Chapter 3: Initial Success in Kung Fu

  Swallow Fist Cultivation Decision

  The Shaolin martial art is transmitted through this gate, with stances listed first among the various arts. Stance training is practiced daily, with fist techniques and footwork taking precedence. Rising and falling, advancing and retreating, hand and foot movements, body methods, and eye techniques are all complete. Hooking, piercing, inserting, lifting, and wiping hands, empty and solid, advancing and retreating, body methods are displayed. After opening the stance, practice the fist, practicing the fist must adhere to the four strict doors; closing the mouth, breathing, and long-term practice, spear, sword, stick, and fist are the source. Practicing alone is deep, practicing with a partner is practical combat; scattered hand training cannot be neglected, receiving and advancing moves are chosen by oneself. A thousand moves practiced, one move refined, skill and bravery cannot be relaxed; the depth of kung fu lies in bitter practice, the wonder of martial arts lies in deep practice.

  "Yan Qing Quan" is one of the killing hand techniques. This boxing combines hardness and softness, internal and external cultivation, with large opening and closing movements, having a momentum that can overturn mountains and seas, hiding killing intent, specializing in striking the vital parts of the human body, often able to defeat the enemy with just one move or half a movement, in order to prevent this technique from falling into the wrong hands, this boxing method has always been secretly transmitted only to disciples within the school who have high moral character and are of the orthodox sect.

  In the past, village cultural activities were scarce and life was not rich. At night, in order to save lamp oil, there was nothing to do, and it was too expensive to light up, so everyone went to bed early and got up early. The old man, in order to prevent someone from stealing his skills, always called Zhang Peng to practice boxing at midnight.

  The old man first arranged the nine three-foot-long wooden stakes in a certain pattern, then trampled them into the ground with his feet, leaving only two feet exposed. Zhang Peng's legs were tied with sandbags, and he continuously kicked, stomped, and rubbed against the wooden stakes without stopping. The old man gave orders non-stop beside him. After three incense sticks' time, they finished tying up the horse stance, and a small pillow filled with millet was placed in front of him again. His hands clapped non-stop until they became numb. The final item was the most comfortable - the old man would throw Zhang Peng into a steaming hot water bucket emitting medicinal fragrance to soak, while massaging and unblocking his meridians at the same time. By then, Zhang Peng's whole body was sore and tired, and he often fell asleep while soaking in the water, only to wake up already on the kang.

  Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Zhang Peng tried to resist the old man's "inhuman torture", starting with rolling on the ground and crying, later becoming lazy and stealing food... The old man's eyes were like a sharp knife, discovering everything, and immediately turned into a fierce grandmother, suppressing him with a few harsh words; Later, Zhang Peng could only pray for the wind to blow stronger so that the incense would burn faster - this old man was unbearable. Someone asked, didn't the old lady intervene? She did, but couldn't do anything! As soon as the old lady opened her mouth, the old man glared at her, "Have you seen him take medicine in the past two years? If not, I won't bother." The old lady thought for a moment and agreed, this kid was so weak that he could be blown down by strong winds, but now the old man was tormenting him and nothing happened. Besides, the old lady had "seen the world" before, thinking back to when her eldest son was also tormented by the old man into such a cowardly state. Later, the old lady even used the phrase "eating bitter suffering makes one a superior person" to educate Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng wanted to cry but had no tears, secretly hating himself for unknowingly boarding a pirate ship.

  Spring comes and autumn goes, summer departs and winter arrives. The original wooden stakes have been replaced by big trees, millet has changed to green beans and then to the current iron sand. Zhang Peng shed his hard skin like a snake shedding its skin, revealing tender white skin underneath. His ten fingers were like peeled bamboo shoots, feeling that his skin had thickened, his temples had bulged out, and his fingers felt as thick as small radishes. The two palms of his hands seemed to have two small whirlpools spinning non-stop. His body was better, his internal energy was sufficient, and Zhang Peng's mood also improved, feeling enthusiastic about everything he did. The old man said: "This is a necessary stage, the skeleton and muscles are now strong and solid. At this time, the kung fu should go inward, that is, to penetrate into the five organs and six viscera. If it becomes like this, it means that the kung fu has been mastered."

  The old man now strictly forbids Zhang Peng and the village children from fighting, because Zhang Peng's internal and external skills have improved. Although he is young in age, his physical strength is stronger than that of an adult, but he still can't control the lightness and heaviness of his hands, fearing that he might hurt others. The adults in the village all praise Zhang Peng, saying: "After all, he's from the city, so well-behaved! Not at all like my own *** who is useless!" But the village children say: "The city boy from Old Yan's family is a softie, if you hit him, he'll run home and won't dare fight back." So, from 10 to 2 or 3 years old, all the village children dare to bully him. It wasn't until Grandma scolded them several times on the street that the situation improved slightly.

