“You are not strong enough, so even if you learn it, it will only be an empty shell. From today onwards, when you practice the horse stance, each of you should hold a brick in your hand.”

Mei Si took out the small bricks she had prepared beforehand and gave each of them two.

Mei Liang and his two friends used to only feel soreness in their legs when practicing horse stance, but their arms were fine. However, this time was different. After returning home, the three of them couldn't even hold their pens properly when they went to school the next day.

"Mei Liang, what did you three do yesterday? Why can't you even hold a steamed bun?" Chen Ping'an asked curiously when he saw the three of them trembling as they held a steamed bun.

The three exchanged glances, not intending to tell the truth. They had already agreed not to tell any of each other about their martial arts training.

"The three of us jumped off the single bar yesterday to see who could hold on the longest," Zhang Yuanchao said, rolling his eyes as he told a believable lie.

"What? You're playing this?" Chen Ping'an turned to look at Mei Liang and Xu Aiguo, somewhat disbelieving what Zhang Yuanchao was saying.

"I lasted the longest yesterday," Xu Aiguo nodded and began to boast casually.

“Ah, right, Xu Aiguo won yesterday.” Mei Liang glared at Xu Aiguo, but when Chen Ping’an turned to look at him, he had no choice but to nod, acknowledging that Xu Aiguo had “won.”

“We plan to continue tonight,” Xu Aiguo blurted out suddenly.

"That's so interesting! Then take me with you tonight!" Chen Ping'an couldn't resist joining in when he saw how much the three of them enjoyed the competition.

"Are you crazy? You can't even hold a steamed bun, how can you compete tonight?" Zhang Yuanchao glared at Xu Aiguo, not understanding what was wrong with him. There was no competition at all, so why was he saying there would be one tonight? It made Chen Ping'an want to participate too.

"Ah! Right, I can't compete today." Xu Aiguo finally snapped out of his euphoria at being in first place and realized that the competition was fake.

"If not today, how about tomorrow?" Chen Ping'an started to think about the competition; he really wanted to compete against them.

"Tomorrow won't work either. Didn't you see how shaky our hands were? Let's talk about it next week." Zhang Yuanchao directly postponed this unfounded competition to next week, thinking that Chen Ping'an would definitely not remember it by then.

"Alright then, don't forget to call me when you guys compete." Chen Ping'an was a little disappointed, but he also knew that the three of them wouldn't recover from their current state anytime soon, so he could only wait until next week.

The three of them practiced horse stance and carried bricks for a week before they recovered. They were quite happy, thinking that Mei Si would teach them moves in a few days.

"Huh? We have to replace them with whole bricks?" Mei Liang looked at the six whole bricks that Mei Si brought in with a bitter face, and suddenly felt that his future was bleak.

"Master, when can we finally learn the moves?" Xu Aiguo couldn't hold back any longer. He had been ambushed by those hooligans again a couple of days ago, and the eight cents he had painstakingly saved up had been stolen.

"When you can hold four bricks for an hour."

"Master, can't you teach us something practical first?" Zhang Yuanchao knew why Xu Aiguo was in such a hurry, and he also felt that they should learn some self-defense techniques first.

"Practical? You're not strong enough..." Mei Si didn't think that the combat techniques they had learned now would be of any use.

“Master, we wouldn’t be in such a hurry normally, but Xu Aiguo was robbed by some hooligans a couple of days ago. If he knew any martial arts moves, he wouldn’t be so frustrated. We’ve been disciples for so long, at least teach us a couple of moves!” Mei Liang said with some resentment. He was Mei Si’s brother, and he had sacrificed so much to become a disciple, but after so long, he hadn’t learned anything. He felt like he had been tricked.

"A good-for-nothing?" Mei Si tilted her head, not understanding what the term meant.

"Oh dear! My hard-earned eight cents were stolen. I was planning to use this money to buy meat buns for my master." Xu Aiguo suddenly had a bright idea. He remembered that Mei Liang had said that Mei Si loved meat and candy the most. If he said that he intended to give the money to Mei Si as a token of his respect, Mei Si might teach them some practical skills in order to repay him in the future.

"What's a scoundrel? Do you even know where he is?" When Mei Si heard that the money was supposed to be used to buy her meat buns, she immediately thought that this "scoundrel" was the one who stole her meat buns, and she wanted to get them back!

“I only know one of those hooligans named Ma Weiguo. They often hang around Jiangxi Park.” Xu Aiguo thought Mei Si was asking who the hooligans were.

"A scoundrel is a bad guy." Mei Liang knew from his sister's words that she didn't understand what "scoundrel" meant.

“Take me there now.” Meisi knew that park; her father had taken her there when they first came back.

"Huh? No... You're too young. Why don't you teach us some martial arts moves? The three of us can go and seek revenge." Xu Aiguo felt that Mei Si was too young. If she got hurt, and the Mei family wouldn't let her out in the future, who would teach them martial arts?

"Stop talking nonsense, my meat buns must be back!" Mei Si glared at Xu Aiguo and said.

"Meat..." Xu Aiguo was speechless. So Mei Si wasn't trying to help him get revenge; she was just after his meat buns.

"Let's go see if they're there." Mei Liang gave Xu Aiguo a sympathetic look, thinking he was being a bit presumptuous.

Mei Liang never expected that Xu Aiguo would say that the 8 cents was for his sister to buy meat buns in order to learn the moves. Now that he said that, even if he got the money back today, it wouldn't be his anymore.

The four of them arrived there by sheer coincidence, just as the five people were leaving the park. What a small world!

“That’s them,” Xu Aiguo said quickly, pointing to the five people.

"Hey! You've brought us money again?" Ma Weiguo said with a grin.

"Hand over the meat buns!" Mei Si ran up to the five people and reached out for the meat buns.