That day, Hao Shuai and his master were practicing on the Wooden Dummy in the storeroom.
"Master Ip! Someone's here to learn boxing from you!!!"
Third Aunt, who was resting in a chair because of her injured foot, suddenly shouted. Ip Man and Hao Shuai jumped in fright.
Ip Man and Hao Shuai came out and saw a handsome young man wearing a hat, carrying a bag on his back and holding a flyer. Ip Man asked, "You want to learn Wing Chun?"
"Just taking a look! I don't even know what Wing Chun is."
Seeing the familiar scene and hearing the familiar dialogue, Hao Shuai knew that the handsome guy standing there, who was about seventy percent as handsome as him, was Huang Liang from the movie.
Ip Man was pleased to have another person come to learn from him, and began explaining Wing Chun to Huang Liang. "Let me tell you a little about it first. Wing Chun is a kind of close-range fighting style from the south..."
"You don't have to tell me all that. Fight me. If you lose, I'll pay the tuition."
Huang Liang's words were arrogant, and they grated on Ip Man's ears. Even Ip Man, for all his composure, couldn't tolerate them.
"Fine!" Ip Man said, preparing to teach Huang Liang a lesson.
Hao Shuai stopped Ip Man. "Master, not every Tom, Dick, and Harry is worth you lifting a finger for. I've been learning for a while now, so why not let me get some real combat practice in?"
"Then be careful not to go too far," Ip Man instructed. He thought Hao Shuai had a point.
"You have to beat me first before you're worth my master's personal attention," Hao Shuai said, standing in front of Huang Liang.
"Then I'll see what you're made of." Huang Liang put his bag on the wooden rack, loosened up, and assumed a boxer's stance.
"Wing Chun. Hao Shuai." Hao Shuai took up Wing Chun's opening stance and introduced himself the way Ip Man had.
"Good-looking?" Huang Liang wondered aloud. Sure, you were a tiny bit more handsome than he was, but wasn't it a bit much to say so out loud?
Hao Shuai couldn't be bothered to explain.
They squared off, neither making a move. In the end, Huang Liang lost patience and threw a right hook at Hao Shuai's face.
Hao Shuai blocked it with his left hand, then closed in and began fighting at close range. At first, since it was Hao Shuai's first real fight and he lacked experience, they were evenly matched.
But as Hao Shuai grew more familiar with his moves, the fight turned into a one-sided beating.
"I'm done! I'm done!" A few minutes later, after taking another punch to the eye, Huang Liang couldn't take it anymore and shouted for them to stop.
Huang Liang's eye was bruised, his face swollen, and his nose was bleeding. Even Hao Shuai winced at the sight. The main problem was that Hao Shuai was a beginner too, and unlike Ip Man, he couldn't control the force of his blows.
Huang Liang didn't dare keep pretending he could take it. He really couldn't endure any more. Hao Shuai had been aiming straight for his face the whole time.
Damn, did he have to bully him like this? Hadn't he heard that you shouldn't hit someone in the face?
"Do you understand what Wing Chun is now?" Hao Shuai asked, rubbing in his victory.
"Master Ip, I had no idea your disciple, Xiao Shuai, was already this good!" Third Aunt chimed in.
Huang Liang ignored Hao Shuai and Ip Man, grabbed his bag, and ran downstairs.
Ip Man didn't chase after Huang Liang. Now that he had enough to eat and drink, whether or not he took on disciples no longer mattered. Hao Shuai, meanwhile, knew Huang Liang would be back.
Sure enough, around five or six that afternoon, just as Hao Shuai and Ip Man were tidying up to head home, Huang Liang came charging onto the rooftop with three people, looking like a gang member coming to settle a score.
"That's them," Huang Liang said, pointing at Hao Shuai and Ip Man.
"Huang Liang, you've got to be kidding! Forget this older guy, but that one's about our age. You're telling me you couldn't beat him?" Xu Shichang, the young kung fu prodigy—no, not Jet Li, Xu Shichang—looked at Huang Liang with disdain.
"He's pretty good! Try him if you don't believe me!" Huang Liang had taken a beating and wanted his friends to share the pain.
"Fine, I'll try!" Xu Shichang immediately took off his jacket and was about to fight Hao Shuai.
