Chapter Five: The Eldest Uncle Returns Home

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  The wheel of history turned to 1967, and the * had already penetrated into the countryside. High school students stopped classes to make revolution, some teachers were making connections, and others were overthrown. Zhang Peng went to school this year, but there were only a few teachers left, so he signed up and returned home.

  My big uncle, Yan Xiufeng, also returned. He was originally the deputy county head in the county seat, but the Red Guards overthrew the "power holders", and both the county head and secretary were toppled. He claimed to be ill, saying that an old war injury had recurred and he needed rest, so the rebels agreed to let him return home to recuperate.

  The biggest advantage of my uncle's return is that we can eat well. My uncle likes to eat and cook himself. He lives alone, but he has a set of cooking utensils and often cooks for himself when he has nothing to do. When he came back to rest, he brought all the cooking utensils with him. My grandfather scolded him: "You didn't learn much of my boxing skills, but you learned your mother's cooking skills." Of course, my uncle slept in the same room as Zhang Peng, and at night, before going to sleep, they would discuss what to eat the next day. Zhang Peng had no idea what was good to eat, so when he said he wanted to eat pork knuckle, my uncle started saying: "Tomorrow we'll have pork knuckle, but should we have steamed pork knuckle with rice flour, Dongpo pork knuckle, or crispy fried pork knuckle...?" Then he introduced each cooking method, and by the end, Zhang Peng didn't know which one was good to eat. So my uncle decided: "I've made up my mind, we'll have *****." Zhang Peng's mouth watered so much that he drooled a whole pillowcase in his sleep.

  The next day, after finishing breakfast, he rode a broken British-made "Three Guns" bicycle with Zhang Peng to exchange materials. When they arrived at the location, the bike wasn't even locked, and they just casually leaned it against something and left. Zhang Peng said, "Aren't you afraid of losing the bike?" Big Uncle replied, "This bike used to belong to a Little Japanese special agent captain, I finally managed to kill him and seize it. I left it at the city gate, and even the Little Japanese didn't dare push it away. Who would dare steal it!"

  At that time, the country was lacking in materials, but his uncle could always find rare and good things on the market. Zhang Peng asked him what kind of trick he used. His uncle said with a smile: "Not to mention our county, even the surrounding counties, who doesn't know me 'Yan Heizi' among the older generation? Whatever I want, everyone will rush to give it to me." After listening, Zhang Peng was left in awe, nowadays it's called being " electrified".

  It's a loss of face for rural men to cook, buying things back, the eldest uncle locks the door, pulls Zhang Peng to help with cooking, and while doing it, 'comforts' Zhang Peng, "What's embarrassing about men cooking, the big chefs in the city are all male."

  "What's the point of closing the door?" Zhang Peng asked back.

  "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Eldest maternal uncle said with a smile, "You little stinker, hurry up and peel the scallions, do you want to eat or not?"

  "Zhang Peng should also study hard and bring back a daughter-in-law in the future!" said the eldest maternal uncle, who spent all day cooking and emancipated Grandma. The old lady chimed in.

  "Is there a connection between cooking and finding a wife?" Zhang Peng asked in confusion.

  "That's right, just like in the past when your aunt thought I was too dark-skinned and looked down on me. I would give her delicious food every day, feed her until she was full, and make her think of me whenever she ate. Later, so many 'pretty boys' chased after her, but she didn't care about them. In the end, she still came back to find me from far away." The uncle is quite proud of his own "scheme". Nowadays people say: to capture a man's heart, you must first capture his stomach; it seems that to chase after a good woman, you also need to chase her stomach first.

  The child of the eldest uncle is not around, and he doesn't know how the child grew up, so he transferred his love for the child to Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng has almost forgotten what his father looks like, and unknowingly took his eldest uncle as his father. The two of them played together in harmony. In the summer, the eldest uncle took Zhang Peng to the river to learn swimming, fishing, and catching shrimp, and even made a slingshot for Zhang Peng to practice shooting. In the winter, the two went up the mountain to set traps, dig pitfalls, and catch small birds and beasts to improve their lives. Zhang Peng felt long-lost joy with his eldest uncle.

  Yan Qing's physique was not robust, but he could throw Black Whirlwind Li Kui to the ground with ease. In a contest at Mount Tai, he threw down Ren Yuan, who was known as the "Pillar of Heaven", from the stage. Later generations summarized Yan Qing's throwing and grappling techniques into the "Yan Qing's 18 Throws".

  "The eighteen falls of Yan Qing's shirt" emphasizes close-range combat, using cleverness to break clumsiness, and four ounces moving a thousand pounds. In actual combat, one must seize the fleeting opportunities and weaknesses, entwine and lock the throat, and use simultaneous strikes and throws to knock down the enemy.

