by Dragon King
19 Became a Replacement?
On the dining table, Zhao Hongyu asked Zhao Yanzi about the things that were happening at her school, and Zhao Yanzi answered.
Hao Ren ate quietly and listened to their conversation.
Both the mother and the daughter looked alike, but one was gentle and mature, and the other was cute and charming. The contrast of their images was interesting.
Zhao Kuo, on the other hand. ate loudly as if he was holding his breath.
“Zhao Yanzi’s father, Zhao Guang, seemed to be a wise man with great leadership. This Zhao Kuo is probably his younger brother. His personality is reckless and straightforward; he is too different from his older brother. Regarding appearance, he isn’t as good-looking as Zhao Guang. He is darker and looks ferocious,” Hao Ren thought to himself.
Feeling Hao Ren’s stare, Zhao Kuo raised his head and suddenly glared at Hao Ren. The tanned and bearded face scared Hao Ren.
After dinner, the conversation between the mother, Zhao Hongyu, and the daughter, Zhao Yanzi, ended. Zhao Hongyu stood up and cleaned up the dishes. “Zi, go upstairs and study with Ren.”
Zhao Yanzi pouted her small mouth. “I just finished eating. I still want to watch a bit of TV…”
“No, it’ll be too late for Ren to go back.” Zhao Hongyu denied Zhao Yanzi’s request firmly and didn’t give her any room for discussion.
Zhao Yanzi twitched her mouth in sadness as she bit her lips and looked at Hao Ren angrily. It seemed like she wanted to vent her anger on Hao Ren.
“Quit stalling! Go upstairs and study!” Zhao Hongyu hurried her.
“Okay! I know!” Zhao Yanzi walked towards the stairs and stepped on the wood flooring.
Hao Ren laughed, grabbed the study materials, and followed her upstairs. He didn’t even think of Zhao Yanzi as his fiancée in his mind but as a troublesome little girl.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Kuo followed them upstairs when he saw them go upstairs.
“Why are you going upstairs?” Zhao Hongyu called.
“Hehe… I’m just going to take a look upstairs…,” Zhao Kuo scratched his head as he walked upstairs and replied in embarrassment.
Obviously, he was worried about leaving Zhao Yanzi and Hao Ren alone. Thus, he followed to supervise them. He also wanted to see how smart Hao Ren was and if he could actually teach Zhao Yanzi.
Zhao Hongyu knew clearly that Zhao Kuo went upstairs to kill the mood, but she couldn’t do anything about him. She sighed slightly and continued to clean the table.
Hao Ren followed Zhao Yanzi and entered her bedroom. He was caught by surprise when he saw Third Uncle following them inside. Yet, Zhao Kuo was an elder to him, and it was Zhao Yanzi’s bedroom. He didn’t have any reason to kick him out.
Zhao Yanzi pouted her lips and sat in front of the desk unhappily.
Hao Ren opened up his bag, took out a test paper, and put it in front of her. “Finish this test paper first.”
“I still have a lot of assignments to do today!” Zhao Yanzi looked at Hao Ren with an unfriendly attitude.
“Do you want me to call your mom upstairs?” Hao Ren didn’t want to argue with her and directly brought up her mom.
“Humph!” Zhao Yanzi gave in right away. She took the test paper from him, grabbed a pen, and frowned as she got started.
These questions were picked from many test banks by Hao Ren, and they were all simple and basic questions. In order to see what level she was at, he had to give her a test paper like this.
Zhao Yanzi bit the tip of the pen and did the questions one by one. Hao Ren dragged a chair, sat beside her, and looked at her quietly.
That Third Uncle came and peeked quietly. However, these thickly dotted English words gave him a headache, and he had to sit back down in his original spot and stare at Hao Ren.
After half an hour, Zhao Yanzi finally finished the simple test. Hao Ren took it from her, checked it in two minutes, and discovered surprisingly that… this Zhao Yanzi’s English… was extremely poor…
Seeing the big red cross marks appear more and more on the test paper, Zhao Yanzi couldn’t hold back, “Hey! Did I do that many questions wrong?”
“You only have twenty points out of a hundred!” Hao Ren grabbed the test paper and waved it in front of her.
“You did it on purpose!” Zhao Yanzi’s face was pale as she said arrogantly.
