Stealing a Master's Skills

Su Ziyang threw Er Biao onto his bed.

Then, after washing off the smell of smoke and alcohol, I changed into my training clothes and sat down on the meditation cushion in the corner to begin my practice...

Nothing more was said that night.

Er Biao's voice pulled Su Ziyang back to reality from his meditative state.

"Ziyang, what kind of kung fu is that! You're sitting cross-legged in meditation!"

Er Biao's mouth was dry, and he mumbled as he looked at Su Ziyang.

"Haha, Biaozi, you're awake. Have some water!"

Seeing that Su Ziyang seemed completely unaffected, Er Biao began to doubt whether he had actually drunk all that alcohol last night. After gulping down two glasses of water, Er Biao's hoarse throat finally felt a bit better. "Brother, your alcohol tolerance is amazing! You're acting like nothing happened, while my head is still buzzing."

"Haha, I'm just naturally good at drinking. If you're feeling unwell, lie down a little longer. I'm going downstairs to buy some soy milk or something. I need to get to work after I eat something!"

"A thousand cups of wine are not enough when drinking with a bosom friend," Su Ziyang had already come to regard Er Biao as a friend.

"Oh dear, I'll go, I'll go. I'll just wash my face. It's my first time drinking, and you had to help me get back. I'm so sorry to have troubled you!"

Er Biao scratched his messy hair sheepishly.

"Hey, that's pointless. Go wash your face, I'm going downstairs to buy something to eat!"

Su Ziyang tossed Er Biao a new towel and went downstairs. He bought two cups of soy milk, fried dough sticks, tea eggs, and pickled vegetables from a food stall, Su Ziyang headed back.

"Hey young man, it's been so long since I've seen your beautiful girlfriend! Why don't you bring her over for dinner?"

After the proprietress finished clearing the tables, she saw Su Ziyang and greeted him warmly.

"Haha, she had something to do and went out!" Su Ziyang didn't know what to explain to the landlady, so he could only laugh it off.

"Don't bully that girl, she's such a nice young lady!"

"I know! I'm off, big sister!"

"Okay, slow down, bro!"

When Su Ziyang returned, Er Biao had already washed up and was drying his hair.

"The hairdryer is in the bedroom, Biaozi."

Su Ziyang put the food on the table and began to unpack the plastic bag.

"It's okay, it'll dry in a bit!" Er Biao dried his hair, draped a towel over the clothes rack, and came over.

"Hey bro, can I ask you something?"

Er Biao, holding a fried dough stick, discussed the matter with Su Ziyang, somewhat embarrassed.

"Why are you being so polite? What's the matter?"

Su Ziyang said with a smile as he peeled a tea egg.

"Look, I promised you I wouldn't cause any more trouble at medical facilities. You know, all these years I've supposedly studied massage, but I'm still not proficient enough. Your medical skills are superb, could you...?"

Before Er Biao could finish speaking, Su Ziyang quickly shook his head. "Brother Biao, you don't want to learn from me, do you? Don't be ridiculous, I haven't even figured it out myself! How could I be qualified to teach others!"

"Damn, stop being so conceited. What! You think you're some kind of senior, someone to be my mentor? I'm not learning from you!"

Er Biao also laughed and cursed loudly.

"Then what are you trying to do? Stop muttering and dawdling!"

Su Ziyang rolled his eyes at Er Biao, stuffed the tea egg into his mouth, and then slurped up the soy milk.

"I know an elderly woman in our county who's incredibly skilled at massage. I found out where she is, and I want to learn from her, but I heard it's a family tradition, and she doesn't pass it on to outsiders!"

Er Biao then explained his thoughts.

"So, you mean, take me to learn their skills?" Su Ziyang instantly understood Er Biao's meaning.

"That's exactly what I meant! So, are you interested?"

Er Biao raised an eyebrow and looked at Su Ziyang.

"Sigh, I regret treating you to dinner last night!" Su Ziyang put the soy milk on the table, sighed, and said with a slightly unhappy expression, "Why do you always do these sneaky things!"

Upon hearing Su Ziyang's words, Er Biao, who had been smiling, turned pale instantly.

Before Er Biao could explain, Su Ziyang suddenly burst into laughter and said, "But I like it! Hahaha! A gentleman takes things in a proper way, he goes without saying, and he has to steal it! Let's learn this thing and see what mysteries it holds!"

Er Biao's expression changed repeatedly. He kept shoving the soy milk in his mouth back and forth, choking himself as he swallowed. The pain made him pat his chest, Er Biao, "Damn it! You intellectuals are so hypocritical! You're all faking it! I'm not going to associate with you anymore, I'm leaving!"

