Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

”...I’m not interested.”

Before Yun Shuanglin could finish, Chen Cheng had already decisively refused.

If this were six months or a year from now, when his strength was sufficient, he might have considered it.

But at this moment, there was no way he would get involved.

He wasn’t lacking in wealth or resources. Focusing on his cultivation behind closed doors and genuinely improving himself was better than anything else.

”I knew it...”

Yun Shuanglin smiled.

”Brother Chen, you’re a steady man with your own way of doing things. I was just mentioning it offhand.”

Chen Cheng just smiled and didn’t continue the conversation.

Wang Chuang, however, was quite interested and took the initiative to ask for more details.

Yun Shuanglin couldn’t stay long. After a bit more small talk, she and Wang Chuang took their leave.

Chen Cheng saw the two of them to the main gate, where they each boarded a carriage.

One headed north, the other south.

The cloth curtains fell, the wheels began to turn, and it was as if they had set off on their separate, predestined paths.

Yun Shuanglin sat inside the carriage, staring at the thick, opaque curtain. Listening to the crisp sound of hooves on the bluestone slabs, she seemed completely lost in thought.

As the carriage was about to leave Qingshui Alleyway, she suddenly reached out and lifted the curtain.

Her movement was light, opening only a narrow slit.

’I just want one more look.’

But in front of the residence, on the bluestone steps, the young man’s figure was gone.

Only the two semi-worn wooden doors remained, quietly closed.

The curtain slipped from her fingers, once again obscuring everything outside the window.

...

「During dinner.」

Chen Cheng could clearly see that Li Family was somewhat unhappy.

He put down the large bowl of Treasure Fish medicinal stew in his hands and asked in a low voice:

”Mother, you’re usually all smiles and much more talkative when you come back from Lady Sun’s house. Why are you so quiet today?

If something’s wrong, please don’t hide it from me. It’s better to talk about it and solve it early. Dragging it out won’t help.”

”Sigh...”

Li Family sighed, placed her bowl on the table, and began to speak slowly:

”This afternoon, Lady Sun invited a few wives of Patrol Office officials over. It wouldn’t have been right for me to leave immediately, so I helped Lady Sun serve tea, pastries, fruit, and so on...”

”At first, when those officials’ wives heard I had a Martial Artist for a son, and that he lived in the courtyard next door, they were quite polite to me. They pulled me aside to ask how old my son was, what kind of martial arts he practiced, and even said I was blessed...”

She paused and sighed.

”But as we kept talking, they started prying, intentionally or not. They found out we’re a widow and orphan from Kuhuai Village, that our ancestors were all commoners, and that we have absolutely no connection to officialdom or titles...”

”After that... they wouldn’t drink the tea I poured. They wouldn’t even touch the fruit I cut or the pastries I served...”

”I knew what was happening, so I excused myself and left... As Lady Sun was seeing me out, just as the door closed, I heard them talking... saying... sigh...”

Li Family sighed again, not saying any more.

One didn’t need to guess how ugly the rest of their words must have been.

Chen Cheng didn’t respond, silently waiting for her to continue.

But Li Family just lowered her head.

She had originally thought that if she could become good friends with Lady Sun, she could get along with these officials’ wives as well.

Now she realized that Lady Sun was a rare exception.

The vast majority of the bureaucratic class would never, ever accept someone from the lower class as their equal.

Even if they accepted it on the surface, they would surely reject it in their hearts.

It was just like the massive wall between the Inner City and the Outer City, a wall that stood like a dike against a mortal enemy.

Wasn’t that the absolute, irreconcilable, and insurmountable barrier between social classes?

She understood this all too well.

Besides, she had come from the very bottom. What kind of cold shoulders hadn’t she received? What kind of vile words hadn’t she heard?

People are divided into classes—high and low, noble and base. This was something branded into her very bones from the moment she was born.

Even now, she didn’t resent it in the slightest. She still felt it was only natural for commoners to be inferior, just as it was natural for the sun to rise in the east.

Her current unhappiness, however, was mostly for her son.

In her eyes, her son had worked so desperately hard and become so successful. At such a young age, he had already achieved what countless people in the slums couldn’t in several lifetimes, or perhaps ever.

And yet.

In the eyes of those officials’ wives, all of it seemed utterly insignificant.

It was nowhere near enough to bridge the chasm between classes.

It couldn’t even close the distance a little.

The more she understood this, the less she felt wronged herself. This was her fate, and she accepted it.

But she felt it was unfair to her son!

Before, she couldn’t have imagined it, but now she knew what boys her son’s age in the Inner City did every day.

They would wake up long after sunrise, go to academies or teahouses, and chat and laugh in groups of three or five.

With nothing to do in the afternoon, they would stroll through the market, buy some snacks, and watch the bustling crowds.

Those from well-off families could even go to the theater to watch a few good plays, or meet up with a pretty girl to enjoy the scenery and have fun under the moonlit flowers.

But what about her son?

When others were sleeping, her son was cultivating. When others were playing, her son was cultivating. When others were already marrying their sweethearts and having children, her son was still... cultivating.

Li Family didn’t understand grand principles, but she knew that the best years of one’s youth, once missed, could never be reclaimed.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried to persuade him.

In her view, the family no longer lacked for anything.

She wished her son wouldn’t push himself so hard. He should relax once in a while and, like other young men, enjoy his youth and his life.

But what was the result?

Lately, her son was sleeping even later and waking up even earlier. The amount of sweat he produced each day was more than the melted snow in the inner courtyard.