Chapter 476: Hold Back Your Trick

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Famous looked up at the starry sky. It was clearer than in the future as you can even see the milky way. No light pollution, no fog or haze.

“100 years,” Old Time Tea murmured, “no way, a cat can’t live that long. I can’t still be alive in 100 years.”

Famous explained, “You won’t be a cat anymore at that time, you will become an elfin, like half god. You will be called from history. I guess it worked for me as well except I lost my memories. According to Zhang Zian, those who we’ll be calling come from the future or a more civilized space.”

“A more civilized space?” Old Time Tea replied, “Like Germany or Great Britain? I heard they plan to work together and invade other countries. Our country has declared war on them. They are planning something, I’m sure!”

“No! No, that’s not even close!” Famous was speechless. “What Zhang Zian said was civilization, which refers to things outside our planet, and it has nothing to do with Germany or Great Britain!”

Old Time Tea seemed to understand, though it still had some questions. It dropped this for now and showed interest in something else. “The Zhang Zian you keep mentioning, who is he?”

“He is our owner. He has a pet shop that sells cats and dogs, and we live in his shop,” Famous said.

“It can’t be true!” Old Time Tea looked angry. “Who you think I am? I’m not a fickle guy. I will never take another owner!”

Famous saw that Old Time Tea was about to lose its temper. Old Time Tea wasn’t a nice guy in either time, so Famous continued, “He isn’t really your owner, more like a student of yours. Every morning, you drink hot tea and watch him box, correcting him if he does something wrong. After the boxing session, you lie on a heating blanket and watch TV. Don’t ask me what TV is, it’s hard to explain. It’s something very interesting, with it, you don’t need to go out to know what is happening in the world.”

“My student?” Old Time Tea looked shocked, “I watched Jiwen practice and dabbled, but actually being a teacher?”

“Old Time Tea, you are being humble. Your ability not only comes from within, but you are blessed with faith.” Famous rolled its eyes and thought of more evidence. “Before I came to this time, you had just corrected Zhang Zian when he was boxing. As I remember, it was something called Palm Above Neck Kill. You said he was chopping, and the magical thing about the move was that you use enemy’s strength and make it yours. Then, when they lose balance, you could use your right hand to hang onto their necks without giving them a chance to breathe or fight back.”

Old Time Tea was completely shocked hearing this, even more shocked than when he heard that Famous came from the future. It kept asking, “Tell me, how do you know about the secret trick of Wing Chun Kung Fu?”

Old Time Tea believed what Famous said about “Palm Above Neck Kill.”

Chen Huashun took Ye Wen as his student. Not many people noticed that when Chen Huashun was teaching students, there was a tea colored Dragon Li squatting next to the wall. When Chen Huashun asked Ye Wen to practice by himself and went to correct other students, the Dragon Li would follow him.

Chen Huashun was not only a Kung Fu master, but also an excellent doctor with a clinic. As time went by, the Dragon Li not only knew about Kung Fu, but also learned about saving people’s lives.

After observation, Old Time Tea found it strange at first that Chen Huashun taught people in different ways. It should be that every student learns differently, but 90 percent of the students learned the same way, while the other 10 percent of students was different.

It took some time to understand that the teacher told students “cats teaching tigers, hold back your trick.” The teacher was afraid that if the students were better than others, they would lose their jobs in the future, so they had to hide some of their tricks, even if the student was smart and talented as Ye Wen.

“Hold back your trick” wasn’t something you had to keep doing. To some extent, it tested the loyalty of the students. The teacher did that in case the students betrayed them in the future or used the skills to do bad things to society. If they did, the teacher would be to blame.

Some students graduated and forgot about their teachers, while other students would come back to see their teachers on festivals. The latter studenets were the ones a teacher liked and wanted. They didn’t speak out, but they kept their words in their mind and heart.

After several years, when the student passed the final test, the teacher would teach him the last skill he held back before and this student would become the inheritor of Kung Fu.

Of course, some teachers died before he could teach the last trick to their students, so the trick would disappear.

Besides martial arts, the tradition of “hold back your tricks” was evident in medical skills, casting and mechanical technology. Accidents happen and many skills just disappear from the history.

The young Dragon Li didn’t just observe Chen Huashun’s students practice, but also watched Chen Huashun practice.

The reasons why Old Time Tea didn’t want to go to Xiangjiang were not only the reasons that mentioned before, but because it knew that Ye Wen hadn’t mastered the Wing Chun Kung Fu due to Chen Huashun passing away. He would feel frustrated if he went to Xiangjiang. It really wanted to tell him about what it saw so that Ye Wen could master Wing Chun Kung Fu, but he couldn’t speak back then.

In reality, the student who inherited Chen Huashun’s Wing Chun Kung Fu was not any of the 16 students, but this obscure tea colored Dragon Li.