An Apprentice, an Apprentice, a Slave for Three Years

After Mr. Mengfei left, Su Ziyang didn't finish collecting all the Chinese herbs in the entire courtyard until dark.

Meanwhile, Lao Pang was fast asleep inside the house.

"Master Pang, I've put the medicinal herb away and put it in the warehouse!" Su Ziyang said softly from the side.

"Hmm!" The Lao Pang didn't even open his eyes, just uttered a soft "hmm" from his throat.

Lao Pang didn't wake up, Su Ziyang didn't know what to do, so he just sat quietly on the stool next to him and looked at his phone.

Beichen had already closed the store and was nowhere to be seen; it seemed he had gone home. Lao Pang's daughter also showed no sign of returning. Su Ziyang guessed that the father and son probably didn't live together.

Around eight o'clock in the evening, Lao Pang frowned and woke up.

When the Lao Pang saw Su Ziyang sitting to the side, his brows furrowed even deeper. "Young man, why didn't you cook?"

This question startled Su Ziyang: "Huh? Master Pang, what are you making?"

"If you don't cook, what will you eat? Drink the wind!" Lao Pang scolded Su Ziyang for daring to talk back. "Didn't I tell you, an apprentice needs to have work to do? If you don't have work to do and no sense of propriety, you might as well get out of here!"

"I... Master Pang, where's your kitchen? I'll make it right away. What would you like to eat?" Hearing Lao Pang say this, Su Ziyang lost the will to argue, because Lao Pang was the type who would be straightforward and then not argue.

The rules were explained to you during the day, but you didn't understand them, so it's understandable that you got scolded.

"You can make some noodles next to the warehouse; the dried noodles are in a jar in the kitchen. Then stir-fry some cabbage!" Lao Pang waved his hand and went back to bed.

When Su Ziyang arrived at the kitchen, he saw that the light bulbs still had the old-fashioned pull-cord switches. Due to the smoke and fumes from cooking for a long time, a thick layer of black ash had accumulated on the outside of the bulbs, and the bulbs could only emit a faint orange light.

The cooking pot was the same as the one in Su Ziyang's rural hometown. Next to the stove was a table with several cabbages neatly arranged underneath.

Su Ziyang looked at the dusty cutting board, rinsed it with water from the water tank, chopped half a cabbage, and then gathered the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar with a flashlight before lighting the fire to start cooking.

Cooking in a large pot is quite different from cooking on a gas stove, so Su Ziyang Su Ziyang no experience and could only bite the bullet and try it out.

After working on thirteen sheets, they were finally cooked. Su Ziyang took a bite, and wow! The taste was just as good as his mother's baby bok choy.

Su Ziyang initially wanted to throw the dishes away and remake them, but after thinking it over, he brought them inside anyway. Firstly, he was afraid Lao Pang would say he was wasting food, and secondly, it really was a bit wasteful. So what if they tasted bad? After all, Lao Pang treated him like a maid! He deliberately made the food taste bad for him!

Knowing that Lao Pang had a big appetite, Su Ziyang added an extra handful of noodles when making the noodles, so that there was a whole big bowl of them when he scooped them out of the pot.

"Master Pang, time to eat!" Su Ziyang placed the noodles on the table and called out softly to Lao Pang.

"Hmm!" Lao Pang grunted in response, put on his shoes, and sat down at the dining table.

Su Ziyang didn't dare touch his chopsticks, and kept secretly watching Lao Pang, because the food he had cooked was indeed a bit unpalatable. Su Ziyang was a little afraid that Lao Pang would scold him again.

Who knew that Lao Pang filled a bowl to the brim with noodles, then picked up two large pieces of stir-fried cabbage and started munching away, without offering any criticism of Su Ziyang's terrible cabbage. On the contrary, he ate it with great relish!

Seeing this, Su Ziyang was a little confused. Could it be that this Lao Pang had no sense of smell or taste?

"Young man, what are you looking at? I don't have any flowers on my face, eat!" The Lao Pang finished his noodles in a few bites and said to Su Ziyang while drinking the soup.

"Sigh! Eat!" Su Ziyang didn't dare to think too much about it and made himself a bowl of noodles, then lowered his head and ate.

The living room lights weren't very bright, casting long shadows of the old man and the young man. The only sound in the room was the Lao Pang slurping his noodles.

Su Ziyang only ate one bowl of the large bowl of noodles, while Lao Pang ate the rest and even drank all the broth.

"Master Pang, your stomach is bottomless! You eat so much!" Su Ziyang whispered, voicing his doubts.

Upon hearing Su Ziyang's words, the Lao Pang actually showed a slight smile on his usually serious face, "Young man, you need to eat well to have the strength to work, right! You need to grow your appetite!"

