The Fourth Chapter

CHAPTER 4

YOU STILL WOULDN’T LEARN…

The Restaurant enjoyed a peaceful week since the incident at the office building. By now the waiters had less spare time during business hours and found themselves having to wake up early in the morning to train under Ling Hua’s strict tutelage. Wen Hsiu trained on his own in the mornings, and at night. The waiters enjoyed watching him perform his patterns and did their best to imitate him.
Like all waiters in the Restaurant Wen Hsiu had one day off. He used that opportunity to walk around the city and to marvel at all the contrivances that he had never encountered at home.
It was after a night of vigorous training that Wen Hsiu was kneeling next to a zinc basin filled with water. He quietly cleaned himself with soap and a washcloth as he chatted with his mother sitting on the other side of a make-shift curtain.

"We’ll have to leave soon." Ling Hua said.
"Great." Wen Hsiu sighed. "I am getting worried about Father having to take care of the farm by himself."

"Don’t you like it here?" Ling Hua asked. She knew of many young men that went to seek their fortune abroad who never wished to return to their home country.
"The rooftop is too small to practice kongfu…" Wen Hsiu muttered.
"You won’t meet many people if you stayed on the farm." Ling Hua said quietly, waiting to see if her son grasped what she was getting at.
"We have good people at home." Wen Hsiu replied, oblivious to his mother’s hint.
"The people round here look a lot like you…" Ling Hua probed. "Do they not interest you?"
"Aiya!" Wen Hsiu sighed. "The people here are so much different from us. They want to possess so many things. Money is even more important than other people to them. How did they ever become this crazy?"

Ling Hua sighed.

" After the Way was lost, the Power came. After the Power was lost, then came human kindness. After human kindness was lost, morality came. When morality was lost, ritual came…"
"I understand…" Wen Hsiu said, grasping his mother’s message. He had now finished drying himself and was wearing loose black cotton trousers. He lazily made his way to his futon in the corner of the room to lie down. When he passed the window a sudden sense of shock took hold of him…
His body spun in a sharp reflex movement as the windowpane shattered, scattering shards of glass across the floor. Wen Hsiu heard the loud crack of the concrete wall on his right as it got struck by a very small, but solid object travelling at lightning speed. His eyes were already on the window when he came to a stand-still. Poised, he scanned as much of the area beyond the window that was visible to him. Whoever fired the projectile, even if he was out of sight, was probably waiting to take a second shot…

Wen Hsiu lept to his futon in one fluid movement and picked up a small knife that he had kept close at hand for when he felt like enjoying the odd orange or apple for breakfast.
He looked at his mother. She too, seemed alert. She jerked her head into the direction of the staircase that led to the rooftop. Wen Hsiu nodded and, avoiding the line of fire from the window, headed for the stairs…

The moonlit rooftop gave Wen Hsiu a good view of the city. As an added bonus, the door from which he emerged was facing the direction from which the shot came. If the shooter was holding his position, Wen Hsiu’s silhouette would be obscured from view by the doorframe. As Wen Hsiu carefully approached the edge of the roof he scanned the tall building on the opposite side for signs of a sniper lurking on the roof or behind any of the windows…

A couple of minutes later he was certain that the roof was clear. Wen Hsiu’s eyes went to the windows. The building, part of which was a block of apartments had a large number of closed windows that were closed with lights on. Wen Hsiu immediately ruled these windows out. He looked at all the open windows and eliminated those with the lights on.

Wen Hsiu’s simple process of elimination now left him with four windows that were open and dark. The windows were all in about the same area from which the shot could have come.
The sniper was patiently waiting. Sooner or later, he reckoned, the Kung Fu guy was going to be stupid enough to pass the window. He could not believe that he had actually missed that first shot…
Still, he was certain that he was able to remain hidden until he could get another shot. His instructions were clear- he was to make sure that the Kung Fu guy was gone for good.

Suddenly there was movement in the room of his targets. The curtains were closing. Whoever drew the curtains shut was doing a good job of staying out of sight. Still- the lights were kept on…
It was not long until the sniper could make out a silhouette behind the curtains through his telescope.

 He took the shot.

This time he had hit his target for certain…
It was so silly, he thought to himself. What did he try to accomplish by closing up the curtains?
Wen Hsiu saw the flash from one of the windows as the shot went off. Fearing that his mother might be hit he began to panic. Then his ears picked up another sound-
"What are you waiting for? Go get him!"

Wen Hsiu could immediately tell that his mother was alright and took a couple of steps back before rushing to the edge of the roof. His sprint to the edge ended in a tremendous leap that sent him flying across the street.

As soon as he crashed through the window he was on top of a black leather clad man wearing a balaclava. He had immediately dropped his hunting rifle in shock as he got topple over and lost consciousness after the sharp pain from being punched in the face was immediately followed by the sting from his head being slammed into the floor.

Ling Hua smiled. That boy was amazing. She knew that if she could use the pillow to draw another shot, Wen Hsiu would be able to locate the sniper and surprise him. He really did not have to show off like this, though, she thought to herself and laughed quietly.
"What happened? Are you okay?"

Mr and Mrs Lu, accompanied by Dennis and A Kun were at the door.
Ling Hua opened.

"We are fine, thank you." She replied. "I’m more worried about that Gwai Lo… He is not going to be that well…"
When Geldenhuys got to his office the next morning, he was greeted by the sight of a lifeless black leather-clad figure on his desk. He was about to grab his cellphone and call his bodyguards when Wen Hsiu took hold of his arm and threw him to the ground in a fluid spinning motion. Wen Hsiu closed the office door before he returned to Geldenhuys, who was busy getting up.
A kick in the face sent Geldenhuys rolling across the floor. He kept still now, warily eyeing the monster in front of him. Wen Hsiu kept quiet. He did not move a muscle, but seemed poised to strike at any second.

Wen Hsiu looked at the man who was now transfixed on all-fours.
"You still would not learn…" Wen Hsiu said. He was amazed at how well the English sentence had come out.

Herman laughed. Part of it sounded nervous- another part stupified.
"What are these Chinks to you?!" he blurted out his question, almost mocking Wen Hsiu in the face of his own imminent death.
"They are people, no less than you." Wen Hsiu replied.

"I bet I can pay you more than they ever will if you worked for me" Herman began suggesting as he got up.

Wen Hsiu’s attention seemed more focussed on the fact that Geldenhuys was on his feet again rather than the offer that he was trying to make. Geldenhuys realised as much when Wen Hsiu’s side kick struck his abdomen -knocking the wind from him- and he collapsed.

When Geldehuys eventually did raise his head he saw that the Sniper had come to. He was now standing quietly in front of him.

"What do you want?" Geldenhuys snapped.
The Sniper took a while before he spoke.
"Ever heard the saying- ‘do unto others as they do unto you’?"
Geldenhuys gave him a look that said that he had better start making sense within the next second unless he wanted to be knocked unconscious again.
"What?!" he spat, holding his hand on his aching belly.
The Sniper explained: "I know this guy- Definitely one of the deadliest people walking the earth. He is a master of Karate. Only problem is- he is not easily persuaded to fight."
"Why does he study karate, then?" Geldehuys asked.
Geldenhuys shook his head. He did not want to spend too much money on this project, but now it went beyond profit. He wanted revenge at any cost.
"Tell your friend-" he said as he began visualising the Kung Fu guy being brutally beaten.
"R 150 000,00 is his if he can break this guy."