Siheyuan: I am different He Yuzhu

When they arrived at Fengze Garden, Wu Youren went to the kitchen, while Wu Baotian took He Yuzhu to find Luan Xuetang, the owner of Fengze Garden. Although Wu Baotian had accepted He Yuzhu as his apprentice, he still had to tell the owner before he could enter Fengze Garden. This was a respect for the owner and also a rule. After all, being an apprentice in the kitchen was paid, but it was relatively small. However, according to the old rules of master-apprentice, all the income of the apprentice before graduation belonged to the master, and he had to work with the master for 9 years as a reward for the master's imparting of memory. During the period from apprenticeship to graduation, the master also needed to be responsible for the apprentice's food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Under the guidance of his master Wu Baotian, He Yuzhu met Luan Xuetang, the owner of Fengze Garden. Wu Baotian told Luan Xuetang about He Yuzhu's situation, asked He Yuzhu to greet Luan Xuetang, and then took He Yuzhu back to the kitchen.

He Yuzhu was thinking as he walked. Before he traveled through time, he had watched the TV series "Legendary Shopkeeper" based on Luan Xuetang's deeds. However, Luan Xuetang looked nothing like the actor in later generations when he grew up. He thought that Luan Xuetang in the TV series was a man of courage, resourcefulness, affection and righteousness. However, considering the fact that Fengze Garden was closed for five months last year, the TV series obviously glorified Luan Xuetang. After all, in this cannibalistic old society, how could someone who could open so many stores across the country be a good person? He must be a ruthless person who had been tempered by the melting pot of society.

He Yuzhu followed his master Wu Baotian to the kitchen and asked him to wash the ingredients for today. After washing the vegetables, he wanted to test He Yuzhu's knife skills. He Yuzhu washed the vegetables according to his master's request, and then came to the table. Wu Baotian handed He Yuzhu a white radish and asked him to cut it into thin strips.

He Yuzhu took the radish and placed it on the chopping board. He picked up the knife in his right hand, weighed it in his hand to feel the weight of the knife, and then started to cut it. Wu Baotian watched He Yuzhu cutting vegetables. As the saying goes, laymen watch the excitement, while experts watch the doorway. Wu Baotian could tell at a glance that He Yuzhu's knife skills were very solid. Considering that He Yuzhu was only 12 years old, his knife skills were already quite good. At least his son at this age could not compare with He Yuzhu. When He Yuzhu finished cutting a whole radish, Wu Baotian grabbed a handful and looked at it, then nodded in approval.

"You have solid knife skills, and the cuts are evenly thick and uniform in size. However, you are still young and your body is not strong enough yet. After you finish cutting the vegetables every day, find a pot and fill it with a pound of sand to practice flipping the pot. Practice for half an incense stick every half hour, and then rest for half an hour."

In this way, He Yuzhu began his first day of apprenticeship. After the guests came at noon, He Yuzhu followed Wu Baotian to help. After 2 pm, the kitchen was shut down. After He Yuzhu cleaned the stove, he followed Wu Baotian back home. After Wu Baotian returned to the house to rest, He Yuzhu said to his master's wife Liu E.

"Master's wife, I heard from my sister-in-law that there is a woman named Shang near our home who is very good at boxing. I want to go to her house to take a look."

"Then go ahead. Drive slowly and be careful. Her house is not far from ours. Go out of our gate and walk east. You can ask someone on the way and you will know exactly where her house is. It is easy to find. Remember not to play too late, because you have to go to the restaurant with your master in the afternoon." Liu E instructed He Yuzhu.

"Okay, Master's wife, I'll be back in a while. It won't affect our trip to the restaurant this afternoon. I'll be there, and you can take a rest." He Yuzhu said goodbye to Master's wife, trotted out of the courtyard gate, ran east, found a child on the road, asked around, and easily found the courtyard where Shang Zhirong lived. He Yuzhu walked to the gate of Shang Zhirong's courtyard and found it closed. He Yuzhu walked to the door, pulled the door knocker and knocked. He Yuzhu waited for a while, and a woman who looked about 16 or 7 years old opened the door. After opening the door, the woman stared at He Yuzhu and looked him up and down, "Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?"

"Hello, is this the home of Xingyiquan master Shang Gong Yunxiang? My name is He Yuzhu. I heard that Shang Gong's only daughter lives here, so I wanted to come and become his disciple." He Yuzhu said hurriedly.

"My deceased master is indeed the person you are talking about. Please come in with me first. My young lady has the final say on the matter of becoming a disciple. How old are you this year?"

"I'm 12 years old, sister, what's your name?"

"My name is Xiao Cui. You wait here first. I will go back and ask the young lady if she wants to see you." After Xiao Cui said that, she closed the door again.

He Yuzhu stood at the gate and waited patiently. After waiting for a while, Xiao Cui opened the gate again and said, "Come in. My lady wants to see you first." He Yuzhu followed Xiao Cui through the gate and into the yard.

As soon as He Yuzhu entered the yard, he saw a 20-something heroic woman sitting on a stone bench in the yard. The woman looked He Yuzhu up and down for a while and said, "How do you know about my father at such a young age? Judging from your age, you were not that old when my father passed away, right?"

