Chapter 270: Trending Again
Meng Fan and Lao Hei went to an upscale steakhouse as soon as they finished showering. Both men had big appet.i.tes, so they spent a lot of money on a lavish meal.
“Let’s toast with milk. I, Lao Hei, want to offer Master Meng a drink!”
Lao Hei had nothing but admiration for Meng Fan. He hadn’t known the young man long, but liked spending time with him. During the meal, Meng Fan asked a lot of questions, all of which he answered thoroughly.
Lao Hei knows a lot of disciplines. He started with Huaxia martial arts, then learned Chinese kickboxing, s.n.a.t.c.hing, then got to know contact sports like sambo and judo. As mixed martial arts or MMA became popular domestically, he was preparing to switch to MMA.
Of course, he’s just practicing now. If he was doing compet.i.tions, he’d have never dared to eat out so freely.
Lao Hei knowing a lot of martial arts disciplines was great for Meng Fan. This way, Meng Fan could ask him any and all questions and not waste time searching online.
Meng Fan managed to understand “wrestling techniques” with Lao Hei’s help.
Wrestling was considered the world’s first compet.i.tive sport. The sport had two origins: In the West, it began in ancient Greece, becoming today’s cla.s.sical wrestling in the Olympics. The other version — freestyle wrestling — also originated from Europe. In the East, the sport was known as Huaxia wrestling, and was also called chiyouxi, wrestling, sumo, or fighting and more.
Of course, there’s Mongolian wrestling and others, which were more or less affected by these two origins.
In the Tang Dynasty, Huaxia wrestling was introduced to the country of j.a.pan, evolving into j.a.panese wrestling, as well as developing into Nihon jiu-jitsu, which became judo and karate. Brazilian jiu-jitsu also originated from j.a.panese jiu-jitsu.
During this evolution, the sport was obviously affected by other martial arts disciplines. Meanwhile, every martial arts discipline developed, evolved, and learned from other disciplines, gradually becoming today’s modern martial arts.
The methods used may vary, but the principle was the same. It had to be said that wrestling, judo, and jiu-jitsu all have a lot in common. Wrestling techniques were used throughout the three sports; the difference was, wrestling emphasized takedowns, jiu-jitsu emphasized floor work, while judo featured both.
With the different names, the biggest difference was the different rules in the compet.i.tions.
The MMA compet.i.tion Lao Hei wanted to do allowed every martial arts discipline. When Meng Fan learned the wrestling techniques, he also understood how he could complete the [Wrestling Compet.i.tion] task.
After the wonderful meal, Lao Hei watched Meng Fan get into a taxi. After he considered a bit, Lao Hei went back to the dojo. He wanted to see how Jin Taiyun was doing. He really hoped this fight wouldn’t affect Meng Fan’s training at the dojo. The double pay for teaching throwing was one thing, and next was that he really liked working with Meng Fan.
“Lao Hei.”
As soon as he came in, several coaches and students came over to ask him about Meng Fan. After all the questions, he understood how Meng Fan and Jin Taiyun got into a fight.
“Lao Hei, get over here.”
Lao Hei was busy talking when a cold voice interrupted, making him sheepish. He followed the man who spoke into an office. “Brother Ji, you wanted to see me?”
“That Meng Fan left?” The man asked. When Lao Hei nodded, he asked, “Is he coming to train tomorrow?”
Lao Hei stiffened his neck and answered, “Of course, he is. Why shouldn’t he? He paid the tuition. Brother Ji, you are not going to let that Korean…”
“I’m not asking you to make comments, ok?” The man glanced at Lao Hei and asked again, “When is he coming tomorrow?”
Lao Hei’s neck turned stiff again, “Brother Ji, you’re not going to take revenge for that Korean, are you?” He weakened after another look by the man. The man was his MMA coach, so Lao Hei didn’t dare to go up against him. Lao Hei answered honestly, “Tomorrow after nine.”
“OK. Get out of here.”
“Alright!”
…
“Still working?”
Meng Fan didn’t go to the school nor his home, instead, he headed toward Da Mei Studios. It was near the Xizi Lake scenic district and just a few minutes walk from the restaurant. On his way there, he sent off a WeChat message to Wu Tong.
During lunch, Meng Fan already messaged her, telling her that he was back. Wu Tong replied that she was rus.h.i.+ng to complete some work with her teacher.
Meng Fan wanted to know if she was still busy. If she was done, he’d go meet up with her.
“Not yet. I’ll be pretty late. Do your thing. See you tomorrow. (sad emoji)”
“OK. (crying emoji)”
Soon, Meng Fan reached Da Mei Studios. It was almost six p.m. Though it was dark, there were many people working at the studio.
“Get away from me!”
Zhang Zhouwei, who was playing with his phone near the entrance, backed up as soon as he saw Meng Fan. “I’m afraid you’ll throw me.”
Meng Fan was surprised. He glanced over at the other workshop employees and said with resignation, “You all know? I guess good news never leaves the house and bad news travels miles.”
“It’s on Weibo’s Hottest Topics. Of course, we know!”
“It’s not a bad thing. At least everyone knows you’re the real Iron Hero now.”
“Boss, you’re incredible!”
“What happened to that Korean?”
“Is he faking fainting? He looks like he really pa.s.sed out.”
“Iron Hero, why are you always fighting Koreans?”
“It’s not Iron Hero vs. Koreans, it’s Koreans picking fights with Iron Hero.”
Everyone at the studio joined in, all of them looked at Meng Fan excitedly. Maybe it was because the online video was so impressive, or Meng Fan’s +11 Charm, or maybe both, everyone thought Meng Fan was simply incredible.
Since most of the studio’s employees were females, their heated gazes made Meng Fan a little uncomfortable.
Well, if they were all men, he would be even more uncomfortable.
After getting answers to things he needed, Meng Fan uttered an excuse and left in a hurry.
As soon as he got to the door, he ran into a man holding two packs of milk tea and coffee. He was in his mid-twenties, had buzz cut hair, and was good-looking and upbeat.
He almost collided with Meng Fan. When he looked up at Meng Fan, he was taken aback and then seemed overjoyed. “Meng Boss, how are you? I’m so happy to meet you.”
Meng Fan smiled and nodded. “I haven’t seen you before. Are you new here?”
The buzz cut guy replied. “I’m Xiang Ping. Oh, my pen name is FlatHeadBro. We’ve chatted before.”
“FlatHeadBro?”
Meng Fan immediately thought of the author of “Rampage and Repair the World,” which was the first book he ill.u.s.trated for. He asked curiously, “What are you doing here?”
FlatHeadBro blushed.
Meanwhile, Zhang Zhouwei came over and glanced at Yan Xixi, the studio’s manager and the chief artist.
When Meng Fan saw Yan Xixi also blus.h.i.+ng, he understood.
This was one master kneeling to another master, ah!