40 Unexpected Tricky Moves (1/2)

Chapter 40: Unexpected Tricky Moves

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

While Mama Xue was still hesitating whether to teach Slave Huan more Kung Fu tricks, the slave boy came to her and made another request—some money to bribe Shangguan Hongye.

Gu Shenwei had given all his savings, which were less than two taels of silver, to that young master last time.

”I don't need a lot. 20 taels of silver is enough. Shangguan Hongye owes a dozen taels of silver. With this money, he can pay off his debts and get back into the gambling game again. When that happens, he'll take the initiative to ask me for help.”

”How are you going to explain the origin of the money? You are just a slave boy, but you seem to be more well-off than a young master.”

”Mama Xue, please excuse me for being bold. You can give me some gold or silver utensils and I'll tell Shangguan Hongye that I stole them from Miss Luo. He's well into debt now, so he'll definitely keep the secret.”

Hearing such a childish plan, Mama Xue shook her head. She had to think it over since it might cause trouble for Miss Luo and her.

In the fort, Mama Xue was the only person Gu Shenwei could depend on. Her support was the only advantage he had when competing with the other slave boys. Without Mama Xue, he would achieve nothing.

Fortunately, the next morning, Mama Xue came to him with a small parcel in her hand.

Elderly Zhang had gotten up early. By the time Mama Xue came, he had already gone to look after the horses. She threw the parcel on the brick bed and turned to Slave Huan, who had just finished dressing.

”I hope your plan works.”

Gu Shenwei was just a boy who had begun to understand the real world. He was not confident about his plan either, but he gave absolute assurance to Mama Xue while carefully concealing his restless mood.

At noon, when school was over, he did it again. He told Shangguan Hongye that he had dropped something and handed a tiny silver cup to him. It was pressed flat and a little bit of it had already been broken off, but it was still silver that weighed three taels.

Shangguan Hongye grunted his assent and quickly put it away, as if he had indeed dropped a silver cup. His young attendant started to doubt it but he knew he had better shut up at this moment.

Over the next five days, Gu Shenwei gave many different little things to Shangguan Hongye like this and the young master received each of them calmly. He even sent his attendant away on purpose and always walked home alone. Gu Shenwei was content with this progress.

The parcel sent by Mama Xue was filled with all kinds of gold and silver utensils, which were enough for Gu Shenwei to bribe Shangguan Hongye every day for a long time. More importantly, the things that Miss Luo had brought from the Iron Mountain Gang had no marks, so no one would be able to know where they came from.

The next few days were the New Year holidays. Classes were suspended and so was Gu Shenwei's bribery plan.

Mama Xue had thought for several days before she finally agreed to teach Slave Huan Kung Fu.

Gu Shenwei was aware that even if he kept practicing Kung Fu for 10 more years, he would not be able to defeat Shangguan Yushi with one or two moves in a martial competition. He did not plan to surpass her in a short time. He just wanted to defeat her with some tricky moves that were totally beyond her expectation.

Since Shangguan Yushi and the twins learned Kung Fu together, their moves were quite similar. Gu Shenwei did not know much about Shangguan Yushi's fighting style, but he was familiar with Shangguan Ru's fighting skills. During his previous daily reports, he had already demonstrated all her moves to Mama Xue.

Mama Xue was also very familiar with Golden Roc Fort's Kung Fu and had been reflecting on an effective tactic to defeat Shangguan Yushi.

”You can't kill her but you have to defeat her. That's a little bit tricky. Golden Roc Fort's Kung Fu is complicated. There are more than a dozen unarmed combat routines. It's impossible to crack every move in the routines in such a short time.”

Gu Shenwei had to admit that Mama Xue had a point, but he had already thought of a solution.

”I'll ask Shangguan Yushi to fight me in a game of speed. I believe she'll adopt her best fighting moves in such a competition. I guess not all the moves in Golden Roc Fort's unarmed combat routines are among the best Kung Fu tricks, so I only need to...”

Mama Xue sneered and shook her head. She knew that there were only a few marvelous tricks in Golden Roc Fort's Kung Fu, but none of them were easy to crack.

Mama Xue herself could easily kill Shangguan Yushi with just one move, but Slave Huan could not learn such a move since his Internal Strength was not strong enough. Besides, this kind of move could never be used on a young master.

A few days later, when the spring festival ended with laughter and happiness, Mama Xue finally figured out a tactic. She asked Maid Lotus to serve as Slave Huan's sparring partner.

Maid Lotus and Slave Qian had been killer-apprentices for months, but unlike the other apprentices who lived in East Castle, they still lived in the Eighth Young Master's residence. This arrangement further increased criticisms against the wayward Eighth Young Mistress, but Gu Shenwei somehow felt that it must have been Mama Xue's decision.

As the most suitable substitute for Shangguan Yushi, Maid Lotus came here to practice with him.

She apparently had benefited a lot from the training, which made Gu Shenwei envious. He believed that if he could become a killer-apprentice, he would progress much faster than anyone else. But now, this girl of his own age who had been learning Kung Fu for less than a year was already an equal to him, and she even surpassed him in unarmed fighting.

Mama Xue asked Slave Huan to demonstrate Shangguan Ru's best Kung Fu tricks again. Based on what she saw, she picked out five moves from Golden Roc Fort's unarmed combat routines and focused on cracking them.

”Remember, the tricks that one is most familiar with are his or her best moves, so the five moves I chose may not be the best Kung Fu tricks in the routines or what Shangguan Yushi is best at. I can't guarantee that she'll use these moves.”

Gu Shenwei listened to Mama Xue respectfully. He trusted her judgment. Though he was sure that she was just using him to achieve her own goals, he could not deny that she taught him well. Sometimes, he thought she taught even better than his father, Gu Lun, and his family's loyal servant, Yang Zheng.