"My name is He Yuzhu, I live in Nanluoguxiang, and now I am learning cooking from Wu Baotian in Muzhu Hutong. I once saw an old man practicing boxing in Shichahai, so I asked him what kind of boxing he practiced. He told me that he practiced Xingyiquan. I wanted him to teach me, but he said that his boxing skills were not good enough and that teaching me would be misleading. I asked him where I could find a powerful master, and he told me a lot of powerful Xingyiquan masters, including the story of Shang Gong. I was very yearning after hearing about them, but it was a pity that Shang Gong passed away when I was only 2 years old. After I came to my master's house in Muzhu Hutong, I heard from my master's eldest daughter-in-law that you also live in this alley, and I heard that your kung fu is very powerful and you have learned the true teachings of Shang Gong, so I took the liberty to come here and learn boxing from you."

After listening to He Yuzhu's words, Shang Zhirong saw that He Yuzhu spoke clearly and thought that He Yuzhu was very smart, so she pondered for a while and asked, "Why do you want to learn martial arts? Learning martial arts is very hard. If you can't bear the pain, don't learn it early."

"Don't be afraid of you laughing at me, I don't have any big ambitions. I want to learn martial arts purely because I like it, and practicing martial arts can strengthen my body. My family has been cooks for generations, and it is a hard job that requires serving people. I am not afraid of hardship." He Yuzhu answered sincerely.

After listening to He Yuzhu's answer, Shang Zhirong stared at He Yuzhu for a while, "Since you have thought it through, I will agree to your request. However, I have to make it clear in advance that Xingyiquan is easy to learn but difficult to master. I can teach you the boxing techniques of Xingyiquan, but how far you can go in practice depends on your comprehension and talent."

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu immediately knelt on the ground and said, "Master, please accept my disciple's greetings." After that, he kowtowed three times and took off the package on his back. Inside was 50 silver dollars that He Yuzhu had prepared in advance. He Yuzhu placed the package in front of Shang Zhirong with both hands.

Shang Zhirong accepted He Yuzhu's three heads with a smile, curiously took the package and opened it, and found that there was an envelope of silver dollars in the package. Shang Zhirong weighed it with his hand and felt that it should be 50 silver dollars. Shang Zhirong immediately looked at He Yuzhu with a serious face: "You are a child, where did you get so much money? You didn't steal it from home, did you? Tell me the truth, otherwise you can take your money back to where it came from. I don't accept thieves."

He Yuzhu immediately explained, "Master, please rest assured that the money comes from a clean source. I just want you to keep it a secret for me and never disclose it to anyone else, otherwise it will bring disaster."

Shang Zhirong interrupted He Yuzhu immediately after hearing what He Yuzhu said, "Xiao Cui, go to the gate and watch out for anyone to come in. He Yuzhu, come and talk to me." Xiao Cui immediately went to the gate and blocked it. He Yuzhu went to Shang Zhirong's side and covered her ears, whispering to her how the money came from. He Yuzhu changed the story of stealing from someone else's house to that he accidentally saved a member of the Workers and Peasants Party, who thanked him and gave him 50 silver dollars. Even his father didn't know about this, so he hoped that his master would keep it a secret after hearing it.

After listening to He Yuzhu's story, Shang Zhirong pondered for a moment and said, "This matter is indeed quite serious. Since you believe me, I will never tell this matter to anyone. You must not tell anyone in the future. Xiao Cui, come back. Everything is fine."

After Shang Zhirong found out the source of He Yuzhu's money, she was moved by the child's honesty. So she decided to teach He Yuzhu well in the future, and if He Yuzhu had a talent for martial arts, she would teach him everything she had learned. Shang Zhirong gave the silver dollar to Xiao Cui and asked her to take it to her mother in the house.

Shang Zhirong told He Yuzhu about the origin of Xingyiquan: "Xingyiquan was reformed and created by Li Luoneng, a native of Shenzhou, Hebei during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, based on Xinyiquan. Xingyiquan emphasizes the high unity of inner meaning and outer form. The basic content of Xingyiquan is the three-body stance, the five-element boxing and the twelve-form boxing. The three-body stance is the unique basic skill and internal training method of Xingyiquan, and it is known as "all methods originate from the three-body stance". The five-element boxing combines the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and is respectively splitting fist (gold), drilling fist (water), collapsing fist (wood), cannon fist (fire) and horizontal fist (earth); the twelve-form boxing is an imitation of the three-body stance. The practical skills created based on the movement characteristics of twelve animals are dragon form, tiger form, bear form, snake form, ox form, monkey form, horse form, chicken form, swallow form, crocodile form, kite form, and eagle form. The key points of practice are: one is to collapse the waist, two is to shrink the shoulders, three is to buckle the chest, four is to push up, five is to lift, six is ​​to move horizontally and smoothly, and seven is to drill, fall and flip clearly. Collapse the waist means to lift the coccyx upward; shrink the shoulders means to pull the shoulders back; buckle the chest means to open the chest and smooth the air; push up means to push the head, tongue and hands; lift means to lift the inside of the neck, horizontal means to rise, and smooth means to fall; rise means to drill; fall means to flip. Rise is also horizontal, and fall is also smooth. "

Shang Zhirong demonstrated as she spoke. She first taught He Yuzhu the three-body standing posture of Xingyiquan. She asked He Yuzhu to practice with her first. He Yuzhu practiced twice. She asked He Yuzhu to practice alone and corrected his shortcomings and mistakes. He Yuzhu practiced several times under Shang Zhirong's guidance. Shang Zhirong felt that He Yuzhu had good talent and specifically told He Yuzhu to practice diligently in the future and not to slack off.

He Yuzhu finished his practice and said, "Master, I have to go now. I have to go to Fengze Garden to learn cooking from my master. I will come to learn from you tomorrow afternoon." After saying goodbye to Shang Zhirong, He Yuzhu returned to Wu Baotian's home. As it was still early, he stood in the yard and continued to practice the three-body stance.