章 23: Chapter 23 Three Fellow Townsmen_1
Chen Jiechang turned his head at the sound and scoffed when he saw Li Libo, "How could it not be me? If you can come, why can't I?"
"Hey, looking for trouble, are you?" Li Libo rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach Chen Jiechang a lesson.
Xiang Changsong stepped between the two, smiling, "You two seem to have a good relationship."
"Who has a good relationship with him? *2"
Liang Qu scratched his head on the side, Chen Jiechang, he also had an impression of this person.
There weren't a few people in Yixing City, with over a thousand inhabitants, half of whom were from fishing families. Among the peers, there were only dozens, Li Libo was one of them, and so was Chen Jiechang; they saw each other often and knew each other well.
Liang Qu was about fifteen or sixteen years old, Li Libo seventeen or eighteen, and as for Chen Jiechang, he was even older, close to nineteen or twenty.
Compared to Li Libo, who had two older brothers and had developed a bit of a lazy streak, Chen Jiechang only had a sister, and he himself was known as a great fisherman, earning over a hundred wen a day, which was nearly the same as what Liang Qu was now making.
Chen Jiechang didn't have a golden finger; it was all due to his own real skills.
Xiang Changsong said, "In the past, it wasn't that no one from Yixing City came here, but it is quite rare to have three at the same time. Since you all know each other, I'll leave the following matters to Junior Brother Liang and Junior Brother Li."
Liang Qu nodded, "Okay."
"Brother Jie."
"Ashui."
Chen Jiechang nodded his head, obviously with a better attitude than he had with Li Libo, and his decision to learn martial arts did indeed have something to do with Liang Qu.
The day the two of them caught the Treasure Fish together, Chen Jiechang was completely overshadowed by Liang Qu. They were both young and naturally felt aggrieved, feeling like their limelight was stolen for no reason.
But on the day of the autumn tax, Chen Jiechang witnessed Liang Qu's actions first-hand, and his resentment turned into admiration.
To be fair, if it were him, he definitely wouldn't be willing to spare that one stone of rice, and then he heard that Liang Qu had gone to learn martial arts...
Chen Jiechang had made quite a bit of money from selling the Treasure Fish, and added to his savings, he had a fair amount left over even after paying the autumn tax, so he was also motivated to carve a way out for himself.
A moment later, Lu Shaohui came back and learned that he had one more student, also from Yixing City, his brow furrowed once again, but quickly returned to calm.
Chen Jiechang sensed that something was not right, and what followed confirmed this. If it hadn't been for Liang Qu and Li Libo pointing out mistakes, he wouldn't have known if his Pile Exercises were correct.
Before coming, he had thought about the possibility of discrimination due to the low status of fishermen, but he had not expected it to be this severe.
If it hadn't been for Liang Qu and Li Libo's solid foundation under the guidance of Martial Artist Hu Qi, they wouldn't have been able to replace the instruction and he probably wouldn't have learned a few good exercises in an entire day.
If it wasn't for Liang Qu saying that they could rely on Martial Artist Hu Qi, Chen Jiechang would have almost lost his patience.
Liang Qu consoled him, "Just bear with it a little longer, I'll finish learning Crane Fist soon and then I can teach you."
Some of the Pile Exercises in the Three-Fist Technique were the same or similar, only about one-third were significantly different. With a foundation in place, learning would be fast.
Having learned Tiger Fist yesterday and this morning, Liang Qu estimated he would complete Crane Fist by tomorrow.
Chen Jiechang took a deep breath to quell his irritation, "Thanks, Ashui."
"No big deal, there are just the three of us from our hometown in the Martial Arts School, we naturally have to help each other out."
Li Libo snorted, "Why don't you thank me too? I taught you just now, didn't I?"
"You? Heh."
"?"
...
"You're saying that kid went to learn martial arts?"
In the courtyard, dressed in white brocade, Zheng Xiang circled the peach tree repeatedly, the withering leaves falling around him, betraying his unsettled mind.
Next to him, a servant boy in hemp clothes bowed and said, "Yes, I have been following him for many days now, and that youngster surnamed Liang, for some reason, seems to have suddenly had an epiphany. His fishing skills have been getting increasingly more impressive.