"Hahaha, look at you! Your face is all pale. With this kind of mentality, you still want to cause trouble for medical staff!"

Su Ziyang continued to laugh heartily.

"Bye-bye, bye-bye! We're done, brother! We'll meet again in the next life!"

Er Biao clasped his hands in a fist salute to Su Ziyang, then pretended to turn around and leave.

"We can't just go and learn from them during the week, let's wait until the weekend, when I have time off!"

Su Ziyang chuckled and gave Er Biao a precise time.

"No problem, that's settled!" Er Biao beamed with joy when he saw that Su Ziyang was really going. "My hometown isn't far from here, about a two-hour bus ride. I'll come find you then, and we'll set off together!"

After agreeing on a meeting time, Er Biao sat for a while longer before Su Ziyang Er Biao had to leave for work.

Just as Su Ziyang sat down in the consultation room, Er Biao sent him a message: "Brother, I put those cigarettes and donkey-hide gelatin under your pillow. I'm calling you a friend now! You treat me to dinner, and this is my gift to you!"

"Hehe, this guy!" Su Ziyang chuckled and sent Er Biao a "Brother Biao" emoji before putting his phone away.

"Safe!" Er Biao replied with just two simple words.

The morning was a rare moment of leisure. These days, Su Ziyang sees about ten patients a day, mainly for acupuncture. But this morning, he didn't have a single patient, so Su Ziyang lowered his head and continued studying Umbilical Acupuncture.

As it was almost time to leave work, Yang Tianzheng Dada in. After entering, Yang Tianzheng paused for a moment, then sniffed the air intensely.

Then he quickly walked over to Su Ziyang's side and, smack, gave him a loud slap on the neck.

The blow made Su Ziyang shrink back.

"What are you doing!" Su Ziyang looked at Yang Tianzheng with a wronged expression.

"You drank last night!" Yang Tianzheng shouted sternly.

"Ah!" Su Ziyang nodded, looking aggrieved.

"Damn it, who told you to drink! All that three hours of practicing the Traversing the Nine Palaces was for nothing!"

Yang Tianzheng slammed his hand on the table and continued cursing.

"It didn't say we couldn't drink." Only then did Su Ziyang realize why Yang Tianzheng was angry.

"Nonsense! Didn't Daoist Jin tell you that wine, women, wealth, and anger corrupt the mind? Alcohol disrupts one's meridians, especially after practicing kung fu—you shouldn't drink!"

Yang Tianzheng was clearly very angry, and raised his hand to slap him again.

Su Ziyang shrank his neck and said in a wronged tone, "Master Jin didn't say anything, and neither did Master Mengfei. I just knew there were no taboos. And I wasn't drunk!"

"You fucking talk back! If I ever find out you go drinking after practice again, I'll beat you to a pulp!"

Yang Tianzheng slammed his hand on the table, turned around angrily, and left.

"Master, Master!"

No matter how Su Ziyang called out to him, Yang Tianzheng did not turn around.

"Damn, what's going on?!"

Su Ziyang rubbed his face.

He had originally planned to invite Yang Tianzheng Yang Tianzheng to come and learn from him, since this seasoned veteran's eyes were quite ruthless and cunning.

As long as Yang Tianzheng takes action, he'll definitely be able to figure things out; if I go alone, I might not be able to discover any secrets.

But seeing how angry Yang Tianzheng was today, Su Ziyang felt that it was probably wishful thinking to try to contact Yang Tianzheng again in the next couple of days.

As expected, Su Ziyang was absolutely right.

Within two days, Su Ziyang saw Yang Tianzheng again, and Yang Tianzheng did not appear at the place where the father and son usually practiced. Su Ziyang could only pretend to be his opponent and practice against thin air.

On Saturday morning, Er Biao contacted Su Ziyang early, and the two agreed to meet at the bus station.

"Good morning, Brother Biao!"

Su Ziyang met Er Biao was dressed smartly. Today, Er Biao was dressed particularly smartly, without the usual layers of clothing covering him up.

Because he discovered that after Su Ziyang had done those things to him, his nosebleed problem was cured, he was no longer afraid of the cold, and the swelling in his arms had gone down!

"They're here! Let's go, let's go buy tickets, let's go buy tickets!"

Er Biao was quite anxious and dragged Su Ziyang to buy two bus tickets to their hometown county.

As we boarded the bus home, it was an early morning bus, so there weren't many people on board. Once we got on the highway, everyone closed their eyes in sleepiness.

After a two-hour drive, Su Ziyang and his companion arrived at Er Biao's hometown, a small county town.

"Let's find a place to eat first, and then go to that person's house this afternoon!"

Er Biao suggested eating first, Su Ziyang glanced at his watch and saw it was only 10:30, so he said, "Let's go, let's get down to business first, then we can talk about food!"

