C5 Nine Needles of Heaven Opening

The two of them entered the Laosan Noodle Shop together.

"Lil Nan, Xinyue! You're here," Liu Laosan greeted them with a smile.

"Hello, uncle. We'll have the usual," Lin Nan said as he smiled at him.

"Alright. I'll serve the food soon," the owner replied as he waved at them.

A few minutes after they sat down, Liu Laosan brought two bowls of steaming beef noodles and placed them in front of Lin Nan and Chung Xinyue.

Their bowls were filled to the brim, almost like a small mountain of food, while the other customers only had two or three pieces of beef in their bowls.

When the other customers saw their food serving, they started to complain.

"Third Brother, that is unfair. How come there is so much beef in their bowls while we don't have much?" a customer asked.

"That's right. We have so little in our bowls," another added.

"It's not fair. I strongly ask the boss to add more meat."

Chung Xinyue turned red as she lowered her head. She felt a little uncomfortable and timidly shrank down to her seat.

Lin Nan smiled but did not say anything.

The white-haired owner widened his eyes and scolded, "You guys talk too much! Who cares if I give too much meat to whom? Do I need your permission?"

The people quieted down. Liu Laosan winked at Chung Xinyue and told her, "Xinyue, don't listen to these people's nonsense. Hurry up and eat, or the noodles will get mushy."

"Thank you, Third Uncle." Chung Xinyue nodded gratefully.

Her heart felt warm because Liu Laosan had always taken care of her.

"If you can get into a good university, then my face will also be glowing. In the future, I can brag to others that the top scorer of the college entrance examination is eating noodles in my noodle shop. "My noodle shop will definitely become famous." Liu Laosan's face was full of smiles.

"That's not a bad idea, third uncle," Lin Nan said and gave him a thumbs up.

"I know, right? I call it early investment."

Liu Laosan glanced at the customers present around him.

They responded with a smile but didn't take him seriously.

"Alright. You guys eat. I'll go and watch the beef." Liu Laosan threw the towel he wiped his hands with and went back to work.

"The usual rule?" Chung Xinyue asked Lin Nan lively.

"Yes, the usual rule!" Lin Nan nodded.

Chung Xinyue chuckled and used her chopsticks to pick up the vanilla leaves from her bowl and transferred them in his.

"I find it strange that you let the third uncle put coriander in your food when you obviously don't eat them. Why don't you ask him not to put the coriander in?" he asked.

"Well, he has already taken care of me so much. So I don't want to give him any trouble," she whispered as she continued to transfer them carefully in his bowl.

Lin Nan smiled bitterly and shook his head.

The girl in front of him was too kind-hearted that it could melt someone's cold heart.

The two of them started eating. It was the only time they could relax and enjoy each other's company.

The chewy noodles mixed with spicy oil, and the soft, aromatic braised beef were delicious.

Lin Nan felt carefree as he gulped down the spicy beef soup.

The bowl of beef noodles completely dispersed the cold weather of the early spring.

"Are you satisfied with the food?" Lin Nan asked Chung Xinyue, who was carefully wiping her cherry lips with a tissue.

"Well, if there is another bowl of wontons from Mrs. Wang's house, it will be just right," Chung Xinyue replied with a grin.

He chuckled and said, "You are really a foodie."

"I am growing," Chung Xinyue reckoned and proudly stuck out her upper body.

Lin Nan gazed at her physique.

Chung Xinyue was quite tall, and her figure wasn't bad either. He couldn't deny the fact that her breasts were growing and that her school uniform failed to cover them.

'What am I thinking about?' Lin Nan scolded himself as he felt a pang of sudden guilt.

He later paid the bill and took her to Auntie Wang's Wonton Shop at the southern end of the street.

There, she ate a big bowl of wonton soup to her heart's content.

"Are you full?" Lin Nan asked.

"Yes, I am." Chung Xinyue nodded in satisfaction.

Saturdays were her favorite days since she could spend time with him.

His appearance as a new big brother gave color to her once dull life.

"Since you're full, you can go back and revise. It's almost time for the college entrance exam. You mustn't let your guard down," Lin Nan advised as he smiled at her.

"Yes, Teacher Lin!" Chung Xinyue smiled cheerfully.

The two of them chattered on their way out.

They continued to chat until they arrived at the place they rented.

"Brother Nan, I'll go in and do the test papers first," Chung Xinyue told him.

"Okay. Yu can go." He nodded.

He watched her disappear into the house and then went to his room on the far east side.

He carefully closed the door behind him and locked it.

His face turned serious once he was inside.

He carefully fumbled on the ground and heaved a sigh of relief when he confirmed that the copper wire as thin as a strand of hair was still there.

It seemed that no one invaded his room.

He let his guard down and turned on the lights.

He stared at the interior of the room, which was not big, to begin with.

There was a table with two chairs, a cabinet, and a bed.

The only electrical appliance in the room was an old-fashioned radio.

Lin Nan walked towards the cabinet. He moved it aside, revealing the tiled floors underneath.

It looked ordinary, but up close, the floor tiles under the cabinet were quite deep, much deeper than the rest of the floor tiles.

Then Lin Nan lifted the mattress on the bed and took something out from under it.

It was an old tri edged military knife.

It looked like it had been there for a long time. The handle was worn out, and the dragon pattern around it was too vague to notice.

The edges gleamed, and faint light reflected in its blood groove.

Lin Nan lightly touched the knife like it was an old friend. He began to remember the times when he was still fighting and killing enemies. Even the bloody battlefield began to pour into his mind.

He could feel it calling for him as his body tingled in excitement.

Lin Nan drew a deep breath to shake away the feeling. Then he used the knife to pry open the hidden compartment within the tiles.

He reached in and took out a small wooden box engraved with strange patterns.

His expression turned serious again when he saw the small wooden box.

He opened it. There was a photo inside.

It was a group picture of nine men in combat uniform, with eight of them had oil paint stains on their faces. They surrounded Lin Nan, and everyone was smiling sweetly.

They were the members of the Hidden Dragon Squad, and it was the only picture they had.

"Don't worry. I will definitely avenge all of you!"

Lin Nan clenched his fists hard as tears filled his eyes.

It was a tough thorn stuck in his heart. If he couldn't get rid of it, he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of his life.

He cleaned up his emotions and carefully put down the photo.

Beneath the box was an ancient book.

The book was not bound with traditional paper, but a special kind similar to animal skin.

The special paper protected the book from insects. Although, the papers were slightly yellow due to how many years the book existed.

Strange characters and symbols covered the ancient book.

And in the middle were four big words,

'Open Heaven, Nine Needles'.