Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

Chapter 86 Don't Worry About Having No Friends on the Road Ahead

In the following days, Liu Jingtian seemed to have lost his passion for martial arts and stopped getting up early to practice.

At noon, he invited the two to go to a restaurant for drinks, but Lin Yuan refused. So he went to find Brother Wang and the others, and spent the afternoon playing cards and having fun with them.

Liu Jingtian would avoid sparring with Lin Yuan whenever possible, and would even deliberately avoid it.

Lin Yuan understood that he did not want to continue teaching the Gao family snake fist, so he did not force him.

We are all mature people, each taking what we need. There's no need to pry. If we get along, we'll stay together; if not, we'll stay apart.

Perhaps because he couldn't bring himself to refuse, Liu Jingtian specifically sought out a job guarding the mansion, thus receiving an extra monthly salary.

The shifts were from morning to night, so he had a legitimate excuse and stopped avoiding the two men, and started talking to them again.

But Wu Yong completely ignored him.

Lin Yuan didn't care or pay attention to him. Anyway, he had learned most of the Gao family snake fist. Although it wasn't complete, it was enough. The important thing was that with this inheritance, he had an excuse to use the snake intent fist.

Over the next few days, he and Wu Yong continued to immerse themselves in the world of martial arts, oblivious to everything else, focusing solely on the autumn competition.

Before long, the heat of summer had passed, and Master Xu was about to embark on a long journey.

Before dawn, Lin Yuan set off early to return to his hometown alone to see his family off. He even asked Wu Yong to help him choose a gift. On Wu Yong's advice, he bought an abacus made of boxwood and inlaid with gold wire. It wasn't expensive, only a few dozen taels of silver, but the sentiment was what mattered. He also had a short farewell poem specially engraved on it.

Back in town, we first went to the south end of town, to the secluded little courtyard that Li Shi had given us. It was a bit deserted and indeed a bit remote. The courtyard wasn't big either, and it was all thatched huts.

Fortunately, the house wasn't expensive, so Li Shi didn't have to spend any money.

The gate to the courtyard was open, and the eldest brother was chopping firewood in the yard, while smoke curled from the kitchen.

"Big brother, where's Dali? Call him here!"

"Dali is inside, I'll go call him." The older brother shouted as soon as he saw his younger brother was happy.

The eldest sister-in-law came out first. She poked her head out of the kitchen, her face beaming with joy, and ran over: "Erlu is back."

Go back inside and rest; dinner will be ready soon.

"Sister, I have to go see my mentor off, and I'll take Dali with me." Lin Yuan didn't want to chat with her.

But she couldn't help but share: "Erlv, thanks to you this time. Dali's marriage is settled; she's Zhao Budao's cousin—"

"That's good." Lin Yuan nodded, not minding at all, and casually advised, "In the future, you should visit Madam Li Shi more often; she has influence in the Zhao family."

"Mmm-hmm." The eldest sister-in-law nodded vigorously, unable to resist continuing to share, "Our family has taken over a shop. Zhao the constable wants us to open a tea and snack shop, saying that we'll handle all the business at the docks—"

Lin Yuan instructed, "Don't shortchange people on their due gifts, and only earn what you're entitled to. I'll invite Hu Cai and Zhao Sheng for a drink later; if you need anything, just ask them."

"Yes, that's what Father said too—"

At this moment, Zhou Dali came out wearing a long gown, carrying something in his hand, which was carefully wrapped, clearly a gift.

Lin Yuan asked with a smile, "Did you prepare this yourself?"

"My classmates all prepared, so I just bought it too," Dali chuckled.

"Let's go." Lin Yuan said and left, but his elder brother and sister-in-law kept following him. He had no choice but to turn back and persuade them, "You two don't need to see us off. We'll be back later."

The older brother instructed, "Then you two go to the teahouse at the dock. Your sister-in-law and I will go to the dock later."

"it is good."

Lin Yuan brought Zhou Dali to the Xu family.

Many people from the Xu family came to see him off in the morning, numbering in the dozens. Li Shi and Hu Cai also came.

Lin Yuan led Zhou Dali into the back hall, where there were fewer people. The teacher accepted the gift but did not open it in front of everyone. He said a few words of encouragement with satisfaction.

