RNP Chapter 9 A Pair of Rough Hands
Chapter 9 A Pair of Rough Hands
Su Muqiu, Su Mucheng, and Ye Xiu walked out of the Excellent Era Club and looked up to see the sign for Happy Internet Cafe across the street.
"Is that your Happy?" Su Muqiu asked.
"Yes," Su Mucheng replied, "Brother, let's go check out Happy."
"it is good."
Su Mucheng grabbed her brother's hand, quickly crossed the road, went around to the back door of Happy Internet Cafe, and went straight up to the second floor.
Tang Rou and the others were discussing Qiu Musu, who had suddenly appeared today.
"He was a true sharpshooter." Wei Chen flaunted his experience, recalling the past with a sigh.
"A sharpshooter, huh?" The Happy members thought of Qiu Musu's heroic battle against Han Wenqing today. But Wei Chen shook his head: "No, not just sharpshooters, but all gun types."
"All types of guns?"
"Sharpshooter, ammunition expert, mechanic, gunner," Wei Chen said.
"Another expert like this." Qiao Yifan exclaimed. Everyone could understand the word "another," since Ye Xiu, who was standing next to them, was the most overpowered all-around expert in the Glory world.
"And then what happened?" An Wenyi asked.
"Later, as Xiao Tang said, he died..." Wei Chen said.
"It was a car accident. I heard about it from Mu Mu during the Qingming Festival last year, but I don't know the specifics," Tang Rou said.
"This morning, Su Mucheng saw someone and then ran downstairs. In the afternoon, this Qiu Musu appeared. Could it be that Su Muqiu has returned?" Chen Guo's imagination ran wild.
"That can't be right. If someone is dead, how can they come back to life?" Before Wei Chen could finish speaking, Su Mucheng pushed open the door to the training room.
The discussion among the Happy members came to an abrupt halt.
"He's really come back to life!" Chen Guo's soprano voice immediately rang in everyone's ears. She had seen Su Muqiu's photo before; Su Mucheng always carried her brother's photo with her as a keepsake.
Su Mucheng's ears were being cruelly tortured by the soprano's voice, so she quickly covered Chen Guo's mouth to prevent the damage from spreading further.
A moment later, Chen Guo indicated that she was alright, and Su Mucheng finally let go of her hand, briefly recounting her brother's legendary experiences. The group of grown men from Happy were stunned, speechless for a long time.
Chen Guo, on the other hand, was bold and daring, and her emotions quickly stabilized.
"Then I'll arrange a restaurant to welcome your brother back." Chen Guo swiftly took out her phone and made two calls.
Soon, Chen Guo came in again and said, "Let's go, everyone. The private room has been reserved, and the car has been called."
……
The dinner was held at a very famous restaurant by West Lake. With the windows of the private room open, you could see the night view of West Lake in the distance.
Restaurants in this location are quite expensive, and Chen Guo usually can't afford to come here. She came from a poor background, and although she has some savings now, she still lives very frugally.
Since Su Muqiu had already drunk quite a bit at noon, he didn't drink any more tonight and went straight to the main course.
Professional players can't drink too much alcohol, and even an old man like Wei Chen has to restrain himself. If he drinks too much, his hands will shake and his mind will become unclear.
Su Muqiu ate quickly as usual, a habit he had developed over the years on the battlefield. While others were still eating with their heads down, Su Muqiu had already finished and was sipping tea while looking at the night view of West Lake.
After a while, everyone had finished eating and put down their bowls and chopsticks. Some drank tea, while others picked their teeth.
"Muqiu, have one." Ye Xiu skillfully took out a cigarette from his pocket, flicked his finger, and a cigarette floated right in front of Su Muqiu, exactly where he was.
Su Muqiu opened his mouth, caught the cigarette with great precision, lit it, and took a deep drag.
"How did you develop such a skill in flicking cigarette smoke? Your aim is incredibly accurate!" Su Muqiu asked.
