In the morning.
After Old Wu had gone to work, Zhang Ye stayed at her home and started thinking about which songs to sing on the show. He had to come up with two songs for the upcoming episode and practice them, as well as get a sense of how they"d do.
There were some songs that were indeed good songs and cla.s.sics, but they were unsuitable for him as everyone"s voice was different. There were just some things in singing that you couldn"t control. The timbre of vocal registers was also different, leading to a different type of feel which would determine whether that song was suitable for him or not. Zhang Ye had to try singing first before he would know. It was fortunate that Old Wu"s villa had good sound insulation. He didn"t need to worry that anyone would hear him. He could just sing as he desired, and even if he screamed, no one would care. Unlike at home. If he were to sing a little louder than normal there, the neighbors upstairs and downstairs would surely complain.
This song sounds fine.
Well, this song seems good too.
He decided on a tentative four songs that he was quite satisfied with for the time being. As he could feel his voice tiring, he walked out of the villa and locked up before driving off. Since he had nothing to do at home, he decided to drive over to Rao Aimin"s and Yang Shu"s place to have a look. He realized he hadn"t been there in quite some time.
Jiaomen East.
When he drove into the neighborhood, he was stunned by what he saw.
In the neighborhood"s public square, over a hundred people stood in formation and were holding stances. There were all kinds of people in the dense crowd, with elderly men and women accounting for at least half the numbers. There were also young and middle-aged men and women, and some parents even brought their ten-year-old children with them. The district"s public square was very large but was almost entirely packed by these people. This formation of people was as large as you could imagine it to be.
What"s going on?
Is there a multi-level marketing meeting taking place?
Or is it a plaza dance event?
Then Zhang Ye spotted Yang Shu. Yang Shu was standing in a stance that was different from the others. She stood facing everyone and was shouting some commands at them. Occasionally, she would gesture like she was demonstrating something.
"Relax your shoulders! Don"t tense them up!
"Uncle Sun, your stance is wrong!
"Auntie He, don"t keep your knees so straight!
"Little w.a.n.g, your stance is too rigid. Loosen a little! That"s it!
"Come on, everyone, copy my stance!"
Yang Shu s.h.i.+fted stances.
The crowd tried to imitate her.
"Do as I do."
"Teacher Yang, is this correct?"
"That"s correct, Little Zhou. Well done."
"Master Yang, what about me?"
"You"re a bit off. Continue to work hard."
"Alright!"
Only now did Zhang Ye understand what was going on. These people were all shadowboxing, which was a simplified form of Taiji Fist. He was rather dumbfounded and rapidly parked his car. When he got out of his car, he observed them from afar for a short while. Every previous time Zhang Ye came here, he would get recognized by people and they would walk up to greet him. After all, Zhang Ye had lived here for quite some time and was considered a part of the community. However, no one recognized him today, probably because no one noticed him in the first place. They were all practicing Taiji under Yang Shu"s guidance. Some people would take their child and leave the square from time to time to bring them to school. At the same time, people from other neighborhoods would come over and join the crowd, making the number of people gathered here increase!
Ding.
Behind him in the building"s foyer, the faint sound of the elevator arriving could be heard.
Chenchen"s voice suddenly rang out, "Zhang Ye, what"re you doing?"
Zhang Ye turned around and saw Rao Aimin dragging Chenchen as they came out of the foyer. He immediately said in surprise, "I was watching them practice. What"s going on here?"
Rao Aimin was clearly about to send Chenchen to school. "It"s been going on for many days now. That junior sister of yours started teaching those people how to do Taiji some time ago. At first, it began with just one or two people learning from home. Then, two days later, even people from the nearby neighborhoods were attracted to her. Quickly take her in hand. Estate management has already come to me several times. If this carries on, the neighborhood"s public square will be out of s.p.a.ce soon."
Zhang Ye wondered, "How did she get so many people?"
Rao Aimin tilted her chin upward toward Yang Shu. "Did you forget about your apartment"s windows getting smashed? When Little Yang jumped out from upstairs to chase after the crooks and took the three of them on all by herself, many of the neighbors witnessed it. On that very night, someone approached Little Yang to learn kung fu from her. She taught him a few moves and then it ended up like this, with more and more people joining."
Zhang Ye was secretly surprised. "She seems quite charismatic, doesn"t she?"
"Within one kilometer, there had better not be anyone who speaks ill of your junior sis. If they do, they"ll get ganged up on and scolded by a bunch of people." Rao Aimin glanced at him. "Even your influence in this area is no match for her anymore. Alright, enough talking. I have to send this kid to school."
Rao Aimin led Chenchen away.
Zhang Ye quickly called out, "I"ll be eating lunch at your place at noon!"
"Yeah, yeah," Rao Aimin said impatiently.
Chenchen yelled to Yang Shu, "Old Yang, I"m going to school."
As Yang Shu turned to look and wave at her, she spotted Zhang Ye. Taken aback, a look of embarra.s.sment appeared on her face as she busily instructed the crowd of people. She coughed, then shouted to them, "Alright, that"s all for today. Go back home and practice on your own what you learned today. If you can"t grasp the gist, practice more and you"ll be fine. If you really still can"t get it, you may come back and find me tomorrow. That"s all then."
