Chapter 78

Chapter 78 – Don’t overthink it, they really just…

Zhou Zhaowu’s post didn’t make much of a splash at first.

For various self-media platforms and even official outlets, a topic like the revival of martial arts always had plenty of material to dig into and many angles to report on.

Especially now, in this era when martial arts had started to become a subject of ridicule. The inheritors who still upheld their martial arts lineage naturally sparked curiosity.

Of course, thanks to a certain "rat tail juice" person, the public discourse online wasn’t entirely positive.

Many people still believed that even if these martial arts weren’t scams, they couldn’t possibly compare to modern weapons.

That old saying—"No matter how great your kung fu is, one bullet knocks you down!"

“What’s the use of these people coming out? In the end, it'll just be a lot of posing around, someone suddenly flying through the air—this stuff’s not even as good as watching an action movie…”

“Heh, don’t even mention it—action movies aren’t even fun anymore. I’d rather just watch a Sanda match in the octagon.”

“I saw the one they’re reporting on this time, that so-called successor of Cheng-style Baguazhang—isn’t he in his sixties or seventies? His beard’s white already, can he even still fight? Isn’t this just for laughs?”

All kinds of criticism slowly began to spread, but naturally, there were also those who genuinely understood martial arts and came forward to defend it.

Just like Zhou Zhaowu.

He hadn’t originally planned to argue with these people. Modern combat training focuses on building muscular strength and incorporates all sorts of advanced Western training methods—that's the direction for the future.

But when someone started trashing Elder Cheng, even comparing him to those disgraceful frauds, it was hard not to be upset.

“Don’t spout nonsense! This Mr. Cheng is a descendant of Cheng Tinghua!”

Some curious netizens who were just watching for drama looked up Cheng Tinghua’s life and were deeply moved.

This Elder Cheng had lived with integrity and kindness, always stopping fights before they went too far. He devoted his life to punishing evil and promoting good. He repeatedly refused recruitment by the Qing court, but when foreign invaders came, he stood up to resist.

He was the type who, upon hearing injustice, would slam the table and rise!

But this martial artist met a tragic end—after stopping German troops from harassing women, he was chased by armed soldiers. Though he managed to knock down more than a dozen of them with his heavy punches, just as he tried to leap away, his braid got caught on a roof tile and he died miserably in an alley.

Looking closely at that most glorious era of martial arts—whether it was Huo Yuanjia fighting against the “sick man of East Asia” label, or Elder Cheng dying bravely in the alley—they were all during the time when China was at its lowest.

Maybe these martial arts aren’t suited for the modern age anymore. But no one can deny that, in that time, these martial artists shed blood for a weakened China!

Every inch of land soaked in blood!

As netizens’ curiosity grew, the stories of these old martial artists began to surface.

The Taoist priests who left the mountains to fight the Japanese but never made it back; the elders who led their disciples into guerrilla warfare; the families whose entire bloodline became martyrs and whose martial arts died with them...

Tang Yang didn’t usually talk about her ancestors, but seeing the surge of passionate comments online, she couldn’t help but say something.

“Your teacher Gao’s family used to lead a guerrilla unit in our mountain! Her ancestors killed more Japanese soldiers than you’ve eaten steamed buns.”

Everyone looked over in admiration. Teacher Gao herself waved her hand a bit awkwardly: “It’s got nothing to do with me. Our martial arts school is gone now—it’s all up to little Tang…”

“But at least our family’s boxing techniques are still passed down,” Teacher Gao struck a pose for everyone. She practiced Xingyiquan’s Tiger-Crane Twin Forms. “If anyone in your family is good at martial arts, introduce them to me. Especially you, Zhu Chenchen—do you really only have one younger sister?”

The mood, which had just grown a bit solemn, instantly lightened again. Everyone burst into laughter.

Zhu Chenchen scratched his head, a little embarrassed: “I actually have two cousins, and they eat a lot too…”

Teacher Gao was overjoyed, her eyes sparkling: “Show me their photos!”Everyone crowded around to look at Zhu Chenchen’s phone, eager to admire the heroic aura of this martial arts prodigy family, while Tang Yang slowly strolled into the back kitchen to find Chen Ran.

