Chapter 8: Back to Hometown

A few days later, the Jiangnan Province training team dispersed like birds returning to their nests, and Jamie Smith also bid farewell to the Starlight Martial Arts Hall, preparing to return to his hometown. At the Binhai City North High-Speed Railway Station, the sunlight filtered through the vast glass dome, casting a warm glow over the bustling crowd. Among them, Jamie Smith's figure seemed particularly solitary.

"Take care of yourself in Binhai City," Jamie Smith said softly, his voice standing out against the noise as he hugged May Lee tightly. She wore a mask, accompanied by a female assistant. Although Jamie Smith had twice made it into the World Martial Arts Tournament, once reaching the top sixteen and once the top eight, he rarely appeared in public, and few people recognized him on the street. May Lee was different; she was very popular, even if she only live-streamed once a month in a very low-key manner, she still had tens of millions of fans. Without a mask, she would be quickly recognized.

"I'll probably be able to arrange everything in another two or three days, and then I can go back. Lucini has already gone ahead to Mingyue City; they've rented a house there," May Lee said. Lucini was one of May Lee's two assistants.

"Ben, you must take good care of your boss these days," Jamie Smith said to the thin female assistant standing nearby, 'Ben'.

"Understood," Ben immediately straightened up and replied firmly.

Jamie Smith nodded with a smile, hugged his girlfriend once more, then turned around, slung his backpack, and passed through the checkpoint to board the high-speed train.

May Lee, with her female assistant, watched as Jamie Smith's figure disappeared down the corridor before they left.

******

On the high-speed train, Jamie Smith sat in his seat, a three-foot-wide holographic screen floating in front of him. The screen was only clearly visible from Jamie Smith's angle; from other angles, the brightness was insufficient, and it would distort.

"Friends, relatives, brothers, and sisters, from now on, I will settle in Mingyue City! Everyone is welcome to visit Mingyue City for tourism, and I will entertain you throughout the journey!" Jamie Smith posted a message on social media, and soon there were replies one after another.

"Junior, have a smooth trip!" This message was from Ray Stone, the boss of the Starlight Martial Arts Hall and his senior.

"Smith, leaving Binhai?" This was from his former national team teammate and good friend, Finn Brown.

"Senior, you're finally back in Mingyue City, and the brothers have been looking forward to it!" This was from Tony Pearson, a junior from the Baji School in Mingyue City.

"Come back, come to see me soon." This was from Dane Tony, the head of the Chuo Jiao School in Mingyue City, and also one of Jamie Smith's two mentors when he was young! As a child, Jamie Smith's first mentor was his own father, and later, under his father's guidance, he also took Dane Tony as his master.

"I've heard that Mingyue City is a very beautiful city, and I will definitely go there for a visit when I have the chance." This was from the world-class martial arts master "Hunter" Mikqi, who had studied in Xia Country and was proficient in the Xia language.

"The great master is going home, and you must treat everyone to a meal. Many old classmates want to see you." This was from high school classmate Wendy Wood.

As time went by, messages continued to appear one after another. There were old classmates, relatives, teammates from the provincial and national teams, some world martial arts circle friends who didn't fight but became acquainted, as well as some martial arts circle agents, coaches, and his own disciples.

Jamie Smith looked at these messages with a smile and responded to his friends one by one.

……

In the capital, in a Chinese-style villa. Ray Willow, eating his third meal of the day, was also looking at the social circle on the holographic screen. He usually checked the social circle during his annual retreat, generally during meal times, to understand the news from the outside world.

"Jamie left Binhai and returned to Mingyue City?" Ray Willow understood, "It was forced by Sean Hill from the Tiger Shark Group."

"National Key Cultivation List."

Ray Willow gently tapped the screen, looking at the candidates on the list, shaking his head helplessly, "I've talked to several old friends, and my mouth is all worn out, but Jamie was still brushed off."

"There are a total of twenty people on the list, twelve martial arts masters, and others are combat styles. Only three spots are open for competition... In the end, these three spots were obtained by two professional martial arts players and one professional Sanda player."

"The professional Sanda player is a Grand Slam player."

"One of the two professional martial arts players has won the fourth place in the World Martial Arts Tournament! The other has been in the top eight of the world three times, and the results are all better than Jamie's."

This time the list was too special, and Ray Willow only had the right to recommend. He had done his best.

……

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The scenery outside the window whizzed by. Jamie Smith looked out the window, and after chatting on social media for a while, he had already entered the territory of Mingyue City.

From Binhai City to Mingyue City, the high-speed train only takes three hours.

"Back to my hometown," Jamie Smith was in a good mood. At a glance, the riverside outside the high-speed train window was lined with countless weeping willows. The scenery of the Jiangnan water town was refreshing.

Although in terms of economy, Mingyue City can't compare with the economic center city 'Binhai City' of Xia Country, in terms of livability, Mingyue City is much better. The whole city seems to be built in a park, with a slow pace, and many elderly people from all over the country have moved here to retire.

"Mingyue City, I'm back," Jamie Smith said as he got out of the high-speed train station and took an unmanned intelligent car straight to his parents' residence, which was a somewhat historical villa area. He had lived here almost all his life before he was eighteen.

In the villa community. Jamie Smith walked down the alley, the stone bricks on the ground had traces of the years, some were old stone bricks, some should have been damaged and replaced by the property with new stone bricks, and a vague graffiti mark on a wall caught Jamie Smith's eye, and he couldn't help but reach out and touch it.

This graffiti was drawn on the wall of the neighbor's house, Sophia's, when he was young, and after so many years, it still left a vague mark. Walking on this alley, he thought of when he was young, carrying his school bag to school, and his father picking him up from school. At that time, robots were not so intelligent, and his mother was responsible for cooking, and his father was responsible for picking him up.

