Chapter 43: Unsharpened Knife
Taiping Medical Clinic has always been a non-confrontational place. On Anxi Street, no matter how many vendors come and go, from spring to autumn, from winter to summer, the clinic is always there, making people feel at ease.

But Taiping Medical Clinic suddenly became lively.

The prince and the princess climbed over the wall, Liang Gou'er and Liang Mao'er stayed here, there were laughter, fire, and endless stream of people from all walks of life...

Chen Ji stood outside the door and looked at Old Man Yao with a complicated expression: "Master, do you want him to teach me sword skills?"

Old man Yao stood outside the door with his hands behind his back, and said indifferently: "The Liang family's sword art is the best in Yuzhou. There are many people in this world who have the skills, but few who ask for the truth. Learn well."

Chen Ji was curious: "What is the difference between skills and Tao?"

Old man Yao answered slowly: "Tao is the direction of nothingness, and skills are the road under your feet. Remember, if you use Tao to control skills, your skills will succeed; if you use skills to control Tao, your skills will fail."

"Then you still want me to learn sword skills first?"

"First, learn how to go from sword skills to sword art. This is the Liang family's own secret. But the Liang family has no descendants now, and this skill may be lost at any time. What if Liang Gou'er passes it on to you on a whim... By the way, you have made a lot of money recently, so you have to pay for the food expenses of these two people in the Liang family."

Chen Ji became alert: "Are you still thinking about my little things?"

Old Man Yao: “Remembering you.”

Chen Ji: "..."

At this time, Liang Maoer's voice rang out from the backyard: "Excuse me... where do we sleep?"

Chen Ji hurried in and said, "Let's sleep in the apprentice dormitory. Our bunk bed is big enough for five people."

Liang Maoer quickly said, "No, no, this bunk bed is a bit crowded for five people. My brother can sleep here, and I'll sleep in the kitchen."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "It's okay. It's okay to squeeze in. Winter is coming soon. People will freeze to death in the kitchen."

"All right……"

Liang Gou'er was already fast asleep. Liang Mao'er gently put him on the bed and took off his shoes and socks for him.

However, after Liang Maoer finished all this, she did not sleep. She just turned her head to look at Chen Ji and said carefully: "Well... I can help with the work, cleaning, cooking and washing clothes. I am not afraid of being tired."

Before Chen Ji could answer, Liang Maoer took a wooden basin, took away the dirty clothes and socks from the apprentices' dormitory, and went to the kitchen stove to get some wood ash. He squatted in the yard and scooped up a few buckets of water to wash them, as if he was afraid that the clinic would go back on its word and no longer want to take in the two brothers.

Wood ash and soapberries were the natural detergents of that era. People who could afford it would also add some mint, scutellaria baicalensis, and lotus leaves to rub the clothes, which would have a faint fragrance after washing.

Liang Mao'er was fat and it was a bit difficult for him to squat on the ground. Chen Ji thought for a moment and brought a small chair for him: "Sit down and wash."

Liang Maoer looked up and smiled, "Thank you... I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble."

Chen Ji looked at the other person. If Liang Gou'er was not beside him, Liang Mao'er would not look like a gangster at all. He looked more like a hardworking waiter in a restaurant.

"Don't you have any money left?" Chen Ji asked puzzledly.

"Actually, I saved a little secretly, but I can't let my brother know," Liang Maoer said with a simple smile, "I plan to buy a few acres of land in the countryside of Luocheng when I have enough money. That way, even if my brother doesn't work for the rich, we can still survive."

"That's not enough to pay for your brother's drinks."

"Let's talk about it then..."

When Liang Maoer finished washing all the clothes accumulated by Liu Quxing and She Dengke, his stomach suddenly made a rumbling sound.

Liang Maoer looked embarrassed: "Um... Is there any food in the clinic? Anything is fine, I'm not picky about food."

Chen Ji brought Liang Maoer a large bowl of cornmeal porridge, a plate of pickles, and four multi-grain cakes left over from last night.

But Liang Maoer finished eating in one breath, wiped her mouth, and looked at him silently again.

Chen Ji took a deep breath and took out four more grain cakes and a plate of pickled vegetables...

After Liang Mao'er finished eating, Chen Ji said quietly, "Your brother has to teach me swordsmanship quickly."

"Ah? Are you in such a hurry?" Liang Maoer was stunned.

Chen Ji said seriously: "If your brother doesn't teach me, I'm afraid I will regret it..."

Liang Maoer hurriedly asked, "Have you ever practiced sword fighting before?"

"I haven't practiced."

Liang Maoer thought for a moment and said, "Then let me teach you first. I know all the basic knife skills."

As he spoke, he straightened his fat body and swung it twice: "When my father taught my brother to practice sword, he also asked me to learn from him, but I don't have the talent, so I can't learn it."

Chen Ji looked at Liang Mao'er's clumsy moves, raised his eyebrows and changed the subject: "Is your brother like this before?"

"That's not the case," Liang Mao'er said hurriedly, "My brother didn't drink before, and he didn't go to those places of prostitution. At that time, my brother was the best swordsman in Yuzhou. He killed bandits from three mountains with his sword. Ordinary people from the underworld had to go to him to pay their respects when they came to Luocheng."

When Liang Maoer talked about his brother's past glory, his eyes were filled with memories and longing.

Chen Ji asked curiously: "What happened next?"

Liang Maoer's tone dropped. "Then my sister-in-law showed up. She was very beautiful and gentle, and was very kind to my brother and me. When my sister-in-law saw my brother practicing swordplay, she pestered him to learn how to use the sword, but after he finished learning, she disappeared. Since then, my brother stopped practicing swordplay and started to like drinking."

The Liang family's swordsmanship is not to be passed on to outsiders. This is not only the Liang family's ancestral precept, but also the Liang family members are well aware of the secret of practice, and no one can practice together.

However, Liang Gou'er passed on his sword skills to others, and ended up with such a fate.

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Has your sister-in-law never appeared again?"

Liang Mao'er thought for a moment and said, "My brother said that she might have returned to the Northern Jing Dynasty..." Before she finished speaking, Liang Gou'er, drunk, leaned against the door frame and said angrily, "I said, don't mention this matter again!"

Liang Maoer shrank his neck and said, "Don't mention it, don't mention it."

Liang Gou'er squinted at Chen Ji and asked, "Do you really want to learn how to use a sword?"

"I do," Chen Ji said sincerely.

"Then let me ask you, why do you want to learn knife skills?" Liang Gou'er asked again.

"Self-preservation."

Liang Gou'er burst into laughter: "Then you shouldn't learn the sword! Sword techniques are about opening and closing. Those who learn the sword must first have the confidence to split mountains, instead of talking about self-protection. When you want to protect yourself, you have already given up your sword!"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Then what should I learn?"

Liang Gou'er threw his sword to Chen Ji and pointed to the kitchen: "Bring some firewood. Once you chop it, I'll know what you should learn."

Chen Ji went to get a piece of firewood and stood in the yard. He drew his knife and chopped along the cracks in the wood.

The long knife was stuck on the surface of the firewood. Only then did he realize that Liang Gouer's knife was not sharpened!

How is it possible? A knife without a sharp blade can chop Lin Chaoqing's bamboo hat in mid-air?

He looked at Liang Gou'er: "Why is this knife not sharpened?"

Liang Gou'er said carelessly: "Because it's not necessary."

Chen Ji didn't know how to respond for a moment. Between the 'most serious' and 'most informal' answers, Liang Gou'er chose the most pretentious one.

At this time, Liu Quxing and She Dengke were also awakened, and they leaned on the door frame to peek out.

But Liang Gou'er was looking at the crack marks on the wall carefully, and no one knew what he was looking at.

Without saying a word, he took the long knife from Chen Ji and swung it casually, splitting the firewood standing in the yard into two, with a smooth cut surface.

Liang Gou'er turned his head and looked at Chen Ji: "The sword is domineering. My Liang family's sword technique is impartial and non-evasive. No matter if you have any flaws or not, I will cut you with my sword and your whole body will be full of flaws. The sword in your hand is no longer like a sword, but more like a sword that specifically picks flaws and strikes in an unconventional way. So you shouldn't practice swordsmanship, you should find someone to learn sword skills from."

"Does character determine one's path?" Chen Ji pondered.

"The heart and mind must be in harmony. If the path you take is not in line with your heart, you won't go far," Liang Gou'er explained.

Liang Mao'er on the side was puzzled: "Brother, you said before that sword is the kingly way, which is very similar to our family's swordsmanship."

Liang Gou'er looked at Chen Ji and said meaningfully: "The sword I'm talking about is not the long sword at your waist, but the sword in the Jing Dynasty Martial Temple. So you shouldn't learn sword skills from me, you should go to the Jing Dynasty Martial Temple to learn sword skills."

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment.

He was once carried into the ancient battlefield by an ice flow, and the people in the battlefield once asked him: Who stole my sword seed?

Is the type of sword the other party mentioned related to the type of sword in the Jingchao Martial Temple?
Chen Ji asked, "Can we only go to Jingchao Wu Temple to learn?"

Liang Gou'er thought for a moment and said, "There should be someone in Ning Dynasty who is practicing, but the last time he made a move was more than ten years ago, and everyone who saw him make a move is dead."

Chen Ji fell into deep thought.

If I really have to go to the Jing Dynasty Martial Temple to repair it, then does that mean I have to make great achievements in the Ning Dynasty, be promoted step by step, and eventually be transferred back to the Jing Dynasty?
But that will take time.

Liang Gou'er looked at him and said, "Don't practice with the sword. Practicing with the sword now will only make you crooked. It will be difficult to straighten it out later."

Liang Maoer muttered softly: "Brother, if he doesn't practice, where will we live? What will we eat..."

Liang Gou'er immediately changed his words: "You can practice stance and footwork first! As the saying goes, if you teach boxing without footwork, you will be beaten by your master! Footwork is the foundation of the whole body's strength. If you don't practice footwork, you can only use the strength of one arm when you punch, but how much strength can one arm have? If you practice footwork, the strength will flow from the legs to the hips, from the hips to the waist, and from the waist to the arms. In this way, the strength of the whole body is gathered at one point, then..."

Before he could finish his words, he heard someone shouting at the entrance of the clinic: "Chen Ji, Chen Ji!"

She Dengke looked over suddenly and Chen Ji frowned. They both recognized that it was Chunhua's voice.

She Dengke hesitated again and again, but in the end he did not step out of the room. Chen Ji came to the door of the clinic and asked curiously, "Miss Chunhua, is there anything wrong?"

Chunhua's eyes were still swollen from crying. She took out an invitation and whispered, "My wife invites everyone in the clinic to attend the literary gathering at the palace this afternoon. She said she has something important to discuss with you."

Chen Ji opened the red invitation, which read: I would like to prepare a banquet on the evening of September 10th, inviting scholars from Luo City to attend. I would like to thank you for your kindness, but I am afraid you will be late.

————Zhu Yunxi from Prince Jing’s Mansion.

The literary gathering was organized by the Crown Prince, and Concubine Jing wanted to use this gathering to discuss the Liu family's affairs in detail with me?
Chunhua looked at Chen Ji eagerly, and gently lifted up her sleeves, only to see that they were covered with whip marks from being whipped with a rattan stick.

Chen Ji shook his head: "Miss Chunhua, it's useless to show me this. If I don't want to go, even if you get beaten up again, it has nothing to do with me."

Chunhua was anxious.

But Chen Ji changed the subject: "But tell Concubine Jing that I will go."

……

Chapter today.

The director’s new book “Rebirth: Receive $1 Million Every Day”: When the wheel of fortune begins to reverse.

In this life, Lin Dong wants to be the driving force behind the scenes and enjoy the life of a top rich second generation.

(End of this chapter)