Chapter 23: Instruction

Chen Sheng had trained in saber technique for a few years, so his unarmed skills weren't bad either. For a fat kid, he also had a lot of strength. The problem was, at this age, his martial skill and strength might not necessarily match Shi Manqiang's instincts and raw power.

Shi Manqiang helped out at the blacksmith shop, which had forged his strength. And although the Shi family was far worse off than the Chens or Zhaos, they could still feed their children three meals a day. That meant Shi Manqiang didn't lack for strength, reaction speed, or energy. He and Chen Sheng both made it to the final, and the process was simple enough. He withstood a few of Chen Sheng's punches, and when Chen Sheng tried to tackle and throw him, Shi Manqiang simply lifted Chen Sheng sideways and hurled him out.

Zhao Jin listened, nodding repeatedly. Even Zhao Zhentang and Zhao Zhenxing, standing to the side, were completely absorbed. Zhao Zhenxing had watched the whole process and hadn't expected this outcome either; his face was still full of surprise.

Master Shi listened, utterly dumbfounded. Even if no one said anything now, just looking at everyone's expressions made it clear his son wasn't lying.

"Uncle Shi, Shi Manqiang wasn't lying. Chen Sheng and I put up the prizes. We said whoever got first place would get those pastries," Zhao Jin added at the end.

Master Shi froze, then waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "How can we accept this? These pastries must have cost quite a bit."

Zhao Zhentang, standing to the side, was getting a little impatient. He said offhandedly, "It's a small matter. They weren't stolen or robbed."

Master Shi quickly nodded and bowed politely once more before leading Shi Manqiang away. Zhao Zhentang had just stepped over the threshold when he remembered something. He turned his head and called out, "Those pastries were won by the child. Give them directly to the children to eat. Don't hoard them or save them until they go bad."

At these words, Zhao Jin nearly burst out laughing. His father really understood how these things worked. If he hadn't said that, those pastries would likely have been saved for some "useful" occasion, and the children would never get to eat them.

Master Shi's body jerked to a halt over there. He coughed and turned back with an awkward laugh, saying, "Understood, understood."

As the three Zhao men walked into the courtyard, they could still hear the voices of the Shi father and son from outside: "You little brat, out causing trouble, and you were still thinking of your little brother and sister."

Zhao Zhentang gave a scornful laugh and said teasingly, "Chen Wu was bragging to me this very afternoon, saying his son would definitely take first place in the contest. Not only would he not lose any pastries, he'd bring some home for the family. He even said he'd defeat Xiao Jin. When we're on duty tomorrow, I'll have a good laugh at him."

Zhao Zhenxing smiled and rubbed Zhao Jin's head, saying, "That Chen kid was also overconfident and underestimated his opponent. Besides, at their age, when kids fight, having learned martial arts isn't that useful."

The two brothers walked forward. Zhao Zhentang, his interest now piqued, laughed heartily and said, "Exactly. The key is whether you've got the guts. Back in the day, how many did we two brothers knock down? Plenty of those good-for-nothings had trained in martial arts since childhood."

Zhao Jin had never imagined his father and uncle had such exploits in their past. He listened, utterly delighted.

At the dinner table, He Cuihua nagged a bit more, saying Zhao Jin was wasting good things and being a spendthrift. But Zhao Zhentang shot her a glare, and Zhao Zhenxing smiled and said it was good for Xiao Jin to make more friends, so she didn't press the matter further.

During dinner, they didn't bring up much about Zhao Jin's contest. Win or lose, in the eyes of the adults, it was just children's games.

Zhao Zhentang, as usual, warmed a small pot of wine. After a few cups, his words began to flow more freely.

"Life over in Pizhou is much better these days. Once the Jia Canal opened, people and goods traveling south and north all go that way now. Our Xuzhou is getting worse day by day. The protection money keeps shrinking. If it weren't for my damned executioner's post, life would truly be impossible. Busy and poor every day, and endless troubles on top of it. Today the secretary even handed down an assignment, saying some big shot from the capital quit his post and is coming back to live here, wants us to clear up the area. What was he thinking? Either stay in the capital, or go live in Jiangnan. Why come back to a dump like Xuzhou? Flooded by the Yellow River every few years..."

That night as he lay in bed, Zhao Jin combined his own memories with what he'd seen and heard these past days and finally roughly understood what the opening of the Jia Canal meant for Xuzhou.

Before, the Grand Canal passed through Xuzhou. Xuzhou was a hub, connecting the Yellow River and the canal, a north-south junction where people and goods gathered, thriving beyond compare. But because the Yellow River's flooding disrupted canal shipping, some years ago they began building a new waterway over a hundred li from Xuzhou, connecting the Jia River to the canal. Once completed, the canal reopened, no longer passing through Xuzhou.

