Chapter 480: Propagate the Doctrine and Impart Professional Knowledge
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Famous understood the purpose of the house when it saw the sign Temple for the Righteous Cat and Chivalrous Dog. In the real history, Old Time Tea must had saved Wu Ning by itself so there shouldn't have been "Chivalrous Dog" part. Wu Hancheng and Wu Ning made this temple to thank Old Time Tea for its help.
The memory of Old Time Tea changed due Famous showing up.
This temple was not big, but it had everything. The pillars were covered in Wutong oil, so shiny that you could see your reflection. The roof was covered with glass tiles. Although its size was only a little bigger than the master bedroom in the pet shop, it was really something compared to everything else in this s***hole. People didn't normally build a house to show gratitude.
For Old Time Tea and Famous, the temple was nice. At least they had a place to stay. Mosquitos in this mountain were brutal at night.
The light inside the temple was dim, for humans, not for Old Time Tea and Famous.
The layout of the temple was pretty simple. There was a table covered with a yellow tablecloth and on it, there were smoked fish, steamed pork, and roasted duck.
Three tablets sat next to each other behind the table. The middle one said "My rescuer's, Amazing Fate Pet Shop, place," along with Zhang Zian's phone number.
The other two tablets, from left to right, said My Rescuer's, the Righteous Cat, Place and My Rescuer's, the Chivalrous Dog, Place.
Old Time Tea didn't know how to react, while Famous didn't care about it. Famous raised one of its paws, pointing at the roasted duck. "Is that for us?"
"I think so." Old Time Tea figured this must be from the Wu family.
Famous was so hungry, it didn't care what Old Time Tea thought and just grabbed the roast duck from the table.
In front of the table, there were three yellow futons for visitors, though Old Time Tea doubted there would be any visitors. In front of the futons, there was a china made furnace, with three lit pieces of sandalwood. The green smoke came out slowly up.
Famous sat on the futon and happily ate the roasted duck.
Old Time Tea grabbed the smoked fish, and after taking the fishbone out, ate it slowly.
There were sculptures of a cat and a dog. Famous looked at them while it was eating. The two sculptures were wearing robes, and they were standing on their back paws with their front paws in front of them like they were shaking hands. They looked super weird, like they had human bodies, but a dog's head and a cat's head.
Old Time Tea and Famous didn't like the smell of sandalwood, so they put it out and went to sleep in their own futons.
It was much colder in this memory than in modern society. Famous was grateful to have this temple to stay warm. It didn't know how long it had to stay in Old Time Tea's memory. This world was too real. It didn't want to freeze to death.
As night approached, nocturnal animals became active and wild animals started howling in the distance. Famous and Old Time Tea could hear some small animals fight for the fishbone and duck bone that Old Time Tea and Famous threw out. Some bold animals even tried to steal the steamed pork head, but were scared off by Old Time Tea's meow.
"Brother Famous, tell me more about the pet shop." Old Time Tea wasn't used to going to sleep early, so it turned over on the futon. Its eyes shining in the dark.
The days they had nothing to do, Famous told Old Time Tea about the pet shop. Some stories of its own experiences, some were news it heard from others. Old Time Tea was intrigued by the interesting new world and wanted to go there.
Famous was drowsy. "Don't call me Brother Famous, it's just Famous. What do you want to know?"
"What kind of person is Zhang Zian?" Old Time Tea was curious about this guy who, in one hundred years, would become his disciple.
Famous thought about it and felt it was hard to describe someone in just few sentences, so it just said, "All the pets in the shop agree that he is a petty loser without a girlfriend."
This only Old Time Tea intrigued more. If Famous described him as a saint, then everything would make sense. However, from what Famous had said, it couldn't find a reason that it would take him as a disciple. There must be another reason for it to do that. It'd like to believed that it wouldn't just randomly pick someone as a student, even when it got older.
Before it could ask another question, it heard Famous snoring.
Old Time Tea turned around again, thinking about the beautiful future ahead and finally fell asleep.
...
The next morning, sunlight fell on Famous' eyelids through the gap of doors. It shook its head and woke up.
After a while, Old Time Tea woke up as well, and stretched.
The steamed pork head was too big for them to eat, but they shared and left plenty. They didn't like the taste, but they didn't want to starve, especially Old Time Tea as it didn't want to go out and eat raw meat.
