Chapter 6: Settling In

They entered the garden.

The interior was a world of its own, quite spacious; besides the main courtyard, which was as wide as a drill ground, several side courtyards were partitioned off around it.

Lu Yuan saw men of various ages in the open space of the main courtyard practicing all sorts of acrobatics in one corner: some were breathing fire, some were walking on stilts, and others were breaking large stones on their chests.

There were also a few pairs of sturdy men in a sand pit, bare-chested, pressing their arms and shoulders against each other, grunting and shouting as they wrestled.

After having two gang members lead away the mastiffs, Li Shu turned to face Lu Yuan and the others, saying indifferently:

"From now on, you are all people of my Boxiyuan. The rules of Boxiyuan are few: first, you are not allowed to go out without my permission; second, once you have entered this courtyard, you must give twelve parts of effort. As long as you perform well enough, you can get ahead in this garden."

Lu Yuan suddenly raised his hand.

Only after the other party nodded in agreement did he speak up to ask:

"Dare I ask Li Shu, what do you need us people to do?"

Li Shu gave a dark laugh:

"Did Protector He not make it clear to you? Choosing you to come back is naturally to train you to participate in wrestling and gambling matches later. Our Qinglong Gang's Boxiyuan is one of the best in Fengyang Prefecture, and the high-ranking officials and nobles who come here for entertainment are countless. If you perform excellently on the stage when the time comes, who knows, you might be favored by a noble and soar to the sky."

Wrestling, gambling... after all that, they were going to arrange for them to fight?

Lu Yuan's heart suddenly tightened.

Although the other party spoke vaguely, it seemed that this so-called wrestling was definitely not ordinary grappling; it was very likely fighting for one's life on stage to amuse the powerful.

The key was that these people were basically all miserable farmers who had never learned any Martial Arts; once they got on stage, how could they possibly survive?

Although the other disaster victims didn't have much experience, some of the sharper ones sensed that something was wrong and asked suspiciously:

"Li, Li Shu, we were all just farmhands before, we've never practiced Martial Arts, we don't know any moves at all!"

"Yeah, yeah, with us like this, wouldn't we be thrown off the stage in one round?"

Li Shu said unhurriedly:

"Starting tomorrow, someone will naturally teach you the Wrestling Technique, and besides, there is plenty to eat and drink here, with meat provided every day. You yourselves are nothing but disaster victims who lost your household registration and fled from famine; now that you don't have to worry about a mouthful of food, what else is there to be dissatisfied with?

Moreover, the Qinglong Gang is not a place for you to bargain. Since you've come, you can only obey how you are arranged; you are not allowed to refuse, otherwise..."

He gave a dark laugh, did not continue, but beckoned:

"Dahu, Erhu, take them down, arrange their lodging, and by the way, let them take a bath and change out of those stinking clothes!"

"Yes, Master."

In the courtyard, two bare-chested, sturdy men with fierce temperaments heard this and walked over, saying in rough voices:

"You lot, follow us!"

The disaster victims felt as if they had entered a wolf's den, but they dared not resist and could only follow the two, dejected, toward the west side courtyard.

There were several rooms in the side courtyard, and Lu Yuan and the dozen or so others were separated into two rooms, sleeping on a large communal bed.

The sturdy man named Dahu laughed darkly:

"Since you've come, behave yourselves. There are other brothers living in this courtyard; if any of you dare to run away and get caught and have your legs broken, don't blame me for not warning you in advance."

"Also, two meals are provided here every day. If you go on stage in the future, you can have an extra meal. Meal time is almost here, all of you go to the washroom and scrub up!"

Following this, Lu Yuan and the others were arranged to each carry a water bucket, and after drawing water from the well in the courtyard, they headed to the washroom to bathe.

Dahu and Erhu, the two sturdy men, watched from the doorway. The crowd of disaster victims dared not communicate at all and could only obediently take off their filthy, stinking clothes and scrub themselves.

The washroom was equipped with soap pods and razors. Lu Yuan, adopting the attitude of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," thoroughly washed away the filth that had accumulated for over half a month, then shaved his stubble, changed into the new clothes Li Shu had sent people to deliver, and walked out feeling refreshed.

It is worth mentioning that the Great Jin promoted shaving the hair and changing clothes, and he now also wore a long braid, with the messy hair on his forehead grown out, looking neither one thing nor the other.

If it were a dozen years ago, just for the messy hair on his forehead that hadn't been shaved clean, he would have been caught by the yamen runners within an hour or two if he walked on the street, and then given thirty strokes of the heavy staff.

However, in recent years, the rule has been turbulent, and with the spread of new-style ideas from the Western Holy Roman Powers, the government's management of hair shaving has relaxed quite a bit; as long as one kept a long braid, generally no one cared much.

After everyone finished washing and looked brand new, it was just time for the meal.

They were taken to a side courtyard specifically for eating, where seven or eight long tables were set with basins of white rice, braised pork, red-oil offal, and so on, emitting a spicy aroma.

A full twenty or thirty men of various appearances were burying their heads in eating and drinking. As for that Li Shu, he was nowhere to be seen; it was unknown if he had a private kitchen elsewhere.

Lu Yuan and the others came to two tables in the corner and sat down, only to see that there were only large basins of rice, a few plates of pickles, and a few bowls of meat soup on the table, with no other meat to be seen.

Seeing that most of the disaster victims had strange looks in their eyes, Dahu laughed darkly:

"Don't be ungrateful. Your stomachs are in a mess after fleeing from famine for so long; if you eat meat right away, your stomachs won't be able to take it. Li Shu arranging it this way is for your own good."

The crowd suddenly realized, and then immediately began to take bowls to scoop rice, and then wolfed it down without even eating the pickles, as if they were starving ghosts reincarnated.

It wasn't their fault; let alone during times of famine, even in years with good harvests, they usually only ate coarse grains, and being half-full was a common occurrence. How could they eat like this today?

Including Lu Yuan, he also scooped a large bowl and finished it in a few gulps.

Then a second bowl, a third, a fourth.

He ate faster than the others, and in a short while, two large buckets of rice were completely bottomed out. Seeing that the other disaster victims were all full, he stopped his frantic eating and let out a satisfied burp.

In reality, if he were to activate the Ingestion Technique, let alone a few bowls, he could eat an entire bucket clean.

However, there were many eyes and ears, and the Earthly Fiend Arts were his greatest reliance and secret; naturally, it was not appropriate to reveal them under the noses of others.

Just like that, everyone was full of food and drink, and then they were taken directly back to their respective rooms to rest, with formal teaching and training to begin tomorrow.

Back in the room, the sky outside had darkened. Lu Yuan and the others climbed onto the communal bed, preparing to rest.

It could be seen that after such a full meal, the attitudes of most of the disaster victims had clearly changed, and they began to communicate in low voices:

"Sigh, don't say, staying here seems pretty good."

"Isn't it? So much white rice, although it's old rice, it tastes better than corn buns!"

"I've never eaten so much white rice in one go in my life, and after a few more days of recovery, we'll be able to eat meat just like those old-timers!"

"I think staying here is quite good..."

Lu Yuan did not participate in the conversation, but turned his back to the others, silently activating the Ingestion Technique, quietly digesting the large amount of rice he had just eaten.

The Ingestion Technique was not simple digestion, but extracting the essence of all things to strengthen oneself.

Thus, after a large amount of grain was digested, vital energy rose visibly in his abdomen, rapidly nourishing every inch of his sinews, bones, and flesh...

(End of chapter)