Chapter 26: Mother

Zhang Lisheng was so mad that he was clenching his teeth. However, there was nothing that he could do other than going to the kitchen to bring out a piece of table cloth to clean the meat porridge that spilled on the wooden table in the central room. He then went to the well to wash the table cloth clean and conveniently washed himself as well. After that, he could finally return to his bedroom, climbed onto the bed and fell asleep slowly.

While he was going into his dream, this happened in the other part of the earth in the waiting area at the New York, John Fitzgerald Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

A petite, beautiful Asian lady with short hair who was around over 30 years old, whose features looked very much like Zhang Lisheng wearing a gray woman suit could not stop moving her hands while looking at the boarding sign on top of her head.

As the most important international airport in the world’s second largest city metropolis circle, the JFK airport occupied a wide area. Apart from the central area that was surrounded by nine passenger terminal buildings for passengers to board on planes, there was also a hotel, game center, car park and a lot of entertainment amenities.

However, there was not a person in this entire airport that was as anxious as that Asian lady when they took their time to glance around.

It had caused a strong black airport security guard who was on his patrol to walk to her in big steps after signaling his colleague. He asked, “Ma’am, may I know how can I help you?”

There was a tall and big Caucasian sitting next to the lady. He had the standard square chin, thick eyebrows and big eyes like a usual Western man would have. His body seemed to be very strong, he then said before the lady could say anything, “Thank you sir, she’s fine.”

“I’m asking this lady, sir.” The security guard placed his hand on the taser on his waist and said in all seriousness.

The Caucasian man sighed helplessly and stood up. He took out an ID with the police logo from his pocket and showed to the security guard then said, “I’m Lieutenant Sullo.D.Lavin, NYPD.”

“This lady sitting next to me is my wife. As an accident happened, she has to go to China immediately to meet a relative that she hasn’t seen for more than ten years, so she’s a little nervous.”

“Could you leave us alone, please? Thank you.”

“I’m sorry officer, I know it’s your job to do this.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” Seeing that the ID that was dangling before his eyes seems to be authentic, the airport security guard apologized awkwardly and shrugged at his colleague who was not far away from him after turning around. He then did a hand sign that meant it was all a misunderstanding and proceeded to carry out his patrol.

Seeing the security guard left, the Caucasian man Sullo, sat down again and comforted the Asian lady next to him, “Darling, don’t be nervous. Everything will be alright.”

“But I abandoned him, Sullo, it was me who abandoned him.”

“Oh lord, You knew I was willing to do anything to leave that devil at the time. However, I’ve abandoned my own child.”

“Worse, I even left him with Satan’s worshipper!”

“But you were only 20 at that time. You didn’t understand a mother’s responsibility, did you?”

“Stop blaming yourself, Lili. Are you sure that you don’t need me to accompany you to China? We can take the next flight or we can transfer to Shanghai first. There are many flights to Shanghai, we don’t have to wait too long…”

“No, Sullo. Your work schedule is tight and you have to take care of the kids.” The lady named Lili shut her teary eyes and said while shaking her head.

At the same time, she added in her heart quietly, “Moreover, even though that man had already died, I can’t predict what kind of scary things would happen in this trip to China. How could I let you risk your life like this?”

“I could apply to leave no matter how packed my work is, my boss would understand.”

“We can ask Aunt Wendy to take care of the kids. You know that it’s her favorite thing to…”

“No, Sullo. This is my personal stuff, I’ll have to face it myself.” The lady suddenly looked determined as she said firmly.

At that moment, the airport announcement went off all of the sudden, “Ladies and gentlemen, Flight K0098 that is flying directly from New York to China Western Sichuan Chengdu, will start boarding at Gate A09 in five minutes. Passengers who are taking the flight, please be ready to board the plane.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, Flight K0098 that is flying…”

Lili stood up from her seat and took a deep breath as she carried her small luggage. She smiled and said, “I’m boarding the plane now, Sullo. Can you wish me luck?”

“There’s no rush to board an international plane, you can still rest for a couple of minutes.” Sullo stood up and said in concern.”

“I’ve been waiting for too long. From today onwards, I’ll do more good things for this child.”

“Unless you’re hijacking the plane, even if you’re the first one waiting at the boarding gate, it’s impossible for you to fly before everybody else did.” Sullo joked with the humor that was exclusive to Americans in this rather serious time.

He then rubbed Lili’s pretty hair softly with empathy.

“I would like to do that even if it’s meaningless. Moreover, you’re giving a really good suggestion.” Lili touched the back of her husband’s hand and said, “Darling, could you wish me luck?”

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Sullo said passionately, “I would like to wish you all the best in your trip to China with all my life and everything that I have.”

“Thank you.” Lili looked at her lover one last time and turned around to walk towards boarding Gate A09 in big steps.

It would take around twenty hours to fly from New York, America to Chengdu, China directly. When Lili stepped into the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport ground, Zhang Lisheng had just woken up and gotten off his wooden bed.

Long hours of rest had given him energy. After chanting a couple of passages of incantation, he felt that his wizard power had recovered to its peak condition. However, without knowing why, everything that was going good for Zhang Lisheng faintly felt a slight uneasiness and could feel faintly that something was going to happen.

