An Moxue and Wu Sicheng were discussing making new cages for the two kittens when Old Li and Aunt Li entered the yard. Upon hearing the noise, Wu Sicheng immediately stood up, straightened his clothes, and then asked An Moxue, "Is it neat?"
An Moxue smiled and nodded. Seeing An Moxue's affirmative answer, he stood at attention by the door with a serious expression. An Moxue had known him for so long, but this was the first time she had seen him so serious and focused.
Old Li and his companion walked to the door. An Moxue also stood up. Old Li didn't look at her, but stared straight at Wu Sicheng. As Old Li went inside, he looked her over. When Wu Sicheng saw Old Li, he immediately gave a standard military salute: "Greetings, Commander!" It wasn't hard to hear the excitement in his voice.
Old Li didn't reply to him, but was still sizing him up. Wu Sicheng felt that he was like a peeled egg, smooth and exposed, with nowhere to hide. This old man was very different from what was said in their army, but one thing was consistent: he was vigorous and not to be underestimated. After all, many years have passed, and people get old, so their appearance will change to some extent.
Old Li thought to himself, "This girl An is no ordinary person. The people she knows are all extraordinary. This kid has amazing potential and is very suitable to learn our sect's kung fu. I just don't know how far he can learn."
He thought this to himself, but said aloud, "Come on, let's go outside and show them off a bit, then we'll see what happens."
The group then went out of the house and into the courtyard.
Old Li stopped and said to Wu Sicheng, "Don't hold back, attack me with all your might."
Wu Sicheng said only, "Sir, I'm sorry," before quickly throwing a punch at Old Li. Every punch was aimed at vital points, and every move was aimed without holding back. Old Li, however, was more than capable of handling the situation and easily deflected the attack. After twenty moves, Old Li called a halt. He himself was flushed, while Wu Sicheng was breathing somewhat rapidly.
An Moxue exclaimed, "That was awesome!"
Wu Sicheng looked at Old Li hopefully, and Old Li asked him, "Military boxing is also very good, why do you want to learn ancient martial arts? Besides, you've already passed the best time to learn now."
Wu Sicheng thought for a moment and replied, "I don't want to see the enemy blatantly escape right under my nose again, and I'm powerless to do anything about it. I don't want to see my comrades get injured or even lose their lives because of my incompetence, and I can't even protect my own men." His eyes were full of determination.
Old Li said to him, "Come with me." Then he said to An Moxue and Aunt Li, "This is none of your business, you two. Go do what you're supposed to do!"
An Moxue and Aunt Li entered the house hand in hand. Once inside, An Moxue whispered to Aunt Li, "Auntie, has Uncle Li taken a liking to you, or not?"
Aunt Li smiled and said, "Don't worry! If he didn't like it, he wouldn't have spent so much time looking around after entering the house, nor would he have gone out to spar. It's pretty much a done deal."
An Moxue asked excitedly, "Really?"
Aunt Li coaxed her like she was a child, saying, "Really! I'm not lying to you, you'll see soon enough."
Three to five minutes later, the two entered the house. Wu Sicheng's undisguised excitement was palpable to everyone present.
Wu Sicheng happily said to An Moxue, "Moxue, the commander has agreed to teach me, and I will be here for the next two months."
An Moxue was genuinely happy for Wu Sicheng and said to him, "Congratulations. Study hard, and we can practice together in the future."
Wu Sicheng said, "Let's make progress together."
Actually, the happiest person among them should be Old Li. His children all started learning martial arts from a young age and did quite well, but none of them were the best learners and never reached the heights he expected in their lives. It would be a lie to say he wasn't disappointed.
It's a real pity about Wu Sicheng. Although he's past his prime, he has good calcaneus (heel bone). With enough effort, he can make up for the effects of age, and he's still someone to look forward to.
Seeing that both parties were satisfied, An Moxue said, "Uncle Li, Aunt Li, I've delivered the person, so I'll head back now. I'll come back to ask Uncle Li for guidance in a few days."
Seeing that it was getting late, the two did not try to stop them. Wu Sicheng said, "Mo Xue, I'll see you out."
An Moxue thought Wu Sicheng had something to tell her, so she agreed.
After leaving the courtyard, Wu Sicheng said to An Moxue, "Moxue, thank you."
An Moxue said to him, "Study hard, I believe in you. I'm leaving now, bye-bye."
After saying that, she jogged away from Old Li's house. Wu Sicheng watched An Moxue's departing figure until she was out of sight before returning to his house.
When An Moxue arrived in the mountains, she called the two little ones and they stayed deep in the mountains until dark before coming down.
At the foot of the hill behind her house, she saw Wang Zhaodi, who was so thin she looked almost unrecognizable. Since it was already dark, she didn't quite recognize her.
Back home, An Moxue prepared some food for the two little ones, heated the kang (a traditional heated brick bed), and then went into the space.
She now spends two hours practicing martial arts every day, and the rest of her free time studying. Every night, she only stops studying reluctantly when the alarm clock rings. The more she studies, the more she realizes how ignorant she is, and the more she feels that the books left by our ancestors are full of wisdom.
The next morning, just as An Moxue finished her martial arts practice, the loudspeaker blared: "Attention all commune members! After you finish eating, those of you who don't have to work, please thoroughly clean your homes, both inside and out. Tomorrow, leaders from the county and representatives from various villages will be coming to our village. Please take this seriously. If any household is found to be sloppy during the inspection, their work points will be deducted. After the county inspection, our village will also be evaluating outstanding individuals and families. Those who perform poorly during this inspection will be disqualified."
As An Moxue listened to the radio, she thought to herself that the village leadership knew how to manage the villagers, rewarding the good and punishing the bad.
Suddenly, the villagers, whose enthusiasm had not yet subsided, reached another climax. An Moxue was sweeping the yard when Xiaohuzi's mother called out to her, "Moxue, come here for a moment!"
"What is it, sister-in-law?" An Moxue put down the broom, went out, and closed the courtyard gate.
"I just saw that you've kept the yard and house so clean and tidy, so I wanted you to come over and help me figure out how to make mine look like yours. I don't want to embarrass myself if the boss comes."
An Moxue went to her house with her and took a look. Actually, it was very clean and tidy, but she just lacked confidence.
As soon as the two of them stepped out of the house, the aunts and sisters-in-law from several other nearby families heard Tiger's mother's voice and came over.
So An Moxue suggested, "Aunties and sisters-in-law, let's go from house to house, give each other suggestions, and then we'll adopt the good ones. What do you think?"
There are a total of five households in this area, and they're all here.
So Tiger's mother led everyone on another tour of their house, and then they went from house to house, starting from the nearest and moving further away.
Sure enough, someone made a suggestion. Everyone did a good job of cleaning, but after seeing the woodpile at An Zhiqing's house, they all felt that their own was not as neat and tidy as An Zhiqing's. The families discussed it and decided that this would not work, especially since the chickens in the yard roamed around and pooped everywhere. Even after sweeping, it wouldn't be enough, because they would poop again at any time. So they decided to build a cage to keep the chickens in place. Thus, the families busily built chicken cages and tidied up the woodpile.
When the village officials inspected these households, they found that they were all making chicken coops. Upon hearing this, they thought it made sense and, along with the whole village, they initiated a joint hygiene supervision group for the households. This group supervised and corrected each other.
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