Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Martial Arts Tournament (×) Vegetable-Grabbing Tournament...

Tang Martial Arts School hadn’t been this lively for a long time.

The teachers had rare time to rest today; a few of them stood under the sun, chatting while guiding Wang Zhaoshan in standing postures.

“Big brother, we just said yesterday, our muscles and bones need to attack, but the skin and fur should be relaxed. Why are you doing the opposite?”

“Aiyo, this is a bit overdone,” Teacher Gao pressed on Wang Zhaoshan’s knee, making him tremble. “Yes! That’s the force, remember the sudden jolting feeling now.”

Wang Zhaoshan was miserable.

According to Teacher Tang, none of his original Vajra Gong movements were standard, and practicing only made his posture worse.

It was fine when one teacher corrected him before, but now three teachers were correcting him—he might not even win the food scramble later.

He still hadn’t tasted any of the Ghost-Face Beef until now—not even a single piece!

Thinking of this, he cautiously asked, “Teacher Tang, can I eat with the new students’ table today?”

Tang Yang saw that although Old Wang’s face was wrinkled and his legs trembling, he still persisted with the posture. After thinking for a moment, she nodded: “Alright, then you can go eat with the new students’ table.”

Old Wang was encouraged!

The tough standing posture time ended. After evaluation by the coaching team, they unanimously decided Zhu Chenchen was this time’s champion.

“Good, this young girl looks talented just by her build!”

“Indeed, those broad shoulders, standing postures are beautiful, though it’s a pity she’s a bit older.”

Tang Yang got proud when hearing this: “She also has a younger sister; I’ll visit them at their home during the New Year!”

Unlike the joy among the coaching team, the diners’ group all grimaced and frowned.

Standing postures look like just standing, but in reality, they are much more tiring than they imagined.

Although Zhu Chenchen was rated the most standard in the standing posture, she was also the most exhausted and immediately lay down at the dining table.

“If I’d known it would be this tiring, I wouldn’t have come!”

This time, upon hearing Chen Ran was at the Pingshan City Martial Arts School, Zhu Chenchen rushed over.

Her school was in the suburbs of Pingshan City; although it was hard to get leave, she could easily study for half a day every day and then return to class!

But now, she already started doubting whether she could persist.

“Fine, just lie down now, no one’s stopping you.”

Hearing Old Wang’s sarcastic tone, Zhu Chenchen immediately sat up straight: “Nice of you! Don’t think just because it’s an internal fight now, you can grab food!”

Thanks to Zhu Nan and He Xin’s active promotion, the famous video of Old Wang failing to grab food had already spread widely in the group.

“I haven’t been starving for nothing these days!”

Although he hadn’t grabbed a single dish with chopsticks, Wang Zhaoshan shamelessly tried to cozy up to the little Taoist priest and also learned some less idealistic insights.

First, you can’t grip the chopsticks with all your strength—you need to be relaxed so you can quickly turn.

Second, don’t be too picky when grabbing food; keep your eyes active—grab whatever you encounter.Finally, never give up hope until the very last moment!

After all this, although Old Wang still didn’t manage to grab a single dish, he believed it wasn’t because he was too weak—it was mainly because the opponents were too cunning.

If he couldn’t compete with the people from the martial arts school, could he still not compete with his own people from Chen Ran’s fan group?

“Hehe, if you don’t get a bite later, don’t cry!”

Zhu Chenchen picked up her chopsticks, ignoring Old Wang, fully focused and ready to join the food-grabbing battle.

She wanted to make up for the humiliation of not bringing any food from her grandma’s graduation banquet last time!

She cautiously scanned the others in the fan group.

There were a few unfamiliar faces, but none seemed very capable—they probably couldn’t beat her in the scramble.

Among the familiar fans, Ms. Wang looked very elegant and certainly wouldn’t grab much food. Gao Shuxian, who came with her, looked soft and weak and probably wouldn’t grab much either.

Then there was Old Wang; he was over fifty this year, so not much of a threat.

As for her three masters... no matter how good they were at grabbing food, surely three people couldn’t finish a whole table’s dishes, right?