"Haha, I'll learn from you!" Su Ziyang laughed at the Lao Pang, made a slight joke, and then cleaned up the dishes and put them away.

"Young man, you'll stay in the east room, and I'll stay in the west room. There are blankets on the beds, and if you're cold, there's another one in the cupboard in the east room. Take them out and cover yourselves with them!" Lao Pang said before going into the west room.

Seeing that the Lao Pang showed no intention of washing up, Su Ziyang didn't know what to say and could only silently go into the east room.

In the east room, there was a sewing machine, a large wardrobe, and a single bed. Su Ziyang sat down on the bed and found it surprisingly soft.

Su Ziyang touched it and then smelled it. The bedding on the bed was all new, and it had even been specially sun-dried, as it had a unique scent of sunshine.

Seeing the bedding, Su Ziyang's discomfort instantly vanished. Without even taking off his shoes, he lay down on the bed at an angle, took out his phone, and sent a WeChat to his master.

"Master, I'm doing well here! Thank you for taking care of me and keeping me busy today."

"You'll get used to it, study hard! I believe in you!"

"Go for it! ^0^~"

Looking at his master's WeChat, Su Ziyang chuckled softly.

It was only a little past nine o'clock, and the night was still very long. Su Ziyang simply started practicing the Midnight-Noon Heaven and Earth Art in the room. He practiced it nine times in a row, and when a slight mist began to rise from his body, Su Ziyang began to meditate.

Su Ziyang has now developed a certain level of meditation skills, and he sat there until the rooster crowed in the courtyard.

Su Ziyang stretched his stiff body, checked his phone—4:30 AM. After thinking about tomorrow's plans for a while, Su Ziyang pulled the covers over himself and went to sleep.

Su Ziyang got up early in the morning. Seeing that the sun was shining brightly, he moved all the medicines out of the warehouse and started to dry them.

Su Ziyang spread out all the medicinal herbs to dry. Only after they were dried did Lao Pang come out of the house. Seeing Su Ziyang busy in the yard, a faint smile appeared on Lao Pang's face.

"Master Pang, you're awake! What are we having for breakfast? I'll make it." Su Ziyang asked quickly when he saw that Lao Pang was awake.

"You don't need to do anything this morning, I'll take you to get some oil tea~ Wash your face and let's go!" There was a tap near the house in the yard, and Lao Pang turned on the tap and haphazardly washed his face a couple of times. Su Ziyang imitated him and washed his face a couple of times as well.

The old man and the young man strolled off Dada eat oil tea. Su Ziyang had never heard of oil tea before, and he was a little excited.

Lao Pang led Su Ziyang to a small shop on the west side of town. In Su Ziyang's opinion, the hygiene of such a small shop was definitely not up to standard!

But by this time, the room was already crowded with people. Some were already sitting on small stools drinking, while others were still queuing to buy.

"Uncle Pang ~"

"Fatty~"

Lao Pang's popularity surprised Su Ziyang. Everyone eating there greeted Lao Pang, and Lao Pang would nod in response with a dark face, as if they all owed him money. However, these people seemed used to Lao Pang's expression and didn't seem to mind at all, still greeting him warmly.

"Two bowls of oil tea, four steamed buns~" When it was Lao Pang's turn, Lao Pang started ordering.

"Hey~ Uncle Pang, whose kid is this?" The old man selling oil tea asked curiously, looking at Su Ziyang following behind Lao Pang.

"A new apprentice!" Lao Pang chuckled slightly when he mentioned Su Ziyang.

"Hey~ young man! Learn well from your master! Your Master Pang is quite capable!" The man selling oil tea joked with Su Ziyang.

"I know, I know!" Su Ziyang replied with a smile.

When the oil tea was placed on the table, Su Ziyang finally saw what it was. The oil tea in the bowl was a thick, viscous paste, as if it had been thickened with starch. It looked like it contained peanuts, dried tofu skin, seaweed, and something that resembled scrambled eggs.

"Eat, don't just look! What's so interesting!" Lao Pang urged as he watched Su Ziyang examine the oil tea.

"Okay." Su Ziyang responded and quickly took a sip. A refreshing aroma filled his nostrils, a blend of carbohydrates, protein, and pepper. It was a great morning drink to wake him up and stimulate his appetite, instantly making him feel refreshed!

"Master Pang, it's delicious!" Su Ziyang praised sincerely.

"It's so good, I'll have another bowl later!" Lao Pang said, munching on his steamed bun and drinking his oil tea.

That's enough!

Su Ziyang was sweating profusely after eating breakfast.

Surprisingly, Lao Pang didn't let Su Ziyang pay the bill; instead, he paid it himself, and the master and apprentice went back.

Beichen had already opened the shop and was cleaning inside.

