CH 9

The bar was dim, although there was no one inside at the moment, the smell of smoke left over the years had long penetrated the walls and filled the entire room.

The smell was strange, it obviously wasn’t something ordinary cigarettes could leave …… Cheng Hao couldn’t keep holding his breath like this.

When he settled down and could participate in regular boxing matches and gained some fame, he would definitely not come back to such a place.

Although Cheng Hao thought so in his heart, he desperately needed this job now.

After entering the bar, Cheng Hao realized that the inside of the bar was much bigger than he thought, and at this moment, there were people cleaning up the bar.

They cleaned out all kinds of garbage, there was even vomit.

The old black man who brought him in found a chair and sat down before looking at Cheng Hao: “Little guy, do you know the rules of boxing here?”

Cheng Hao replied strongly, “I don’t know, I just know I’m short of money.”

“Well, most of those who come here to fight are like you.” The man said, “I can tell you the rules here, my name is George, what’s yours?”

Cheng Hao had guessed before, but now it was finally confirmed – this man, was the owner of the bar, old George.

“My name is Cheng Hao, you can call me Cheng.”

“Okay, then I’ll call you Cheng from now on.” Old George said, and then while smoking, he told Cheng Hao the rules of boxing here.

In a regular boxing match, the boxer needed to weigh in before the match, and then he would fight with someone who weighed about the same as him.

But in a place like this, the rules weren’t as strict.

But the boxing matches here followed some standard rules, a fighter couldn’t attack the back of the opponent’s head, throat and crotch, after all, attacking such places could easily kill someone, and such informal matches, although they liked to make it a little blo*ody, they didn’t want to k!ll people.

“In your case, you may need to fight someone heavier than you, not a little heavier, but the kind that weighs twenty kilos. I have a doctor here, but his skills aren’t good, if you are badly injured, he may not be able to help you. Also, this is not a round system, you need to keep fighting with your opponent, and only when you have knocked him down, is it considered a win ……” Old George spoke a lot.

Cheng Hao considered for a while and felt he could accept: “How does the pay work? You know I need money.”

Old George impatiently replied, “Anyone who comes to see a boxing match here must place a bet! Of the total amount wagered for each boxing match, four percent is taken as a prize for the winner, and one percent is taken as payment for the loser.”

“What about the rest?” Cheng Hao asked.

“The rest, five percent belongs to me, and ninety percent is distributed to the person who wins the bet.”

Old George was smart to do this, at least his bar would never lose money, Cheng Hao replied, “I agree.”

“How old are you?” Old George asked, “I need to register your information.”

“Sixteen.” 

“Very young.” Old George swept a glance at Cheng Hao and asked a few more questions, such as where he lived and so on, however, Cheng Hao couldn’t answer, but Old George obviously didn’t care.

He briefly registered Cheng Hao’s information and finally said, “I have a tournament here every Tuesday and Friday, you can come over in advance then and I will arrange it for you.”

“Thanks.” Cheng Hao said, and asked, “What day of the week is today?”

“Tuesday! Do you want to fight tonight?”

Cheng Hao refused: “I’m afraid I can’t today.” He had an injury, and it would be a disgrace to fight today …… Besides, he needed time to adapt to this brand new body of his.

“Then next time.” Old George said.

“Okay.” Cheng Hao answered.

Cheng Hao and Old George agreed and he quickly left the bar.

And just as he walked out of the bar, he saw Chester.

Seeing Cheng Hao, Chester immediately ran over: “How could you do that?! You actually left me behind!”

“I never promised to take you in.” Cheng Hao said.

Chester was a little angry and complained incessantly. Cheng Hao finally couldn’t help but wave his fist: “Do you want to taste my fist?”

Chester shrank his neck and ran away in a huff.

When Cheng Hao saw that he was gone, he went towards where Lin Yuxun lived.

The roll-up door was still broken, he could try to fix the door later …… Cheng Hao took out the key and was about to open the door when he saw a ball-like black man running towards his direction.

He wasn’t very good at distinguishing the appearance of black and white, so he didn’t know how to describe the appearance of the man in front of him, but one thing was certain, he was really fat!

“Brat! You live with Tony now?” The fat man asked loudly.

After hearing his voice, Cheng Hao immediately knew who this person was – this was the landlord who had shouted last night and this morning.

At that time, he only heard the landlord’s voice, but now he could see the landlord clearly.

It could be seen that he had just had a good time.

Cheng Hao replied: “No, I’m his classmate, I came to visit him yesterday, but a few people knocked the door down so I couldn’t leave.” Before this landlord said that an extra person would cause extra rent … the fact that he was living here without making any contributions was already very embarrassing, he couldn’t let Lin Yuxun pay more rent.

He was penniless now, he couldn’t get the rent, and even expected to continue living here – if Lin Yuxun didn’t let him stay, he would have to live in the streets.