Because of the many people coming and going, the master and apprentice could not have private conversations; everything was understood without words.

When everyone saw Master Xu off at the dock, there were still over a hundred people waiting there to see him off. Most of them were students that Master Xu had taught, and Lin Yuan had never seen most of them before.

This visual impact suddenly reminded Lin Yuan of the great scholar Ma Xuan, who taught without discrimination, had three thousand disciples, and was greeted by thousands of students wherever he went.

I also understand why Master Xu didn't work as a tutor at the Li family's ancestral school, but instead ran a private school, charging students only five taels of silver, never asking about their background, and even selecting one or two capable students from the lower classes to give them a way out.

Only these students from the middle and lower classes will appreciate his teachings and spontaneously support him.

It turns out that the principle of "education for all" has such a powerful impact in this world.

No wonder Lu Zhi of Fanyang was able to enter the Confucius Temple; he really accepts all sorts of people—Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan—

This kind of influence meant that even the Li family had to give them some face. At this time, Li Xiangzheng and the third steward, Li Zhou, both came to see them off in person.

Master Xu bid a reluctant farewell to everyone before boarding the ship and setting sail. Once the dock disappeared from sight, he returned to his cabin, took out an abacus, stroked the gold threads on it, and squinted at the small characters engraved on it: "Do not worry about having no friends on the road ahead, for who in the world does not know you?"

"OK!"

He read it three times in a row and praised it three times.

At the dock, Lin Yuan saw off Master Xu, and then arranged to meet Li Shi, Hu Cai, and others at Chunfeng Tower at noon before parting ways with them again.

He took some time to visit the tea and snack shop run by his elder brother and sister-in-law at the dock. The shop had three side by side, with a second floor upstairs, and a shed and tables set up outside. At this time, many people who had come to see him off came over to drink tea and chat.

This location looks familiar; it seems to be the place where Wu Jingang used to drink tea. The location is excellent, but it definitely won't cost fifty taels of silver.

He looked around and saw that Old Man Lin was brewing tea, and his elder brother and sister-in-law were constantly serving tea. Even Gou Dan had become a waiter, constantly serving melon seeds and snacks to each table. Every time he served a plate, he would get a piece of candy from his mother.

Lin Yuan walked over to his father and said, "Business is so good, how can we manage? We need to hire a few people!"

"I'm just making a meager living, what's the point of hiring anyone—" The old man was halfway through his sentence when he looked up and saw that it was his youngest son. His wrinkled face broke into a smile. "You didn't even say a word when you got back. Come upstairs and sit down."

Lin Yuan had no intention of helping. He went upstairs, casually found a secluded spot by the window, and looked out at the dock.

-

After a while, my father came up, carrying a pot of tea.

"Father, what's going on with this shop?"

"What else could it be? It was all arranged by Chief Li; he's the one who took over the shop. The White Wolf Gang listens to him too. We just manage it and make a little money. It's alright! Better than farming!" The old man chuckled, then sighed, "These fields are always flooded; it's impossible to farm them!"

Lin Yuan smiled upon hearing this, realizing that even a small amount of money wasn't insignificant: "How was the money divided?"

"How are we dividing the spoils? Chief Li gets the lion's share, the White Wolf Gang gets the smaller share, and we'll just have some leftovers."

Lin Yuan nodded and instructed, "After Li Shi stops being the village head, you shouldn't do this anymore. Just do some small business."

"Your dad isn't stupid."

"If you hire a few more people to help, how will we manage?"

"I've already talked to your aunt, they'll be moving in in a few days." Dad suddenly complained, "Damn it, girls in this town are so precious, they always want to buy a house in town, not girls from the countryside. I've decided to lend Dali the fifty taels you gave me to buy a house, and he can pay you back slowly after he gets married."

"You can arrange it yourself. I'm too lazy to care." Lin Yuan didn't want to worry about these trivial matters anymore.

The old man glanced out the window at the downstairs area and said, "Alright, you can drink slowly. I need to go make some tea."

After a while, there were fewer people, and the eldest sister-in-law brought up a plate of snacks, then sat down and chatted with Lin Yuan.