“Okay,” Hao Ren put the test back to the table, “Let’s start your class officially.” He said.
“Huh!” Zhao Yanzi was reluctant.
“You did the second question wrong. ‘Finish’ is a verb and you need to polish it with the adverb ‘quickly’. Here it’s saying that it’s faster than other people, so it should be ‘more quickly’ not ‘more quick’,” Hao Ren pointed at the second question that she got wrong and explained
Zhao Yanzi blushed. “I know! I was careless and read it wrong!”
Hao Ren ignored her excuse and pointed at the third question, “Go to the beach in July and arriving on July fifth. Use ‘in’ for the proposition before the year, the month, the season, and the week. When talking about the date specifically, use ‘on’. If it’s the particular arrival time, such as five o’clock, use ‘at’.”
“I know this too! I wasn’t paying attention!” Zhao Yanzi quibbled.
“And the fourth question…”
“Sixth question…”
“Seventh question, eighth question…”
Hao Ren explained the questions one by one, but Zhao Yanzi always had some sort of excuse. If she didn’t read the question wrong, it was Hao Ren’s test paper not being clear enough. Overall, her English wasn’t the problem.
In the end, Zhao Kuo couldn’t even just sit in the background anymore. He coughed two times, “Uh… Zi, you need to pay more attention in class.”
“Third Uncle! His test is way too difficult!” Zhao Yanzi’s face was red as she spoke to her Third Uncle.
Hao Ren was speechless. These questions were the simplest and most basic questions for middle school English. Even first-year middle school student could probably answer half of the questions.
Zhao Kuo had a bad temper, but he wasn’t stupid. He looked at Zhao Yanzi and knew that she had a bad foundation in English. Thus, he couldn’t hold his ground anymore. “I think you still need some tutoring.”
“Third Uncle…” Zhao Yanzi whined cutely. Her face was red, and she felt ashamed.
“It’s about time. Your father should be back soon. I’ll head back now so your father won’t nag me,” Zhao Kuo said.
“Haha. Third Uncle, you’re scared that my father will lecture you, aren’t you?” Zhao Yanzi suddenly said happily. She felt like she found an alliance.
Zhao Kuo felt ashamed as well. “Anyhow… I’m going back now!”
“Okay! I’ll see you off!” Zhao Yanzi jumped up from the chair. She seemed like she was really close with her Third Uncle.
“You can just walk me downstairs…,” Zhao Kuo said as he walked out of Zhao Yanzi’s bedroom.
He didn’t even say goodbye to Hao Ren. It was obvious he didn’t accept Hao Ren.
Hao Ren stayed alone in Zhao Yanzi’s bedroom. He could hear Zhao Yanzi’s light whispering voice vaguely from downstairs. “He’s not as bad as you think…”
Then, it was followed by a conversation downstairs.
“Leaving now? Zhao Guang is almost back home. You don’t want to say hi to him?”
“Next time… next time… I came to see Zi this time…”
“You’re afraid that he’ll say you’re not working on cultivation hard enough, right? Well, drive safe on your way back…”
Hao Ren wanted to eavesdrop more, but Zhao Yanzi opened the door and came back to her bedroom.
“Gees, you made me looked bad in front of my Third Uncle!” Once she came in, she complained to Hao Ren right away.
Hao Ren looked at her, “But you actually did them wrong!”
“Can’t you pretend that I did them right?” She looked
at Hao Ren angrily.
Hao Ren smiled and didn’t want to argue with her. “This kiddo’s English isn’t that great, but she is afraid of embarrassment.” He thought.
“Looks like your Third Uncle hates me,” Hao Ren changed the topic and said.
“It isn’t just you. He doesn’t like mortals,” Zhao Yanzi answered.
Hao Ren didn’t know what to say, but his impression towards this Third Uncle was lowered by another thirty percent.
“He just thinks that you’re not a good match for me. You don’t have to worry. He just says things but won’t actually do anything to you,” Zhao Yanzi said straightforwardly.
“I actually still don’t know much about you guys. What exactly was the ‘Spirit Concentration Scroll’ that Elder Lu gave me last time?” Hao Ren asked her.
