Chapter 386: Acquaintance

The golden sun slowly rose from the east, bringing light to the city. The day and night alternated, and gradually, may it be the spacious eight-lane road in the city center or the small lane in the rural suburbs, more pedestrians began to appear.

Upon seeing Chengdu gradually awakening, Zhang Lisheng slowly descended from the sky under the sunlight on his clouds. Scattering his clouds away and disguising it as the mist shrouding a low and old neighborhood in the suburbs in the early morning, he landed on the roof of a two-story concrete building.

“Old Ge, why is it foggy again? It’s not even autumn right now…” The young man heard somebody, who was riding on a bike, cursing on the tattered asphalt on the road. He chuckled and looked down at the surrounding environment. The green scales on his body quickly faded and showed light, black, and colorless scales.

As he changed his transformation power from wyrmdragon to lizard, the mist blotting out the sky that had lost its source, gradually dissipated under the hot sun.

However, in a short moment, when the cloud was dissipating, Zhang Lisheng, who moved as fast as a ghost, had already concealed himself and took several hundreds of Yuan secretly from a household grandly before taking two pieces of dried clothes in another courtyard.

Once the cloud had completely dispersed, he was already wearing a slightly huge shirt printed with writing and a pair of brown shorts that covered his knees. He walked on the ring road and extended a hand to block the car with exhaustion written all over his face.

The suburb was unlike a city. After waiting for a long time, Zhang Lisheng finally got a dusty taxi braking in front of him.

“Where do you wanna go, buddy?” A young man in his twenties, who had a small nose and small eyes sitting in the driver’s seat, turned his head and asked Zhang Lisheng through the wind-down window.

“The entrance heading to the Sichuan University’s Wangjiang Hotel.”

When the young driver heard that it was a long journey that would bring him to a bustling area, he smiled and said, “Sichuan University? Sure, hop in!”

Upon hearing so, Zhang Lisheng quickly opened the door and sat in the back seat of the taxi.

The car began to start. After all, it was only early in the morning, so the cars on the ring road were not jammed yet. Soon, the car drove into the main road of Chengdu.

When they entered the metropolitan, there were naturally more traffic lights there. The taxi kept stopping along the way, and from the rear mirror, the driver could see that Zhang Lisheng, who had not spoken a word ever since he hopped onto the car, would shut his eyes once in a while to attain mental composure; he then asked curiously, “Buddy, you don’t look like a student from Sichuan University. You look so sleepy, so why do you still want to head there so early in the morning? This trip is not cheap though.”

“I have some trivial issues to settle,” Zhang Lisheng replied without opening his eyes.

“Trivial issues?” Upon seeing that his passenger obviously did not want to talk much, the driver casually remarked, “You’re also quite lucky. It’s difficult to get a car at Village Daigou just now.”

Then, he no longer said anything and just drove straight to the west gate of Sichuan University.

Over half of the summer vacation had already gone by. Most of the students in the university had already returned to school early so the stalls selling soy milk fritters, steamed buns, beef noodles, or some specialty food like hot and sour noodles, pan-fried dumplings, and moon pancakes, that they would usually sell in front of the university’s gate, had started their business again. Each of the stalls were bustling with many students and civilians.

“Guokui… Crispy guokui…” At a stall with its megaphone on full blast while selling hot steamy pickled vegetable guokui, a teenager who had a baby-like, pink complexion on his round plate-like face threw 50 Yuan to the boss, “I want five guokuis. Put in more meat and pickled vegetables!”

(T/N: Guokui is a kind of pancake made from flour originating from Shaanxi cuisine.)

“Alright! Five large guokuis with extra meat and pickled vegetables…” The slightly old and skinny boss, who was exposed to the wind and sun all year round as a vendor, habitually greeted him and began to cut the pancake open and fill in the ingredients.

At this moment, a good looking young man with small eyes by the side suddenly interrupted, “Lianbao, the size of this guokui is not small. The three of us cannot finish five of this, and it’s not good to waste food!”

“Brother Tianliang, if we can’t finish it, there’ll eventually be someone who can.” The teenager with a pink complexion flashed a pure smile and reached out a hand to take out two guokuis from the paper bag that the boss passed to him and strode up to the two unkempt beggars wearing ragged clothes while walking to and fro in front of the entrance of Sichuan University. After giving away the guokuis, he walked back with a happy smile.

“Brother Tianliang, how is it? I have sharp eyes, right? Well, I guess I’ve finished the quota of doing good today!” The teenager said in satisfaction in front of the guokui stall.

“Lianbao, you’re still too young and too naïve. Those two old men were wandering around the entrance of our university while asking for money because they want to cheat kind-hearted kids such as you! They’re earning over ten thousand Yuan per month, so why would they give a damn about your two guokuis?” Upon seeing the teenager’s proud look, the young man reached out a hand to pick up a guokui stuffed with shredded meat and pickled vegetables before eating while responding in a manner that was lacking the usual youthful vigor.

“Brother Tianliang, they will have to answer to the God themselves if they cheat, and I’m getting good karma by doing good; what does it have to do with me if they don’t give a damn about it then?” The teenager smiled and whispered.

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“Well…” Upon hearing this question, the young man could not help but be stunned and became silent. Letting out a sigh, he shook his head and said, “Wow that’s quite a speech! This is the natural law of such sympathy and human relation; I’ve really learned new things today.”

