Chapter 22 – Entering Into Discipleship
However, before Wei Xiao Bei could shamelessly imagine things between him and Cheng Si Si, Cheng Bi Wu’s poured cold water over his head, “Your foundation is not too bad. Did you have any plans of asking me to be your master and learn Bajiquan?”
This was the first time Cheng Bi Wu tried to receive a disciple this way. He had no choice but to do this as Wei Xiao Bei’s age really did not suit learning martial arts anymore. However, he had a decent foundation. The most important thing was that the first time Cheng Bi Wu met Wei Xiao Bei, he felt that Wei Xiao Bei was an unpolished gem. When Cheng Bi Wu rubbed the medicine on his bruise before, he had touched all over Wei Xiao Bei’s body, and he became even more convinced.
In this age, where economy was now flourishing, martial arts have already started declining.
There was a saying on the internet: even the best martial arts fall to a single bullet.
No matter how great a martial arts master was, they would probably die in the face of a bullet fired from modern firearms. There were already too many examples of this, so there was no need to mention them.
If it was the army, there would be more martial experts. Combining their martial arts and firearm skills, their power to injure or kill the enemy would be higher than a person with just pure martial arts.
Among the citizens, martials arts practitioners were nothing compared to those with skills that could earn lots of money.
A martial arts practitioner would train for more than ten years. So what if they could beat ten people alone?
Bodyguards? That job didn’t have much fame. They wouldn’t be able to earn much in a month, and in times of danger, they would have to risk their lives to protect their client.
Underground fighting and other activities of the same kind did not even need to be mentioned. Every law-abiding parent would not be willing to let their children do those kinds of things.
For those whose martial arts did not reach an expert degree, they wouldn’t even dare to open their own dojo. Those who did were only asking to be beaten. Moreover, opening a dojo needed a big investment, and even then, the profits were not that big.
Finally, modern men did not like the idea of enduring hardships. The energy used for learning martial arts would be better used if it was for studying, going to a good college, picking a good job, joining a foreign company, becoming a CEO, marrying a good spouse, and ascending to the peak of life. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?
If it was just training the body, learning Taekwondo was enough. If it was for real fights, learning mixed martial arts for a few months would already show great results.
In short, the influence of traditional martial arts was declining day by day. The best it could do was casually brag at how great it was through movies and television shows.
From Cheng Bi Wu’s point of view, he was not yet satisfied at having three disciples. He believed that neither of them would be able to succeed his legacy.
Wei Xiao Bei left him a better impression to the point that he was the most satisfied with him.
The only question was if he was willing to join him or not.
Wei Xiao Bei was initially startled by Cheng Bi Wu’s words. He was originally already thinking of entering into discipleship. Who knew that Cheng Bi Wu would actually give him a nice surprise.
When Cheng Bi Wu thought that Wei Xiao Bei was not willing, Wei Xiao Bei turned around and kneeled in front of him, “This disciple is willing!”
“Excellent!”
Cheng Bi Wu immediately became elated. Soon he asked Cheng Si Si to call the other disciples in. They stood on the side and conducted a simple discipleship ceremony.
Cheng Bi Wu sat upright on an armchair. Cheng Si Si handed over a cup of green tea to Wei Xiao Bei.
Wei Xiao Bei roughly understood what he needed to do and handed the green tea to Cheng Bi Wu. He said, “Master, please help yourself to tea.”
Cheng Bi Wu received the tea cup and took a sip. He smiled and said, “Xiao Bei, although the discipleship ceremony is a bit simple because it was hurried, you are now my disciple from today onwards. There are only two rules that you must follow and remember. One, do not deceive the master and forsake the ancestor. You must respect your teacher and be united with your fellow disciples. Two, do not break the law, violate the discipline, or bully the weak.”
Seeing that Cheng Bi Wu’s voice and face became serious, Wei Xiao Bei immediately replied, “Your disciple will remember master’s instructions.”
“Stand up.”
Cheng Bi Wu smiled after saying the rules and hearing Wei Xiao Bei’s response. Then he took out a hong bao from his chest pocket.
(Hong Bao is the red envelope/packet that chinese give to each other for various occasions, I prefer not to translate hong bao because I feel like it)
Wei Xiao Bei received the hong bao with a stunned expression.
His apprentice brothers all laughed when they saw his stupefied expression. Among them, Cheng Si Si had the greatest smile. This reason was simple; the seniority of Cheng Bi Wu’s school or martial arts was arranged from first to last. However, she was the last, but now, she was not only a junior apprentice anymore.
“Junior apprentice brother Xiao Bei, is there anything wrong? You can tell this senior apprentice sister about it.”
Cheng Si Si asked with a smile on her face, of course, without neglecting her identity as a senior apprentice sister.
“Ah. Wasn’t it normally the apprentice that gives the master a hong bao? Why is mine different?”
Wei Xiao bei blushed a bit when he said this. If he was truly to give the master a hong bao, his embarrassment would be big. His wallet only contained a few bills.
“No need. Your master does not lack money. Si Si, go prepare lunch. Everyone should drink to their heart’s content.”
Cheng Bi Wu became incredibly happy after accepting a fine apprentice. Actually, the money earned from the dojo was not much, but he did not care about losing such a small amount. Those who were capable of wholeheartedly pursuing martial arts did not lack money.
There was a saying that the poor should study, while the rich can devote themselves to martial arts. The appetites of those who learn martial arts were quite big. They needed to eat well to be able to recover their body. Those who did not have money wouldn’t have great results no matter how much they trained.
After Wei Xiao Bei entered into apprenticeship, they all began speaking with each other.
Yao Wu was already mentioned as one of Cheng Bi Wu’s disciple before. Another one was the second apprentice brother, Zhang Zhi Long. He was the one previously instructing the group of youths that were training. His skin looked very fair and clear. On the other hand, the one who was continuously ramming against the tree was their big senior apprentice brother, Liu Jian Cheng. His skin was very tanned and was almost at the age of 30. He still did not have a girlfriend and was often nicknamed ‘the martial arts fool’.
These three fellow apprentices helped the master in the dojo. They also lived there and ate meals together, but they did not have any wages.
According to Cheng Si Si, the three fellow apprentices did not come from poor households, but they loved to learn martial arts. They would even give a decent sum of offering to their master every year. They were even the ones who took initiative in asking for discipleship.
While eating lunch, Cheng Bi Wu had asked about Wei Xiao Bei’s current circumstances and did not say anything else.
Wei Xiao Bei did not think too much. He drank with his master, senior apprentice brothers and sister for a few rounds. Through this, their relationship had deepened by a lot.
In the afternoon, Cheng Bi Wu did not teach Wei Xiao Bei anything. He had instructed Wei Xiao Bei to join the group of youths that were being instructed by his second apprentice brother to train his foundation.
At 5 o’clock, Wei Xiao Bei said goodbye and went to work.
Although he had drunk quite a bit, Wei Xiao Bei’s mind after working his shift was filled with excitement. Let alone entering apprenticeship, being able to eat a lot for lunch made him incredibly happy, even if Cheng Si Si kept looking at him strangely the entire time.
When Wei Xiao Bei heard that his master would treating him while in the car, he activated his special skill and began releasing electricity. As a result, when lunch time came, he was already extremely hungry. He was like a tiger as he crazily wolfed down bowls and bowls of rice to the point that Cheng Bi Wu and the others almost had no more rice to eat.
However, his efforts were not wasted. The voltage that he was able to release increased to 9 volts and the electric current increased to 2.5 milliamperes.
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