Chapter 40: Unexpected Tricky Moves
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
While Mama Xue was still hesitating whether to teach Slave Huan more Kung Fu tricks, the slave boy came to her and made another request—some money to bribe Shangguan Hongye.
Gu Shenwei had given all his savings, which were less than two taels of silver, to that young master last time.
"I don't need a lot. 20 taels of silver is enough. Shangguan Hongye owes a dozen taels of silver. With this money, he can pay off his debts and get back into the gambling game again. When that happens, he'll take the initiative to ask me for help."
"How are you going to explain the origin of the money? You are just a slave boy, but you seem to be more well-off than a young master."
"Mama Xue, please excuse me for being bold. You can give me some gold or silver utensils and I'll tell Shangguan Hongye that I stole them from Miss Luo. He's well into debt now, so he'll definitely keep the secret."
Hearing such a childish plan, Mama Xue shook her head. She had to think it over since it might cause trouble for Miss Luo and her.
In the fort, Mama Xue was the only person Gu Shenwei could depend on. Her support was the only advantage he had when competing with the other slave boys. Without Mama Xue, he would achieve nothing.
Fortunately, the next morning, Mama Xue came to him with a small parcel in her hand.
Elderly Zhang had gotten up early. By the time Mama Xue came, he had already gone to look after the horses. She threw the parcel on the brick bed and turned to Slave Huan, who had just finished dressing.
"I hope your plan works."
Gu Shenwei was just a boy who had begun to understand the real world. He was not confident about his plan either, but he gave absolute assurance to Mama Xue while carefully concealing his restless mood.
At noon, when school was over, he did it again. He told Shangguan Hongye that he had dropped something and handed a tiny silver cup to him. It was pressed flat and a little bit of it had already been broken off, but it was still silver that weighed three taels.
Shangguan Hongye grunted his assent and quickly put it away, as if he had indeed dropped a silver cup. His young attendant started to doubt it but he knew he had better shut up at this moment.
Over the next five days, Gu Shenwei gave many different little things to Shangguan Hongye like this and the young master received each of them calmly. He even sent his attendant away on purpose and always walked home alone. Gu Shenwei was content with this progress.
The parcel sent by Mama Xue was filled with all kinds of gold and silver utensils, which were enough for Gu Shenwei to bribe Shangguan Hongye every day for a long time. More importantly, the things that Miss Luo had brought from the Iron Mountain Gang had no marks, so no one would be able to know where they came from.
The next few days were the New Year holidays. Classes were suspended and so was Gu Shenwei's bribery plan.
Mama Xue had thought for several days before she finally agreed to teach Slave Huan Kung Fu.
Gu Shenwei was aware that even if he kept practicing Kung Fu for 10 more years, he would not be able to defeat Shangguan Yushi with one or two moves in a martial competition. He did not plan to surpass her in a short time. He just wanted to defeat her with some tricky moves that were totally beyond her expectation.
Since Shangguan Yushi and the twins learned Kung Fu together, their moves were quite similar. Gu Shenwei did not know much about Shangguan Yushi's fighting style, but he was familiar with Shangguan Ru's fighting skills. During his previous daily reports, he had already demonstrated all her moves to Mama Xue.
Mama Xue was also very familiar with Golden Roc Fort's Kung Fu and had been reflecting on an effective tactic to defeat Shangguan Yushi.
"You can't kill her but you have to defeat her. That's a little bit tricky. Golden Roc Fort's Kung Fu is complicated. There are more than a dozen unarmed combat routines. It's impossible to crack every move in the routines in such a short time."
Gu Shenwei had to admit that Mama Xue had a point, but he had already thought of a solution.
"I'll ask Shangguan Yushi to fight me in a game of speed. I believe she'll adopt her best fighting moves in such a competition. I guess not all the moves in Golden Roc Fort's unarmed combat routines are among the best Kung Fu tricks, so I only need to..."
Mama Xue sneered and shook her head. She knew that there were only a few marvelous tricks in Golden Roc Fort's Kung Fu, but none of them were easy to crack.
Mama Xue herself could easily kill Shangguan Yushi with just one move, but Slave Huan could not learn such a move since his Internal Strength was not strong enough. Besides, this kind of move could never be used on a young master.
A few days later, when the spring festival ended with laughter and happiness, Mama Xue finally figured out a tactic. She asked Maid Lotus to serve as Slave Huan's sparring partner.
Maid Lotus and Slave Qian had been killer-apprentices for months, but unlike the other apprentices who lived in East Castle, they still lived in the Eighth Young Master's residence. This arrangement further increased criticisms against the wayward Eighth Young Mistress, but Gu Shenwei somehow felt that it must have been Mama Xue's decision.
As the most suitable substitute for Shangguan Yushi, Maid Lotus came here to practice with him.
She apparently had benefited a lot from the training, which made Gu Shenwei envious. He believed that if he could become a killer-apprentice, he would progress much faster than anyone else. But now, this girl of his own age who had been learning Kung Fu for less than a year was already an equal to him, and she even surpassed him in unarmed fighting.
Mama Xue asked Slave Huan to demonstrate Shangguan Ru's best Kung Fu tricks again. Based on what she saw, she picked out five moves from Golden Roc Fort's unarmed combat routines and focused on cracking them.
"Remember, the tricks that one is most familiar with are his or her best moves, so the five moves I chose may not be the best Kung Fu tricks in the routines or what Shangguan Yushi is best at. I can't guarantee that she'll use these moves."
