The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

Now that he knew martial arts existed in this world, Lu Jing adjusted his plans accordingly, deciding to first find a martial art to practice.

There was no helping it; this stuff was too lethal for a straight man who had been bombarded with martial arts movies and novels since childhood. It was like having a Gundam parked in front of your house—it was hard not to go in and take a seat.

To learn martial arts, you either needed a teacher or a manual.

For a newbie like Lu Jing, who had never been exposed to any martial arts before, the latter option was out of the question. He couldn't even assemble furniture from IKEA with the instructions, let alone learn martial arts from a manual.

Therefore, he still needed to find a master, at least to guide him through the door.

Gang Leader Xie was, of course, the best candidate. The skill he showed at the docks was praised even by the managers of the漕帮 [Cao Gang/Canal Gang]. If he was willing to give Lu Jing some pointers, Lu Jing couldn't say what he could achieve, but at least getting started would be easier.

But unfortunately, he and Gang Leader Xie were not related in any way, just an ordinary member of the Green Bamboo Gang among thousands of coolies.

Gang Leader Xie had no reason to guide him specifically. Moreover, Lu Jing had heard that this Gang Leader Xie was an out-and-out martial arts fanatic. Except for major events like negotiating with the Cao Gang, his daily affairs were handled by the two deputy gang leaders, and he himself was always practicing martial arts behind closed doors. Even if Lu Jing went to him, he wouldn't have time to pay attention to him.

So Lu Jing could only look for another good teacher. Fortunately, Xie wasn't the only one in the Green Bamboo Gang who knew martial arts. Lu Jing finally found an old master who was willing to teach him kung fu.

The old master's name was Zhang Sanfeng, but unfortunately, not the Zhang Sanfeng [a famous Taoist], a difference of one character. Lu Jing almost joined the famous Wudang Sect on the spot.

Of course, Master Zhang didn't have the shocking magical skill of the real Zhang. He wasn't originally a member of the coolie gang, but a镖师 [镖局 biāojú - armed escort] in a镖局 [镖局 biāojú - security company], traveling north and south, been to many places, and could be called battle-hardened.

However, as he got older, his legs and feet were not so agile. It was one thing not being able to kick people, but mainly, if he encountered some martial arts-ignoring green forest heroes, he couldn't dodge them. So he retired bravely and left the镖局 [镖局 biāojú - security company].

These days, there was no pension. Zhang Sanfeng's only son was not very promising, so Master Zhang, who was over half a hundred years old, had to consider how to find another job.

It happened that the previous gang leader of the Green Bamboo Gang warmly invited him. After several times, Zhang Sanfeng saw that the other party was sincerely inviting him, so he didn't refuse and became a供奉 [gòngfèng - person offered respect and support] of the Green Bamboo Gang.

In general, Master Zhang lived a comfortable life in Wu River City. The Green Bamboo Gang provided him with a courtyard house, allowing his family of five to live in it. In addition, they would offer him four strings of cash every month. In return, Zhang Sanfeng only needed to help when the Green Bamboo Gang encountered trouble.

Moreover, with the strong rise of Gang Leader Xie, Master Zhang's function of supporting the Green Bamboo Gang was also weakening. Perhaps in order to be worthy of the four strings of cash he received, or because Wu River was prosperous and his family of five needed money in many places, Master Zhang suddenly announced about two years ago that he was opening his doors to accept disciples.

Regardless of age or martial arts aptitude, any member of the Green Bamboo Gang could become a disciple. Of course, for apprenticeship, the apprenticeship gift could not be less. Zhang Sanfeng originally planned to offer ten strings of cash because he had paid more than that when he learned martial arts, but because he was facing a group of coolies, he was afraid that offering too high a price would scare people away, so he finally set it at five strings.

Since cutting the price in half, Master Zhang felt that he was quite sincere, but unfortunately, the coolies were a bunch of rough people, thinking only about how to save money to build houses and marry wives. Few people were willing to spend money to invest in themselves, so Zhang Sanfeng had no choice but to reduce it by two more strings.

The remaining three strings were the dignity of a martial artist. Master Zhang's stubborn temper also came up. Learn or not, whoever asked if he could get a discount would have his bones broken first.

Martial arts people actually treasured their kung fu very much. After all, there were many cases of apprentices starving their masters to death. Few people were willing to open their doors to teach like Zhang Sanfeng. It was only because he had been taken care of by the Green Bamboo Gang for many years, and he was getting old, that he saw many things open. If he didn't pass on this skill, he would take it to the coffin. If someone was willing to learn, he would be happy to teach.

It was a pity that few of the coolies in the Green Bamboo Gang could appreciate Master Zhang's good intentions. In the past two years, the number of people willing to find Zhang Sanfeng to become a disciple was very few.

So when Zhang Sanfeng saw Lu Jing coming to his door, he felt very strange, as if he saw an eunuch going to a brothel. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "You're here to learn martial arts?"

"Yes." Lu Jing nodded, placing the bamboo back basket behind him on the ground. It contained three strings of cash. He also untied the waist牌 [yāopái - waist牌/identity tag] from his waist and handed it to Zhang Sanfeng with both hands.

Zhang Sanfeng first picked up the腰牌 [yāopái - waist牌/identity tag] and looked at it. "Lu Jing." Then he picked up the money in the basket and weighed it.

Lu Jing noticed that Zhang Sanfeng only used two fingers to easily hook up the three strings of cash. It looked effortless, but it should be known that one string of cash was one thousand copper coins, strung together with straw rope, weighing close to ten pounds. Three strings added together was thirty pounds. This also made Lu Jing increasingly believe that the unremarkable short old man in front of him had real kung fu.

"Not bad, ambitious." Zhang Sanfeng casually praised, telling Lu Jing to send the money into the inner room. Then, according to custom, he asked about Lu Jing's personal information, including age, origin, whether there were any elders in the family, whether he was married, whether he had committed any crimes, and so on.

Although Zhang Sanfeng was opening his doors to accept disciples, he was not indiscriminate. Lu Jing was a member of the Green Bamboo Gang and had brought enough tuition, which met his most basic requirements. But in addition to this, his character and morality had to be carefully examined, at least he could not be a person who deceived his master and destroyed his ancestors, or committed all kinds of evil. On the other hand, if the disciple caused any trouble in the future, the master would often not be able to escape the blame.

Zhang Sanfeng didn't ask that this disciple would become rich and bring his master along with him to rise to heaven. He just didn't want him to go to heaven early. Master Zhang had been through thick and thin in his early years, but he didn't want to capsize in his later years.

After a series of inquiries, Zhang Sanfeng was quite satisfied with Lu Jing. Except for the fact that he was a little older and not many people in his family had died, which was a bit miserable, everything else was fine. Of course, some things could not be seen immediately and had to be observed slowly. Afterwards, he would also verify with other members of the Green Bamboo Gang, but at least for now, Zhang Sanfeng's first impression of this prospective disciple was not bad.

Especially after learning that Lu Jing had only joined the Green Bamboo Gang for half a year and had saved enough for the apprenticeship gift, Master Zhang seemed to be able to feel Lu Jing's enthusiasm for martial arts. He couldn't help but be moved to tears. That's right, young people, either study or practice martial arts, then you will have a future. When will you be able to get rid of poverty and become rich if you only think about building houses and marrying wives?