The sister-in-law kept thanking him for finding Zhou Dali a job, talking about his wife, and even lending him money to buy a house.

After that, they talked about how their family ran a tea shop, which was doing very well. Villagers flocked to their door to curry favor with them, and many even came to find Lin Yuan a wife. There was even one woman who practically offered herself to them, but luckily, Lin's father had a strong temper and chased her away.

Even distant relatives who rarely visited came, including the Lin clan chief, who asked Lin Yuan when he returned to the village. He explained that this year's ancestral worship ceremony at the Lin clan ancestral hall was to be held, and invited Lin Yuan to enter the hall to burn incense.

"In previous years, when Father visited, he wouldn't even let you into the main hall. But this year, he's begging you to go. Did Father tell you? If he didn't, then he just doesn't want you to go. I bet the clan chief and the others are up to something; they're probably trying to get you to pay for the ancestral hall repairs—"

Lin Yuan listened silently, occasionally smiling and nodding in agreement, but he didn't care or want to get involved in these trivial matters.

After recounting the amusing stories from her family, the eldest sister-in-law started talking about the village gossip: "Erlu, did you know? A couple of days ago, on the Ghost Festival, Lin San's daughter-in-law jumped into the river and drowned. She jumped from the dock—"

As she spoke, the woman pointed to the river outside the dock.

"Oh?" Lin Yuan was startled. Wasn't this the place where Lin San'er committed suicide by drowning last year?

Because his son was seriously ill, he accidentally fell into the water, soaked his rice bag, and had no choice but to drown himself.

The underwater "water plants," and that mysterious person.

They even specifically chose to do it on the 15th of the seventh lunar month.

"She was happily harvesting sweet potatoes back home the day before, but that evening she suddenly stopped at the dock and wouldn't leave. The villagers called her back, but she refused. We wouldn't have known if someone hadn't seen her."

Lin Yuan didn't try to guess, nor did he have the ability to interfere. He simply instructed, "Stay away from there in the future."

"How could he dare go? I beat Gou Dan a few times, and now he cries whenever he sees water. He won't go to the river to play anymore."

Lin Yuan was both amused and exasperated. Although the method was crude, it was simple in its own way.

After telling the village gossip, the sister-in-law started talking about things outside the village.

"The Zhang family's daughter you mentioned before is from Shangwei Village. Originally, the fourth master of the Zhang family raised her, but after his son and daughter-in-law made a lot of trouble, he secretly gave her to her aunt Zhou's family."

The Zhou family only said that the child was adopted and now bears the surname Zhou. Her family has also moved to town and opened a shop, a food stall.

You tell me, where did his family get all this money? I bet it was from Master Zhang.

It's right over there. When I'm not busy, I've gone to check on it. Occasionally, his family even comes over to help out.

"Oh? It's nothing, just help them out, don't do anything else." Lin Yuan nodded, looked at his sister-in-law, and suddenly realized that sometimes being a gossip wasn't such a bad thing.

"You don't need to tell me. We already know their family, and now that we're in town, having an acquaintance makes things easier." The sister-in-law then moved on to other matters.

Lin Yuan listened for a while longer and chatted, but seeing that his sister-in-law had nothing new to say, he took his leave.

At noon, I had a small gathering with Li Shi, Hu Cai, and Zhao Sheng at Chunfenglou. He specially brought Zhou Dali along so that he could gradually integrate into this small team.

Although Zhou Dali is no longer a disciple of the martial arts hall at the Li family's ancestral home, he is at least a student at the Li family's outer school. Everyone is related to the Li family and works together at the Lishui Pavilion, so they have a certain common background.

In the afternoon, Lin Yuan returned to the county town.

As soon as they entered the eldest son's residence, they sensed something was wrong. There were guards every five steps and sentries every ten steps, with tight security.

Lin Yuan had to hold up his silver-plated iron retainer badge before he could enter.

As soon as he returned to the courtyard, Wu Yong, who was practicing martial arts, immediately said upon seeing him, "Something's happened to Liu!"

Lin Yuan knew he was referring to Liu Jingtian: "Brother Liu, what's wrong?"

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