The fat landlord looked Cheng Hao suspiciously: “Brat, are you telling the truth?”

“It’s true! Sir, those people yesterday were so fierce that they broke your door, don’t worry, I will find a way to help you fix the door!”

When Cheng Hao mentioned that, the landlord’s attention was diverted, cursing the people who broke the door, and of course, he didn’t forget to ask Cheng Hao to compensate: “If it wasn’t for you, those people wouldn’t have come to break my door, so you must fix it!”

Cheng Hao repeatedly promised.

Only then did the landlord leave satisfied. Seeing that he had left, Cheng Hao breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door.

The clothes that Lin Yuxun had washed last night were placed in the outer room to dry, while in the bedroom, Danny was playing with the can puller again.

Cheng Hao took a look and found that one of the five sandwiches he had brought back had been opened, but only half of it was eaten.

The boy was deaf and couldn’t understand him, but Cheng Hao had nothing else to do, so he simply sat down next to him, then picked up the old newspaper that Lin Yuxun had written his name on yesterday and tore it open, then he used part of it to fold a paper airplane.

Danny didn’t pay attention to him at first, but after a while, he stared at him without blinking.

The paper plane was quickly folded, Cheng Hao looked at Danny, took the paper plane and threw it forward.

The paper plane swiftly flew out.

Danny’s mouth was slightly open, he didn’t move but his gaze was firmly fixed on the paper airplane.

Cheng Hao smiled, picked up the paper plane and threw it once again.

The paper plane spun and flew out for a while, then hovered before falling to the ground.

Cheng Hao once again picked up the paper plane and put it in Danny’s hand.

Danny stared at the paper plane for a while then he threw it forward.

He wasn’t very good at throwing paper airplanes, and the paper airplane quickly fell down, but he was still very happy watching it. He got up from the bed and climbed out of bed to pick up the paper plane.

Cheng Hao was worried about whether the child would have other problems, but now he was much more relieved, he also understood the child more.

His mother died, and he only had a not so close brother accompanying him …… maybe he was deliberately behaving very well.

Danny was a child, a child without toys and playmates.

It was just an ordinary paper airplane for others, but he liked it very much, he played with it in the bedroom for a while, then he felt that the place was too small, he looked at Cheng Hao, and went outside to play in a larger room.

Cheng Hao also followed him out.

He knew the boy couldn’t hear, but seeing him playing happily, he still smiled and praised him: “Danny is great!”

“Good throw this time!”

“You’re great!”

……

Cheng Hao’s parents died early in his last life, and his family was poor before his parents died, so after arriving at the provincial boxing team, he had a psychological problem and an excessive inferiority complex.

Later, the boxing team’s coach took him to see a psychiatrist and complimented him in different ways, then he slowly became better.

He also found that psychological suggestion was very important, for example, he kept suggesting to himself that he would become the best boxer in the world, and later he really won the world championship.

During those years, he read some books on psychology, although he didn’t go to school for it, at least he knew one thing, that was, children needed encouragement, they needed love and affirmation.

Danny couldn’t hear, but he could see.

If he stood by, paid attention to Danny and clapped for him, Danny would certainly be very happy.

Cheng Hao thought right.

At first Danny played but moved slowly and didn’t laugh, but after he sat next to him and watched, and smiled and encouraged and applauded, Danny began to move faster.

When he threw the paper airplane, it wasn’t like at the beginning when he just stood and threw it blankly, he had now began to jump up and throw.

Seeing Danny doing this, Cheng Hao clapped even more and gave Danny a thumbs up: “You’re great, Danny!”

After Danny threw the paper airplane, he turned to look at Cheng Hao, when he saw Cheng Ho like this, the corners of his mouth curved up into a smile.

He was mixed race, he was already beautiful, probably because he always stayed in the house and didn’t go out. His skin was also particularly white, almost flawless. Now with this smile, he looked cute, like a little angel.

Cheng Hao stood up and gave him a hug and a thumbs up.

Danny was even happier and ran to pick up the paper airplane with a smile.

Cheng Hao stood by and kept encouraging him.

The boy was panting after running for a while, obviously he had never moved so much, letting him run around the house was good!

“Danny, you’re such a little angel!” Cheng Hao said, just as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of the roll-up door shaking, and at the same time saw Lin Yuxun get out from under the roll-up door.

After he entered the house, the house was stuffy so he didn’t close the door, anyway, the door could now only be pulled up less than a meter, the people outside couldn’t see the inside. 

Because of this, Lin Yuxun didn’t need a key, he could just get in.

Lin Yuxun’s clothes were a bit dirty, and he looked very tired. At this moment, he looked at Cheng Hao with a blank stare, looking dull.

Cheng Hao greeted him with a big smile, “Lin Yuxun, you’re back!”

“Hmm.” Lin Yuxun said, his eyes were red.

Every time he came home before, the house was quiet and nothing was heard, but today, before he reached the door, he heard Cheng Hao’s voice, and when he came in, he was surprised to see Danny smiling so happily.

