At 3:15 in the morning, a 24-hour noodle shop on the street welcomed two unique customers.
"Hello, two glasses of cold beer." The handsome, gentle young man with bright blond hair said.
The young man who followed him with a tall figure and a stern face added lightly, "If you don't have a draft beer cup, just use an ordinary wine glass. In addition, there will be two plates of side dishes, and two bottles of beer will be fine. One bottle is cold and one bottle is cold."
Room temperature.”
The boss responded with a smile, and at the same time he couldn't help but take a deep look at these two unique young people.
The two young men who arrived late at night were both wearing identical long black trench coats and carrying a long metal box in their hands. When they walked around, they slightly revealed a black combat uniform under the trench coat.
The hair on their foreheads was wet, obviously from the rain, and the left hand of the blond young man seemed to be injured, wrapped in a thick bandage, and even the pair of military-style shoes on his feet were obviously a bit inconsistent.
The boots were also covered with mud spots.
For some reason, the boss always felt that these two young men did not seem like customers who could enter a small noodle shop like his. Moreover, when he turned to go to the freezer to get beer, he heard the two handsome young men whispering to each other.
“Does ordering in China need to be so meticulous?”
"This is not a bar. Naturally, I need to explain it in detail. I advise you not to bring your habits from bars to this kind of street snack bar."
"I rarely go to bars, but I still feel weird when a bartender like you says something like this."
————————
It was a little different from what Karl imagined. At three o'clock in the morning, this street snack bar was not deserted. On the contrary, besides them, there were actually six or seven customers.
In the poorly decorated store, there are only six small dining tables, dark wood floors, ceilings that are yellowed by smoke, and dim yellow lights. In this silent world after the heavy rain, it seems...
It has a unique flavor.
The narrow shop exudes a strong smell of tobacco, alcohol and cooked food. In front of the solid wood cabinet, which is similar to the bar counter, two or three middle-aged people are laughing and sitting at the counter, drinking and talking. Two people at the other tables
The middle-aged man was also eating the pork ribs noodles from the bowl with his head down. He was still holding a few garlic cloves in his hand. He took a bite of garlic every time he ate the noodles, and the sound of slurping soup made Karl feel quite uncomfortable.
Choosing a seat by the window, Chu Zifeng skillfully pulled away the stool and sat down. Then he took out a few napkins and carefully wiped the greasy tabletop in front of him.
"Didn't you say we were going to a bar? Why did you lead me around a few times and end up here?" After Karl glanced at the small noodle shop a few times, he followed his lead and pulled out a stool to sit down.
The napkin was wiping the table. But when it came into contact with the greasy plastic tissue box, Karl's long white fingertips couldn't help but tremble.
At this time, the boss had already brought two bottles of beer and two cups.
After opening the beer skillfully, Chu Zifeng poured himself a glass and said.
"Would you choose to relax where you work?"
Karl thought for a while and nodded, "That's right. But there are so many guests here at this time, which is quite unexpected." Taking the bottle opener that Chu Zifeng handed him, Karl poured it for himself.
Have a cold beer while watching the customers chatting loudly around you.
Picking up the wine glass, Chu Zifeng took a sip and said, "Most of these 24-hour noodle restaurants serve taxi drivers who work the night shift."
"No wonder there are many taxis parked at the door." Karl also smiled and took a sip of cold beer, "But you look familiar, don't you? Do you come here often? You don't seem like someone who wants to come to a place like this.
"
"Then where am I going?"
Karl smiled and raised his eyebrows, "What you in China call are empty valleys, lonely forests, or sitting on the corpses of enemies. But I think it is more appropriate to sit cross-legged under the cherry blossom trees with falling cherry blossoms.
In the middle, there was a samurai sword on his lap and a sake glass in his hand. He was drinking while looking at the cherry blossoms, and then committed suicide."
Chu Zifeng gave Karl a cold look, "That's my teacher you're talking about, not me."
Karl looked at Chu Zifeng thoughtfully, then picked up the wine glass and cast his gaze out the window at the dark and deserted street, "Yes, Teacher Sasayama is that kind of person."