Zhu Kuangkuang was already a sure win! As for those little cousins, let others try to win them over.

“Ranran, still busy?”

Cooking at the martial arts school was actually a relatively easy job. Although there were more people now and they all had healthy appetites, Tang Yang made sure to assign two or three helpers every day to assist Chen Ran.

And truth be told, martial arts trainees made excellent kitchen assistants!

One of the little Daoists had once been punished for staying up late gaming and was sent to help — his speed at peeling potatoes and radishes had amazed Chen Ran.

Then there was Senior Sister Han, who had also been punished. Her snake-style palm techniques were difficult to predict like a venomous serpent’s strike, but when it came to washing vegetables — absolutely spotless!

Not only spotless, but without even damaging a single leaf. Even when Chen Ran herself washed bok choy, there would be one or two with creases, but the ones washed by Senior Sister Han were completely pristine.

Today, the two disciples helping out in the back kitchen were both Tang Yang’s students, learning Tai Chi. Their touch was gentle enough for washing vegetables, but they still had strength when needed.

“All done for now. It’s still early for dinner, so I’m just prepping ingredients.”

Seeing Chen Ran writing something, Tang Yang leaned over and saw that she was jotting down a recipe.

Afraid it was a secret formula, Tang Yang quickly turned her face away. Chen Ran laughed, “Master Tang, this is the recipe I’m preparing to leave behind for your martial arts school. You’ll have to read it sooner or later, why turn away now?”

She had carefully chosen recipes that were low in oil and salt but easy to cook and nutritious — even if they couldn’t hire a professional chef in the future, anyone could follow the recipes to make delicious meals.

Though of course, dishes like Ghostface Beef or Fish-Lamb-Lion’s Head — better not even hope.

Even if she left the recipe behind, future cooks might not be able to recreate them.

“Oh, that’s great then,” Tang Yang rubbed her hands a little sheepishly. “It’s just that… I have a favor to ask, Ranran.”

Since the martial arts conference had already turned into a “dish-snatching” event, then that theme had to be done well.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a laughingstock among fellow martial artists — a martial arts school master who couldn’t even host a proper meal?

“For this martial arts conference, I plan to set a banquet table in the courtyard and livestream the whole thing.”

“If we’re going to have a ‘dish-snatching’ event, then let’s do it properly! Everyone can compete with stance skills, exchange techniques and philosophies of martial arts, and when night comes — we’ll start the snatching!”

“My personal opinion is, since everyone’s coming, doing it for just one day seems lacking. Why not run it for three days straight…”

Even Chen Ran couldn’t help but gasp when she heard that.

“Hsssss—”

The trainees at the school had already developed intense dish-snatching habits, but that was still within the context of eating three proper meals a day. Nobody had starved for a day before a brawl!

And even if someone didn’t get food, the school still provided vegetables and fruits to supplement vitamins.

But these big shots… they’d be really hungry!

She couldn’t even begin to imagine what that scene would look like!

“So, in that case, I’ll need to rely on you, Ranran, to make this banquet look impressive. Oh, and there’s another thing — among the guests this time, one is a senior monk from Shaolin Temple, so the banquet…”

Oh no, someone who can’t eat meat?

When Tang Yang first mentioned setting a banquet table, Chen Ran had already considered it. Since there would be Daoists present, beef couldn’t be served. While the Daoists could go for other dishes, watching them “snatch” meat would look a bit off.But this time, even monks showed up...

The usually quiet system suddenly activated!

【Random Mission: Please fulfill Master Tang’s request and customize a banquet for the Dish-Snatching Battle】

【Mission Requirements: The dishes must appeal to all tastes, which naturally includes both vegetarian and non-vegetarian eaters】

【Please attempt "meat-style vegetarian"—simulate a delicate banquet using vegetarian ingredients. The banquet must include three dishes you've previously made. The ingredients must be vegetarian, but the flavor should satisfy meat-eaters】

【Mission Rewards: Dinghu Supreme Veggie (already granted), Golden Light Hot Square (already granted)】

Dinghu Supreme Veggie is considered a relatively well-known vegetarian dish. It’s also the only completely vegetarian delicacy included in the Manchu Han Imperial Feast.

