Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

Lin Yuan practiced static stance for a long time that afternoon, and suddenly found that the duration of static stance was much shorter than in the morning.

Whenever the situation becomes unbearable, I can manage to hold on in the morning, but I simply can't hold on in the afternoon.

Not only did he feel this way, but Zhao Sheng felt the same way.

Is he asking for a beating?

Impossible, absolutely impossible. It must be because I was too lazy.

The two practiced until the very end, but they were exhausted and had lost their initial enthusiasm. After dawdling for a while, it was almost time, so they went their separate ways.

Before parting, Lin Yuan instructed Zhao Sheng: "If there are any murders in the village in the future, come and inform me. I will help you and the village chief solve the cases. If it is a family that has died, you can also tell me. I know a little about reasoning and can see if there is any injustice."

"Alright, I'll talk to my uncle about it later!" Zhao Sheng's face immediately lit up with a smile. He greatly admired Lin Yuan's talent in this area, especially since he was a witness to Manager Zhang's case.

According to his uncle Li Shi, scholars are cunning and know how to scheme against others, which is why they are sought out for solving cases.

"Well, ask Tingzuo when he'll be free. I'll invite him to a small gathering at Chunfeng Tower to thank him for introducing me to martial arts. You should come too." Lin Yuan found an excuse to give Li Shi some instructions in person so he could quickly make contact with the ghosts of the wealthy and start his money-making business.

"Uncle, we need to be careful with this money. We'll need to buy medicinal cuisine later." Zhao Sheng was worried that he didn't have enough money. A meal at Chunfeng Restaurant wasn't cheap. If it weren't for the fact that the pavilion could reimburse the bill, even Li Shi wouldn't dare to eat too much.

"We must save where we can, but we can't skimp on what we need to spend." Lin Yuan didn't care; he was spending a little money to make a lot of money.

As he spoke, Lin Yuan took out one tael and five mace of silver from the house and paid off the debt from the morning.

"Okay." Zhao Sheng took the silver and nodded.

……

In the evening, Lin Yuan planned to brew medicine. According to his previous agreement with Manager Huang, he could not use the kitchen without permission.

The gatekeeper said, "Young Master Lin, this medicine must be boiled in a medicine pot, not an iron one. If you need firewood, just go to the woodshed and get some. It won't take much to boil a little medicine anyway. I'll talk to the manager later, and you can pay him for the firewood. But be careful with the fire, don't burn the house down..."

He felt it was unlucky to talk about it at the end, so he gave an awkward laugh.

"Thank you very much, young man! Please rest assured, I will be careful with fire!"

So Lin Yuan went to the street again and bought a medicine pot and a small clay stove, and his eight qian of silver were gone again.

After thinking for a moment, he ran to the dock, found the older brother who was carrying sacks, and briefly explained his plan to learn martial arts at the martial arts school.

The older brother was shocked: "That must cost a lot of money!"

Lin Yuan pursed his lips slightly and briefly recounted how he had helped Li Shi and received some money: "Li Tingzuo recommended me for the job, it didn't cost me anything... Tomorrow, bring me some firewood so I can brew the medicine."

The older brother finally breathed a sigh of relief: "That's easy, I'll bring you a load tomorrow, and I'll bring you more when you've used them up."

Lin Yuan brought up the matter of renting a house again. He hadn't mentioned it before, only saying that the teacher valued him and that he would be eating and living at the school from now on, so his family wouldn't need to send money and salted fish rice anymore: "Don't pick too much, there's no room there."

Yes, he could barely eat the salted fish rice, and he hadn't worn his tattered clothes in a long time.

"Erlu, this is no small sum of money. Why spend it like this? Why not save it to get a wife?"

The older brother wiped the sweat from his face with an old burlap towel. He would have to carry burlap sacks for a month or two to pay the rent. Even though it was paid by someone else, this was too big a step!

He was already somewhat confused, worried that his younger brother would go astray, yet hoping that his brother could succeed, but he was powerless to support him.

This sense of powerlessness left the patriarch looking somewhat lost.

He suddenly remembered his father saying that no one should have excessive strength.

"Brother, you don't need to worry about me. I'll handle it myself. Once I've made something of myself, I'll find you another way to make things better for you both. You know I've never done anything without a certainty since I was young, so please understand me now." With that, Lin Yuan bowed to him.

The older brother lightly slapped his arm, laughing and scolding, "Erlu, what are you saying? You're my brother, of course I'll help you!"

After the two finished speaking, Lin Yuan left. The elder brother stared at his younger brother's retreating figure, admiring his handsome martial arts attire, and couldn't help but stare blankly for a while.

Just then, Foreman Wu came over and inquired, "Big Donkey! Is that your younger brother, Second Donkey? Oh my, I almost didn't recognize him! He's changed so much. He looks really handsome in that martial arts uniform. Did he go to learn martial arts?"

