and beat me with a whip without mercy.

I don't blame him because his fellow disciples are all the same, training together and each relying on their own abilities.

But the old man has always looked down on me, always thinking that I am not as good as he was when he was young. I thought it was because I was not diligent enough and didn't work hard enough, so I often came here to practice alone. Here I don't have to think about other things and I feel less restricted. But no matter how hard I practiced, I could not catch up with my fellow apprentices, and instead I was falling further and further behind.

And those kids who inherited martial arts from their families always secretly made fun of me and laughed at me from behind.

The old man was expecting me at first, but then he was disappointed, and finally he just stopped paying attention to me. I also felt that it was my own fault and I didn't blame the old man. When I saw that several fellow students who were similar to me couldn't practice anything and resigned and left, I also thought that I shouldn't embarrass the old man, so I said I wanted to resign and go out to make a living on my own.

The old man didn’t keep me, didn’t say a word, just waved his hand and let me go.”

He chuckled, "I was probably about fifteen or sixteen at the time, about the same age as you when you entered school. I didn't really have a plan for what to do when I got out, but I just got excited and impulsive and decided to do this.

It just so happened that after I got out, I saw someone commissioned to solve a strange story. I had been fascinated by this for a while. I had studied it secretly and thought about it in my mind, but I had never tried it myself. I didn't know where to go at the time, so I took this commission. I didn't expect that I would actually solve it.

After this time, people came to me again, and I solved the problem beautifully every time. Maybe I have some talent in this area. I can always think of solutions that others can’t think of. "

As he spoke, he pointed to his head and said, "At that time, I was able to solve problems that others could not solve by relying only on my brain, without any physical force."

Chen Chuan nodded. He believed that many strange stories needed to find the root cause, which could not be solved by force alone. He had handled some strange stories with force before. If he looked into them carefully and found the right idea and had enough time, there might be other ways to solve them.

"It was then that I realized that my talent might not be in martial arts. When I was still with the old man, I was able to arrange everything in an orderly manner, including what my fellow apprentices ate, what they used, and everything that went in and out, even though I was young. I never had to worry about the messy and trivial matters. I could sort out tasks that were a headache for others at a glance.

Later, I got into the commissioned company and was in charge of logistics support. Over the years, not only did I not encounter any problems, I also helped them optimize the processes, save a lot of expenses, and solve some business problems. Gradually, I became famous.

Teacher, it took me three years to scrape together some money. I went back home and paid the old man's tuition. That was exactly the money that the old man had borrowed from me for his childhood. I stayed up all night for several days to scrape together the money, but I didn't expect the old man to take it without saying a word and even said that I finally understood something.

Hey! "

Cheng Zitong slapped his thigh and said, "I wanted to piss off the old man, but I didn't expect that I would get pissed off by him. I was really pissed off.

The old man also said that since I have grown up, he will not care about me anymore, so I should not bother him and make my own way if I have the ability. "

Chen Chuan smiled after hearing this, slowed down the car, and asked, "Teacher, did you go to Yangzhi later?"

"Not yet," Cheng Zitong shook his head and said, "After all, I have lived in the central city for nearly twenty years, and I never thought about running so far away. At that time, I didn't think about the world outside the central city.

Later, when I came out, I felt more and more aggrieved. I had to fight for this pride. Where you fall, you have to get up there. I contacted a few brothers who resigned from their master's school, and used the remaining money to set up a martial arts gym and recruit students to teach. I didn't believe that if the old man could teach good students, I couldn't do it?"

Chen Chuan thought about the time Cheng Zitong had lived in Yangzhi, which was at least 20 years. It seemed that he would not be able to do this for long. "I didn't expect that the fighting gym had only been open for a month, and the old man sent people to the door, asking all the brothers to leave, and told me to understand the rules. He said that if I couldn't do well myself, I couldn't teach others well and I was not worthy of teaching others."

Cheng Zitong folded his arms and said, "I really don't agree with what you said. I can't practice well myself, but I know how to teach. Later, I competed with the old man. When my fellow apprentices were not around, I taught by myself. But I changed several places. Even if I taught people privately without tuition, there would always be brothers who came to me and used various methods to prevent me from doing this.

The old man also said that as long as I was his son, I had to follow his rules. My senior brothers were the same as him, and advised me not to toss. Hey, this place..." He patted the back of the chair, "Xiaochuan, stop by the roadside..."

Chen Chuan slowly pulled the car to the side of the street and saw an ordinary-looking residential building in front of him.

Cheng Zitong took off his sunglasses, looked at it and said, "Well, after about half a year, I finally compromised with the old man. I couldn't beat him, so I picked up the job of cleaning up ghost stories again.

This was the place I rented at that time. I lived here for more than half a year. I’m not afraid of being laughed at by you, a student, but I met the first girl I liked here. She said that she ran away from home because her family didn’t like her.

At that time, she was my assistant, and we worked together very well. She had some spiritual talents and had learned martial arts, so she could sense some dangerous situations in advance. Together we solved many anomalies and gradually gained some reputation.

It was only later that I found out that she was a rich girl who was angry with her family and came out to experience life. I don’t know why, but I was very angry at the time and had a big fight with her…”

As he spoke, he was somewhat disappointed, shook his head and said self-deprecatingly: "My self-esteem, but I regretted it after the quarrel. Later, I waited for a month and she didn't show up, so I simply left the central city and went to Yangzhi's hometown, and found a job at Wuyi College."

He pointed upwards and said, "Look, I lived in the last room on the east side. There were three rooms in it. I lived on the outermost one and she lived in the inner one."

Chen Chuan asked: "Teacher, do you want to go down and take a look?"

Cheng Zitong shook his head and said, "It's been so many years, there's nothing to see anymore, let's go."

Chen Chuan drove Cheng Zitong to the designated location. It was a two-story blue brick building with a grape trellis outside. Judging from the style, it was a very old building before the Great Development. Although the location seemed a bit remote, the environment was not bad.

Two people got out of the car and walked towards the small building. At this time, a middle-aged man carrying a bag came out from inside.

Cheng Zitong took a look and said, "Flat-headed guy, is that you?"

The middle-aged man was a little unhappy when he heard this name. He looked him up and down, suddenly opened his eyes wide, a little surprised, pointed at him and said: "You, are..."

Cheng Zitong took off his sunglasses and said, "It's me, Cheng Zitong."

"Brother Tong?"

The middle-aged man suddenly became a little excited. He ran up a few steps, looked him up and down, grabbed his arm, and said excitedly: "Brother Tong, it's really you. It's been so many years. You're back?"

Cheng Zitong smiled and said, "Yes, I'm back."

The middle-aged man became even more excited and said, "It's good to be back, it's good to be back. Hey, I say, why are you so...well-off?"

"Really?" Cheng Zitong touched his face, "Why do I feel like I've lost weight recently?"

"It seems that Brother Tong, you are doing well in Yangzhi?"

"It's okay."

The middle-aged man nodded, "Yes, it's far from the central city, so there are fewer troubles. Brother Tong, seriously," he said seriously, "you are not planning to leave this time...?"

Cheng Zitong tapped his sunglasses in his hand twice, put them back on, raised his head, and said with a smile: "I'm coming back to stay for a while this time. I want to walk around, take a look, meet the people from the past, and sort out the things from the past."

……

(End of this chapter)

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