“That’s the most basic cultivation technique. It doesn’t actually do anything. It’s simply for purification of the body.” Zhao Yanzi looked at Hao Ren. “You’ve been cultivating for so many days now, and yet it seems like your body has no reaction.”
Seeing her scornful gaze, Hao Ren knew that it was her turn to attack him this time.
“Didn’t we have a deal? I tutor you, and you teach me cultivation techniques. If I cultivate poorly, it means that you are a bad teacher,” Hao Ren said immediately.
“Nonsense! I never taught you before!” Zhao Yanzi glared with her huge eyes.
“Then you can start now.” Hao Ren sat down and looked at her.
“The cultivation techniques in the Dragon Clan is divided into, hmm… these eight levels: Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Li, Kan. Hmm… the highest Qian Level is also called the Heavenly Level. Anyway, that’s about it. You’re not even on the elementary level yet. After your body power up to a certain level, my father or Elder Lu will pass you the real cultivation technique. And when you cultivate till Kan Level, you will be officially a cultivator.”
Listening to her vague explanation, Hao Ren guessed her cultivation was probably not that remarkable. In fact, Hao Ren was right about that. Zhao Yanzi was totally uninterested in the cultivation techniques and only cultivated here and there. Yet, she thought highly of herself and was anxious about proving herself. That was why she made a mistake and fell in Hao Ren’s arms from the sky. Wasn’t it kind of a punishment that her parents forced her to marry Hao Ren?
“Are there any dangers for me to learn your cultivation techniques?” Hao Ren was concerned about this. At this point, he had recovered from the hesitation he experienced a few days ago and accepted the current situation.
“Of course there are dangers! You could break your arms or legs if the injuries are light. You could even lose your life on the spot!” Zhao Yanzi said seriously.
Hao Ren got distracted right away, “Uh…”
“It’s a good thing now, isn’t it? You can be my replacement, and it’ll be a lot easier for me.” She giggled and tried to irritate Hao Ren intentionally.
“This is what she had intended to do… However, even though there are dangers with cultivation, she probably made them up. She is probably comforting herself knowing that she can get away from the dullness of cultivation…” He thought.
“Sure, I can be your replacement. You are marrying me anyway.” Hao Ren took out his thumbs and touched them together, “At the time…”
“Screw you!” Zhao Yanzi’s face darkened. Her white teeth bit her red lips, and she punched towards Hao Ren’s face.
20 Unstoppable Peach Blossom
Hao Ren dodged right away and grabbed her tiny hand. Unexpectedly, Zhao Yanzi had another strike waiting for him. Her other fist aimed at Hao Ren’s stomach and hit on it firmly.
She pulled her arm back and looked at Hao Ren fiercely.
Knock knock knock… The sound of knocking emerged. Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi turned back and looked at the door. Zhao Guang pushed open the door and entered.
“How’s the tutoring going?” He walked over and asked.
“Ah, it’s pretty good,” Hao Ren rubbed his stomach and replied.
Zhao Yanzi’s face turned red and she didn’t dare to talk.
“Zi’s English is very poor. We wanted to find her a tutor, but she wouldn’t agree. That’s why we had to ask you to help her study,” Zhao Guang said to Hao Ren.
“Yeah, she’s working pretty hard,” Hao Ren said.
Zhao Yanzi glanced at Hao Ren; she didn’t think he would say something nice about her.
“This little girl is too playful. She’s actually smart, but she just doesn’t work hard,” Zhao Guang frankly exposed Hao Ren’s lie.
“Daddy…” Zhao Yanzi was ashamed again. She couldn’t help but call out.
Zhao Guang ignored Zhao Yanzi and looked at Hao Ren. “How’s the cultivation of the Spirit Concentration Scroll from Elder Lu?”
“Nothing seems to be happening,” Hao Ren replied.
“Take your time,” he waved at Hao Ren, “come with me.”
He took Hao Ren to some small hidden stairs and walked up into the attic on the top floor. Zhao Yanzi was curious and followed them.
“This is Zhao Yanzi’s mother’s studio at home, but she normally doesn’t use it at night. After you finish tutoring Zi, you can come here to cultivate,” Zhao Guang said.
Hao Ren looked around. This studio was smaller than ten square meters, but it was decorated elegantly and serenely; it didn’t feel small at all.