Leaning forward slightly, Chu Zifeng silently ate the peanuts brought by his boss, his deep eyes covered by his long wet hair blinking slightly.
"Is this what you call in your kingdom, when everyone is awake and I am drunk alone?" Listening to the laughter and toasts of the guests around him, Karl shrugged his shoulders with a wry smile, "The more noisy the place, the more I like it, but in that kind of place
Amid the hustle and bustle, there is a quietness that is different from the ordinary.”
Chu Zifeng sipped the beer in his glass and shook his head.
"It's not that complicated. It's just that my dad used to like to take me to places like this. He would come here almost once a week when I was a kid. He would drink wine and I would eat noodles. Occasionally, he would pour me a glass of wine and tell me to grow up quickly.
, if I could drink with him in the future, I said I would, and then listened to him complain to me about some business matters. Before going to the academy, he even took me to a noodle shop to eat noodles, and told me to go to school well and so on.
That time, I had a great time drinking with my dad, and he drunkenly patted my shoulder and said that I had finally grown up."
A rare smile appeared on Chu Zifeng's frozen face.
"No wonder you have a good drinking capacity. It turns out that you were trained by your father himself." Karl smiled and nodded.
"My father has few friends, and the few friends he has are unwilling to come with him to such a cheap place, so he can only drag me to come. When I didn't want to go at first, he said that my son should accompany my father.
Talking about drinking."
Karl blinked in confusion, "I've always been surprised, you should be the kind of rebellious person, right? But why does it seem that as long as you are with your father, you become very...I
Can you describe it as gentle?"
"Yes. Because he is my father and the best person to me. You may want to say that even if you are good to your parents, there is no need to be so obedient, because most people are actually very casual or even harsh towards their parents.
Even if you agree to do something with them, you will be irritable and say some unpleasant things. This is the correct way to get along with parents. But that is for ordinary people." Chu Zifeng lowered his head and drank from the cup.
Beer, "My father is different from other people's fathers. I will be very nice to him and will not make him feel any discomfort, because he is my father."
Karl didn't speak, not knowing what he was thinking, but soon he smiled and toasted to Chu Zifeng.
"I like people who respect their elders very much, but Zifeng, why would your father be willing to bring you to a place like this? Is it because of some kind of nostalgia?"
Chu Zifeng slowly turned the wine glass on the table, "I should be. As for dad... it's probably because it's cheap."
"Cheap?"
"A bottle of beer costs five yuan at most, and even ordering some cooked food together may cost less than a hundred yuan. In dad's eyes, this is the most cost-effective place in the world."
"You should suggest he go to the buffet..."
Chu Zifeng looked at Karl deeply, "Do you think he eats three meals a day in the office?"
Karl's eyes widened, "Don't tell me that your father really goes to the buffet every day to save money?"
"He also pretended to be a homeless man and went to get free breakfast on the street every day. When I was a child, there was no breakfast at home in the morning. It was my father who went out of his way to get free breakfast. If Qianqian hadn't cried and made a fuss one time,
If I want to eat bacon bread and egg rolls, we probably won’t have breakfast in our house until now.”
Listening to Chu Zifeng's words about his father, Carl didn't know what to say. Even though he already had some understanding, Carl still felt unimaginable.
Although he is very young, as the heir of the Bollen family, he has seen countless businessmen who come to their family's manor since he was a child, hoping to cooperate with his family. Some of them have so much property that they can count it themselves.
I don't know. Of course, the rich people also have many strange habits in private, which are more perverted and the like. Compared with being stingy, it is not a strange character among the wealthy businessmen.
Rich people are very stingy, of course they are very stingy. After all, every money they have is earned through hard work. Having lived through poverty, they all understand that money is hard-earned, so they naturally cherish it.
But that kind of cherishing is mostly relative to people of their level.
But for rich people like Chu Zifeng's father, who has billions of assets and ends up living worse than an old man collecting rags, Carl has really only seen him in novels.
"You are really not much like your father." In the end, Carl only left this sigh. After all, although Chu Zifeng is relatively cold, he has never cared about money. In contrast, his little
Senior Bei is more like Chairman Chu's biological son who was left behind.
