Chapter 82

Chapter 82: What? How is this also the same one...

The first day’s dish-grabbing competition concluded successfully. Although it was said to be “no winners or losers, only satisfaction or hunger,” both the live audience and viewers in the livestream unanimously chose Tang Yang as the champion!

Tang Yang’s final move, the “Eighteen Falls of Touching Clothes,” was truly amazing—practically a legendary skill only seen in myths.

Almost all the martial artists at this table practiced vigorous, masculine styles. Except for the Wudang little Daoist priest who had a lighter, more agile style, almost everyone fought with grand, expansive moves.

But on Tang Yang, everything was so light and effortless.

Touch and they fall, barely even needing force.

At first, these fans were complaining a bit while practicing standing postures at the martial arts school, but now everyone kept reviewing what they had learned again and again.

Watching Tang Yang’s skill, who would still think that just learning to stand postures was already a big advantage?

At first, people kept teasing Old Wang in the group chat every day, saying even if he entered the martial arts school, he could only eat plain rice and couldn’t grab any dishes.

But now, everyone felt a painful mix of emotions inside.

Afraid their friend was suffering, but also afraid their friend would succeed!

“I really regret it now. Why didn’t I persist back then... I used to laugh at Old Wang for not grabbing any dishes.”

“Right, did you notice in the livestream today? Old Wang is sitting there with his shoulders straighter than before!”

“Don’t talk about Old Wang not grabbing dishes. So what if he can’t? For today’s dish-grabbing competition, Chef Chen made them lion’s head meatball boxed meals!”

“!!!”

The fans in the group were dying of jealousy!

“I realized that every place Chef Chen works is top-notch... The haunted house game also launched on Steam and has rave reviews.”

“Enough talk, I’m packing up and going to watch live on site!”

Not only in Chen Ran’s fan group, but the gourmet group was also abuzz.

“I really didn’t expect that not all martial artists nowadays are frauds...”

“Hey, what are you saying upstairs? Our ancestors passed down these things for so many years, it can’t all be fake, right?”

“Whether they’re frauds or not doesn’t matter to me; I just want to know what the Dinghu Shangsu dish actually tastes like!”

As the first day’s dish-grabbing competition wrapped up perfectly, all kinds of short videos flooded online.

Even the cooking guy, who only posted food videos, couldn’t help but post a clip he filmed on his phone at the scene.

He successfully grabbed a wave of views!

Compared to the official panoramic videos, the cooking guy’s phone-shot video had a more thrilling, immersive feeling.

After all, the angle of a phone camera is different from a professional camera. Watching his video felt like experiencing the event on site together.

The phone video, where people weren’t even fully visible, conveyed just how fast the dish grabbing was! When the Wudang Daoist jumped and Tang Yang lunged down, there were even afterimages in the video!

Moreover, as a longtime fan of Chen Ran, the cooking guy’s filming was completely different from livestreaming.

After all, he truly understood how delicious Chen Ran’s dishes were!In the cooking guy’s video, what everyone could see was that when the martial arts experts finished the last bite of the Dinghu Shangsu dish, they would reluctantly lick their chopsticks.

After the little monk finished meditating, his first reaction was to jump up and check what dishes were left on the table!

Once the dishes were all grabbed clean, Old Master Cheng would pick up a piece of radish that was obviously just a garnish and dip it in the lion’s head meatball soup to eat.

After everyone was nearly stunned by the martial arts, their attention gradually shifted back to the dishes themselves.

Especially after the Wudang Daoist posted on Weibo.

“This is the most carefully prepared meal I have ever eaten. One can taste the chef’s dedication and the simplest, purest pursuit of this land.”

“Apologies to fellow Daoists. Suddenly enlightened, I will enter seclusion for three months.”

One dish-grabbing competition, three people had sudden enlightenment!

Hidden sects from all over started to emerge!

Some were well-known styles like Iron Palm, Tongbei Fist, Drunken Fist, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, and even some strange sects that not only ordinary people but even martial artists hadn’t heard of.

Like Silkworm Closed Door, Spiral Fist, and even martial sects that seemed like they only existed in anime.

The heir to the Eagle Claw technique was a dark-skinned girl who happily hugged Tang Yang tightly.

“Before, when I went to competitions, they even made me wear gloves. What use is wearing gloves when practicing Eagle Claw!”

Tang Yang was very happy too. Not only these martial arts lovers but even she, the martial arts school owner, had never once seen so many real martial artists gathered at once!

She had once suspected that maybe this land was really desolate, that these legacies had truly been broken...

But unexpectedly, just a tiny spark had really turned into a prairie fire!

“It has to be our Tang school owner’s influence! Indeed, outsiders look to Shaolin, but insiders have to look to Tai Chi!”

Tang Yang shook her head lightly and smiled, refusing this flattery.

“No, it’s because this land has never lacked heroes.”

It wasn’t that she had influence, but that these quietly passing-down heroes on this land had always existed.

In times of peace, the heroes remain hidden.

But if a day of need ever comes, the whole world will follow!

Just like now, even with only a tiny chance, sects emerge like bamboo shoots after rain.

This was the liveliest time in the entire Tang Martial Arts School!

