A Long River Myth

Two days later, in the West Wing.

Li Hong arrived at the martial arts hall just before he was late, rushing along the way.

Early in the morning, fifty or sixty disciples had already gathered in the courtyard.

Those who went to Huasong Mountain for training have all returned yesterday afternoon.

This training exercise can also be considered an assessment within the organization.

Aside from a dozen or so top talents like Shi Liang who could break through both the external and internal strength levels within a year.

No one dared to disregard these regular assessments within the hall, as they concerned their future prospects.

Li Hong found his usual spot in the courtyard and stopped.

He was unable to participate in this training exercise because he had been in the West Campus for less than two months, so it was naturally irrelevant to him.

However, I heard that there will be a corresponding assessment in the hall after January.

He had already figured it out in the last couple of days: he definitely needed to showcase his talent at the right time to gain some training and resources.

Having a power panel at your disposal, concealing your strength would actually hinder your progress in martial arts.

Just then, two disciples carrying long staffs walked over and said:

"Li Hong, Wang Ling, Yang Chen, the three of you are on duty guarding the courtyard today. Go and hand over the duties in a bit."

The disciples outside the West Courtyard are required to take turns guarding the courtyard and cleaning it every seven days.

The inner disciples do not need this; they can simply focus on practicing martial arts.

Two quarters of an hour later.

Outside the west gate, Li Hong stood upright, holding a long stick.

I never expected to transmigrate, and even as a martial arts expert, I still have to work as a gatekeeper.

Standing next to him was Yang Chen, one on each side, also holding a long stick.

Seeing that no one was around, the latter smiled and said:

"Li Hong, I heard... the Wu Clan Chamber of Commerce, Wang's Forging Shop, and the River Bureau all sent people today. Mainly to appoint the outstanding trainees from the recent training exercise to temporary positions. Tsk tsk... let's see which ones the head instructor recommends today!"

In the past month or so, he had been in the West Courtyard ever since he discovered that Li Hong seemed to have caught the eye of Shi Liang.

She then became attached to Li Hong, constantly showing concern and staying by his side, impossible to shake off.

Who do you think you would recommend?

Li Hong responded in a perfunctory manner.

However, he had already heard about Yang Chen's temporary posting.

The Martial Arts Hall regularly recommends outstanding disciples to forces outside the city and even to various government offices.

The recommended disciples can hold a position in these places, which is equivalent to a part-time job.

Occasionally, by doing some work for those forces, one can earn a decent monthly allowance.

This is to alleviate the financial burden on the temple and individual outstanding disciples.

After all, the martial arts training hall is not a martial arts school. It does not charge any tuition fees to its students, but instead has to pay them.

Some of the outstanding disciples may not even be as well-off as Li Hong.

The hall doesn't have many resources to train these people.

The imperial court's funding for this area was already limited, so the economic pressure was considerable...

"Beyond internal strength... Xu Qi and Zhang Gui performed exceptionally well in this training exercise, both being in the later stages of external strength development."

"Among the senior disciples of the inner stronghold... Huang Shan and Shi Liang, who previously received financial assistance from wealthy families in the outer city but have not yet been officially appointed, and who are both favored by Head Instructor Shen, are probably the two most likely candidates!"

Li Hong's casual remark immediately opened up a floodgate of conversation for Yang Chen:

"However, Li Hong, if you ever have the chance to be recommended for a temporary post in the future, you absolutely must not go to Wang's Forging Shop... It's too tiring and restrictive! The Outer City Escort Agency is also no good; they're notoriously stingy and dangerous. It would be best to go to the River Transport Bureau or the Armory; they're either easy jobs or lucrative positions!"

He started talking non-stop.

Since entering the West Courtyard, this kid has been hampered by his lack of talent.

He has realized that his dream of becoming a "martial arts performer" within a year and gaining prestige through internal strength training is completely out of the question.

However, he came from one of the top ten families in the outer city, so he was very open-minded.

