Chapter 53: Endless Ocean of Suffering, Rebirth in Hell

  Jiang Zhenzi and several others, including Yue Fei's brothers, slowly calmed down, their faces serious, and said: "This 'One-Character Martial Arts' has already been introduced to you. This martial art is more reliable and practical than the 'Wordless Heavenly Book' of Liangshan Po's Song Gongming, the great leader. Whether or not to learn it is up to you. Once you decide to learn, all matters will be arranged by me. You are not allowed to quit halfway through. If you do quit, according to Jianghu rules, it will be considered betraying one's master."

  Jiang Zhenzi spoke so solemnly that everyone else became serious as well. After a moment of silence, Yang Zaixing and Luo Yanqing exchanged a glance before saying: "Elder Jiang, my Yang family has always conducted itself with integrity and would never involve ourselves in such despicable affairs; please forgive me for being unable to comply. Moreover, I have an agreement with Yue Dage that requires him to complete two tasks before I follow him, so Luo Yanqing and I will not be learning this 'One-Character Martial Arts'."

  Jiang Zhenzi said: "Everyone has their own aspirations, and I won't stop you. Just hope that you don't regret it in the future."

  Yang Zai Xing and Luo Yan Qing stood up together, bid farewell to Yue Fei and other brothers, and agreed to meet again in the trial field of Kaifeng Prefecture twenty days later. Then they went back to their room to pack their luggage, left the inn, and returned to Yang Jia Tian Bo Fu.

  Ladies and gentlemen, more than a decade later, Yang Zai was deceived by the fourth son of Jin Guo Changping Wang Wuzong, mistakenly entered the Xiaoshang River, and was shot to death by random arrows. Only then did he come to his senses and regret today's decision. This is a later story, which will not be told for now.

  Jiang Zhenzi asked Yu Xia: "Are you learning or not? I won't force it on you either."

  Yue Fei said resolutely: "Learning, not only must learn, but also to learn thoroughly and precisely. Those who do great things are not limited by trivial matters. We should not have too many worries. As long as we can use it in the future when marching and fighting, we will all learn."

  Since Yue Fei had spoken, Tang Huai and Niu Gao would naturally not oppose it, and they all nodded in agreement.

  "Alright!" Jiang Zhenzi shouted, then said: "Since you want to learn, there are a few things I need to tell you: Firstly, this 'One Character' martial art was created by Wenyu Laodao, also known as Yue Fei's father-in-law. I'm just passing it down on his behalf, so don't call me Master, just call me Jiang Dapanzi instead."

  Jiang Zhenzi chuckled twice and continued, "Secondly, there are only twenty days left before the martial arts exam. I will leave about ten days for you to review other articles and military lessons, so there are only five or six days left for you to learn this character's military tactics. During this period, your itinerary, everything you do, will be arranged by me, and you must not disagree. Can you do that?"

  Yue Fei and five others responded in unison.

  Jiang Zhenzi's face twitched with a few involuntary movements, and he said in a gloomy tone: "Since that's the case, let's proceed with the first training item immediately." As soon as he finished speaking, he clapped his hands twice, and several shop assistants went upstairs to take away all the meat, vegetables, and rice on the table. Just as Niu Gao was about to get anxious, two more assistants carried a large tray up and placed it on the table. Everyone looked at it and saw that it was a plate of deep red noodles. The only thing was that this noodle dish was super huge, even bigger than the usual basin used for washing clothes.

  The brothers were stunned, and Jiang Zhenzi smiled happily: "You guys messed up the errand this morning, according to our previous agreement, these few plates of meat and vegetables will be withdrawn. And I carefully prepared this plate of noodles for you. This plate of noodles is very famous, called 'Endless Suffering, Rebirth in Hell'. After eating it, I guarantee that you will always remember the experience of being deceived today. I know your appetite, and you're not allowed to leave the table until you finish this plate of noodles. See you tomorrow morning at Chen time."

