The development of his body was within an acceptable range, and food consumption was not an issue since he had money and he could afford meat with the current intake for a long time. Perhaps when his consumption increased by several times would he have the thought of seeking more money.
He did not seem to have any unnecessary expenses as the power had been fixed. Other expenses were not something that he was bothered about, as he was in a village area, not some city. Other than food and power charges, everything else seemed to have been erased from his list of priorities. It seemed that staying in such a remote place had a lot of conveniences. He even once thought of buying himself a car but looking at the current situation, it was not a matter of importance yet.
Outside the courtyard, Cheng Shan was moving his body trying to gain some unified rhythm when he switched from one animal movement to the next, but the transition seemed too difficult to accomplish that fast. It seemed as though these incoherent movements were what made it difficult for him to gain the remaining proficiency points. Once the movements become seamless, he was thinking that perahso some great improvement could occur.
The only thing that he was sure of was that the animal Boxing seemed to have returned his body to the optimum state and with time perhaps he could also have the chance to live close to a hundred just like the oldest people in the world currently.
The thing he was more interested in at the moment though was the benefits that came with the clone. He did not seem to create fantasies and rather wanted to experience the changes himself before he could make some judgments. In the moment though, he did not seem to regret his decision to quit that job as the gains at this moment are worth it.
When he looked through his bank balance on the phone, he could see that he had close to 750,000 still left. This is not a small amount for someone that is not paying rent, but in the end, he still has to think about the consumption of the clone after the second evolution.
He held back from starting to study another martial art until he managed to accomplish the very limit of the entry-level. During this period he would have enough time to focus on it, and at the same time, he had some concerns that he was going to see when the time arrived, on if he had the ability to practice the other martial arts the same way.
The reason for this concern is actually simple, Five Animal Boxing was created by some medical experts in ancient times and thus anyone can practice it in the beginning probably it is only something that is used at the entry level, but going further is another issue altogether. It would be as though he was finding his own path in the darkness. The most important thing also is to understand the five animals that have been used in this technique, their habits, and their imitation of their actions.
It was however something that would require time, and he did not seem to have a way to visit all the places with these animals. He would do this later, and at that time perhaps he would be able to gain some insights and go further as further development would require more than just that. He even seemed to think that the breathing and vibrations of the animals are important and each seemed to have different moves.
For the movements, each had a minimum of five and a maximum of 14 moves. He was at the stage of state, and in the next stage he had to try and achieve breathing to be able to enter the second stage, he did not seem to have the way to accomplish that easily.
On this day, Cheng Shan had completed the routine and was relaxing on the outside under some shed and heard some movements from afar. With his current state, he could indeed be said to have his hearing and even sight slightly better than others. He could feel some footsteps moving in his direction and when he turned around he found it was a woman.
He could not recognize her instantly, but when she approached he indeed seemed to see her face clearly. He had some recollection of who she was. The village chief's daughter and he was sure that the two did not have any kind of friendship in the past, they could just count are acquaintances, after all even as kids, friendships are formed through 'class' or the levels that one belongs to. Some children do not even associate with others and she was among those that he never had any interactions with and thus was wondering why she came to this place.
He was sure that almost none of those in his generation stayed in the village, most seemed to have already become permanent residents in big cities. Regardless of how things went for them, they could not come back, and this woman visiting him was definitely not without reason. He was not in a hurry, just sitting and waiting to see what was going on. Being in the workforce in a city, he had already been used to human scheming and was aware that both men and women were very dangerous people when circumstances allowed it.
But he seemed to have developed some confidence due to his practice of martial arts, even though it was not aimed at fighting, it seemed to have already started to strengthen his will and confidence, and this coupled with his working in an office in a city. Even though he was being exploited, that did not mean that he was some weakling, to survive in a workplace one has to confront all directions.
He however was not foolish enough to not understand what was going on. He had heard some conversations in the office about the male employees going back home and when they meet those that they studied with, it was either their parents trying to set them up, or the other party asking about their situation. In simple terms, they just wanted to know if they were financially okay.
When the woman approached him, she seemed to be smiling, which was different from when she was some distance away. He did not expose her but wanted to see what kind of game she was playing.
"You are?" He asked, this was also a way to keep some distance between them. In society, one has to learn some tricks if one wants to live a stable life. Being in a hurry to recognize people is not a beneficial business at all and could even end up causing him a lot of unnecessary trouble. It also seems to remove a lot of constraints on the actions of others. This was the case for women, after all, they are emotionally intelligent compared to men. It is also the reason why those that are dedicated to businesses can do much better than most men on average. After all, men barely catch on to some things faster compared to women.
His strategy was indeed the correct one, as he could see that even the smile on the woman seemed to freeze slightly before she recovered. He had picked up this abnormality, and he acted as though he had not.
"Cheng Shan, you do not remember me?" She asked with a soft tone but this did not make him react at all, rather his face had a puzzled look. It was as though saying, "B#tch if I knew who you were why would I be asking this?"
Coughing in embarrassment she finally changed her way of talking, "I am the chief's daughter, Wan Mei"
"Oh!" He responded honestly, this time because really he was not interested in her parents. She seemed to have said that as though it should mean something. But she could not blame him for that reaction, after all, she was someone that has been to the big city and knew that the princess-like treatment she obtained in this rural area as a child due to being the child of the village head was not useful in the outside world.
"Miss Wan, is there a way that I can help you?" He also went straight to the point, because the two of them were not even close as children. Her looking for him was definitely not a good thing, that was his thought, especially considering he was not someone with resources to spread around. He had to think about his priorities.
It was also the main reason that he was very much on guard, but he did not show it on his face. He just wanted to have her leave, but it seemed that it was not going to happen seeing how she was tangled about something.
"I came home to visit my parents and they asked me to visit you, they are trying to set us up. I could not reject them up straight, so.." Listening to this he was even more sure about his thoughts. Thankfully it was just this, otherwise, it would have been some other issue if she wanted him to contribute to some fundraiser. How many of the colleagues at the workplace seemed to mention this issue? He even seemed to be somewhat thankful he did not come back due to that.