Lin Yuxun’s heart was beating faster, while his eyes were getting red.

In the past, when his mother was still alive, there were also sounds in the house, but it was often the sound of his mother and her co-habitants’ bickering, his mother scolding Danny, or his mother’s crying when she was drunk.

There had never been such happy sounds in his house.

Lin Yuxun felt his exhaustion being swept away and he was refreshed.

Cheng Hao noticed that Lin Yuxun’s eyes were red and immediately walked over, “Did someone bully you? Are you okay?”

Danny, who was playing while paying attention to Cheng Hao, also saw Lin Yuxun. He stopped playing with the paper airplane and ran to Lin Yuxun’s side and pulled the hem of Lin Yuxun’s shirt, looking at Lin Yuxun worriedly.

Lin Yuxun said, “I’m fine …… I’m just a little happy to see Danny laughing so happily.”

“The kid is very smart.” Cheng Hao laughed.

Lin Yuxun hummed in response.

Cheng Hao added: “Sit down and rest for a while, I’ll go get you a glass of water.”

He stood up and went to pour water.

“No need, I’ll do it myself.” Lin Yuxun hurriedly grabbed the water and drank it, then he asked Cheng Hao, “Do you want some water?”

“I drank some already.” Cheng Hao replied.

There was silence for a while, and Danny stopped playing with the paper airplane and looked at Cheng Hao and Lin Yuxun worriedly.

Cheng Hao picked up the paper plane and gave it to him, “Danny, keep playing.”

Danny couldn’t hear him, but he understood his gesture, he took the paper plane, smiled at Cheng Hao and threw the paper plane once again.

Cheng Hao continued to praise him.

Once again, the atmosphere in the room became different.

Lin Yuxun looked at Danny with some envy, he was happy and jealous at the same time – no one had played with him before.

Cheng Hao noticed Lin Yuxun’s expression. Lin Yuxun was about the same age as the kids he used to teach who had just joined the boxing team …… Cheng Hao took another newspaper and folded a paper plane and handed it to Lin Yuxun: “Do you want to play?”

Lin Yuxun squeezed the paper airplane and looked at Cheng Hao blankly.

“It’s actually quite fun.” Cheng Hao said cheekily, well, he actually didn’t find paper planes fun at all.

“Hmm.” Lin Yuxun responded.

Playing with paper airplanes seemed childish, but when he was a child, he didn’t play with paper airplanes either ……

His father was busy working every day to make money, and spoke less than ten sentences a month, naturally he wouldn’t take him to play, as for his schoolmates …… After his mother left, he had to go home to prepare food and wash clothes. There wasn’t much time to play, other children also weren’t willing play with him either.

Lin Yuxun numbly threw the paper airplane, after throwing it out, he jumped a little, only to realize what he had done, and hurriedly ran over to pick it back up.

Then he squeezed the paper airplane and didn’t let go.

He wasn’t young, so Cheng Hao didn’t force him to play …… from time to time, he praised Danny and folded a boat with newspaper.

After folding it, he gave it to Lin Yuxun.

Lin Yuxun opened his hand, put the boat close to his heart and solemnly held it.

Cheng Hao smiled and started folding something else. When he was in kindergarten in his last life, he had origami lessons, and he always folded fast and well, so the teacher taught him to fold several additional things.

His family wasn’t rich at that time, so he had nothing to play with, but there was still a lot of paper. He repeatedly folded them and played with them. With time, he had the best paper folding skills in the class.

He hadn’t folded anything for many years, but the memory of his childhood was particularly clear ……

He had folded four different types of paper boats, a thousand paper cranes, flowers, turtles and anything else he could think of, he even folded a gold dollar treasure.

When his mother died, he was at a wake with relatives, his heart was empty, so he followed them and learned how to fold yuanbao, and ended up learning three different ways of folding yuanbao ……

That newspaper was torn apart piece by piece by Cheng Hao, he folded a lot of things, and finally folded a heart for Danny – after he folded more and more things, Danny stopped playing with paper airplanes and ran to the side to watch him fold paper.

Receiving the heart, Danny smiled again.

Lin Yuxun held a paper airplane in one hand and a paper boat in the other, he glanced at Danny,and turned to Cheng Hao.

Cheng Hao and them, they were completely different, he didn’t know when he would leave ……

Lin Yuxun felt as if his heart and lungs were tightly grabbed, it was painful and he couldn’t breathe properly.

And at this time, Cheng Hao felt that the time was almost right: “Lin Yuxun, I have a somewhat presumptuous request ……”

“What?” Lin Yuxun corrected his sitting posture, a little nervous.

“I don’t have a place to stay for now, can I stay here?” Cheng Hao asked. He was penniless and didn’t know anyone, so it would be good if he could stay here.

Lin Yuxun almost jumped up, he nodded without thinking: “Of course!”
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