Bai Zhe’s Decision Part II

He staggered back before throwing up all of this lunch.

“Ewww.” The girls’ faces filled with disgust, and they looked away immediately.

Mr. Jang was astonished and rather embarrassed after he vomited his lunch because of Bai Zhe’s attack a moment earlier.

“Martial arts are a kind of art. There are many key movements, depending on the orders and the sects. Focusing only on how to move and giving all the attention to the beauty of the movement is not martial arts. It’s just dancing. Martial arts use movement as a foundation and use experience and resourcefulness to prepare for an attack, protect oneself, and launch a counterattack. It all depends on having trained the body enough. All of this is called martial arts.” Bai Zhe paused momentarily before he continued.

“The reason why I had my hands behind my back as though leaving a space for attack was to make you interested in my upper body. At the same time, I walked close to you in the blink of an eye, without you noticing my legs moving. Then, I threw my fist at a close range like how a boxer throws a hook. And because the punch was in close quarters, my arm didn’t fully stretch out. Thus, the force of my fist was much stronger. For a person who is smaller like me, this is the most efficient technique to strengthen my punch. This is what I call martial arts,” Bai Zhe said, presenting his thought process and the technique that he had used to Mr. Jang.

All of his classmates were surprised. Who would have thought that the boy who usually got last place when running and had the physical ability of a sick person would have enough force to make a 190-centimetre-tall, muscular person like Mr. Jang stagger backwards like this? They might have had to go to the hospital if they had been the ones who got punched.

At that point, they realised that if they bullied Bai Zhe after this and Bai Zhe punched them, their situation would be worse than Mr. Jang’s. These thoughts were different than those of the girls, who lately had begun to see Bai Zhe in a better light; seeing him like this, in particular, had made them start to look at Bai Zhe as a boy they could rely on.

“Ahem. Well done, Bai Zhe. I give you a full score for both the report and the presentation.” Though Mr. Jang felt embarrassed, he had his morals because his teacher had taught him to respect those who were stronger than him, even if that person was younger.

“Thank you, sir.” Bai Zhe bowed before going to sit in line with his classmates.

Presentations about various kinds of sports were given after that. During the demonstration about basketball where boys and girls started to play, an accident happened when the ball was being slam dunked into the hoop. The highly rusted metal screw that connected everything together broke, making the basketball backboard fall onto the students who were standing under it.

Bai Zhe saw everything in slow motion. He dashed forward to push away Da Tong, who was the one dunking the ball. Then, he pushed a girl who was standing under the basketball hoop to the floor. He spread out his arms to prepare himself for the impact of the falling backboard with his own back.

[Calm like Bodhisattva.] He used this trick again. The moment the basketball backboard fell onto his back, it bounced, then fell onto the floor next to him. Dust flew everywhere, keeping everyone from seeing the condition of Bai Zhe and the girl.

The female students screamed. Mr. Jang hurriedly ran over. His footsteps stopped when he saw Bai Zhe standing and using his body to shield a girl.

“Bai Zhe, are you all right?” The teacher swiftly came over to check the boy, only to discover that there was just a stain from the rust on his back, no wounds or bruises from the accident of a moment ago.

“I’m all right, sir. What about you? You’re okay…right?” he answered the teacher and turned to question the girl that he had saved.

He saw her tightly gripping his shirt with both hands, her face at his chest, sniffing him. He instantly pushed away from her like a cat when it was splashed with hot water.

Many of the girls who were in time to see his reaction giggled. They had put him in the herbivore category: a person whom they could approach safely.

“It’s good that you are all right. That’s it for the basketball group. I’ve already scored you. Bai Zhe, you come to the hospital with me. You need to get a thorough check-up. Class dismissed.” Mr. Jang told Bai Zhe to wait for him in the nurse’s office. He went to make a report on the broken basketball backboard accident and then, came back to take Bai Zhe to the hospital.

The hospital

Bai Zhe got his body checked thoroughly and the result was that he did not even have a scratch, which made Mr. Jang feel relieved. Because if anything happened to Bai Zhe, he would have been the one responsible for that.

‘This boy is far too strong for a human. A basketball backboard of that weight fell onto his back, but he doesn’t even have a scratch.’ Mr. Jang looked at Bai Zhe who was walking in front of him.

“Bai Zhe, you can go home now. It’s the time for the last class to be over already,” said Mr. Jang.

“Yes, sir,” the boy turned back to answer his teacher before he started to walk out of the hospital.

“Make way, please. Make way.” The voice of a male nurse sounded from the hospital’s entrance.

Bai Zhe immediately stepped back to stand near the wall. He saw a woman in her eighties lying on a hospital bed that the nurse was wheeling forward. To the side of the bed were familiar figures half-running, half-walking together. They were the old man and the boy whom he had met at the herbalist shop.

‘That old woman has sky qi. Guessing from her state, her yin power is dangerously unbalanced. They brought strong yang herbs because they wanted to heal this woman. But the reason why she didn’t get better is that they used an incorrect concoction method. They must have boiled them, so the effectiveness decreased to 1 in 1000. That only helps relieve the symptoms for a short while,’ thought Bai Zhe.

He was deciding whether he should help them or not. It would surely have both pros and cons. The pro was that he would be someone to whom the woman was indebted, and she might protect him. The con was that there were numerous risks. They might not let him help her, because they did not trust him, or the woman might not be grateful for his help. Also, he had to expose himself as a martial artist. But of course, Bai Zhe decided to help her in the end.

“Mr. Jang. Let us part here,” said the boy before following in the direction that the woman was being taken to.

The reason why he chose to help the woman was that he believed in Tai Si Kong’s teachings: [ As you sow, so shall you reap.] So, his good action might lead to a good result, more or less.

…………..

After the punishment scene

Yi Han: Master, you are too cruel.

The senior: You cannot take back that which has been lost

Yi Han: No! Sniff, sniff.

Lao Lao: Han Han, if you do not stop crying and making those irritating noises, I will take you until dawn.

Yi Han: 0x0………

The senior: =[]=……..