Chapter 153: Repentan e of the Haughty Dragon (6)
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" Not at all," Qi Gong protested, shaking his head. " He isn't up to standard at all! It's necessary that the point the trunk breaks be perfectly neat. Look, it's all twisted, like a saw's teeth- what pathetic gongfu! And then this pine is as slender as a stick, no, as slender as a toothpick! This kid isn't up to the mark at all!"
" But if he attacks me with this palm," objected Huang Rong, " I will not be able to defend myself. This is all your fault: if he bullies me later, how will I do?"
Qi Gong, who wanted to get back into her good books, did not want to keep annoying her, even though he clearly saw that she was being duplicitous:
" So what, according to you, must I do?"
" Teach me a skill with which I can beat him. After that, I'll cook for you."
" Very well, we're agreed," said Qi Gong. " He learned only a single blow, it's easy to beat him. I will teach you a fist technique called "Wandering Strides"."
No sooner had he finished speaking that he rose to his feet to demonstrate: he jumped to right and to the left, with grace and nimbleness, while his big sleeves flew away…
Huang Rong not some lost a crumb and silently memorized every movement. When the old man had finished the complete chain, she had already half-learned it. After it him given all the supplementary indications, it didn't take two hours for the girl to execute perfectly the thirty-six movements of the "Wandering Strides". At last, she executed the skill at the same time as Qi Gong: they themselves tinrent coast to coast and sprang in concert, the one to right, the other to the left, twirling as a jade swallow and a great eagle gliding in the skies. At the end of the thirty-six movements, they landed on their feet at the same time, regarding each other, and burst into laughter, while Guo Jing applauded vigorously.
" This little one is hundred more intelligent times than you," says Qi Gong to Guo Jing.
" So many movements and variations," marvelled the latter while scratching his head, " how did she learn so quickly? And how does she manage not to forget? Me, when I remember second movement, I've already forgot the first one!"
Qi Gong burst out laughing:
" Indeed you absolutely cannot learn this «Wandering Strides»! Even if you memorized the steps, you are incapable, in the practice, to produce the spirit of striding! Executed so painstakingly and clumsily, this fist technique would become a real chore!"
" You've got a point!" conceded Guo Jing while laughing.
" This «Wandering Strides»," Qi Gong said, " is a gongfu that I practiced in my youth. I have brought it out again to match the direction of the original gongfu of the little one, indeed, it doesn't correspond to the martial arts that I use currently. Thus, I myself haven't used it once during the last ten years."
He wanted to mean that the «Wandering Strides» was a lot less powerful than the «Eighteen Dragon Mastering Palms».
Huang Rong was delighted:
" Qi Gong, if I beat him again, he'll surely be unhappy, so teach him again some blows."
She herself had no real intention to learn, it was only a pretext to push the old beggar to give more lessons to her lover. If she really had wanted to obtain martial arts, she had at her disposal a great master in the person of her father, of which she not never all could have learned.
" This dumb kid," said Qi Gong, " He hasn't even fully digested the single blow that I learned for him. Who too kisses poorly embraces! It suffices that you prepare me a lot of dishes, and I will grant all your wishes!"
" Very well," said Huang Rong, smiling. " Then I leave for the market."
Qi Gong laughed heartily and himself returned to the hostelry, leaving Guo Jing alone in the pine wood, where he returned to training with determination, late into the night.
That night, Huang Rong indeed prepared a cabbage dish and a plateful of tofu for Qi Gong. She had carefully selected the most tender cabbage heart and leaves, than she had done to return with hen grease and filaments of duck leg. But the plateful of tofu was really extraordinary: she had cut a ham in two, then dug twenty-four small spherical cavities, in which ones had placed balls of tofu, before closing the ham and beginning to steam it. At the end of cooking, the whole flavour of the ham had passed into the tofu, while the ham himself was left out. After tasting of this dish, Qi Gong evidently was conquered. This steamed tofu had an equally inspired name of poetry Tang and was called « Full Moon Night on the twenty-four bridges ». If the girl had not had at his disposal the family technique called « The Orchid Skims the Point », her ten nimble and delicate fingers would not have been in a position to cut twenty-four small balls in the fragile mass of the tofu. To do that demanded as much delicacy as to engrave characters on a grain of rice, or to sculpture a boat in a nutshell. It would have been easy to cut pieces of tofu in cube, but where had one seen square full moons?
After the dinner, each went to go to bed. Qi Gong was astonished to see Guo Jing and Huang Rong going to separate rooms:
" Huh? Aren't you husband and wife? Why don't you sleep in the same room?"
Huang Rong, that had not stopped joking with him without reserve, felt all embarrassed. Her cheeks blushing, she looked upset.
" Elder, if you continue to talk nonsense, I won't cook for you tomorrow!"
