At six in the morning, Wen Liang woke up from his sleep and looked out the window. He could already hear the chirping of summer cicadas. Entering the dog days of summer, Qingzhou seemed like a naked beauty, lying on the central avenue of the city, igniting a raging fire in the hearts of every passerby, burning their entire body and mind with restlessness.
He stretched himself, jumped off the bed, went to the bathroom to take a quick shower, and then changed into a casual sports T-shirt and shorts. With his refreshing short hair and ordinary face, at first glance, he looked no different from an ordinary high school student.
Walking up the stairs to the lobby on the first floor, through the French windows, I saw Chang Cheng had gotten up at some point and was practicing boxing in the courtyard. With each move, his mind was focused and his mind was calm, slow, relaxed, neither stiff nor clumsy, and he did it all in one go. When he rose, he was like an eagle soaring into the sky, and when he fell, he was like an old tree with twisted roots, which was really dazzling.
Wen Liang walked over to the nearby grape trellis and sat down. He watched quietly for a while and clapped his hands, saying, "Great skills! What kind of boxing is this?"
Chang Cheng had actually seen Wen Liang a long time ago, and he also wanted to show off. He performed a set of punches that made him more fierce than usual. He retracted his punches when he heard the sound, without panting or shaking his voice. Even in the hot weather, there was not even a drop of sweat on his forehead. He smiled and said, "The small chain punch is not very famous. It's just Liang Fangwu's entry-level punch."
But judging from the expression on his face, he was obviously very proud of this set of boxing. Wen Liang asked curiously, "I have heard of the small chain boxing, but who is Liang Fangwu?"
It is not Wen Liang's fault that he is ignorant. Liang Fangwu became famous in the Republic of China and was well-known in Guangxi. Unlike Ip Man, he did not have a movie biography to prove his fame, so not many people knew about him.
Chang Cheng came over, picked up the water bottle on the stone table, raised his neck and drank a few mouthfuls of water, and explained: "... Liang Fangwu is a master of Southern Shaolin Buddhist boxing, especially his hard Qigong, and is known as the Iron Man of Guangdong and Guangxi..."
After listening to Chang Cheng's words, Wen Liang realized that there was such a person in Southern Shaolin Temple. He said, "I have seen the monks in Shaolin Temple perform small chain punches. Why is it different from yours?"
When he visited the Shaolin Temple in Songshan in his previous life, he did see monks performing small chain punches. How should he put it? To put it nicely, it was just fancy moves that were not good enough to fight against an enemy, let alone to strengthen the body. To put it bluntly, it was just a performance art to amuse tourists.
Shaolin Temple is far away in Songshan Mountain. Chang Cheng didn't know when Wen Liang had been there. He showed a disdainful expression on his face and said, "Of course it's different. I learned this set of boxing from the fifth-generation direct descendant of Liang Fangwu. It is an exclusive secret that has never been passed on to others. How can it be compared with those street performers who sell their boxing skills?"
"Oh?" Wen Liang's eyes rolled around and he asked, "Since it's a treasure that is not passed on to others, how did you learn it?"
Chang Cheng blushed and said, "This happened a long time ago. Let's not talk about it now, okay?"
When Wen Liang heard the gossip, he was not willing to let him go, and said, "It's ok if you don't mention it, I'll deduct your salary this month..."
"No, no!" Chang Cheng was now fearless except for this move, so he immediately gave in and said, "I'll tell you, isn't it enough for me to tell you?"
Wen Liang pointed to the stone bench opposite him, pretending to listen attentively. Chang Cheng sat down and sighed. His eyes suddenly became wandering. After a while, he said, "That was more than ten years ago. I had just been assigned to serve in the army in Guangxi. My base was not far from Cenxi City..."
Chang Cheng is a man with a story. Wen Liang understood this from the first time he met him. But after listening to his story, he still felt that one cannot judge a book by its cover. Sometimes, or many times, life is always more exciting than movies!
This story is neither long nor short. To sum it up, when Chang Cheng was a soldier in Cenxi, he was on leave and went out. He was walking on the street and saw a thief. Unexpectedly, the thieves were organized. Four or five of them surrounded him with short daggers in their hands. At that time, Chang Cheng was not as strong as he is today. The consequences of dealing with five armed thieves at the same time would be disastrous. At the critical moment, a girl who passed by came forward to help. With just a few simple moves, she knocked the thief to the ground and made him unable to move, which attracted Chang Cheng's attention.
Later he found out that the girl was using the small chain punch.
After handing the thief over to the police who rushed to the scene, the two met each other. The girl was none other than the fifth-generation descendant of the Liang family in Cenxi, named Liang Jing. After a while, the two young people were in love, but the ending was just like all the melodramatic TV dramas. Chang Cheng was just a poor soldier, his family was thousands of miles away, and he couldn't marry into the Liang family, so of course he was not liked by the Liang family. Love without the blessing of parents is painful and desperate. The two finally broke up peacefully, and as a parting gift, Liang Jing taught Chang Cheng the small chain fist that the Liang family never passed on. The fate started with the fist and ended with the fist.
"A few years ago, when I was on a mission and passed by Cenxi, I secretly left the team to see her. Although I only saw her from a distance, I saw that she was smiling happily with her husband and son. Knowing that she was living a happy life, I felt relieved..."
