Chapter 21 Performance_1

For two consecutive days, Yan Fei had been roaming around the county town with his mom.

Clearly, his mom was trying to completely win him over with material temptations, buying him anything he wanted to eat and repeatedly asking him if there was anything he wanted to play with, implying that they could bring the entire county town home if he so wished.

Luckily, Yan Fei was always looking around, showing some interest in food but little else.

This somewhat disappointed his mom, who had been determined to 'bribe' her son into compliance. Kids of his age were usually capricious, constantly pestering their parents to buy them this and that, yet her own son seemed impervious to her attempts to get things he desired. Even the games that most boys were particularly fond of, such as playing with air guns at the balloon stand in front of the county cinema, held no interest for Yan Fei.

She didn't realize that Yan Fei was now more interested in playing games like hunting dinosaurs with shotguns. How could he be interested in shooting balloons with a shoddy air gun?

Out of options, his mom then took Yan Fei to check out the nearby junior high schools, as well as the prestigious First High School.

The junior high schools were simply taller, newer, and had larger playgrounds. But the high school was indeed impressive.

Although County No.1 High School was located near the center of the county town, it spanned a large secluded site, surrounded by lush pine and cypress trees, weeping willows, and rows of imposing buildings. The management was also stringent. To get in, Yan Fei's mom had pleaded a lot with the gatekeeper to allow a hopeful mother to take her child in for a visit.

Xu Xiaoyan, the famous Xu Xing, studied at this school, Yan Fei planned to surprise her one day.

Seeing him lost in thought, his mom hastily enticed him, "Do you like this school? Do you want to study here? Not many students from our small town get in each year. It'd be easier if you were a junior high student here already. What are you thinking about?"

Yan Fei's response disappointed his optimistic mom a bit: "I was just thinking that Xu Xing studies at this school and everyone says she will definitely go to university!"

But his mom wasn't discouraged: "Yes, if you study here, the chance of getting into a university will be much higher. Unlike the high school in our town, where they have to put up a banner every summer holiday to celebrate even a single student getting admitted to a university."

Yan Fei recalled that this year the high school across the road seemed to have put up no banners. What a tragedy, didn't even one student get admitted to a university?

After his mom went on about the advantages of First High School, seeing that Yan Fei remained indifferent, she followed up on his previous comment, "Is the Xu Xing you mentioned the girl from next door who used to play with you often when you were young? The one you asked to keep an eye on your house and pass on messages to your classmates while you were away?"

Yan Fei nodded.

His mom said, "I know that girl; she is indeed nice. Are you two still good friends?"

Seeing Yan Fei nod again, she continued, "She is a good girl, but she's much older than you. I wonder how things will change once she goes to university…"

She then looked at her son with a tinge of regret, seemingly disappointed at the possibility of this girl becoming her daughter-in-law slipping by.

Things weren't easy for his mom. On one hand, she was worried that Yanfei's father would spoil their younger son rotten. On the other, she was fully intent on raising their elder son as a pampered gentleman. In fact, she wasn't particularly adept at communicating with her elder son. The only thing she could do was to lay out the best of what they could afford and let him pick and choose.

Unfortunately, Yan Fei had already grown indifferent to the county town after less than two days.

Although the food in the county town was excellent, it wasn't very filling for him. All these traditional snacks, which had been handed down for thousands of years and were celebrated in a world-renowned food documentary decades later, failed his crude criterion — they weren't filling at all.

Actually, there were two items that did meet his criterion: roast chicken and beef.

Wancheng City, where they resided, was a national agricultural hub and cattle-raising center, and the locally bred cattle were famous nationwide. As one of the best cattle-raising regions within the jurisdiction, Tanghe County naturally boasted uniquely flavored beef.

The reasons why these two items appealed to Yan Fei were obvious: they were both meats.

However, at the current prices, both foods were too expensive for Yan Fei. His piggy bank couldn't support the impulsive food spree, so the small county town held little attraction for him.

As for historical sites like ancient pagodas, national relics, princess tombs, and so on, they held even less allure for Yan Fei.

At that time, tourism hadn't actually become an industry yet. The local people considered these attractions, each casually dug up and having a history spanning from a few hundred to a thousand years, just old buildings. They didn't even compare to their neighbor's newly built two-story house!

After two days, his mom was exhausted and Yan Fei's interest in strolling around had gradually dwindled.

By the time dinner came around, his mom was already feeling somewhat rundown. Yan Fei was resistant to persuasion, indifferent to everything she presented; he only tasted each dish once and didn't seem particularly pleased when wearing new clothes. On the rare occasion that something did pique his interest, it lasted only for a moment. It was like he was immune to any kind of persuasion.

