No taboos in the world

Chapter 13: Just a Mission
evening.

The Hong family decorated their homes with lanterns and colorful decorations, and firecrackers rang out at the door.

Two lion dance teams organized by the Hong family came from both sides of the street, followed by lion dance teams organized by other invited martial arts schools.

Hong Kong's martial arts schools bring together boxers from both the north and south, but most of them also know how to perform the lion dance.

The northern style of lion dance resembles a real lion, with movements such as pouncing, falling, flipping, rolling, jumping, and scratching mainly, focusing on showing the lion's flexibility.

The Southern Lion Dance, also known as the Awakening Lion, is fierce and rugged, with an emphasis on resemblance to the spirit. The drums and music are passionate and alert, and the dancers' movements are mainly used to express the mighty lion shape.

The northern lion appeared the earliest, evolving from the court lion dance of the Tang Dynasty. After the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, with the southward migration of immigrants from the Central Plains, the lion dance culture was introduced to the Lingnan region. During the Ming Dynasty, the lion dance began to appear in Foshan, Guangdong.

Hung Gar is a typical southern style of boxing and one of the five famous boxing styles in Guangdong. The inheritance of Hung Gar by Hung Zhennan can be traced back to Liang Kun, one of the Ten Tigers of Guangdong. Liang Kun, who was a favorite disciple of Liang Kun, was called Lin Fucheng. Lin Fucheng once taught Huang Feihong the Iron Wire Fist and Flying Ball, two of the three treasures of Hung Gar.

Many people first saw lion dancing in Wong Fei-hung's movies.

To this day, there is a saying in many places that "where there is an ancestral hall, there is lion dance, where there is lion dance, there is Hung Gar, and to learn lion dance you must first learn Hung Gar", which shows how deep the entanglement between Hung Gar and lion dance is.

The lively sound of gongs and drums and the wonderful lion dance team attracted many neighbors. People gathered on both sides of the street, applauding and cheering from time to time.

Hong Zhennan stood at the door with a smile on his face wearing a brand new set of clothes. Hong Chen also changed into the clothes sewn by his master's wife, and the two of them welcomed the guests together.

Whenever someone came, Li Ji and his fellow apprentices would write the registration list, while Hong Zhennan would introduce the guests to Hong Chen in detail and also introduce Hong Chen to the guests.

Teaching Kung Fu is a form of cultivation, and right now, it is an even more rare type of cultivation.

Some people still remember the apprenticeship banquet twelve years ago, while some people don’t even know that Hong Zhennan has a disciple like Hong Chen.

But no matter who it was, when they saw Hong Zhennan's smiling expression, they all understood that this young man who had returned from studying abroad was most likely the successor chosen by Hong Zhennan himself, so everyone was very polite.

"Master Hong, congratulations!"

"Master Hong had a son a few years ago, and now he has such an outstanding apprentice. He is really the envy of others!"

"This young Master Hong is a handsome man, both civil and military, Master Hong has a successor!"

In such an occasion, Hong Zhennan naturally did not hide his happiness, so even the gongs and drums at the door could not cover up his loud laughter.

It was not until Ye Wen arrived that Hong Chen took the initiative to speak.

"Master, this is Master Ye Wen. Master Ye, this is my master Hong Zhennan."

Ip Man handed the gift box to his junior fellow student, and handed the child's hand to his wife. He clasped his fists and said with a smile, "Master Hong, I am Ip Man. Today I meet your disciple. I regret that we met too late. I admire Master Hong for being able to teach such an outstanding disciple. After meeting Master Hong today, I find that he is indeed extraordinary. Congratulations, congratulations!"

Hong Zhennan already knew what happened during the day. At first, he was not satisfied with Hong Chen's handling of the situation because Hong Chen was too polite to outsiders and did not support his own people at the first time. But Fei Bo's recognition and praise changed his mind. As an old man, he also knew that being radical all the time would not work in this land.

Of course, approving of Hong Chen does not mean that he will like Ip Man.

He had originally prepared to target Ip Man, but Ip Man's attitude at the moment was unexpected.

It is a good idea not to hit a smiling person, and today is a happy day, so Hong Zhennan looked at Ye Wen for a few times and then greeted him with a smile.

Hong Chen smiled and nodded to Zhang Yongcheng, who was pregnant and looked a little weak, and the child she was holding behind Ye Wen.

After Ye Wen and his family entered, Hong Zhennan approached Hong Chen and whispered, "This Ye Wen looks quite skilled in martial arts. Are you sure?"

Hong Chen: "I can't say that I can win 100%, but at least I won't lose 100%."

"Draw? Then you just watch tomorrow and let the other martial arts schools go first. That way they will know Ip Man's level."

"Okay, Master." After standing from dusk until nightfall, the guests finally arrived.

The master and his disciple entered, and Hong Zhennan once again took Hong Chen aside to introduce him to the guests. Hong Chen also greeted everyone in a humble manner.

With Hong Zhennan's shout of "Let the banquet begin", the atmosphere reached its climax again.

Hong Chen sat on the left of Hong Zhennan. Sitting at the main table were the owners of various martial arts schools and several policemen led by Uncle Fei Bo.

In the 50s, Hong Kong's population surged, and the human resources provided by a large number of immigrants enabled the rapid development of industry and commerce throughout Hong Kong. However, there were still a large number of people who could not find jobs, so the number of people engaged in illegal activities was also increasing, which forced the foreigners to recruit more police to maintain law and order.

At the same time, police officers have started to take the lead in collecting bribes, but unlike the 60s, those collecting the money now are mainly foreigners, and the Chinese are almost all ordinary police officers in uniform, so don't even think about taking a penny from it.

Fei Bo had a slightly higher position because he was fluent in English, but he still didn't get much.

However, the mafia has already sprouted, and in a few years it will become a major "feature" of Hong Kong. By that time, the foreigners will slowly promote more Chinese.

In fact, from another perspective, the current martial arts schools and the later gangs are somewhat similar, both of them are trying to keep each other warm and avoid being bullied. The biggest difference between the two is that there are no gray or even black industries, and people who practice martial arts will more or less pay attention to martial arts ethics.

This is a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing is that people don't discriminate against martial arts schools, and normal operations can guarantee the livelihood of a group of people; the bad thing is that the foreigners know that you dare not go too far, so they become more and more aggressive and bully you.

Think about those gangster societies, they were handed over to the Chinese police instead, and even made a huge joke like "police manage the societies, and the societies manage public security".

To put it bluntly, in this era, running a club is more rewarding than running a martial arts school.

Of course, Hong Chen only needed to think about such things. If he dared to say them to Hong Zhennan, he would definitely be scolded and even suffer physical pain.

Hong Zhennan is indeed domineering, but his bottom line is much higher than that of some people.

Hong Chen didn't eat much before he stood up and toasted every table.

Although he knew that he would most likely not be able to use these connections, he could not refuse his master's kindness.

After drinking a round, Hong Chen was already dizzy, and finally Li Ji helped him back to the room.

The next day.

After waking up with a slight headache, Hong Chen took off his clothes and started morning exercises shirtless, and then took a cold shower directly in his yard.

Just as I was about to change into clean clothes, I heard Li Ji's voice outside the door.

"Brother, that Ip Man yesterday came to accept the challenge, and Master asked me to come find you."

"Okay, come right away!"

Hong Chen quickly put on his clothes and hurried to the front hall.

He really wanted to witness the round table battle with his own eyes and also wanted to see Ip Man's kung fu for himself.

If possible, he would rather defeat Ip Man today.

Thinking of this, Hong Chen felt a little sad.

It's just a mission.

(End of this chapter)