Chapter 10: Outsiders are easily bullied, a good blade is hard to hone

【Your understanding of Tong Jia has deepened further; you spent a blissful night with Tong Jia and gained 7 free points】.

After being honest, the points gained actually increased again.

Song Cheng felt a bit more anticipation in his heart.

At this moment, the morning light shone through the oil-paper window; it was another sunny day.

Tong Jia got up and sat on the edge of the bed, twisting the buttons of her shirt to cover the fair skin of her chest and neck, while asking: "Brother Cheng, what did that lonely Soul and wild Ghost in your body do when it was alive?

Why is it still thinking about practicing martial arts?

Can a blind man even succeed in practicing?"

After a night's time, Tong Jia had also figured it out; the upgraded version of Brother Cheng was her man, after all, she only got intimate with him on the bed after Brother Cheng woke up. Besides, after getting along for these past few days, everything had been quite good and normal.

Song Cheng said: "The memories of that lonely Soul and wild Ghost are quite blurry, but I feel it should have been an Ordinary Disciple of some sect; it just can't remember its own techniques, but if I can get a cultivation method, I should be able to quickly get started by relying on my intuition."

"An Ordinary Disciple... and from a sect, at that." Tong Jia nodded and said, "Understood!"

Last night, after the husband and wife were honest with each other, Song Cheng no longer hid anything and directly brought up the things he needed.

Cultivation methods!

He needed cultivation methods! At this time, seeing Tong Jia looking thoughtful, Song Cheng asked again: "Do you know where there are any?"

Tong Jia said: "Why didn't you just say so earlier? Yun E's house has some."

Song Cheng was stunned.

Tong Jia said: "It's in Yun E's head; she was physically weak and couldn't practice it herself, but she taught it to her husband. Since she suffered a disaster last night, let's go check on her quickly."

Song Cheng also hurriedly got up, endured his weak legs and sore arms, quickly put on his clothes and trousers, and then tucked his firewood-chopping axe into his waistband, scanning his own strength.

1~1.

The axe provided him with 1 point of strength.

Under his persuasion, Tong Jia also carried a bamboo basket and picked up a sickle, pretending to be gathering herbs, and her strength changed from "1~1" to "2~2".

Song Cheng glanced at Tong Jia—who was his employer, his wife, and his comrade-in-arms—and said: "Let's go to Yun E's house first to see if we can help, then go to the blacksmith's house to get weapons."

Tong Jia gripped the sickle tightly.

Song Cheng said: "Wife, we aren't going to risk our lives; you follow behind me in a moment."

If it were in the past, Tong Jia would definitely have refused, but remembering that Song Cheng still had the memory of a "common sect disciple" fused within him, she nodded.

If nothing else, the two words "sect" made her feel it was very high-end.

These six words, "common sect disciple," made her subconsciously feel it was very reliable.

"Have you ever licked blood off a blade?"

The employer Young Mistress asked quietly again.

Song Cheng said: "Forgot."

The employer Young Mistress grabbed the sickle and performed a flourish, feeling she had a bit of the air of a wandering martial artist.

She had actually become the wife of a "common sect disciple"; this feeling was also quite novel.

The husband and wife grabbed their weapons and slowly headed toward Yun E's house.

From far away, there was a commotion.

"I tried to molest you? It was clearly you, Sister-in-law Yun E, who seduced me! You were even worried that the old lady next door would discover you and me being intimate, so you specifically waited until the third watch to open the door for me!" Ding Siyu's voice.

"You're lying!" This was Yun E's voice.

"Sister-in-law Yun E, then who opened the door for me?

If you didn't open the door, how could I have gotten in?

Everyone, am I right?"

"That's right, my big brother wouldn't lie; I can testify for him." Ding Siyan's voice.

"Sister-in-law Yun E, you were flirting with my big brother so happily, why are you denying it now? Is it because you were caught by the old lady, so you want to bite back at my big brother?" The fourteen-year-old third brother among the three Ding brothers, Ding Sigu, also spoke up.

Yun E said: "You're lying! Lying!!"

Her hair was disheveled, and her face was covered in tears.

Facing the onlookers, she was distraught, her body and mind having reached the stage of imminent collapse.

As for how the back door opened, she didn't know either.

She felt that no one believed her.

She had suffered humiliation yesterday and was even robbed of her money, yet today she was being falsely accused.

In front of the crowd, an old man was watching this scene coldly.

