章節 6: 5.
When Lin FenXiang woke up, he realised that he was covered with a blanket with his waistcoat and suit jacket gone. A little startled he tried to sit up.
The door of his room opened and he saw Lin QingLan walking in with a tray in her hands. The girl smiled gently as she rushed to help him and handed him a glass of warm water.
"I came to take a look," Lin QingLan explained. "Who would have thought I'd find my exmilitary officer brother passed out on his bed with his face stuffed with tissue." Lin FenXiang stared at her.
He saw how his sister tactfully did not ask him about it and honestly, he was extremely grateful to her for that.
Slowly, he replied, his voice came off hoarse as he spoke. "Did you..?"
Lin QingLan shook her head, "No, I didn't tell anyone, I checked on you when you had a light fever." She touched Lin FenXiang's forehead with her hand and nodded. "Now it's gone."
"But why did you pass out so abruptly?" She asked in concern. "You were perfectly fine in the evening."
"Well," Lin FenXiang leaned on the bed head and closed his eyes. "Something happened and I wasn't feeling well. So I thought sleeping for a while would solve the problem." Shifting slightly, he gazed at his hands on the blanket.
"But that doesn't explain why you stuffed your mouth with tissues."
Lin FenXiang's eyes cooled down, slightly clearing his throat, he answered. "I don't know, I felt like it." His voice remained even.
However, unwilling to believe Lin QingLan was, in face of his resolute refusal. She could only give up and sigh.
"Then you take care, I'll go back. The banquet is over anyway. Do you want something to eat?"
Lin FenXiang shook his head, with his eyes closed, he answered feeling a little queasy. "No. Thank you for not telling Mom and Dad."
Lin QingLan smiled with a soft look in her eyes, "Don't worry, it'll be us brother and sister's little secret." With that, she walked out of the room.
Left alone with his muddled thoughts, Lin FenXiang gazed blankly at his hands and sat on the bed in complete silence.
Slowly breaking out of the daze, he shook his head, willing himself to calm down and be rational. He knew that he needed to get out of this quagmire of thoughts which had nothing but pain and confusion for him.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed down the swelling tide of memories, both the painful and the beautiful ones. After finding himself sufficiently calm, Lin FenXiang crawled out of the bed and went for a bath. The sweat made his dress shirt stick to his body uncomfortably.
While he walked to the bathroom, his eyes fell on the laptop sitting innocently in the study's table. Tearing his eyes away from the electronic device, he walked into the bathroom.
He deeply understood the importance of physical fitness, especially for artists like him who'd usually stay cooped up in their studios.
He'd be an idiot if he failed to recognise the importance of exercise after experiencing side-effects twice.
Once in his last life, his sudden death, and once more today. Even if his head was going to explode from the overload it didn't sit right that he'd just pass out because of that. It must've been because this body was physically weak.
And why wouldn't he? After staying in hospital for half a year as a vegetable would render even the most fit person weak. Not to mention a soldier—who god knows had how many old injuries—who was hospitalised because of taking a critical hit to his body.
Lin FenXiang shook his head and decided to start exercising regularly from now on. He'd have to resume his old routine, the one he followed in the past to keep himself in shape. And now with the enhanced facilities of modern time he could perhaps join a gym or something. Otherwise, he feared, his already weak body would become useless.
From what he knew of the Asian military from the original owner's memories, it certainly wasn't out of norm to call up ex-soldiers, who were physically apt, to handle some emergency situation where other personnels could not reach in time.
God forbid, if he was needed someday.
Thinking of this, Lin FenXiang steeled his resolve and decisively put away the painting, walking to his bed, he laid down and attempted to fall asleep.
Just as Morpheus pulled him to his dreamland, his phone issued a sound. Startled, Lin FenXiang reached for the electronic device and turned it on.
It was Bai XiNian's message.
Frowning slightly, Lin FenXiang clicked on the message.
［Bai XiNian: I've gotten a ticket for you, the exhibition is set to be in three weeks from today. Make sure you are ready.］
Lin FenXiang slightly curved his lips into a tight-lipped smile and replied with a short 'Okay'.
After a short conversation, Lin FenXiang turned off his phone and sighed. He knew that this England was going to be much more different than the England he knew, but he hoped…
He hoped that the places he was familiar with hadn't changed. But that was virtually impossible, wasn't it?
Time is a cruel master, how could it let things not work with its flow, how could Wales, how could Yorkshire not change after more than 2 centuries?
The thing he was hoping for was impossible yet he held into this childish scintilla that maybe, it hadn't.
Except of course it had.
Lin FenXiang sighed in defeat, putting away the phone, he covered himself with a blanket and let Morpheus drag him to his dreamland.
.
The next day, on waking up, the first thing Lin FenXiang did was to contact the dojo original owner used to visit before he joined the military, to rejoin it.
Pretty early, he knew that.
Then, he changed into a tracksuit and slipped on his shoes, preparing to go for a run to the nearest park or something. When he checked the time, it was 6:00 AM.
Closing the door behind him as lightly as possible, he walked out of the house.