Zhu Chenchen was full of confidence—the former food-grabbing champion of Seventh Elementary School was about to make a comeback!

When Tang Yang brought the dishes, she saw Zhu Chenchen pick up her chopsticks with confidence.

She seemed to see her future disciple and felt very satisfied inside.

“There are many people today. Chef Chen specially remade the fish-and-mutton fresh lion’s head meatballs from a few days ago. The rice is vegetable rice with greens and Chinese sausage. Everyone, eat more.”

Ms. Wang smiled elegantly: “Chen Ran is always so considerate. If someone can’t get a dish, at least they can enjoy the rice.”

Gao Shuxian nodded along: Ranran has always been the best! This morning, she was busy practicing standing postures with her, and she even brought Chen Ran a new hand cream to give her later.

Wang Zhaoshan muttered: “You all eat more rice. This time I’m going to eat more vegetables!”

Tu Xiaoning encouraged him: “Uncle Wang! Keep it up! Very determined! Should I help you switch to plain rice?”

This time, Zhu Chenchen was rated the most standard in her movements; her teachers were Tu Xiaoning and Senior Sister Han.

Wang Zhaoshan looked at Tu Xiaoning’s still somewhat youthful face and shivered slightly, shielding his rice bowl with both hands.

“No need, hahaha. We can’t waste Chef Chen’s kindness, hahaha. I’ll just eat this rice!”

In the past few days, he had sat right next to Tu Xiaoning every day and knew very well her food-grabbing skills!

Wang Zhaoshan decided that when the food scramble started, he would avoid Tu Xiaoning’s movements.

He lifted his chopsticks, holding his breath, quietly waiting for Tang Yang to announce the start of the meal.

Others in Chen Ran’s fan group also picked up their chopsticks and began. The dining hall, which had been quietly murmuring just moments ago, instantly fell silent as an invisible pressure spread.

Ms. Wang observed that everyone’s expression was very serious, eyes fixed motionlessly on the food table.

The atmosphere for eating was too pure…

She mainly came to the martial arts school with Gao Shuxian. It would be great if they could get food; if not, it would be best for Gao Shuxian to stay here for a while.

From her observation, if Gao Shuxian could become Tang Yang’s disciple, at least they wouldn’t have to worry about family coming after her. Even if someone really did come, no one could take anyone away from Tang Yang’s hands.Behind the Tang Martial Arts School, there was still some small influence and a bit of wealth. Otherwise, a martial arts school that didn’t charge tuition would never have been able to run so comfortably for so long.

However, she was a little worried about the atmosphere at the school, worried that the somewhat naive Gao Shuxian might get bullied. So, she came in herself to get a feel for it.

Now, seeing everyone so focused on grabbing food, Ms. Wang felt a bit relieved.

People who love food this much, what bad intentions could they have?

Moreover, it seemed that Chen Ran’s choice of every workplace along the way made people especially reassured.

She quietly reminded Gao Shuxian beside her, “Don’t worry about me later, just eat your own. I’m very good at grabbing food!”

Gao Shuxian was a bit doubtful; to her, Ms. Wang was the most elegant person she had ever seen!

“Start—meal!”

With Tang Yang’s order, the whole dining hall atmosphere instantly changed! Although it was a place for eating, it suddenly felt like a martial arts arena, tense and ready for battle!

Ms. Wang happened to roll up her sleeves and moved with elegance!

Unlike Wang Zhaoshan, who had learned skills later in life, Ms. Wang seemed to inherently understand those principles.

After the first round, she successfully grabbed a piece of ghost-faced beef!

As for the other fans, no matter how determined they were before, after this round of fighting, very few could even hold their chopsticks steadily.

At the dining table, Tu Xiaoning was strong and fierce, cutting through like a whirlwind; Senior Sister Han was like a strange poisonous snake, her chopsticks striking from unexpected angles; and another martial arts school student took a speed-based approach—by the time the fans took one bite, he had already grabbed three chopsticks’ worth!

The fan group was defeated!

The only one defending the fan group’s honor was not the martial arts prodigy who amazed Tang Yang, nor Wang Zhaoshan who had been hiding for days and studied the food-grabbing secrets, but the ever-elegant Ms. Wang!

