Source of Income

Honestly, Lou Cheng felt awkward seeing online friends he was familiar with judge him from the viewpoint of strangers. He didn't know how to face it. For a moment he just wanted to ignore the comments and bury his head in the sand like an ostrich. However, he couldn't stand the exhilarated Little Ming's constant pushing and was compelled to roll over to the pages below.

Except for several people ahead who raced to take the second floor and comment with supportive words, "Unparalleled Dragon King", the martial maniac replied first: "Lin Que is alright, but it's hard for him to prosper in the future as he has encountered sessions with numerous Mighty Ones in the past 10 years. For example, Peng Leyun from Shanbei, Ren Li from the Capital, Ann Chaoyang from Huahai, and Zhen Huansheng from Guangnan are all well-known genius fighters, amongst which the former two are the martial heirs of their respective school, and the latter two have been appointed by Xinghai. Not to speak of other famous individuals, among freshmen of this year, Li Xiaoyuan from Guangnan and Fang Zhirong from Shanbei are also said to be better than Lin Que."

"Jesus! Who is this? He knows martial arts like the back of his hand!" Cai Zongming was shocked by the reply from "Unparalleled Dragon King".

With a look of worship, Lou Cheng said, "He is an addicted martial maniac and is the best choice for you to inquire data about martial arts. It is said that he is a rich kid returning from studying abroad and has been staying at home all the time."

"A Plumber Eating Mushroom" also replied, "Peng Leyun and Ren Li are both freshmen of the last year, and there's no hope for other schools before they graduate."

"Why?" The user "Brahman" sent a blank expression. She was the favorite of the forum. Graduated from elementary school last year, she was quite childish.

"A Plumber Eating Mushroom" replied, "Whoops, didn't you quit the forum this year? Think about it! During the enrollment of Peng Leyun and Ren Li and sessions before that, the one who has attained the Danqi Realm of Professional Eighth Pin were qualified to fight for the national champion. But it won't work this time since they both passed the Ranking Event in October and are Professional Seventh Pins. Their aptitude is only going to increase every year through their hard work. How could the latecomers possibly surpass them?"

"Maybe someone can attain the Danqi Realm in one year and surpass them in two years?" "Brahman" was not convinced.

"Invincible Punch" sighed below, "I've failed in my Ranking Event once again. Thinking about Peng Leyun and Lin Que, I wish I were dead. The meaning of someone's existence is to make your life meaningless."

Reading a lot of comments, Lou Cheng and Cai Zongming looked each other in the eyes and sighed.

"Lin Que's become famous."

Through this live broadcast and the feature program, he had won a nationwide reputation.

Looking at the comments again, the old hand "No Hooligans" had said, "Am I the only one thinking that the journalist in the feature program is a beauty?"

"Okamoto's Fan" followed, "Nine points at least! Sister, I want to..."

"Above the Sky", who had a portrait of a rocker girl, replied using a similar tone, "Am I the only one thinking that the boy in the interview is handsome?"

Cai Zongming sighed with emotion. "Don't cast pearls before swine. How fortunate to have a normal girl here!"

The little girl "Wonton Seller" replied with hesitation, "Which boy do you mean?"

"The one who looks silly. He's so cute saying about how he's honored or something like that." "Above the Sky" answered quickly.

"Her tastes are all screwed up!" Seeing the answer, Cai Zongming cursed in disappointment.

Lou Cheng burst into prideful laughter. He realized there was no longer the awkward feeling he had experienced before. Instead, he found it interesting to read the comments made by intimate online friends when they had no idea about his true identity.

"Talker, not all is lost!" He patted Cai Zongming's shoulder.

"I can't believe this!" Cai Zongming grabbed the mouse from Lou Cheng and flicked through pages himself.

After glancing over two pages, he finally found the reply from "Beautiful World": "The boy beside the goofy-looking one is handsome. Songcheng University boys aren't bad, they're handsome even in a casual interview."

She was a popular girl on the forum and a student at a famous school in the Capital. There were many replies from men and women, all expressing agreement with the opinion that boys of Songcheng University were not bad.

"How touching!" Putting the mouse down, Cai Zongming made a gesture of wiping away tears.

Lou Cheng stood by his side playing with QQ, and sent the link of the feature interview to Yan Zheke. "Had I known that the interview would be broadcast, I would have been more serious!"

After sending out the message, he turned his head to look at Cai Zongming by his side. "Talker, you said you would participate in the special training before. Do you still want to? Which time would you like to join us? I can mention it to Coach Shi."

"I said that from the bottom of my heart, are you questioning me now? Look at my eyes!" Cai Zongming answered dramatically. "But I can't do it this year. With my family, there's not enough time to mess with a second major. I'll join special training at the beginning of next semester."

Lou Cheng drew out his words, "One today is worth two tomorrows."

"I swear!" Cai Zongming said resolutely and decisively, "I'm preparing to fly myself to the Capital, and I need to save money from now on."

While talking, he ran back to his own bedroom and came back with a glass jar.

Lou Cheng looked at the jar with a fixed gaze and gulped.

"Chinese chili sauce!"

Did Little Ming save up money for his date by saving money on food?"

Cai Zongming replied with a righteous look on his face, "I can't fly to the capital for my date without any money. I intend to save up all of my living costs for the next two months, which should be enough for a good trip with a private hotel room."

"Save everything?" said Lou Cheng in shock.

