Chapter 3

Xu Yang looked over and saw nothing but love in his father’s eyes—he knew it wasn’t for him or his sister, but for Yang Jun.

“What ‘family’? He isn’t your biological son. Don’t forget how he kicked you out before. You have a biological son; if you want to cultivate a martial artist, you should cultivate your own son.”

Xu Qing’s voice was sharp, filled with uncontrollable rage.

She cared more about Xu Laoer as a father than Xu Yang did, and at this moment, she was the most furious. Xu Yang, the person directly involved, hadn’t said a word, and she had snatched the lead.

Xu Laoer was choked until his face turned red. When he first got together with Zhang Cuiting, he was beaten with a stick by Yang Jun every time he came here. This was also the reason he hadn’t moved in directly at the beginning.

“Him? Just by him, he wants to practice martial arts? A-Jun’s father was a martial artist, which is why he has the possibility of becoming one. Your brother is just a mud-legged peasant digging for food in the dirt—a lower-class person. It’s laughable that he wants to practice martial arts.”

Zhang Cuiting laughed loudly, as if she had heard a joke, her words full of sarcasm and mockery.

Xu Qing was trembling with anger and was about to continue speaking, but was shouted down by Xu Laoer.

“Shut up! Let your brother speak. When adults are talking, what are you, a child, interrupting for?”

Repeatedly confronted and exposed by his daughter, his face darkened. He looked at Xu Yang and said: “You say it yourself. Are you willing to pay this money? Think it through. A-Jun doesn’t necessarily need your help to become a martial artist; it would just take a bit longer.

If you don’t help A-Jun now, when he becomes a martial artist in the future, it will be too late for you to try and curry favor with him.”

As for what Xu Qing said about Xu Yang wanting to practice martial arts, he didn’t take it to heart at all, also treating it as a joke.

Having laid out the pros and cons, he believed that as long as Xu Yang wasn’t stupid, he would make the right choice, having suffered enough in society.

“You think it through too. Dorgon couldn’t do it, so why do you think you can!”

Leaving behind a sentence that left Xu Laoer confused, Xu Yang pulled Xu Qing away without wasting any more breath.

Even if he were to feed the money he earned to dogs, he wouldn’t use it to subsidize Yang Jun.

“Unfilial son!” Xu Laoer’s roar came from behind.

……

By now, the sky had turned dark. The sunset glow at the horizon was red, as if the earth were draped in red armor.

As the siblings stepped out of Zhang Cuiting’s house, Xu Qing, the little girl, couldn’t help but sob, heartbroken and tearful.

At home, she had said they were going to have a free meal, but in truth, she had wanted to see her father. What had happened was hard for her to accept.

“Don’t cry. Just pretend he’s dead.” Xu Yang comforted her.

He had expected this before coming, so he wasn’t sad.

“I’m not crying for him; I’m worried that you’ll miss the time for martial arts training.” The little girl didn’t admit she was shedding tears for Xu Laoer.

“Don’t worry about the money. If he won’t help, I’ll find a way myself. Rest assured, Brother will definitely bring you a life of luxury.”

Xu Yang looked toward the horizon. He would definitely practice martial arts. He didn’t care much about the fact that he couldn’t practice after eighteen; the main thing was that the Three Unity Gang seemed to have set their sights on the little girl, and he had to become a martial artist quickly to escape the predicament.

In this world, it’s not a good thing for a girl from the bottom of society to be beautiful.

The Three Unity Gang acted viciously; once targeted, they would use all sorts of cruel methods.

It wasn’t as if such things hadn’t happened in the neighborhood. Those who complied were fine, but those who didn’t would eventually end up with their families destroyed.

Although this might have just been a casual remark by Li Hu, he couldn’t gamble.

He pondered secretly about how to get money for martial arts, but for a moment, he had no leads.

“Brother, why don’t we borrow from someone? We’ll go find Uncle later. If we borrow a little from every relative, I know you care about your pride and don’t want to ask, but this is a hope after all. If we miss it, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.

What’s a little rejection? We’ve lived like this; we’ve long since lost our pride.”

The little girl suddenly said: “And Uncle. I heard people say he became an accountant for the wealthy Huang family and has a salary of two taels a month. He should be able to lend us some.”