Gu Shenwei listened to Mama Xue respectfully. He trusted her judgment. Though he was sure that she was just using him to achieve her own goals, he could not deny that she taught him well. Sometimes, he thought she taught even better than his father, Gu Lun, and his family's loyal servant, Yang Zheng.
"These five moves are more offensive than defensive and attack the vital parts of the body, which makes them ideal moves in a quick battle. If she promises to defeat you in a limited number of moves, she'll probably use them."
These five moves were picked out from three different unarmed combat routines. Maid Lotus had only mastered three of them. She had started her training in East Castle a few months ago, but Shangguan Yushi had practiced Kung Fu for a dozen years. Fortunately, Maid Lotus was a devoted and diligent apprentice and quickly made up the difference.
Knowing that various moves could be evolved from one classical form, Mama Xue thought of three or four evolved moves for each classical move that she picked out and cracked them one by one. In the end, she decided on 15 strikes to defeat Shangguan Yushi. Actually, she could think of more tricks, but since the girl was not a Peerless Ace, she believed these 15 moves were enough.
She created most of them based on her own Kung Fu tricks. They were not marvelous moves in a conventional martial competition, but they would be effective in fighting Shangguan Yushi.
It took Gu Shenwei three days to master these 15 tricks, but this was just the beginning. Knowing how to crack Shangguan Yushi's moves was not enough. He had to learn how to predict which move she was going to use.
For example, when she lowered her shoulders, he had to know which move she was about to use. Otherwise, it would be too late for him to react when she attacked, even if he knew the way to counter.
That was why Mama Xue brought Maid Lotus here. She would never tell Slave Huan which move she was going to use, and sometimes, she would use some other tricks besides the five moves. Gu Shenwei thus could enhance his ability of observing and reacting.
Maid Lotus treated Slave Huan as mercilessly as Mama Xue did. She gave him a sound beating as if she held a grudge against him, which made her more like Shangguan Yushi.
Gu Shenwei had a really hard time practicing these 15 moves in actual combat. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, when the school reopened after the New Year holidays, he had already received a lot of bruises on his body, but he still could not use the moves flexibly in a fight.
Fortunately, most of the students did not attend school that early. It was said that the twins and Shangguan Yushi would not come to school until the 15th day of the first lunar month. Gu Shenwei felt lucky to get more time practicing his moves. Actually, he had never expected that this would take him so much time.
To become a good Kung Fu fighter, one had to endure lots of boring exercises first and then grab the tricks from these repeated practices. Gu Shenwei now knew that he still had a long way to go.
Among the students who came to school early, he spotted Shangguan Hongye. This was good news for him. More importantly, Slave Qing had not yet come to work. He sent a servant to tell the twins' attendants that they had to come to school every day but did not have to stay at the gate all day long.
After the attendants happily dispersed, there were only five or six teenagers at the gate of the school. Gu Shenwei could not find a reason to stay, so he left for his stone house.
When he estimated that it was the time that school ended, he went around to the alley in front of the front yard and slowly walked toward the school. Soon afterward, he bumped into Shangguan Hongye.
The young master was walking alone without his young attendant being around. He acted as if he did not see Slave Huan at all.
Gu Shenwei approached him and bowed. "Master Hongye."
Shangguan Hongye hummed indifferently while slowing down his steps in anticipation.
Gu Shenwei took out a silver bowl. "Is this the thing you dropped?"
This bowl was larger than any of the previous utensils. Shangguan Hongye's eyes shone with excitement, but he did not take it immediately. He looked around and then pushed Slave Huan into a corner. He seemed confused and irritated.
"What's your purpose?"
"What purpose? I'm just returning the things you dropped."
"Save it. You are just a dogshit slave boy. Where did you get those gold and silver things? You must have stolen them from... Tell me. What do you want from me? Otherwise, I'll send you to Heart Cleansing Yard."
Gu Shenwei pushed Shangguan Hongye's arm away without saying a word. It was not a good place for such a talk since the guards in the shadows might be hiding somewhere nearby, overhearing their conversation. However, Gu Shenwei had no better options. He pressed the bowl into Shangguan Hongye and stared at his face.
The arrogant look in his eyes gradually changed into a greedy one.
"I just happened to see these things and I couldn't stop myself from picking them up. As for Heart Cleansing Yard, I've been there once," Gu Shenwei said coldly.
He had been thrown into Heart Cleansing Yard, which was nicknamed Ghost Yard, and had been tortured there. This experience clearly stunned Shangguan Hongye. The young master took a step back and did not look so aggressive.
"If it's not yours, I'll ask someone else."
Gu Shenwei said while pretending to leave. Seeing this, Shangguan Hongye swiftly gave up his commanding position as a young master and grabbed the slave boy's arm.
After a little hesitation, he said, "You don't have to ask anyone else. It's mine."
Gu Shenwei took out the silver bowl again and handed it to Shangguan Hongye, but this time, he did not immediately loosen his grip on the bowl. "As for these things that I picked up, I can give them to anyone who comes to me. If you have a good friend, you can tell him this."
Shangguan Hongye pulled the bowl out of Slave Huan's hand and said with certainty, "No, I don't have any friends."
This bribery continued for a few days. No matter what Slave Huan brought, Shangguan Hongye would take it away without a word.
Gu Shenwei felt it was the time for him to make a request of Shangguan Hongye.
