Chapter 6: Entering the Outer Courtyard, Meeting Roommates

At Jian Xiong Martial Arts Hall, the first month is closed-off training.

Once Apprentices enter the hall, they eat, sleep, and practice martial arts inside, and are not permitted to go out or return home.

Zhou You bid farewell to his parents and moved into the martial arts hall with his luggage.

With the martial arts hall's nameplate hanging at his front door to act as a deterrent, Tu Laosan did not dare to come knocking for the time being.

These three months were a new-student protection period that Zhou You had secured for himself.

Upon entering the Outer Courtyard, the first order of business is to pay respects to the Big Senior Brother.

Big Senior Brother Lu Qiang's role in the Outer Courtyard is equivalent to the Hall Master's representative, responsible for disciplining Apprentices and providing Instruction in fist arts.

"Zhou You pays respects to the Big Senior Brother."

Lu Qiang nodded, "You will share a room with Liu Bing, Song Fugui, and Fang Guiqi."

The Outer Courtyard dormitories house four Apprentices to a room, and there are often vacancies that get filled.

Zhou You entered the dormitory with his luggage, and the other three Apprentices cast their gazes over.

Liu Bing had dark skin and thick limbs, with his lower legs covered in scars from grass cuts; he was clearly from a farming background.

Song Fugui looked like a city dweller at a glance—fair and clean, his hands lacked the calluses of manual labor, and his eyes were exceptionally sharp.

As for Fang Guiqi, he seemed to be from out of town; it was unclear how he managed to join Jian Xiong Martial Arts Hall.

"Brother, where are you from?"

Song Fugui was the most enthusiastic; seeing Zhou You enter, he reached out to help him unload his luggage and make his bed.

Upon hearing that Zhou You was also a resident of the city, he became even more warm, and then introduced himself.

Song Fugui's family trade was selling oil, which involved carrying a pole and walking the streets and alleys to sell oil.

Don't look at this trade as hard work walking the streets and alleys; it actually earns quite a bit of money.

His father sent him here to practice martial arts because the world is becoming increasingly chaotic, and he wanted to seek a skill for self-defense.

"I won't hide it from you, business has been getting worse these past few years; my father was robbed over ten times last year."

"Once I take over the family's oil pole, I must have martial arts skills to beat off the villains."

Song Fugui didn't forget to remind Zhou You, "New Apprentices can each receive one set of seasonal clothing."

"Issued by the Hall Master?"

Zhou You was very surprised; he hadn't expected the martial arts hall's benefits to be so generous.

A set of seasonal clothing costs at least several taels of silver to procure; could it all be included in the tuition?

"Of course not; there is a Senior Brother in the Inner Courtyard whose family runs a trading firm, and he is very generous."

This Senior Brother has always had a reputation in the martial arts hall for being righteous and charitable, providing gifts for his fellow disciples during festivals, and the Outer Courtyard Apprentices get to share in the benefits.

Zhou You reckoned that for someone to be this lavish, they clearly had the intention of recruiting talent.

Running a trading firm requires dealing with all walks of life; just spending money isn't enough, one must also be able to invite capable people to assist.

Although more than half of the new Apprentices at Jian Xiong Martial Arts Hall will be eliminated in the future, as long as one or two become successful, they can repay his kindness in the future.

Song Fugui then introduced the other two roommates to him.

"Liu Bing's family are small landlords on a manor outside the city, with thirty to fifty mu of land; he also has to work in the fields during the busy farming season."

"They have to fight for water sources with the neighboring village as soon as the early season arrives, often launching armed brawls on the scale of hundreds or thousands of people."

"In recent years, the neighboring village sent their young men out to practice martial arts, and after they returned with their skills, they caused heavy casualties to his family."

"Liu Bing's clan swallowed their pride and sold grain to raise money to send him into the city to practice martial arts."

"He is holding a breath of anger inside; he leaves early and returns late just to master his skills as soon as possible and crush the neighboring village."

At this moment, Liu Bing and Fang Guiqi had already left the dormitory, leaving only Zhou You and Song Fugui.