Hearing Karl's comments, Chu Zifeng couldn't help but frowned, but he didn't explain much.
"Dad is just stingy with himself. You should have seen the appearance of the group branch. It cannot be built by a stingy person. Moreover, the government also conducted a transfer two years ago. The results showed that dad
The group's food standard ranks fifth among companies in the province. He doesn't care about spending money on his subordinates, Qianqian and I, and although he still says something, he doesn't spend any less than he should."
Chu Zifeng lowered his head and drank his beer silently, "He just doesn't want to spend it on himself."
Karl looked at the light rain falling outside the window, "That's right, a stingy person can't have such a big estate."
"By the way, I have a question I've always wanted to ask you, but it's quite personal and I don't know if you would like to tell me?" Karl raised his wine glass to Chu Zifeng.
Chu Zifeng looked at Karl, also picked up the wine glass and touched it lightly.
After drinking all the beer in the glass, Karl poured himself a drink and shook his head and said, "To be honest, even now I still can't figure out why you chose to refuse to enter the Japanese branch? As a result, Xiao
Mr. Sanribei publicly stated that you are no longer his student. Although the Japanese branch is indeed relatively average compared to the college headquarters, are you not interested at all in the position of head of the Japanese branch?"
Chu Zifeng looked at Karl quietly.
"Whether it is the academy headquarters, the Japanese branch, or the Senate, I will not join."
Karl looked at the indifferent guy opposite him in astonishment, "Why?"
"Too far from home."
"Is that the reason?"
"Um."
"Wait a minute, you don't want to tell me that you plan to join the Tianchao branch after graduation, right?"
"My application has been written, do you want to see it?"
In Karl's shocked eyes, Chu Zifeng picked up his wine glass and looked out the window at the dark street silently, "Dad is very old. Although he doesn't say it, I know that he really wants me to go back and help him after graduation."
He manages the company. Although he is a person similar to Grandet, even if I join the company, he will diligently hold the company's account books and make calculations every day, but I know that he really wants me to be able to work after graduation.
Go back and help him."
"But you don't seem like a person who can be an entrepreneur with peace of mind? Do you really want to wear a suit every day and argue with various businessmen, or bow to bankers for a huge loan?
Laughing? Did your father force you to do that?"
Karl was shocked, deeply shocked by Chu Zifeng's words, because from what Chu Zifeng meant, the reason why he joined the Tianchao branch was just to be closer to home and help his father manage the company? Oh my God, this uses two hands.
The guy who can kill hundreds of blood servants with a knife actually wears a suit to go out to discuss business? What a terrifying scene! Karl is really worried that some miser who will discuss business with Chu Zifeng in the future will refuse for a small amount of millions.
I gave in, only to have my arm chopped off by the cold guy on the other side... I always felt that this kind of thing would not happen.
But Chu Zifeng looked at Karl coldly, "You misunderstood, my father never forced me to do anything, and he never told me in front of me that I had to help him manage the company in the future, but
I should do that, and I really don’t want to be too far away from him and my mother.”
"You are indeed a very filial person. Although you can't tell it on the surface, is that really the life you want? Sitting in the office every day and worrying about the company's accounts. Compared to this, I think you should prefer
Fighting, isn't it?" Karl said seriously.
"Let me be clear about one thing. I have no interest in being a ninja, and I have no interest in chasing down demons. It's just that I entered the academy and should do something."
Chu Zifeng drank in silence, "For a person, what he does can be divided into two types, one is what he should do, and the other is what he likes to do. In the former, he has nothing
My impression is that he neither likes nor dislikes that thing, but it should be done, so he will do it. As for the latter, it is his real preference. For me, joining the academy, performing tasks and helping my father manage the company are both
It’s what I should do. But the last thing has higher priority than other things, do you understand?”
Karl was more interested in Chu Zifeng's theory, "Then what is what you really like to do?"
"No. Even fighting is just more interesting. Mixing and drinking are not even more tempting."
"Is it really gone?" Karl was a little unwilling to give up and looked seriously at Chu Zifeng's eyes that seemed to have no interest in anything.
