Chapter 172: Promise Made After Three Cups of Tea
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was late autumn, and insects seemed to have disappeared. If someone walked into this green field in summer, their head would be full of mosquito bites.
Zhang Zian confirmed once again that there was no one else in the green field, so he pulled out his cellphone, aimed at a path, and released Galaxy, Fina and Old Time Tea.
“So dirty!” Fina jumped onto a slightly cleaner stone alongside the path, and looked at this green field despitefully.
As Zhang Zian had observed, trandhis place was quite dirty, so it was normal for picky Fina to complain. He held up his phone and asked: “Do you want to go back in the game temporarily?”
“No!” Fina stared at him, “I can finally take a walk now.”
“OK, OK, then stop whining.” Zhang Zian sighed, and wondered why it was so hard to make it happy.
“Meow!” Several stray cats of different colors shot out from the grass suddenly and ran away, terrified as soon as they saw Fina.
“Hide and seek! Hide and seek!” Galaxy thought they were playing hide and seek with it, so it quickly assumed the “ghost” role and chased after the wildcats.
“Galaxy, don’t go too far!” Zhang Zian reminded it loudly.
“Meow! Got it!” Galaxy responded from afar.
Even in this completely strange place, Old Time Tea was still so calm and collected that even if the Taishan Mountain was collapsing above its head, it wouldn’t even blink. Without running, it simply jumped, placing one hind leg against the wall to generate force. It flipped in the midair, and landed gracefully and lightly on top of the wall. Its yellow eyes looked around under the bamboo hat.
Zhang Zian may be missing some details, but Old Time Tea would never make such a mistake.
Old Time Tea observed the whole greenfield by walking a full circle on the top of the wall, and returned back to the starting point.
Old Time Tea was satisfied with this site. Almost no residue of human urine were seen on the side of the wall, indicating that people rarely visited this place; even if they did, it was just because their bladders could not hold up anymore. Because of the large number of stray cats, mice urine also wasn’t found.
Old Time Tea jumped down from the top of wall, and landed in front of Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian was waiting anxiously, not because he wanted to learn a few new tricks, but because he worried that if Old Time Tea was not happy about this place, he had to find another one.
“Zian, this is a nice place. Let’s go with this one.” said Old Time Tea.
“Good. Good. “Zhang Zian was relieved.
He hadn’t noticed yet, but Old Time Tea started to call him “Zian” instead of “my new friend”. From that moment, Old Time Tea would not treat him as a friend anymore, but it deemed itself as his teacher. Though Old Time Tea and Galaxy both called him “Zian”, the meaning implied within was different.
He asked curiously: “Grandpa Tea, do I need to pay for my tuition?”
Last night, he had nothing better to do and searched on the Internet. As it turned out, when Ye Wen wanted to learn Wing Chun Kung Fu from Chen Huashun, he paid 32 pieces of gold for tuition!
The ancient Chinese had a saying: “The only way out for the poor is study, and martial arts is for the rich.” Only rich people could afford to learn martial arts without worrying for their future. People chose the academic way to obtain fame and money, while the investment in martial arts was not in proportion to the rewards.
Old Time Tea obviously was knowledgeable about traditional Chinese culture, and if it demanded Zhang Zian to pay 12 pieces of gold as tuition, then Zhang Zian would have to rob the Dragon and Phoenix jewelry stores…
Old Time Tea smiled. “No need for tuition.”
Zhang Zian was unwilling to see Old Time Tea break its own principles because of him, and he insisted: “Grandpa Tea, please, let me pay…”
Old Time Tea lifted one claw and waved: “You have paid the tuition.”
Zhang Zian was confused. Have I? When?
Seeing him puzzled, Old Time Tea smiled. “At the Teahouse in Hidden Fog, you served me three cups of tea. And as the poet Li Bai said, ‘One must be serious about keeping the promise that is made after drinking three cups of tea.'”
Now, Zhang Zian remembered. Back then, when he wanted Old Time Tea to take off its bamboo hat, he bought three ridiculously expensive cups of tea from the Teahouse in Hidden Fog, and offered them to Old Time Tea. He felt sorry for his pocket then, but right now it seemed the money for those three cups of tea had been well spent! It was cheaper than 12 pieces of gold anyway! Besides, 12 pieces of gold was far from enough to cover the fees for real Kung Fu!
Fina turned away its head disdainfully, “Tea is so bitter in taste. I don’t understand why you like it.”
Old Time Tea replied, conveying some kind of message, “After bitterness comes happiness.”
Now that he knew he didn’t need to pay any expensive tuition, Zhang Zian was very eager to begin his training. He did not bother to ponder the message implied in Old Time Tea’s words, but asked quickly, “Grandpa Tea, can you formally take me as your apprentice now?”
Old Time Tea shook its head, “No need for that. After all, my Kung Fu was learned secretly. I’m not the orthodox successor of Wing Chun, and I don’t have the qualifications of a master. So, I think we can just skip such a formality.”
Zhang Zian thought Old Time Tea was just being modest, as always.
The Navigation Elf had said clearly that Old Time Tea epitomized the Wuxia Spirit that had existed for over 2000 years. Even if Old Time Tea was not the Orthodox Wing Chun successor, it had inherited the Wuxia Spirit! Surely the latter carried much more weight.
He grew even more admiring of Old Time Tea. What a capable person… No, what a capable cat! A humble, open-minded cat who was willing to take on new things and not be confined by the shortcomings of traditional culture. It was simply a perfect cat! Of course, he’d better not to provoke it, or the Benevolent and Righteous Cat would turn into the Warrior Cat again, just like the transformation of the Super Saiyan…
Old Time Tea looked at the sky. “It’s getting late. We will begin after you finish your meal.”
Zhang Zian looked at his own hands and saw himself carrying food. He quickly grabbed the noodles and dumplings and stuffed them into his mouth, and asked, “Grandpa Tea…When will I become No.1 in the world?”
He was just joking; he didn’t think he had what it took to become No.1.
Old Time Tea was not aware that Zhang Zian was merely joking. It pondered the question for a moment and answered, “Work hard. In 20 years, no one will be able to beat you.”
Zhang Zian almost choked! He thought, “20 years? Did I hear you right?”
“It’s meaningless if it takes 20 years for me to become No.1! How am I going to show off my abilities and hit on girls in these 20 years?”
But it was always good to have something to look forward to.
He had eaten his noodles and dumplings, and wiped his mouth. “Grandpa Tea, I’m ready now…Do you want me to find a wooden dummy? It’s so cool punching wooden dummies!”
Old Time Tea simply replied, “You can think about using wooden dummies in five years.”
Old Time Tea suddenly felt a bit sad. It wondered whether it could make it another five years…Though the current era was not as bright as it previously imagined, at least there was hope, and it wanted to learn as much about this world as everyone else!
“Grandpa Tea, Are you alright?” Zhang Zian observed that Old Time Tea was absent-minded, so he asked, worried.
Old Time Tea decided to disperse that shadowy thought with cheerfulness, and smiled with its whiskers going up, “I’m fine, just overthinking something.”
“Zian, learning martial arts is neither about winning in battles, nor about gaining that No.1 title. Learning martial arts is good for your physical and mental health. Moreover, you can use your martial arts to help the poor and weak people.”
Zhang Zian focused on its words with great respect.
“Wing Chun was originated from the Shaolin martial arts, but it did not rigidly adhere to them. Unlike the monks of Shaolin, Wing Chun practitioners did not live in seclusion, have a vegetarian diet, or recite Buddhist chants. In Wing Chun practitioners’ eyes, what martial heroes should do is to fight injustice bravely and help others.”
