Hong Kong Comprehensive: Who said that those who practice martial arts have no money?

Chapter 246 Ip Man, It’s Over

Wing Chun gym.

"Master Tianlai, I heard from Yunwu that you lost the fist-and-kick contest with Li An yesterday?"

Chen Zhansheng, vice president of the Chinese Martial Arts Association and owner of Hongsheng Hall, held a cup of Pu'er tea in his hand and looked at Wang Tianlai who was sitting next to him.

"It's a young people's world now. We are old, and it's normal to lose to the younger generation."

Wang Tianlai chuckled softly, as if he didn't care much about yesterday's win or loss, and his tone was nonchalant.

"Master Tianlai is right. It is true that every generation has its own talents."

Chen Zhansheng nodded in approval.

He said slowly: "The two periods when Chinese martial arts flourished were the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Republic of China. The Qin and Han Dynasties were the periods when the Chinese nation's military strength was at its peak. The King of Qin swept across the world and Huo Qubing drove the Xiongnu to the northern desert, both of which reflected the martial arts of the Chinese nation at that time. At that time, martial arts relied on long weapons and used horse battles to fight against the enemy. This was the initial period of martial arts. Because people rode horses and held swords and spears in battle, there is a saying of "horse stance" in traditional martial arts."

Chen Zhansheng took a sip of tea and continued:
"The second heyday was during the Republic of China. Bullied by the great powers, the martial arts community at the time proposed the idea of ​​learning martial arts to save the country. Various schools responded and established national martial arts halls. Martial artists from the Chinese Martial Arts Association gathered together, and the fusion of the north and the south formed the prosperous national martial arts today."

Chen Zhansheng's tone was somewhat amazed:
"Although there are many talented people who have left their names since ancient times, but a young man in his early twenties, who has only been learning boxing for a short time, has already mastered both weapons and boxing! It seems that we are really old."

Wang Tianlai laughed: "If I tell you that I lost to his Mo family boxing yesterday, I wonder if you will be more surprised?"

"Really?"

Chen Zhansheng couldn't quite believe it.

"How could I lie to you? When he came to me half a year ago, his skills were roughly the same as Yunwu's. He also learned the Mo family boxing from Yunwu at that time. But in just a few days, when I saw him in the boxing ring, he had already defeated Yunwu by a lot. Even Naifeng was beaten to death by him in the boxing ring. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. Now that such a talented young man has appeared, it is also a good thing for the martial arts world, which is in a period of transition."

"Master Tianlai, I don't agree with you. I think it's not a good thing for the martial arts world to have a lunatic like Li An."

The person who spoke was Liang Jinming, the owner of Longxing Boxing Gym.

"Master Liang is right. A young man who is young and full of vigor and does not understand the rules of the martial arts world comes to challenge us wantonly. He is even more arrogant than Zhang Tianzhi back then. He is just a madman."

A master agreed.

As soon as this was said, many masters present echoed it.

Someone looked at Ye Wen who was sitting in the main seat:
"Master Ye, today is your competition with Li An. I hope Master Ye can dampen Li An's arrogance."

Ye Wen had a humble smile on his face.

He put down the teacup and said calmly:
"Master Lin, this is too serious. Speaking of martial arts, Wing Chun is just a small one. In Hong Kong, there are Hung, Liu, Cai, Li and Mok, five martial arts and thirteen schools. How can I stand out? This competition is for learning from each other, not for winning or losing."

"Master Ye, you can't say that. Bajiquan is a northern martial art. This is related to the reputation of the southern martial arts community..."

The man was halfway through his words when he suddenly noticed that the hall had become quiet. He followed everyone's gaze and stared outside the hall.

I don't know when a figure appeared at the door.

He was a young man wearing black pants, a short-sleeved shirt and an open collar, with an upright posture.

Ang Lee!

He looked calmly at the many masters in the hall.

"I seemed to have heard the masters talking about me just now."

As soon as these words were spoken, many masters blushed and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became a little subtle.

Wang Tianlai stood up and smoothed things over:

"Oh, nothing much. Everyone was just talking about your competition with Master Ye."

Ip Man clasped his fists:

"Master Li, come in and sit down. Let's have a cup of tea and discuss again."

Li An showed no emotion on his face and walked in.

The hall was almost full of people, but he didn't expect that more than ten masters would come to support his competition with Ip Man.

After Li An sat down, a young man of about the same age came to Li An with a cup of hot tea, with a hint of hostility in his eyes.

Li An didn't care much. He took the tea and drank it all. He simply stood up and saluted with his left hand: "Master Ye, please!"

He had listened to the general idea of ​​what the masters said just now, so he certainly wouldn't have the time to flatter them.

"it is good!"

Ip Man clasped his fists in return, then stood up and walked towards the rooftop with Lee Ang.

Since he came to Hong Kong, he had been living a hard life and was not well off. Even the place where he opened his business was temporarily borrowed from the rooftop of the Hotel Employees' Union on Tai Nan Street in Sham Shui Po.

The two men came to the outside of the rooftop, and the students who were practicing boxing retreated to the side, looking at Li Ang and talking.

"Is he Li An? He looked young in the newspapers? Now he looks like he is not even older than me?"

"So what if I'm not as good as you? In just a few days, he kicked out all the famous martial arts schools in Hong Kong and Kowloon. We haven't even mastered the skills yet."

"So many masters have lost, I wonder if Master can beat him?"

Li An listened to these discussions and looked at Ye Wen: "Master Ye, choose a weapon!"

Ip Man pointed to the weapons rack and said, "I wonder if Master Li has any suitable weapons."