  Brothers smell that noodle together, in the thick pepper flavor mixed with some very strange taste.

  Niu Gao ladled out a bowl and said, "It's just spicy noodles, after all it's better than having nothing to eat." After finishing speaking, he took a big mouthful.

  His teeth bit into the noodles, and he habitually chewed a few times. A bitter taste suddenly surged up. This flavor was so nauseating that it made people detest it, and it was amplified several times by the red pepper flavor. Niu Gao's throat churned and rolled, as if he wanted to vomit. It wasn't until now that Niu Gao truly understood what "bitter hardship" meant.

  Niu Gao suddenly felt something was off around him. He looked up and found that all his brothers' eyes were fixed on him, watching for his reaction after eating it.

  Niu Gao cursed in his heart, "These little rascals are taking advantage of old Niu again. No way, I have to think of a plan to deal with them."

  Niu Gao was originally born with a rough and dark complexion, and except for Yue Fei, the other brothers really couldn't see the changes in Niu Gao's facial expression. Niu Gao used chopsticks to stuff the noodles into his mouth, not letting them be spat out, and nodded repeatedly while humming, indicating that the noodles tasted good.

  The brothers put down their worries and started eating noodles with all hands, except for Yue Fei who carefully picked up the noodles and tried to shake off as much soup as possible.

  The brothers had just taken a bite when they discovered the truth, their faces were multicolored, and they were about to spit out the noodles in their mouths. Suddenly, a loud shout was heard: "Don't spit".

  Jiang Dabaozi suddenly appeared from somewhere and continued, "These noodles are made with top-grade Huanglian and Sichuan red pepper, simmered for several hours before being served. They're extremely precious, so you mustn't waste them."

  The brothers' faces turned bitter melon-like, with a belly full of resentment, yet they didn't dare not listen, and had to force themselves to slowly stuff the noodles into their mouths.

  Jiang Zhenzi walked to Niu Gao's back, patted his shoulder and praised: "You did very well just now. Your method includes 'shun shui tui zhou' and 'pao zhuan yin yu' techniques, which I will analyze in detail later. As a reward, you don't have to eat this noodle dish."

  Niu Gao was overjoyed, just about to put down his bowl and chopsticks, when he saw his brothers staring at him fiercely. His heart skipped a beat, and he hastily picked up his bowl and chopsticks, saying: "We made an oath in Qilin Village that we would share good fortune together and face difficulties together. I'll still eat this noodles."

  "Hmm" Jiang Zhenzi nodded and turned around to go downstairs.

  Niu Gao cried and said with a sad face to his brothers: "Am I righteous enough?"

  The brothers just wanted to laugh, but when they saw the big plate of noodles in front of them, known as "endless bitter sea, rebirth in purgatory", they couldn't laugh anymore.

  After a while, Jiang Zhenzi walked up to the second floor lounge again, still holding a small basin in his hand.

  Jiang Zhenzi walked to the table, smiling and said: "Seeing you brothers being so righteous, I'm a bit moved. Originally, I prepared three large sea bowls for each person, five people would be fifteen bowls. Now, considering Niu Gao's share, subtracting five bowls, but the remaining ones you still have to finish." After finishing speaking, he started to clip the noodles into a sea bowl, filling it up and then pouring it into that small face basin.

  At this time, Yue Fei stood up and said to Jiang Zhenzi: "Old fatty, let me help you." After finishing speaking, he snatched the dough from Jiang Zhenzi's hands and went to knead it himself.

  Yue Fei's noodles were completely different from Jiang Zhenzi's. Jiang Zhenzi's noodles had soup, while Yue Fei's were all noodles and the soup was poured back into the large plate. With just one scoop of Yue Fei's big bowl of noodles, more than half of the noodles in the large plate were gone.

  Jiang Zhenzi pretended not to see, carrying a small basin and walking down the stairs with a swaying motion. After going downstairs, she shouted again: "See you tomorrow morning at Chen time."

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