Chapter 027: The Renowned Constable and the Hero

“The wind blows down the last leaf, and my heart drifts with snow. Love can only pile up in memories, oh, for the next season.”
In the small room on the second floor, Zhang Tan fiddled with his newly bought guitar, singing with deep emotion as he strummed.
“Suddenly buds appear on the treetops—how could I not feel it at all, oh…”
The song was beautiful, and his singing was on key, but his guitar playing was rather outrageous, with no sense of rhythm or structure. Zhang Tan had just gotten his hands on the new guitar and was merely putting on a show. He had watched a segment of “Guitar Mastery Secrets,” but hadn’t yet put any of it into practice.
“Slowly, I traverse from memories.”
“In this lonely season.”
With a final note, “Lonely Season” came to an end.
“Ahem, performance over, time to write.”
He switched on the light in the small room and continued working on the second part of “The Four Constables Quake the North”—“On the Run.”
Writing, singing, attending school—this peaceful routine gradually soothed the uncertainties brought by his rebirth. He was now able to immerse himself fully in this new world. A butterfly’s flutter may set off a tornado a thousand miles away, but a butterfly remains a butterfly, still dancing gracefully where it is.
On the afternoon of September 21st, the soccer captains from the seven first-year classes and six second-year classes gathered to draw lots for the competition.
The soccer tournament at Shuangdun Middle School was a straightforward affair—no “nth annual” or “So-and-so Cup.” It was a single-elimination format, no subdivisions into A, B, C, or D groups—just two sets of numbers from one to six, and teams with matching numbers would face each other.
The first round featured thirteen teams. After head-to-head matches, there would be six winners, six losers, and one team with a bye. The six losing teams would play again, and one team would be “revived.”
In this way, the six winners, one revived team, and the team with a bye made up eight teams for the next single-elimination round, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final.
Zhang Tan’s luck was neither good nor bad—he didn’t draw a first-year class but was matched with Second Year, Class Three. That class, being a liberal arts section, had few boys and presumably wasn’t very strong.
“You guys got lucky. Second Year, Class Three has only fifteen boys—they almost couldn’t form a team,” Xu Weidong said, glancing at his own opponent and sighing. “We’re the unlucky ones—Second Year, Class Two, a science class, has four school team members. We probably won’t win.”
Zhang Tan consoled him. “Even if you lose, there’s still the revival match. Your class is strong—you should make it through. Besides, you get to play more matches for practice.”

Xu Weidong was still worried. “I’m just afraid we’ll choke and fold right away.”
Just then, the captain from Second Year, Class Two, came over, slinging an arm around Xu Weidong. “Don’t lose heart. Even if your class loses, you can still make the school team. You and Zhang Tan—both of you are quite good. Mr. Zhao is considering picking you.”
Mr. Zhao was Zhao Quan, the PE teacher and coach of the school soccer team.
As for joining the school team, Zhang Tan was indifferent. The main benefit was a county-level high school soccer tournament, held at Changfeng County No. 1 and No. 2 High Schools and Chengguan Middle School. Winning meant qualifying for the city tournament. Beyond that, whether there was a provincial or even national high school competition, Zhang Tan didn’t know.
In any case, he had no hopes of the school team winning county championships.
He used to think good students lacked athleticism and good athletes had poor grades. Oddly enough, underachievers weren’t necessarily athletic; on the contrary, many excellent athletes were also top students. Changfeng No. 1 High was proof—their sports students were the best in the county, and their soccer team was the strongest.
Perhaps it had to do with school facilities—Shuangdun Middle School’s field was just bare earth, riddled with potholes, turning into a fish pond on rainy days.
Like today—the sky turned suddenly gray in the evening, and as night classes ended, rain began to fall.
“Damn, that means at least a few days without practice.”
Watching the rain patter against the window, Zhang Tan sighed. The tournament was about to begin, but his class team’s training hadn’t shown much effect; only two or three players knew how to play, the rest were all novices.
“The road to the championship will be a hard one!”
…
Editorial Office of “Legends of the Present and Past—Martial Arts Edition.”
“Boss, I’ve picked up all the submission letters; Zhang Tan’s is in here too. I brought it straight to you,” Li Qiuyu said, grinning obsequiously, though his flattery was still a bit raw.
“Oh, Zhang Tan’s letter—the Four Constables, right? Hand it over,” Wang Conglun quickly took the submission, immediately picking out Zhang Tan’s envelope.
Upon receiving notification from the editor, Zhang Tan had sent his work directly to the “Martial Arts Edition” editorial office.
He opened the envelope—inside, as always, was a neat page of beautiful penmanship.

The letter picked up where the previous one left off, describing how Coldblood, with meticulous thought, extraordinary courage, and unparalleled spirit, turned the tables on thirteen fiends and reclaimed the disaster relief supplies. The quality was on par with the previous ten-page submission.
After reading, Wang Conglun uttered “Good!” three times, then passed the manuscript on for the editors to review together. “Go over this carefully and see if it’s fit for the trial issue.”
The founding of “Legends of the Present and Past—Martial Arts Edition” required collective input from the editors, not just his decision alone.
The trial issue had already selected three pieces: Xiao Duan’s “Heroes in Troubled Times,” Yang Pan’s “Plum Shadows Bury Fragrance,” and Zhang Feifan’s “Three Blades for the Soul.”
Now, if “The Four Constables Quake the North: Part One—The Pursuit” was to be published, one of the previous three would have to be replaced.
“The Four Constables is excellent, top-notch quality, definitely worthy of the trial issue. But Xiao Duan’s and Yang Pan’s works are also good—I’d hate to replace any of them,” Hu Ruji shook his head.
Du Gu Woran nodded. “I think we should choose between The Four Constables and ‘Heroes in Troubled Times.’ Both are serials, and as a periodical, our trial issue should test the readers’ tastes. Having two serials is a bit much.”
“So which one should we drop?”
“It’s hard to say. The Four Constables has momentum, a plain yet powerful martial arts style, and seems to have a grand structure, but it’s hard to guarantee the following chapters will keep up. ‘Heroes in Troubled Times’ has a distant and subtle mood, but feels a bit stiff, especially the dialogue—it’s not as smooth as The Four Constables.”
“Now that you mention it, I feel the same way. Honestly, Xiao Duan should have more experience than Zhang Tan—he’s twenty or thirty—but the dialogue in his work is worse than what this high school student wrote.”
“In terms of appeal, The Four Constables is more interesting, even just by the title. Unless it was written by a master like Wolong Sheng or Zhuge Qingyun, ‘Heroes in Troubled Times’ always feels hollow. ‘The Four Constables Quake the North’ is much more intriguing—straightforward, just the kind of title a newcomer should use.”
As the editors discussed, Wang Conglun listened, gradually making up his mind. “You all make good points. These two novels, regardless of the author’s age, are both debuts. Compared to the greats from Hong Kong and Taiwan, there’s still a gap. But in terms of potential, I also appreciate Zhang Tan—his writing is plain and unadorned, reminiscent of the ‘great skill seems clumsy’ style. Let’s do this: the trial issue will feature The Four Constables, and if it gets a good response, we’ll expand in the first official issue and include Xiao Duan’s work as well.”
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Special thanks to “Heavenly Master Fan Yi,” “Ah, Go to Hell,” “Red Devil Shadow,” Evil~→u Demon, One Third Fast, Little Fatty in Chaos, z~Online, Abandoned Ashes, Yu Cheng Shu, 2o16, Light Rain Arrives, Greater China Federation, and Old Demon of Green Hill for their rewards!
Please recommend and favorite!