Chapter 5: Li, the Thousand-Household with the most holidays

When the sun was high, Li Miao got up from the bed and stretched.

Mmm~——

This stretch lasted for a very long time, a full half-stick of incense, before Li Miao let out a long breath, shivered, put on some clothes, and got out of bed.

He had worked overtime too late last night, which made him fall asleep directly, and he didn't even know how he got back.

He walked out of the room and waved to a little girl watering flowers in the courtyard: "Xiao Si, come here, come here."

Xiao Si heard the greeting, turned around, saw him smiling on the steps, and ran over in a rush, saying anxiously: "Master, you're finally up."

"It's almost past the Chen hour (nine o'clock), and the roll call at the Yamen has been over for an hour! If you don't make it today, your salary for this month will be deducted again!"

Li Miao said indifferently: "Deduct it then; I can just grab a couple of handfuls from the treasury any day and it'll be enough for us to eat."

He took money from the Embroidered Uniform Guard's treasury without any psychological burden, because that money was originally his.

"Master, you say that every time, but the money is spent before it even gets home!" Xiao Si said aggrievedly.

"Fine, fine, fine." Li Miao felt a bit embarrassed now. He had originally wanted to call Xiao Si to go out and eat some breakfast together, but seeing her serious look, he couldn't tease her anymore.

"Alright, I'll go to the Yamen for the roll call now. When I get some silver, I won't put it in my pocket, I'll have your Brother Hai send it directly to you, okay?" Li Miao said playfully.

Xiao Si's face turned red instantly, and she didn't speak, turning and running into the house with a thud-thud-thud.

"Little girl, can't keep her." Li Miao smiled, looked at her, went back into the house to put on his clothes, and went out slowly.

The current dynasty is called Great Shuo. It is generally similar to the Great Ming of Li Miao's previous life, with slight differences in details.

There are similarities, such as the Emperor's surname being Zhu, the existence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, eunuchs in power, and factional strife among civil officials.

There are differences, such as not being as rigid as the Great Ming, the division of wards and markets not being so rigid, allowing Li Miao to stroll slowly now, picking up a few snacks in his hands, eating while walking toward the Yamen.

For example, this world has real Wu Gong.

Crossing the river on a reed, striking across a mountain—these are real, and even eternal youth and the regrowth of severed limbs are not fabrications, but a consensus recognized by Jianghu people.

And speaking of Li Miao, who has been in this martial arts world for over thirty years, how is his Wu Gong cultivation?

Heh—let's put it this way: he has achieved a small success.

That is, the level of being invulnerable to swords and spears, water and fire, eternal youth, and indestructible—half a Wu Lin myth, not worth mentioning.

And if you ask why Li Miao was able to practice Wu Gong to this level.

First is his bone structure; Li Miao's bone structure is not just good, it is excessively good—to the point where Bodhidharma would weep to hear of it and Zhang Sanfeng would be shocked to see it. Relying on this bone structure alone, even if Li Miao just stuck to one internal energy method, he wouldn't be bad by now.

Of course, bone structure determines the lower limit; when reaching the level of a peak expert, what determines the upper limit is often comprehension.

Don't you see that Yang Guo was left with one arm, learned blindly from a bird that couldn't speak, and could still comprehend the Sorrowful Palm? And Hero Guo had more divine skills and techniques than brain cells, but after using the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms for half his life, he never showed any tricks.

It can be seen that to reach the level of a grandmaster who founds a sect, comprehension is the decisive factor.

And Li Miao's comprehension? Let's just say average, very average.

To say how average—let's put it this way: suppose there is such a gifted young hero,

This young hero has a disciple in the sect with average talent,

This disciple goes down the mountain and meets a mountain bandit who has turned to banditry,

This mountain bandit has a small leader under him who robs houses,

This small leader has a lackey behind him who shouts and cheers,

This lackey has a dog at home that can shake hands and sit—Li Miao's comprehension is about the same as this dog.

This is not an insult to Li Miao, but a factual evaluation; his "average" is neither "average among Jianghu people" nor "average among ordinary people."

It is "average among mammals."

Perhaps someone will say, isn't comprehension IQ? Does that mean Li Miao's brain is about the same as a dog's?

No, comprehension is not equivalent to IQ, at least not in the Great Shuo Jianghu.

So-called comprehension is actually closer to "adaptability." The same person might have strong comprehension for one technique but be a blockhead for another.

And some martial arts geniuses have high adaptability for almost all martial arts. And Li Miao has low adaptability for all martial arts, to the point of being hair-raising.

Because he has to use a modern person's thinking to understand those mysterious things that sometimes even violate common sense.

Commonly known as "cognitive barriers."

He can change his concepts, he can change his perception of the world, but it is very difficult to shake the thinking patterns that have been practiced for decades and are already deeply rooted.

This shakes the foundation of his understanding of all martial arts.

Fortunately, he is a cheater.

Relying on a golden finger that is less like a cheat and more like a special constitution, with no text description or mission release, Li Miao spent twenty years hard-grinding himself to the level of half a Wu Lin myth.

As for the details of this golden finger, we will talk about it later.

Let's talk about the present: Li Miao walked with a square step, eating while walking, eating while strolling around. He ground the sun to the very middle before arriving at the Town-Suppressing Division Yamen.

At this time, it was almost break time, and the street in front of the Town-Suppressing Division Yamen was empty; clearly, few people were willing to pass by the door of experts who raided houses and exterminated sects. The two Embroidered Uniform Guards on duty were happy to be quiet, and were squinting their eyes to rest.

Seeing Li Miao from afar in casual clothes, chewing something in his mouth, looking like a loafer, swaying and about to walk into the Town-Suppressing Division Yamen, a young Embroidered Uniform Guard was about to step forward to shout and ask.

Before he could open his mouth, the older one beside him took a step forward, ran to Li Miao's side like flying, and said with a nod and a bow.

"You've come, Thousand-Household, you worked hard last night. The Commander said to tell you as soon as we saw you, hurry over to see him."

Li Miao was still chewing something in his mouth and couldn't open his mouth to speak. He pulled a string of candies from the package he was holding under his arm, slapped it into the older Embroidered Uniform Guard's hand, patted his shoulder like coaxing a child, and entered the Yamen.

After Li Miao was out of sight, the young Embroidered Uniform Guard asked: "Brother, which Thousand-Household is that? Why did he come at this hour, and why is he wearing casual clothes?"

Although there is a distinction in rank within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, there is also a distinction in affiliation. Generally, only direct superiors are called by their position directly without their surname. For example, only one's direct Hundred-Household would be called "Hundred-Household" directly; those who are not direct are called "Hundred-Household Wang," "Hundred-Household Zhang," etc.

But the older Embroidered Uniform Guard clearly called him "Thousand-Household" directly without adding any surname.

And the family discipline within the Embroidered Uniform Guard is strict, even the two Vice Commanders lead by example and are meticulous; where did this loafer-like Thousand-Household come from, coming to work only at noon?

The older Embroidered Uniform Guard took a piece of paper from his bosom, carefully wrapped the string of candies Li Miao had slapped into his hand, and then said.

"Remember this master's face; call him Thousand-Household whenever you see him in the future. Do whatever he tells you to do, and pretend you didn't see whatever he does. Did you remember?"

"He is our entire Embroidered Uniform Guard's most senior, most well-connected, most wild-method, and most holiday-taking Li Miao, Thousand-Household Li!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 6 =====