Chapter 56: Giving Myself a Mental High-Five First (Please Follow for Updates!)

Hua Shier looked at the indignant crowd, but instead of being alarmed, he felt a surge of joy. The more intense the reaction, the faster his fame would grow, and the more money he would make. With a smile, he nodded at the surrounding onlookers and said to Zhuo Yifei, "A challenge is fine, but..."

"Hey, what 'but'? What do you mean 'but'? Are you scared?"

Zhuo Yifei, with his hands shoved in his pockets and his leg shaking, fired questions like a machine gun, wearing a look of utter disdain.

A wave of jeering directed at Hua Shier instantly erupted from the surroundings. Obviously, the onlookers also assumed he had been just talking big and got scared the moment someone actually stepped up to challenge him.

Hua Shier sneered at the jeers of the crowd. Did these people have any idea what business was? Did they expect him to put on a free show without paying a dime?

Unfazed by the commotion, he merely smiled at Zhuo Yifei and said, "I hadn't finished my sentence when you jumped out to challenge me. Let me finish speaking first!"

The chubby fellow put on a cocky expression and said, "Go ahead, say your piece. But no matter what you say, Brother Fei is definitely going to kick your martial arts school today!"

Hua Shier turned to the crowd and announced, "Earlier, I said I welcome friends from the martial arts community to come and challenge me, provided they have genuine skill. If anyone who has learned just three moves and two stances, practicing some sloppy half-baked kung fu, comes to challenge me, I'll be pestered to death..."

Hearing this, Zhuo Yifei flared up and demanded, "Who are you calling half-baked!"

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about people without any real skills!"

After offering this explanation, Hua Shier continued, "Therefore, this martial arts challenge must have a threshold. Anyone who comes to spar must put up a stake of one hundred Hong Kong dollars!"

Upon hearing this condition, the surrounding crowd instantly broke into an uproar. One hundred Hong Kong dollars was equivalent to one hundred silver dollars. While that meant little to the wealthy, it was an astronomical sum for ordinary folk.

Zhuo Yifei raised an eyebrow. "So you mean if I lose, I have to give you one hundred Hong Kong dollars!"

Hua Shier nodded. "And it's the same if you win!"

"Setting this threshold isn't about making money, but rather to screen out those untalented troublemakers who just want to cause a ruckus!"

Though that was what he said aloud, what he was actually thinking about was precisely making money. If there were no profit in it, he wouldn't be foolish enough to put up that "Number One Under Heaven" plaque just to invite hatred.

Just imagine getting into a street brawl with beggars, rolling around and tearing at each other—wouldn't that be sheer madness? What was he after, a fresh head of cabbage?

After pondering Hua Shier's words for a moment, Zhuo Yifei let out two laughs. "A good way to keep out the frauds! But I just happen to have real skills!"

He fished a wad of bills out of his pocket, all five-dollar denominations, counted out twenty notes, and waved them about. "The stake is right here, Master Shen. Shouldn't you bring your stake out for everyone to see?"

Hua Shier thought to himself that he didn't have a damn stake. After getting that plaque and those couplets made, his pockets were cleaner than his face—did the guy want the lining of his trousers too?

He pointed at his martial arts school. "With my school right here, could I possibly run away with your money? Everyone is watching. If I lose and refuse to pay, this whole school becomes yours!"

The building was rented; the only things that truly belonged to him were the single plaque and the two couplets.

Just at that moment, Liu Yi, wearing a large-brimmed hat and a green uniform, ran out from the crowd.

"I'm a police officer, let me act as a witness! Just leave the money with me, and I'll hand it over to whoever wins!"

Seeing that Liu Yi was an officer in a green uniform, Zhuo Yifei immediately nodded and said, "Alright, I'll leave it with you, Officer!"

With that, he handed the twenty five-dollar notes over to Liu Yi, then took off his hat and said, "Officer, do you mind holding this for me too?"

Liu Yi didn't refuse and took it as well.

Zhuo Yifei stepped into the center of the courtyard, standing opposite Hua Shier. Rolling his sleeves up to his elbows to bare his forearms, he asked as casually as if he were making small talk:

"Judging by Master Shen's couplets, your fists and feet should both be peerless. May I ask what style of boxing and kicking you practice?"

"My fists are Great Sage Pi Gua, and my feet are Shaolin..."

Before Hua Shier could finish his sentence, Zhuo Yifei seized the moment while he was talking to launch a sudden attack. With a stamp of his foot, he charged forward rapidly, displaying an agility and speed that completely defied his hefty weight.

He was an agile fatty!

Zhuo Yifei closed the distance in an instant. "Watch out, Master Shen!"

His voice and his punch arrived as one. Closing in, Zhuo Yifei threw a direct blow at Hua Shier's face.

Hua Shier had known all along that this fellow was untrustworthy and had been on his guard against him. With Shen Chongyang's mastery and memories of kung fu, if he were to get ambushed by a trick like this, he might as well find a block of tofu and smash his head against it.

