From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 10 Learning Martial Arts
After bidding farewell to Zhao Datou, Meng Yuan brought Tie Niu to Prince Xin's mansion, handed in the letter of recommendation, and an old man came out to receive them.

"Follow me." The old man led the way, muttering to himself, saying how hard it was to lead the way, and that the country boy was ignorant and didn't know how to show filial piety.

Meng Yuan pretended not to understand, but Tie Niu really didn't understand at all.

We didn't go deep into the palace, but just walked around it and came to the south side of the palace, where we saw a long wall.

I knocked on the door and pushed it open, revealing a training ground.

There was a training ground in the middle, with targets and arrow stacks on both sides, weapon racks, various stone mills and stone locks, wooden men and plum blossom stakes. There were no trees around, only high walls.

There were more than twenty people doing horse stance and boxing in the open space of the martial arts arena, both men and women, all of them were teenagers about fifteen or sixteen years old, all wearing the same tight shorts.

A man in his forties walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, shouting and cursing from time to time.

The old man led Meng Yuan and Tie Niu forward and said to the middle-aged man, "Teacher Nie, this is a new kid."

"Why are you here just now? Look, the kids here have already given birth to their second batch of babies!" Teacher Nie exaggerated.

"There's no way. It was Miss Xunmei's order." The old man said helplessly.

"We have to give Xunmei some face. One is practice, ten is practice as well. Anyway, they are not eating my rice." Teacher Nie smiled.

After a few polite words, the old man walked away leisurely.

Teacher Nie waved at the two of them, and Meng Yuan and Tie Niu hurried forward.

"You are such a handsome boy, why don't you hang out in the garden and practice martial arts?" Teacher Nie grabbed Meng Yuan's wrist, glanced at the calluses, pinched his shoulders and waist, and said, "He is a potential martial artist. If he had practiced since he was young, he might have some skills by now."

He made a brief comment and then asked, "Have you ever slept with a woman?"

"No." Meng Yuan replied.

"You can't sleep now. Work hard to learn the skills. Once you've learned them, I'll ask the princess to show you a beautiful one!" Teacher Nie laughed and grabbed Tie Niu's wrist to look at it.

"This kid is strong and has a promising future," Teacher Nie commented, and asked, "Have you ever slept with a woman?"

"I have slept with him." Tie Niu replied.

"Oh!" Teacher Nie laughed, looked at Tie Niu again, and asked, "How many have you slept with?"

"Two." Tie Niu replied honestly.

The young men all looked at Tie Niu in surprise, with some expressing envy and some expressing contempt.

"Tsk tsk tsk, where are these gardens from?" Teacher Nie asked curiously.

Tie Niu was surprised and said, "They are my own, from my mother and my grandmother."

"Good, good, good, what a clever kid!" Teacher Nie couldn't help but laugh. Seeing Meng Yuan and Tie Niu still carrying their bags, he called a young man over and instructed, "Take them to get some clothes, find a place to stay, and get some water for them to wash. They stink like donkey dung."

The young man took the order and immediately led Meng Yuan and Tie Niu outside, whispering as they walked: "My name is Wu Changsheng, what are your names?"

Meng Yuan and Tie Niu gave their names.

While chatting, the two received two sets of thin clothes, which were used for daily practice. Wu Changsheng said that these were bought by the princess, which showed her generosity.

The so-called residence was also in the parade ground, which was a row of blue-tiled bungalows against the wall.

When we arrived at the dormitory, we saw a large bunk bed, enough for more than ten people to sleep side by side. There was no cabinet to store clothes, it was very simple.

He put down his bag, fetched some water from the well, and washed himself directly in the house.

Wu Changsheng was a talkative person. Meng Yuan didn't even need to ask him specifically, he just blurted out everything he knew.

It turned out that Teacher Nie's full name was Nie Yannian. He was an old man who followed the princess to marry in. He had always been trusted by the princess and had a high status in the palace. All the young men called him Teacher Nie.