Ye Xiu lit a cigarette for himself: "When Glory is busy and I want to smoke, taking out cigarettes one by one is a bit of a hassle, so flicking a cigarette is faster."
Everyone burst into laughter; this reason was too domineering.
"Your hands are so beautiful, they'd be perfect for playing the piano. Using them to flick cigarettes is such a waste."
Ye Xiu's hands looked thin, with long, slender fingers, delicate fingertips, clearly defined knuckles, and neatly manicured nails. They were clearly the hands of a peerless master.
"I can play the piano too," Ye Xiu corrected.
Tang Rou and Chen Guo couldn't help but chuckle as they recalled Ye Xiu's performance of "Wild Butterflies Flying" at the party a few months prior. Ye Xiu's claim of being able to play the piano simply meant he didn't press the wrong keys; there was absolutely no musical beauty to it.
"Axiu, look at my hands." Su Muqiu held out his hands. The skin on the back of his hands was as rough as sandpaper, and the marks left by large and small cracks resembled a dried-up riverbed.
The calluses on my hands are like armor forged by time, completely smoothing out the lines on my palms. They are waxy yellow and translucent, like a flattened piece of amber.
"These calluses are from when I first used the red-tasseled spear, and they've stayed with me ever since."
"Back then, we were poor and didn't have firearms, so we had to use red-tasseled spears."
"It's called a red-tasseled spear, but it's actually just a sharpened iron spearhead tied to a wooden stick to be used as a weapon."
"Later, I killed several invaders and captured a Type 38 rifle. That Type 38 rifle stayed with me for several years."
"Unfortunately, I was unable to bring back the red-tasseled spear and the Type 38 rifle when I returned."
"And those officer's swords I captured, I couldn't bring back either."
"..."
Su Muqiu slowly talked about his calluses. His voice was slow and old, carrying the weight of years, just like the calluses on his hands, slow and old.
Tang Rou pinched the calluses on Su Muqiu's hand with her fingernails, but couldn't pry them off at all, leaving only a faint white mark. Calluses have no nerves and can't feel pain; Tang Rou's pinch didn't elicit any response from Su Muqiu.
Tang Rou placed Su Muqiu's hand on the table, then placed her own hand on top of it. On one side were hands so rough they were almost unrecognizable, and on the other side were hands so exquisite they could be considered works of art.
Back then, it was these rough hands that once held a red-tasseled spear and a Type 38 rifle, fighting bravely on the battlefield of blood and fire.
Now, with these rough hands, on their first encounter with Glory, they were able to gain a slight advantage in a head-on clash with Han Wenqing, one of the Five Greats of the Ages.
Tang Rou was suddenly touched and didn't know how to express it, so she could only silently withdraw her hand.
Not only Tang Rou, but everyone present felt a pang of heartache upon seeing Su Muqiu's hands.
The conversation about hands ended abruptly, as no one knew how to continue the topic.
"When I traveled back in time, I couldn't bring the red-tasseled spear and the Type 38 rifle with me. I want to make another one as a memento."
"Um..." Su Mucheng hesitated for a moment, "Brother, it's no problem if you want to make a red-tasseled spear. It's easy to make one without a sharpening. Even if it's sharpened, it's not impossible."
"But if you want to build a Type 38 rifle, I'm afraid no one would dare to take the job..."
"If it's too difficult, then forget it." Su Muqiu didn't dwell on it. In modern society, acquiring a firearm would cause a lot of trouble.
"Mu Qiu, you can play a game in Glory," Ye Xiu suggested.
Su Muqiu's eyes lit up, and he immediately had a brilliant idea for a silver weapon.
Nine years ago, Su Muqiu crafted a large number of top-tier silver weapons, including the Thousand Chance Umbrella, the Evil-Repelling Sword, and the Sun-Swallowing Sword. In the field of crafting silver weapons, Su Muqiu is undoubtedly the best designer in the entire Glory community.
"I can't wait to build my own Type 38 rifle," Su Muqiu said.