The somber atmosphere at the dinner table alerted Yan Fei to initiate the talk.

With only a few bites, Yan Fei who finished his bowl of rice quickly, said, "Mom and Dad, after both of you finish your meal, I have something to tell you!"

Yanfei's father and mother unconsciously paused their chopsticks: "What is it? Can't we talk now?"

Yan Fei held his bowl to serve himself some more rice: "The room is too small, let's go out after eating quickly."

The two finished their meal in confusion and the family of four headed out, walking all the way to the road leading to County No.1 High School.

Standing in a small grove, Yan Fei said to his parents, "I usually practice boxing at home, let me show you the results of my training."

He took up his stance and began his practice in the small grove.

At this moment, the sun had set and the grove was a bit dark. Under the dim light, looking at Yan Fei's movements, in the eyes of his parents, their son was like a black dragon, tumbling and maneuvering in the open ground, punching like the wind, moving like a nimble monkey.

The boxing style of Shanglin Village was not designed for performance, but a real, time-honored tradition passed down through generations. It had one emphasis, practicality. Correspondingly, another characteristic was also obvious, some movements were not as elegant, far less attractive than martial arts performed outside.

But just this set of boxing, Yan Fei was now able to perform flawlessly, clearly showing the effort he made to deal with Lin Baoguo.

In the art of boxing, the imitation of animal movements is indispensable. That's why in mythological stories, those deities and demons who can transform, like Monkey King and Erlang Shen Yang Jian, are especially good at fighting!

The boxing style of Shanglin village emphasizes moving like a dragon, holding still like a tiger, swift like a crafty rabbit, nimble as a monkey, light as a crane. When it comes to mimicking animal movements, Yan Fei who turns into a Compsognathus every night to catch rabbits is particularly good at it. After all, no one can truly transform into an animal and understand what it feels like. Moreover, though small, a Compsognathus satisfies at least three out of these five principles: swiftness, agility, and lightness.

A few minutes later, he finished.

Yan Fei stopped and saw Yan Chao jumping and cheering on the side. He was also in high spirits and wanted to show his parents his 'real skills', so he performed some fancy movements, not to mention things like a 360-degree aerial side flip. The small grove surrounding the open space was all pine trees as thick as a bowl, and Yan Fei showed them what 'tree-stepping' was.

Of course, not stepping directly on the tree trunk to climb, but successfully stepping on several tree trunks successively and then leveraging them to rise without falling to the ground.

Yanfei's Mom, being knowledgeable, knew that the skill she had seen beforehand was real and the latter was purely a fancy show. But it was this latter performance that left Yanfei's father, who's wearing thick glasses, dumbfounded.

Yanfei's Mom was thrilled: "Good boy, so you've been practicing Kung Fu secretly at home! Have you told your grandfather about it? He'd be delighted if he knew..."

Yan Fei smirked, "Let's give him a surprise when you get your National Day holiday and go home, see if we can frighten him."

Yanfei's Mom slapped him lightly: "You naughty boy, you're not humble at all..."

The relationship between the two seemed to suddenly improve a lot. When the mother and son were having a tender moment, they suddenly heard a thudding noise, followed by a cry of "Oh..."

Yanfei's father had been standing beside them, gaping.

Consultation was not that advanced at this age. The most acknowledgment he had gotten to Kung Fu was from TV shows and movies. But it was quite a different thing to see it in person. Especially for Yan Fei's father. As a son-in-law of Shanglin Village, he was the closest one to martial arts but had the least understanding of it. Rural people cared about saving face, who would show off their Kung Fu in front of a scholar?

Therefore, Yanfei's father had only seen "Kung Fu performances" on the streets, which were always thrilling but failed to reflect the real Kung Fu.

This time, when he saw real Kung Fu, especially his own son's, he was stunned for a while before he regained his senses. Then he walked over to the couple of trees Yan Fei had stepped on earlier and measured the height with his hand.

Perhaps it was his scholarly habit, or he didn't bother to pretend as he did in the company, facing his family. This man pulled up his pants, prepared for a moment, took two accelerated steps, and tried to step on the tree trunk.

He was simply trying it out casually.

But trees with diameters as thick as a bowl are not as thick as you think, and not as thin either. Not everyone who wants to step on them can find their balance.

Unsurprisingly, when Yan Fei and his mother heard the cry and turned their heads, the head of the family was sitting on the ground nursing his twisted ankle.