People come to the martial arts hall to learn martial arts just to try their luck, even if they don't have any chance of success.

I didn't really care.

At worst, he can retire due to injury after a year and go home to continue living the life of a pampered young master.

"Li Hong... I was blind when you were in the East Courtyard. With your family background, you managed to get into the Outer Stronghold after only two months of hard work. Your talent is definitely not limited to this."

Yang Chen looked at Li Hong and spoke solemnly.

Since their time in the East Courtyard, Li Hong had spent quite a bit of time with him, so he naturally knew some details that others didn't.

After saying that, seeing that Li Hong did not respond, Yang Chen's eyes darted around and he said:

"If I were to give you five taels of silver every month... would you accept?"

His tone was full of probing, after all, he had teased and joked with Li Hong a lot back in the East Courtyard.

Later, for reasons unknown, Li Hong's personality changed drastically.

Moreover, now that he has come to the West Courtyard, the potential he has shown in such a short time is far greater than mine, so I am afraid that he will hold a grudge.

These past few days, while chatting with my family elders, we came up with this topic, and one of them advised me to provide Li Hong with appropriate financial assistance.

It's a way to eliminate any potential worries in advance, and it's also a good way to place a bet on it, so it's a win-win situation.

Li Hong, who had been seemingly lost in thought, turned his head in surprise to look at Yang Chen, as if he were meeting him for the first time.

This is unlike him. In my memory, although Yang Chen came from the Yang family of the outer city, he was just a child from a concubine's family.

He doesn't usually act like a spendthrift young master...

Could it be that it was instructed by his elders?

The original owner of this body naturally knew the details of the Yang family in the outer city when she was currying favor with them.

As one of the top ten families in the outer city, their trading business is doing very well, with four or five caravans that sell local specialties to neighboring prefectures and counties.

In a long-established merchant family, there are naturally many shrewd individuals within its ranks.

However, sponsoring him with five taels a month is already a lot for Li Hong at the moment, enough to cover the cost of ten days' worth of blood-regulating pills.

Since someone is willing to sponsor him and form this good relationship, how could Li Hong refuse?

A smile dispels old grudges.

What he lacks most right now is money... Blood-regulating pills, meat, every day he worries about money.

At least for now, this five taels is the only income he can openly access.

After thinking it over, Li Hong calmly nodded and replied, "Okay, I accept."

Yang Chen nodded and smiled, a satisfied look on his face, but before he could speak, he heard footsteps coming from inside the courtyard.

The two turned around at the same time and straightened their posture.

Several instructors from the martial arts hall stepped out of the door and walked down the steps, as if preparing to welcome someone.

Before long, Shen Hezhi, the head instructor of the hall, also arrived at the foot of the steps.

A few breaths later, a horse's neigh came from afar.

"Whoa!"

Outside the west gate of the martial arts hall, the outlines of several strong horses could be seen.

"They've arrived. That's the third manager of Wang's Blacksmith Shop... and Manager Lin from the Wu Clan Chamber of Commerce."

Standing by the arsenic stone under the gate, Yang Chen was quite bored, so he lowered his voice and introduced everything to Li Hong one by one:

"I don't recognize the person behind him; he's probably from the River Bureau..."

"Oh, it's a water-based fisherman... Huangshan and Shiliang are probably going to have a real fight today!"

Li Hongben was also bored and looked around in the direction of the sound. This was the first time he had seen the world since he transmigrated.

Those gangs on the outskirts of the city are, to be honest, no different from large-scale thugs and hooligans.

He hadn't really seen much of the upper class in the outer city, nor many of the powerful figures there.

Inside the martial arts hall, the head instructor, Shen Hezhi, who is over forty years old, is said to be only at the early stage of the Innate Realm.

He Song, an ordinary instructor, was only in the late stage of internal strength cultivation.

As for the patrol and inspection department, Liu Ming, the patrol and inspection commissioner who was seconded to assist him in the case last time, is probably on par with He Song.