However, for all the fan groups, this was not exactly good news.

—Because to accommodate the visiting martial artists, the fans who were temporarily taken in could no longer stay.

“Everyone, it’s not that I, Tang Yang, go back on my word. You all have seen it. Fellow martial artists have come from afar; I can’t just leave you all without a place to stay...”

While those practicing martial arts like Tang Yang herself had no worries about food or clothing, many came from fallen households.

After all, unlike ancient times when one could work as escorts or guards, martial arts nowadays didn’t have many ways to earn money.

If everyone could give Tang Yang some face and respect this dish-grabbing competition, she would definitely make all the necessary arrangements.Tang Yang cupped her hands, turned around, and bowed. But after only half a turn, someone helped her up.

It was Ms. Wang.

Ms. Wang showed her teeth in a smile: "Director Tang, actually, I’ve had a question for several days. Does your martial arts dish-grabbing competition accept title sponsors?"

Such overwhelming traffic! Over a hundred thousand viewers in the live stream! Any other place would have started pushing products long ago.

But Tang Yang, with the second day’s dish-grabbing competition about to begin, didn’t even have a single video advertising her own martial arts school on the live channel.

Tang Yang was momentarily stunned.

Seeing Tang Yang stunned, Ms. Wang finally felt she had gained some ground.

—That day Tang Yang had made her hold a stance for an hour and a half!

She earnestly stretched out her arm to hug Tang Yang, who was half a head taller than her, and gently persuaded her: “Since ancient times, aid has been for emergencies, not poverty. These small sects, even if their travel expenses are reimbursed, still struggle after returning.”

“You might as well choose a few sports brands that are commonly needed, and select some well-reputed companies to put up some billboards, then share the income evenly with everyone...”

“That way, it won’t hurt anyone’s pride, nor will there be worries about creating grudges from helping each other.”

Tang Yang looked at Ms. Wang with some shock.

Such a comprehensive plan — how had she not thought of it!

Of course, Ms. Wang wasn’t completely giving up either; she smiled brightly: “Consider our company?”

Tang Yang nodded with some hesitation, though she was very unskilled at this.

Not only was she unskilled, but nearly no sects still single-mindedly devoted to passing on martial arts in this era were good at this.

“But I don’t really understand how exactly to do this...”

In the end, Ms. Wang personally took charge, having her MCN agency sign a very flexible contract with Tang Yang.

After all, martial arts was the foundation of the Tang Martial Arts School; too much outside meddling would be like pulling seedlings to help them grow.

So, with professionals flying in overnight, the live stream for the second dish-grabbing competition looked even better!

The elderly Old Master Cheng and Tang Yang, who had already become the uncrowned king, both withdrew from the second competition, but the new personnel quickly filled in!

Even the competition rules became more intense.

The stainless steel tables were outfitted overnight with mechanisms; a rotating wheel was added on the top layer. Before the dish-grabbing, a temporary weighing segment was added.

Weigh before grabbing, weigh after grabbing, and determine the winner by weight difference—this makes sense, right?

Tang Yang frowned, supervising on-site, strictly forbidding anyone from cheating using lightness skills!

“Enough, enough, no borrowing force!”

The girl practicing Eagle Claw reluctantly exhaled, the scale’s number jumping up a bit: “It’s not like I’m cheating...”

She just felt she’d gained some weight recently and was a bit embarrassed!

One by one, the martial arts experts obediently stepped on the scale, then began showing their skills grabbing dishes. The whole live stream even broke the platform’s highest record!

The platform staff custom-made special gifts for fans overnight, called "Martial Fortune Prosperity."With the tables equipped with rotating platforms, this dish-grabbing competition became even more exciting!

Moreover, with more professional cameramen, the live stream even arranged a special overhead view.

From the sky looking down, the all-vegetarian feast fiercely contested by so many martial arts experts looked even more tempting.

“I really envy the live audience... at least they can smell the aroma. Here I only know it’s Dinghu vegetarian, but I don’t even know the dish names!”

“The live audience must be martial artists or sponsors, right? If I set off now, could I sneak in to taste the food?”

The professional cameraman in the live stream seemed to notice everyone discussing the live audience, symbolically shook the camera, showing the audience seats.

Many looked like martial artists; even in this cold weather, they wore various sportswear for convenience in competition.

However... not everyone was a martial artist.

Xiao Zheng, lying on his bed holding his phone, suddenly sat up sharply.

He instinctively tried to play the video backward on his phone, then realized it was a live stream and couldn’t be played backward.

But he trusted his eyes and instincts!

That high ponytail girl clapping vigorously in the stands — wasn’t she the head chef of the Shu family banquet troupe that he had filmed before?

He still had a side-profile video on his phone of her seriously making the Double Supreme Roast Chicken!

Chen Ran!

It’s you!

Impatient Xiao Zheng waited until the competition paused, quickly clipped out this segment from the replay, and edited it into a video.

He wanted to be the very first online to expose this!

Soon, everyone saw the video posted by the account now renamed “Xiao Xiao 150 Jin.”

“The chef at the martial arts dish-grabbing competition is actually the kindergarten sweeping monk from back in the day!”