With a simple raise of his hand, with a sharp *thud*, he caught the fatty's fist squarely in his grip.

Zhuo Yifei was inwardly ecstatic. His body mass could easily fit two Shen Chongyangs inside it; for the opponent to try catching his bare fist was sheer suicide!

"Let me apply force... huh?"

"Let me apply force again!"

No matter how much force Zhuo Yifei exerted, Hua Shier's hand remained completely unshaken. A deep sense of shock washed over him—how could this possibly be?

When he saw Hua Shier looking back at him with a beaming smile, Zhuo Yifei realized he might not be a match for this opponent. Refusing to concede defeat, however, he abruptly whipped his foot out to kick at the other man's lower abdomen.

He still held back somewhat with this kick, at least refraining from a direct stomp to the groin.

Yet the moment he started lifting his foot, Hua Shier's foot was already raised. Stepping directly onto the top of Zhuo Yifei's foot, Hua Shier forced it right back down to the ground.

Following up immediately, Hua Shier stepped in close, pressed down on the opponent's fist with one hand, and delivered a gentle nudge with his shoulder. Losing his balance, Zhuo Yifei staggered back a few steps and tumbled to the ground.

Without pursuing the advantage, Hua Shier smiled and asked, "Brother Zhuo, I haven't even used my real strength yet. How is it that you've already fallen down?"

"Again!"

Still refusing to accept defeat, Zhuo Yifei heaved his large belly and popped right back up using a carp kipping maneuver. He then whipped his fists around, generating a rushing wind that carried quite a bit of momentum.

Hua Shier's eyes lit up. "Iron Thread Fist!"

Zhuo Yifei split his fists apart, extending a single index finger from each hand, one pointing forward and one held behind.

"Dividing inches—Hung Kuen?"

"I know Choi Li Fut too! Take this—stomp, hook, and nail!"

Shouting that he was using Choi Li Fut kicking techniques, Zhuo Yifei feinted with his feet, but as he closed in, he reverted to punching instead, executing a sequence from the Plum Blossom Fist of the Choi Li Fut system.

Finding it rather amusing, Hua Shier decided he had no desire to drag the fight out any longer. He reached out with both hands to grab the opponent's fists once more. The moment he secured his grip, treating the encounter like an old man playing with a mischievous child, he swept a leg and neatly dropped the fellow to the floor. Smiling, he asked:

"Still want to fight?"

"No more, no more! Your strength is too monstrous; you grab my hands like you're picking up a chicken. How is anyone supposed to fight that? I count myself defeated!"

With a deeply aggrieved expression, Zhuo Yifei glanced at the one hundred Hong Kong dollars in Liu Yi's hand, retrieved his hat, and retreated into the crowd. For all his bluster, he still possessed a sense of honor regarding wagers.

Liu Yi smiled as he handed the money over to Hua Shier, winked conspiratorially, and then walked back into the crowd to watch the excitement.

Such an effortless victory felt a bit unbelievable to some, and a voice immediately piped up from the crowd: "Was that fatty a plant?"

Someone who recognized Zhuo Yifei immediately retorted, "You don't even know Brother Fei? Then you shouldn't bother trying to make a living in Hong Kong!"

The previous person quickly asked, "Is he that famous?"

"He has connections in both the underworld and the police force. Do you think he's formidable or not?"

With a smile, Hua Shier cupped his hands in a salute to the crowd, then turned and walked back into the martial arts school. He retrieved a notice written on red paper and pasted it onto the main courtyard gate.

This was something he had prepared in advance. The message was roughly the same as what he had stated earlier: challenges were welcome, but required a stake of one hundred Hong Kong dollars, and the school's daily opening hours were set to the Hour of You (between 5 PM and 7 PM) because he had to report for his regular job during the daytime.

The notice also specified that while friends from the martial arts community were welcome to challenge him, they should refrain from smashing his plaque while he was away at work; they were expected to come forward and issue challenges openly and honorably.

If he, Shen Chongyang, lost, he would take down the plaque himself, kneel to offer tea, and admit his mistake. But if anyone smashed it behind his back without warning, they would be branded as cowardly thieves unworthy of a foothold in the martial arts world.

He trusted that with this notice posted, even if those martial artists found his plaque and couplets grating to the eyes, they wouldn't dare tear them down. After all, martial artists cared deeply about their reputations on the surface and would always insist on fighting a proper match first.

To highlight the main point: if you want to fight, you have to pay up.

Hua Shier felt quite pleased with himself. How did that saying among martial artists go?

*In martial arts, there is no second place!*

Presumably, once word of this plaque and couplets spread, challengers from the martial arts realm would arrive in an endless, continuous stream. Wouldn't that mean he was embarking on a glorious path of getting rich through martial arts and fleecing his fellow practitioners across Hong Kong?

He gave his own cleverness a mental thumbs-up first.