Chapter 78: Knife Light in the Courtyard

Just as Jia Cong was focused on reading, a duck-like voice suddenly shouted from below the pavilion: "Brother Cong, I knew you were here."

Jia Cong looked out the window and saw a thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth looking at him with a smile.

This youth was slightly plump, handsome, and had a pair of eyes that rolled around, very flexible.

"Xiaoyu, how did you find this place?"

"I asked Instructor Zhang, and he said he saw you heading towards the Dan-gui Pavilion after class, so I guessed you must be hiding here to read."

This Cai Xiaoyu was his classmate in the Bingwen Hall and also one of the few classmates Jia Cong had befriended in the two years at the Qingshan Academy.

He was the youngest son of the Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, Cai Xiang, and his background was not small.

Cai Xiang's eldest son had mediocre talent, and his second son was a dissolute scoundrel. Only this youngest son, Cai Xiaoyu, was intelligent and was valued by Cai Xiang despite being a concubine's son.

He entered the academy two years ago like Jia Cong, but unlike Jia Cong, who was recommended by others, he passed the entrance examination with his own ability.

Jia Cong knew that Cai Xiaoyu loved to eat and play. Recently, he had been busy with examinations in the academy, and he had long been complaining about the academy's public meals.

The courtyard was empty. In the left corner of the courtyard, there was a woodpile with many neatly stacked dry woods, as well as some round logs that had not been split.

In two months, the severe cold would strike the Love Shenjing, and these dry woods would come in handy.

Cai Xiaoyu had a cheerful nature, loved socializing and playing, and had a sincere heart. He never used the name of Cai Xiang's son to show off, and very few people in the academy knew his background.

After the carriage arrived at the Chunhua Pavilion, he got off and walked for a while before arriving at a courtyard, took out a key, and opened the door.

Jia Cong placed a round log on the woodpile, raised the firewood knife high, and focused his energy for a moment.

"Tonight at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), we have an appointment with Ziqian and Zhongwen to have a feast at the Chunhua Pavilion. You must go too. This academy examination has truly exhausted me, so we should relax. See you there."

Jia Cong shook his head with a smile, suddenly thought of something, packed his things, left the academy, did not return to the villa where he lived, and hired a carriage directly to the north of the city.

At first, his movements were heavy, but gradually he danced faster and faster. A group of silver-bright knife light flashed around his body, looking like he already had quite a foundation.

After the little fatty finished speaking, he waved his hand and walked away shaking his head.

"Brother Cong, the academy examination is over, and the autumn examination is next year. It doesn't matter if you don't study hard for a day or two."

This small courtyard had not changed much in two years, but the tall mulberry tree in the courtyard had been cut down to the roots, and the whole courtyard appeared much more spacious than before.

He took out a bright curved knife from a partition under the eaves and danced it in the courtyard.

Suddenly, he slashed down with one knife. A flash of knife light passed, and with a "crack," the round log as thick as a waist was split in half. The wood split into two halves and flew out to both sides.

He split eight or nine more round logs like this. His forehead was already sweating before he stopped. He took a drink of the boiled water he had prepared in the side room.

Although his reading was not as diligent as Jia Cong's, he could maintain a middle-to-upper level in the Bingwen Hall.

Now that he had finished the academy examination, how could he not go out for a big meal?

At this moment, the courtyard gate was pushed open, and a slender, graceful, beautiful, and heroic girl walked in, gently closed the courtyard gate, and quietly watched Jia Cong practicing the knife.

Two years ago, after he entered the Qingshan Academy, he rarely returned to the Rongguo Prefecture.

Every year, except for the New Year, he would return once for Jia Zheng and Wang Lady's birthdays, or to host a feast for the sisters in the garden.

Every year for Jia Mu's birthday, Jia Zheng would call him back to the prefecture. Mostly, he would just go back, eat the feast, and leave. Jia Mu and this grandson had nothing to say, and Jia Cong was happy to be quiet.

Every year, the time he spent in the Jia Prefecture added up to less than a month.

However, he came to this small courtyard almost every other day. For more than two years, Qu Hongxiu had been living here.

The strange and bizarre encounter between him and Qu Hongxiu on the return trip from the Nanxi Literary Gathering had created a trust and tacit understanding between the two that was different from ordinary people.

Back then, the two of them worked together in that small forest to kill the secret agents of the Investigation Court, deceiving the world and eliminating the disaster.

Jia Cong designed to frame Wang Shanbao's wife for witchcraft, and he also had no reservations about Qu Hongxiu. Qu Hongxiu helped him without sparing any effort, which showed the trust and reliance between the two.

Two years ago, he followed Qu Hongxiu to practice the knife. The method of gathering energy and strength to split wood just now, as well as that set of curved knife techniques, were all taught to him by Qu Hongxiu hand in hand.

"You are very smart. You have such a presence after practicing for two years. It's a pity that you started practicing martial arts a bit late; otherwise, you could have reached a superior realm by the age of twenty."

Jia Cong smiled and said: "I am a scholar, not someone who wants to wander the world. As long as I am not powerless, I am satisfied with being able to protect myself."

"How is business today?"

"Twenty-three bottles were sold, five taels per bottle. Because of the exquisite wooden box packaging, the profit per bottle was three taels and seven qian, which dropped to three taels, but seven or eight more bottles were sold than usual."

"Some ladies and wives of big families even pre-ordered a few bottles. How did you guess that adding a beautiful wooden box would sell more?"

Jia Cong smiled: "This is called the packaging effect. Using a beautiful wooden box, those ladies and wives will feel that the thing is more precious and valuable."

Qu Hongxiu frowned slightly and said: "Packaging effect? You always say some strange new words, and I don't know where you learned them."

For the past few years, Qu Hongxiu had been carrying five children with her. They were all orphans of the Hidden Sect that Qu Hongxiu had saved at the cost of her life when the Dezhou Hidden Sect branch was slaughtered by Zhou Junxing.

Ever since she killed Wu Jinrong in the Shuyun Villa to avenge herself, she had the intention to retire. For two years, she had been living in seclusion in this small courtyard and had never seen that Uncle Qin on Wenhan Street again.

And the five children she saved had been raised by her. She did not want these children to follow the path of their elders, licking blood on the edge of a knife, and only wanted them to live a peaceful life.

But it was not easy to let these children have a way to make a living.

To help her fulfill her wish, Jia Cong came up with a method to extract perfume and helped her open the Xiuniang Perfume Shop in the North City.

He also built an unknown perfume workshop in the wild temple they had visited back then, using a set of distillation and purification equipment made by Jia Cong to manufacture perfume.

He let two of the older children guard the perfume workshop, and Jia Cong would go there to manage and guide them regularly. In less than half a year, a small assembly line for producing and selling perfume was formed.

This era had not yet seen such a rare thing as perfume. The Xiuniang Perfume Shop had been open for less than half a year before its reputation spread in the circle of noble ladies and young ladies of the big families in the Love Shenjing.

In less than two years, it had earned nearly ten thousand taels of silver for Jia Cong and Qu Hongxiu.

Jia Cong took advantage of the fact that the surrounding houses were cheap, not only buying this originally rented courtyard but also buying another residence not far away for the five children to live in.

Letting these children learn a skill and have a place to live.

The strange relationship between him and Qu Hongxiu became closer and more solid through these things.

In fact, for the past few years, a question had been lingering in Jia Cong's mind: why did Qu Hongxiu show mercy to him in the cave back then?

Every time he wanted to bring it up, Qu Hongxiu would always intentionally or unintentionally change the subject. She never mentioned her Hidden Sect background again, as if all this had already gone far away from her.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 79 =====