Chapter 12
I Want to Learn Martial Arts Sincerely
On the riverbank, a few monks’ faces were flushed red. Ah Fei’s barrage of verbal attacks almost made them faint.
“Warped logic, it’s all warped logic!” The fat monk pointed at Ah Fei in anger, “Buddha said that karma is a cycle. Good and evil will be paid in kind. You will all get your retribution.”
“It’s warped logic. Survival is the most important!”
Jiang Ming tied a dozen fish on his rope and stopped fishing. He carried the fish and walked ashore. He twisted his wet clothes and looked at the fat monk with a smile, “The people are suffering, but you have never cut off your own flesh to feed the eagles as Buddha did. Don’t use Buddhism to flaunt your knowledge. Using religion to show off your might is useless. How is this different from a predator exploiting its prey?” Jiang Ming said lightly and pointed to the upper reaches of the shore, “In addition, your master has run away, so don’t bark here.”
The fat monk looked in the direction that Jiang Ming was pointing at and saw that the carriages had already started to turn around and leave.
A slender hand pulled open the curtain of the carriage. Miss Wang glanced at the fishing site and then lowered the curtain.
“Go!” The coachman flicked his whip, and the carriage left.
“You, you blabbermouth! You evil thief! You will never be blessed by Buddha!” The fat monk immediately panicked and ran back with his men while cursing. They chased after the carriage and left.
“Heh, this old thieving baldy’s body is covered in fat, but he runs quite fast. He didn’t let me argue!” Ah Fei also carried his heavy fish basket and came ashore. He cursed, “We’re not blessed by Buddha? Why are all those officials and nobles so blessed by Buddha?”
Old Jiang climbed ashore with his hands on his hips. He handed a fish to Jiang Ming with a dark face and sighed, “You two are still too naive. Why are you fighting with those bald donkeys? They can even make the dead come alive, and they hold grudges. Stay away from them in the future!”
Jiang Ming pushed the fish back with a smile. “Put it on my tab and give me three free drinks.”
“You little b*stard!” Old Jiang almost jumped up in anger. He was here to scam him repeatedly.
Jiang Ming chuckled and didn’t say anything.
Old Jiang threw the fish back to Ah Fei. “If he doesn’t want it, you can take it. Take it as a gift and marinate it when you go back. It’ll be a tough dish to be proud of. ”
“Thank you, Mr. Jiang!” Ah Fei received it happily.
“This is from me.” Jiang Ming also threw one over.
Ah Fei was young, but he had already found a wife. He was just waiting for a good day to hold a banquet.
This was the life of the people at the bottom. All they could care about were survival, reproduction, and extinction.
When they arrived in town, Jiang Ming bought some coarse salt. He went home, slaughtered and washed more than half of the fish, marinated them in the clay jar, and kept a few in the water tank. He picked out two of the biggest fish and prepared to bring them to Master Zhou.
Master Zhou was older than Old Jiang. Practicing martial arts in his early years hurt his body, and now he couldn’t even go into the water to catch fish. He was willing to teach Jiang Ming martial arts to leave some money for his children and grandchildren.
In the evening, Jiang Ming found another bucket, sprinkled some salt and spices into it, filled it halfway with water, and went out with it.
This season was the time to eat cicadas. However, even if the people in the town caught them, most of them had been sold to the officials in the city. They were often reluctant to eat them.
The next morning, the sky was clear.
Jiang Ming first went to the bar to buy two bottles of wine, then went home to bring two fat fish and a bucket of cicadas. He took the silver and went to Master Zhou’s house for a walk.
“Your robes are too grand.”
Master Zhou took the wine and food from Jiang Ming and was a little flattered.
Although he knew that Jiang Ming wasn’t an evil person, he also knew that Jiang Ming was by no means an ordinary person. He usually looked amiable, but he was afraid that he didn’t take anyone in Peace Town seriously.
Who would have thought that he would be so respectful to this old man?
“The more accomplished one is my teacher. If you feel bad, please teach me with more effort,” Jiang Ming said sincerely and put five taels of silver into Master Zhou’s hand without heartache.
Jiang Ming was never stingy with the tuition fees.
“Alright, I’ll definitely do my best to teach you everything I’ve learned in my life. ” Master Zhou was touched. He turned around and shouted, “Xiu, come out.”
A young teenage girl ran out of the house and greeted him obediently.
“This is my granddaughter, Zhou Wenxiu, as I’ve mentioned to you before. Her parents are gone!” Master Zhou muttered with tears in his eyes, “I don’t have many years to live; if you get rich in the future…”
“Master Zhou!” Jiang Ming looked at Master Zhou with a smile, his expression unmoved.
Master Zhou wiped his tears awkwardly. He knew that he couldn’t fool Jiang Ming, so he didn’t say anything more.
He asked his granddaughter to carry the wine and food back to the house, while he and Jiang Ming sat in the courtyard. He shouted into the house, “Hurry up and fry the cicadas. They’ll go bad if you keep them.”
“I think you’re the one who’s greedy!” Zhou Wenxiu’s clear voice rang out.
Master Zhou pinched his nose and quickly poured a cup of tea for Jiang Ming to cover up his embarrassment, “Ming, have some tea.”
The two of them chatted for a moment, and Zhou Wenxiu brought over a pot of fried cicadas, which exuded a fragrant smell.
Master Zhou immediately picked one up and threw it into his mouth. He chewed it and made a crisp sound. Then he looked at Jiang Ming seriously, “You’d better think carefully. Do you really want to learn? My body was damaged from practicing martial arts. You’re young and strong, but you can’t be impulsive,” he said while patting his knee.
Jiang Ming also picked up a cicada and chewed it, “Master Zhou, do you know how long the cicada can live?”
“About half a month. What’s wrong?” Master Zhou was puzzled.
“Hmm.” No. Jiang Ming shook his head. “They sleep in the dark soil for seven years before they break out of the soil. Then, they die in less than a month.”
Master Zhou didn’t know what Jiang Ming meant, so he could only say, “That’s quite pitiful.”
“It’s quite pitiful, but it’s better than sleeping underground for the rest of their life,” Jiang Ming said with a smile.
Master Zhou came to a sudden realization and then smiled bitterly, “Alright, since you’ve made up your mind to learn, then I won’t say any more nonsense. As for the path of martial arts, I actually only have a smattering of knowledge.” Master Zhou sighed. “When I was at my strongest, I was just a low-level martial artist. I thought I could do whatever I wanted. I didn’t expect to be taught a harsh lesson before I even walked out of Great Cloud City. In the end, I could only recuperate in Peace Town.”
He shook his head, obviously not wanting to talk about his experience in the past. He continued, “The martial arts technique I’ve learned is called the Tiger Subduing Fist. It’s an incomplete technique. It’s said that the highest level you can reach is a second-class martial artist. If you can master it, even the Wang family will treat you as an honored guest. Unfortunately, even my master could only be a third-class martial artist after practicing for his entire life. The difficulty of martial arts is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.”
“Then we can’t wait any longer. We’ll start today,” Jiang Ming said half-jokingly.
Master Zhou laughed. “That’s good. From today on, I’ll teach you the external refining method of the Tiger Subduing Fist. After you master it, you can combine it with the internal refining of breathing, which is refining blood Qi, and try to break through to the realm of martial artists. “