Elegant yet combining speed and strength, Ms. Wang’s method not only won, but her strategy was also astonishing.

She didn’t rush to grab the lion’s head meatballs at first; instead, after everyone else had taken one round, she specifically picked the small chunks of lion’s head meat in the clear soup.

While others fought over big pieces, Ms. Wang quickly and precisely scooped up the fallen meat fragments!

“This fish-and-mutton fresh lion’s head is really so creative,” Ms. Wang leisurely took a bite of rice, then swiftly snatched a smoked pipa leg piece, “Our chef Ranran’s speed of improvement is always this fast.”

Even Tang Yang cast a surprised glance at this table.

Gao Shuxian on the side also performed better than Zhu Chenchen!

Don’t be fooled by the young lady’s usually delicate appearance—when she picked food, her movements were both precise and fierce. Though her dining demeanor was restrained and refined, her eating speed was extremely fast!

After the whole table’s grabbing, aside from a few martial arts school students, only Ms. Wang and Gao Shuxian were full from the dishes.

Tang Yang, a bit curious, came over and shook hands with Ms. Wang again: “Didn’t expect this… could it be you practiced kendo?”

Ms. Wang smiled and shook her head: “No, nothing like that. When I was little, my family favored boys. Good dishes were always hidden at the bottom secretly for my brother. My sister and I had to not only be fast when grabbing meat but also be discreet, or the adults would slam a chopstick down on us.”

Tang Yang paused.

As an only daughter herself, she could hardly imagine such a situation. She took a deep breath, glanced at Ms. Wang’s modest, unassuming designer brand outfit, and couldn’t help but say, “Don’t ever go back.”

Ms. Wang smiled even more: “Yes, I only have an older sister. No parents, no younger brother.”

After saying this, she reached out and put her arm around Gao Shuxian, leading her forward: “She also has several younger brothers at home, and the family business is inherited by them. They want to push her out for an arranged marriage.”“She made a bet with her family: if she could double the KTV’s revenue, she wouldn’t go into an arranged marriage but would go study abroad instead. It just so happened that Chef Chen Ran worked part-time at her KTV, and that’s how they met…”

Tang Yang shook his head, sighed, and didn’t quite agree with Gao Shuxian’s actions: “Little sister, you shouldn’t do it this way. You have to step out on your own, not wait for others to accept you or give you favors.”

Gao Shuxian nodded firmly.

This reasoning was something she had understood back when Ms. Wang taught her: “I’ve already left home! But they’re still looking for me. Can I learn some self-defense skills at your martial arts school?”

Tang Yang didn’t answer that question but brought up another: “When you left home, did you take anything?”

“Yes! I took the revenue for that whole month! When I left, I also took a lot of jewelry and clothes from home…” Gao Shuxian looked a bit embarrassed and smiled down, “I also took my brother’s piggy bank.”

“Alright! Then I’ll take you in!”

Tang Yang then glanced over at Zhu Chenchen, who was sulking. She was going to be a good future disciple’s older sister, so he had to comfort her a bit.

“Did you get any beef?”

Zhu Chenchen nodded.

Although she hadn’t eaten enough vegetables, she still got two slices of ghost-faced beef!

She had never eaten beef so delicious before!

Though the saltiness was a bit light, the layers of complex flavors made up for it all.

There was the fresh sweetness of vegetables, the fragrance of spices, and, of course, the rich aroma of the beef itself.

All these flavors mixed together, paired with the slightly salty vegetable rice, making it absolutely perfect.

If only she could eat two more slices…

Zhu Chenchen sighed: “Going to university for two years was too comfortable. When I was at home fighting for food every day, I was really good at grabbing dishes!”

You have to know, her family had a rich tradition of fighting for food. Her grandmother even secretly held a promotion banquet for her!

Tang Yang shook his head and pointed at Ms. Wang and Gao Shuxian, who were chatting happily nearby: “Their families really know how to fight for food! If you’re not good at it, in a way, that’s a good thing.”

Zhu Chenchen didn’t know much about Ms. Wang and Gao Shuxian’s family situation; people usually didn’t vent negative energy in the group chat, so she only half understood Tang Yang’s words.

