Buying Supplies

Night fell.

Qin Ming shook his sore, swollen arms. They felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead, and a wry smile appeared on his face despite himself.

Tired. He was utterly exhausted.

He had been slaughtering pigs since early morning without so much as a drink of water, and hunger had left him dizzy and bleary-eyed. If he hadn't reached the beginner stage of the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique and gained considerable stamina, he probably would have collapsed long ago.

Qin Ming set his pig-slaughtering saber aside, leaned against the cold earthen wall, and slowly squatted down.

He had been standing for so long that his old cotton shoes were soaked through with melted snow, and his lower legs were completely numb from the cold.

"Thank you for your hard work, young man. Here, have some hot porridge to warm yourself up."

A gray-haired old man came out carrying a bowl of mixed-grain porridge, topped with several long pickled green beans and some spicy pickled cabbage.

"Take these too."

The old man pulled two coarse-grain buns from inside his clothes.

"Thank you."

Qin Ming carefully wiped his hands on his clothes and took them.

"Eat slowly. It's a little hot."

The old man smiled and turned away.

"It's not like we didn't pay him. Why give him food too?"

When the old man returned, his wife, who was sitting at the dinner table, couldn't help grumbling.

"It's just a little food. Don't forget, we saved forty wen on our four big fat pigs this year compared with previous years."

Only then did his wife's expression improve considerably.

"Forget it. What's done is done. Don't bring back the bowl and chopsticks he used. I don't want to touch anything those pig butchers have touched. It's bad luck."

"All right."

Outside the courtyard wall, Qin Ming squatted in the corner and wolfed down the buns and porridge in a few mouthfuls. A current of warmth seemed to flow from his belly into his limbs. His sore, swollen arms felt much better, and a little warmth returned to his frost-numbed lower legs.

"Time to go."

Qin Ming felt the black cloth pouch inside his clothes. It held the money he had earned slaughtering pigs that day.

Eight hundred wen.

Ten big fat pigs and ten ordinary pigs.

Fifty wen for each big fat pig, thirty for each ordinary one.

Besides that, he also had some packed-up pig offal.

Grandpa Zhang had given him the offal at the very beginning; the families who hired him afterward had all kept theirs.

Pig offal was troublesome to prepare, but it was meat all the same. For many poor families, it was a rare delicacy; failing that, they could sell it for a few wen.

Qin Ming put the bowl and chopsticks into his bundle, then took out three wen and slipped them under the pork on the chopping board.

He didn't like taking advantage of others, so the money would pay for his meal.

Qin Ming pulled his collar tight and headed for the town market.

Before long, he had a carrying basket on his back, filled with ten jin of millet, ten jin of flour, and one jin of oil.

Ten jin of millet cost forty wen, the white flour fifty, and the rapeseed oil fifteen.

Qin Ming then bought some vegetables.

"Boss, two jin of pork ribs."

"Doing well for yourself, aren't you, Qin? Things have really turned around for you now. Looks like you slaughtered quite a few New Year pigs today."

Zheng Hu smiled without warmth. He raised his cleaver and brought it down, chopping off two jin of ribs, then wrapped them in paper and tied them with straw string.

"Thirty wen."

Qin Ming nodded without another word, paid, and left with the wrapped ribs.

"Fuck, what are you so smug about? If you hadn't stolen my New Year pig business, where the fuck would you have gotten the money? Buying ribs, even. Go eat shit!"

Zheng Hu watched Qin Ming walk away and slammed his pig-slaughtering saber onto the chopping board, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Hand! Keep an eye on the shop!"

As he spoke, Zheng Hu untied his apron and strode toward the Wang Family Butcher Shop.

Meanwhile, after leaving the butcher shop, Qin Ming bought some daily necessities. This unusual behavior drew quite a few eyes.

"That's Qin Ming from the Qin family butcher shop, isn't it? I heard he stole the New Year pig business from several butchers in town. Looks like it was true."

"Tsk, tsk. I heard he can finish off a big fat pig in a quarter of an hour. Don't know if it's true."

"How could it be false? Wang Butcher was so angry he coughed up blood. I heard he even lost two taels of silver."

