Chapter 143: He Changsheng's Evaluation

"What does that mean?" Qi Kun asked, looking puzzled.

Yang Meng shrugged. "Do you even need an explanation? Think about it: why did we use to envy those rich second-generation kids? Wasn't it because they didn't need to put in extra effort to get better resources? They had no shortage of money, cars, or beauties. But if we're being honest with ourselves, isn't that the exact life we envy? Why do we work so hard to make money? Isn't it so we can live that kind of life one day? Therefore, we are all just striving to become the very people we hate the most."

Qi Kun wore an expression of disgust and said, "That's just you. If I get rich, I definitely won't end up like that!"

Yang Meng asked Hu Erleng, "Erlenge, do you believe a single word of what Long Xia just said?"

Hu Erleng replied, "I'd rather believe that dinosaurs aren't extinct than believe a single word out of his mouth. You're right though—if I ever have more money than I know what to do with, I'll definitely party even harder than those rich kids. Otherwise, why am I bothering to make money? Shouldn't just keeping my stomach full be enough? Oh right, I called Crazy today; he probably won't be able to come home for the New Year."

"Why is that?" Yang Meng asked, puzzled.

"Why do you think? The man is a regular, official police officer now, not just a civilian auxiliary cop like before. Holidays are when they are at their busiest, especially the Spring Festival—who doesn't have a couple of drinks then? And doesn't the number of sudden incidents spike after people start drinking?" Qi Kun chimed in, "He wants to bring my eldest uncle to Handong next year, but my uncle doesn't seem willing to come."

"Why?" Yang Meng asked, still confused.

Qi Kun snatched a crayfish and pried its shell off while telling Yang Meng, "What would he come here for? We spend all day thinking about making money and bringing our parents over to enjoy life, but is it really enjoying life for them? They've spent their whole lives used to facing the earth with their backs to the sky. Once they get to the city, they don't adapt to anything, they don't know the neighbors, and if they run into neighbors who look down on country folk, it's enough to drive them crazy with frustration. We have to consider things from their perspective too. Besides, is it really that great in the city? These little crayfish here are nothing compared to the ones in the reed ponds back home! Speaking of which, I really miss those days when the whole village mobilized to go crayfish fishing. Back then, we never would have guessed that these little pests would become a luxury!"

Nowadays, city dwellers love eating crayfish, and an entire industry of crayfish farmers has emerged to meet people's demand. In a place like Handong City, daily consumption of crayfish exceeds one hundred thousand catties. With their short growth cycle, rapid reproduction rate, and guaranteed market, they are quite simply a fish farmer's favorite.

In truth, it is a good thing people love eating them and demand outstrips supply; if they didn't taste good, the destructive impact of crayfish on the wild ecosystem would be fatal!

Crayfish are burrowing creatures, often living along the banks of reservoir dams. Their burrowing speed is fast and their range is wide, posing a fatal hazard to dikes and dams! Their destructive potential doesn't stop there; they also inflict heavy damage on the roots and stems of aquatic plants as well as young fish.

Take the hometown of Yang Meng and his friends, for instance: their ponds were used for planting lotus roots and raising fish to boost economic income, but the crayfish ended up wreaking absolute havoc.

Back then, getting rid of crayfish meant the entire village took up arms and went fishing together!

In fact, crayfish are the easiest creatures in the entire world to catch, bar none.

These things are simply too greedy. You just take a small bamboo strip, tie a piece of cotton thread to the end with a tiny piece of pork attached, drop it into the water, and within seconds you'd pull up a crayfish. There was no need to worry about them escaping either—even when dragged out of the water, they wouldn't let go of their claws. They were just too gluttonous; if there was food around, they would never let go.

Even with all that effort, they could never fish them all out of their village ponds. In the end, it took the village blacksmith to fashion wire mesh into shrimp traps to finally resolve the crayfish plague in their area.

During that period, Yang Meng and the others got so sick of eating crayfish that they could practically vomit just thinking about it!

Spicy crayfish are wildly popular nowadays—spicy crayfish, braised shrimp balls, beer crayfish, stir-fried crayfish, homestyle crayfish, thirteen-spice crayfish, garlic crayfish... But back then in Yang Meng's hometown, crayfish were prepared in only two ways: steamed or boiled.

And the steamed or boiled crayfish back there didn't have all the seasonings you find in the city; they just threw in some salt, and occasionally a splash of soy sauce. It tasted absolutely atrocious!

Eventually, when they literally couldn't swallow another bite, some people would grind up the crayfish to sell as field fertilizer, while others simply used them to feed pigs. All in all, the consensus among Yang Meng and his friends at the time was: I never want to lay eyes on a crayfish again for the rest of my life.

Yet, once they arrived in the city, they finally understood—tsk, tsk, they had actually been wasting good things all along; crayfish were genuinely delicious! Eating crayfish while drinking beer—now that was living the good life!

While Yang Meng and his companions were feasting to their hearts' content here, far away in a room in Beidu, two elderly men were sitting and drinking tea. In front of them was a large screen, and what was playing on the screen was none other than the surveillance footage from the Longyun Fitness Club.

As for the content of the video, it was the exact segment where Yang Meng was explaining the relationship between traditional martial arts and the battlefield to Long Teng and the others.

"Old Brother He, what do you make of this?" The one asking was none other than Yun He's senior martial brother, Yun Long. And the person he was questioning was none other than He Changsheng, the director of the Healthcare Bureau who had previously visited Yang Meng in Handong City.

