Since Drunken Elder liked drinking milk—fresh milk—he would just go milk the cow himself.
He had seen it on TV before. It wasn't hard.
So he picked up the milk pail and went to milk the cow.
But this cow was not behaving. The moment he set the pail down, it kicked out with a hind leg—smack—and knocked it over.
Tang Xiaohao froze, thinking, How am I supposed to milk it like this?
Looking more closely, he saw two holes in the ground. Not far away lay two thick wooden stakes, their lower halves sharpened, dirt still clinging to them. They had clearly just been planted here.
Tang Xiaohao was sharp as anything.
One look at the positions of those two holes, and he fell into thought.
After searching around again, he found two hemp ropes nearby, and Tang Xiaohao smiled.
With one palm strike for each stake, he drove the two sticks into the ground.
Then he led the cow over and tied both its hind legs to the posts.
Now let's see how you kick!
The pail had only just been set in place when—smack—this cow was pretty clever, sweeping the pail over again with its tail.
"Hey! You useless cow!"
Tang Xiaohao searched everywhere but could not find any more rope. Over there, Drunken Elder was still anxiously waiting to drink milk. Without fresh milk, how was he supposed to become his disciple!?
So he stood behind the cow's rear and grabbed its tail. He looked left and right... it was all grass, and little grass at that. There was no way to twist a rope out of it!
Finally, he lowered his head.
"I'll tie you up—" Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his own belt.
"Come on, I'll hoist your tail up. Let's see how