It was obvious that Chang Cheng had let go of the past, but Wen Liang still asked, "If you were to encounter something like this now, what would you do?"
Chang Cheng's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and he said, "If it were now... I'll fuck her grandma, what if my family objects? I'll just marry her first, and at most it's done..."
Wen Liang laughed and said, "Just for what you said, your salary will be doubled this month!"
Chang Cheng felt a little overwhelmed with happiness. Based on his understanding of Wen Liang, he definitely didn't think she was such a generous person. He squinted his eyes and asked suspiciously, "Don't set me up for another fall, will you?"
"How can that be possible?" Wen Liang said with a smile, "I wanted to bribe you to teach me this set of boxing, but since it is someone else's secret, it's better not to learn it."
Wen Liang has never been a person who cares about rules. The more secrets are not passed down, the more he wants to learn them. Especially this ancient tradition of cherishing things has led to the loss of many excellent cultures and should be swept into the garbage dump of history. It's just that because this set of boxing has a special meaning to Chang Cheng, he changed his mind temporarily.
Chang Cheng was grateful in his heart, but he was not convinced. He said, "It's okay to teach me. It's just that you are not qualified, so I'm afraid you can't learn it..." The two chatted while eating breakfast they bought from outside. Before they knew it, it was almost eight o'clock. The landline in the living room suddenly rang. Wen Liang stopped Chang Cheng who was about to get up to answer the phone, and walked over to answer it himself. It was Wen Huaiming's voice: "You...
Why don’t you answer the phone
Wen Liang felt his pocket and remembered that he had changed his clothes and forgot his phone in the room upstairs. He said, "I didn't bring my phone with me. Dad, what made you think of calling me?"
"I know you were still in the city last night and didn't go home. Maybe you were in Xiyuan, so I called to try..."
Wen Liang did not hide the fact that he bought Xiyuan from Wen Huaiming, just so that he could have a way to contact someone when he needed to. He asked, "What's the matter? Is there something urgent?"
"If you are free now, come to the Municipal Party Committee Office to find me."
Wen Liang hung up the phone, frowning slightly. Chang Cheng observed his expression and asked, "What's the matter, Secretary General?"
"What else could it be? It's just to show my loyalty to Xu Fuyan..."
Since Wen Huaiming became the chief steward of the Municipal Party Committee, Wen Liang had never met him in the office, firstly to avoid suspicion and secondly to conceal his identity. But this time Wen Huaiming specifically asked him to go to the office. It was probably because Xu Fuyan had already tipped him off about what happened last night. Meeting at the Municipal Party Committee at this time was to show the indecisive and suspicious Secretary Xu that he took this matter seriously - this was already a public matter, not a family matter!
Wen Liang smiled coldly. He couldn't write two words "Wen" with one stroke. Who could he hide from just pretending? Only someone like Xu Fuyan would care about these superficial things!
After entering the municipal party committee building, I met Bai Wei when I was going up the stairs. The girl didn't look very good. She was holding the documents and walking straight with her head down. She bumped into Wen Liang's arms with a bang.
"Oh, sorry..." Bai Wei raised her head and was about to apologize, but when she found out it was Wen Liang, she smiled in surprise and asked, "Xiao Liang, why are you here?"
Wen Liang pointed upstairs and said, "The school needs to pay for materials. Ask my dad for some pocket money."
Bai Wei stuck out her tongue and said, "The secretary general just came back from a meeting with the secretary. There shouldn't be anything to do right now. Do you want me to take you there?"
"No need. Although there are not many municipal committee members here, we can still find the way!" Wen Liang looked at her and said, "Sister Bai Wei, did you not sleep well last night?"
"No..." Bai Wei covered her eyes with her hands, looking a little panicked, and said, "It's okay, maybe it's too hot..."
Wen Liang smiled and said, "It's really hot, remember to drink more water!"
"Um!"
Watching Bai Wei leave in a hurry, Wen Liang shook his head. With his keen eyesight, he could naturally see that the little girl was worried, but after all, it had nothing to do with him, so he didn't take it to heart and turned to go upstairs.
“Boom boom!”
"Come in!"
Wen Liang opened the door. Wen Huaiming was looking through documents. He said, "Put the things on the table. I'll take a look at them later."
"Secretary General, I came here with nothing. I am an honest person and never give gifts..."
Wen Huaiming raised his head, a smile flashed across his stern face, and asked, "You're here so soon?"
"How can I not hurry when you call me?" Wen Liang sat down at the desk, picked up the small red flag on the desk, and said with a smile: "Did Xu Fuyan scold you?"
Wen Huaiming turned his head and looked at the door vigilantly, and said, "Call Secretary Xu here!"
Wen Liang smiled but said nothing. Wen Huaiming glared at him and asked, "What's going on with Min Chengye?"
"What else can we do? The Municipal Bureau launched a comprehensive campaign and happened to arrest a group of gamblers, and Min Chengye was one of them."
Wen Huaiming said: "It's that simple!"
“It’s that simple!”
"Simple?" Wen Huaiming said angrily, "What about Gao Tianfang, the secretary of Mayor Chen of Guanshan?"
Geng Chao really reported everything to Xu Fuyan. Wen Liang said nonchalantly, "I was just asking around..."
"Ask?" Wen Huaiming frowned, and said in a low voice full of anger: "You are confused!" (To be continued)