Shi Dafeng went to eat his mutton soup hotpot, so Yan Liqiang was the only one who returned to the rented courtyard.
When he saw Yan Dechang, Yan Liqiang hurried over and brushed off the snowflakes on Yan Dechang's cloak, "Dad, why are you here?"
Yan Dechang carefully looked at Yan Liqiang from head to toe, with a smile on his face. "It happened that I went to Huanglong County to deliver a batch of goods yesterday. I thought it was a bit cold these days, and Huanglong County is closer to Pingxi City, so I came to see you and bring you some clothes. I found it according to the address you wrote in your last letter to your family. It's the third courtyard on the left turn in Qingniu Lane, Sanyuan Street. I didn't expect to find it. You can live here!"
"Well, I live here. Dad, I'm here to get something. Let's go inside and talk!" Yan Liqiang took off the bag that Yan Dechang was carrying, then took out the key, opened the door of the house, and invited Yan Dechang in.
The yard where Yan Liqiang lives is not big, only about 40 to 50 square meters. There is a grape trellis, a well, and a flower bed in the yard. There are some flowers and plants planted in the flower bed. Under the grape trellis, there is a relatively spacious place for practicing martial arts. Although the yard is now covered with a layer of snow, you can still see that the whole yard is tidy and clean.
Yan Dechang walked in and looked at the yard, nodded secretly, and seeing that Yan Liqiang could take good care of himself, he was relieved, "Do you live here alone?"
"Well, I live alone, and I have a friend who lives next door. He can hear me if I shout!"
"We also practice martial arts in this yard!"
"We mainly practice martial arts in the basement. It's sometimes inconvenient in the yard because of the noise!" Yan Liqiang brought Yan Dechang to the main room, put down Yan Dechang's bag, and then scratched his head embarrassedly, "I don't usually make fire to cook here, and I don't have boiled water. Please sit down and wait for a while. I'll go outside to get a pot of boiled water to make you some tea!"
"No, no, I just came to take a look. You don't need to greet me. Have you fallen behind in your spearmanship training?"
"No, they are all in the basement below. Dad, do you want to go and have a look?"
"Okay, let's go see the place where you usually practice!" Yan Dechang was about to sit down, but when he heard Yan Liqiang say this, he stood up again.
The entrance to the basement was just below the stairs leading up to the main room, and there was another door. Yan Liqiang took Yan Dechang to the basement below.
The basement is about the same size as the yard above. It is surrounded by rough bluestone and is more than four meters high. Although it is underground, there are floor windows on both sides of the basement for lighting and ventilation. During the day, some light from the ground can come in, so it is not too dark. It just needs some lights at night.
On the wall of the basement, there was a wooden rack with some copper coins hung by ropes underneath. Next to the rack was a spear more than three meters long, made entirely of pig iron.
Right next to this wooden rack, there are several iron locks used to build up strength. The weight of the iron locks ranges from the lightest of 20 to 30 kilograms to the heaviest of over 200 kilograms.
After Yan Dechang came in, his eyes lit up when he saw these things. He walked to the wooden rack, picked up the iron spear, and weighed it in his hand. The iron spear weighed at least 40 kilograms. Then he turned around and asked Yan Liqiang, "Why are you training with the iron spear here? The iron spear has no elasticity and is so heavy. Is it okay?"
"This is the weight that the iron spear needs. The teacher at the National Martial Arts Hall said that we can use it to practice the basic skills of spearmanship!" Yan Liqiang said, taking the iron spear from Yan Dechang's hand, then squatting down, taking a stance, holding the iron spear flat with one hand, and gradually laying the iron spear flat, forming a straight line with the arm, "This is the iron spear stance that the teacher taught me. I have been practicing this these days..."
The iron spear was so heavy, but he held the base of the spear in one hand and kept it level without moving at all. One can imagine how terrifying the power in Yan Liqiang's hand was.
"Not bad, not bad!" Yan Dechang nodded with satisfaction, and tried the iron locks again. However, Yan Dechang's current physical strength could only lift the small ones. He tried and found that he couldn't lift the two iron locks that were over 100 kilograms. Finally, he shook his head and laughed, "I'm old, old..."
"Your injury has just healed, so don't use too much force!"