As for the Golden Light Hot Square, Chen Ran had only vaguely heard of it before—apparently, it was a specialty of a certain temple kitchen.

It seemed the system’s intention was to have her learn the method of making "meat-style vegetarian dishes" through these two recipes.

She actually felt a bit eager to try it!

The Dinghu Supreme Veggie recipe was rated double-S by the system.

She took one serious look at the recipe and was genuinely stunned.

“Three Aunts and Six Ears, Nine Bamboo Shoots and One Sheng!”

Wow, no wonder it was part of the Manchu Han Imperial Feast. She carefully identified each of the ingredients and felt that even if she went to the wholesale market early tomorrow, it would be hard to get everything.

Yet emperors of feudal dynasties had already eaten dishes like this in eras when transportation was extremely primitive...

Chen Ran shook her head and went out to find Tang Yang. This recipe would look and sound impressive enough for the name “Martial Arts Convention.” But the ingredients were a bit of a problem.

“Master Tang, I need to take the night off. I’m going out of town to try to gather the ingredients for this recipe.”

“Oh, let me take a look.”

While standing in a stance, Wang Zhaoshan came over to peek, only to be slapped back by Teacher Gao: “What are you sticking your nose into? Master Tang’s family specializes in this.”

Tang Yang smiled. Although her ancestors practiced martial arts, they also made a significant fortune trading mountain and sea goods.

When it came to other things, she might not be capable—but when it came to sourcing dried and fresh specialty ingredients, she had no worries at all.

“No problem, you just focus on cooking. I’ll have everything prepared for you.”

She waved, and her disciple immediately ran over. “Let’s go, help me carry stuff!”

With one trip there and back, she brought seven big boxes of ingredients!

Chen Ran deftly opened the boxes, soaking the dried goods one by one, and washing, cutting, and prepping the fresh ones.

Although she had handled many expensive ingredients back in the Chen family, this was the first time she had encountered so many varieties of mushrooms at once.

It was also the first time she attempted a recipe that relied purely on the quality of the ingredients.

The difficulty of making Dinghu Supreme Veggie was extremely low—the real challenge seemed to lie in conceptualizing the recipe.

It was easy to imagine how difficult it must have been in ancient times to experiment with so many different ingredients—it was already beyond its era.

In the past, Chen Ran’s recipes mostly tested her culinary skills. But this one, which relied purely on the ingredients, gave her a refreshing new perspective.Seasoning—perhaps it’s not just about the use of condiments!

This dish, Dinghu Vegetarian Delicacy, blends nineteen kinds of vegetables together, ultimately achieving a result that, while vegetarian in name, carries the rich aroma of meat. How could this not be considered the most exquisite form of seasoning?

Chen Ran had a faint premonition—this dish might just elevate her seasoning skills further.

She took a deep breath and began preparing the soup base for Dinghu Vegetarian Delicacy.

A good recipe isn’t merely a single dish—it can be considered a whole system.

For example, when Chen Ran previously learned the recipe for Clear-Braised Pork Knuckle, it wasn’t just about mastering the knife work on the knuckle; she also learned how to use vegetables as aromatics, and even picked up how to later make salt and pepper pork knuckle.

And now, this Dinghu Vegetarian Delicacy wasn’t merely teaching her the so-called “ancestor of vegetarian feasts”—it also instructed her on how to select and soak various dried ingredients, and even gifted her an additional, more advanced method for making a vegetarian stock.

Chen Ran took another deep breath and began blanching carrots, kelp, celery, and bean sprouts. Then she added dried tangerine peel, longan, and monk fruit, followed by salt and white pepper, and began slowly simmering the soup.

She didn’t mechanically follow the recipe but instead employed the Jiangsu cuisine clear soup method that Master Xu had taught her—pounding and dissolving, making the broth clearer in color and purer in taste.

Recipes from the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast are all quite traditional, so naturally there’s no such thing as a pressure cooker. The broth is slow-simmered in a traditional clay pot over a low flame.

