Chapter 23: Lunch Together

It was clear that Griffin had considerable prestige in this gym; as soon as he finished speaking, several people pulled out $100 to join in, and some even wanted to pay with a credit card.

Even the chubby Jewish girl from before took out a handful of change to make up the hundred dollars.

"Can I record your challenge with my phone?"

Griffin pulled out his phone and asked Li Ang for permission.

Li Ang nodded, not wanting to waste any more of his workout time.

He took a deep breath and hoisted the barbell onto his shoulders. This time, the pain felt even more intense.

The bearded uncle hurriedly reached out his hands and gently placed them under the barbell.

The next second, Li Ang squatted down. As he pondered whether or not to put some strength into his hands, the barbell went up again.

Wanting to end his suffering quickly, Li Ang rushed to complete the entire movement. In fact, he felt the weight was not yet at his limit, but he had no plans to increase the weight further.

If he did it a couple more times, he doubted whether his shoulders might end up with blisters.

"This is insane, are you sure you're not just messing with us?"

Some onlookers showed an expression of utter astonishment.

"I have to say, bro, you've achieved what took me five years of training."

Others were quite moved.

The one most dumbfounded was the blond guy who had wanted to pay with a card; he was only halfway through entering his pin when Li Ang had already finished his squat.

"I mean, I think I forgot the pin, and maybe this card is maxed out."

He quickly pulled out the card he had just inserted into the POS machine, saying somewhat awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if it's his first time squatting today, but I'm certain he rarely does this exercise."

The bearded uncle Blair explained on behalf of Li Ang.

"I just noticed that the place on his shoulders where the barbell touched has turned red; that's a newbie mark."

Reluctantly, but still being people with money and leisure to work out at the gym, they could afford to pay up.

Only the plump Jewish girl's originally pale face now looked even more bloodless.

Li Ang wondered if she would attempt to welsh on the bet if he hadn't collected the money upfront.

Holding the $1800 in cash that Griffin had handed him, Li Ang could hardly believe it.

"Did I come here to exercise, or to make money? You've got to love America."

"You're even better than I imagined."

Griffin wore a joyful expression, patted Li Ang's back, and didn't seem upset at all despite having just lost a thousand dollars.

After Li Ang finished his squat, everyone else went back to their own business.

On the other hand, the curvy Jewish girl sneaked up to Li Ang, squeezing a smile onto her face as she made him an offer.

"Maybe you could take me to the Blue Thinking Restaurant for lunch?"

Li Ang couldn't be bothered with her. The Blue Thinking Restaurant was the same one where Eric had treated him last time, a place he could barely afford himself, let alone treat her. Considering her size, she would probably eat no less than him.

Just moment ago, she had that look on her face, and now she had the gall to come up and beg for a meal.

"Perhaps I'd rather invite this gentleman to dine."

Li Ang turned to Blair, who had assisted him earlier, and said.

"I'd be delighted,"

Blair was quite cooperative and even gave Li Ang a high five.

Clearly, he also had some disdain for those women who spent more time taking photos than working out in the gym.

The curvaceous Jewish girl, her face beet red and shiny with oil, might seem disrespectful to describe like this, but to be blunt, she really resembled a braised pig's head from the deli.

"Eat shit, you can't possibly think I really wanted to have lunch with you? People like you should go to hell!"

After tossing out this harsh remark, possibly fearing a beating, the plump girl quickly left the gym without looking back.

Li Ang pointed in her direction, turned to the bearded uncle, and flashed a Donnie Yen signature smile.

Both of them shook their heads helplessly, then continued with their workout.

Perhaps because his Constitution now far exceeded his Strength, Li Ang felt his training in the past two-plus hours was incredibly effective.

After a high-intensity workout, when Li Ang picked up the 10kg dumbbell to do biceps curls again, it felt even lighter than at the start.

His "Strength" had increased by a full 0.15, reaching a value of 8.60.

Taken by itself, this number might not seem very impressive, but before this, when he was exercising with his body weight, the gain for an hour of workout was only around 0.04 to 0.05.

Moreover, he had spent a significant amount of time today testing the maximum weight he could handle, so next time, when he maxes out the training volume, the results could be even better.

Sure enough, there's truth to the saying that if you want to get stronger, you need to lift heavy weights.

Seeing that it was mealtime, Li Ang stood up and went over to the bearded uncle to ask if he would like to have lunch together.

"I'd be delighted. In fact, I thought you were just trying to piss her off when you mentioned it earlier,"

Blair responded with a tone of surprise, laughing heartily.

"May I join you guys as well?"

It was Griffin who spoke.

Li Ang naturally didn't refuse; he also wanted to know the motive behind this rich guy's actions.

The three didn't choose any fancy restaurant but instead, Blair introduced Li Ang to a Chinese restaurant.

Following that, Li Ang had his first-ever experience with not just any Chinese dish but the highly praised General Tso's Chicken.

It goes without saying, the taste was quite good, and the localized flavor was done exceptionally well.

During the meal, they chatted on and off, of course, mainly it was Blair talking while the other two listened.

A middle-aged man always has a wealth of glorious past to narrate to others.

It was then that Li Ang learned that this uncle was actually an arm wrestling expert, considered among the top tier of amateur players.

The culture of arm wrestling in this gym was originally fostered by him, and one could say Griffin was halfway his apprentice.

When they found out Li Ang was also interested in this sport, they were even more excited to share with him a wealth of knowledge and experience about arm wrestling.

"You don't need to put too much pressure on yourself. As far as I know, arm wrestling is a sport that you can get better at quite quickly. With just a few months of specialized training, you can definitely take on much bulkier guys who haven't trained..."

Watching Blair treat Li Ang as if he were a common man who'd never engaged in sports before, Griffin couldn't help but interject:

"Dear Blair, don't underestimate our Li. Do you know why his squats are so outstanding even though he's untrained?"

The bearded uncle Blair was somewhat puzzled, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Just the other day, my son took the runner-up spot in our city's youth cycling race."

Griffin said with pride, the triumph practically radiating off his face.