" What's this?" Qi Gong was astonished. " What did I talk nonsense?"
After an instant's reflection, he realized:
" I'm old and senile, indeed," he said while laughing. " You're clearly dressed as a girl, and not as a wife. You are yourself therefore promised to each other secretly, without the consent of the parents or a matchmaker, or the wedding ceremony. Don't worry, I will be your go-between. If your dad does not accept, I'll provoke a duel and we'll fight, my goodness! for seven days and seven nights if we have to, until he yields!"
Huang Rong was precisely worried about this matter: she feared that her father would not like Guo Jing. The words of the old beggar filled her with joy and she returned to her room, her face radiant.
The next day, Guo Jing went back to the pinewood at dawn. He practiced to about twenty rounds with much sweat, but rejoiced at the progress he accomplished, when he suddenly heard a voice speaking behind the trees.
" Shifu," says a voice, "we must have travelled more than thirty li this time, isn't that right? "
" Indeed," replied another voice, " you've achieved some progress in endurance…"
This voice seemed very familiar to Guo Jing, who then saw four individuals appear, of which the first one had white hair and ruddy complexion: it was none other than his number one enemy, Liang Ziwong, the Thousand-Year Ginseng! He pesta internally and took to his heels.
But Liang Ziwong already had recognized him:
" Where do you think you're going?" he cried while thrusting himself forward in pursuit.
The three other men were his disciples. See their Shifu running after an enemy, they themselves split up in order to surround the young man.
" I need to get out of the pinewood and get back to the inn in order to be safe," said Guo Jing to himself, while running even faster.
The first disciple of Liang Ziwong barred the way and shouted, while crossing the two palms:
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
" Not at all," Qi Gong protested, shaking his head. " He isn't up to standard at all! It's necessary that the point the trunk breaks be perfectly neat. Look, it's all twisted, like a saw's teeth- what pathetic gongfu! And then this pine is as slender as a stick, no, as slender as a toothpick! This kid isn't up to the mark at all!"
" But if he attacks me with this palm," objected Huang Rong, " I will not be able to defend myself. This is all your fault: if he bullies me later, how will I do?"
Qi Gong, who wanted to get back into her good books, did not want to keep annoying her, even though he clearly saw that she was being duplicitous:
" So what, according to you, must I do?"
" Teach me a skill with which I can beat him. After that, I'll cook for you."
" Very well, we're agreed," said Qi Gong. " He learned only a single blow, it's easy to beat him. I will teach you a fist technique called "Wandering Strides"."
No sooner had he finished speaking that he rose to his feet to demonstrate: he jumped to right and to the left, with grace and nimbleness, while his big sleeves flew away…
Huang Rong not some lost a crumb and silently memorized every movement. When the old man had finished the complete chain, she had already half-learned it. After it him given all the supplementary indications, it didn't take two hours for the girl to execute perfectly the thirty-six movements of the "Wandering Strides". At last, she executed the skill at the same time as Qi Gong: they themselves tinrent coast to coast and sprang in concert, the one to right, the other to the left, twirling as a jade swallow and a great eagle gliding in the skies. At the end of the thirty-six movements, they landed on their feet at the same time, regarding each other, and burst into laughter, while Guo Jing applauded vigorously.
" This little one is hundred more intelligent times than you," says Qi Gong to Guo Jing.
" So many movements and variations," marvelled the latter while scratching his head, " how did she learn so quickly? And how does she manage not to forget? Me, when I remember second movement, I've already forgot the first one!"
Qi Gong burst out laughing:
" Indeed you absolutely cannot learn this «Wandering Strides»! Even if you memorized the steps, you are incapable, in the practice, to produce the spirit of striding! Executed so painstakingly and clumsily, this fist technique would become a real chore!"
" You've got a point!" conceded Guo Jing while laughing.
" This «Wandering Strides»," Qi Gong said, " is a gongfu that I practiced in my youth. I have brought it out again to match the direction of the original gongfu of the little one, indeed, it doesn't correspond to the martial arts that I use currently. Thus, I myself haven't used it once during the last ten years."
He wanted to mean that the «Wandering Strides» was a lot less powerful than the «Eighteen Dragon Mastering Palms».
Huang Rong was delighted:
" Qi Gong, if I beat him again, he'll surely be unhappy, so teach him again some blows."
She herself had no real intention to learn, it was only a pretext to push the old beggar to give more lessons to her lover. If she really had wanted to obtain martial arts, she had at her disposal a great master in the person of her father, of which she not never all could have learned.
" This dumb kid," said Qi Gong, " He hasn't even fully digested the single blow that I learned for him. Who too kisses poorly embraces! It suffices that you prepare me a lot of dishes, and I will grant all your wishes!"
