Martial Cultivator

The young man reached out and took the tea bowl. Old Zhao thoughtfully poured him a bowl of tea. The young man tilted his head back and drank it all in one go. After handing the bowl back, he said helplessly, ”Brother Zhao, why does it sound like you’re hoping for me to die? If I die, where are you going to hear the contents of that fist technique manual from?”

Old Zhao burst into laughter. ”If you can survive, then it doesn’t matter whether I hear the fist technique manual or not. But if you die, even after hearing the whole manual, I wouldn’t feel happy about it.”

As for the matter of the fist technique manual, because Old Zhao came to see him every day over the past few days, their relationship gradually improved. Afterward, the young man took the initiative to mention that he had studied a fist technique manual before. It was not extraordinarily profound, but definitely not bad either. He estimated that he was about to die, so the fist technique manual would likely be lost forever. Since Elder Brother seemed like a good person, he might as well pass it on to him.

At first, Old Zhao did not take it seriously. But after the young man recited the first form of the fist technique manual, Old Zhao looked as though he had seen something incredible. From then on, he came every day to listen to the young man teach him the fist technique manual. However, the young man said that his energy was limited, and he could only explain one form each day. In the end, how much Brother Zhao could learn would depend on how many days he managed to stay alive.

At the time, Old Zhao curiously asked how many forms the fist technique manual contained, but the young man kept deliberately keeping him in suspense and refused to tell him.

Still, Old Zhao was not the sort of person to get to the bottom of everything. Learning one day at a time was enough, and he was not particularly anxious about it, being fairly broad-minded.

After drinking the tea, the young man lay back down again, crossing his hands behind his head as a pillow, and smiled. ”If Elder Brother Zhao wants to hear more, that’s not impossible. Didn’t you say you have a daughter? Introduce her to me, and I’ll risk my life to spill everything in one go.”

Old Zhao cursed, ”The hell, you’re actually trying to set your sights on my daughter? With your sickly body, if my daughter really married you, wouldn’t she become a widow in no time?”

The young man glanced helplessly at Old Zhao. ”Elder Brother Zhao, to be fair, although what you said makes some sense, it really sounds awful. You don’t want to marry your daughter to me, but I don’t even want to marry her either. With Elder Brother’s looks, who knows what your daughter might look like!”

When this sort of topic came up, not only did Old Zhao not get angry, he instead said proudly, ”Then you’ve got it wrong, kid. My daughter takes after her mother. She’s pretty!”

The young man said in surprise, ”Elder Brother, are you sure she doesn’t take after the next door neighbor?”

The moment those words came out, Old Zhao immediately could not take it anymore, glaring viciously at the young man. ”Say that one more time, punk!”

The young man merely shook his head and grinned. ”Good things aren’t said twice. If Elder Brother Zhao’s angry, just beat me up. With how I look, it’d be normal even if you beat me to death.”

Old Zhao held back a mouthful of anger with nowhere to vent it. If this fellow were really lively and healthy, beating him up would not have been a big deal. But it was obvious this guy looked like he did not have long to live. If he really beat something wrong out of him, that would be troublesome.

The young man was also someone who knew when to stop while ahead. He glanced toward the official road, then quickly changed the subject. ”Elder Brother Zhao, I heard the imperial court’s tax collection isn’t going too smoothly?”

Old Zhao had just poured himself another bowl of tea using that tea bowl. Hearing the young man speak, he took a sip and nodded. ”This time, the imperial court isn’t taking money from the common people. That’s a great thing. But those local gentry and wealthy merchants aren’t happy. The family fortunes they’ve built up are flesh on their own bodies. Who’d willingly cut off a piece?”

”But the imperial court’s already in this situation. The common people are giving their lives, so what’s wrong with you lot giving up some money? And they’re still unwilling? Those damned bastards really have no sense at all. If you ask me, the government should just send people to raid the homes of those damned rich households!”

The young man smiled and shook his head. ”No need to be so extreme. The common people are common people, but those wealthy merchants are common people too. They earned their money themselves, so it’s normal to be reluctant. But it does seem the imperial court didn’t impose especially heavy taxes this time. For them to still act like this really is somewhat unreasonable.”

Old Zhao nodded. ”Exactly! Forget everything else, just this shipment alone, our boss already made it clear. He doesn’t want a single bit of the profit from this trip. It’s all going to be donated to the imperial court. Us brothers only agreed to come out this trip after hearing that, so we only took half our usual pay. Kid, don’t go talking big without understanding hardship and say people like us have no conscience. We’re small households after all. If we really didn’t take any money at all, our families would have to subsist off the wind.”

The young man shook his head and smiled. ”How could I see Elder Brother Zhao that way? Living is already difficult enough, especially when you’ve got a whole family. Elder Brother Zhao being willing to give up half your pay is already very righteous. If others knew about it, they’d remember your kindness too.”

Old Zhao scratched his head and laughed honestly. ”No need for people to remember my kindness. So long as they don’t curse me over things like this, that’s already good enough. After seeing enough people, you realize there are plenty of good people and bad people alike. There’s still a whole lot of folks who talk big without understanding hardship.”

The young man smiled, but this time did not reply.

After finishing his tea, Old Zhao wiped his beard and said somewhat regretfully, ”If I really wasn’t so worried about my wife and daughter back home, I’d have gone north long ago. I might be a bit older, but at least I’ve got some skills on me. How am I worse than those young people?”

”But whenever I think about dying up north, and my wife and daughter maybe having to suffer everyone’s disdain afterward, getting bullied with nobody to help them, once I think about that, I just can’t bear it.”

Old Zhao sighed emotionally. ”It’s not that I don’t trust the imperial court. I heard over in Xinliu Prefecture, even children don’t need to pay to attend school anymore. The imperial court covers the cost. That’s a good thing. But in the end, trusting heaven and earth isn’t as good as trusting yourself. But the more I don’t dare to go myself, the more I admire those damned fellows up north who’ve thrown away even their lives there. Don’t they have mothers, wives, and children back home too? They definitely do. But they still went. Damn it, they’re truly incredible!”

As Old Zhao spoke, he kept sighing, as though feeling somewhat guilty.

The young man glanced at him, thought for a moment, then said, ”Actually, it’s all understandable. Elder Brother doesn’t need to blame yourself either. Wanting to do something doesn’t always mean staking your life on it. Like Elder Brother now, taking out some money already counts as having done something. Not going doesn’t mean you can’t do anything at all either. For example, if one day you run into widows and orphans whose men died up north, Elder Brother standing up to say a fair word, helping when you can, that’s also a very good thing.”

Old Zhao slapped a thigh and said angrily, ”If I really ran into that kind of animal, they really ought to be killed!”

The young man looked somewhat helplessly at the Old Zhao before him and sighed. ”Elder Brother, getting angry is one thing, but next time remember to slap your own thigh. My body can’t really take this anymore.”

Old Zhao lowered his head for a look, awkwardly withdrawing his hand as he muttered, ”I was wondering why it didn’t hurt.”

The young man merely rolled his eyes at this.

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