During this process, the fragrance of the soup inevitably began to waft through the entire martial arts training hall.

It was a meaty aroma.

Strangely, a meat aroma no one had ever smelled before.

A student who had gone with Tang Yang to carry supplies was puzzled. He had personally matched the items in the boxes to the inventory—they were clearly all kinds of mushrooms and dried bamboo shoots. So how could they be giving off such a meaty smell?

Moreover, the meat aroma didn’t match anything in his memory.

“What’s that smell? It’s so fragrant! I can rule out pork—pork has a stronger odor than this…”

“It’s definitely not beef or lamb. The aroma of that Demon-Face Beef dish earlier was so light and fragrant, but this meaty scent feels richer by comparison.”

“Could it be some kind of seafood? But this smell doesn’t have even a trace of fishiness.”

“Couldn’t it be that Chef Chen’s skills are so high that there’s no fishiness at all?”

The martial arts students were full of speculation. As for the fan club members, things were much simpler.

They all turned in unison to look at Wang Zhaoshan!

Others might not know, but surely this gourmet could tell what kind of meat it was by the smell, right?

Wang Zhaoshan lowered his head, pretending to focus entirely on his stance practice.

He flared his nostrils desperately while frantically trying to recall: what meat was this aroma from? Why did it feel familiar, yet completely unrecognizable?

The smell was so clean and clear—didn’t seem like livestock. Although it was rich and delicious, it had more depth than poultry. It had a lightness to it, but absolutely no fishiness…

Zhu Chencheng’s voice pierced his thoughts from behind like a thunderclap: “Stop looking at him! I’ve figured it out. This Old Wang, the gourmet, can’t even fight for food properly anymore, and now he can’t even identify smells. Let’s just go ask Sister Ran later.”

Old Wang felt so humiliated he could cry—but he really couldn’t identify it!

As a food critic and gourmet, how had he fallen this far? In the past, he used to be considered quite knowledgeable!

Wang Zhaoshan reflected—ever since following Chen Ran around, his status really had been steadily declining.

No… that wasn’t the right way to put it. Rather, it was that Chen Ran’s skill had repeatedly surpassed the limits of his understanding!If at the beginning, Wang Zhaoshan still had the courage to say that he was the one who discovered Chen Ran, now he only dared to see himself as a fan.

Chen Ran’s rate of improvement was simply astonishing.

Especially after learning that Lin Wei and Chen Ran were the same person, the shock he felt at that moment still lingered in his mind.

Wang Zhaoshan sighed and stopped trying to argue. He honestly admitted, “Indeed, I can’t tell what kind of meat this is by smell either. But I think it’s probably not because the meat is strange, but because Chef Chen Ran’s skills have improved, producing such a flavor.”

Just as he admitted this, the aroma became even stronger!

The entire martial arts hall was filled with this indescribable meat fragrance, and it even drifted all the way outside the main gate.

Due to the recent hot news, a large crowd had been gathering outside the Tang Martial Hall. Zhou Zhaowu was one of them.

Having already resigned from his job, he was completely pressure-free now. Although he was in his thirties and dared not formally become an apprentice, he could still squat by the door and watch as much as he wanted!

Unlike the other onlookers who would leave after a while, Zhou Zhaowu, with his deep understanding of martial arts, could watch for an entire afternoon.

While watching, he murmured to himself.

“So this is how the stance is held…”

“The legendary moving horse stance actually exists!”

Crouched at the gate, Zhou Zhaowu watched while continuously taking pictures and videos with various devices, sharing them with his brothers in their group chat.

But this only made him feel even more regretful.

“Why not just host a proper martial arts competition? Why make it into a food-snatching contest, just for attention and hype?”

The others in the group weren’t as emotional as Zhou Zhaowu. They chatted and analyzed the situation from various angles.

“Maybe they’re afraid of causing discord. Even if no one gets hurt in a match, someone will inevitably come out on top. With only two schools left, if one keeps losing, they’ll have even fewer students.”

“And traditional martial arts don’t allow protective gear. What if someone really gets injured?”

“For other styles maybe, but Baji boxing is extremely fierce—hard not to hurt someone with that, right?”