He Changsheng picked up his teacup and took a sip. "My younger brother Yun Long, I am just a doctor, neither a mystic nor a martial artist. Asking me this is completely pointless, wouldn't you say?"

Yun Long let out a bitter laugh. "Divine Doctor He, you were once a part of 'Shenwu' yourself. Is there any point in us beating around the bush like this? Who doesn't know that Team Doctor He's Baguazhang was one of the 'Three Ultimates' of the old 'Shenwu'? And the 'Shovel-Halberd Techniques' you pioneered back in the day have always been an unpassed secret among our military special forces. Can we drop the polite formalities in front of me?"

As it turned out, He Changsheng had indeed been a member of 'Shenwu' in the past. However, he wasn't a frontline combatant; rather, he worked in logistical support.

In fact, He Changsheng's martial arts skills were quite formidable, but his medical skills were even greater, making his value in the rear far surpass that of the front lines. Thus, within the 'Shenwu' organization, He Changsheng was considered logistics personnel.

Yet, despite being logistics personnel, He Changsheng had never idled away his time. To enhance the combat effectiveness of the military, he had racked his brains and eventually set his sights on the military's 'entrenching tool'—the engineering shovel.

Never underestimate a military entrenching shovel; it was a truly genuine 'divine artifact.' Without exaggerating, there was no other piece of military equipment with more diverse functions and performance than the entrenching shovel, and from top to bottom, nearly every part of it had a special purpose.

For instance, the end of the shovel handle had a rope-threading hole; once a rope was attached, the shovel could instantly transform into a grappling hook to scale walls. By folding the shovel head and handle together, it became a hand shield. Fixing the shovel head and handle at a 90-degree angle turned it into a hoe. The joint between the handle and the shovel head could be used as a hammer. The shovel head itself featured a steel saw, a machete, an inner-hexagon screw opener, and a bottle opener. To put it simply, this thing had more functions than a Swiss Army knife!

With this entrenching shovel, one could dig, saw, chop, stab, slice, hammer... and even use it as an iron pot to cook meals!

Such a brilliant tool naturally came with specialized usage techniques. Consequently, the military already possessed an 'Entrenching Shovel Combat Technique'—a method of fighting using a single shovel, which was relatively simple to learn. Many soldiers had studied this form of combat.

He Changsheng, however, combined Baguazhang with the entrenching shovel, creating an enhanced version of the 'Shovel-Halberd Technique.' He used the shovel to push the agile, nimble characteristics of Baguazhang to their absolute limit, while the razor-sharp edge of the entrenching shovel compensated for Baguazhang's inherent lack of offensive lethality.

However, due to its complex techniques, this set of 'Shovel-Halberd Techniques' had always been restricted to the learning curricula of special forces or elite reconnaissance units within each military region.

Hearing Yun Long's words, He Changsheng waved his hand and smiled. "You said it yourself, that was the past. Nowadays, I'm just an ordinary doctor in the Healthcare Bureau. But to be completely honest, my trip to Handong this time was a misjudgment. I observed this kid for a while and didn't see anything particularly brilliant about him. He spent all day cooped up in a library flipping through books, and his posture didn't even look like he was actually reading. Just as Old Liu fell ill, I headed back to Beidu. If I had known earlier that this kid possessed such insights into the martial arts realm, I would have made sure to have a proper chat with him no matter what."

Yun Long picked up his teacup and smiled. "I didn't expect you to hold him in such high regard."

He Changsheng said, "Did you hear his critique of Baguazhang? He said that using a sickle as a weapon could fully unleash the power of Baguazhang, and that lines up identically with the core concept of my 'Shovel-Halberd Technique.' Now think about it: how old was I when I pioneered the 'Shovel-Halberd Technique'? And how old is this kid to have figured that out already? Furthermore, his application of other martial arts techniques in the video makes absolute sense when you think about it. Although there are no longer sword-and-shield infantry units today, we do have riot police and riot shields. If you were to blend riot shields with Tai Chi, the power would not be to be underestimated! This kid is a genius!"

If Yang Meng had heard He Changsheng's evaluation of him, he surely would have blushed for three straight seconds. What kind of genius was he? These were simply experiences summarized by combining the martial arts legacy inherited from Huang Feiwu.

Yun Long listened to He Changsheng, cupped his chin, and pondered for a moment. "Team Doctor He, I heard that your trip to Handong was actually to find a cure for all illnesses from this kid?"

Hearing this, He Changsheng narrowed his eyes into slits and looked at Yun Long. "Well, well, Yun Long, so you were the one scheming against me all along! We're both thousand-year-old foxes, what are you pretending to be innocent for?"

Yun Long flashed an embarrassed expression and said, "Elder Brother He, you're my own dear elder brother. What choice did I have? I sent my junior martial brother to make contact with him, but as it turned out, even though my junior has some pull in Handong, he still couldn't track this guy down! If I went to approach him myself, it would look like I was trying to curry favor through pressure. Elder Brother He, I've racked my brains and figured only you could help me. You used to be part of 'Shenwu' and you're my senior. Even though you've retired now, you still have to consider the old camaraderie within 'Shenwu,' right?"

He Changsheng thought for a moment. "Hmm... Old Liu's condition has stabilized now anyway. Fine! I'll make a trip with you!"

P.S.: Happy New Year to all my fellow book-lover lords. Um, I'm taking a slight leave of absence as there is simply too much going on lately. Two chapters a day until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. I ask all my esteemed book-loving friends for their understanding.