Chapter Eleven: The Ode to Spring

  It wasn't easy, but after a whole day of hard work, at dusk, Yang Wenguang finally gained Zheng Shuzi's recognition and praise in front of Yang Ziting. He politely declined Yang Ziting's invitation to stay longer, saying he would come again the next day, and then headed towards the gate. Yang Ziting also didn't want to persuade him further, turning his head to look at Yang Wenguang who was still rubbing his arm with a bitter expression, feeling slightly comforted in his heart. But this was only the first day, who knew how many days this kid could persist?

  "Ah, government official!"

  Yang Ziting walked into Yang Wenguan's house, glanced around and saw the thick xuan paper on the table, covered with the character "yong". He picked one up casually and took a look, the strokes were quite skillful, although not exceptionally elegant, but still passable. He couldn't help but smile.

  A cut, such a word can make you laugh? If you pick up the last one to take a look, it will surely scare you to tears. Yun Qiuru thought.

  "Father!" Yang Wenguan responded with a single word, waiting for the old man's next command.

  "Mr. Zheng is a man of real learning, I had a hard time inviting him here, you must not drive him away like you did before."

  "I understand, Father, don't worry." He rubbed his numb arm hard, making a promise in his mouth.

  "What's with you always rubbing your arm?" Yang Ziting had been watching him for half a day, and this kid had been constantly rubbing his right arm.

  "Dad, I wrote 500 'yong' characters today. Now my arm feels numb and sore." Yang Wenguang explained with a bitter face, guessing that the number of words he wrote today was equivalent to the total number he had written since birth.

  Yun Qi saw this and suddenly came up with a plan. He had promised Yang Wenguan that he would teach him martial arts, but in the Yang household, where it was neither big nor small, teaching Yun Qi to practice martial arts would definitely not take long before someone found out. When that happened, he would be fired and lose face. Although this method might fail, trying it out wouldn't hurt, and even if the old man disagreed, he could think of another way. Thinking of this, he took a step forward, bowed to Yang Ziting, and said: "Sir, today the young master is very diligent, and I am full of admiration for him. Although I am just the young master's book boy, helping the young master grind ink and arrange papers, my heart is truly for the young master's good. Seeing that the young master's arm is sore and numb, I remembered a set of exercises that my father taught me when I was young, which can relax muscles and tendons, strengthen the body, and benefit the young master's future studies."

  Yang Wenguan listened and, relying on his cleverness, couldn't help but know what Yun Qi was thinking. He hurriedly cooperated, saying: "Yun Qi, are you telling the truth? That set of exercises you mentioned, can it really help Young Master me study hard in the future?" He deliberately emphasized the words "study hard" and repeatedly glanced at Old Man Yang with the corner of his eye to see how he would react.

  "Master, this set of exercises is something everyone in my hometown can do. Although it's not comparable to martial arts, it can strengthen one's body and is most suitable for someone like Master who easily gets tired." Yun Qi replied respectfully, tactfully referring to Master as frail and often ill.

  "What? I've never heard of this 'gymnastics' before?" Yang Ziting felt a sense of unease in his heart. Although he didn't particularly dislike those who practiced martial arts, one of his sons had already followed that path, and for this younger son, he hoped he would follow the scholarly path instead. That way, the Yang family would have both literary and martial talents in the future. If what Yun Qi said was true - that gymnastics wasn't a form of martial arts but rather an exercise to strengthen one's body - then it wouldn't be unacceptable.

  "Tell the master, this exercise is only popular in our small hometown, and even I have never seen anyone practice it here."

  "Then I ask you, does this gymnastics include fierce and powerful killing techniques?"

  "No!"

  "Can I have a wild chase?"

  "No!"

  "May I have..."

  "No!"

  "You haven't even let me finish speaking, how can you say there's nothing? Do you know what I was going to say?" Yang Ziting asked with some dissatisfaction.

  "Hehe, I know that Master opposes Young Master's martial arts practice. This set of exercises is only for strengthening the body and has nothing to do with martial arts. Since Master asked about martial arts, I explained it this way." Yun Qi's explanation was neither arrogant nor humble, seemingly confident in his own mind.

  "Then go to the courtyard and demonstrate it for me to see." Yang Ziting had to see it with his own eyes before he could believe it, so he asked Yun Qi to do it again in front of him.

  "Yes! Sir!"

  After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked into the courtyard, slightly turning his head to give Yang Wenguang a "just you wait and see" look with his eyes.

  Arriving at the courtyard, Yun Qi made Yang Ziting and Yang Wenguan stand to one side. He stood in the middle of the empty courtyard, took a deep breath, slowly spread his feet shoulder-width apart, slightly bent his knees, relaxed his shoulders and elbows, and grasped his hands into a phoenix-eye shape parallel to his chest.

