The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

“You just continue to recite poetic lines containing the character ‘Yuan’ (deep water) and leave the rest to me,” Zhao Yuan bent down to talk to Lin Wenxi.

Lin Wenxi nodded and quickly recited 7 or 8 lines. “Read Tao Yuanming’s poems aloud, I’ll rise from Jiuyuan… Fish swimming in the deep water and birds flying among the wood, each in its own place…”

The red light was on again and began to flicker, signalling to the examinees that the had to leave now. The examiner in the corner stood up impatiently.

“I protest!” Zhao Yuan raised his hand high and said.

“Speak,” The examiner in the dark corner still remained barely visible to them. He stood still like a statue.

“We’re a team. According to the rules, we can answer questions together. The 20th question asks us to recite 50 poetic lines, each including a character from the examinee’s name. Just now Lin Wenxi recited lines including the character ‘Xi’ from his name, but now it’s my turn. I choose the character ‘Yuan’ from my name, and he just recites lines containing the character ‘Yuan’ for me. I can’t see there’s anything wrong with that,” Zhao Yuan said assertively. Upon hearing that, Lin Wenxi immediately realized what Zhao Yuan intended to do, Zheng Kai thought for a while and finally realized what was going on. He banged his fist on Zhao Yuan’s shoulder and said, “Good boy, you’re smart!”

The examiner kept silent for a long time, and then the green light was on.

“Thank goodness! We passed!” Lin Wenxi took a deep breath and thought with relief. Zhao Yuan rubbed his chest to help him relax and said, “If you’re too tired, just tell me, my cutie Wenxi.”

Zheng Kai got goose bumps upon hearing that and said, “Zhao Yuan, Wenxi is a boy, you…”

“Don’t disturb him. Let him have a rest. Do you forget who answered those 20 questions correctly for us?” Zhao Yuan replied without looking at Zheng Kai. He helped Lin Wenxi to stand up slowly and said, “Wenxi, you’re the 10th wonder of the world!”

Lin Wenxi smirked and said, “Then you and Zheng Kai are the 8th and 9th wonders of the world respectively.”

“Well, well, whatever you say is right!” said Zhao Yuan. He was so excited that he picked Lin Wenxi up and strode out of the test building while carrying him. Lin Wenxi couldn’t help but scream and struggle, trying to extricate himself from Zhao Yuan’s arms. It was sunny outside. When they walked under the trees, Lin Wenxi saw something like stars flickering within Zhao Yuan’s eyes. He lifted up his hand to touch Zhao Yuan’s eyelids. Gradually, his vision became blurred, and he gradually fell asleep relaxedly and with a smile on his face.

When he woke up again, he found himself lying on a bed in a small room. He was put on a drip. He looked around and saw another person lying on a bed beside him. It was Zheng Kai. Since meeting this guy, Lin Wenxi had never seen him be so quiet. He was put on a drip too, his plastered leg up in the air. Lin Wenxi mused for a long time but still failed to figure out why this super energetic Zheng Kai ended up here. He remembered that Zheng Kai and Zhao Yuan had taken turns to carry him all along the way.

The next moment, Zhao Yuan and Shu Xiaoman entered the room. One of them sat beside Lin Wenxi’s pillow, and the other sat at the end of the bed. Before being asked, Shu Xiaoman excitedly began to tell Lin Wenxi everything.

“Zheng Kai told everyone what was a real man with his own actions. His injuries are worse yours. He gets scratches all over his body, and his knee nearly gets a comminuted fracture. He always pretended to be alright in front of Chen Wanxin so much so that he nearly forgot about his own injuries. He walked fast and caught a cold on that rainy night. Although he had a high fever, he still forced himself to set off again and even help Zhao Yuan carry you. He was nervous during the test, but after the test, he relaxed and finally lost control of himself. He went to a quiet corner and blacked out there.

