The Hero's Hour Will Ultimately Arrive

“Hello, Li, I’m from the ‘Hengqiang Charity Foundation’—”
“Alright, I’m in a good mood today, so I won’t argue with you people. For my mother’s sake, I’ll let it go this time, but don’t let it happen again.”
Li Jie brusquely interrupted the other’s friendly chatter, not bothering to waste words on anyone from the ‘Hengqiang Charity Foundation’. With his arm around Hu Wenjing, he walked off, mocking her as he went, “Tiger Mom, I heard you stuffed yourself with five boxed meals in business class? Nearly scared the flight attendant out of her wits?”
...
Thud!
Hu Wenjing raised her fist and delivered a “super invincible I love you” punch right to her precious son’s abs.
Li Jie, well-practiced, blocked the punch, grinning, “You’re decades old and still can’t resist these little perks.”
“Oh, darling, you know the business class snacks are free for us to take! Wenjing and I only took a tiny bit, and when we brought them back, everyone at ‘Little Red Star’ said they were great. Besides, business class tickets are so expensive, way more than second class, and if others didn’t want their meals and gave them to us, it’s not like we took too much...”
Auntie She Qingchun from Pingjiang adjusted her glasses and added, “Really, we only took a little.”
As for how much “a little” was, Li didn’t bother to question further.
The performance slots secured, all the costumes were ones Hu Wenjing and She Qingchun had brought from ‘Little Red Star’, props from Li Jie’s earlier charity shows. There were no mascot suits, but plenty of bizarre and flashy outfits.
As usual, Hu Wenjing played the dinosaur.
This time, she was the “Tyrannosaurus,” to be precise, the ‘Tyrannosaurus Eats the Baby Who Hates Baths’ episode from ‘Little Dinosaur’s Adventure’.
Unlike previous times when he played “Baby Warrior,” today Li Jie wore a mask, acting as the “Masked Calabash Hero.”
The children all knew it was pretend, but the fun was in seeing the “hero” defeat the “villain”—the sense of immersion was strong, because every child has dreamed of being a “hero,” or even a “great hero.”
Though the organizers were annoyed by Li Jie’s attitude, without him, ‘Hengqiang Real Estate’ would still be in chaos, scrambling to handle all sorts of corrections and compensation.
It could be said that Li Jie’s “sudden appearance” salvaged the livelihoods of many at ‘Hengqiang Real Estate’.
So what if Li Jie had a temper?
If anyone objected, they could just keep it to themselves.
“Calabash Hero, Calabash Hero, do you have eight-pack abs?”
“Wow, your arms are so big!”
“Calabash Hero, can you do a somersault?”
Li Jie had his arms around his two mothers, who were surrounded by a crowd of little kids bombarding him with questions.
When they reached the stage, Li Jie did a backflip and landed steadily, then sat on the edge, calling to the child who had asked earlier, “What do you think? Can I do a somersault or not?”
“Wow! A backflip!”
The children erupted in applause, gathering around to ask what other skills he had.
“Have you ever heard of the ‘Specium Beam’?!”
“What’s that? What is it?!”
“It’s a super move. Once you use it, you can defeat any enemy.”
Propping one leg up, Li Jie rested his arm on his knee and showed off the “negative Specium energy” building in his right hand (flexing his biceps). Seeing his thick, muscular arm, the children grew instantly excited.
I want that energy too!
And it wasn’t just the kids—even some of the fathers who brought their children were envious, wishing they could have those muscles themselves.
“Calabash Hero, Calabash Hero, can you show us the ‘Specium Beam’?”
“Not today. The energy can only be released when danger appears. Do you know why?”
“No…”
“Because when there’s danger, that’s a hero’s moment. Everyone has their own ‘heroic moment,’ though we don’t know when it will come. When it does, right here…”
Li Jie tapped his chest, “will tell you the answer. And here’s a secret—don’t tell anyone else, okay?”
“What secret?”
“Is it about the ‘heroic moment’?”
Now sitting cross-legged, Li Jie nodded sagely and lowered his voice conspiratorially, “Actually, every one of us has a ‘Specium Beam’ inside.”
“Oooohhh—”
“Really? Really? Really?”
As the children pressed him for answers, Li Jie suddenly tipped backward, did a handstand, then pressed up to stand firmly again on stage: “That’s a se~cret. So today, it stays secret!”
“Awwww—”
The children let out a collective groan of disappointment.
With hands on his hips, Li Jie suddenly laughed, “If you can keep this secret for three thousand six hundred and fifty days, I’ll come back and teach you how to unleash the ‘Specium Beam’ the right way. How about it?”
“Three thousand six hundred and fifty days?”
“Don’t worry about how long that is—just tell me, is it a deal?”
“Yes!”
“Very good! Now, let’s follow the footsteps of the ‘Masked Calabash Hero’ and defeat the evil ‘Tyrannosaurus’ together!”
Dressed in her dinosaur costume, Tiger Mom Hu Wenjing could feel countless eyes on her, but she was used to it; after all, she’d been playing the villain for decades.
She figured she’d still be at it even after retirement.
You ask why a welfare home nurse is here playing the villain again?
Well… it’s all rich experience.
Li Jie’s best moves had always been the “flying side kick” and the “flying high kick,” and after seven or eight years of working with Tiger Mom, their charity shows in Pingjiang were always met with rave reviews, beloved by children and elders alike in every welfare home.
But this time was different—he’d picked up over twenty new talents from the system, including physical control and movement, plus entry-level action choreography, so his kicks looked especially impressive.
He brushed past the “Tyrannosaurus” with a flying side kick—an electrifying moment for the audience.
Landing with a kip-up, he ended the show with a bow.
The children screamed with excitement, and before the flying side kick, when he “charged up to shatter the darkness with thunder,” the atmosphere reached its peak.
Even the fathers in the audience couldn’t help but get a little excited.
After the show, the children were reluctant to leave, crowding around Li Jie for photos and questions.
The child he’d rescued from the third floor, Jiang Jiang, sat on Li Jie’s lap, wanting his dad to take a nice photo.
“Calabash Hero, will you come again?”
“Hmm…”
Li Jie pondered for a moment. “I’ll perform a brand new move next time I visit. How about that?”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“Can we pinky swear?”
“I can even sign an autograph for you.”
“Really?! Will you sign for me?”
“Me too, me too…”
“I want the Calabash Hero’s autograph too…”
After practicing fancy signatures for over ten years, Li Jie finally had a chance to use them.
Yet in the end, he didn’t use any fancy signature, but wrote “Calabash Hero” in neat characters, drawing a cute little calabash with a tiny heart on it.
When it was time to leave, the children weren’t disappointed that the Calabash Hero drove an old secondhand car—after all, he was still gathering energy…
What does the Specium Beam look like, anyway?
That night, the dreams of those children were filled with countless calabashes, each brimming with energy.