"Alright! Let's take a look first!"

So Er Biao hailed a taxi and drove towards the edge of town.

"Oh dear, you two are heading this way, aren't you to see Old Madam Liu for her medical treatment?"

Su Ziyang was surprised that this person was so famous locally; he randomly hailed a taxi, and the driver actually knew who he was.

"Master, you know her?" Su Ziyang asked instinctively.

"Yes, yes. I had a herniated disc before, and this old lady cured me. Oh my god, she's so busy! Don't let her Taisui fool you, she has a lot of strength, but the results are really good! My back was hurting so much I couldn't even stand up, and she cured me in just two treatments!"

The taxi driver was very talkative. While in the car, he told Su Ziyang and his companion about his experience with a doctor, "This old lady has a special skill, isn't it amazing? I had a herniated disc, and instead of massaging my back, she rubbed my stomach! It hurt so much, and then she rubbed my stomach too! But the effect was surprisingly good! After just one massage, my back pain was much better!"

"Rubbing your stomach!?" Su Ziyang asked in surprise.

"Yes, around the belly button. I don't understand the medical principles behind it, but it really works! Rubbing your stomach for back pain always helps! Seriously, bro! What kind of illness are you two seeing a doctor for?"

The mechanic described the scene exaggeratedly while maneuvering the steering wheel.

This question stumped Su Ziyang: What illness? He wasn't sick, so why should he see a doctor?

"Hehe, Master. He won't look at it, but I will. I always have diarrhea."

Er Biao came to Su Ziyang's rescue.

"Brother, to be honest, if you two go now, you might not be able to get a ticket. You'll probably have to wait until the afternoon, and there might not even be any numbers left! Next time you come, come earlier; around 8 a. m., you'll definitely be able to get a ticket!"

The taxi driver was really kind-hearted and shared his queuing tips with Su Ziyang and his companion.

"Hi, we're from out of town. We don't know anything about this, thank you, sir."

Er Biao chatted and laughed with the taxi driver.

"Don't be so polite! It's just around the corner. Once you're in the alley, whichever door is busiest is the house! My car can't turn that way, can I drop you off here, brother?"

The taxi driver stopped the car and pointed to a very small alley.

"Okay! Thanks!"

Er Biao had been here before; even without a taxi driver's directions, he could find Old Er Biao Old Madam Liu's house.

After turning a corner, I came to the entrance of a relatively wide alley. Looking inside, I saw a house with a lot of people standing in front, chattering away.

Needless to say, this must be the home of the legendary Old Madam Liu.

"Two more people have arrived!"

As everyone watched Su Ziyang and his companion walk towards them, they began to discuss the matter.

"There's only one number left! Are you two together?"

A man who looked like he was distributing numbers at the door took out a playing card and handed it to Su Ziyang.

The number 30 was written in large black ink on the playing card.

In other words, this old lady saw thirty patients in one morning.

"We're together!" Su Ziyang pointed to Er Biao beside him.

"Alright, you two can go inside and wait, or you can sit outside and wait. There are small stools here."

The person distributing the tickets pointed to a small plastic stool placed inside the gate.

Su Ziyang glanced around at the group of people standing at the door and asked with a smile, "Are you all here for medical treatment?"

"Yes, I'm number 22." One of the men showed Su Ziyang the cards he held up.

"Are there many people ahead?" Er Biao asked again.

"They've called number 20. Almost there! I'm next!"

Another woman showed Su Ziyang and Er Biao the number 21 card she was holding.

"Can't we go inside and wait?" Su Ziyang was a little confused as to why everyone was waiting in the yard.

At this point, the person distributing the numbers explained, "There can't be any noise inside the room during the massage; it'll be too chaotic if there are too many people. So everyone is waiting in the courtyard. There are only two or three people inside, all family members of the patients!"

"Oh, I see. I understand!"

Su Ziyang originally thought that even if he didn't pretend to be a patient, he could still figure out something by observing from the sidelines for a while.

However, their system completely shuts out those who want to steal the techniques. They won't let you see! What are you trying to steal?!

In that case, we can only say that we'll go in and take a look when it's Er Biao's turn.

"Excuse me, how long does one massage session last?"

Su Ziyang wanted to get as much information as possible. If a massage only lasted five minutes, what was the point of learning? Since Er Biao Er Biao knew about the place but had never actually received a massage, he didn't know how long a massage should last either.

"It usually takes about ten minutes, but the duration varies depending on the type of illness; it could be five minutes or thirty minutes!"

The person distributing the tickets explained.

Hearing this, Su Ziyang felt a chill in his heart, realizing that he was going to return empty-handed this time.