“Before that, he just told us that he needed to take a rest in the depot. When all of us were busy taking care of you, he collapsed to the ground without being noticed by anyone. When some other students arrived at the depot and saw him, they cried for help. At that time, we knew that our strongest macho Zheng Kai had fainted.

When Zhao Yuan found him, he couldn’t help but punch the pillar next to him and shouted, “Zheng Kai, you’re f*cking stupid to try so hard to defend your d*mned honor! Even when you fainted, you had to choose such a quiet corner!”

“Zhao Yuan tried to pick up Zheng Kai, but fell down on the ground too. He was also exhausted. In the end, we worked together to carry Zheng Kai to the depot clinic.”

Shu Xiaoman told Lin Wen that Zheng Kai was just exhausted but not very sick. According to her, Zheng Kai would be able to join the competition again when his wounded knee was alright, but Lin Wenxi would need at least several days to recover since he was too sick and his wounds got infected.

Lin Wenxi looked at Zheng Kai dejectedly and asked, “Who else will continue to hike?”

“Zhao Yuan, Zheng Kai, and Wanxin. As for you, you can set off whenever you feel alright. Almost all the top 30 students failed the test in the second depot and thus got eliminated from the competition. A few survivors have already set off, and it’s impossible to catch up with them now.” With these words, Shu Xiaoman held Lin Wenxi’s hand to feel his body temperature. When she found out that he did not have a high fever now, she unknitted her eyebrows. Lin Wenxi felt worried, as Shu Xiaoman did not tell him what had happened to the other three teammates.

“What about the other four members of our team?” Lin Wenxi asked plainly.

“They failed the test,” said Shu Xiaoman.

“It seems that I won’t have any chance to win this competition,” Lin Wenxi thought sadly and slumped into his bed.

The next moment, he said, “I remember that I’ve passed the test. I’m not eliminated from the competition. Am I right?”

Shu Xiaoman bit her lip and shook her head, trying to stop Lin Wenxi from joining the competition again.

Right at this moment, Zhang Dong entered the room and asked, “Do you want to go now?” He looked coldly at Zheng Kai for a moment and then looked Lin Wenxi up and down.

“Let’s go!” Lin Wenxi stood up and answered assertively.

“If so, you’d better hurry up! Many students have set off by now. If you continue to stay in the clinic, you won’t win the competition and you’ll delay your teammates. If you want to give up, you’d better give up now!” Zhang Dong said solemnly as if he was scolding his own subordinate.

“Where’s your conscience? He’s too sick to leave!” Shu Xiaoman rushed to Zhang Dong and shouted to him with her hands placed on her hips.

She continued grumpily, “There are three kinds of people in the world. The first kind of people still have their conscience. The second kind of people have their conscience eaten by dogs. What about the third kind of people? Do you know that?” Zhang Dong ignored her, turned around and left.

Shu Xiaoman was stunned and shouted to him, “What the f*ck! You even don’t want to know the answer!”

“So what about the third kind of people?” Zheng Kai woke up and asked with a smile.

“Even dogs will feel disgusted at the idea of eating the third kind of people’s conscience, and Zhang Dong was one of them!” Shu Xiaoman shouted toward the leaving military instructor. When she turned around to look at Zheng Kai, Zheng Kai was looking at something in the ceiling and chuckling.

“Oh, I see.” Zhang Dong suddenly came back with Wang Xiang and stood behind her. Shu Xiaoman turned around and pointed at Wang Xiang. Wang Xiang stuttered, “Is there anything wrong with me?”

“Come in here to take care of Zheng Kai. I’m busy taking care of Wenxi!” shouted Shu Xiaoman.

Wang Xiang rushed to Zheng Kai and exclaimed while checking his wounds. “Look at you! How can you stand so much pain? It’s said that people like you must have no one to take care of you during your sad childhood. Oh, poor boy, don’t worry. An’an and I will take care of you in the future!”

Zheng Kai looked back at Wang Xiang, his face somber.

