From Evil Sect Leader to Doctor

Chapter 680 - 650: Building Trust

"Fu Xuedong, how are you talking to your mom?" Xu Chunliang rushed over from behind, carrying a backpack.Fu Xuedong turned around and glared at him menacingly, but soon lowered his head under Xu Chunliang’s oppressive gaze and said softly, "Who are you?"

Zhao Xinting, who had been focused on her son and forgot to thank Xu Chunliang, finally came to her senses. If Xu Chunliang hadn’t intervened just now, she definitely wouldn’t have been able to stop her son from jumping into the river. She quickly introduced him, "This is your Uncle Xu, your dad’s best friend."

What Xu Chunliang had just done made Zhao Xinting develop a favorable impression of him. You can tell from the way she introduced him that she had already established a preliminary trust in Xu Chunliang.

Fu Xuedong snorted, "I don’t think my dad has any friends."

"Watch how you talk!" Zhao Xinting wanted to get angry again but regretted it as soon as she spoke, worried she might provoke her son. Her son had always been obedient in the past, but his personality only started becoming extreme after he got bullied at school, leading to increasingly strong rebellious emotions against the family. People say it’s also the age of rebellion.

Xu Chunliang smiled and handed the backpack to Zhao Xinting, suggesting, "Why don’t you go home first, sister-in-law, and let me have a chat with Xiao Dong alone?"

Zhao Xinting appeared a bit hesitant. Although she felt a favorable impression of Xu Chunliang, it was only their first meeting today, and she still felt uneasy handing her son over to him.

Xu Chunliang said, "Don’t worry. Xiao Dong, shall we have a private talk?"

Surprisingly, Fu Xuedong nodded.

Zhao Xinting said, "Well... don’t take too long."

Xu Chunliang waved his hand.

Zhao Xinting kept looking back as she walked, and once she was finally out of sight, Xu Chunliang said to Fu Xuedong, "Shall we find a place to talk?"

Fu Xuedong said, "I have nothing to talk to you about. I just agreed so my mom wouldn’t bother me!"

Xu Chunliang laughed, "You seem quite aggrieved."

Fu Xuedong said, "It’s none of your business."

The smile on Xu Chunliang’s face suddenly disappeared, and he coldly said, "Coward!"

Fu Xuedong was stunned for a moment, thinking he heard wrong, but quickly realized Xu Chunliang was insulting him, causing his face to turn red. "You... how dare you insult me?"

Xu Chunliang replied, "Insult you? I even feel like hitting you. How old are you? Can’t solve problems on your own at this age? Still relying on your parents? You don’t even dare to fart when bullied outside, but you act so mighty toward your own mom."

Fu Xuedong got furious, "You have no right to lecture me."

Xu Chunliang said, "I’m lecturing you, so what? If you’re unhappy, hit me then?"

Fu Xuedong bit his lip hard, eyes almost spitting fire.

Xu Chunliang said, "If it weren’t out of respect for your dad, I wouldn’t have bothered saving you."

Fu Xuedong said, "I don’t need you to save me, I don’t need you to care, my life or death has nothing to do with anyone!"

Xu Chunliang said, "It’s strange; you have the courage to jump into a river but not to face those who bully you? Don’t you know how to resist after getting beaten up?"

Fu Xuedong said, "I did resist, but there were too many of them."

Xu Chunliang said, "Show the same determination you had when you were about to jump into the river. If you’re not afraid of dying, why fear them?"

Fu Xuedong’s long-suppressed emotions suddenly erupted, "Ever since I was a kid, they told me not to fight with others, to be kind, to tolerate in the face of issues. I listened to them, but the more I tolerated, the more others bullied me, taking inch after inch. They all laughed at me, called me a coward. I followed my dad’s advice to live in peace and didn’t hold them accountable, but they still found people to beat me."

Xu Chunliang said, "Do you have evidence?"

Fu Xuedong shook his head.

Xu Chunliang asked again, "Who hit you at school?"

Fu Xuedong named three classmates.

Xu Chunliang said, "That’s simple. They got people from outside to hit you. Just ask them and you’ll find out. Come, let’s go find them."

Fu Xuedong was stupefied, recalling the scene of Xu Chunliang fighting earlier. He whispered, "You... you want to help me fight them?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Not to fight, but to help you solve the problem. Your dad sent me." Feeling that Fu Guomin had a tarnished image in the boy’s mind, Xu Chunliang decided to do a good deed and help resurrect Fu Guomin’s shining image.

Fu Xuedong said, "My dad?"

Xu Chunliang nodded and said, "Make sure your mom doesn’t find out about this."

Fu Xuedong shook his head again and said, "No, if you go to school and hit someone, it’ll blow up."

Xu Chunliang laughed and said, "Who said I was going to hit someone? I like to set the facts straight and reason things out. Xiao Dong, how do you think my fighting ability is?"

Fu Xuedong recalled the scene from earlier; a brawny man over six feet tall was knocked down by Xu Chunliang with a single kick. His fighting ability could only be described as astonishing. Most boys have a certain admiration for strength. Due to genetic reasons, Fu Xuedong wasn’t tall—almost 15 years old and only about five and a half feet tall, making him short among his peers, and he usually felt quite inferior.

