Martial King's Retired Life-Book 16: Chapter

The air he breathed into his lungs in the darkness resembled a mess of herbs. He could not tell where he was, but it felt as though he was lying on a bed. Before he could sort out his thoughts, he heard a girl say, “Congratulations. Your castration was a success.”

He inhaled deeply and calmly shed tears.

“Hey, don’t scare him, will you? You know how hard it was to rescue him?”

Although he was not visible, the tearful youth determined the male speaker to be a brash person.

“Fine. Hey, you up?”

When she squatted down, Li Chengzhi could smell the scent of the raspy-voiced woman, which was the only saving grace in the room.

“Wh-who are you?”

Li Chengzhi inhaled deeply again when the lights came on. Her dimples and glowing skin had him immediately think, Not bad. It would be her honour to be my woman. The fact that someone so suitable appeared when he had given up on forming a family was evidence that the heavens had not abandoned him yet.

“The f&%$ are you staring at, huh?”

A pregnant woman pulled the maiden aside after the latter gave Li Chengzhi a piece of her mind. “Wawa, don’t use profanity when you’re a woman now.”

“The c&^% is staring at me.”

Li Chengzhi did not recognise a single face. He promptly sifted through his mess of memories and recalled that his last memory was… being hunted! He had a good idea what the man in black planned to do to him after he was betrayed and cornered, but he could not piece together a coherent script.

“This is a drug manufacturing site reserved for producing the best drugs out there. You have your fast recovery to thank for the smell.” The man who was first to provide some explanation supported the pregnant woman, so Li Chengzhi assumed he was her husband. “Our leader saved you. I must say you’re awfully weak, being bed ridden for so long after such minor injuries. Your brother was able to get out of bed in less than a night after receiving the same damage.”

Wawa hiked up an eyebrow. “Come on now. You expect him to compete against Zizi? This joke seems like he received critical wounds when he just broke a few bones.”

The name reminded him of his brother who used to follow them around despite not receiving any attention. Due to them being crowned Prince titles and sent off to different fiefs, most of them were not too familiar with Zizi. As the only one who stayed in the capital, Li Chengzhi, on the other hand, was rather familiar with Zizi.

Are they Zizi’s people? But that doesn’t make sense… They’re referring to him by his nickname, so they can’t be subordinates…

The thought of them possibly being friends never even crossed Li Chengzhi’s mind. From his perspective, the citizens were either his subordinates or a burdens; the highest status he could have assigned them was an enemy. As a matter of fact, not even those holding the same rank as him could be considered friends. “Friendship”, to him, was just another way of saying, “Someone who had some worth,” if not some uneducated concept people dreamt up.

A bright light that shone out of nowhere forced Li Chengzhi to close his eyes, but he saw someone come in, prompting the others to bow their heads. Unable the person’s appearance due to the direction of the light, he heard the man emotionlessly ask, “Where is he?”

Wawa replied, “Ain’t he on the bed? Where else would he be? In the sky?”

Whether it was because he was too fast or it was unexpected, Wawa was unable to move her head out of the way when he patted her head.

“Thanks, Wawa. I know this was a tough mission. I’ll treat you to a meal after this matter is settled.”

Wawa, who attempted to lean in and bite since she could not get his hand off, stopped and beamed. “I’ll hold you to it! I want to eat at Dongpo. Their food is killer. I’ll have the banquet as the one two days ago.”

“Banquet? I was too drunk. Let me remember what we had.” As he sauntered over to Li Chengzhi, he mumbled to himself, “How many people did I bloody treat? What happened during those two days…?”

“Ming Feizhen!” exclaimed Li Chengzhi, upon seeing who it was.

“Starting from today, I’m your shifu.”

“You? Wh-”

Slap!

After ending up on the other end of the room, Li Chengzhi thought he just came back from the dead.

The pregnant woman yelled, “Hey! You know how hard it was to save him?! You’re going to kill him after all that effort?!”

“Ming Feizhen, I rented this flipping place! You better cover the costs!” Wawa thundered.

Ming Feizhen emotionlessly ambled up to Li Chengzhi again and then threw a scroll down to the latter. “That’s an imperial edict from His Majesty. I’m taking you as my disciple on his orders.”

As he read the edict, Li Chengzhi started to feel suffocated. “I, I’m no longer a Pr-”

“I’ve already accepted the order. Your dad still cares about you. When I met him, he looked as if he lost a son. You heard me right. Your dad still considers you his son.”

The surge of emotions made it difficult for Li Chengzhi to speak.

“I don’t have time for your attitude. I promised your father, so I’ll make you wise up. Try misbehaving. I’ll make sure you die like a stray dog. I only have one rule for you to abide by as my disciple: what I says goes.”

Liked it? Take a second to support Wu Jizun on Patreon!

Martial King’s Retired Life (Manhua) – 99March 13, 2020In "Martial King's Retired Life"

Martial King’s Retired Life (Manhua) – 83November 29, 2019In "Martial King's Retired Life"

Martial King’s Retired Life (Manhua) – 002December 28, 2018In "Martial King's Retired Life"