" Very well," said Huang Rong, smiling. " Then I leave for the market."
Qi Gong laughed heartily and himself returned to the hostelry, leaving Guo Jing alone in the pine wood, where he returned to training with determination, late into the night.
That night, Huang Rong indeed prepared a cabbage dish and a plateful of tofu for Qi Gong. She had carefully selected the most tender cabbage heart and leaves, than she had done to return with hen grease and filaments of duck leg. But the plateful of tofu was really extraordinary: she had cut a ham in two, then dug twenty-four small spherical cavities, in which ones had placed balls of tofu, before closing the ham and beginning to steam it. At the end of cooking, the whole flavour of the ham had passed into the tofu, while the ham himself was left out. After tasting of this dish, Qi Gong evidently was conquered. This steamed tofu had an equally inspired name of poetry Tang and was called « Full Moon Night on the twenty-four bridges ». If the girl had not had at his disposal the family technique called « The Orchid Skims the Point », her ten nimble and delicate fingers would not have been in a position to cut twenty-four small balls in the fragile mass of the tofu. To do that demanded as much delicacy as to engrave characters on a grain of rice, or to sculpture a boat in a nutshell. It would have been easy to cut pieces of tofu in cube, but where had one seen square full moons?
After the dinner, each went to go to bed. Qi Gong was astonished to see Guo Jing and Huang Rong going to separate rooms:
" Huh? Aren't you husband and wife? Why don't you sleep in the same room?"
Huang Rong, that had not stopped joking with him without reserve, felt all embarrassed. Her cheeks blushing, she looked upset.
" Elder, if you continue to talk nonsense, I won't cook for you tomorrow!"
" What's this?" Qi Gong was astonished. " What did I talk nonsense?"
After an instant's reflection, he realized:
" I'm old and senile, indeed," he said while laughing. " You're clearly dressed as a girl, and not as a wife. You are yourself therefore promised to each other secretly, without the consent of the parents or a matchmaker, or the wedding ceremony. Don't worry, I will be your go-between. If your dad does not accept, I'll provoke a duel and we'll fight, my goodness! for seven days and seven nights if we have to, until he yields!"
Huang Rong was precisely worried about this matter: she feared that her father would not like Guo Jing. The words of the old beggar filled her with joy and she returned to her room, her face radiant.
The next day, Guo Jing went back to the pinewood at dawn. He practiced to about twenty rounds with much sweat, but rejoiced at the progress he accomplished, when he suddenly heard a voice speaking behind the trees.
" Shifu," says a voice, "we must have travelled more than thirty li this time, isn't that right? "
" Indeed," replied another voice, " you've achieved some progress in endurance…"
This voice seemed very familiar to Guo Jing, who then saw four individuals appear, of which the first one had white hair and ruddy complexion: it was none other than his number one enemy, Liang Ziwong, the Thousand-Year Ginseng! He pesta internally and took to his heels.
But Liang Ziwong already had recognized him:
" Where do you think you're going?" he cried while thrusting himself forward in pursuit.
The three other men were his disciples. See their Shifu running after an enemy, they themselves split up in order to surround the young man.
" I need to get out of the pinewood and get back to the inn in order to be safe," said Guo Jing to himself, while running even faster.
The first disciple of Liang Ziwong barred the way and shouted, while crossing the two palms:
" Not at all," Qi Gong protested, shaking his head. " He isn't up to standard at all! It's necessary that the point the trunk breaks be perfectly neat. Look, it's all twisted, like a saw's teeth- what pathetic gongfu! And then this pine is as slender as a stick, no, as slender as a toothpick! This kid isn't up to the mark at all!"" But if he attacks me with this palm," objected Huang Rong, " I will not be able to defend myself. This is all your fault: if he bullies me later, how will I do?"Qi Gong, who wanted to get back into her good books, did not want to keep annoying her, even though he clearly saw that she was being duplicitous:" So what, according to you, must I do?"" Teach me a skill with which I can beat him. After that, I'll cook for you."" Very well, we're agreed," said Qi Gong. " He learned only a single blow, it's easy to beat him. I will teach you a fist technique called "Wandering Strides"."No sooner had he finished speaking that he rose to his feet to demonstrate: he jumped to right and to the left, with grace and nimbleness, while his big sleeves flew awayHuang Rong not some lost a crumb and silently memorized every movement. When the old man had finished the complete chain, she had already half-learned it. After it him given all the supplementary indications, it didn't take two hours for the girl to execute perfectly the thirty-six movements of the "Wandering Strides". At last, she executed the skill at the same time as Qi Gong: they themselves tinrent coast to coast and sprang in concert, the one to right, the other to the left, twirling as a jade swallow and a great eagle gliding in the skies. At the end of the thirty-six movements, they landed on their feet at the same time, regarding each