They pushed the door open. It was a nice, sunny day. Dewdrops sparkled on the grass.
It was Old Time Tea's routine to exercise every morning. It used to run in the forest, but when the people were building the temple, they made an open area in front of the temple, whitewashed it and added some secret liquid to repel grass and insects. Ever since then, Old Time Tea exercised here.
Famous went to the forest to freshen up, then squatted on the stairs of the temple to take in the sun and watch Old Time Tea jumping around. To it, it looked like Old Time Tea was just playing.
About 10 minutes later, Old Time Tea suddenly stopped and meowed. It raised its paw and observed it carefully.
"What's wrong, Old Time Tea? Did you twist your arm?" Famous asked. "Zhang Zian does warm ups every day before he starts boxing, he said it prevents injuries."
"Nah," Old Time Tea shook its head, seeming unsure, "I don't know if it's just an illusion, but I feel stronger and faster than usual."
Famous thought about it and guessed, "Is it because the food we ate is better than food from the forest? What did you usually eat, Old Time Tea?"
"I don't think it's because of that." Old Time Tea walked towards Famous. "Brother Famous, go run or jump to see if you feel different."
Famous ran a circle then jumped and said with its tongue out, "No, I don't feel any different. Are you sleeping too much? Isn't feeling different sometimes a normal thing? We aren't robots."
Actually, it ran slower than usual because it ate too much yesterday and its stomach still didn't feel well.
Old Time Tea inhaled deeply, doubted if it was feeling wrong. It then left the question and asked: "Brother Famous, what are robots?"
"..."
It wasn't in the mood to explain things.
...
They spent a couple of days like this.
Every noon, the Wu family would send someone to the mountain, carrying a tray of all kinds of food wrapped with oily paper, such as smoked fish, smoked duck, smoked sausage, roasted duck, spiced beef, pork leg, roasted chicken, etc. One day, they even sent them a roasted lamb. This place was close to the sea so they had all kinds of smoked fish.
The Wu family treated them better than just rescuers. They got to know Old Time Tea and Famous' preferred foods and stopped sending things they didn't like, such as pork head.
They spent relaxing time. As Zhang Zian wasn't there to control its diet, Famous ate anything it wanted until it was too full to walk. It became so fat that its hair started to get oily. At first it was happy about it, but as time went by, it felt wrong. Old Time Tea ran faster as it controlled its eating, but Famous ran slower everyday. It breathed heavy even it was just running the few steps to the forest to pee.
This had to stop. Famous remembered it was still in a memory, and if they came across robbers again, its fat wouldn't help. Sooner or later, it would be killed by someone and cooked into a dog dish.
This morning, after they woke up, Old Time Tea went to the open area. It didn't start working out immediately, instead, it stared at its paws. Famous was full again, squatting on the stairs, digesting under the sun lazily.
"Old Time Tea, why don't you run?" Famous asked. It had become a habit to see Old Time Tea running in circles around the open space.
Old Time Tea didn't answer, but stood up like a man and started punching the air, quick and hard.
Famous thought it looked familiar, then it remembered. "Is this Japanese-style punching?"
In the pet shop, it watched Zhang Zian box every morning. He always started with Japanese-style punching. It was so familiar to Famous it was able to recognize the position despite the differences between Zhang Zian and Old Time Tea.
Old Time Tea returned to its starting position and nodded. "I don't know why, but, recently, I feel I have so much energy and power. I'm lighter than before, more flexible. I thought I could try Wing Chun Kung Fu I learned from Chen Huashun since I have nothing to do."
Famous was speechless. It remembered the day they were fighting with those criminals. Old Time Tea fought back with its experiences and flexibility, it didn't have a system. So Old Time Tea had never tried Wing Chun Kung Fu?
Old Time Tea memorized Chen Huashun's positions, but it never really practiced. The body structure of a cat was different than the body structure of a man, you couldn't just copy what you saw.
After the temple was built, Old Time Tea didn't just feel like it was getting stronger and more energetic, its mind also got clearer. Things it didn't understand before, it understood now.
It thought it could try to change men's Wing Chun Kung Fu to cats' Wing Chun Kung Fu. Even if it didn't work in the end, it didn't matter. Just like it said, it had plenty of time.
"Old Time Tea, if you want to practice, I could help you with that," Famous suggested.
"Oh? Brother Famous, you know about Wing Chun Kung Fu?" Old Time Tea asked in surprise.
