Another Way to Learn

After putting the laptop away, Su Ziyang stirred the poplar bark that had been soaking in rice water, then took the cleaned-up sawdust to the kitchen to prepare for starting a fire.

Su Ziyang tidied up the house again, filled the water tank in the kitchen, and then prepared to cook lunch.

At that moment, the Lao Pang walked straight into the kitchen carrying a large woven bag.

"Master Pang? What's this?" Su Ziyang asked curiously.

"Guess." The Lao Pang grinned, revealing a mouthful of large, yellow teeth.

"Let's have a good lunch today! You step aside, young man, I'll do it!" Lao Pang gestured to Su Ziyang with the bag in his hand, then opened the lid of the big pot and poured the contents of the bag into the pot with a thud.

"This is... lamb spine?" Su Ziyang sniffed it and noticed a grassy, muttony smell.

"Yes, a spine and a lamb leg with all the meat removed! Don't look at it, add water first!" The Lao Pang pointed to the pot, indicating that Su Ziyang should add water, and Su Ziyang quickly added water to the pot.

"Why did you decide to buy this?" Su Ziyang was still a little puzzled, because although Lao Pang had a huge appetite, he was never picky about food. He ate the same amount of food whether it was delicious or not, and Lao Pang had never offered to improve his meals.

Lao Pang added some baijiu to the pot, chuckled twice, and said, "I feel like you young Yunqi aren't very lucky, so I thought I'd give you a different way to learn. You've come all this way, and you're a good person, so I can't let you come for nothing!"

Su Ziyang was still somewhat confused and looked at Lao Pang with a hint of doubt. Lao Pang pulled the spine out of the water and held it in his hand. "Young man, I thought you were quite perceptive, so why are you acting a bit dazed today! This isn't just food, it's Bones! Understand?"

Lao Pang said that, Su Ziyang suddenly understood!

It turns out that Lao Pang wanted to use this sheep Bones instead of a human Bones to teach Su Ziyang about bone setting.

Seeing Su Ziyang's enlightened expression, the Lao Pang grabbed the spine with both hands, pressed down on one of the spinous processes, and with a slight exertion of force, the spine snapped in two.

Su Ziyang looked at the broken end and saw that it had been completely severed from the intervertebral disc. After doing this, Lao Pang didn't say anything. He then took out the lamb leg bone that had been stripped of most of its meat, pinched the joint on the lamb leg with three fingers, and gave it a gentle shake. The lamb leg instantly dislocated. Lao Pang grabbed the lamb leg with his other hand and exerted force again, and the lamb leg joint returned to its original position.

"To reunite, first separate; then reunite! Think about it yourself!"

Hearing what Lao Pang said, Su Ziyang first grabbed the lamb leg, pinched the joint like Lao Pang had done, and then exerted force instantly. Unlike Lao Pang's method, the lamb leg didn't dislocate instantly in Su Ziyang's hands; instead, the joint made a hissing sound as if the cloth was being torn.

"No, that's brute force. That sound just now already damaged the ligaments. If it were a real person, you would have already caused harm to the patient!" The Lao Pang shook his head and then demonstrated it to Su Ziyang again.

Su Ziyang didn't consider himself exceptionally talented, but he wasn't stupid either. However, this time Su Ziyang really hit a wall; no matter what he did, he couldn't figure out how the Lao Pang was using his strength.

Finally, Su Ziyang got a little anxious, gathered Yunqi strength in his hands, and broke the lamb leg at the joint.

Seeing that Su Ziyang was getting anxious, the Lao Pang said, "Young man, no one gets fat overnight. Especially in our line of work, don't be impatient, think it over slowly. Also, don't ruin this lamb leg bone, it'll be inedible if you keep squeezing it! Go to the shop and call Beichen, tell him we'll have lunch together here!"

"Oh!" Slightly disheartened, Su Ziyang kept recalling the details of the Lao Pang's fingers when he exerted his strength as he walked into the barbershop.

"Bang!" Su Ziyang was so distracted that he bumped into the iron door of the barbershop, startling the customers who were getting their hair cut inside.

"Brother Chen, Master said we'll have lunch here. He made lamb spine stew!" Su Ziyang said to Beichen, who was busy preparing the meal, rubbing his head.

"Okay, I understand!"

Beichen nodded.

"Haha, Xiao Bei. This kid is so clumsy, how can he learn to shave heads? He keeps bumping into walls while walking." The old man who was enjoying the haircut with his eyes closed was also a chatterbox. He raised his eyelids and glanced at Su Ziyang, speaking in a thick Henan accent.

"Haha, Elder Wei, he's not here to learn how to shave. He's here to learn bone setting from my master. He's a genuine medical school graduate. A top student!"

Beichen scraped the last bit of soap off the old man's head and then explained to him.

"A top student, huh? You should study hard! Wait a minute, didn't your master stop teaching? How come you've produced another apprentice? Hey, let me ask you! Did your master teach you the secret recipe for bone setting and bone straightening?" Wei Ye, whom Beichen Elder Wei was talking about, touched his newly shaved head and pretended to whisper to Beichen.

"Given it! Given it." Beichen squinted at Elder Wei, his face seemingly showing some displeasure.

"Haha, look at my mouth! Xiao Bei, don't be mad at me! Elder Wei left the money here and is leaving! That was great!" Elder Wei clapped his hands, put the money on the table, and turned to leave.

"Junior brother, that's just how that old man is, he can't keep his mouth shut. Don't mind him!" Beichen quickly explained to Su Ziyang after seeing Elder Wei leave.

"How could that be? I'm not a child anymore. Brother Chen, you go ahead with your work. I'll go help Master with the fire." Su Ziyang turned around and went back into the courtyard.

Thinking back to what Elder Wei and Beichen had just said, something felt off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

"Master Pang, let me start the fire!" Su Ziyang entered the kitchen and saw the Lao Pang busy at work.

"Young man, I don't need you anymore. Today I'll show you my cooking skills so you can learn from me. Although I won't say it, you should know that your cooking is terrible!" The Lao Pang old man snapped a piece of wood as thick as his forearm in half with both hands and stuffed it into the stove pit.

"Hey-hey!"

Su Ziyang looked at the Lao Pang and scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly. Su Ziyang had always thought that the Lao Pang man didn't have much of a sense of taste because he saw the Lao Pang eating so heartily. But after hearing this today... he realized that he had been thinking too much. The fat man just didn't expose his cooking skills.

"Master Pang, can I ask you something?" Su Ziyang squatted down next to the Lao Pang, adding firewood to the stove and said softly.

"What is it?" The Lao Pang just stared at the fire, then gently pulled the bellows, without looking at Su Ziyang.

"That guy getting his hair cut just now, Brother Beichen called him Elder Wei, and then he said you're not taking on apprentices anymore. He just saw me..."

Before Su Ziyang could finish speaking, the Lao Pang suddenly turned his head and stared at Su Ziyang: "You're here to learn a skill. My friend entrusted you with this task, so just focus on mastering your own abilities and don't ask about or concern yourself with anything else!"

Lao Pang's words confused Su Ziyang even more, but seeing Lao Pang's serious expression, he didn't dare to ask any more questions and just nodded.