From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 13 Strength
The sky was still dark, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard in the distance.

Meng Yuan and Tie Niu practiced for a while, and then Hu Qian also came.

She was of outstanding appearance, tall, and thinly dressed. Her chest must have been wrapped with several layers of cloth, but her size was still evident.

Hu Qian's mother was the princess's wet nurse. Just looking at her figure, you can tell that she had been eating well since she was a child.

"Today is New Year's Day, why don't you two get some more sleep?" Hu Qian walked up and asked casually.

Meng Yuan was not familiar with Hu Qian. Moreover, Hu Qian had a high status and was not fond of talking to people. It was rare for her to take the initiative to talk to people today.

However, in Meng Yuan's opinion, if the princess really intended to observe the character of this group of students, then Hu Qian's identity would probably make her an insider.

No matter what, let’s put up the archway first!
"I won't stop until Master Nie tells me to." Meng Yuan responded in a normal tone while punching in horse stance.

Hu Qian has the highest status in the training ground and is also quite pretty, so everyone is vying to please her.

To deal with a girl like this who has never experienced love and is the center of attention, you cannot fawn on her like you would others. You have to keep a distance from her first and then take action.

Just like castrating a piglet, if you go forward with the castration knife, the piglet will definitely run away. But if you hide the knife and act nonchalant, the piglet will nudge your feet instead.

Of course, to use this method, you need to be both talented and beautiful, like Meng Yuan. If you change to someone ugly, no matter how far away you are, people will still ignore you.

Sure enough, seeing that Meng Yuan showed no enthusiasm and was still punching in a rigid manner, Hu Qian asked, "You seem quite obedient, so why did you fight with Liu He on your first day?"

"I will not offend others unless they offend me. I came here to learn martial arts. I have never thought about anything else. I just want to be the princess's bodyguard and repay her kindness." Meng Yuan did not explain much and continued to do horse stance.

Hu Qian nodded slightly and said with a smile: "You have worked so hard to gain strength, but Master Nie doesn't teach you real skills. You only have some brute force at best. If the princess is in danger in the future, you may not be able to protect her."

"Sister Qian, what you said is not right. If you can't learn the real skills, can you not protect the princess?"

Meng Yuan stopped, and solemnly and seriously erected a memorial archway, saying: "I was born a refugee. If the princess hadn't given me food and drink, I would have died of hunger and cold. If anyone dares to hurt the princess, even if I am a lowly person, they will have to step over my dead body first!"

Meng Yuan can come up with more than a dozen different nonsense like this, but the core is just two words: loyalty!

Hu Qian was stunned for a moment. She saw Meng Yuan's words were powerful, and his handsome face was full of integrity and loyalty. He looked like he was willing to die for the princess. He didn't look like the ruthless man who had beaten Liu He not long ago.

"I didn't expect that despite being a refugee, you have such a loyal heart." Hu Qian sighed.

"If you don't have a heart of gratitude, then what's the difference between you and a beast?" Meng Yuan was full of righteousness, his voice was sonorous, and he said seriously: "Sister Qian, if the princess is really in danger, I think you must be like me, willing to die for the princess!"

This kind of talk is used to bring two people closer together.

Sure enough, Hu Qian nodded heavily and said, "I'm the same as you! The princess treats me like her own daughter, of course I am willing!"

Daughter? It seems that the princess has not given up on this place! Seeing that he had gotten the words out, Meng Yuan nodded seriously, and then said seriously: "Sister Qian, recently when I punch, I always feel that my waist and arms are not working well. Can you take a look at where I am practicing wrong?"

"Oh? Hit me two more times and let me see." Hu Qian crossed her arms, looking very serious, like a big sister.

This girl often lives in a secluded courtyard. She has no idea that people’s hearts are treacherous, and she has no idea that Meng Yuan used the military strategy of playing hard to get and pretending to be stupid.

Tie Niu was watching from the side, stunned, thinking to himself, you were correcting my movements a few days ago, so you haven’t even practiced it yourself?
Soon, more people came for morning exercises, and Hu Qian no longer said anything more to Meng Yuan.

Life went on as usual after that, except that no outsiders came to the training grounds anymore. Without any supervision, the young men became even lazier.

People tend to follow the crowd, and young people's minds are fickle. When they see others being lazy and slacking off, they will follow suit.

Meng Yuan continued to practice meticulously, doing horse stance punching, lifting stone locks, standing still, and running every day. He did not do any actual combat and could not learn any moves. He just strengthened his muscles and bones according to the process set by Master Nie.

Meng Yuan did not try to befriend Hu Qian on purpose. He just asked for advice from time to time and asked her to correct his movements to satisfy the little girl's desire to be a teacher.

In a blink of an eye, the first half of the first lunar month has passed.

He ate a lot, drank a lot and exercised a lot every day, and the essence and fire in his body grew rapidly. It has already enveloped his whole body. He is no longer afraid of the severe cold, and it seems like he has endless energy.

Meng Yuan estimated that in a few days, the essence fire would be able to reach perfection, but he didn't know what changes would happen by then, so he couldn't help but look forward to it.

Now, the training volume has been increased according to the process set by Master Nie. For example, Master Nie requires lifting a 20-jin stone lock 300 times a day, divided into six times. Meng Yuan then changed to a 30-jin stone lock and lifted it 500 times.

There were also running with sandbags on their backs, carrying and pushing stone mills. Others went to bed early, but Meng Yuan had to practice again at night until he was exhausted and forgot himself.

