Chapter 5. The Path of Martial Training
After the al, the nial servants went back to work.
Once they finished in this courtyard, they were sent off to other courtyards.
In any case, there was always enough work to keep a person from stopping even for a mont.
By the ti the moon hung bright and the stars had grown sparse, and all the martial instructors had settled in for the night,
the nial servants, who normally would already have been preparing to rest, were now all full of excitent as they flocked to the corners behind the room to practice.
The patrolling servants were aware of the situation as well.
After warning them not to disturb the martial instructors’ rest and not to neglect their daily work, they simply ignored them.
Over here, Xu Yuan went alone to a corner and looked at the panel in his mind.
[Na: Xu Yuan]
[Skill: Tai Chi Exercise (Small Success 1%) Stone Platform Stance Art (Beginner 2%)]
[Aptitude: 3 (Above Average)]
In truth, during practice at noon, Xu Yuan had already realized that although he had beco familiar with the routines of the stance art, there were still many obscure points he could not fully grasp.
On the other hand, so of the problems that troubled him had never appeared for Li Shan and Sun Rong at all.
That made it imdiately clear to him that differences in aptitude were indeed obvious.
Given the sa amount of ti, other people would face no obstruction at all, and their efficiency would naturally be higher than his.
“So martial training really cannot be separated from talent.”
Xu Yuan hated the pain of facing a problem he could not solve.
He thought it over in silence and decided to try the Tai Chi Exercise again to see which one had the lower early-stage difficulty, so that he could use it to break through the bottleneck of his aptitude first.
Then he straightened his posture like a pine or cypress.
At the sa ti, all the muscles in his body gradually relaxed without ever becoming lax.
His waist guided his hands, his lower stance remained firmly rooted, and his movents flowed like drifting clouds and kneading rain, holding the core and preserving the circle.
So it went, over and over again.
After a full two hours had passed, Xu Yuan finally lifted his head to look at the panel.
[Na: Xu Yuan]
[Skill: Tai Chi Exercise (Small Success 6%) Stone Platform Stance Art (Beginner 2%)]
[Aptitude: 3 (Above Average)]
“The Tai Chi Exercise really are easier after all, and the efficiency is clearly much higher.”
Xu Yuan’s eyes lit up at once, and he imdiately found a path for his martial training.
From now on, every day at the hour of Si, he would continue steadily consolidating the stance art.
At night, he would practice the Tai Chi Exercise and strive to improve his aptitude as soon as possible, so that it could in turn nourish his progress in the stance art.
“That’s what I’ll do!”
Xu Yuan practiced the boxing exercises a while longer.
Only after a layer of hot sweat seeped out over his body did he lift his head and look up into the sky.
The bright moon, round as a silver plate, had already been bitten halfway through by dark clouds, and the clear radiance it cast had dimd considerably.
Among the nial servants around him, aside from a few who were still gritting their teeth and enduring, most had already gone back inside to rest.
And among them was soone Xu Yuan recognized.
It was Xiao Sheng, the very one who had earlier suffered punishnt.
He shared the sa dormitory with Xu Yuan, was usually taciturn, and rarely interacted with others, yet at this mont he was still practicing bitterly on his own.
“Forget it. I still have to work early tomorrow morning. Going too far is no good either.”
Xu Yuan shook his head, went over to the water vat, took a cloth and washed it clean, then quickly wiped the gri from his body before returning to the room.
Not long afterward, he sank into deep sleep.
The next day,
the nial servants rose as usual and began bustling about before the morning dew had even dried.
This ti, quite a few of them had clearly put so thought into it.
They ladled themselves great full bowls of thin gruel, and even spread the salty diced vegetables over the top until they covered the surface.
Several large bowls went down in a row, and only when they were so bloated it hurt did they put down their chopsticks.
When Fatty Wang saw this, he gave them a fierce scolding.
“You worthless skins, aren’t you afraid of stuffing yourselves to death?”
“You can’t get your hands on fresh peaches, so you fill yourselves up on rotten apricots instead!”
No one paid much attention to him.
Yesterday’s martial practice had drained them too severely, and the empty feeling in their bellies was miserable, so of course they had to eat more in the morning.
After all, aside from thin gruel and pickled vegetables, they had nothing else to eat for breakfast.
But soon, sothing else happened.
A servant ca over to inspect the nial servants’ work.
He wiped his hand beneath the eaves and ca away with quite a bit of dust on his fingers.
At once, he burst into curses and flung out a loud slap.
“You idiot, nothing ever went wrong before, so what exactly did you clean this ti?”
“If there’s a next ti, watch dock your als!”
The nial servant, with dark circles under his eyes and a clear handprint stamped across his face, did not dare make a sound.
