Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

But as soon as he got up, he asked Zhou Guo to do horse stance. "The most important thing to learn is the basic skills of Kung Fu. It is said that if you practice Kung Fu without practicing the basic skills, it will be useless when you grow old. Without the basic skills, all you have learned is fancy moves, and you cannot withstand a sweeping kick from others. If you have a solid foundation, it will be like building a house with a solid foundation. No matter how others hit you, they cannot knock you down. But with one kick from you, you can break someone's ribs. This is internal strength. Today, practice half a cup of tea for three times. In the future, add one cup of tea every half a month. I will show you an example, and you look carefully."

The old man took a horse stance steadily.

"When doing horse stance, stand with your legs parallel and open, with a distance of three soles between your feet. Then squat down with your toes parallel and pointing forward. Push your knees outwards (the knees cannot exceed your toes). Your thighs should be parallel to the ground. Keep your chest in and your back straight. Do not stick your chest out. Keep your chest flat." He explained the key points while doing the stance.

It looks so simple that anyone can do it. The children watching were all happy to follow suit.

Zhou Guo listened to him carefully and then did a proper piercing.

The old man nodded repeatedly when he saw it, "Not bad, not bad, just keep this posture for half a cup of tea."

He didn't ignore the other children, and even stepped forward to correct their postures, "Lift your legs high, don't let your buttocks fall down, don't let your chest collapse..."

At first, the children were very excited, and they were extremely excited that the old man could give them some guidance.

But after a few breaths, some people's faces started to look strange. No one had a smile on their faces anymore. Gradually, their legs began to tremble, their feet began to shake, and their hands also shook. After persisting for more than ten breaths, beads of sweat fell down their faces.

Finally, someone couldn't bear it anymore and fell to the ground, gasping for breath. He didn't expect that the horse stance looked simple but was so difficult!

Some of the children who fell down patted their buttocks, thought they did not have the ability to practice this kung fu, turned around and left. It was too tiring, and the feeling of sore and trembling legs was not pleasant at all.

Others looked at the remaining people who were still persisting and felt that they were going to die just like that. They were unwilling to give up, so they rested for a while, gritted their teeth, got into position and stabbed forward again.

Those who gave up were pointed at by their families and scolded for a long time, "Look at your lack of ability, you can't even bear this little hardship, look at how others can persist, hurry up, go back!"

The child pursed his lips and said, "I won't go. I don't think they can hold out for long. You just watch."

Sure enough, gradually more and more people couldn't hold on and fell down.

Zhou Guo's face began to turn pale, and her thighs and arms began to ache, but she firmly remembered the key points taught by her master and did not dare to relax at all, holding on to her breath and enduring.

Among the Zhou family children, the first one to give up besides Zhou Xing was Zhou Tao. The little girl was sweating profusely and was the first one who couldn't stand it anymore. She looked at the rest of her brothers and sisters, pouted and left.

Just after half a cup of tea, more than half of the people fell down.

The old man was still walking around the team with a whip in his hand, "Put your legs down, lift your shoulders, and lift your buttocks..."

It was very strict. If the action was wrong, the person would be whipped. In addition to Zhou Guo, even Zhou Dacang was whipped twice.

The children complained bitterly.

Then, one after another, except for Zhou Guo and Zhou Dacang, the children could no longer hold on.

In the end, only the uncle and nephew were still holding on.

Zhou Guo clenched his teeth, his face was stiff, his hands and feet were shaking, and beads of sweat were oozing out. For the first time, he felt that half a cup of tea was really long, and time was passing so slowly, second by second.

Zhou Dacang was actually fine. After all, he had been tying stones for such a long time along the way, increasing the weight every few days. His leg strength had also been improved. It took him half a cup of tea to do the horse stance for the first time. Although he was not very comfortable with it, he was not that tired either. He could still persevere by gritting his teeth.

The uncle and nephew were like fighting in a boxing ring.

Now not only the children came to watch the fun, but the adults also came over and seeing the two people who were refusing to give in, they started to want to tease them.

The men said, "Sanlang, you are an uncle, you can't lose. Forget about other things, but if you lose to your niece, an eight-year-old niece, it would be too embarrassing!"

The women were not to be outdone, "Guo girl, hold on, you can't give up now, if you hold on a little longer you can beat your uncle!"

Some people looked at their own children who had quit early and said to Huang with envy: "Aunt, your children are really promising. Look at your Sanlang and Guo girl. They can stand longer than others. It's obvious that they will do great things in the future."

"Yes, there are so many children, and there are only two left on the field. They are both your children. I don't know how you raised them, but why do they seem to be more promising than those of us?"

Although the Huang family members were also very happy, they still had to be humble in their words, "No, no, they are just stronger and have brute force, but they are not as smart as your children. They are just good at using their strength to kill people, and they won't achieve much."

The final moment is approaching.

Zhou Guo was shaking all over, with beads of sweat pouring down her face, some of which flowed into her eyes. She didn't even blink, her eyes fixed on a certain spot in front of her. Her face flushed red, and she didn't dare to think about anything anymore. She just counted the time second by second.

Zhou Dacang reached the end and beads of sweat rolled down his head.

Old Master Zhao stroked his beard with satisfaction. He only saw Zhou Guo as a good candidate for martial arts. Now he found that the third son of the Zhou family was also good. He had a strong will and could endure hardships. Although he could not compare with his own apprentice, he was much better than ordinary people.

"The time has come!"

As soon as the old man said this, the crowd cheered. Seeing that Zhou Guo and the other man had successfully tied the knot for so long, they seemed to be happier than if they had succeeded.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Zhou Guo gritted his teeth, paused, and relying on the last bit of strength in his body, he slowly stood up, shook his arms and thighs, and didn't care about the sweat on his face.

Zhou Dacang came up and rubbed her calves and arms, saying, "You have to rub them after you do the horse stance on the first day, otherwise you won't be able to stand up the next day."

He had a deep understanding of this. He still remembered the first time he tied a stone. He gritted his teeth and tied it for a whole day, and it looked like this when he woke up the next day.

Zhou Guo pinched his arm and nodded, thinking that he would have to do it twice more tonight. Everything went dark before his eyes. It was really not easy to practice this light skill.

The children all gathered around and praised the two of them for their amazing work. They asked for their secret, asking how they could hold on for so long, and whether their legs and arms were sore.

After about a quarter of an hour, the old man asked the two to start piercing again, which still took half a cup of tea.

Although there were still people around watching the fun, there were not as many as at the beginning.

Most of the children gave up. They felt that they could not bear the hardship and could not do the horse stance for half a cup of tea as the old man said, so they gave up without any hesitation.