This old man was none other than the village head of Tanghe Village, Ding Shanming.

Ding Shanming said: "Yun E, explain yourself clearly. Siyu, Siyan, and Sigu are three children I watched grow up; their mother died early, and their father died on the battlefield. You say you are twenty-four or twenty-five, a woman who has been married, how could these three children take a fancy to you?"

Once the village head said this, Yun E was dumbfounded.

Her hands and feet were cold, and she suddenly remembered that she was an outsider after all... she didn't have roots in this village.

Just then, a man with a crutch tucked under his arm walked out and said: "Don't you all know what kind of person Yun E is?

Yun E is beautiful, why couldn't Ding Siyu have taken a fancy to her?"

The crowd looked over; Ding Siyu frowned and said: "Cripple Chen, what does this have to do with you? Are you also one of Yun E's lovers?"

The man who arrived was named Cripple Chen, a bachelor in the village; as for that leg, it was said to have been broken after he caused a scene at a gentleman's house in the county town.

Why cause a scene? It seemed to be for standing up for justice.

However, the villagers weren't very sure; after all, the news that came down from the county government was: Cripple Chen committed robbery, and that gentleman was merciful and only broke one of his legs.

Ding Sigu's eyeballs rolled around, and he suddenly said: "A beautiful widow, isn't she just a vixen? Seducing men everywhere."

Once this was said, quite a few young women actually joined in the clamor.

Back when Yun E first married into the village, they already found her an eyesore, and seeing their own men occasionally stealing glances at Yun E's waist and buttocks, they felt even more that Yun E was a vixen.

Ding Sigu's words went straight to their Heart Eye.

And so, they began to chatter one by one.

"Ding Jia San Lang is right."

"Dressing up so prettily, isn't she just a slutty fox?"

"If you didn't seduce men, why would men want to sleep with you?"

"Ding Jia Da Lang is still just a child; it's all your fault, you slutty fox!"

With every word, they besieged the woman who had married from afar.

Chen Quezi roared: "Nonsense! Nonsense!"

But no one paid him any mind.

Suddenly, a "bang" sound came from behind the door; Yun E hurriedly turned to return to the room, but as the door opened, she saw her mother-in-law fainted on the ground, clutching her chest with both hands, her face full of pain.

Ding Sigu said: "Look, look! Not only do you seduce men, you've also angered your mother-in-law to death!"

Chen Quezi stood on one leg, raised his crutch, and said angrily: "You little brat, you are truly wicked!"

The onlookers nearby saw the old lady had fainted and hurriedly stopped talking.

Many began to disperse. Others hurriedly said: "Go find Tong Dafu quickly."

Although the Village Head's words were biased and he was somewhat taking sides, seeing someone faint, he also hurriedly glanced at the three Ding brothers and said: "Stop talking, go home!"

Ding Siyu said: "I'll listen to you, Uncle!"

Having said that, the three youths turned and left.

Yun E called out from behind: "Money! You even robbed me of my money! Give the money back!"

Ding Siyu turned his head and smiled wickedly: "Sister-in-law Yun E, you gave it to me so readily yesterday, yet today you want it back. Forget it, seeing as you're pitiful, I don't want it anymore."

As he spoke, he grabbed a handful of copper coins and scattered them.

The copper coins landed with a clatter, rolling everywhere, about thirty or forty of them.

Yun E said: "You took twelve taels and six mace of silver from my house!"

Ding Sigu said: "Sister-in-law Yun E, why are you still framing people?"

After finishing, the three brothers left without looking back.

Yun E screamed from behind.

Seeing this scene, Chen Quezi roughly guessed the truth, so he leaned on his crutch and hurried over, shouting: "If you have the guts, let us search you! Your family doesn't have twelve taels and six mace of silver at all. If you do, then it belongs to Yun E!"

However, the three brothers ignored him entirely.

Ding Sigu turned around, making a face, and laughed: "Paramour, paramour, paramour!"

Yun E began to scream hysterically.

"Tong Dafu!"

"Go find Tong Dafu quickly!"

Someone was shouting on the other side.

Tong Jia hurriedly stepped out and shouted: "I'm here, I'm here."

After saying that, she put down her bamboo basket and stepped forward to check on the fainted old lady.

Tong Jia busied herself for a long while, then brought the old lady to Huichun Hall and performed the "Acupuncture" she rarely used in her daily life; only then did the old lady slowly wake up.