Song Fugui had been in the Outer Courtyard for two months and knew the situation there like the back of his hand.

"And there's Fang Guiqi; he fled here as a refugee from Su Cheng, has an older sister married in this city, and had someone vouch for him to join the martial arts hall."

"He is a silent type, doesn't talk much, and doesn't have a pleasant expression; don't take it personally with him."

"By the way..."

Song Fugui looked toward the vacant bed, "You will sleep in Ning Daliang's bed."

Seeing Zhou You's confused expression, he explained, "Ning Daliang originally lived here, but he didn't master the basics in three months and was kicked out."

Speaking of this, Song Fugui sighed, "It's a pity; he spent a lot of silver and still didn't succeed."

"But even so, by relying on the Tiger-Subduing Fist learned at the martial arts hall, he can at least protect himself from being bullied."

Zhou You truly felt the cold elimination system of Jian Xiong Martial Arts Hall; once the three months for an Apprentice are up, if they don't meet the requirements, they are kicked out.

Because of this, the Apprentices in the hall mostly practice desperately, not daring to have the slightest slack.

As for Song Fugui...

"Haha, I'm just not material for practicing martial arts."

"It's been two months, and my Tiger-Subduing Fist is still amateurish; the remaining month won't change that."

"I came here just to make friends and look out for each other in the future."

Song Fugui said to Zhou You, "Zhou You, once you learn the fist arts, there is great potential for you to join a trading firm and take over your father's business."

"I've heard that outside the city is very unsafe; if you are a worker following a caravan, the wages are very high."

"If you practice martial arts and fist techniques, you will have enough to protect yourself in the wild; applying to follow a caravan for one trip can earn at least twenty taels of silver."

"After a few more trips, won't you have the capital to build a house and take a wife?"

Zhou You's family still lives in a rented house to this day, but how could it be so easy to build a house in the city?

This is also the obsession of Zhou Laodie's hard-working life—to have a house of his own.

However, how could following a caravan on a long journey be so easy?

Zhou Laodie had mentioned at home that although long-distance caravan travel is highly profitable, the danger also rises linearly.

Every time a caravan returned from abroad, more than half of its goods would be lost, and the casualties among the personnel were even more severe.

Of the workers his age, few were still alive today, all because they had taken jobs on long-distance routes.

He was timid and only dared to work within the city; although the money he earned was barely enough to scrape by, he had at least survived.

Song Fugui traveled through the streets and alleys, was well-informed, and due to his professional habits, could talk endlessly.

He mentioned that bandits were running rampant outside the city, killing many people and burning a village to the ground.

After Su Cheng was destroyed, many commoners scattered to flee the famine, and more refugees came to Gongliang City to seek a living.

Because of the arrival of these refugees, public order in the city grew worse and worse, with cases of robbery and rape emerging one after another, and the government could not manage it all.

Local gangs had an ample supply of manpower, grew rapidly, and intensified their exploitation of merchants and commoners.

Conflicts between gangs expanding their territories were constant, with armed fights breaking out in the streets in broad daylight, leaving blood everywhere and causing innocent people to suffer.

Heinous crimes emerged one after another, and severed limbs were often discovered in wells and by the river.

There were even rumors that Demons were wearing human skin to sneak into the city, taking advantage of the chaos to eat human bone marrow and internal organs.

"It's chaotic!"

Song Fugui sighed as he finished, saying, "There aren't many safe places in the city, and the Martial Arts Hall is one of them."

"It's a pity I'm not good enough; if I could master the basics of fist techniques, I could stay at the Martial Arts Hall and continue to protect my family."

His Martial Arts Hall Wooden Plaque was not hung at the entrance, but was instead worn by his father while traveling the streets and alleys to make doing business easier.

In this way, no blind thief dared to rob him, which avoided many losses.

But in another month, if Song Fugui could not meet the requirements, he would lose his qualification to stay at the Martial Arts Hall, and the wooden plaque would also be confiscated.

"Keep working hard, there is still time."

Zhou You comforted him.