The original owner's body hadn't lost its muscle memory, for some reason the original owner was a Kyokushin Karate practioner, and Lin FenXiang — Drystan — himself was a practitioner of martial arts as well as Ninjutsu–– all thanks to his maternal family.
Drystan's mother was Japanese-Russian, his grandfather was Japanese Samurai family's descendents and they loved having him over to Japan for as long as he could stay.
Could, because they basically taught Drystan—a damn European—Japanese martial arts. Everytime he went there, he was made to practise these disciplines rigorously.
As such, Drystan ended up learning martial arts and, for some reason, Ninjutsu. Though perhaps his prolonged stays in Japan were the only reason he could outlive his family, he could do a lot of things he'd done in his life.
That's why, Lin FenXiang made his decision to join the old dojo again, but this time for Jujutsu since Ninjutsu of his time is definitely not taught today and although Lin FenXiang was far from having mastered the said discipline, he had done a decent job in never breaking it's training in his past life and could go toe-to-toe with his teacher.
So Jujutsu it was. Although maybe he could try and dust off the rust in the Kyokushin Karate of the original owner, he was better off not taking the risk.
This was how Lin FenXiang's morning started and by the time he returned home, he was drenched in sweat from running 4km in total and doing basic exercises every martial artist should do.
On stepping inside the door, he saw Lin ZhiHuang looking at him doubtfully.
Lin FenXiang stared at him in silence.
Lin ZhiHuang cleared his throat, "Good morning, Xiao Xiang."
"Good morning brother."
"I heard you rejoined the dojo? Are you going to continue KungFu?"
"No, brother," Lin FenXiang denied, while wiping off the sweat with a towel. "I'm going to try Jujutsu now." Lin ZhiHuang frowned.
"Are you?" He asked. "Then be careful."
"Alright," Lin FenXiang answered and walked up to his room. Lin ZhiHuang turned to him.
"Oh by the way," he drawled. "Xiao Yuan wanted you to come to his company with him, do you want to go?"
Lin FenXiang looked at him from the stairs, coming to think Lin FengYuan did own a company JiangXing Entertainment, didn't he?
"He does?"
"Yeah."
It sounded interesting, even if Lin FenXiang didn't delve into the business or Showbiz world, he could at least see what the seemingly glamorous world had within it. Besides, JiangXing Entertainment didn't only dabble in the Entertainment industry, but also in the Modelling and Music industry.
Maybe it'd be fun. So, Lin FenXiang agreed to go with his brother.
"But," he added. "I have to go to the dojo before that. It'll most likely take a few hours so it will be better if brother leaves the address for me. I'll get there myself."
Lin ZhiHuang wanted to deny, but thinking of how his baby brother finally decided to do something he really liked, he agreed reluctantly.
"Alright," he nodded slowly, "I'll tell Xiao Yuan that."
Lin FenXiang offered him a slight smile and went to his room.
--
Lin FenXiang lay on the dojo's floor, breathless, as he panted. His instructor looked at him and quirked his lips.
"I didn't know you were interested in Jujutsu and more surprising yet, you are pretty damn good at this. I had a tough time defeating you. Maybe after sometime I'll have nothing to teach you," the instructor shook his head helplessly. Lin FenXiang just panted for breath.
Of course, he lost, after all he was out of practice for some time now.
"Don't worry, shifu," he grinned from the floor. "Very soon, I'll win against you." The instructor laughed.
"I don't doubt that, now don't you have somewhere to go?"
"Yeah," Lin FenXiang nodded, sitting up. "I have to go. See you tomorrow, shifu."
"Alright." With that, Lin FenXiang packed up his things and went to the changing room. After changing out of his uniform, he walked out of the dojo.
On the road, he saw a low-key black car, parked not far from the dojo. Trotting to the car, he saw the chauffeur, Uncle Yang, standing outside it.
"Sorry, I made you wait," Lin FenXiang rubbed the back of his neck. The driver shook his head respectfully.
"You haven't, Young Master. Please sit."
"Thank you," sitting at the back, Lin FenXiang closed his eyes and rested.
After driving for at least an hour, he was finally close to the company.
Uncle Yang said, "Beijing traffic is always like this, especially during the rush hour. It usually doesn't take so long."
"It's alright," Lin FenXiang answered in a low voice form behind the mask. "I am not in a hurry."
"Here we are," Uncle Yang announced after some time. Lin FenXiang got out of the car and told the old chauffeur.
"You go back, Uncle Yang. No need to wait for me." Uncle Yang nodded and drove away.
Lin FenXiang turned to look at the high-rise building in front of him, pleasantly surprised as he was, he couldn't help but lament the loss of nature.
Slowly, he strode into the building's ground floor and made his way to the reception.
"Excuse me," he called for the lady's attention. "Can I meet Mr. Lin FengYuan."
The lady put down the receiver and asked with a professional smile. "Sir, may I ask if you have an appointment with the CEO?"
Lin FenXiang shook his head, "No, but—"
"Then I'm sorry sir, you can't meet the CEO without an appointment." The lady immediately answered. Lin FenXiang held back a sigh.