"Li Tingzuo recommended him to study martial arts at the Li family's martial arts hall..." The elder brother's sense of powerlessness had not yet subsided, so he was in low spirits, but he made a point of mentioning the key people and things.

"Ah? Li Tingzuo? The Li Family Martial Arts School?" Foreman Wu was startled three times in a row, then his face lit up with joy. He put his arm around Li Tingzuo's shoulder and said, "I told you before that your brother was promising! And look at this, he's even connected with Li Tingzuo. This is incredible! Your brother is studying and practicing martial arts at the same time. Your family is going to be rich. Just wait and enjoy the good life!"

"Why are you still unhappy?" Foreman Wu was puzzled by his lack of enthusiasm and thought he was deliberately expressing his dissatisfaction. "Don't complain about the heavy work I gave you. There are too many monks and not enough porridge, how can we share it all? Alright, since you've always been able to endure hardship, you can go to the merchant ship of the Li family. It's full of medicinal herbs, the work is lighter, and the wages are higher."

"Thank you, Angkor!" The elder brother was honest but not stupid; he possessed the unique wisdom of the countryside.

"Hey, we're all brothers."

……

The next day, before dawn.

Lin Yuan heard the gatekeeper knocking and calling out; it turned out that his elder brother had come carrying a load of firewood.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and saw his older brother: "Why are you here so early? It's not even dawn yet! How can you see when you walk in the dark?"

"The moon's been shining bright these past few days!" the elder brother whispered, adding, "I came early because I was worried the firewood guild would see us, otherwise we'd have to pay the firewood tax. Anyway, it's just family burning firewood, so I'm not afraid of you reporting us."

Lin Yuan was amused by his older brother and led him to place the firewood in the corner of the front yard. His older brother was skilled at farm work and quickly piled the firewood up neatly and attractively.

"Brother, has this firewood been chopped?" Lin Yuan noticed that the firewood usually sold to the firewood gang was not chopped, but only cut into long sections.

"When Father heard you were brewing medicine, he said that the small clay stove couldn't burn enough firewood, so he chopped it into smaller pieces overnight and split it open to make it easier for you to start a fire." The older brother wiped the sweat from his brow with an old hemp towel and handed a large package to his younger brother. "Your sister-in-law said you like pickled radishes, so she pickled a lot for you. Here, take this."

Lin Yuan reluctantly accepted it. Actually, he didn't like this food. He had only said, "I haven't finished eating the one I brought last time," in order to cover up the wine jar with the pickled vegetable jar.

"It's alright, take your time eating. If you can't finish it, give it to your classmates. You can't always eat other people's food; you have to maintain good relationships with them." The older brother smiled kindly.

Lin Yuan's fellow apprentices were not from ordinary families, so they wouldn't consider this little bit of pickled vegetables a dish. However, he said happily, "Then please thank my elder sister for me. Your cooking skills are unparalleled."

The eldest brother and sister-in-law, Zhou, were first cousins. The sister-in-law was also Lin Yuan's first cousin, so he had been calling her "sister" since childhood.

"No need for thanks, we're family. You scholars are always so polite." The elder brother didn't seem to mind. Seeing that the servant hadn't followed, he immediately pulled a purse from his pocket. "Erlu, take this!"

Lin Yuan recognized it as his sister-in-law's wallet: "Brother, why did you steal my sister's secret stash of money?"

He touched the silver in his hand, weighed it in his hand, and found it to be about five taels of silver. He asked doubtfully, "Brother, we don't have that much money at home."

This spring, in order to pursue his studies, he secretly searched through all the places where he hid his money at home several times, only to come to one conclusion: he was dirt poor!

With years of severe flooding, even the landlords in the village had no surplus grain, and the Lin family had long been drained by taxes and corvée labor. It was already a miracle that they hadn't fled to the mountains like others.

His five taels of silver tuition fee was borrowed from his father after he begged him.

As for who to borrow from, it was only his sister-in-law's family, that is, his aunt's family, Zhou.

As for other families, who are not related to them? Who would lend them five taels of silver, and who would dare to lend it?

It's obvious that this was borrowed from my aunt's family.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" the older brother whispered. "I told Father that this was originally your tuition fee for next year, so it's being given to you in advance. That's all the family can do; from now on, you'll have to rely on yourself. Sigh..."

The elder brother spoke in a desolate tone, letting out a long, helpless sigh.

"Brother, take it back. The family still has to pay the autumn tax!" Lin Yuan pushed the purse back. "I have my own way of making money now, so I can't help the family for the time being. I can barely support myself."

"Take it, let's go!" The older brother was a little angry, picked up the carrying pole and left.

Seeing his elder brother flee as if he were running away, Lin Yuan didn't chase after him and sighed.