"Master!" Beichen greeted Lao Pang respectfully as he approached. Lao Pang nodded but remained silent.

"Clean up!" Lao Pang sat down and started ordering Su Ziyang around. Su Ziyang didn't dare to say anything more and started cleaning with Beichen.

Beichen's attitude towards Su Ziyang today was completely different from yesterday. He was incredibly enthusiastic and didn't let Su Ziyang do much work, even insisting on packing things himself.

The two had just finished cleaning when a middle-aged man walked in through the door. "Lao Pang, shave and haircut! Hurry up, hahaha."

"Come on, buddy." The Lao Pang grinned, revealing his large, yellow teeth.

Boiling water, applying a hot towel to his face, and lathering up with soap— Lao Pang did all these things in one smooth motion.

Then the razor flew up and down, and the middle-aged man's head began to reflect light after being shaved.

At this moment, the Lao Pang unleashed a technique that stunned Su Ziyang.

The Lao Pang held the middle-aged man's eyelids up with one hand, then quickly scraped the inner eyelid with a razor.

After doing this, the Lao Pang put away his knife.

The middle-aged man closed his eyes, rested for five minutes, then opened them and let out a long sigh, "Phew~ That felt great!"

"I'm leaving!" The middle-aged man left satisfied.

"Master, I still don't quite know how to wash your eyes," Beichen asked the Lao Pang softly from the side.

"It all comes down to a steady hand. If your mind is steady, your hand will be steady too!" Lao Pang suddenly said, making Beichen Chen's already poker-faced expression even more serious.

Su Ziyang sat there all morning watching the master and apprentice shave people's heads.

In the afternoon, I still got a haircut and a shave.

Lao Pang seems to have forgotten about Su Ziyang, or maybe he's too busy and simply doesn't have time to pay attention to Su Ziyang.

As the sun began to set, Su Ziyang went to the courtyard and collected the medicinal herbs, stacking them in the warehouse.

Seeing that no one was around, and with Lao Pang and Beichen busy giving people haircuts inside the house, Su Ziyang practiced the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Steps in the yard.

Because he was walking so intently, Lao Pang watched him for quite a while before Su Ziyang realized someone was watching him. Su Ziyang quickly stopped and greeted Lao Pang.

Although Daoist Jin's teachings didn't explicitly forbid practicing kung fu in front of others, Su Ziyang still became more cautious after being sternly reprimanded by Mr. Mengfei.

In addition, Mr. Mengfei specifically warned Su Ziyang that he should be humble when studying abroad. Even if he knows something, he should not say that he does. He should listen more, observe more, and speak less. Only in this way will others be willing to teach him.

Lao Pang watched Su Ziyang practice his footwork but didn't say anything, only whispering, "Practice for a while, then go cook. Noodles will do!"

"Oh!" Su Ziyang quickly stopped what he was doing and plunged into the dark kitchen to start cooking in a large pot.

For a whole week, Lao Pang showed no intention of teaching Su Ziyang. Every day, Su Ziyang did his job at the barbershop cleaning hair, refilling the water tank, cooking, or helping Lao Pang when he was shaving heads, such as handing him hot towels...

Su Ziyang worked silently, Lao Pang watched silently.

Besides Lao Pang, there was another person who had been observing Su Ziyang: Beichen.

For some reason, Su Ziyang felt that Beichen was exceptionally kind to him, so kind that Su Ziyang felt somewhat apprehensive.

That noon, the three of them, master and apprentice, were resting in the barbershop when a car pulled up outside.

A well-dressed young man entered and immediately approached the Lao Pang: "Hello, may I ask if this place sells bone-setting medicine? My relative told me about it!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Lao Pang didn't say anything, but Beichen was the first to stand up from the stool and quickly agreed.

"That's great! This place was really hard to find. I drove around in circles for ages before I finally found it!" The young man smiled. "My elderly relative fractured their collarbone a while ago, and now it's not completely ununioned. I heard your bone-setting medicine is effective, so I came to buy some!"

"Alright, then you wait here!" The Lao Pang stood up and walked towards the backyard. When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and said to Su Ziyang, "Young man, come here!"

Su Ziyang didn't understand what it meant, so he quickly followed.

When they reached the door, Lao Pang told Su Ziyang to stand guard at the door and not let anyone in, while he went into the inner room alone.

Su Ziyang could only wait obediently. After five minutes, Beichen Dada over. Seeing Beichen coming, Su Ziyang greeted him first.

"Young man, is Master preparing medicine inside?" Beichen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know!" Su Ziyang shook his head. "My master didn't say anything, just told me to stay here and guard the area, and not to let anyone pass!"

"Great! You have potential!" Beichen patted Su Ziyang on the shoulder meaningfully, then Dada back to the barbershop!