The to and fro genteel dramatic play between both of them in front of the guokui stall would have seemed very peculiar at some other places, but even though it seemed strange in front of the famous, century-old Sichuan University, it was natural and not particularly eye-catching.

Upon hearing the young man’s words, the teenager said smugly, “It’s very good for you to say so…”

While he was feeling smug, someone suddenly poured a basin of cold water down at him. A beautiful-looking girl with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes with a great figure who was wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts beside him interrupted with a curl of her lips, “Tianliang, don’t listen to Lianbao’s crap. He reads ancient books all day long and always plays the Buddhist allegory. In truth, he knows nothing about the ways of the world and he’s merely pretending.”

“I know nothing about the ways of the world? Li Xiangzhou, I won’t have any comeback if other people describe me, Duan Lianbao, but what qualifications do you have for describing me in such a way? Just who do you think you are…” The teenager looked stunned and retorted in anger.

When the young man saw that the teenager and the beautidul-looking girl started to argue again early in the morning, he smirked in his heart, and when he was just about to find a way to tell them off, he saw a taxi stopping on the street beside the school entrance. The door opened and somebody familiar walked out of it.

His mind whirled rapidly and the young man’s eyes widened right away. Without warning, he waved his arm and shouted loudly in English, “Dr. Zhang, good morning! We finally meet again!”

When Zhang Lisheng heard the call the instant he stepped out of the taxi, he was dumbstruck for a while. Looking at the origin of the sound, he saw two boys and a girl from the student union, who came to pick him up from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to head to Sichuan University over a month ago, waving and smiling not far away from him. At once, he could not help but curse his own bad luck.

“Mr. Zheng, good morning. Have you eaten your breakfast?” However, now that he was back in the civilized world, he still needed to maintain his basic courtesy. The young man strolled up to Zheng Tianliang and looked at the guokui in his hand and asked with a smile.

“Yes, Dr. Zhang, this is a guokui, a specialty from our Western Sichuan. It’s stuffed with meat and pickled vegetables; it’s a very delicious breakfast. You should have a try!”

“Thank you, but I’m not used to taking too much salt in the morning.”

“If you want something healthy, you can try soy milk and vegetable buns. They’re a very reasonable combination!” Zheng Tianliang nodded in understanding.

“Thank you, I’ll give it a try if I have a chance.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged and no longer said anything. It immediately became slightly awkward, so Zheng Tianliang said in a hurry, “Oh yeah, Dr. Zhang. We have already arranged the lecture that the Director of the Academic Affairs Office mentioned to you before, but I couldn’t find you no matter what. I couldn’t even get through your phone as well…”

“Oh, I’ve gone to the virgin forest in Western Sichuan for a trip and had quite a great harvest there. I’ll just have to summarize my findings and there should be no problem for the lecture,” Zhang Lisheng replied.

“That’s great! Oh another thing, doctor, it’s about your car allowance. The university has specially set up a credit card for you, and it’s in the student union right now. If you need to use it, you can contact Mingjin. You can also contact her regarding the lecture…”

“Okay, next week then! I’ll contact Miss Li next week.” Sensing that Zheng Tianliang would never end his conversation, Zhang Lisheng interrupted his words impatiently. “I’d hate to bother your breakfast, so I’ll take my leave first. Bye.”

Then, he headed into Sichuan University quickly.

“Brother Tianliang, who is this fella? Is he really that impressive since he’s speaking English? You’re so polite to him, but he’s so cold though.” Staring at Zhang Lisheng’s gradually disappearing back, Duan Lianbao asked curiously in a childish manner.

“He’s indeed impressive. He graduated from the Biology Department of Stanford University at the age of 20, and he has published papers in the journal Science and Bioscience before. Not only that, but he’s also presiding over Stanford’s biological lab in Shrimp World No. 2. He’s here at Sichuan University now for an academic visit invited by the Ministry of Education…” Zheng Tianliang explained with a smile.

When he was speaking halfway, Li Xiangzhou, who had been furrowing her brows beside him, suddenly blurted out loudly, “Oh I remember, so it’s actually him!”

“Li Xiangzhou, why are you suddenly so surprised?” Duan Lianbao jumped out of shock and complained.

“Tianliang, I have seen that person a few years back at Qingyang Palace before together with Senior Sister Lu. He’s a wizard…” Li Xiangzhou ignored Duan Lianbao and whispered to Zheng Tianliang.

“Who?” Zheng Tianliang asked in dumbstruck.

“That Dr. Zhang of course!”

“Xiangzhou, you’re pulling my leg again! Even though my Divine Eye is not fully opened yet, I still have the Discernation ability. If Dr. Zhang is a wizard, how is it possible that I couldn’t sense it at all?” Zheng Tianliang shook his head and smile.

“Indeed, Li Xiangzhou. Even though your Divine Eye is powerful, my Perception Method is not weak. There’s no slight Yin energy in the movement of that fellow at all. How can he possibly be a wizard?” Duan Lianbao jumped in and defended as well.

Staring at Zheng Tianliang and Duan Lianbao without so much as blinking, Li Xiangzhou said in a solemn and dignified expression, “I also didn’t sense any slight dark aura on that person but he was indeed a wizard in the Qingyang Palace. Even though his wizard power is not high, it’s of very pure quality.”