  The old man felt that Zhang Peng's kung fu had reached a critical point, so he hung 36 iron sandbags the size of palms around the stake. While walking around the stake, he hit the sandbags. At first, the sandbags were still and easy to deal with, but once they started moving, it was like several people punching and kicking him at the same time. When Zhang Peng practiced until the sandbags couldn't stick to his body, the old man changed tactics, constantly hitting him with the sandbags. Zhang Peng had to accurately catch each sandbag and throw it back at the old man, jumping around like a monkey, grabbing the sandbags with his teeth and claws. Often, he hadn't even caught one before another flew over. After a day of this, even though Zhang Peng had trained until he was as tough as copper and iron, he was still beaten until his nose was blue and his face was swollen, his whole body aching. Only when Zhang Peng could face the flying sandbags with ease, like picking flowers or leaves, did the old man hand him over to Big Brother for further training.

  The big uncle was simply a 'laughing tiger', and his training method was even more unique. He didn't supervise Zhang Peng, but before each practice, he would use a large bowl to scrape out two large blood blisters on Zhang Peng's chest and back, making him practice the "inverted skill" by leaning forward and backward until the blood clots were completely dispersed. He also gave it a nice name, saying "if you want to throw others down, you must first throw yourself down". "Whether you practice or not is none of my business," he said. "If the blood clots don't dissolve, they will become abscesses and eventually no one can save you, and you'll be 'done for'." Zhang Peng was carrying a large package in front and another on his back, looking terrifying, and hearing the big uncle's threats, he didn't dare to slack off.

  To help Zhang Peng become familiar with the human skeleton and joints, his uncle took him to a burial ground outside the village. That night was a full moon, and the moonlight made the earth pale white. As they walked among the graves, they stepped on dry bones that had been dug up by wild dogs, making a cracking sound, mixed with the laughter of owls and the sound of pigs digging in the graves. The sudden appearance of birds and small animals foraging at night made Zhang Peng almost unable to move his feet if it weren't for his uncle holding him back. His uncle found an intact skeleton and explained to Zhang Peng only once: the structure of each bone and joint, which bones were fixed, movable, and semi-movable, and their functions. Although Zhang Peng was scared out of his wits, his mind went blank, but he remembered every word his uncle said. After returning home, his uncle praised Zhang Peng's ability to remember everything he heard. Zhang Peng thought to himself, "I dare not forget, that place is too scary, I don't want to go there again!"

  "The eighteen falls of Yan Qing's shirt" skillfully combines the three elements of hitting, grasping and falling into one, emphasizing that when it is appropriate to grasp, then grasp; when it is appropriate to hit, then hit; and when it can fall, then fall. It requires adapting to changing circumstances and responding with the right move, with grasping containing hitting, hitting carrying grasping, and each hand having its own power, seizing opportunities and cleverly applying techniques. Once mastered, its uses are endless.

  Zhang Peng and his older cousin learned various grasping methods for different parts of the body, including the wrist, fingers, elbow, shoulder, head, neck, and leg. After learning these throwing techniques, they needed to practice them in actual combat, so they often found a secluded place to train. The older cousin had real-life experience, having been involved in life-or-death battles where the line between life and death was thin, with simple yet ruthless and venomous moves, and rich experience.

  Zhang Peng, on the other hand, was small and weak, and initially, as soon as he made a move, he would be knocked to the ground. To avoid being "bullied", he had no choice but to constantly summarize his gains and losses, understand the subtleties of boxing classics, and experience the changes in moves. After some time, the older cousin could no longer easily knock him down, and by the time Zhang Peng left Yanjia Village, he was able to exchange dozens of rounds with his older cousin, but that's a story for later.

  That night, the village showed a movie. At that time, showing movies in rural areas was like a star concert now, and people from all over the village came to watch. The village's idle men also came to join in the fun, taking advantage of the darkness to take liberties with the big girls and young wives. Zhang Peng and Er Ya were originally watching from the front, but during the film change, a little rascal made a move on Er Ya, who was too embarrassed to shout out loud, quietly pulling Zhang Peng to hide behind them. However, that little scoundrel followed them again. When he reached out to touch Er Ya again, Zhang Peng kicked him in the shin with his instep. Zhang Peng hoped he would retreat and didn't use much force, but that little rascal was already sweating profusely, crying out in pain. People saw someone fighting and gathered around to watch the commotion. That little scoundrel saw Zhang Peng was just a kid, and in a fit of rage, grabbed his collar with his right hand, trying to lift him up. Zhang Peng quickly used a "backhand reversal", his left thumb pressing against the labor palace point on that little rascal's hand, his right hand grasping his wrist, his body turning left, lifting his right foot to kick that little scoundrel's right knee pit, sending him tumbling down. Er Ya also stepped forward and kicked him twice. The whole process was neat and efficient, the surrounding people saw a kid knock down a bigger guy, and they all cheered, pointing fingers at him. At this time, the militia on duty came over, that little scoundrel quickly scrambled to his feet, not even bothering to brush off the dirt, limping away in disarray.