  Zhang Peng is very happy today, he has made a fortune.

  Because everyone 'bullied' him, Zhang Peng rarely went out to play. Staying at home reading picture books became his best pastime, but just looking at the pictures didn't make sense. At first, Zhang Peng asked Er Ya to read to him. Zhang Peng's brain was very useful, and after Er Ya read it twice, he could basically recite it from memory. However, as time went on, Er Ya got annoyed. Zhang Peng thought of learning by himself. He discovered that Er Ya didn't recognize some characters, so he looked them up in the dictionary. To look up words in the dictionary, you first need to know Chinese phonetics. So, he used a 'shepherd's crook', two apples, three eggs, and four pieces of fruit candy as a 'gift for the teacher' and spent a month learning how to use the dictionary with Er Ya. The good times didn't last long. Zhang Peng kept borrowing Er Ya's dictionary, and Little Ya got unhappy. She came up with all sorts of excuses to refuse him, saying things like "I forgot it at school", "my classmate borrowed it", or "I need to use it too"...

  Zhang Peng made up his mind to buy one himself. At that time, the pocket money of village children was all earned by themselves. Older kids could cut grass and sell it to the commune's breeding station, while younger ones would pick cicada shells, snake skins, and dig up herbs to sell to the supply and marketing society for cash. Zhang Peng thought he'd try his luck at this too. After finishing his morning exercises, he'd head into the woods to look for the shed skin of last night's "cicada shell", checking under rocks and on tree branches for snake skins, and looking for beehives in the treetops. After a whole summer of hard work, Zhang Peng finally collected a big bundle, but he was uncertain - this stuff was too light, and he didn't know if it would be enough to exchange for money. He had already looked at the dictionary several times, and it said it cost 48 cents.

  Today, Zhang Peng set out early. The commune was five or six miles away from the village. He found the purchasing station of the supply and marketing cooperative, nervously handed over his goods, and after a series of calculations on the abacus, "Little guy, three items total 5 yuan 2 jiao 6 fen, not bad!" Five yuan was an absolute fortune for a child at that time.

  The dictionary must be bought, and two more books for the little ones; Grandma's comb is almost broken, that buffalo horn comb looks good, buy it; Grandpa usually drinks loose white wine, always says it's not interesting to drink, not as strong as 'Erguotou', let's get two bottles of 'Erguotou'; Second sister, buy her a pen, the little girl has been asking for a long time, and second uncle hasn't bought one for her. Counting the money, there are still more than two yuan left, the pig head meat sold at the door is really tempting, let's get it, everyone hasn't eaten for a long time, let's satisfy our cravings, come on, two catties!

  Zhang Peng bought good things and rushed home excitedly. Before lunch, Zhang Peng finally hurried back, and as soon as he entered the house, he shouted loudly, "Grandma, Grandpa, I've brought delicious food!"

  "Hey, where did you get the money to buy so many things?" Grandma's first reaction was that she rarely gave Zhang Peng pocket money, and the things he bought must have cost a lot of money. Had the child gone bad?

  When they heard the conversation between the grandfather and grandson, everyone in the house came out.

  "I sold the medicinal herbs I picked to the purchasing station, and they gave me 5 yuan 2 jiao 6 fen. That aunt even said I was overpaid!" Zhang Peng hastily explained.

  Zhang Peng collected medicinal herbs, everyone in the family knew about it. Unexpectedly, he sold quite a few of them, and his grandmother felt relieved when she heard the news.

  "Grandma, this comb is for you. Look how good it is! I picked the best one." Zhang Peng handed over the comb and the remaining few ration coupons to Grandma as if presenting a treasure.

  "It's all thanks to our grandson that we're able to enjoy this, and it's still the good stuff from Niújiǎo. It's really great." Grandma's eyes seemed to be moistening.

  "That pen is mine." Er Ya couldn't wait any longer and snatched the pen away.

  "Don't be shy, let your brother buy things for you." Er Gu and Er Gu's mother said in unison. The little girl made a face and ran into the house to try out her new pen.

  "Just forget about me then?" The old man had seen the two bottles of wine and deliberately put on a serious face to tease Zhang Peng.

  "Look what you said, no one dares to forget you, the authentic Beijing 'Er Guo Tou'. Zhang Peng hurriedly brought over the wine."

  "Wife, hurry up and serve dinner, there's wine and meat, I'm starving!" The old man laughed so hard that his molars were showing.

  Everyone enjoyed the meal very much, except Grandpa who drank too much.