"Not really. I've already told you. I sit next to you when you are guiding Zhang Zian through his boxing session. Maybe I can help you?" Famous wasn't so sure.
"That would be great!" Old Time Tea nodded excitedly. "Thank you, Brother Famous."
Famous said quickly, "Don't. It's not a big deal. I'm just repeating what you've said."
The next day, Old Time Tea changed its daily routine from running around and jumping in the trees to practicing Wing Chun Kung Fu. Famous helped a lot by quoting future Old Time Tea. Some things didn't apply to cats, but the main concepts were similar.
As time went by, the weather got colder and Old Time Tea made progress in Wing Chun Kung Fu. Whenever it felt stuck, it would go through Famous' instructions sentence by sentence.
Old Time Tea injured itself trying to do some of the hard tricks. Luckily it had some knowledge about traditional Chinese medicine, so it went to the forest to find some useful herbs. If it ate the herbs or put them in the wound, it would recover soon.
Famous worried it was getting too lazy, so it stopped pigging out and started exercising from time to time. After a while, it returned to its normal. Slowly, it noticed that it was getting stronger and was able to run to the roof without panting. So, it changed its observing spot from the stairs to the roof as he could tan better there.
...
Another day had passed.
Famous went to the roof, dragging a futon with its mouth, looking at Old Time Tea practicing Wing Chun Kung Fu.
When Old Time Tea finished, it asked curiously, "Old Time Tea, you've been practicing just a few days and you're already better than Zhang Zian, who's practiced for months. Why is that? Is it because he is too stupid?"
Old Time Tea looked at Famous. It touched its whiskers and smiled when it responded, "That's not true. It is because our body structures are different. If you want to know, you should come down and see."
Famous jumped off of the roof and went into the temple with Old Time Tea.
The furnace was now used as a water container since they didn't like the smell of sandalwood.
The body of the furnace was big, but the neck was really thin and small. Old Time Tea asked Famous to watch as it jumped on the furnace, easily got inside, and got back out.
Famous was totally speechless. It couldn't get into the furnace no matter how hard it tried. If it got inside, it wouldn't be able to get out. If someone lit the furnace, it would have been cooked for sure.
Old Time Tea explained with a smile, "A cat's collarbone and shoulder blades are flexible. We are born with the skill to shrink our bones. We learn Wing Chun Kung Fu quickly because it requires flexibility."
No wonder Old Time Tea made such great progress in just a few days.
Old Time Tea kept silent, then said, "I've been thinking. I think of you, Famous, as my dearest friend. I want to teach you some tricks so you can protect yourself, but Wing Chun Kung Fu isn't suitable for dogs."
It was not that Old Time Tea didn't want to teach Famous, but dogs couldn't learn Wing Chun Kung Fu. It was disappointed, but said, "It's okay, Old Time Tea. I have danger radar, I can protect myself."
Old Time Tea laughed, "You're wrong! That day, I saw you, you were flexible, but you escaped and missed your best shot. I've thought about some tricks that might suit you."
"What tricks?" Famous listened carefully.
Old Time Tea said, "A long time ago, there was a famous martial arts master named Huang who challenged Chen Huashun. They made a deal that whoever won two out of three rounds, was the winner. Chen Huashun used his Bridge Hand and Butterfly Palm moves and beat Huang, making Wing Chun Kung Fu popular. In this circumstance, there was no need for the final round, but master Huang performed three kicks to save face, then left. Chen Huashun was impressed by the kicks and couldn't stop thinking about it. He studied the kicking, wanting to copy it. Even though it was just a glimpse, he saw the general move, but didn't know the theory. Before he passed away, I able to see him practice for the last time and I memorized it. After watching you these past few days, I've realized that your legs are very powerful. I think you could learn the kicks."
After the story, Old Time Tea paused and then said softly, "However, the three kicks must be the essence of some Kung Fu, it is powerful itself, but it is not systemized, Do you want to learn?"
Famous was intrigued. It knew about the power of Wing Chun Kung Fu, but even if the kick wasn't as systemized or powerful as Wing Chun Kung Fu, it could defend itself once it mastered it, right?
Then Famous asked, "What's the name of the kick?"
Old Time Tea nodded. "Chen Huashun didn't know the original name of the kick, but since it was fast and strong, we'll name it the Foshan Invisible Kick."