Without knowing how long it had been, Yan Liqiang woke up. Once he opened his eyes, he realized that he was lying on top of a haystack pile of firewood. Dried rice straws were stuffed above and below him. In front, there was a spider web in the wall corner. Wind kept leaking in from the walls around him — it seemed to be a woodshed for storing firewood.
His head felt a bit dizzy and woozy. Last night, it was his first time ever getting drunk and making a fool of himself. He remembered that he was on his way to Deer Villa last night and since he was drunk, he ended up falling asleep in a little pavilion by the road, but he did not expect to wake up and find himself here.
It seemed like someone with a good heart had brought him from the pavilion by the main road to this place.
He checked his body thoroughly and found everything was intact. All his belongings were there as well and remained untouched. Thinking of how drunk he was last night, he regretted it slightly. He knew he was lucky that he did not run into any of his enemies or people with bad intentions, otherwise he knew he would have been killed by anyone under that kind of drunkenness.
“This was my first time, and will be the last. I will never get drunk again!” He mumbled to himself, making a firm decision in his head. He lifted up the dried rice straws covering his body and stood up. He wiggled his hands and feet gently. And right in that shed, he started to perform the Three Forces Qi Channeling technique from his Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing after taking a deep breath…
That powerful energy from the earth and spiritual Qi started to gather around him like water from a broken tap before it all poured into his body through the top of his head. Cleansed by that powerful energy and spiritual Qi, Yan Liqiang could feel that remaining drunkenness in his body be washed away immediately like it never existed before. Agility and power seemed to find its way back to his body.
He had just finished the Three Forces Qi Channeling technique as he heard the shuffle of footsteps approaching. He finished up his movements and stood up straight.
Creak…
The door of the shed had been pushed open. An elder man in his blue clothes with white hair and a hunched back walked in with a hot bowl of congee in his hand. Seeing that Yan Liqiang had already awake, he chuckled. “Young man, you just woke up?”
“Was it you who brought me here last night?”
“Yeah, last night, my son and I came home late and happened to see you sleeping by the road so we brought you back with us!” The elder kept shaking his head as he said that — he then sighed as he said, “Young men like you don’t know how to take care of your bodies. Don’t you know that you cannot get drunk on a snowy day like that? It was snowing so heavily last night and it was so cold outside. You cannot feel the coldness when you are that drunk. If you continue sleeping outside like that, your body will slowly become stiff and you might never wake up! Every year when it snows in Imperial Capital city, it takes away some drunken men who end up stuck outside…”
With Yan Liqiang’s training, even if he got drunk and slept on the snowy ground completely naked, he would not have died. But he knew that this elder was telling the truth out of the kindness of his heart. Normal people or people with low cultivation would not have been able to wake up if they slept outside for the whole night in the snow.
“Thank you for saving me, sir!” Yan Liqiang bowed towards the elder, “I wonder where I am right now?”
“This is Xiaoqi Village,” said the elder. A smile appeared on his face as he handed over the bowl. “Come, drink this congee, it is good for your stomach and your head…”
Yan Liqiang said thank you and took the bowl. After just one sip, he noticed there was a hint of sweetness in the congee. He used the spoon and mixed it around, but he then realized that there were some brown sugar chips underneath. However, judging by the elder’s clothing, he would be from a normal family and brown sugar would be a luxury item rather than just oil and salt for them.
“Yeah, after drinking that much alcohol, eating something sweet would be good for you. We happen to have some brown sugar at hand, but it has been at home for quite long now so its taste might have changed a bit. But its sweetness is still there, young man, I hope you don’t mind it…” The elder had also noticed Yan Liqiang’s expression, so he gave an explanation.
“Sir, what are you talking about? I have not expressed how grateful I am to you, not to mention being picky about the sugar!” Yan Liqiang smiled and started to munch on the congee.
“Haha…” The elder started laughing. He then looked at Yan Liqiang with a friendly smile and started chit-chatting with him, “I thought you did not look like someone who has been through hardship so I assumed that you came from a rather good family. I was just worried that you might not be accustomed to this kind of food…”
“How could you tell?”
“You see, you do not have any calluses on your hands, so obviously you do not have to do hard chores. Last night when you were drunk, the wine bottle on the ground next to you was the most famous and most expensive great wine from the Thousand Household Inn, which is at least dozens of silvers — normal people cannot afford that and cannot drink it like you as if it was water. I tell you what — in this world, there are no obstacles that cannot be jumped through. I am just an old man and I am not afraid of it, and you, young man, should not give up as well…”
Yan Liqiang used to have calluses on his hands as well, a very thick layer of them. It was caused by training the art of archery and spear techniques. But after he had drained the essence out of that ten thousand-year spirit leech, all of those callouses had fallen off. Not only his hands, but his whole body became extremely soft and smooth. That was why he looked like some guy from a very rich family and never did hard any hard work. As for that bottle of wine, he indeed spent eighteen taels of silver and bought it from the restaurant.