About half a month ago, he actually caught a treasure fish called Bull Horn Pomfret and sold it for six taels and fifty coins of silver, then went to the Yang Family Martial Arts School to learn martial arts. Martial Master Hu there said he has a good foundation, and now it's been over ten days."
"The Yang Family Martial Arts School? Third Young Master is also studying martial arts there, right?"
"Yes," the servant boy paused, "Oh, and there's one more thing. A few days ago, during the autumn taxes, a fisherman named Chen Qingjiang owed seven dou of rice and was nearly sent to Lanzhou to dig canals. That youngster made up for it by paying three dou of rice and six coins of silver. Inquiring about it, I heard it was because Chen Qingjiang had previously given that youngster a baked bun and a few pounds of grain."
Zheng Xiang was somewhat surprised, then squinted and sneered coldly, "A baked bun and a few pounds of grain in exchange for a stone of fine rice, I would like to do such a profitable business myself."
The young servant Aquan remained silent.
Zheng Xiang circled the peach tree once more, then suddenly cursed, "That Lin is truly hateful, sending me away for over a month for nothing, vile creature!"
Zhao Manor had a total of two housekeepers, with Lin Guiyong as the head housekeeper and Zheng Xiang as the second.
Zheng Xiang was actually not originally a housekeeper but a domestic servant raised by the manor. Because he was quick-witted and handled matters smoothly, he gradually became the second housekeeper of the manor.
Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes.
The head housekeeper Lin Guiyong would never watch Zheng Xiang rise without a challenge, threatening his own position. Therefore, there were often frictions between the two, and the competition was unending.
Zheng Xiang thought of every way possible to please Old Master Zhao. Liang Qu was one of his methods, but before he could succeed, just before Old Master Zhao's 64th birthday, the head housekeeper devised a way to send him out to handle affairs for the second young master in Yellow State.
By the time he returned, more than a month had passed, not only missing the valuable opportunity to show his face on the birthday, but also having to hurriedly delegate his congratulatory gift to be presented by his subordinates.
Although the second young master was very happy and praised him for handling affairs well, the one in charge of the household was not the second young master, let alone the fact that there was a first young master above the second.
It wasn't until Zheng Xiang remembered there was a handsome and capable youngster in Yixing City, that he could pull strings with, when he heard from the servant boy that the youngster had gone to study martial arts, making him extremely frustrated.
Martial Master Yang highly cherished his reputation, so if any martial students were to have an accident during their study, the Yang Family Martial Arts School would surely investigate, even if it was just for show.
If Zheng Xiang were to force a transaction, there was bound to be trouble.
Zheng Xiang wondered why a person Scabby Zhang claimed was nearly starving to death could undergo such a drastic change.
Could it really be what people say about having an epiphany?
Zheng Xiang was somewhat incredulous yet found himself forced to believe.
At this point, rash action was out of the question. No one in Pingyang Town would dare to provoke Zhao Manor, but that was Zhao Manor, belonging to Old Master Zhao, the first young master, the second young master, and the third young master, not him!
He still had to climb higher!
Bullying a youngster was a trivial matter, and causing a small disturbance was also a trivial matter, but ruining Zhao Manor's "toilet paper" because of his own actions was a serious issue!
If word reached Old Master Zhao, he could forget about ever replacing Lin Guiyong to become the head housekeeper of Zhao Manor!
Being cautious and treading on thin ice was the life motto of Zheng Xiang.
"Right, what about Scabby Zhang?"
"Haven't seen him since last time, probably too ashamed to face you."
"A waste of an opportunity," Zheng Xiang cursed again, then suddenly asked after a long pause, "Aquan, have there been any commoners from Pingyang Town who made a name for themselves in martial arts?"
"This... there have been some," Aquan replied with an awkward smile. "Haven't heard about the other two schools, but the Yang Family Martial Arts School has been open for over ten years. They've produced a few commoner martial artists who broke through the ranks, but definitely no more than thirty."
"And how many commoners have entered the Yang Family Martial Arts School over these ten years?"
After quickly calculating, Aquan said, "Five or six each month, over ten years... nearly a thousand."
"Nearly a thousand? Heh, then let's just wait patiently for a couple of months."
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