Zheng Kai’s childhood was indeed very different. He had to get up at 6 a.m. to run several kilometers together with his father Zheng Zihuan every day, when the other children at his age still played mud or some transformer toys together every day.

When he went to school, he had two free hours after the morning classes every day. However, his father would give him only half an hour to take a nap and during the remaining 1.5 hours, he would ask him to play basketball or do some sit-ups or push-ups. His father would give him only two hours to finish his homework after dinner every day. Once he failed to finish his homework during the two hours, his father would beat him up. If he cried, his father would scold him and tell him that a man should never cry. His father would even flog him with his leather belt until he stopped crying. Every day, during the two free hours after dinner, Zheng Kai would finish his homework as fast as he could in order to get some time to play with the other children in his neighborhood. Nevertheless, he seldom got such a chance. As such, he failed to have any friend in his neighborhood and most of the time, he could just sit down on the ground to watch the stars alone.

In the evening, he had to take a cruel two-hour weight training. His father would ask him to do frog jumps with some heavy quilts on his back or to do pull-ups with some heavy sandbags tied to his ankles. Once his father thought that he did not try his best, he would flog his butt or thighs with his belt. Every night, he had to go to sleep at 10 p.m. and sleep for 8 hours. When he woke up, he would start his training again. Sometimes, his father would even hire some professional trainers to teach him fencing, boxing and martial arts.

Zheng Kai knew that his father was not cruel to him, as his father, who did not have much money, let him eat very well every day. He could have meat, fish and milk for every meal and sometimes, he would even be able to eat some hares or snakes from the mountain. Once his father thought that he did well in the training, he would buy him his favorite clothes and toys. Strangely, his father would forbid him from playing with the toys at home. Zheng Kai did not quite understand his parents. His father was busy training him every day, and his mother often cried. They did not seem to love each other very much but they did not divorce. When Zheng Kai first learned something about biology from a high school girl in his neighborhood, he was intrigued and wondered, “Does my father have some overexcited sympathetic nerves? Is that why he often sighs at night and makes me train long and hard during the day?”

Time flew, and Zheng Kai gradually grew into a teenager. Because of his father’s cruel training, he became exceptionally strong and tall. He won various kinds of competition in different sports meetings, and thus caught the attention of the Green Fields Military Academy. The academy made an exception to recruit him. After that, he left his home to study in the academy for five years. His mother would come to the academy to visit him every half a year and left while crying. His father only came to the academy once to attend his rewarding ceremony during the second year of his high school.

Zheng Kai never liked to think back to his past, but Wang Xiang’s words reminded him of all his past experiences and made him feel somewhat depressed.

“I just come back to tell you something important. When you walk out of this room, you can go to the third room to your left to get the supplies. As now there are only 30 students left in the competition, and we have 30 military instructors, each one of you will be followed by a military instructor.” With these words Zhang Dong threw a quick glance at Lin Wenxi and said, “If you want to go. Get up! Hurry up! Don’t act like a girl!”

“Is there anything wrong with a girl? I’m a girl and I made it here!” Shu Xiaoman was upset and shouted with her hands on her hips again.

“If you verbally abuse your military instructor, you’ll be eliminated from the competition! Remember it,” Zhang Dong replied in a deep voice after a moment of silence.

“Alright, I quit now. Can I scold you if I quit?” Shu Xiaoman said smilingly, while pointing at the military instructor. She twitched her mouth and lifted up her head, looking aggressive. Lin Wenxi was impressed by the proud look on her face. It somehow reminded him of Lin Qingxia’s role Dongfang Bubai.

“Look, he’s scared of me. Wenxi, don’t worry. You just need to lie on your bed,” Shu Xiaoman clapped her hand and said excitedly beside Lin Wenxi’s bed.

Zhang Dong left without saying a word. When Shu Xiaoman turned around, she saw Zheng Kai and Lin Wenxi hurriedly get out of their beds and pack up together with Zhao Yuan.