"Iâm so bored!"
After eating and drinking her fill, Lin Wan sprawled on the sofa and sighed, "I still have to stay cooped up at home for two months. Even when Xiumin comes over, I have to lie in bed. Occasionally getting out of bed, I still have to pretend and act."
Lu Zheng thought for a moment, "How about I teach you some martial arts?"
"Martial arts?" Lin Wan was taken aback, and then she was immediately invigorated, "Itâs not that so-called nonsense stuff, right?"
"Are you still stuck on that? Just say if you want to learn or not!"
"I want to learn!"
Lin Wan nodded repeatedly, then became a bit apprehensive, "Um, can I actually learn it?"
Lu Zheng shrugged, "Probably not."
Lin Wan: ăœ(â°âźâ°)ïŸ!!!
What do you mean, are you just teasing me?
"Even if you canât master it, it can still improve your physical fitness in various ways," Lu Zheng explained leisurely, "like agility, strength, reflexes, and so on."
Lu Zheng was unsure if Lin Wan could master the âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniques,â but as long as she learned even half, similar situations like the car accident she had before would be less likely to happen again.
Lin Wan:
I want to learn!
"What is it, what is it?"
Lin Wan was dying of curiosity, but since she had said she wouldnât ask previously, she held herself back. However, now that Lu Zheng had offered to teach, she could probe a bit.
"Itâs a pretty difficult inner boxing technique. Donât be fooled by the small number of moves; the requirements are extremely strict."
Lin Wan nodded repeatedly, "Iâve heard about it, the national martial arts in novels are all like this!"
Lu Zheng licked his lips. To be honest, he wasnât familiar with national martial arts. He really didnât know whether they were the same as the âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniques.â Even with the Light of Fortune enhancing his sword technique, it was merely about technique and force application, not training methods.
So using the Light of Fortune to enhance those Tai Chi or Baji Fist techniques would be the same. The posture might look impressive, but the core was still his âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniquesâ and Martial Artistâs Blood Qi.
"Yeah, pretty much."
So Lu Zheng could only give a vague response, "This boxing technique is called âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniques.â"
"âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniquesâ?" Lin Wan repeated, "Never heard of it..."
Lu Zheng shook his head, if you had heard of it, that would be a ghost story.
"Iâll teach you the first move first."
"Okay, okay!" Lin Wan immediately set aside her doubts and became excited.
So Lu Zheng went to the center of the living room and performed the entire set of the eighteen techniques.
After watching, Lin Wan looked totally confused. Thatâs it?
Really couldnât see where the grandeur was?
Lu Zheng chuckled, "Come here, feel the muscles on my body."
"Oh, oh." Lin Wan got up and approached.
Lu Zheng posed in the first stance of the âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniques.â
"Start from my calf," Lu Zheng gestured to Lin Wan.
Then, under Lu Zhengâs guidance, Lin Wan felt from his calf to his thigh, then from his spine to his back, and finally from his shoulder to his forearm.
In the end, Lin Wan and Lu Zheng looked at each other face to face, shocked.
"Every muscle vibration is essential. They rise and fall continuously, the force is endless, imitating a mountain on a mountain peak."
Lu Zheng looked at Lin Wan with a half-smile, "Once all your muscle vibrations meet the standard, the first move is considered complete."
Lin Wan was dumbfounded, "Thatâs so hard!"
"What did you think?"
Lin Wan felt a sense of despair. "I donât think I can even complete the first move!"
Lu Zheng encouraged her with a smile, "Work hard for a year, and perhaps you can."
"But there are eighteen moves!" Lin Wan slumped back onto the sofa. "Even if I can learn one move in a year, itâd take eighteen years. Iâd be forty by the time I mastered them all!"
Now I understand why the national martial arts declined. If an obscure âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniquesâ is this hard, those Tai Chi, Baji Fist, and Eight Trigrams Palm techniques must be nearly impossible!
How could an average person endure that? Unless they have an extraordinary talent, they canât possibly master it!"
Um, even though Lin Wan misunderstood, judging from the descriptions of those traditional martial arts, they indeed arenât easy to learn. They probably have unique similarities with the martial arts techniques of the Great Jing Dynasty.
"Actually, not that long. The first step from nothing to something is always the hardest. Think about it, once you master the first move, youâll have the experience of controlling all your muscles. Even if there are changes later, wouldnât it get progressively faster?"
Lin Wan thought about it, and it made sense!
"Iâll practice! Anyway, thereâs nothing to do in these two months, so letâs see what I can make of it!"
Lu Zheng nodded, "Youâre teachable."
Then he pulled Lin Wan up and helped her pose in the first stance.
"Here, and here, exert force. These two points are where the first move simulates bearing a mountain."
"Half-step bow, 60-40 weight distribution, force starts from the heel."
"Shake the waist and straighten the back, sink the shoulders and drop the elbows!"
Linâs mother came out after cleaning up in the kitchen, and seeing Lu Zheng teaching Lin Wan martial arts, she didnât interrupt and went to her bedroom to rest.
Under Lu Zhengâs guidance, Lin Wan posed in a stance for two hours, then merely knew the force points of each location.
As for muscle vibration, she just learned the coordination of the two calves.
However, this was already enough to make Lin Wan delighted, "Maybe it wonât even take a year?"
Lu Zheng pursed his lips, "I donât have time to accompany you from start to finish..."
Lin Wan glanced at the guest bedroom, pulled Lu Zheng, and headed to the master bedroom.
Lu Zheng got nervous, "This isnât good, your mom will find out..."
"Keep it down, my mom usually sleeps for two hours in the afternoon."
"The thing is, the noise usually isnât from me..."
...
In the afternoon, Lu Zheng stayed for dinner before bidding farewell.
...
The next day, with nothing to do, Lu Zheng replenished a batch of goods to his candy shop and then leisurely went out the door, heading to Renxin Hall.
It was shortly past 7 a.m., and the medical hall was already crowded with patients. Elder Liu and Liu Qingyan were busily checking pulses and treating patients, with two staff members dispensing and decocting medicine, bustling about.
So Lu Zheng quickly entered, reaching out to support a patient who almost fell.
"Lu Lang." Liu Qingyan looked up and saw Lu Zheng.
"You focus on your work, Iâll help out."
"Alright!" Liu Qingyan smiled, her expression warm like spring flowers blooming, captivating the patients in the medical hall.
...
At noon, the elderly at home brought meals over, but Lu Zheng let the hallâs staff eat more while he took Liu Qingyan out to a restaurant.
In the afternoon, just past noon, Hu Zhou arrived at the medical hall after lunch and started all kinds of help in the medical hall.
He stayed busy until late afternoon. As it was already late autumn, the sky darkened early, and there were no more patients visiting the medical hall.
Hu Zhou tidied up his tasks, waved at Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan, and said, "Young Master Lu! Miss Liu! Iâm heading home!"
"Hold on!" Lu Zheng reached out and called Hu Zhou.
"Young Master Lu, is there something else?" Hu Zhou paused to ask.
Lu Zheng asked, "When you go home tonight, do you have anything else to do?"
Hu Zhou shook his head, "Not much, just chatting with my mom before going to sleep."
Lu Zheng nodded, "From now on, after helping out at the medical hall, come to my place for dinner. Iâll teach you the âEighteen Mountain-Carrying Techniques.â"
Teaching one person is teaching, and teaching two is the same.
Moreover, Hu Zhou is filial to his mother, honest in nature, and helps out at the medical hall without compensation every day. Teaching Hu Zhou martial arts is both doing a favor and providing protection for the medical hall, accomplishing two goals at once.