Qifan Street Xiacheng District, this is a more decent name.
Those in the upper class prefer to call these lower urban areas where the sky is blocked by steel discs "rat's nests".
During her stay at Midgar Central Hospital, Tifa often heard people in the hospital mention the slums in the lower city. Whenever these [rat nests] were mentioned, those well-dressed people would always subconsciously express disgust.
.
But when she really stepped here, Tifa found that the slums were very different from what she had imagined.
Although there are simple bungalows built with wooden boards or discarded metal plates everywhere, the layout plan is not as messy as expected. The road surface left between the houses is not like cement roads or expensive stone bricks like the upper urban areas.
It's just a majestic street, but it's extremely hard ground that has been stepped on by countless people.
Walking further, you can see a small courtyard similar to a kindergarten, with a sandpit for children to play in. A group of children wearing hand-sewn school uniforms are playing happily.
In addition, there were simple basketball courts that were obviously put together by hand, two- or even three-story single-family buildings, prop shops, and weapon shops... Tifa even saw a sizable small market.
It was quite noisy and noisy.
"How is it? Is it very different from the slums you imagined?"
Zangan's voice brought Tifa back to her senses, and the girl nodded sheepishly: "Well...it's very vibrant here, and everyone seems to be working hard to survive."
Although the people living here are dressed simply, and most of them have tired faces caused by overwork, there seems to be something in these people's eyes. Tifa doesn't know how to describe the eyes of these people, she just
I know I like this kind of atmosphere very much.
They are really different from those in the upper-class neighborhoods, the girl thought.
Zangan stroked the beard on his chin and said as he walked: "I came here not only to let you see another side of Midgar, but also to take you to say hello to your old friends. You are such a beautiful girl.
If you want to live in Midgar without the care of others, it will not only be very difficult, but you may also encounter a lot of harassment."
"Master, I am not afraid of hard work. And am I not your proud disciple?"
Tifa bent her arms and tried to look strong: "Ordinary men are no match for me."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Zangan laughed loudly: "The human heart is sometimes more terrifying than fists and swords. In short, be cautious in everything, don't be foolish and gullible to others, but don't do evil intentionally, so that you can survive in this slum.
Survive."
"Yeah!" The girl nodded heavily.
Master will say these words, is it really the time to say goodbye? A girl who has suffered severe physical and mental trauma at the same time is always particularly sensitive. Looking at the tall and strong figure in front of her, her mood becomes mixed.
The two of them walked along the streets of the slums. Pedestrians along the way would occasionally be confused by these two unfamiliar faces. But there was a very important rule in the slum survival rules - don't ask random questions, don't talk nonsense.
As the two of them were walking on the street, Zangan, who was walking in front, suddenly asked without looking back: "Uh... Tifa, have I mentioned my other disciples to you?"
"I mention it occasionally. After all, you are a world-renowned martial arts instructor with disciples all over the world."
Tifa tilted her head: "Master, why do you suddenly ask about this?"
Zangan slowed down and walked side by side with Tifa. His tone was a little strange: "Then have I ever said that you are the most talented disciple I have ever accepted?"
"Hey, hey, I think you told me, right?"
In fact, the master often praises himself in this way. Although Tifa is not the kind of character who is easily arrogant, she is also quite confident in her talent for practicing martial arts.
"Actually...I lied to you, Tifa."
Zangan scratched the back of his head: "Your talent in practicing Zanganliu martial arts is indeed top-notch, but you are not the most talented among the disciples I have accepted."
The girl tilted her head again. What did the master suddenly mean?
At this time, the two of them walked to the end of the street, and what they saw was a slightly empty intersection where three streets met. In the center of the intersection was a shabby bar. The bar had no sign and looked very strange from the outside.
It was old, even the glass was broken several times.
Looking beyond the bar to the south, you can see a two-story simple apartment in the distance.
Zangan followed the girl's gaze and looked towards the bar, then shook his head: "This bar has been abandoned for a long time. It is said that the boss had something wrong and no one took over... What a pity. I still wanted to be here when I came last time.
Let’s have a drink. Where did you just say that? Oh yes, I have many disciples, and your talent ranks second among these disciples. You are indeed a good young man who practices martial arts. But there is another kid, he is just
He’s the one with the most talent.”
"What you want to tell me is this number one... senior brother?" Tifa asked tentatively.
"right."
Zangan slowly walked towards the two-story apartment with Tifa, saying as he walked:
"This senior brother of yours is a... weirdo, weird in every sense of the word. But there is no doubt about one thing, and that is his [talent]."
"Talent?"
"That's right, unparalleled [talent]. Let me ask you, how long did it take you to get started with [Fighting Qi Magic Light Ball]?"
"Hmm...about four months?" Tifa still remembers this move because she is only a beginner and is far from being proficient.
"Do you know how long it took this senior brother of yours?" Zangan asked mysteriously.
The girl shook her head, expressing curiosity.
Zangan raised a finger towards her, and Tifa asked curiously: "A month? It can't be a week, right?"
"One hour."
Zangan's tone was serious: "This doesn't include the time I spent demonstrating this move to him."
Tifa didn't know what to say for a moment. It was precisely because she had truly and systematically practiced Zanganliu martial arts that she clearly understood how difficult it was to practice [Fighting Qi Illusion Ball]. One hour...is this a real genius?
?
She finally got rid of her inexplicable depression and asked Zangan: "Master, you suddenly mentioned this senior brother, does he also live in Midgar?"
"In fact, he lives in that second-floor apartment. Oh, by the way, this apartment is called [Tianwangzhuang]. The landlady is an old acquaintance of mine. Although she is a bit rude, she is definitely a good person. If you can live here,
I will feel a little more at ease."
With that said, the two walked to the apartment.
The apartment is a two-story structure. The metal staircase is on the outside of the apartment. There are three rooms on the second floor. The first floor seems to be the landlord's own residence.
Following the sound of a dog barking, an old lady with long white hair tied tightly back slowly walked out of the door, followed by an old dog with white fur wagging its tail vigorously.
"Ma Lei! Hahaha! How are you doing recently?"
Zangan opened his arms and laughed and walked over, wanting to hug the old lady named Marei, but the latter blocked her body with her hands in disgust, sighed and said: "Zangan,
You are definitely not here to repay the money...Tell me, how much do you need to borrow?"
Zangan touched his head in embarrassment and stammered: "No, no, I just want to come... uh, say hello. So what, come, Tifa, this beauty is Ma Lei, the landlady of Tianwang Village
.”
Tifa moved over slightly awkwardly and bowed deeply to Mare: "Hello, my name is Tifa. I am very happy to meet you... The money that Master borrowed from you was used by me.
I will definitely work hard to make money and return the money to you as soon as possible!”
She wanted to say something else, but she was hugged by Ma Lei, patted her back gently and said comfortingly: "Don't worry, don't worry, you kid takes it seriously. I know your master very well, the way we get along is
That's it, sorry for scaring you."
Mare comforted Tifa and looked at Zangan: "Is the loan money to treat this child?"
She was well-informed and could tell at a glance that something was wrong with Tifa's face. She was obviously recovering from a serious illness and needed to continue to recuperate.
Zangan rubbed the back of his head: "She is my disciple, and everyone in her family has died... plus she was seriously injured, so I can only take her to Midgar. That hospital charges very high fees, Mare, you know."
Marley snorted: "If you had said that you were borrowing money to treat such a good child, then I would do anything to help you get the medical expenses. However, the price of Midgar Central Hospital is not low, at least it has to be
There are tens of thousands of GIL, where did you get the money?”
Zangan pointed towards the second floor with a strange expression.
Marley immediately understood: "You want him to help take care of this child? Stop dreaming, you know how weird that kid is much better than I do."
"That's why I have to pay him a visit. After all, the money I borrowed from him is not a small amount, and I won't be able to pay it back in a short time."
Zangan spread his hands and smiled bitterly: "Although he is called a master and apprentice, I didn't actually teach him much, but he helped me a lot. That kid is actually quite kind-hearted, but he is more towards strangers...