The reception lady gave him a judgement and rather dismissively contemptuous once over. To be fair, he did look a bit sketchy.
His face was covered with a black mask and a black peaked cap. He wore a white high neck inside a black trench coat and black pleated trousers with black vans.
With so much black he wouldn't be surprised if the lady found him suspicious.
"Excuse me Miss, will you hear me out?" He tried to reason.
"I'm really sorry sir, the CEO is free."
Lin FenXiang sighed, pulling down the mask from his face, he attempted again. But before he could even get out a word.
The reception lady suddenly stood up and greeted someone behind him. "Assistant Zhou." Her attitude was very respectful while facing the man.
Lin FenXiang turned to look at the Assistant Zhou, the man was very handsome and had an aloof temperament with silver-rimmed glasses resting atop his nose, and he had a scholarly aura.
Raising his hand he slightly waved at the approaching man. As soon as Assistant Zhou got close enough, he greeted. "Hello, Assistant Zhou."
The assistant looked at him in a little surprise, he greeted back, "Little Young Master could have informed me that you have arrived. I kept you waiting.".
Lin FenXiang waved, "Oh no! I just came. Your employees are really upright, Assistant Zhou, this Miss would not even let me tell her to call you after I told her I had no appointment with your CEO." He joked, glancing at the reception lady.
The reception lady, realising that she'd made a mistake blanched, the words she wanted to speak stuck in her throat when Assistant Zhou levelled her with an icy glare.
Stuttering, she apologized, "I'm- I'm sorry, Assistant Zhou I didn't know you knew him."
Assistant Zhou coldly glanced at her. "I'm not the one you should apologise to. Meet me at the HR in an hour."
The lady paled, who'd have known she would get in trouble for being dismissive of a man?
Lin FenXiang looked between Assistant Zhou and the lady, didn't this escalate too quickly?
Hurriedly, he waved his hands at Assistant Zhou. Interceding for the lady, he said. "Brother Zhou! I didn't mean it like that, it isn't even her fault. Let her go this time, yeah?"
Assistant Zhou looked at him, remembering how Lin FengYuan had asked him to listen to his little brother as long as the request wasn't too outrageous.
With a non-committal hum, he nodded and asked Lin FenXiang to follow him to see the CEO.
Inside the lift, Lin FenXiang could clearly feel an invisible barrier between Assistant Zhou and the other employees.
He whispered to the cold looking Assistant, "Brother Zhou, they seem to be afraid of you." Zhou YiHan frowned imperceptibly.
"It's nothing like that, Young Master." Lin FenXiang gave the employees and drawled.
"Are you sure about that?"
Zhou YiHan went silent. The elevator dinged as most of the people surged out of the elevator before the door closed.
After a moment or so, the elevator dinged again '17' showed on top of it.
Zhou YiHan pushed up his glasses and declared, "Here we are." Then he followed Lin FenXiang and knocked on the door.
"Young Master Lin is here," he announced shortly and entered.
Lin FengYuan sat against the floor to ceiling windows, doing the paper work presented to give.
Looking up from the reports, the second eldest of the Lins saw Lin FenXiang standing behind Zhou YiHan.
"Xiao Xiang!" He stood up, calling joyfully. "You are here!" He smiled.
Lin FenXiang returned his smile with a nod and walked over to him.
"Brother."
Lin FengYuan excitedly had him sit on the couch in his office and asked him, "Want to drink coffee?"
Lin FenXiang shook his head, "I will have tea." Zhou YiHan nodded and prepared to walk out.
Lin FengYuan stopped him with a small frown, "Where are you going YiHan? Just tell someone to deliver it here."
Zhou YiHan fell silent but then nodded, "Alright."
Lin FenXiang looked at them, feeling odd. He couldn't help but interject, "Or maybe I could have Brother Zhou show me around?"
Lin FengYuan paused to think, he nodded, "Sure, YiHan?"
"Yes?" Zhou YiHan stepped forward.
"Can you please show Xiao Xiang around?" Lin FengYuan smiled softly. Zhou YiHan nodded and asked Lin FenXiang to follow him. Lin FengYuan stood up, taking a step towards Zhou YiHan.
The delicate assistant took a step back entirely out of reflex, making Lin FengYuan's smile falter a fraction before the older man collected himself and turned to Lin FenXiang.
"Xiao Xiang, would you want to see the production department?" He asked calmly. "YiHan" his voice was soft. "Take him there, I'm sure we were going to visit the set in Hengdian right? We'll leave for there soon, want to go Xiao Xiang?"
"Sure, brother," Lin FenXiang shrugged non-committedly. "Let's go."
Zhou YiHan nodded while walking out of the office, Lin FenXiang slowly followed behind him.
Along the way, various employees greeted Lin FenXiang when they saw him walking with the General Manager-cum-Assistant Zhou.
As soon as they reached the production department, Lin FenXiang's phone rang in his pocket.
Lin FenXiang excused himself and walked a bit further from Assistant Zhou, taking his phone out, he saw the screen displaying.
'Sergeant Xiao'
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