However, he did not think further into his feeling that he had in him. Zhang Lisheng walked from his bedroom to the central room quickly and chanted ‘pst shh…’ to drive Mountoad to hop into the courtyard.

Mountoad’s omniscient power was the two words ‘expand, shrink’. It was proved that the words meant expanding from inhaling the air, while another naturally meant shrinking by exhaling out the air, as the name suggested.

After the wizard worm hopped into the courtyard, Zhang Lisheng who did not manage to use his wizard power to experiment on Mountoad’s omniscience, completely then use an incantation to drive Mountoad to perform the other side of its omniscient power.

What he witnessed was that the Mountoad that was the size of a football opened its mouth wide and spurted a gush of breath that turned into a spiral air current that could be seen with naked eyes. All of the sudden, it had stirred half of the ancient well that was outlying in the courtyard into a pile of big and small rocks that were the size of a fist.

At the same time, Mountoad’s size had transformed into a normal toad size which was just half of the size of a fist.

Although Mountoad’s one attack from exhaling had at least consumed half of the wizard power in Zhang Lisheng’s flesh, it came to a realization that the speed of absorbing the wizard power with its shrunken body was much lesser than the time when it expanded, thus, it had exceeded the amount of wizard power that Zhang Lisheng’s body released naturally.

However, the omniscient word ‘shrink’ had showcased a power that was similar to the evil wind spell power in the mythical tales, which greatly pleased Zhang Lisheng.

He had the intention to experiment on how greater power it can achieve through its exhaling attack of the omniscient word ‘shrink’, after driving Mountoad into its biggest possible size using the omniscient word, ‘expand’.

However, he looked at his old house that had been passed down for 37 generations and thought he would be sorry to his ancestors if he accidentally ruined everything in the house.

He then calculated the consumption of wizard power used in the wizard worm’s omniscient power. He figured even if he was at his peak condition, it might be impossible for him to uphold to a point where Mountoad completed its ‘expand, shrink’ omniscience. In the end, he gave up on the plan while feeling sad.

The key of the matter was ultimately due to Zhang Lisheng, who was still a Wizard I. In witchcraft, even a more powerful wizard worm was just something extra, as they were just a tool for wizards.

Even if he was driving a real dragon, a Wizard I could only perform the maximum ability that a Wizard I possessed.

As he thought to this point, Zhang Lisheng who initially planned to see what was happening at school after experimenting the omniscient word ‘shrink’ on his wizard worm sighed and changed his mind. He chanted an incantation to drive Mountoad to hop back to the central room’s wooden table.

He then went to the kitchen and cooked a pot of meat porridge hastily like he did yesterday. He began to prepare it diligently.

He felt that he was not distant from achieving Wizard II. He figured he would stay at home for a couple of days to cultivate and it would not be too late if he returned to school after his breakthrough. However, life was unexpected as he would never have the opportunity to step into his alma mater ever again.

Time usually passed quickly during the time of cultivation. The moon was bright up in the sky when Zhang Lisheng jumped up and opened his eyes from the door with a knocking noise outside.

He felt his heart beating extremely fast when he just woke up, the palpitation made him almost unable to catch his breath.

He thought perhaps that it was a certain type of faint warning that he had gotten. Ever since he became a wizard. Zhang Lisheng wore a somber expression as he gotten off the bed immediately and ran to the central room while holding Mountoad in his arms. He shouted loud, “Who is that outside?”

“Mr. Zhang Lisheng, we’re the staff from Qu County Civil Affairs Bureau. We’ve got good news for you, please open the door now.”

“Shan Chongzi, I’m your Uncle Ah Lie. Open the door quick, open the door. Your mother is here, she’s here to look for you.”

The sentence made Zhang Lisheng felt like his head was being struck by lightning. He could not think anymore after a sound of ‘buzz’ in his head. He opened his mouth blankly and allowed the wizard worm to fall from his arms while asking with his consciousness being taken away, “What?”

Outside of the door was Lili accompanied by a diplomat from U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, staff from Qu County Civil Affairs Bureau, a police officer from Damu Town Police Station and Tao Lielin. When Zhang Lisheng heard the human voice coming outside of the old house, his mind was in a state of an extreme desire, with a faint fear.

“Your mother is here, she’s outside of the door. There’s also a gringo, no, pfft, I mean a diplomat! A diplomat from the consulate, open the door quick.”

Zhang Lisheng slowly snapped out of being stunned and walked into the courtyard with a movement that was stiff as a puppet. When he opened the door, he immediately noticed a lady whose features looked very similar to him. She was staring at him blankly, like how he was looking at her.

Blood relationship was a very magical thing. Sometimes, children who had been living with their parents would treat each other like strangers where they had completely lost touch. However, sometimes loved ones who had never met each other and meeting for the first time would recognize each other almost immediately.

“Mother, you’re my mother.” Zhang Lisheng mumbled in a confirmed tone as he looked at Lili, with complication written in his eyes after gazing with her for a while.

“Yes, my child, my dear child. I’m your mother, I’m your mother.”

“Mother felt sorry that I’ve abandoned you when you were young.”

A mother’s love defeated all other feelings in the world. When Lili heard Zhang Lisheng calling her ‘mother’, she disregarded anything else and hugged him tightly, then said in proficient Mandarin as she cried,

“But-But mother has always been missing you. It’s-It’s just that…”