"Can you dance with this heaviest iron chain?" Yan Dechang asked curiously.
Yan Liqiang put down his spear and walked to the largest 200-kilogram iron chain. He took the iron chain in his hand with just one hand without any effort. Then he swung his arm and the iron chain flew around him. Yan Liqiang's two hands switched back and forth, and the iron chain flipped back and forth in front of and behind him, fluttering like a butterfly. The whirring wind from the dancing iron chain blew directly onto the face of Yan Dechang next to him.
If he had not seen it with his own eyes, Yan Dechang would not have believed that Yan Liqiang's strength had reached this level. That was a 200-kilogram iron chain, not a 20-kilogram iron chain. Even if he was not a warrior, Yan Dechang understood that his son's strength was too amazing. Yan Liqiang was only fourteen years old this year. He didn't know how Yan Liqiang trained himself to have such strength. He remembered that Yan Liqiang's strength didn't seem to be so exaggerated before.
After dancing for a full minute, Yan Liqiang suddenly stopped and gently placed the iron chain on the ground. There was no sound at all, but his face was slightly red, and his breathing was still very steady.
"Good, good, good..." Yan Dechang was so excited that he said three good words in a row, "You have really improved your skills by coming to this martial arts hall..."
This strength and ability basically comes from the tremendous changes that Yi Jin Xi Sui Jing has brought to his body, especially the increase in physical strength and the improvement of all aspects of quality. Although the things taught in the National Martial Arts Museum are useful, they only teach some basic things to become a warrior. They are not profound and cannot be compared with Yi Jin Xi Sui Jing.
However, there was no way to tell Yan Dechang these words. Hearing his father's praise, Yan Liqiang just smiled and nodded, "Dad, you are right. I have indeed learned a lot from coming to the National Martial Arts Museum. The teachers there are also very good!"
"Seeing you like this, I feel relieved. Let's go upstairs..." Yan Dechang breathed a long sigh of relief.
…
Yan Dechang only stayed with Yan Liqiang for less than an hour in total. After looking at the courtyard where Yan Liqiang lived and asking about the details of Yan Liqiang's daily life, he kept the winter clothes he brought for Yan Liqiang, left Yan Liqiang twenty taels of silver, talked a few words about the blacksmith shop, and left, resolutely refusing to accept Yan Liqiang's gift.
In the more than two months since Yan Liqiang came to the county town, the business of Yan Liqiang's family's blacksmith shop has slowly gotten on track. Although the Yan family's swords cannot make any magical weapons, they are of high quality and reasonably priced. The brand of Yan's swords has basically been established in Qinghe County. Yan Dechang just gives some instructions in the blacksmith shop every day and checks the quality of the swords that are made. The Yan family has land, workshops, shops, and blacksmith shops in Liuhe Town. Gradually, it has taken on a different look.
What Yan Liqiang had not expected was that the Gurkha knife he had carefully crafted, because of its strange shape resembling a dog's leg, had not been popular in the blacksmith shop in the past two months, and not many were sold.
Qian Su, who was still in the Artisan Camp, saw the Gurkha Scimitar and knew that it was designed by Yan Liqiang. He became interested in it and asked for one to play with a few days ago. Just two days ago, Qian Su sent a message to ask Yan's Blacksmith Shop to send 100 "Yan's Scimitars" (the name given to the Gurkha Scimitar by Yan Liqiang) to the Artisan Camp in Huanglong County. He said that his previous scimitar was seen by an officer who came to the Artisan Camp to order a long gun. The officer used a knife and found that the scimitar Qian Su took away had a strange shape. He was very interested and took Qian Su's scimitar to play with for a few days. Unexpectedly, a few days later, the officer came to Qian Su and directly ordered 100 "Yan's Scimitars" to give as gifts...
Faced with this "big business" that suddenly fell, Yan Dechang was overjoyed and personally went out to deliver the 100 scimitars to Huanglong County. Because he missed Yan Liqiang, he came to Pingxi City to see how Yan Liqiang was doing in Pingxi City...
…
After seeing Yan Dechang off with mixed feelings, Yan Liqiang also sorted himself out, changed his clothes, and headed to the Governor's Mansion...
(End of this chapter)