"Hold on. If we're going to fight, the three of you might as well come at me together. Let's get this over with so my master and I can go home!" Hao Shuai saw that Ip Man wasn't stepping in and understood that he was leaving this to him.
"Why would all three of us need to fight you?" Xu Shichang said.
Xu Shichang refused, so Hao Shuai had no choice but to give him what he wanted.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
In less than two minutes, Xu Shichang had a bruised eye and a nose streaming with blood, just like Huang Liang.
"How about you two? Want to try?" Hao Shuai asked the remaining two.
"No, no, we're convinced!" Seeing that even Xu Shichang, the toughest of them, had been taught a lesson, the other two shook their heads like rattles at Hao Shuai's question.
By now, Huang Liang was thoroughly convinced. If even the disciple was this good, just imagine how good the master must be.
"Master, my name is Huang Liang. Please accept me as your disciple." Huang Liang was a straightforward guy. Once convinced, he immediately bowed to Ip Man and asked to become his disciple.
Xu Shichang and the other two were quick on the uptake. When they saw Huang Liang bowing, they immediately knelt down and asked Ip Man to take them on as disciples too.
"Get up, all of you!" Ip Man was delighted to have four more disciples.
"Since you've all become disciples, that makes me your senior brother. Pay the tuition first," Hao Shuai said. He knew Ip Man was too modest to bring up tuition, so he spoke for him.
"Yes, Senior Brother!" The four of them got up and handed over their tuition.
"Master, here's their tuition." Hao Shuai collected the four payments and gave them to Ip Man.
"Good... good. It's getting late, so come back here bright and early tomorrow. I'll officially begin teaching you then," Ip Man said with a broad smile as he took the money.
"Yes, Master!" After saying goodbye to Ip Man and Hao Shuai, the four left the rooftop.
"Master, let's head back for dinner too. I bet your wife's been waiting for us," Hao Shuai said to Ip Man.
"Then let's go." Ip Man headed straight for the stairs.
Hao Shuai followed Ip Man home. Zhang Yongcheng had already made dinner and was waiting for them.
After washing their hands, the four of them sat around the table and began to eat.
After dinner, Ip Chun went to the next room to do his homework.
Ip Man told Zhang Yongcheng that four people had come to become his disciples that day and gave her their tuition.
Zhang Yongcheng happily accepted the money. She was delighted that Ip Man's school was finally getting on track.
Seeing that Ip Man and his wife were in a good mood, Hao Shuai seized the chance to say, "Master, you know I live alone next to the school. I was wondering if you and your family would move in with me."
"How can we do that, Xiao Shuai? We've already received so much help from you," Ip Man said, refusing without a moment's hesitation.
Hao Shuai had known from the start that Ip Man would refuse, but he tried to persuade him anyway. "Master, hear me out. I want you to move in with me for a few reasons. First, look how far along your wife is, and she's still living in such a noisy place. It's not good for the baby. Besides, it's quite a distance from here to the school, and your wife has to walk all the way there to bring us lunch while pregnant. It's dangerous. Second, Ip Chun is at an important age for his studies. Can he really focus on his schoolwork in this environment? Third, you know I don't have a single relative or friend in Hong Kong. You're the closest people I have. When I come home to an empty place every night, I feel so lonely."
Ip Man listened to Hao Shuai's reasoning. When Hao Shuai said he felt lonely living alone, Ip Man felt a pang of sympathy. Still, he wanted Zhang Yongcheng's opinion, so he looked at her to see what she would say.
Hao Shuai understood at once that he'd won Ip Man over and that Zhang Yongcheng was the only one left to convince. So he continued, "Madam, you know I'm a grown man living alone. No one even cleans the place, so there's probably a layer of dust built up by now. If you moved in, you could help me clean the house, couldn't you?"
"All right, then," Zhang Yongcheng said, readily agreeing.
"Great! I'm moving!" Ip Chun jumped up happily.
"Then I'll head back first, Master. I'll bring people over to move your things tomorrow morning!" Hao Shuai stood to take his leave.
"Xiao Shuai, take care on your way," Ip Man said, walking him to the door.
"I really owe that disciple of mine so much," Ip Man said to Zhang Yongcheng.
"That's true. There isn't much we can do for him. All you can do is teach him with all your heart," Zhang Yongcheng said with a sigh.
"I will. It's late. Let's get some rest."
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