But the old lady didn't speak after waking up.

To the side, Yun E sat blankly.

Without her husband, and having suffered such great stimulation and humiliation last night, and today not only failing to get justice but instead being wronged, she had already collapsed; at this moment, her eyes were wide open and red-rimmed.

The old lady trembled and scolded angrily: "You shameless thing, cough, cough, cough, what are you still staying here for?"

Tong Jia said: "Shi Popo, don't get angry! I don't think Sister Yun E is that kind of person."

As she spoke, she began to try her best to persuade her.

She knew the truth, so she embellished and repeated the "worry for Shi Popo" that Yun E had expressed when she asked her to treat her illness over the past few days.

As she spoke, the old lady said: "Tong Dafu, in your opinion, did those three Ding brats really come to my house in the middle of the night?!"

Tong Jia said: "The most urgent matter is for you to recover your health.

Justice lies in people's hearts; the Village Head might have been biased toward his own people at first, but he isn't unreasonable. Didn't the Cripple go to the Ding house to check?

Mother-in-law, you rest, we will just call some people to accompany Sister Yun E to go take a look."

Yun E's previously collapsed expression softened slightly; she looked up at Tong Jia and said: "Thank you, Tong Dafu."

While Tong Jia was diagnosing patients, Song Cheng leaned on his crutch and arrived at the blacksmith shop.

By now, the furnace fire in that blacksmith shop had long since gone out; except for a few kitchen knives in good condition placed on a wooden table for sale, the rest of the rusted items were all piled in a heap, scattered in the corner of the wall.

"The ones over here are thirty wen each."

"The bigger ones over here are all sixty wen."

In the blacksmith shop, a woman grabbed a wooden stick and knocked it against something to make a sound, then ignored it.

As for the price, it was all divided by weight.

The light ones were thirty wen, the heavy ones sixty wen.

These pieces of junk had long been piled up, and she couldn't sell them at all.

Song Cheng squatted down, his palm stroking the weapons one by one, his gaze watching the changes in his own information.

Different weapons could bring different power bonuses.

He scanned the data.

Basically, they were all 1~1.

It could be said that any weapon could give you a strength bonus of 1.

Suddenly, a set of data flashed before his eyes: 2~2.

He felt around; it was a long, thin iron rod, much like his hardwood staff.

His five fingers brushed over it, and he continued to scan through the rest, but only this one was somewhat special.

So Song Cheng grabbed the iron rod and said, "Sister-in-law, will fifteen wen do?"

"Fifteen wen? Isn't that too little?" The woman glanced at it, discovering it was a filthy, thin iron rod that nobody wanted, so her tone was not very firm.

Song Cheng sighed and said, "My family doesn't have it easy either, so let's make it twenty wen."

The woman gritted her teeth and said, "Twenty... twenty-two wen, no lower."

Song Cheng also gritted his teeth, took the copper coins out from his bosom one by one, counted for a long time, and then reluctantly brought them out, saying, "Sister-in-law, I am a blind man, so I will give them to you one by one; you count them, okay?"

The woman said, "Fine, fine, fine, I won't cheat you."

The two quickly settled the bill.

The woman sighed, "It seems it really isn't easy for your family to run a medical clinic."

Song Cheng also said, "Who has it easy?"

Having said that, the blind youth leaned on his new crutch and walked step by step toward Huichun Hall.

When he arrived home, Tong Jia had actually gone out.

Song Cheng asked a nearby neighbor and was told that a group of people, along with the village head, had gone to the Ding family again to search for silver, and had already been gone for a while.

Song Cheng thought for a moment, but did not go over; instead, he came to the backyard, took the whetstone from the house, sat down, scooped water with a gourd ladle, and then grabbed the iron rod and began to grind it slowly.

After grinding for a while, Song Cheng suddenly realized something; he took a small hammer and began to tap lightly on the top of the iron rod, causing the loose rust to fall off with a rustling sound.

Suddenly, a sound of something loosening came through.

Song Cheng grabbed the top of the rod and pulled.

*Shhh! * A streak of a rust-covered Fine Blade came out of its sheath.

"So it was a blade."

Song Cheng felt the blade body, which was covered in "lumps," threw the scabbard to the side, and focused on grinding the Fine Blade.

As he ground the blade, the "2~2" data around his body began to blur, as if it were about to jump up a notch at any moment.

(End of this chapter)