The slanted triangular bookcase maximized the space well. On top of the bookcase, there were all kinds of professional books about design, and most of them were in foreign languages.
On the other side of the room, there was a flat table with different types of drawing equipment on top for drafting. The chair was as green as spring grass, and it added an artistic atmosphere to the tiny attic.
Through the small window, one could view the backyard that was filled with vivid greens and looked very pleasing.
“Daddy, you guys like him more. I normally can’t even enter this studio. Why can he cultivate in here?” Zhao Yanzi said sourly.
“How about you do your homework here and he gets to cultivate in your bedroom?” Zhao Guang asked her.
“No way!” Zhao Yanzi shooked her head crazily like a rattle drum.
“That’s right. Go do your homework now!” Zhao Guang kicked her out.
Zhao Yanzi left unwillingly.
Zhao Guang looked at Hao Ren. “There are actually three levels in the Spirit Concentration Scroll. The first level is to communicate with heaven and earth, feel the energy in nature, and purify your body at the same time. The second level is to guide the energy into your body. This process is very slow, but it really helps strengthen your body. The third level is to release the energy around your body. You can only cultivate other more formal cultivation techniques after passing the third level.”
Hao Ren looked at Zhao Guang as he listened and remembered his words. He finally understood that Zhao Guang wanted to instruct him on cultivation himself.
“This first level, communicating with heaven and earth, also has some techniques to it…” Zhao Guang faced Hao Ren and explained thoroughly.
If those elders saw that the “Dragon King” was explaining these basic terms to Hao Ren, they would find this incredibly shocking. However, Hao Ren was utterly oblivious to Zhao Guang’s identity. He was touched because he thought Zhao Guang took some time out of his busy schedule to explain these terms to him.
Zhao Guang’s coaching was easy to understand, and Hao Ren learned a lot from him. Some things that he couldn’t comprehend before were all solved. Sure enough, these kinds of things would be difficult for him to figure out on his own.
Hao Ren finally understood that Zhao Yanzi would encounter a considerable amount of danger after three years. And within these three years, he also had to undertake the same amount of danger.
Swallowing the Internal Core was a dangerous act. If he didn’t cultivate the Dragon Clan’s cultivation technique to mediate and suppress the energy of the
Internal Core, his body would have exploded sooner or later due to the increasing power of the Dragon Core.
According to Zhao Guang’s statement, the Dragon Core innately contained the instinct of absorbing the Heavenly and Earthly Spiritual Energy. Therefore, it was also a supreme treasure of the world. The Dragon Clan’s body was innately born with a Dragon Core and certainly became a special and powerful clan because of it.
Seconds and minutes passed by. Soon enough, it was nine thirty already.
“Uncle, I should go back now. Our dorm’s curfew is ten o’clock,” Hao Ren noticed the clock ticking and said hastily.
“Alright. I still have half of the content left to explain, but we can talk about it tomorrow.” Zhao Guang led Hao Ren out of the studio.
“Um, I’ll start heading back now,” Hao Ren tried to say it in the most courteous way possible. Frankly, Hao Ren was a bit touched by Zhao Guang’s act of instructing him for so long, especially after Zhao Guang had worked overtime today.
“I’ll drive you back,” Zhao Guang said in an undisputable tone.
Hao Ren wanted to refuse at first, but he nodded because he thought Zhao Guang wanted to say something to him. Zhao Hongyu and he were in a son-in-law and mother-in-law relationship and they got along better. Yet, Zhao Guang and he were in a son-in-law and father-in-law relationship. There would be many things to talk about, right?
Zhao Guang brought Hao Ren outside before he went to get the car from the garage. It was a low-key black Chevrolet.
Hao Ren got in the car silently. As the car engine started, he waited for Zhao Guang to speak.
However, Zhao Guang drove the car steadily and didn’t say anything. Hao Ren had many questions, but he didn’t dare to ask when he saw Zhao Guang’s cold face.
Zhao Guang drove Hao Ren to the entrance of the dorm right around quarter to ten. Seeing Zhao Guang being so familiar with the campus’ roads, Hao Ren suddenly remembered that Mingri Group was the biggest investor of East Ocean University. Didn’t they donate and help the school to build the stadium, library, and the newly built Media Academy Building?