If you connect the hometowns of all the disciples, you can form a small map. In this way, although this master of mine is not all over the world, he can be regarded as all over the three eastern provinces.

These disciples, except for the senior brother, are all relatively close in age, the oldest is eighteen years old, and the youngest is fifteen years old, just like me. Later, I heard Master say that fifteen and eighteen, these two ages, are the two thresholds in this industry, although there is no explicit rule, but this is the case. Less than fifteen years old, generally still in school, will not come out to learn art, learning is just a teacher, using the weekend time, to learn some basic skills in martial arts, can only be regarded as an apprentice, not a formal visit. The times are constantly advancing, and like my grandfather, there are almost no children who entered the school at the age of eight and were born as children. After the age of eighteen, the body is basically fixed, and the muscles and bones are hard, after all, Yangge on stilts is practicing kung fu on fists and feet, and after overage, there is no plasticity. The duration of learning art is also set according to these two ages, generally three years. Therefore, the Xie family class is like a school, with disciples constantly coming in and disciples leaving after completing their studies, just like a chain that continues to operate, allowing the stilt Yangge to spread.

Dinner was eaten at Master's house, and in order to welcome me in, Master called all the disciples and sat around two tables. My big brother, who had a lot of money, paid a year's worth of food at a time before leaving, so the dinner table was extraordinarily rich, as if he was celebrating a holiday. Shi Niang's craftsmanship is indeed good, steaming, boiling, frying and stewing, a table full of dishes, full of color, flavor and flavor, which makes people have a great appetite. Shandong women who came to the east of the country always have the magical ability of magicians in the kitchen, and from firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, they have created the world-famous Lu cuisine.

After dinner, Master handed me over to Senior Brother. I'm the last to get started, and according to the rules, I have to call everyone Senior Brother. The senior brother introduced me to them one by one. I can't remember so many names, only the approximate ranking. Starting with Senior Brother, all the way to Senior Brother Fifteen, plus me, it is enough to make up the number of sixteen. Senior Brother smiled and said, "Sixteenth Senior Brother, it's quite auspicious, it's two eights when you take it apart." ”

After the introduction, the disciples who were close returned home, and those who were far away stayed at the master's house. I'm not too far from home, but I can't get back and forth every day. What's more, my eldest brother is very disgusted with my love for my family, and he often says that as a man, you should be as ambitious as my ancestors. This is what my eldest brother expects from me, but I think it is also a reflection on how he didn't have the courage to learn stilt Yangge as the eldest son. After all, for Big Brother, that represents a kind of cowardice, and he doesn't want it to happen to me. Therefore, since the day he brought me to Xie Jiaweizi, I rarely went back.

The dormitory is behind Master's house, a small courtyard covering an area of half an acre, with a cement road in the middle, which divides the courtyard into two. On one side is a vegetable patch, planted with ridges of melons, fruits, and vegetables, and against the wall, there is a half-circle of shelves covered with grape vines, and on the other side are three simple brick houses, each with four iron beds with bunk beds. Maybe it's because I'm the least qualified, but with a finger from my brother, I have a bed in the corner. I don't understand why the elder brother put me in the corner when there is a better bed vacant.

As a result, I had to sleep on the edge of the bathroom. As soon as I lay down, these senior brothers of mine passed by my bed one after another. From time to time in the darkness, I could hear a clear dripping sound, tick-tock, as if it were dripping on my heart, and then there was a sound of rushing water. Fortunately, my sleep was not bad, and after a short period of discomfort, drowsiness hit, and as soon as my eyes were closed, I fell asleep.

The next morning, I had a dream. With the sound of uniform footsteps, I was back on the school playground, wearing my school uniform, bouncing around in the middle of a group of students, doing radio gymnastics. Before I could finish it, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my back, and I woke up. The dream was gone, but the footsteps were still there, coming from the practice ground.

I rolled over and opened my eyes. The dormitory was empty, and the quilts were neatly folded on the iron beds. It seems that the disciples of the Xie family class really live up to their reputation, and they are so well-trained even when they get up. Outside the window is a rising sun, brushing the dark peaks of Phoenix Mountain, and flowing slowly with the breeze in this small town called Dongjianshan. Then I saw Senior Brother standing in front of the bed, carrying a whip made of bamboo roots, and said to me with a smile, "I'm sorry, junior brother, if I don't beat you, Master will have to beat me in a while." ”

As soon as he said this, I immediately felt the pain in my back intensify, and it was hot, and when I touched it with my hand, a chain-like scar had already bulged.