other, and burst into laughter, while Guo Jing applauded vigorously." This little one is hundred more intelligent times than you," says Qi Gong to Guo Jing." So many movements and variations," marvelled the latter while scratching his head, " how did she learn so quickly? And how does she manage not to forget? Me, when I remember second movement, I've already forgot the first one!"Qi Gong burst out laughing:" Indeed you absolutely cannot learn this Wandering Strides! Even if you memorized the steps, you are incapable, in the practice, to produce the spirit of striding! Executed so painstakingly and clumsily, this fist technique would become a real chore!"" You've got a point!" conceded Guo Jing while laughing." This Wandering Strides," Qi Gong said, " is a gongfu that I practiced in my youth. I have brought it out again to match the direction of the original gongfu of the little one, indeed, it doesn't correspond to the martial arts that I use currently. Thus, I myself haven't used it once during the last ten years."He wanted to mean that the Wandering Strides was a lot less powerful than the Eighteen Dragon Mastering Palms.Huang Rong was delighted:" Qi Gong, if I beat him again, he'll surely be unhappy, so teach him again some blows."She herself had no real intention to learn, it was only a pretext to push the old beggar to give more lessons to her lover. If she really had wanted to obtain martial arts, she had at her disposal a great master in the person of her father, of which she not never all could have learned." This dumb kid," said Qi Gong, " He hasn't even fully digested the single blow that I learned for him. Who too kisses poorly embraces! It suffices that you prepare me a lot of dishes, and I will grant all your wishes!"" Very well," said Huang Rong, smiling. " Then I leave for the market."Qi Gong laughed heartily and himself returned to the hostelry, leaving Guo Jing alone in the pine wood, where he returned to training with determination, late into the night.That night, Huang Rong indeed prepared a cabbage dish and a plateful of tofu for Qi Gong. She had carefully selected the most tender cabbage heart and leaves, than she had done to return with hen grease and filaments of duck leg. But the plateful of tofu was really extraordinary: she had cut a ham in two, then dug twenty-four small spherical cavities, in which ones had placed balls of tofu, before closing the ham and beginning to steam it. At the end of cooking, the whole flavour of the ham had passed into the tofu, while the ham himself was left out. After tasting of this dish, Qi Gong evidently was conquered. This steamed tofu had an equally inspired name of poetry Tang and was called Full Moon Night on the twenty-four bridges . If the girl had not had at his disposal the family technique called The Orchid Skims the Point , her ten nimble and delicate fingers would not have been in a position to cut twenty-four small balls in the fragile mass of the tofu. To do that demanded as much delicacy as to engrave characters on a grain of rice, or to sculpture a boat in a nutshell. It would have been easy to cut pieces of tofu in cube, but where had one seen square full moons?After the dinner, each went to go to bed. Qi Gong was astonished to see Guo Jing and Huang Rong going to separate rooms:" Huh? Aren't you husband and wife? Why don't you sleep in the same room?"Huang Rong, that had not stopped joking with him without reserve, felt all embarrassed. Her cheeks blushing, she looked upset." Elder, if you continue to talk nonsense, I won't cook for you tomorrow!"" What's this?" Qi Gong was astonished. " What did I talk nonsense?"After an instant's reflection, he realized:" I'm old and senile, indeed," he said while laughing. " You're clearly dressed as a girl, and not as a wife. You are yourself therefore promised to each other secretly, without the consent of the parents or a matchmaker, or the wedding ceremony. Don't worry, I will be your go-between. If your dad does not accept, I'll provoke a duel and we'll fight, my goodness! for seven days and seven nights if we have to, until he yields!"Huang Rong was precisely worried about this matter: she feared that her father would not like Guo Jing. The words of the old beggar filled her with joy and she returned to her room, her face radiant.The next day, Guo Jing went back to the pinewood at dawn. He practiced to about twenty rounds with much sweat, but rejoiced at the progress he accomplished, when he suddenly heard a voice speaking behind the trees." Shifu," says a voice, "we must have travelled more than thirty li this time, isn't that right? "" Indeed," replied another voice, " you've achieved some progress in endurance"This voice seemed very familiar to Guo Jing, who then saw four individuals appear, of which the first one had white hair and ruddy complexion: it was none other than his number one enemy, Liang Ziwong, the Thousand-Year Ginseng! He pesta internally and took to his heels.But Liang Ziwong already had recognized him:" Where do you think you're going?" he cried while thrusting himself forward in pursuit.The three other men were his disciples. See their Shifu running after an enemy, they themselves split up in order to surround the young man." I need to get out of the pinewood and get back to the inn in order to be safe," said Guo Jing to himself, while running even faster.The first disciple of Liang Ziwong barred the way and shouted, while crossing the two palms:
