Chapter Fifty-Six Arrival

  When Wen Hui heard the two words "boxing method", her eyes lit up immediately, and she shouted: "I also want to learn, I want to become like Uncle Chu in the future, and beat those bad people who bully me into fools."

  "Alright, once Xiaohui is healed, Uncle Chu will teach you boxing. At that time, we'll beat down all the bad guys."

  Zhou Wenping saw this and hesitated for a moment before saying: "Xiao Chu, you just said that it's a family-transmitted fist method, won't it be somewhat improper to pass it on to an outsider?"

  Chu Chen waved his hand: "Hehe, Zhou Ge, now what era is it, still talking about these things? In the future, I don't know if my child will learn martial arts or not. As long as I think it's right and can persist, I'll pass on the fist method without any worries."

  Zhou Wenping heard this and gave a thumbs up: "Xiao Chu, your realization is high. It's also reasonable to say that if there weren't such strict regulations, perhaps many of our ancestors' skills wouldn't have been lost."

  Chu Chen smiled and said, "Brother Zhou, I'm not as great as you say. If you want to learn my boxing skills, you'll have to go through my test first. Moreover, it's not easy to master this skill. Even for me, I started practicing at the age of six and basically practiced every day without interruption until now, when I can be considered somewhat accomplished."

  Li Guodong heard this and scratched his head, saying: "Isn't that something that requires practicing for over a decade? No wonder people say, 'Ten minutes on stage, ten years of work off stage.' I don't think I can keep this up. Oh dear!"

  In the end, Wen Yuting went up and twisted him, saying: "You lazy guy, if you can be like Chu Ge, I'll tell my parents about our relationship, they won't say anything. Can't you learn from Chu Ge and behave a bit?"

  Li Guodong saw this and smiled slyly: "Alright, alright! I will definitely take Xiaochun as an example, work hard to make a fortune, earn more money, and strive for the great and glorious goal of buying a house in Beijing and marrying you back home with dignity!"

  His words made everyone laugh, and for a while, the atmosphere in the carriage became much more pleasant.

  The pleasant time always passes especially quickly, and everyone talked and laughed as the train arrived in Xijing. At this time, after everyone's comfort and teasing, Wen Hui's emotions had stabilized a lot, but after all, she had received such a big fright, and usually, she still needed Zhou Wenping couple to carefully guide her.

  Xi'an, also known as Chang'an and Jingzhao in ancient times, is one of the world's four greatest ancient capitals. It is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and the starting point of the Silk Road. It has the longest history of being a capital city, with the most dynasties having established their capitals here, and has had the greatest influence among all the ancient capitals in China.

  Historically, the thirteen most prosperous dynasties of Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang and others all built their capitals here. The western capital is located north of the Wei River, with the famous Loess Plateau to the north and the Qinling Mountains to the south, forming a naturally beautiful landscape.

  Xi'an is a city with many tourist attractions, including the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor, which is considered one of the "Eighth Wonders of the World".

  Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, Ancient City Wall Site, Mausoleum of Han Yang, Famen Temple, Chang'an Eight Views, etc. all reflect its profound historical and cultural heritage, making it a world-renowned tourist destination, known as the "Natural History Museum".

  As the birthplace of Huaxia civilization, Xi'an has a very long history and a thick accumulation of historical culture. The Chang'an painting school in Chinese national painting, the Guanzhong shadow puppetry originating from before the Han Dynasty, the Shaanxi wooden puppet show originating from the Western Zhou, and the colorful Hu County peasant painting are all indispensable important components of Xi'an culture.

  If we talk about the historical celebrities of Xijing, there are countless ones. Just those listed in "The Twenty-four Histories" and other history books number over a thousand. They were either born here or lived and worked here for a long time, creating brilliant histories and making great contributions to the development of the Chinese nation.

  Coming to such a city, it's not good to play well, and since it's a historical and cultural city, how can Chu Chen and others not go shopping in the antique market. Of course, these things still need to wait until they have finished their official business.

  After getting off the train, Chu Chen suggested: "It's almost lunchtime, Brother Zhou, can you introduce us to a nearby restaurant with good food? Let's go have lunch first."

  Zhou Wenping smiled and said, "Don't bother, I've already asked my family to prepare food at home. Let me play the host properly, besides, it's not far from here, we can arrive in less than an hour. If you're hungry, just eat something casually first."

  Zhou Wenping used to have a three-bedroom house in Xijing City, but he sold it that year to pay for Zhou Shu's medical treatment. Now they are returning to their rural hometown. After leaving the station, Zhou Wenping chartered a van and everyone set off towards their destination.

  The road was relatively smooth, and after a drive of about 40 minutes, we arrived at the entrance of Zhoujia Village. The rural houses here are typical of the Guanzhong folk style, with a sense of simplicity and grandeur.

  However, this place is still in the western region, and the impact of reform and opening up is not deep enough. Many people can still see some old houses. But overall, it's okay. As Zhou Wenping said, he hadn't returned home for several years and didn't expect many villagers to have rebuilt new houses.