“Not to mention Xingyi and Bagua—many of their moves are quite sinister and vicious… Not really suitable for broadcast either.”

After all the back-and-forth analysis, everyone gradually realized: maybe turning the martial arts tournament into a food-grabbing contest was actually the most fitting idea!

“Sigh, in this day and age… Martial arts masters end up performing in a food-snatching competition…”

Zhou Zhaowu was still sighing when he suddenly noticed that the young boy crouched beside him, who had been watching the scene with him, suddenly started glancing around.

He frowned.

That little boy also claimed to be a martial arts enthusiast and had been watching alongside him for several days. The plastic stool the kid was standing on had even been brought by Zhou Zhaowu himself.

Unfortunately, after Tang Yang had observed the boy, she said his natural endowment wasn’t particularly suited to learning martial arts.

But she didn’t completely dismiss the possibility either. In the current situation, if the boy’s parents agreed and the boy himself had enough perseverance, it was still possible to take him in.

Zhou Zhaowu looked at this little boy as if he were seeing a younger version of himself.

“If you want to learn martial arts, you need determination! If you’re like this, how can you—”

Before he could finish his lecture, the little boy suddenly shouted, “Uncle!”Zhou Zhaowu quickly raised a finger: "Don’t disturb the older brothers and sisters inside!"

While reminding the little boy, he turned his face to look toward the martial arts hall’s demonstration area.

Not only the little boy, but the people inside the demonstration area were also looking around curiously.

“Uncle, you have to smell it quickly…”

Without the boy’s reminder, Zhou Zhaowu also realized why everyone inside the demonstration area was looking around.

It smelled so good!

The air was filled with a meat aroma whose origin was unclear, but this fragrance was even more enticing than any meat he had ever tasted.

This aroma lingered above the entire Tang Martial Hall for a long time.

And not only the Tang Martial Hall.

The diners at the surrounding small shops were suffering; everyone smelled this strange yet stunning meat scent, but no matter how hard they searched, they couldn’t find which shop it came from.

Finally, someone discovered that the closer they got to the Tang Martial Hall, the stronger the smell became!

Standing at the gate of the Tang Martial Hall, Zhou Zhaowu even felt that all his previous thoughts had been completely overturned.

What about preventing bloody scenes, worrying about hurting goodwill, or fears that the losing school would have trouble recruiting students afterward…

Just then, Tang Yang posted the latest announcement on her Weibo.

After so many days of public discussion, Tang Yang’s Weibo had gathered over a hundred thousand followers. Although not a huge number, it was a good start.

[Three days later, the Wulin Food-Grabbing Tournament will be officially held at the Tang Martial Hall.]

[Invitations have already been sent.]

[Wulin peers who have not received invitations can watch the live broadcast.]

Once this announcement was released, it caused an uproar.

“No way? After all this fuss, it ends with a food-grabbing contest? Are they afraid to really fight?”

“I have to see what’s going on. After waiting so long for the Huashan Sword Discussion, it’s just a food fight at the dining table?”

“This Tang Yang… I don’t think she’s a serious martial artist at all. She’s totally playing the popularity game!”

At that moment, someone suddenly remembered that Zhou Zhaowu’s usually reputable Weibo account had apparently predicted this scene even before Tang Yang posted the announcement?

Without any warning, Zhou Zhaowu’s Weibo post instantly exploded with thousands of comments!

“Blogger, come out and explain—what’s the inside story?”

“What inside story could there be? It’s just that they don’t dare to really fight…”

“I’m so disappointed. I thought I’d actually see the legendary martial arts. Such a waste of feelings.”

Zhou Zhaowu had already come back to his senses from the daze. He took out his phone, and after reminders from his group friends, realized his Weibo post was going viral.

Browsing through the skeptical comments, he recalled the shock he had just felt inside.

He sighed again, picked the most liked comment, and reposted it in reply.“No need for so many conspiracy theories. The blogger is right now in front of the Tang family martial hall. From the smell alone, maybe these Wulin seniors really just came simply to grab some food.”

This reply immediately went viral!

The public erupted.

“Just simply came to grab some food?”

How delicious must it be!