But even so, I woke up the next day feeling energetic, warm all over, and all my strength was back.

It was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Before dawn, Meng Yuan got up, went out with his bare chest, and fetched well water to wash his body.

"I'm here to learn martial arts, why do I think about women all day long?" Meng Yuan planned to increase the amount of training today.

By mid-morning, there were only a dozen people on the martial arts field, and the rest were still hunkered down in their dormitories. Normally, these people were afraid of a surprise inspection by Master Nie, so they didn't dare to slack off for too long. But today was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and everyone was celebrating the festival, so they were a little bolder.

It was almost lunchtime when these people arrived at the martial arts arena. Liu He was among them, after all, he was the leader.

Liu He's injury had healed. He looked at Meng Yuan with contempt and pretended to lift the stone lock.

"Master Nie doesn't care about us anymore. If we want to learn martial arts in the future, we have to find a new master! If you don't have any connections, find one quickly!" Liu He said with a smile.

Nie Yannian had not shown up since the New Year. The young men had already lost confidence in practicing martial arts, and now after listening to Liu He's words, they couldn't help but feel that it made sense.

For a moment, some people were depressed and lost, while others hurried to please Liu He.

"I'm talking to you, young gelder." Liu He was not without pride when he saw everyone looking at him flatteringly. He smiled and looked at Meng Yuan, saying, "You get up early and work late every day, but you didn't expect it to be all in vain, did you? Even if you work harder, you're still a refugee and a gelder! In a few days, you'll have to pack up and leave!"

"The bedding belongs to the palace, he can't take it away!" someone said with a smile.

Meng Yuan just lifted the stone lock and ignored the provocation, instead feeling bored.

Hu Qian watched coldly without saying a word.

"To get involved in this business, you need background and strength! My father is Manager Liu, what do you have?" Liu He laughed, "What's the point of practicing every day? You still have to go back to shoveling cow dung and castrating cattle and sheep!"

Meng Yuan dropped the stone lock in his hand and said, "I don't want to talk to Lord Rabbit."

Liu He was broken by this sentence, his face flushed with anger, but he didn't dare to take action, just pointed at Meng Yuan with gritted teeth. He was provocative, but he was not a fool, he knew that he couldn't beat Meng Yuan, even if he fought in a group, he would be beaten by him.

"Master Nie is here!" Hu Qian suddenly spoke.

The young men looked towards the gate of the parade ground, only to see Nie Yannian walking towards them with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face.

All the young men stood up obediently. Liu He also stood up quickly, thinking that it was a good thing he came out early, otherwise he would have been discovered for being lazy.

Nie Yannian walked forward, looked around at everyone, and then stepped on a stone lock.

Nie Yannian did not say anything. Without moving his shoulders, he flipped and lifted up with one foot, and the thirty-jin stone lock flew straight up to a height of thirty or four feet.

All the young men followed the stone lock with their eyes, but Meng Yuan saw clearly that Nie Yannian lowered his waist and dismounted, spread his feet apart, took a horse stance, closed his eyes slightly, and suddenly extended his right fist to hit the falling stone lock.

With a loud bang, the stone lock burst open.

The broken stones were scattered over an area of ​​ten feet in radius, which showed that Nie Yannian's punch was not only extremely powerful, but also had a perfect control over the strength.

Meng Yuan was stunned, feeling extremely yearning for a moment.

When the young men saw his real skills, they were all stunned.

"The force comes from all directions, and it starts from the ground. The force comes from the waist, and the attack comes from the arm. It rises like a crouching dragon ascending to the sky, and falls like a thunderbolt hitting the ground!"

Nie Yannian stopped his horse stance, smiled and put his arm around Liu He's neck, saying, "This is what we call background, this is what we call strength. Do you think this is just some intrigue among the women in the courtyard?"

He pointed at Meng Yuan, letting Liu He see, and continued, "He is a gelder, and you were born a slave. Who is nobler? I set a goal of lifting a 20-jin stone lock 300 times a day, and he lifted a 30-jin stone lock 500 times. He can punch twice as many times as you do, and he gets up the earliest and practices the most, regardless of wind or snow. You don't have as hard a fist as him, nor as ruthless as him, and you are certainly not as hardworking as him. He will definitely be more successful than you in the future. When he does, he will sleep with your mother in front of you, and you will have to applaud!"

"..."Meng Yuan glanced at Liu He's appearance and thought to himself, I'm not that despicable.

"They've been practicing hard, so it's fine if you don't practice, but what's the point of making sarcastic remarks? Kid, you shouldn't be like this." Nie Yannian patted Liu He's head, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to Wu Changsheng, "Call the roll!"

Wu Changsheng took it respectfully and called out the names: "Liu He! Zhang Jun! Zhang Jinhua!"

Wu Changsheng's forehead was covered with sweat when he read this. He moved closer to Hu Qian and said, "How do you pronounce these three characters? There are so many strokes!"

Hu Qian ignored him.

Seeing that Master Nie looked unhappy, Wu Changsheng quickly asked Meng Yuan again.

"Ji Ji Bao." Meng Yuan instructed.

"It turns out to be him! Ji Jibao!" Wu Changsheng recited a lot incoherently, as if he had diarrhea.

A total of sixteen people stood up, both men and women, but Meng Yuan and Tie Niu were not among them.

"Those whose names are called, go back and pack your things and get out of here!" Nie Yannian was very blunt.

(End of this chapter)