But she had already thought of a breakthrough plan!

In the morning, they learned stance techniques; in the afternoon, martial arts students had to learn how to dismantle moves and forms by themselves. The new students, along with Old Wang, continued to stand their stances slowly on the side.

Seeing the teachers move on to one-on-one lessons, Zhu Chenchen began her strategy of alliances!

The first person she called on was Old Wang.

“Wang Zhaoshan! Wang the Great Foodie!”

Old Wang calmly exhaled and ignored Zhu Chenchen.

During lunch, Zhu Chenchen even stole a piece of beef from him.

That was Chen Ran’s ghost-faced beef—the first truly original dish created entirely by Chen Ran.

This was an unforgivable grudge!

Zhu Chenchen pouted: this Old Wang is never going to accomplish anything!She then turned to Ms. Wang.

“Sister Wang, I think we can team up.”

Ms. Wang was also serious about standing postures. Tang Yang told her this stance could train muscles in the back and behind the ears. Although it looked like a monkey and wasn’t very elegant, persevering for a long time could make facial muscles firmer, even more effective than cosmetic treatments.

She carefully finished the stance and then turned to Zhu Chenchen: “What kind of team-up?”

Zhu Chenchen raised her fist: “Our individual strength can’t beat the martial arts school students, but we can beat them with unity. There are seven of us, and only three of them!”

She laid out her plan: “We send three people to every meal to specifically bother those martial arts students! Then the rest can eat freely, and we rotate people every time!”

Another person standing postures, a foodie group member, greatly admired her: “Not bad, young lady! You’ve read ‘The Art of War,’ huh!”

Wang Zhaoshan regretted it a bit, trying hard to pretend what happened just now didn’t happen and came over: “I think it’s a good idea! Let’s schedule shifts. I’ll take the first shift!”

However, it turned out that against absolute strength, all strategies were paper tigers!

The three-person harassment team was like an ant trying to stop a cart before the overwhelming power of the three martial arts students, completely useless.

It was heartbreaking to hear and tear-jerking to see. Even Chen Ran, secretly watching from the canteen window, felt a little sorry and silently added a few more sausages to the next day’s steamed rice.

She couldn’t help asking Tang Yang: “Are we really going to keep doing this activity?”

Tang Yang was about to sneak a piece of beef when suddenly he saw Chen Ran turn around and shrank his hand in fright.

“Of course. Is my martial arts school just some place anyone can casually enter?”

She awkwardly crossed her arms behind her back, pretending the sneaky eating just now never happened: “But don’t worry, these students come to learn standing postures at our martial arts school for free. That’s a great bargain!”

Chen Ran thought for a moment and agreed.

For these fan group fans, although Tang Yang’s move was a bit of teasing, being taught standing postures and getting free food and lodging was quite a good deal despite some mischief.

However, the fans didn’t feel it was such a good deal!

Fighting for dishes at the table was no longer just about appetite; it had become a matter of face!

Even the haunted house group managed to get in and eat three sets of duck and lion’s head meatballs; why was it so hard to conquer a small martial arts school?

According to the latest news from Zhu Chenchen, the martial arts students had already started yielding to each other during the activity.

“They want to take turns winning? So eating at our table is basically a benefit?”

“That can’t be denied, it really is a benefit…”

“They studied The Art of War and still lost, what else can they do?”

“Too humiliating!”

Among the new students this time, besides those from Chen Ran’s fan group, there was also a member from the foodie group.

Although not as old as Old Wang, who was over fifty, he was about to turn forty this year. After practicing stances for two days, he finally had time today to open the foodie group and report the trip.

“Where’s Old Zhao who sneaked into the martial arts school?”

“Did he eat well? If he ate well, he should at least show his brothers some photos?”

“What new dish has Chef Chen developed this time? Pingshan City, that’s the territory of Shandong cuisine… Shandong cuisine isn’t that great now, but the camel that’s skinny is still bigger than a horse, what’s the name of that hardest dish again?”“Crispy fried double delights!”

As soon as Old Zhao opened the group chat, he saw everyone discussing excitedly.

