Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Entering the County Town; Li Lu’s Doubts
Cheng Guanghai slowly approached his son. He looked at his three nephews and nieces and asked with a grave expression,
"What happened with your second uncle?"
Cheng Zongyang told the three to go join the other children, then explained the general situation to the elders who had gathered around.
When they heard about the trouble in the city, their expressions turned serious. They were also sowhat relieved that they hadn’t moved into the city.
With this suspected plague, even the slightest infection could be fatal.
Cheng Zongyang then said,
"I don’t know the full details yet. I’m going into the County Town this afternoon to check on the situation. I might have to stay there for a day or two, but I’ll bring Second Uncle and Second Aunt back as soon as I can. Our things are at the foot of the mountain; I’ll go get them."
His maternal uncles offered to help, but Cheng Zongyang stopped them.
He then spent about half an hour outside before going to the summit to retrieve all their belongings.
Only then did he call for help to move everything to their new living quarters.
He left the task of organizing their belongings to the others. Cheng Zongyang, anwhile, took out the remaining four packs of Insect Repellent dicine and sprinkled the contents evenly around their current living area.
For now, the priority was to build shelters. They had food on hand, so that wasn’t an urgent concern. Farming would be a matter for the future.
Cheng Zongyang needed to go to the County Town to handle so business, but he had to get things settled here first.
With a person as strong as Cheng Zongyang joining the work, he took on most of the heavy lifting.
This saved the others a great deal of ti.
When the ti was right, Cheng Zongyang left the mountain and headed for the County Town.
He ran the whole way, needing to get inside the County Town before the gates closed.
As he neared the County Town, Cheng Zongyang took out two strips of black cloth and tied them over his mouth and nose.
While this thod offered little real protection, it was a small psychological comfort.
He avoided contact with the refugees and passed through the inspection to enter the city.
Without breaking stride, he wiped the sweat from his brow and continued toward South City.
Whether because of the lateness of the hour or the plague, the County Town’s streets were nearly empty, far quieter than usual. The atmosphere was desolate.
As a commoner, even one who had Just Entered the Grade as a Martial Artist, he had no way of knowing the sches of the powerful Noble Races in the County Town.
All he wanted now was to settle his family in the mountains to get through this difficult ti. He would make other plans once things stabilized.
He soon arrived at the back door of the dical hall in South City.
A mont later, Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family opened the door. She was overjoyed to see her nephew. "Co in, quickly! Have you eaten? I’ll go cook for you right now. I was so busy packing that I lost track of ti," she said, closing the door.
Cheng Zongyang didn’t stop her. He really hadn’t eaten—not even lunch. He smiled and said,
"Then please make a little extra. By the way, where does that Li Lu live? I’m planning to pay him a visit."
After closing the door, Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family said as she walked inside, "I’ll take you to him after you’ve eaten."
But Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "No, Second Aunt. You stay here and keep packing. As soon as I get Second Uncle, we’re leaving the County Town imdiately. Be ready to go at a mont’s notice. Just leave whatever you can’t carry. I’ll co back for it later."
Hearing this, Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family couldn’t help but ask, "Yang’Er, are you sure you can do it?"
Cheng Zongyang shook his head slightly. "I have to try. I need to see Second Uncle."
"Alright."
After eating, Cheng Zongyang thought for a mont, then grabbed a brush and paper from the dical hall and wrote down all the dicinal Materials required for a prescription.
It was the Foundation Establishnt dicine Recipe. He wanted to test its effects and would take the ingredients with him when he left.
The recipe called for thirty-seven different dicinal Materials. Not only was the list extensive, but the timing for adding each ingredient and their brewing tis also varied.
A single mistake in the sequence would ruin the entire batch of dicine.
After finishing the first one, he wrote down a second recipe for a dicinal bath to aid the Cultivation of a Ninth Grade Martial Artist.
He handed the written recipes to his second aunt, then left the dical hall and headed for the address she had given him.
South City, 133 Hu Dong Third Lane.
After returning to the city, Li Lu had stayed ho, not venturing out.
He was thinking about Cheng Zongyang.
On the journey, he had learned so general details about the Cheng Family from Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family.
Although Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family hadn’t answered so questions directly, he could tell that what he had seen with his own eyes was completely different from what he’d heard from her.
’Either Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family is hiding sothing and lying, or she has no idea that the boy, Cheng Zongyang, is an Entry Grade Martial Artist!’
’How could an ordinary farr’s son possibly beco a Martial Artist?’
’It wasn’t that he looked down on people—it was just that it was nearly impossible!’
’First of all, Martial Arts Training requires money!’
’Putting aside the apprenticeship fees, just the cost of the dicines needed to recover and condition the body after training was far beyond what a farming family could afford.’
’Even for , a governnt official with various sources of inco, both on and off the books, it was barely enough after covering household expenses. I certainly didn’t dare to spend it recklessly.’
’I only started my own Martial Arts Training four or five years ago, after I beca a governnt official.’
’And even after all this ti, my age ans my blood and qi are insufficient to nourish my entire body, so I’m still a long way from reaching Entry Grade.’
’Unless... his second uncle has been supplying him with all the dicinal Materials for free.’
’Second, his physique.’
’A person’s physical Basic is very important.’
’In the past two years, the common folk have barely had half a belly of food. Most are just struggling to stay alive.’
’Eating one’s fill is out of the question.’
’But for a farr’s son to be able to just barely eat his fill would already put him above most people, let alone eating well.’
’A Martial Arts Training practitioner must eat well. Grains, at, and vegetables are all essential to replenish what’s consud during training.’
’Especially at!’
’It’s the primary food for replenishing the body.’
’Even if not every day, you’d need a al with two or three pounds of at every other day just to barely keep up with the body’s consumption of qi and blood.’
’Unless he goes hunting every day and is always successful.’
’And yet, the more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. Was it really so impossible?’
’If you take away the apprenticeship fee, his second uncle could supply the dicine, and he could hunt in the mountains for at. If that’s the case, what’s the problem?’
’But then again, sothing still felt off.’
’The only real obstacle would be the low probability of successfully hunting for at.’
’A farr’s son becoming a Martial Artist is an extrely rare occurrence.’
’And yet, it seed that Cheng Zongyang might have actually pulled it off.’
’It wasn’t unheard of for ordinary families to pool all their resources to support one child with exceptional Talent and a promising future.’
’This ant sacrificing the interests of the rest of the family to focus everything on that one promising, talented child.’
’Once that child was successfully cultivated, they could repay the family’s investnt. From that perspective, Cheng Zongyang’s situation almost made sense.’
’Scholars were the most common example of this.’
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...
Suddenly, a steady knocking at the door interrupted Li Lu’s thoughts.
Li Lu rose and walked out of the main hall, wondering who could be visiting.
’His wife had gone to their son’s house to take care of so things and likely wouldn’t be back for dinner. His colleagues wouldn’t normally visit at this hour. And as for the neighbors... it was dinnerti, so no one would be dropping by.’
Puzzled, he went to the courtyard gate and opened it, only to see a face that was both familiar and yet strange.
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