The elder brother just stood like this, smiling all over his face, looking at me affectionately. I endured the pain in my back and got dressed. To tell you the truth, I have never met this kind of person who can still look at you warmly like a family member after a whip has been whipped, and this whip has hit me firmly on the back. I secretly wondered, how can a man look at you warmly and at the same time beat you cruelly? From that day on, I felt uneasy when I saw his smile.

Xie Jiaweizi's morning was lively, and on the practice ground outside, the senior brothers were running in circles and circles, and the sound of neat footsteps was wafting in the village. Master's posture made me a little stunned, this descendant of Xie's stilt Yangge, grasped a stone lock in each hand, and stood upside down on the ground under his head and feet. His long hair was coiled into a bunch, pinned with a silver hairpin, and he looked like a Taoist priest, and his eyes were closed, allowing his disciples to come and go around without opening them, as if he was using such a strange posture just to get a good night's sleep on the practice ground.

Later I learned that this was Master's way of cultivation, similar to zazen. The highest level of martial arts is to cultivate the mind, and this posture of the master can allow him to cultivate both body and mind. His eccentric outfit is also derived from his teacher. The origin of Yangge was first in the Ming Dynasty, and it was once a royal performing art. Later, after the decline of the Ming Dynasty, Yangge went out of the palace and spread to the people, so it also had a bit of the color of the Ming Dynasty court. It is said that the Wanli Emperor liked to cultivate Taoism, and asked the Yangge performers in the palace to dress like Taoist priests, and over time, a conventional dress was formed. Over the centuries, Yangge has kept pace with the times, and later artists have long since lost this costume. But Master is different, he and his ancestors are stubborn people who want Yangge to be authentic, so Master insists on keeping long hair to preserve the sense of ritual that existed hundreds of years ago. Of course, the master himself is also a cultivator, believing in Zhang Sanfeng, and also worshipping Su Dongpo, so that he can cultivate the Tao at the same time, and not let down the master's food.

Whether Yangge is performing on the ground or stepping on stilts, it pays attention to the kung fu of the legs and feet, and the first class I took was Zama Bu, which is also the basic skill in the martial arts routine, and the master arranged for the senior brother to teach me. The elder brother is the adopted son of the master and the only disciple of the master. He explained to me a few tips: tuck your abdomen and chest, calm your dantian, keep your feet shoulder-width apart, put your hands into fists around your waist, and bend your knees at 90 degrees.

I did as my brother instructed, bent my legs at ninety degrees, and squatted down. As soon as it was tied, a puff of green smoke staggered up from between my legs, and I looked down to see a stick of incense under my buttocks. The elder brother stood aside, patted the dust off his hands, and told me with a smile that I was not allowed to get up until the incense was burned. As he spoke, he flicked the whip in his hand into the air, making a crisp sound, as if there was a person standing in the air. And I felt as if I had been sensed, and the scar on my back hurt a little. I thought to myself, isn't it just the time of a stick of incense, it's not a big deal. When I was in school, I was often punished by the teacher for standing, and one stop was one class, and I didn't frown. But as I tucked it up, I realized that the penalty stand and the zama step were two different things at all, and it was much more difficult to maintain such a fixed position for a long time than I had imagined. Within five minutes, both of my legs were shaking. I wanted to give up, so I turned my face and looked at the senior brother. He held the whip in his right hand, and in the palm of his left hand, he kept beating it, like an overseer in the old days, and he always had a smile on his face, so that people could not understand his joy and anger at all. What makes me feel uncomfortable is that it's okay if he doesn't smile, as long as he laughs, my back will ache faintly, as if the whip in his hand will fall on my back at any time.

In order not to be whipped, I had to grit my teeth and continue to persevere. After another five minutes or so, I couldn't hold it anymore and felt empty from the waist down, and my legs weren't my own. As soon as I closed my eyes, I sat down like this, it was better to get a hole in my pants than to get a whip. As soon as my spirit relaxed, my body fell down like a sponge sucking water. Just as I was about to sit down on the incense, a stool sped from behind me and came under my buttocks. When I looked back, it was the girl who served the tea tray yesterday. She looked at me, her eyes were surprisingly bright, and a kindness passed from her eyes, which moved me inexplicably. She smiled at me, two shallow dimples as the corners of her mouth twitched. For some reason, all of a sudden, I had the power. I removed the stool, and it was still in that position, and it was firmly planted all of a sudden, and my legs no longer trembled, as if I had found a root on the ground. At this time, the senior brother spoke: "Ah Ying, make a cup of tea for the master." ”