Within the blink of an eye, he had drunk all of the congee out of the bowl. He put it down and wiped his mouth without explaining himself. He just smiled, held his fists together, and greeted the elder, “Sir, you are so observant. Thank you for bringing me back from the street last night, I will definitely pay you back for it…”
“Ah, don’t worry about paying us back! I have lived this long, and I learned to at least tell who is good and who is evil. That vital Qi between your eyebrows shows that you for sure are not an evil man. It was nothing for me, seriously. Don’t worry about it, young man. Oh, right, judging from your accent, you should have come from outside the city, right…?”
“Yeah, my hometown is in Gan Province.”
“Gan Province! So far away… Why did you come all the way here to the Imperial Capital in this kind of wintery weather?!” the elder asked curiously.
“There was some business within the family, so I had to come!”
“Oh…I see!” The elder nodded before giving a heartfelt suggestion. “Young man, leave the Imperial Capital as soon as possible after you are done with your business here. You should have heard about the Heavenly Tribulation here, right? Right now, this place is not a place one should wish to stay for too long. The ones could leave have already left…”
“Oh, I heard about that as well. Thank you, sir, for reminding me. Oh, right, why didn’t you leave…?”
“It’s not that easy to leave!” The elder sighed, “We have lived here for centuries and generations — it would be almost impossible for families like us to leave this place. In the beginning, when we first heard about them digging out the stone turtle from the Spirit Peace River, most of my family did not believe it. when the rumor became more and more real, we did start preparing to leave, wanting to sell that old house of ours and the land, trying to get some money for traveling. But how could we sell anything this time of the year? That did not work and we are not allowed to leave anymore now. Those people from the bureaucracy kept running around the village with the gong, saying that the rumor was all made up by evil people to fool us and telling us not to believe it nor to panic. And if we want to leave, we would have to go request it from the bureaucracy. All of the officials here in the village have been running around every day, making sure you have not run off yet. That Liu family in our village was preparing to leave not long ago, and they were caught and held around the village to show as examples. Their land and house were taken away by them as well. I heard they are still in prison. With all that, who would dare to leave? And how can we even leave with all our family members?”
“I have heard about it too on my way to the Imperial Capital, that you need to register to leave and that the newspaper is saying that the stone turtle is fake…”
“I was confused to be honest. Since what the stone turtle has said was fake, then why are those rich families in the Imperial Capital and the high officials not staying here? All of them had run a long time ago while telling us that everything is going to be fine, telling us to calm down. Those men up there always say something and do the opposite, so how can we trust them? If the Imperial Capital is really going to be fine and they believe what they are saying, then why don’t they stay…?” the elder said with anger.
“You have seen through it!”
“I really don’t understand it! Our family used to deliver coal to those rich families in the city. Last year, my son and I had to deliver to dozens of families during this time of year, and we rely on the winter to make some money. This year, most of them have left, so we barely sell anything and we have to push the cart and sell it to whoever needs them at a low price. Last night, my son and I sold half a cart in the city. If it was not for us coming home so late, we might’ve missed you out there…”
“Oh, I have not asked for your name yet, sir. How many of you live here?”
“Haha, no need to call me sir, my last name is Hu. There are four of us here, my son, my daughter-in-law, and my grandson and I…”
…
Chatting with the elder, Yan Liqiang left after getting the information he needed. Mr. Hu lived in the eastern part of the village — they had three mud-built rooms, a pig rink, and a firewood shed. Last night, after bringing back Yan Liqiang, they had no place for him to stay so they had to leave him in the shed. Early in the morning, his son and his wife continued to go into the city to sell some coal, and only the elder and that eight-year-old grandson of his were at home.
As Yan Liqiang was leaving, Mr. Hu brought his grandson along to send him off and pointed him toward the right direction. Yan Liqiang secretly left five hundred taels of silver in the young grandson’s pocket before saying goodbye to them.
…
With a night of heavy snow into the morning, the snow on the ground was already half a foot thick. Yan Liqiang was walking on the street and within half an hour, he arrived in front of Deer Villa.
A couple of soldiers with thick coats guarded the front. On that cold day, they could not help but stomp their feet and blow hot air onto their freezing cold hands. Seeing Yan Liqiang walking right towards them, all of the soldiers turned their heads to look at him with serious expressions. As he walked closer, they could see his face, and the second they recognized him, they cheered out of joy.
“Ah! Yan…Master Yan is back…!”