Chu Zifeng thought for a while.
"have."
"What?"
"Qianqian! Qianqian is what I really like!"
Karl sat back tiredly, "Okay, I understand, you don't have to emphasize this point all the time. Besides, I suddenly miss Senior Xiaobei and his complaints."
"Hmph." Chu Zifeng snorted, expressing disdain.
"By the way, how did you get accepted by Teacher Sasayama?"
Looking at the drizzle falling outside the window, Karl shook his head gently, "You know? Whether it is the seniors who have graduated or the juniors who are still in the college, you are one of the people they envy the most in private."
"Is it because I can become the head of the Japanese branch?" Chu Zifeng silently poured himself another glass of beer.
"It's not entirely true. We are all not young people, and we all know that rewards must be paid. To become the head of the Japanese branch, you don't even need Teacher Sasayama's approval. You must get the approval of more than half of the elders in the Senate.
What everyone is really envious of is that you can become a student of Mr. Sasayama. He has not accepted a real student for many years. He only teaches us kendo on weekdays, and he is the only veteran who still teaches."
Thinking of the old man who was as sharp as a knife, Karl spoke in admiration.
"There are not many veterans in the academy who have experienced the ten years of war, and Teacher Sasayama is one of the best. Countless people want to be his students every year, but according to Teacher Sasayama himself, the students he has accepted over the years are
The most satisfactory student is you. And just one year later, you were expelled by Teacher Sasayama for refusing his request. He even stopped letting you in the small building of his kendo hall.
In one year, you have brought two huge shocks to all the teachers and students of the college, and even the seniors from branches around the world have expressed deep envy and jealousy towards you."
Chu Zifeng listened silently, not feeling much in his heart.
"Can you tell me how you fell in love with Teacher Sasayama?" Karl looked at Chu Zifeng with burning eyes.
"It's very simple. The teacher found me on the second day after I entered the academy. However, he had no intention of accepting me as his disciple. He just saw my ability and thought I was very suitable to be a ninja. Indeed, the teacher never
He took on real disciples, but he also trained many excellent ninjas and swordsmen."
"Then what?" Karl asked with great interest.
Chu Zifeng sipped the beer in his cup, "Then he gave me a knife and said that as long as I could survive five minutes in his hand, he would take me with him to teach him. Well, the second minute
I slashed him once, and in the third minute I cut off his bamboo sword. Five minutes later, he asked me if I wanted to go to a place with him."
Chu Zifeng drank the wine silently, his deep eyes slowly reflecting everything in the past.
——————————
Unlike ordinary students in the academy, Chu Zifeng, who had just entered the academy when he was a freshman, was taken away by a senator from the Senate because of his outstanding abilities.
A full year passed before Chu Zifeng returned to the academy and continued his courses.
No one knew where Ribei Shinoyama took him to and what he taught him during that year. Everyone only knew that Chu Zifeng had changed when he returned to the academy.
What has become of him?
If someone asks Qianqian this question, she will definitely say this.
"Although the bastard brother was unwilling to talk before, since he and Mr. Sasayama left the academy and came back, he has become very indifferent. He looks at everything with cold eyes. You know, he used to like dogs very much.
Well, it turns out that the way I look at a dog now is like looking at a stone."
For a year, Chu Zifeng received rigorous training from a Japanese kendo master. His teacher tortured him for a whole year with almost hellish training.
Of course, he also forged an invulnerable killing machine.
——————
On a night when the moon is sparse, dark clouds quietly cover the full moon in the sky.
In the dark and deep pit, Chu Zifeng was motionless, sitting at the bottom of the pit like a stone statue. On his body, his face was covered with colorful snakes.
The weather is extremely hot, and even at night, the scorching heat makes people breathless.
This is a tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia. This is where the teacher took him to practice. Today is also his first practice.
After not eating or drinking for three consecutive days and two nights, Chu Zifeng's cheeks and eye sockets had already been deeply sunken, and his arms and thighs were covered with horrific bite marks.
The thin snake crawling slowly over his body made him afraid to shed even a trace of terrifying sweat.