"In the blink of an eye, twenty years have passed," Jamie Smith walked to the familiar courtyard gate, gently pushed, and the door was not locked and opened in advance.

Jamie Smith walked into the front yard, which was a small yard of more than thirty square meters. Jamie Smith had practiced martial arts here for a long time when he was a child.

"Dad, mom," Jamie Smith called out.

"Jamie is back!"

"Jamie is back!"

Voices came from the house, and Jamie Smith pushed open the living room door to see that his parents had already gotten up. Jamie's mother was wearing pajamas and slippers, and Jamie's father was wearing short sleeves and shorts. After all, it was a hot summer, and they were very casual at home.

"Jamie," Jamie's mother saw her son and hugged him happily, "I missed you so much, where is May? Did you come back alone?"

"May will be back in two days," Jamie Smith said with a smile.

Jamie's father came out, looked at Jamie Smith, and asked, "Where is your weapon?"

"All delivered by courier, because there are many things, and they are all large and heavy, so they will arrive tomorrow and will be delivered to the new house," Jamie Smith said.

Jamie's father nodded.

Jamie's father, named Hugh Smith, was about the same height as Jamie Smith, but much more robust. After all, he was a strong man who founded the Baji School in Mingyue City and mainly practiced Baji. He practiced pile work every day. The pile work of the Baji School is like using the arms, chest, shoulders, back, elbows, and other parts to hit the tree pile. This is also considered pile work. There is also the single-arm handstand pile, which is difficult to practice, and it can be simplified to 'double-hand handstand', and then simplified to 'push-up pile work'... There is also the 'Undersea Moon' exercise for the legs...

All kinds of Kung Fu in the Baji School is to make every part of the body have great strength, fierce as bears and tigers.

Jamie's father is a bear-backed and bear-waisted man, standing there with a domineering aura.

"Dad, you need to lose weight,

" Jamie Smith said, "You are over 200 pounds now, right?"

"Two hundred and ten pounds," Jamie's father shook his head, "No way, I'm old, and my waist injury often occurs. I have to take it easy when practicing Kung Fu. I only practice for two hours a day, and now my weight has increased. In the past, I always maintained it at 190 pounds."

"Practice less, and I'll let you eat less. You still eat and eat, and you won't get fat, will you?" Jamie's mother's figure is enough to make many young girls envious, but the wrinkles on her face and some white hair on her head reveal Jamie's mother's age.

Jamie's mother is a painter. When she was young, she traveled around the world with Jamie's father and later settled down in Mingyue City.

"I'm used to eating, and I can't control it," Jamie's father said with a smile.

"You, when you were young, were too eager to fight. You went around the world to visit those combat schools, and you often had to spar when you got there," Jamie's mother shook her head, "You got a lot of injuries, and you could bear them when you were young, but you feel them when you're old, and you're in pain every three miles. Jamie, you should learn from this, and in the future, you should focus on health and less combat."

"Yes, martial arts and weapons combat are very dangerous," Jamie's father also nodded. When his son was twenty years old, he was broken-legged on the stage of the World Martial Arts Tournament, and the couple was panicked when they saw it.

"Don't worry, mom and dad, I'm back in Mingyue City, who am I going to fight with?" Jamie Smith said with a smile.

"Jamie is back?" A voice came from upstairs.

"Grandpa?" Jamie Smith was very happy.

"Your grandfather knew you were coming back today, so he came over early in the morning. He was sleepy in the afternoon and took a nap upstairs," Jamie's mother said, "I guess he heard us chatting."

Jamie Smith put down his backpack, walked to the atrium of the villa, and saw the white-haired old man walking down the stairs with a steady gait.

"Grandpa," Jamie Smith walked to the side of the stairs.

"It's good to be back. Isn't Mingyue City more beautiful and comfortable than Binhai City?" The white-haired old man smiled and squinted his eyes. He was very happy to see his grandson.

"This time I'm not leaving, and I'll accompany grandpa more," Jamie Smith was also distressed about his grandfather.

Grandpa, named Olive Smith, came from a rural family. When he was young, he became a professional e-sports player, and his game nickname was "Master Nameless." At that time, it was still mobile games! Grandpa once won an Fp, and his career income was also quite high. Later, after retiring, he became a game anchor, and after many years, he saved a lot of money, and the Xu family finally saved some money. But grandpa is already eighty-eight years old, and his health is getting worse and worse.

"Come on, have some fruit," Dad and Mom, carrying two large fruit plates, grapes, bananas, watermelon, all ready.

"Have some fruit," Olive Smith was also in a very good mood, sat down and picked up a piece of watermelon and handed it to Jamie Smith, "Taste the hometown watermelon, these are all local melons."

"Grandpa, I'll do it myself," Jamie Smith also sat down and picked up the watermelon. He still remembers when he was a child, his grandfather often took him to play. At that time, his mother was still young, and his father was in his prime, often taking a group of disciples to practice martial arts. Now, his grandfather is old, full of wrinkles, and his face is full of old spots. His mother also has a lot of white hair, and the wrinkles are hard to hide. Although his father is strong and robust, he is already sixty years old, and he has a twilight.

"Life, old age, illness, and death, no one can stop it," Jamie Smith thought, "I have grown up, but my parents are old, and my grandfather is less and less every year."

Back home, feeling the warmth of the family, but Jamie Smith feels the ruthlessness of time even more.

"These fruits, your dad bought them this morning, they are all the freshest," Jamie's mother said.

"They are delicious," Jamie Smith said with a smile as he ate.