MartialMan.

”Who are you? ” Jing heard a bratty snotty voice of a little girl the moment he entered the workers kitchen.

He looked towards the voice and found a 7-8-year-old chibi girl looking at him with her cute mean eyes.

”I am Jing, I was sent here to work. ” He looked at her and gave his introduction humbly.

”Work? Why? Did your mommy get poor? ” She asked sarcastically.

”Mommy? ” He didn expect an American-style language.

”Oh wow! You forgot your mommy the moment she stopped giving you money? ” She was not sarcastic now.

Jing understood in a blink that she was talking about sugar mommy, he wondered if his muscles are giving that vibe of a gigolo but how the hell this small girl knows about gigolo stuff.

”I have no mommy, never had and never will. ” He declared.

She didn believe a word and looked at him from top to bottom. ”No clothes, no shoes, no cultivation and The silver bracelet. You must have been freeloading and got caught. It must be very tough for you to work so you came here to take advantage. ” She weaved her own story.

”Take advantage? What are you talking about? ” He fearlessly looked deep into the cute big eyes.

”Your manly charm will not work on me and I know lazy men like you who will do anything to not work but because of the silver bracelet you can leave the crimson flowers so you must have come to take advantage of the fragile heart of sister Li Mei. ” Her voice was full of confidence as she deduced.

”I don know who is sister Li Mei. ” He honestly explained.

”Liar! I can see a liar when there is a liar. ” She was not convinced.

”I am not a liar, this is my first day in crimson flowers, I don know anyone except Uncle Wu. He just left me here a moment ago, instructing me to work here. ” He gave an almost full account of events.

”Uncle Wu left you here? A busy man like him personally left you here? Did you not find a bigger lie than this? ”

He approached her gently and found her tall till his thigh. He squatted and looked at her closely, eye to eye. His giant height and demeanour didn make her flinch a bit. ”Brave girl, l am not lying, I don need to lie, you can always ask the people around who saw me and Uncle Wu walk till here.

She kept her gaze unrelenting into his eyes and replied. ”Fine, your lies will be uncovered eventually but its not worth it for a shameless man like you. ”

”Why are you slandering me, little girl? You don know me at all. If you don want me to work here then fine just tell Uncle Wu and send me away somewhere else. ” He got a little angry.

”You know what? You are saying all these to protect your sister Li Mei so I will not go near her at all. You will be my boss and I will listen to your instructions so that you can keep me away. How about that? ” His words had a little hint of anger in them like what is so damn worthy of your sister Li Mei to get me a free scolding.

”That will not be necessary. ” Said a sweet mellow voice from the side. He looked towards the voice and saw its worth.

”I am Li Mei. ” Jing clearly saw the worth of every curse from this small girl because she is not your typical girl. She is big, plump and white like a polar bear with dark hair and a ponytail till her shoulder.

She was wearing the same pure white style of dress the little girl was wearing which reminded him of a ninjas tight-fit dress for females.

Her big dark eyes and cute face were looking at him with a big smile but her face turned red as she was not able to maintain the intense gaze of him.

He noticed he was looking at her like an idiot so he turned back and noticed another intense gaze at him saying I knew it.

He scratched his head in embarrassment and stood up to avoid the little girls eyes. He cleared his throat to break the awkwardness.

”I am… ”

”He is Jing, homeless, clothless, shoeless and shameless. He says Uncle Wu has sent him here to work. ” She finished his words.

”Hush! Cao Ru, don be rude. ” She gave a cute reprimand to little girl Cao Ru.

”Did Uncle Wu give any other message? ” she asked but didn look directly as her cheeks were still red.

”No…he didn say anything. ” He also avoided looking at her to stop making himself smile like an idiot.

”Then come, we are about to start the class. ” Li Mei invited and ran inside a nearby door like a little girl.

He took the step to follow but then looked back at Cao Ru. Her cute fierce eyes were still looking at him and saying that they were watching him as she also walked inside.

He smiled and followed her into the room. He found himself in a large warehouse with lots of wood and dry herbs & ingredients on wooden supermarket-style shelves.

In the corner, there was a wide open area with more than 20 large tables full of ingredients from dry to fresh. Each table had a stove and various cooking pots and spoons.

From the other end, 20 girls in similar white dresses like Li Mei walked inside following her who was carrying a set of clothes.

All the girls were also plump like Li Mei but they were all at her elbow in height. Li Mei walked enthusiastically towards him and gave him the dress.

”They are mine, only my size is available for you, I hope it will fit you. ” Her cheeks turned red again when she gave the dress.

He took the dress and turned and met the eyes of Cao Ru who was still glaring at him. He looked the other way and noticed a small room, he quickly entered the room and changed into the white ninja uniform which perfectly fit him.

The girly floral smell from the dress made his mood very bright. The only complaint was the flowery pattern near the waist. So he used the white silk sheet again to hide it.

The moment he walked out Li Mei was waiting for him outside which made him smile again like an idiot and he quickly controlled his emotions. Her cheeks were also red to see him again but she shyly approached him and fixed his dress properly.

”Come ” She grabbed his hand and pulled shyly. He followed her pull like an innocent child. His heart beat faster seeing a girl pulling him to the rising sun.

However, it was not the rising sun like he was imagining. It was the class she was the teacher of.

”Everyone, we have a man in our class now, so behave accordingly. ” She giggled shyly when she said to behave. He can see the eye roll of Cao Ru and some other girls too.

”His name is Jing, he might be hungry so lets quickly make a good breakfast for everyone. ” She said all of these without letting go of his hand which he didn mind at all because for him he was in heaven.

She took him to the front table and then she let go of his hand and took her teaching position on her table facing everyone.

”As this is Jings first day we will start with basics again, which is not a harm to learn again. Correct? ” She looked at everyone for approval except Jing. Everyone gave neutral approval as if they already knew what was going to happen and they had no say in it.

”Lets start with the Mantra of flame. ” She turned serious and looked at Jing to focus closely.

Suddenly a chant echoed and they all did a full-length hand movement like a dance move and then they pointed their palm at the core of the stove.

The stove core which had wood and a small amount of lint in it suddenly caught fire out of thin air igniting the wood also.

He felt impressed like a child who just saw a neat magic trick. Seeing all 22 stoves lit up at the same time was magic on its own after a magical chant.

He saw the smugness on everyones faces. He looked towards Li Mei and her eyes were looking at him full of anticipation.

”Oh, you want me to try? ” He saw her nod with eyes full of hope. How can he say no to those hopeful eyes?

He closed his eyes and replayed the memory, the hand sequence, the chant and whatever his vision saw. He saw glowy particles gathering in the fingertips and pushed into stoves.

He looked deeper and those particles were like embers, he opened his eyes and looked at his own fingers and made a small swirl motion.

He saw a very faint smoke-like white substance quickly come out of nowhere and vanished the moment he let go of his focus.

He saw everyone was waiting for him so he focused on the stove. He did the hand movement but only with his wrists not like others using the full length of their arms.

However, he did not chant the mantra at all and pointed his palm at the stove.