Because his forehead and lips were already purple and black. If he had not taken the snake venom antidote in advance, he would have been a corpse. Even if he was lucky enough to survive, his body would no longer be tortured by the snake venom all the time.
During these three days and two nights of suffering, all Chu Zifeng heard was the cold and old voice coming from above his head.
"Your talent is indeed very good, but you are not quiet enough."
"In three days, you sweated twenty-eight times and moved thirty-nine times, and they bit you sixty-seven times."
"You can go back."
"what should I do."
He spoke suddenly, and even he himself didn't realize that his voice was already unknowingly filled with the same indifference as the teacher's voice.
Even the thin snake crawling slowly over his body seemed not to realize what sound the person next to him had just made.
The cold voice above his head fell silent.
Chu Zifeng closed his eyes again and continued to sit in the pit, company with the poisonous snake.
Another three days and two nights passed, when Chu Zifeng was about to fall into severe dehydration and die from snake venom invading his internal organs, a small white jade vial was thrown into the pit.
"Come up."
————————
After that, he became the only student of the Senate, Ribei Shinoyama.
In a disguised form, he almost became the default candidate for the next director of the Japanese branch.
But unfortunately, he refused all this.
Kneeling in front of the big static face in the kendo hall, Sasayama Ribei, the old man with no expression on his face all year round, knelt in front of Chu Zifeng, as cold as a sword unsheathed.
Look at him.
"Are you willing to be my disciple? You will be my only student from now on."
Chu Zifeng looked at his teacher with the same indifference, but said nothing.
Because he knows what it means to be the teacher's only student.
This means that from now on, he will be tightly bound to the Japanese branch and even the secret party, so, according to his inner wishes, he gave his own answer.
Looking at the old man opposite with sword-like eyes, Chu Zifeng shook his head cleanly.
Refuse to become a ninja, refuse to join the Japanese branch, and refuse to inherit the mantle of his teacher.
The reason is simple: he doesn't like it.
Don’t like being a ninja? Or don’t like the teacher’s almost forced orders? Who knows, but it’s probably more of the latter.
Chu Zifeng is not a docile person, and his docility is only reserved for his relatives. Obviously, Sasayama Ribei, who has only been his teacher for a year, is not at the level of a relative.
——————————————
"You should know what happened next. After I rejected the teacher, the teacher pulled out his knife on the spot and put it on my neck. He told me that what I learned in the past year was not even half of his ability.
No, he also told me that if I don’t like life in Japan, I can just be a nominal minister and leave the daily affairs of the branch to others, and then come forward when I am really needed.”
Chu Zifeng looked into Karl's eyes quietly, "But I still chose to refuse."
"Why? You are his only student," Carl said with a wry smile. "Mr. Sasayama even picks some students to teach with him on weekdays, but I have never seen him disappear for a whole year for one person.
That time, you are the one he really likes, why?"
Seeing that Chu Zifeng became silent, Karl shrugged his shoulders.
"It doesn't matter, you don't have to tell me, I'm just curious."
Chu Zifeng opened a new bottle of beer and took a sip.
"There's nothing I can't say. I just don't like being a ninja. It's too boring and too restrictive. The life my teacher has arranged for me is not what I want."
"That is to say..."
"That is to say, I just want to learn the teacher's skills, but I don't want to be like him. I just need to learn the teacher's skills. I don't need the rest."
Chu Zifeng was indifferent.
"Also, he took the initiative to find me, not me who found him."
Karl frowned thoughtfully, and soon, a smile appeared.
"Are you too conceited sometimes?"
"The most important point is that I don't like the teacher's attitude towards me. It's hard to imagine what he looked like in front of me during that year. I really hate the way he speaks with so much emotion.
A commanding tone."
Chu Zifeng ignored Karl and disappeared in front of him.
Carl sighed.
——————————
Carrying the red wine in his hand, Karl strolled to the floor-to-ceiling window. The setting sun on the horizon had completely set, and the afterglow of the setting sun illuminated the clouds in the sky, leaving a beautiful color like fire.
Taking a sip of the red wine in the glass, Karl smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"He is really an unruly lone wolf." (To be continued)