…”
"【indifferent】."
Marley said angrily:
"This is the only thing I can say about him. Okay, okay, he probably didn't go out, room 202."
Compared to being rude to Zangan, Mare was much gentler to Tifa and comforted her softly: "If you want to survive in Midgar, sometimes you need to be a little thick-skinned. That kid upstairs has real skills.
, he just has a bad mouth and is very weird. If he says something weird... don't take it to heart, he is relatively reliable with acquaintances, well, probably."
Mare's comfort had the opposite effect, and Tifa became even more frightened. Normally, she would have probably run away, but her master had sacrificed his face for her, so how could she hold him back?
Encouraging herself repeatedly in her heart, the girl followed Zangan up the metal stairs outside the apartment. The thin and slightly rusty metal steps made a sour creaking sound every time she stepped on them.
"201...202, this is it."
Zangan stood in front of the door and took several deep breaths. As a master, he was obviously a little nervous. He didn't know if it was because of the psychological pressure caused by facing a big creditor.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The door was knocked three times rhythmically, Zangan stood in front of the door with a serious expression, and Tifa stood beside him with an uneasy look on his face.
Creak——
The door was slowly opened a crack, and the light in the room was extremely dim. Tifa could only see half of her head through the crack in the door - a bird's nest of messy black slightly curly ear-length hair, old-fashioned glasses, and plain
He has an unremarkable face and half-drooped eyes, and overall he looks very young, no more than eighteen years old.
Is this the genius brother that Master calls? Well, it’s so different from what you imagined!
The head behind the door looked at Zangan through the crack of the door without saying a word.
"Heather! Hahaha! How are you doing recently?" Zangan spread his arms as if to resolve the embarrassing silence.
"Zangan."
The black-haired young man named Heather seemed to confirm himself as he read out Zangan's name, nodded slightly, and then slammed the door shut with a 'bang'.
"..."
Tifa looked worriedly at Zangan, who was frozen. She had never encountered such an embarrassing scene in her entire life.
Zangan had long been familiar with Heather's temper and continued to knock on the door without any discouragement, still following the rhythmic three-knock rule.
There was silence behind the door for a while, and then a gap opened again.
Heather's voice had no fluctuations: "I have lent you a total of 26,460 GIL. You don't have to pay it back. Just treat it as my filial piety to you."
"Really? That's great...ah, no, that's not what I came here to talk about this time."
Zangan looked happy at first, then suddenly woke up when he saw Tifa beside him, and quickly blocked the door to prevent Heather from closing it: "Don't close it, don't close it, Heather, you don't want to know why I borrowed so much money.
why?"
"If you don't want to, let go."
"Heather, let's just chat for a few words, okay? Let's have a master-disciple relationship... Okay, I admit that I tricked you that time in Wutai, but that wasn't an accident!"
Feeling that the force behind the door was getting stronger and stronger, Zangan decisively admitted his mistake.
"...We will settle the accounts with Wutai later."
Heather no longer tried to close the door, but turned her attention to Tifa who was standing uneasily outside the door: "Zanganliu martial arts is good, but he was seriously injured...Midgar Central Hospital?"
Zangan nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, only Midgar Central Hospital can treat Tifa's injuries. I came here specifically to bring Tifa to thank you. Without your support, I'm afraid this child will really die."
"
Tifa hurriedly bowed and said: "Thank you very much, Brother Heather!"
The black eyes behind the glasses shifted from Zangan to Tifa, looking back and forth a few times before Heather opened the door completely: "Come in and talk."
After saying that, he walked towards the back room, and the door was left open.
Tifa straightened up and looked at Zangan with doubtful eyes. The latter breathed a long sigh of relief and nodded to Tifa: "It's okay, it's okay. If they didn't drive us away directly, it means there's something going on. Let's go in."
No matter how hard-hearted Heather is, she won't make a bad face to such a cute junior sister, right? Zangan felt a little unsure this time, and hurriedly took Tifa into room 202.