"OK!"
"Thank you, Teacher Yang!"
"Little Yang, thanks for the hard work."
"Master Yang, thanks for all your work."
The crowded started dispersing and went their separate ways. Some of them were even sharing their experiences as they left.
Yang Shu timidly walked over to Zhang Ye. "Senior Bro."
Zhang Ye said expressionlessly, "Let"s go upstairs and have a talk."
Upstairs.
In the apartment.
The moment they entered the apartment, Zhang Ye put on a stern face and criticized, "Taiji Fist is a martial arts meant for fighting. In this modern era, a lot of the other martial arts are being promoted as something to practice for the strengthening of one"s body and mind. But as to what it really is, I would have expected you of all people to know better! Strengthening of one"s body and mind is just a secondary effect. Taiji Fist"s primary goal is to inflict hurt on others and stop an enemy"s attack. There were so many people downstairs just now, but did you question if any of their characters and minds are suitable to learn the art? Were you just going to teach any person that came along? How could you do that? What if you teach them and they use what they learned to go out and commit evil? There were so many of them. Did you test them one by one?"
Yang Shu lowered her head. "I was just teaching them some simple moves, not real Taiji."
Zhang Ye said, "You call that simple? The set of moves you taught included techniques that could hurt others. Besides, with so many elderly uncles and aunties learning, you actually risked teaching them? What if something happens to them while they"re practicing what you taught them? Are you going to take responsibility? That set of moves is totally unsuitable for older people! Something will surely happen if they keep practicing it!"
Yang Shu lowered her head even further and didn"t make a sound.
Zhang Ye got angrier as he went on, pointing at her and saying, "You"re really daring, huh, not even discussing something this important with me?"
Yang Shu muttered, "But you weren"t around."
"Oh, so you can run wild just because I"m not around?" Zhang Ye said, "Luckily, I came back today and found out early. If I came back a month or so later, there"d surely be trouble!"
In Zhang Ye"s previous world, the Taiji Fist that people popularly knew about was the simplified version of the original. It could be said that it was almost no different from common aerobic exercises and was indeed practiced to strengthen one"s body and mind. There weren"t any techniques that contained any lethality and they all existed in many styles, like the Yang forms and Chen forms. But none of these techniques were considered true Taiji Fist since the true form was an internal style, the purpose of which was to stop an enemy"s attack, and had a deadly lethality. Anyone who did not have a martial arts background and was too advanced in age would only hurt themselves if they blindly practiced an internal style. Of course there were exceptions, but for most people, this was definitely not a good thing. Practicing an internal style was absolutely not simple! That was the reason why a lot of internal style martial artists did not teach the people outside of their schools. Even if they did, they had to see who the person was and judge if they had the moral character to learn the martial art.
Yang Shu did not speak.
Zhang Ye was afraid that she would not know the seriousness of the matter, so he rambled on for over half an hour. "Don"t go around teaching other people anymore. Today will be the last time!"
Rao Aimin came home from sending her kid to school.
She pushed the door open and came in after hearing the yelling. "Whoa, you"re still on about it?"
Yang Shu finally raised her head. "I was just hoping to spread the art of the Taiji Fist, that"s all."
"There are many other ways to spread the art!" Zhang Ye reproached, "You"re too anxious to achieve that and brought harm to others in the process!"
"I"m not!" Yang Shu bit her bottom lip, feeling aggrieved.
Rao Aimin smacked her lips and mediated, "Alright, alright, it"s not that big a deal. But Little Zhang is right. You shouldn"t be teaching internal style martial arts to people so easily. It"s not that we"re keeping this knowledge to ourselves and refusing to share with others, but that learning an internal style can be quite harsh. If it isn"t practiced properly, it can cause one"s body a great deal of damage." Then she added, "But I"ve also seen the set of moves Little Yang was teaching, and they"re very simplified. Although, some of the moves, even if not to the extent of causing harm, are still not suitable for the middle-aged and elderly to learn since the movements are too sweeping."
Yang Shu looked at her. "Then, Master Rao, how can we further simplify Taiji Fist so that we can teach it to everyone?"
Rao Aimin spread up her hands. "It"s not like I know anything about your Taiji branch of martial arts. There"s only the two of you in this world that know Taiji Fist, so why are you asking me?"
Yang Shu immediately looked to Zhang Ye. "Senior Bro."
Zhang Ye said, "What?"
Yang Shu said, "You must know."
Zhang Ye said in exasperation, "Why would I know?"
"Can you help me simplify the moves of Taiji Fist?" Yang Shu said seriously, "I would like to let everyone learn it. Just look at our neighbors, all of them really enjoyed practicing it!"
Zhang Ye sat down on the sofa without replying.
"Senior Bro." Yang Shu quickly poured him a cup of tea and brought it to him with great respect. "Have some tea."
Zhang Ye took it from her and drank.
Yang Shu said, "I understand what you were trying to tell me just now. I was too anxious and I realized that I was wrong. Senior Bro, please guide me."