"Well, the phone bill is filled up for three months. I'll quit smoking, drinking, social interaction, beverages, games, online shopping as well as feasting. Instead, for my meals every day, I'll have two steamed buns in the morning and fifty cents of rice along with Chinese chili sauce for lunch and supper, respectively. I may also allocate twenty yuan to have a fried dish. I've done the calculations; since the charge for the water heater and internet is less than two hundred, I can save up 2800 yuan each month, which will make 5600 in two months..." Cai Zongming talked about his money-saving almost in a stream of consciousness.

Lou Cheng couldn't help but shudder at his vivid description.

"Chinese chili sauce with rice every day?"

Would he throw up?

Little Ming was working his butt off for a date with his girlfriend in the Capital!

With this perseverance and willpower, was there anything he couldn't accomplish?

"Well, I'll eat anything when I'm hungry," Cai Zongming said fearlessly as he took in a deep breath.

He gave the extra autograph to his roommate Qin Mo. Instead of asking him to take care of his board expenses for a week, Cai Zongming just required him to treat all members of the dorm to a barbecue.

Giving a thumbs up, Lou Cheng said, "Hearing your miserable story, I nearly want to lend you some money. But on second thought, I don't have any money to lend to you..."

Ever since the beginning of his martial arts training, Lou Cheng had acquired a huge appetite. In addition, Geezer Shi offered a special suggestion on a balanced diet which, though it might not be as delicate as what a foreign dietitian would prescribe, met the basic requirements. Afterward, Lou Cheng's outgoing expenses each month shot straight up, became twice as much as the 600 before and got up to 1200. However, his quota living expenses for each month was 1300. If it weren't for the cheap and generous portions of the food in the canteen, he would hardly be able to afford the martial arts training, and that was even at a fee that was lower than what an ordinary person had to pay to undergo training. As the saying went, "The poor go for academics and the rich go for martial arts."

Fortunately, when he went to college, his parents had given him 2000 more for miscellaneous expenses. With 1000 left and the 800 his mother had given to him, Lou Cheng just made ends meet for the social meetup.

Also, Lou Cheng didn't want to ask for any more money from his family before he had achieved something in martial arts training. He was obsessed with the idea that it might make him seem like he was slacking off when it came to his studies.

Cai Zongming shook his head and grinned. "I don't like to borrow money from others. I just save up the money myself if I can, unless I'm at the end of my rope. However, if that happened, would I still be foolish enough to not ask for money from them?"

"We're brothers! I'd help you out however I could!" Lou Cheng said, thinking of himself. He murmured enviously, "I have no idea when I will have the opportunity to ask Yan Zheke out on a date."

Excluding the board expenses, he had 700 yuan left, which would be enough for several dates combined with the money he'd received during the New Year, and everything he'd scrounged up. But how could he talk to his parents about increasing his living expenses after he used up the money he'd been given?

It was a sad state of affairs for students that didn't have any other sources of income...

"Not to mention whether you two are close enough or if you'll even have the chance. Looking at your upcoming schedule is pretty hopeless as well since you don't have much time available." Cai Zongming laughed. "With special training every day and your duty for the martial arts club competition during the weekend, how can you spare any time for dating? By the time the group competition is over within mid-December, assuming we haven't been knocked out, you may have some time for yourself. The Amateur Ranking Event at the end of December would be a good excuse for a date, so start saving up money now!"

"I'll stop myself from carelessly spending the 700 yuan!" Lou Cheng nodded his head.

Jeez, he was too busy even to have a part-time job!

After chatting with Cai Zongming, Lou Cheng noticed a reply from Yan Zheke. She also joked about his silly smiling during the interview, which would be a blemish if it were made into a sticker pack.

With a silly smile on his face, Lou Cheng held his cell phone and chatted with her eagerly.

...

At the end of November, winter had already arrived and the wind blew with a chill. However, the gym of Songcheng University Martial Arts Club was in bursting with excitement and the noises inside were loud enough to shake the heavens.

It was not only the first battle of the regional group competition of the National University Martial Arts Competitions, but also the most important for the Songcheng University Martial Arts Club.

During the previous knockouts, Lin Que had fully displayed his might and defeated Neihai Normal School. In his fight with Qinyang University, he had won two rounds consecutively and brought the two strongest opponents down, but bowed out of the third round due to exhaustion. Afterward, except for the second fighter Sun Jian unexpectedly suffering an injury while entering the ring, Songcheng University Martial Arts Club had joined the group competition smoothly.

Teachers and students of the whole university had greater expectations than previous years due to Lin Que and his excellent performance. After such a long time, the martial arts gym was once again filled to the max with spectators!

Besides Songcheng University, the group consisted of Shanbei University, Guannan School, and Liucheng University of Science and Technology. Among these, Shanbei University was The Champion last year. They had all of the same leading players as before and were far more superior than Songcheng University at the moment, while Liucheng University of Science and Technology was weak and had reached the group competition by chance during the drawing.

For Songcheng University, Guannan School, which was at the same level as they were, was the major obstacle blocking them from entering the Top Eight of the Division.

The first match of the Group Competition, Songcheng University VS Guannan School!

...

"Guannan is actually a bit stronger than us. However, they ran into Sanjiang College and were defeated in the first round of the knockout with a result worse than ours. So, we have the home advantage and are evenly matched with Guannan." Wearing a black old man cap, Geezer Shi was explaining the situation of Guannan School Martial Arts Club to the leading players and substitutes.

The women's locker room had been given to Guannan for their usage. Lin Hua and Guo Qing were also in the men's locker room, in which the bathroom was separated by compartments.

Acting as the logistics officer, Lou Cheng stood to the side, listening to Geezer Shi's introduction with curiosity. Now and then, shouting could be heard from outside.

"Songcheng University! Songcheng University!"