  All the way, Zhou Wenping and his wife kept waving to familiar villagers and gave some candies to the surrounding children. Wén Cōng and Wén Huì were constantly looking around, they had not returned to their hometown since they could remember, so they were full of curiosity and excitement about the scenery around them.

  While Chu Chen and the others were also walking and looking around, none of them had been to the rural areas of Guanzhong before. The layout of the entire village, the characteristics of the folk houses, the spiritual outlook of the people, and all the local customs and conditions seemed so novel in their eyes.

  When everyone arrived at Zhou Wenping's home, not only were his family members already waiting at the door, but they had also set up a fire basin. Stepping over the fire basin is an ancient custom in our country, which means to ward off evil spirits and turn bad luck into good fortune. This was also because Zhou's wife had been ill for many years and now that she was back home, they wanted her to step over the fire basin to get rid of the evil spirits and illness.

  After simply completing the ceremony, Zhou Wenping introduced everyone one by one.

  Because it's rare for him to return home, Zhou Wenping's sister and her family in Xijing City, as well as his parents-in-law, all came together. The scene was very lively. The grandchildren whom they hadn't seen for a long time were deeply missed by the adults of both families, who rushed forward to hug them.

  However, since the two children rarely met since they were young, Wen Cong was fine, but Wen Hui refused to do so due to the previous accident. To avoid their sadness, Zhou Wenping told everyone about the previous accident again.

  "These blasted people!"

  Zhou Wenping's family members were all outraged and indignant upon hearing this. Zhou's father, excitedly, stepped forward and grasped Chu Chen's hand, saying:

  "Xiao Chu, thank you so much! If it weren't for you, our family wouldn't know what to do. And I heard from Wenping that you've helped him a lot before, you're really a blessing to our family!"

  Chu Chen said with a embarrassed expression: "Uncle, Zhou Ge and I are good friends, it's only natural for friends to help each other out within their capabilities, there's no need to mention anything about a noble person."

  "Father, let's not stand at the door, we haven't eaten yet. Let's eat and chat together later."

  "Right, right! Sorry about that, let's hurry inside!" Mr. Zhou quickly ushered everyone into the house.

  Everyone walked through the courtyard and came to the hall, where they saw a round table with many cold dishes already laid out, all of which looked quite substantial.

  After everyone sat down, the Zhou family warmly greeted them. After some pleasantries, they started eating. Unexpectedly, these cold dishes looked ordinary but were extremely delicious, no worse than those in famous restaurants.

  "How's it? My mom's cooking isn't bad, right?"

  "It's not just good, it's too delicious! Brother Zhou, you're really lucky to be able to eat such delicious food every day."

  Wen Yuting ate and praised while Chu Chen and others also repeatedly praised.

  At this time, Zhou Wenping's mother-in-law brought a dish of chicken to the table. Zhou Wenping hastily said to everyone: "This is my mother-in-law's specialty dish, calabaza chicken. It's not inferior to that of Xijing Restaurant!"

  Everyone heard him say this and was filled with anticipation.

  As expected, the chicken is fragrant and nose-twitching, although it's been deep-fried, but not at all greasy. The skin is crispy and the meat is tender, with a rich flavor that's just right. Paired with Sichuan pepper salt, it's another level of flavor altogether. No matter which way you eat it, it leaves you with an aftertaste that's endless.

  "Zhou Ge, this chicken is so delicious that I can finish it all by myself. But why is it called calabaza chicken?" Li Guodong asked while stuffing his mouth with chicken meat.

  Zhou Wenping looked at him and smiled: "When it comes to the name of this dish, there is another story behind it."

  It is said that the calabaza chicken originated from the official kitchen of Wei Chi, the Minister of Rites during the Tang Dynasty. Wei Chi was extremely particular about his dishes and ordered his chef to cook tender chicken meat. The first chef deep-fried and then boiled the chicken, but Wei thought the meat was too old and severely punished him.

  The second chef boiled the chicken before frying it, and the dish was indeed delicious. However, Mr. Wei thought that the chicken didn't look good because it wasn't in a complete shape, so he actually beat the chef to death.

  The third chef drew on the experience and lessons of the first two chefs, trussing the chicken before boiling it and then deep-frying it. The resulting dish was not only fragrant and tender but also resembled a calabaza, so later generations came to call it "calabaza chicken".

  Wen Yuting listened to the story and said with some indignation: "That Wei Da is really too despicable, he's really filled with evil deeds. But without him, there wouldn't be such delicious food, it's really a dilemma!"

  Chu Chen smiled and said, "This is just a rumor. If you understand the official history, you wouldn't say that. In fact, he was straightforward and kind-hearted. At the beginning, in order to clear Du's name, his appointment was put on hold. Can someone like him possibly beat a cook to death for a plate of chicken? So it's better to just listen to this story."

  Everyone was shocked to hear that such a thing had happened. While praising Chu Chen's extensive knowledge, they began to talk about the anecdotes they had heard before, wanting to prove which ones were true and which ones were false. The scene became quite lively for a while.