He got beaten at school because he talked a bit more with the girls in his class, which led to a few male classmates cornering him in the bathroom and giving him a good beating.

His parents went to the school over this matter. The school called in the parents of the involved students. The final agreement was for the three involved students to apologize in person to Fu Xuedong, and they were criticized by the school. Their three families would split his medical bill, which wasn’t much, totaling less than a thousand yuan.

He thought that would be the end of it, but a few days later Fu Xuedong was beaten up by a group of thugs outside school. Since it happened off-campus, the school didn’t deal with it. Although Fu Xuedong was sure it was done by those three students, he had no proof.

This incident left him with serious psychological trauma and a strong aversion to attending school.

Xu Chunliang obtained firsthand information from him and felt that Fu Guomin and his wife’s handling of the situation was inappropriate. Simply confessing fault after a child gets beaten at school wasn’t enough; the bully should be made to truly realize their wrongdoing, the parents should sincerely apologize, and the school should be urged to take it seriously and enforce fair consequences.

The failure of Fu Guomin and his wife to promptly eliminate the hazard led to subsequent events. Xu Chunliang looked at Fu Xuedong, who was hunched over and staring at the ground, with some sympathy and said softly, "To be a man, you can break your head and shed blood, but you cannot lose your dignity. Xiao Dong, do you know why they bully you?"

Fu Xuedong said, "Because I’m small, physically weak, and can’t beat them."

Xu Chunliang laughed, "Bruce Lee wasn’t tall either, but his fighting ability wasn’t weak."

Fu Xuedong said, "But I’m not Bruce Lee."

Xu Chunliang asked, "Do you want to become like Bruce Lee?"

Fu Xuedong looked up, his eyes sparkling. He really wanted to, dreaming of it many times, dreaming of becoming strong and making those classmates who bullied him roll on the ground in defeat. But it was just a dream, and when he woke up, he had to face reality, where those classmates were all over six feet tall, strong and robust, and he couldn’t even handle one of them, let alone three.

Xu Chunliang said, "The person I knocked down just now was taller and sturdier than me, but I knocked him down with a single punch because I know fighting techniques. I can turn you into a strong fighter within a morning; do you want that?"

Without thinking, Fu Xuedong replied, "I want it!"

Xu Chunliang said, "I can teach you, but I have one condition."

"Tell me!" Fu Xuedong finally saw hope in the gloomy days.

Xu Chunliang said, "Once I teach you, we’ll immediately find those classmates who beat you, and you’ll get back at them."

Fu Xuedong said, "Every afternoon after school, they play basketball at the park court."

Xu Chunliang asked, "Do you dare to go?"

Fu Xuedong clenched his teeth and said, "I’ll go!"

A promising youth, he just needed a bit of spirit.

Zhao Xinting still couldn’t stop worrying about her son. She called again shortly after getting home, and Xu Chunliang handed the phone to Fu Xuedong.

Fu Xuedong explained that he was out for a walk with Uncle Xu and would be home in the evening, reassuring his mother.

Zhao Xinting heard that her son’s mood had calmed over the phone, but what were he and Xu Chunliang doing out all day? She called Fu Guomin next.

Fu Guomin, upon hearing that his son was with Xu Chunliang, assured Zhao Xinting not to worry. He told her that Xiaoxu is reliable. He also mentioned that he wouldn’t be back in Beijing until at least the day after tomorrow because provincial guests were visiting, and he had to remain in Dongzhou to host them.

Earlier that day, Zhao Xinting had been frightened by her son’s near-drowning incident. Upon cooling down, she considered changing her son’s environment—if he continued being bullied at school, what could they do? In the long run, his psyche would certainly be affected.

From Xu Chunliang, she saw the courage and boldness that her husband lacked. Zhao Xinting believed that her son was too heavily influenced by his father—too inclined to concede in the face of issues, preferring not to resort to physical action, resulting in a somewhat weak disposition. Of course, this also had to do with the child’s physical traits, being overly thin and shorter than his peers.

Zhao Xinting hadn’t much to complain about in this aspect; both she and her husband weren’t tall either. Their child never lacked nutrition growing up, but genes can’t be overlooked. At fifteen, he wasn’t even five and a half feet tall yet; if he could surpass five, seven it’d be a blessing. Zhao Xinting once looked into growth hormone treatments, only to be scolded by her husband.

As she watched the clock, calculating how long Xu Chunliang had been out with her son, it indeed felt like passing time in torment. She decided to let it be like a day off for her son, hoping Xu Chunliang would resolve his mental knots.

To train a teenager with no martial arts experience into a skilled fighter in a short time might be impossible for others, but Xu Chunliang had the means. He took Fu Xuedong to a nearby park and spent two hours teaching him some combat techniques, and also imparted two steps of the Spiritual Snake Eight Steps on him.

After all, against middle school kids, this bit of skill was enough to make him dominate the school.

Aside from lunchtime, Fu Xuedong spent all this time diligently practicing. Although his martial arts insight wasn’t as good as Ji Jiajia’s, he was more focused and hardworking than Ji Jiajia.