"How is the food here?" Meng Yuan was most concerned about this question, because it was related to the growth of the spirit and fire. As the old saying goes, the poor are good at literature and the rich are good at martial arts.

As the old saying goes, if you are poor, practice with the sword, if you are rich, practice with the sword, and if you have no money, go pick up shit.

Practicing martial arts is not something that ordinary people can afford, not to mention the venue, socializing, and apprenticeship. Food alone is a big expense, and Zhu Shao is still at the age of being able to eat, and the family cannot afford to support him without some financial resources.

Meng Yuan was afraid that someone would withhold his food.

"We have steamed buns every day and meat too! The princess is the kindest person in the world, how could she let us starve?" Wu Changsheng was also born a refugee, and he truly loved the princess.

Meng Yuan felt much more relieved.

After washing his body carefully, Meng Yuan sniffed the base of his palm hard, but could not smell any odor at all.

"I don't know if my aunt can find me when she wants to introduce business to me." Meng Yuan muttered to himself.

After changing into clean short fighting clothes, Wu Changsheng took Meng Yuan and Tie Niu back to the training ground.

Master Nie Yannian didn't waste any time and just said, "There are no rules here. There is only one rule: you cannot leave the training ground without my permission. Just practice what you are doing every day, and let Wu Changsheng lead you."

Meng Yuan and Tie Niu agreed.

"Go ahead, practice with me and let me see your patience." Nie Yannian said.

Meng Yuan and Tie Niu quickly came behind the group, found a place to stand, followed their movements, took a horse stance, and then followed them in boxing.

"This is the horse stance punch!" Nie Yannian watched for a while, then gave instructions, saying, "Spread your feet slightly past your shoulders, bend your knees and press down, your thighs should be level with the ground, and your knees should not go past your toes. This is the horse stance posture!"

After teaching the standing posture, Nie Yannian continued, "Make fists with both hands, palms facing up, and place them on both sides of your waist. Strike forward with your right fist, with your arm straight and palms facing down! Switch between the two fists! Remember to turn your waist and send your shoulders forward, so that you can exert more force!"

Nie Yannian finished his brief speech, demonstrated it himself, and casually said to learn it well. Without caring whether Meng Yuan and Tie Niu had learned it or not, he quickly left the training ground.

It can be seen that Master Nie does not treat these young men as his disciples and is clearly just trying to get by.

Seeing that no one was paying attention, the young men did not dare to stop and continued to punch and strike out in horse stance, but they also started chatting.

Some people asked Meng Yuan's name, some asked which flower cake was delicious, and some shouted that they had to pee.

Meng Yuan didn't talk much with them, he just studied seriously.

This horse stance punch is a simple method to train the lower body and increase strength. It is not difficult to learn, just boring.

And I didn't feel anything when I first started practicing, but the more I practiced, the more sore my legs became, my arms became swollen, and my whole body felt heavy.

Meng Yuan practiced carefully with Wu Changsheng several times and roughly mastered the trick.

After a quarter of an hour, Wu Changsheng asked everyone to stop and rest.

After resting, they started practicing front kicks and side kicks, and then throwing stone locks to exercise their arm strength.

When it was getting dark, Wu Changsheng blew the clarion call to disperse. The young men were already very hungry and ran to the mess hall on the parade ground.

The meal consisted of tofu stewed with cabbage and radish, with some oil floating on the surface.

After queuing up, Meng Yuan first served Tie Niu a full bowl, then served himself, then grabbed a few steamed buns, and the two sat side by side and started eating.

The food here is much better than that in Mu Village, especially the white steamed buns, which are countless times more fragrant than eggs. Meng Yuan just feels so happy.

"Brother, there's meat!" Tie Niu was eating happily when he found a piece of meat in the bowl. He was so happy that he forgot everything else.

Meng Yuan didn't say anything, but just ate with big mouthfuls, with hope for the future rising in his heart.

(End of this chapter)