He silently stepped forward and carefully wiped away the dust.
He had practiced too long the night before, and after lying down for only a short while, he had already had to get up and work.
His body was truly exhausted, and he had carelessly overlooked one spot.
But the servant was still not done.
He turned and coldly lectured all the nial servants.
“I don’t care how you practice martial arts at night, but during the day your work had better be done properly. Otherwise, watch your hides!”
Everyone’s heart tightened.
Their hands moved even faster, and the few nial servants who had also stayed up through most of the night widened their eyes, terrified of missing anything.
Xu Yuan, however, could see it clearly.
If it were not because the nial servants were currently practicing martial arts and still had one possible chance to change their fate,
this servant would never have let the matter end with just a single slap.
When all was said and done, nial servants had neither human rights nor dignity.
They were nothing more than cheap property within the great estate.
Even the servants one rank above them could handle them however they pleased.
Not until the hour of Si (9:00 AM)
did Feng Xiao arrive in the rear courtyard on ti and teach the nial servants about the ridians, the acupoints, and the first of the Eight ridians, the Ren ridian.
Then he led everyone through one full round of the stance art, briefly answered a few questions, told them to practice on their own, and strolled away.
The others learned in a half-understood haze and still harbored so resentnt over it.
But after speaking with Li Shan, Xu Yuan understood the matter clearly.
The martial instructors’ monthly pay was divided into two parts.
One was a base salary, while the other was performance pay.
Teaching the students in the front courtyard and teaching the nial servants in the rear courtyard both only earned them a fixed monthly salary.
Only if soone managed to break through to the First ridian would they receive additional rewards.
And in their eyes, the nial servants were obviously far less likely to break through than the martial students.
Since they were still willing not to hold anything back and to teach properly according to their duty, that was already not bad.
As for any extra personal coaching?
They could forget it.
In the courtyard,
the three of them gathered together once more to practice.
And during their conversation, Xu Yuan finally asked a question that had troubled him for quite so ti.
“Brother Xu, are you asking why, when there are so many maids in the side courtyard, only a few of us ca here?”
Sun Rong’s voice was crisp and clear.
Yet when she heard the question, her smile turned sowhat complicated.
“What you don’t know is that maids and nial servants are a little different. Because of their position and their gender, maids have an easier ti becoming familiar with the noble people in the inner court, so their rate of promotion is sowhat faster.”
“For example, Instructor Feng signed a contract with the Shangyang family, so he belongs to the Shangyang family now. He is at the Second ridian, so he counts as a two-striped retainer.”
“As for the maids, sotis all they need is to catch the eye of a noble master once, and they can beco second-rank maids. Although their status is still slightly lower, the benefits they receive are not few, so...”
By the ti she reached this point, Xu Yuan understood.
He had previously found it strange that, despite this being a chance to change one’s fate, only a few maids had co.
So that was the reason.
Because they often served the Shangyang family mbers in the inner court, if they did their work well and occasionally offered a few thoughtful words, they might be promoted directly.
Naturally, they had no need to co here and suffer through martial training.
Put bluntly, the two sides were pursuing entirely different paths of advancent.
“Then Sister Sun is quite a strong-willed person after all.”
Li Shan gave her cheerful praise.
Sun Rong shot him an annoyed glance.
“That is only natural. In all things, having ability of one’s own gives more confidence than anything else.”
“I’m not as generous as Brother Li, casually scattering away such a precious opportunity for nothing.”
“Uh...”
Li Shan froze.
He felt that her words seed to carry barbs and hidden jabs, and just as he was about to defend himself, several nial servants suddenly ran over to ask him for guidance.
Unable to refuse them, he could only go over and carefully point out what mistakes they had made in their movents.
Seeing this, Sun Rong shook her head, but said nothing more about him.
Instead, she turned back to Xu Yuan with a smile.
“Brother Xu, let’s keep practicing together.”
Xu Yuan nodded.
So things only needed to be said once as a reminder.
There was no need to force himself into other people’s cause and effect.
At tis like this, the only thing to do was respect fate.
Ti passed quickly amid the tedious practice.
By the ti the hour of Si ended,
Xu Yuan noticed that the nial servants who had stuffed themselves with several bowls of thin gruel that morning now looked pale.
They were all clenching their thighs as they ran back and forth to the latrine several tis.
The sight made the others laugh despite themselves, mocking them for barely practicing martial arts at all before spending all their ti opening the floodgates and draining water instead.
At this, Xu Yuan could only shake his head helplessly.
That morning gruel had only had a few grains of rice in it to begin with.
No matter how much they drank, once they relieved themselves, it would all co right back out again.
What use was it?
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