The original foodie group could be described as flourishing with many topics, but now it was almost turning into a branch of Chen Ran’s fan group.

No choice — Chef Chen was not only top-notch at cooking but also a hot topic. Other chefs just had to get reservations and go eat, but for Chef Chen, you first had to find someone, and after finding someone, you had to sneak in!

“I did sneak in, but…”

Old Zhao hesitated, holding his somewhat sore belly, sighed, and finally sent the next sentence.

“…But even after sneaking in, I couldn’t get any dishes!”

“Huh? No way, Old Zhao, is it really that bad?”

“Are you just too greedy, forgot to film a video for us, and now using this as an excuse to brush us off?”

Old Zhao didn’t want to say a word and directly found Tu Xiaoning’s account, forwarding several videos of dish-grabbing to the foodie group.

Everyone went silent.

“Poor you, Old Zhao. Tell us, how much did you actually eat?”

Old Zhao’s nose immediately turned sour.

“Bro, last meal, I only got one piece of beef and scraps of two lion’s head meatballs!”

“Totally useless hahahahahaha.”

“Alright, I’m balanced now hahaha. Even though I didn’t go, seeing Old Zhao go and not get food makes me feel much better hahaha.”

In the end, He Xin stepped in to stop everyone’s schadenfreude.

“Our group is way too disunited. I saw fans in Chen Ran’s fan group shouting that they want to prove themselves and not let the martial arts students have all the glory. Why is everyone here laughing at Brother Zhao?”

“If people need to be recruited, recruit them. I just don’t believe that with so many fans of Chef Chen, not a single one practices martial arts.”

“Exactly, we can laugh at Old Zhao’s misfortune among ourselves, but we can’t let outsiders see us make a joke of it.”

However, saying this lightly was easy, but actually doing it was very difficult.

Since the rise of modern weapons, martial arts have steadily declined day by day. Coupled with the rise of Sanda, Taekwondo, and other fighting sports, finding inheritors of traditional martial arts has become increasingly difficult.

Bai Qing was a bit anxious in the group. Since tasting Chen Ran’s three sets of duck at the haunted house last time, he had become a loyal “Ran fan.”

But despite being a self-proclaimed Ran fan, he not only hadn’t tasted Chen Ran’s newly developed ghost-face beef at the martial arts school, he also missed out on Wang Zhaoshan’s triple-reviewed chicken porridge.

Where was the face of this foodie now?!

Fortunately, Bai Qing, who had served as a food consultant for several TV dramas, made many inquiries and actually found, through stuntmen from one drama crew, a young man who claimed to be an inheritor of Baji Quan.

The boy looked very simple, with thick knuckles and a high sunken area on his temple.

Bai Qing patiently explained to him: “This time we’re not going to challenge the school. The main goal is to grab some dishes and help people find space. So, competition is secondary; dish grabbing is primary!”

The simple boy nodded.

Coincidentally, Bai Qing wasn’t the only one who found someone; others in the fan group were also actively mobilizing their connections.Now that Chen Ran, who appeared on Famous Chefs Records, is no longer the rookie chef she once was. Her more than twenty fan groups combined have several thousand members!

So…

The sole inheritor of the Cheng family’s Bagua Palm was invited to Pingshan City. A martial arts enthusiast recognized him at the train station and excitedly posted a short video.

A certain high monk from Shaolin was also invited and was recognized by reporters as soon as he arrived at the airport, earning a small headline on a news website’s front page.

A certain Daoist priest from Wudang also appeared in Pingshan City, catching two scammers who were using fortune-telling to deceive people right on the street, handing them over to the police station. The police awarded him a banner of commendation.

Some martial arts enthusiasts began speculating: Could this be another revival of the martial arts world? Is a world martial arts tournament about to happen?

At this moment, inside Tang’s Martial Arts School, Ms. Wang quickly skimmed the summary given by the assistant and couldn’t help but rub her forehead.

She looked a bit troubled as she watched Ms. Tang Yang training in the yard like she was facing a great enemy, still practicing martial arts late into the night, and asked Gao Shuxian beside her:

“If I go explain now that all this is just to find people to grab dishes, would Master Tang really believe me?”