Without the travelers, merchants, and goods coming from north and south, Xuzhou naturally fell into decline. This was what the adults always had on their lips: "Once the Jia Canal opened, Xuzhou's market was finished."

Moreover, with the Yellow River right beside Xuzhou, flooding was always a major disaster, nearly unsolvable in this era. Every few years, the dikes would breach. The city of Xuzhou and its outskirts were often submerged. Before, after a flood, because it was a bustling hub, it could recover quickly. From now on, that was hard to say...

Ever since he'd begun recalling things, Zhao Jin hadn't slept well every night. The recollections caused him great pain; the countless tangled threads in his mind all surfaced. What was worse, for now he could only keep them in his head, with no way to record them in writing. Zhao Jin had attended private school, and the Zhao household did possess the four treasures of the study, but Zhao Jin absolutely dared not leave any written records at home, afraid of the trouble it would cause if discovered.

Over these past two days, Zhao Jin had finally come up with an idea. The shop his uncle Zhao Zhenxing watched over had several rooms that sat empty year-round, filled with all sorts of odds and ends. That place could serve as storage.

When he woke the next morning, Zhao Jin's eyes were still bloodshot. He Cuihua assumed it was because he got up too early every day and couldn't help grumbling a bit, but she didn't say too much.

Just before he left the house, seeing the overcast sky, He Cuihua fetched another piece of clothing for Zhao Jin and also found a cloth shirt for Mu Shulan, telling her not to rush out if it started snowing, but to wait inside the house for an adult to fetch her.

Zhao Jin was a bit puzzled. He thought, it's only early in the tenth month; converted to the Gregorian calendar, that's just late October or early November. Xuzhou was about to snow at this time? Yet the weather truly felt like early winter in the north, very cold.

On the road, Mu Shulan was much more talkative than before, chattering away with boundless energy. The little girl kept carefully watching Zhao Jin's expression, and whenever her words brought a smile to his face, her own face lit up with joy.

Zhao Jin told her that the one who took first place yesterday was Shi Manqiang, which surprised the little girl as well. Mu Shulan had also thought Chen Sheng would win first.

Today's martial training finally had a change. Before the horse stance practice, Zhao Zhenxing called Zhao Jin over and told him to throw a punch at him...

"You have to watch the opponent's shoulders. When the shoulder moves, the hand moves. For his legs and feet, you watch his waist. You also have to watch his eyes. Whatever he plans to do next, his eyes will look at that part of you."

"Keep your fist level, the four fingers flat, the thumb not sticking out. Hit the chin, hit the chest, hit the ribs."

Zhao Zhenxing demonstrated while giving pointers to Zhao Jin. After about an hour, Zhao Jin was sent back to resume his horse stance.

The instruction just now had been immensely rewarding for Zhao Jin. What Zhao Zhenxing said had no fancy flourishes; it was all experience and insight from real combat. Some of these techniques, Zhao Jin had actually been using all along. He'd accumulated plenty of experience from past one-on-one fights and group brawls, developing instinctive reactions. But having this experiential knowledge spoken aloud suddenly made everything click. He grasped it more thoroughly and could apply it more efficiently.

Zhao Jin understood in his heart that his uncle was teaching him the skill of fighting. This made him very happy, because after his uncle Zhao Zhenxing saw the goods-yard contest, he hadn't considered it foolishness at all, but instead thought it was beneficial for learning martial arts.

Otherwise, given his uncle Zhao Zhenxing's personality, he would certainly have told him to focus solely on training and not waste time on such nonsense.

By lunchtime, the sky wasn't as overcast, but the wind had picked up considerably, and the weather had turned even colder. Today, Zhao Zhenxing went straight back to eat with Zhao Jin and the other one.

Zhao Jin ate very quickly. Although he was mentally quite mature, the thought of that goods-yard contest still made him feel excited. This was the instinct of youth, even of males in general—to compete and fight to determine a ranking.

Before they'd even finished eating, the two Chen brothers arrived. The household servant who had taken the pastries yesterday also came along, this time carrying a food box in his hand.

Seeing this servant, both Zhao Zhentang and Zhao Zhenxing greeted him. The servant found a place to sit outside, very close to the monkey's wooden perch. Zhao Jin had thought their family monkey would screech wildly or even try to scratch someone, but to his surprise, the monkey was very quiet.

"Back then, if that Chen Zhaocai had wanted to, he could have found a post in the government office too. But he'd served Chen Peng for so long, he didn't want to leave, so he just became a house steward," Zhao Zhentang said in a low voice, speaking for He Cuihua's benefit.