  Alright! Just now you said this isn't martial arts, but the movement clearly looks like a starting stance for martial arts. The old man was about to stop him, but his eyes were fixed on Yun Qi's next move and he froze, forgetting to intervene.

  Only after Yun Qi had assumed the stance, with his knees bent inward and his feet also turned inward, forming an "inner eight" shape. What kind of posture was this? Not to mention that Yang Wenguang had never seen it before, even Yang Ziting, who prided himself on being knowledgeable, hadn't seen it either. He thought to himself: Could this be what they call gymnastics? But this pose is just too...too...too strange. Looking at him like this, no matter how he looked at it, he felt that this pose was just like a woman's.

  Lian Yang Wenguan also felt this way. Could it be that Yun Qi wanted to teach him exactly this? The two didn't say much more, and could only continue watching.

  It's said that Wing Chun was originally created by women, practiced by women and passed down by women, but none of this matters. Look at Yuen Kay Shan slowly extending his right hand, forming a fist and then sending it forward along the centerline of his body, with his palm facing his heart, and then slowly retracting it after striking. He changes to a different palm orientation, with his palm facing left and fingers pointing upwards, and strikes again in the same slow manner, this is called "zhěn shǒu" (枕手). Next, he uses the same speed to strike out several basic Wing Chun hand movements: "tān shǒu" (摊手), "bèi shǒu" (膀手), "rì zì chōng quán" (日字冲拳), and "zhēng zhǎng" (正掌). After finishing with his right hand, he switches to his left.

  Yang Ziting believed it, and after watching for half a day, he felt that Yun Qi was exercising his wrist and arm, and the movement was so slow that it didn't look like the martial arts he had seen before, which were mostly fierce and powerful killing moves.

  Young Master Yang Wenguang was disappointed and thought to himself: "No way, is this really the martial arts that Yun Qi said he would teach me? This...this doesn't look like martial arts at all, it looks like something an old lady would do. Suddenly, he lost interest in learning."

  After repeating the seven movements several times, he made a gesture of conclusion and stopped. He turned his head to ask Yang Ziting: "Sir, how is this set of exercises? Is it like those martial arts you imagined?"

  "Ah! Not bad, I've seen you fight and I think relaxing your arm like that does have some effect."

  Seeing Yang Ziting no longer suspicious, Yun Qi let out a sigh of relief and thought to himself: Fortunately, the few basic hand styles I used are from Wing Chun. If you had seen the later moves like "zhua shou" (grabbing hands), "liang shou" (swinging hands), "po pai shou" (breaking and spreading hands), "chen qiao" (sinking bridge) and "zhan da shan da" (sticking and hitting), even if I slowed down, you would have still discovered it.

  After seeing off Old Master, Yang Wenguan hastily asked: "Yun Qi, don't tell me that what you want to teach me is just these?"

  "Of course!"

  "I won't learn! These aren't even martial arts! If I learned these, who knows how people will laugh at me in the future."

  When Yang Wenguang lost interest in learning, Yun Qi didn't say much and walked to the pomegranate tree. He still used the same stance as before, but this time it wasn't a slow series of moves, but rather a set of smooth and flowing Chunquan fist techniques that combined upper, middle, and lower routes. His hands and feet moved in perfect coordination, and wherever his fists and feet passed, leaves flew wildly and pieces of bark were knocked off the tree. This completely stunned Yang Wenguang, who was already staring in amazement.

  Waiting until Yun Qi finished his set, Yang Wenguan took a step forward and grabbed Yun Qi's hands, turning them over to examine them. Seeing that they were unharmed, he then touched the tree trunk which was already riddled with holes and excitedly said: "Master! The move you just used is the one with extremely slow movements from before?"

  "Of course, what I just did was only basic skills. If you want to do the same, you'll have to practice your basics well too." Yun Qi's eyes were level and didn't look at him, but in his heart, he couldn't help feeling a little proud of himself.

  "Then, Master, what is this set of martial arts called?" Yang Wenguang asked eagerly.

  At this time, Yang Wenguang's eyes were shining brightly like a wolf. Yun Qi couldn't help but feel a chill and stretched out his hand to push away the claws that were grasping him. He turned around with his back facing Yang Wenguang, put his hands behind his back, and assumed an air of detachment, saying: "This set of kung fu is called Wing Chun in our hometown!"

  …………………

  Everyone, today was very busy at work and I only just got back home. Here's the first update for now, then I'll go out to take care of some things. The second update will be sent before 12 o'clock. If everyone has a red ticket and thinks my writing is not bad, please send it over!