Market vendors and errand runners pointed and talked about Qin Ming.

The Qin family butcher shop had been nearby before, and Qin Ming's father, Qin Shou, had been an old acquaintance of these people.

Suddenly, Qin Ming felt as though a thorn were pressing against his back. He quickly turned around and saw that it was Wang Butcher's wife, Wang Shi.

She was standing in front of her butcher shop, staring fixedly at him.

"Huh, that's..."

Qin Ming happened to notice Zheng Hu, the butcher shop owner from earlier, walking into the Wang Family Butcher Shop.

"Is it a coincidence, or..."

Qin Ming took a long look, then turned and walked into a tailor shop.

"Four hundred wen?"

Qin Ming looked at the coarse-cloth padded jacket in his hands, his brows furrowing slightly.

An ordinary coarse-cloth padded jacket like this was stuffed with old cotton and generally cost between three hundred and three hundred and fifty wen. Yet the shopkeeper had quoted him the exorbitant price of four hundred wen!

"Isn't four hundred wen too expensive? An ordinary padded jacket like this is worth three hundred and fifty wen at most."

"I know."

The shopkeeper was a meticulously dressed middle-aged man with hair combed sleek and shiny. He looked like a private school teacher, but he also had a merchant's shrewd air.

"Then what do you mean by quoting me four hundred wen?"

"Four hundred wen is the price for people of lowly status."

"I'm not of lowly status!"

"Pig butchers are no different from people of lowly status."

"So, are you buying it or not?"

Qin Ming clenched his fists tightly, but in the end he slowly loosened them. He took a deep breath.

"I'm buying it!"

This was the only tailor shop in town, and the only place where he could buy the padded clothing worn by embroiderers.

It wasn't just the tailor shop. When he had bought rice, flour, and oil earlier, the prices had also been raised considerably.

"Kid, I'm not trying to cheat you out of a measly fifty wen. The money you pig butchers earn all comes from killing pigs. It's unclean. On the first and fifteenth of every month, I have to make a special trip to the temple to get rid of the bad luck. That fifty wen is payment for my trouble, understand?"

Qin Ming ignored him, snatched up the padded jacket, and walked out.

Though he had reached the beginner stage of the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique, he wasn't a martial artist. Only by becoming one could he truly cast off his identity as a pig butcher!

By then, even if he were a pig butcher, these people would never dare act so outrageously.

With his carrying basket packed full, Qin Ming hurried toward the shantytown.

He didn't notice two pairs of eyes fixed on him from behind.

"Brother Wang, aren't we making our move now?"

Zheng Hu whispered.

"Don't rush. This kid's saber is fast. With just the two of us, we'll probably get hurt. Go get in touch with Old Li and Old Meng now and have them come over. We'll discuss it properly tonight."

Wang Butcher pondered briefly, then said,

"Just as we agreed earlier: once it's done, the two taels of silver I lost will go back to me, and the rest of the silver will be yours."

"That works. We'll let the kid hop around for another couple of days, let him slaughter more pigs and save up some money. Then we'll scoop up the whole lot! We'll get our revenge and some silver too!"

Zheng Hu laughed heartily. The two hit it off at once and called the other two butchers over. The four of them shut the door to discuss their plans.

All four were butchers, and Qin Ming had gotten the better of them last time, leaving them deeply resentful. But they still hesitated somewhat when they heard they were to kill someone.

"What the fuck are you afraid of? Every man here has killed hundreds of pigs, if not a thousand. Killing a snot-nosed kid is just like killing a pig. What the hell is there to fear? Let's just do it!"

Urged on by Wang Butcher, the other three were persuaded. They set a date to ambush and kill Qin Ming two days later and avenge their grievance.

Wang Shi was shocked when she learned of the murder plan. "Old Wang, are you really going to kill that kid? What will we do if it's discovered?"

"Discovered?"

Wang Butcher sneered. "They won't trace it to me. Those three will be the ones who do it. Not only will I be fine, the authorities will reward me instead!"

"What exactly do you mean? Explain yourself."

The more Wang Shi heard, the more confused she became.

"Enough. What the hell does a woman like you need to understand? You'll know in a couple of days. Go on, go on, get me two jugs of wine."