92: Wrestling is both entertaining and competitive

Hearing the cheers from the audience, the wrestlers on stage bowed to them, thanking everyone for their support.

Li Qinghe looked around. Luong Thi Thu's wrestling idol should be the most beautiful one among these wrestlers.

Because this female wrestler stood out among the few wrestlers.

She was even taller than several male wrestlers.

And compared to the other female wrestlers, Vu Phan Thanh Lien's figure was a bit taller and she was a bit leaner than them.

She belonged to the type where you could feel the muscle rolling under her skin, a robust build, but not the kind of muscle-bound King Kong Barbie or a heavy tank with an extremely stable lower body.

If one had to describe her, she was a medium tank, her physique a size larger than that of an average slender Vietnamese man.

Compared to the Nguyen Thi Linh sisters, she was quite strong, but not ridiculously so.

Coupled with a relatively pretty face, she appeared quite unique among the group of burly wrestlers.

No wonder Luong Thi Thu was willing to be her fan.

And Luong Thi Thu's outstanding screams successfully attracted Vu Phan Thanh Lien's attention.

Her gaze first fell on Luong Thi Thu by the wrestling ring, then quickly shifted to Li Qinghe and his companions.

There was no other way; these four people were simply too eye-catching.

Nguyen Thi Linh, 1.72 meters tall, Nguyen Thi Shui, 1.74 meters tall, Nguyen Tan Minh, 1.8 meters tall, and Li Qinghe, 1.85 meters tall.

These few individuals truly stood out from the crowd.

A flicker of surprise also passed through Vu Phan Thanh Lien's eyes, her gaze lingering on Li Qinghe's face for a moment.

She had never seen such tall and outstanding boys and girls, even when she was a model, in rural Vietnam.

It was by chance that she discovered wrestling paid more than modeling, so she abandoned the industry that valued thinness and plunged into the wrestling world, where strength and skill were admired.

As a former model and current wrestler, she gained 20 kilograms to better earn a living in this field, but these 20 kilograms were not obvious on her 1.72-meter frame.

This allowed her, now weighing 73 kilograms, to maintain a relatively slender and well-proportioned figure, while also not being easily picked up and thrown by male wrestlers due to being too light.

Knowing her foundation was weak, Vu Phan Thanh Lien didn't dare to join a professional wrestling team.

Instead, she chose to become a Vietnamese folk wrestler, primarily for entertainment.

Her beautiful face and decent wrestling skills allowed her to thrive in this folk sport.

Because of her fame, many places would invite her to participate in their events when wrestling was involved, which also allowed her to earn a good amount of money.

After all, it was entertainment; why wouldn't those village elders and local dignitaries choose someone good-looking?

So, Vu Phan Thanh Lien stood fresh and vibrant on the wrestling stage at the Gaoping Village temple fair.

This was currently the most crowded part of the temple fair; everyone gathered around to watch the excitement, as it was free. A local boss sponsored the event, and everyone came for fun.

A host with a strong local accent, wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, went on stage, said a few auspicious words to everyone, and then thanked the bosses who sponsored the event.

Finally, he introduced the purpose of this wrestling performance, which was to pray for favorable weather and national peace and prosperity in the coming year.

This was a very serious matter.

This kind of mixed-gender wrestling, passed down as a Vietnamese folk custom, actually carried a hint of entertaining the deities. Through such activities, they pleased the spirits, thereby ensuring a good year ahead.

Therefore, before wrestlers went on stage to compete, they all had to perform a blessing dance, which served both as a prayer and a warm-up.

The first to enter the stage was a female wrestler with a square face and a rectangular build, a blue ribbon tied around her waist, and full muscles beneath her tight fitness attire. In such close-quarters wrestling, it was hard to say who would gain the advantage.

Her opponent was a short, burly young man with a muscular physique, bare-chested, with a red ribbon tied around his waist and even his loincloth. Standing there, he appeared to be about the same height as the female wrestler, but his build was a size smaller.

Under the host's introduction, the two waved to the audience, then knelt side by side on one knee, hands held flat in front of them, palms down, and performed a blessing dance.

A referee stood in the middle and blew the whistle to start.

At first, Li Qinghe wasn't too concerned, as it had been announced as a folk entertainment event, and he didn't think it would be very exciting.

However, the duo's initial moves made Li Qinghe realize he was wrong.

This type of wrestling was actually very technical.

Some of the throws were quite practical.

As soon as the whistle blew, the burly young man crouched down, assuming a wrestling stance, but the square-faced female wrestler hooked his neck with her hand, covering his head and face.

The young man suddenly dropped to the ground and directly hugged one of her legs, preparing to flip the female wrestler over.

The female wrestler calmly sat down, directly clamping the burly young man's head to the ground, creating a visual impression of the young man trying to force his head into someone's birth canal.

The surrounding audience immediately burst into good-natured laughter.

As the burly young man prepared to exert force to lift the female wrestler's leg, his opponent directly lunged forward, embraced his waist, and her heavy weight instantly pinned the burly young man to the mat.

The two immediately engaged in close-quarters combat on the mat.

Although the opponent wasn't good-looking, her robust physique was quite impressive. However, the burly young man consistently adhered to the rules, his hands either grabbing her feet or embracing her waist, rarely intentionally touching her sensitive areas.

Li Qinghe noticed that during their position changes, some techniques could quickly turn an unfavorable situation around.

His inner evaluation of such an activity immediately rose a notch. This kind of competitive sport, not entirely a performance, still had its merits.

However, he then turned his head and saw a very interesting scene: after one of his feet was caught by his opponent, the young man, lying on the mat, struggled to crawl towards the outside of the mat's circle.

That comical movement drew bursts of laughter from the audience. Indeed, the entertainment factor was maximized.

There was a rule in this wrestling activity: when most of a wrestler's limbs were outside the circle, the competitive state between the two had to be disengaged.

They would return to the center of the circle and start over.

From this, it could be seen that choosing these two wrestlers as the opening act for the event was a deliberate decision.

The short, burly young man seemed to be holding back in the match, instead putting on a show of baring his teeth and struggling with his opponent.

Throughout the entire process, one could both witness their skilled wrestling techniques and appropriately experience the entertaining and humorous nature of the event.

The entire match was filled with laughter, which greatly enhanced the atmosphere of the entire event.

The final result was the short, burly young man being caught in a deadly scissor lock by the square-faced female wrestler's sturdy thighs, then she forcefully twisted his body to achieve a double-shoulder-to-the-mat position.

After a brief stalemate, the referee declared the female wrestler victorious. The two stood in the middle of the ring, awaiting the event organizers to distribute the prize money for this round.

The young man was grinning and not sad about the loss; after all, he would get money regardless of winning or losing.

Li Qinghe saw an event staff member come onto the stage and hand each of the two wrestlers a white envelope.

Then, an old gentleman wearing a top hat came onto the stage and also handed the losing young man a white envelope.

The event allowed the audience to provide financial support to their favorite wrestlers.

After bowing in thanks, the wrestlers walked to the resting area beside the ring and immediately opened their envelopes. The winner received six 500,000 vietnamese dong banknotes, and the loser received four 500,000 vietnamese dong banknotes.

The envelope given by the old gentleman also contained four 500,000 vietnamese dong banknotes.

No wonder winning or losing didn't matter; there was no need to compete with full effort, as the unexpected income was even more than what the winner earned.

The second match was between Vu Phan Thanh Lien and another short, burly young man.