"I'm proficient in swords, spears and sticks. Master Ye, you can choose first." After hearing what Li An said, Ye Wen was no longer polite and pulled out a red solid wood stick that was more than two meters long from the weapon rack.

Li An looked at the many weapons on the arsenal, pondered for a while, then pulled out a stick that reached his eyebrows, and slowly stepped back.

He stood still and made a flower with his stick: "Baji, Li An! Master Ye, please teach me!"

Ip Man held the end of the stick with both hands and tapped the ground with the tip of the stick: "Wing Chun, Ip Man!"

Li An took a quick step forward and took the lead, thrusting his stick forward and aiming at Ip Man's throat.

An inch longer, an inch stronger! Ye Wen retreated calmly, raised his hand upward, and the long stick in his hand turned into a red stick shadow, which was pulled towards Li Ang's waist.

Li An did not dodge or evade. With a head-down move, the tail of the stick turned into the head of the stick and suppressed the red stick shadow.

The man stepped forward like a bow, twisted his waist and turned sideways, and with the force of a knife, he swung the stick at Ye Wen's wrist.

Ye Wen had no time to retreat, so he let go of his right hand and raised his left hand to hold the end of the stick to block.

"puff!"

Something unexpected happened to him. Li An gathered all his strength and hit the long stick down, and the long stick broke into two pieces in an instant.

"What a force."

As Ye Wen changed his mind, he tightened his numb left hand. With the strong wind, the opponent's stick in his hand turned into a stick shadow and attacked his left wrist. Ye Wen immediately let go of the stick and broke it. He leaned to the right, twisted his toes, and kicked Li Ang's lower back with his right leg.

"boom!"

This kick hit the stick that was coming back to block it.

Ye Wen landed his right leg on the ground, dodged and retreated, putting some distance between the two men.

Li An raised his hand, and the stick at his eyebrows suddenly turned into a parabola and fell straight onto the weapon rack. It was obvious that he did not want to show off his bravery with weapons.

Just when the many masters watching were somewhat surprised at Ang Lee's behavior, Ang Lee had already rushed towards Ip Man again.

Ip Man's face was solemn, his legs slightly bent, his feet stepped on the "Yang Ma" posture, and his hand made a "日"-shaped punch to attack Lee Ang's face.

"boom!"

Li An twisted his waist, raised his right leg to the sky, and kicked Ip Man's wrist with his toes, causing Ip Man to pause. Then his left foot replaced his right foot, and he turned around and hit Ip Man's neck again. Ip Man instinctively spread his hands to protect his neck to block.

However, he didn't expect that the instep of his foot, which was blocked, would press down on his neck again, and his calf would even take advantage of the situation to grab his neck. Ye Wen secretly thought that something was wrong.

Before he could react, Li An had already spun around, and his right leg connected tightly, locking Ip Man's neck with both legs. He twisted his waist in mid-air and exploded with force from his legs.

"Oh!"

This headlock and flip was so unpredictable that it was beyond Ip Man's expectations. Ang Lee succeeded in hitting him and Ip Man was thrown to the concrete floor.

The fall was so heavy that Ye Wen groaned, and it seemed that even his chest made a muffled sound!
Li An stood up, and when Ye Wen stood up, he clasped his fists and said:
"I'm sorry, Master Ye!"

"Ahem~ I lost."

Ye Wen coughed twice in succession to relieve the heavy feeling in his chest.

He had heard other masters talk about how young and hot-tempered Li An was and how he didn't know the rules, but this time when the two of them fought, leaving aside the issue of kung fu, he felt that the fact that Li An did not rely on his courage with weapons was enough to prove that the other party was of good character.

At this time, Chen Zhansheng came over.

"Master Li, Bajiquan has opened a school in Hong Kong, and all martial arts schools are very supportive. This time, Master Tianlai and I came together, in addition to watching your competition with Master Ye, mainly to invite your martial arts school to join on behalf of the National Martial Arts Association."

"Master Chen, I will accept this on behalf of my senior brother."

Li An nodded in response.

"Welcome to Bajiquan Gym."

Wang Tianlai also said with a smile.

However, the masters off the field had different expressions. Some of them even frowned, looking a little unhappy.

Li An took in everyone's expressions. He organized his words and said:

"Li An is a junior. I have taken the liberty to come to you to seek advice in recent days. I am honored to meet you masters. First, according to the rules of the martial arts world, if I want to gain the recognition of the masters when I open a Bajiquan school, it is necessary to come to you to seek advice. Second, I also want to take this opportunity to learn from you seniors and improve my martial arts. I am sorry for offending you. I hope you masters will not mind."

Having said this, Li An bowed slightly towards the masters present.

When he straightened his chest, he changed the subject.

"I heard all the chatter just now. I didn't mean to do that. It's just that the voices of the masters were a little loud. I don't really understand. We are all Chinese, so why do we insist on dividing people into north and south?"

"I wonder if you masters still remember the Muay Thai performance troupe? After that incident, the enthusiasm of students who came to learn Muay Thai was high, and several Muay Thai gyms opened in Hong Kong Island. I think you masters should be very clear about the shortcomings of traditional martial arts. Three years of standing and five years of training are too long and there is no advantage compared to Muay Thai, which can be mastered in one or two years. So instead of wasting your energy on dividing the north and the south, you should think about how to make changes to cope with the impact of Muay Thai."

Li An ignored the masters whose faces looked increasingly grim and turned to look at Ye Wen.

"Master Ye, I won't bother you anymore. I'm sorry for offending you this time. I'll treat you to tea another day when I have time."

"You're welcome, Master Li. I'll take you there."

"Master Ye has guests to entertain, please stay!"

Li An bowed, turned and left.

(End of this chapter)