Even a beggar has a few poor relatives; Xu Yang’s family naturally had some.

“Alright!” Xu Yang said.

Now that he was in a crisis, he could only swallow his pride and ask for help. In his memory, this uncle was quite kind; if he had the ability, he should help a bit. As for whether it would work, he had to try to know.

Although they hadn’t had much contact since his mother passed away, blood ties wouldn’t disappear.

“Where did you hear all this?” Xu Yang asked curiously.

The reason he hadn’t thought of having an uncle was mainly because, in his memory, his uncle Zhou Shunchang was also living in poverty, struggling on the line of subsistence.

“I heard it from the eldest sister at Uncle’s house. She saw Uncle at the Huang family’s shop…”

Xu Yang didn’t expect that before he could even go to the city to borrow money from his uncle, he would see his long-unseen uncle, Zhou Shunchang, at his doorstep.

Under the glow of the sunset, Zhou Shunchang was standing at the door, holding a piece of pork belly and wearing fine silk.

Standing beside him was a girl with a scholarly air, his cousin Zhou Xia.

“Uncle! Cousin!”

A mother’s brother is like a father; the two stepped forward quickly, bowed deeply to their uncle, and then respectfully invited their uncle and cousin into the house.

“It’s been hard on you all these years. That beast Xu Laoer—if I had known he was such a person, I never would have agreed to let your mother marry him.”

Looking at their simple home, Zhou Shunchang couldn’t help but curse Xu Laoer for not being human.

“I didn’t just come to see you today; I have something to tell you, A-Yang.” After some pleasantries, Zhou Shunchang brought up the real business.

Xu Yang was stunned. Another thing to tell him? He hoped it wasn’t that he was eyeing his money again.

But thinking about it, his cousin at his uncle’s house was already over eighteen, so it shouldn’t be that he wanted him to contribute money to subsidize martial arts training.

“You might not know, but the Huang family I work for has started to rise in recent years, and their business is getting bigger and bigger…” Zhou Shunchang slowly revealed the true purpose of his visit.

In this world, no matter what business you do, as long as it’s profitable, you can’t do it without a martial artist for protection. It’s like nuclear weapons in his previous life—you might not use them, but you can’t be without them.

The Huang family had only started to rise in recent years, and the martial artists they supported were insufficient, not matching their growing business.

Existing martial artists usually already served other powers; poaching them would not only offend other factions but also come at a high cost.

Therefore, the best way was to cultivate their own. But not everyone in the Huang family had the potential to become a martial artist, so the Huang family came up with a plan: to search outside for people who had the potential to become martial artists but lacked the money to train.

The Huang family would pay for the training, on the condition that they become retainers for the Huang family after becoming martial artists. That was why Zhou Shunchang thought of his nephew, Xu Yang, who was at the right age.

“Go to the Huang family courtyard early tomorrow morning. A master will check your bone structure. As long as your bone structure is acceptable, the Huang family will send you to a martial arts school.”

“Thank you, Uncle!”

Xu Yang bowed deeply to Zhou Shunchang, not asking deeply if it was selling himself into servitude or if he had to serve the Huang family for life.

For him right now, as long as there was a chance to practice martial arts, what did it matter if he sold himself?

“Dress decently tomorrow!”

Looking at Xu Yang’s patched clothes, Zhou Shunchang left half a tael of silver.

Xu Yang wanted to refuse because he had one set of clothes that was still decent, but under Zhou Shunchang’s glare, he had to accept the silver.

“Alright, it’s getting late, and the road isn’t safe. Your cousin and I have to go back.”

He didn’t say any words of encouragement to Xu Yang, because things like bone structure were innate. He had come here just to try his luck and see if his nephew had a chance to change his fate.

“Take care, Uncle, Cousin!”

The siblings saw Zhou Shunchang and his daughter all the way out of White Stone Ward before returning home.

“Brother, you can practice martial arts.”

After the twists and turns, returning home, the little girl could no longer suppress her excitement and jumped up, not realizing that they still had to undergo a bone structure check to have a chance at getting the Huang family’s sponsorship.

“Hmm, I can practice martial arts.” Xu Yang said softly.

He didn’t know if his bone structure, which had been raised to twenty-two, would meet the Huang family’s sponsorship requirements tomorrow.