Lineage Laborer

("Someone, bring wine for our honored guest!")

("Sorry, the inn only has formalin left...")

Great Chu, Qingyang Commandery, Yuquan Prefecture City.

In late autumn, fine rain fell without end, and the temperature gradually turned cold.

"Get up quickly, lest you miss the hour."

In the silent, dim communal sleeping quarters, someone suddenly began breathing heavily, their words filled with urgency.

Then, all manner of chaotic sounds instantly filled the room. After a few rustles, several nimble youths shoved open the heavy wooden door and rushed out.

Waves of cold air spiraled in, biting at the necks of those still asleep and raising goosebumps across their skin.

"Which dog-bred bastard left the door open again?!"

Amid the clamor, Xu Yuan rubbed his eyes and sat up. Along with several others his age, he put on his rough cotton-padded clothes, tidied himself up in a few swift motions, and left the room.

Dawn was faint, and everything around them remained gray and indistinct. A few threads of rain landed on his shoulders, and after taking two slight breaths of air, a chill seeped into his stomach.

Before him, quite a few people had gathered in the open yard. Most bore youthful faces of fifteen or sixteen, and they were already beginning their work.

The youths who had just come out yawned and rubbed their reddened cheeks, following their usual routine.

Washing up, lighting fires, cooking...

Before long, they held bowls of steaming vegetable porridge topped with a small spoonful of diced pickles, wolfing it down to fill their bellies.

Feeling warmth churn within his stomach, Xu Yuan tightened his collar and joined the ranks of laborers once more.

Chopping firewood, hauling water, dusting, and mopping—nothing more than that.

I've only been here for two and a half months, but the contract I signed lasts ten whole years. How am I supposed to endure this?

Xu Yuan worked swiftly as he grumbled inwardly.

In his previous life, his heart had been weak. While reading in the school library, he had found a crucial point and taken out his phone to photograph it.

Who could have known he had forgotten to turn off the flash? It startled a girl at the opposite table into abruptly standing up and shrieking that he was taking secret photos of her!

Countless knife-like gazes, along with that fat face filled with madness and hysteria, immediately left him unable to breathe. The cold-hearted junior became a warm ticket to graduate school in an instant.

When he regained consciousness, he had somehow arrived in another world.

Life at the bottom of this world is even harder!

Xu Yuan sighed inwardly, but his hands did not dare slow in the slightest. The eyes of the middle-aged servant overseers watching from around them were sharp indeed.

What a pity. If I'd transmigrated earlier, I could have stopped the hand that signed that contract and avoided being sold into the Shangyang Family as a laborer.

It would be one thing if this place truly offered the benefits the rumors spoke of...

Xu Yuan glanced around. Though they had enough to eat and received a little monthly pay, how strict were the rules within this deep courtyard and grand residence?

For even the slightest mistake, they would be beaten or cursed at, their meals withheld. In serious cases, they might not even keep their lives.

Clang!

At that moment, something fell with a crash. Xu Yuan instinctively looked toward the kitchen entrance.

There, Fatty Wang, iron ladle in hand, kicked a young laborer to the ground. The flesh on his face quivered as he snapped fiercely, "You dog-fucked idiot! This skill of mine cost your grandpa knows how much suffering to learn, and the moment those pig-bladder eyes of yours open, you want to steal it?"

"Cook Wang, I was wrong! I won't dare again..."

The young laborer knelt on the ground and hurriedly kowtowed in apology, yet he still received a vicious beating that made him howl without end.

The laborers in the courtyard all fell silent as cicadas in winter. After watching for a moment, they each returned to their work.

Within high walls, status and rank mattered most. These laborers ranked even below the servants of the main courtyard, occupying the very bottom rung.

Fatty Wang had been in charge of the stove for quite some time, so naturally he could beat and curse them as he pleased.

Xu Yuan watched coldly. When he had first arrived in this courtyard and known nothing of its ways, he had nearly suffered the same misfortune.

"Be more alert! When the masters come later, delaying their meal would be a matter as huge as the sky!"

Fatty Wang swept his mung-bean-sized eyes around, cursed a few more times, and went back inside with his ladle.

Though the beaten young laborer grimaced in pain, he silently climbed back up and continued working.

Xu Yuan knew that the masters he mentioned were martial instructors from the other courtyards, responsible for teaching Martial Students.

This enormous courtyard handled cooking, laundry, and the like specifically for them. Their status was plain to see.

And the Shangyang Family members in the inner compound are even more exalted. They have dedicated servants waiting upon them, while laborers cannot even touch the gates over there.

Xu Yuan kept working as he pondered in secret.

The Shangyang Family was a prominent great clan in Yuquan Prefecture City. It had over a thousand family members, servants everywhere, vast and sprawling businesses. Even the government offices had to act according to its mood.

As the saying went, a seventh-rank official stood before a prime minister's gate.

With such a massive Lineage, even a gatekeeper at its edge would strut about outside with all the pride in the world.

Thus, though they were laborers, once they mentioned they served beneath the Shangyang Family, others did not consider them too lowly. Still, behind their backs, people could not avoid calling them dogs borrowing their master's might.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

"Meal time, meal time..."

When the sun grew stronger and the air warmed, basin after basin of lunch was finally brought out, and many laborers immediately showed a hint of a smile.

The work in this residence was exhausting, but they were not cheated when it came to food. It could not be called good, yet it was at least better than going hungry outside.

Everyone hurriedly took rough porcelain bowls, carefully packed them full of rice, and dug in with great relish.

Gulp!

At that moment, someone's swallowing sounded out.

Xu Yuan turned with the others and saw that in the bowls left by the martial instructors, several chunks of meat braised in rich oil and sauce remained.

The chunks were exceedingly fatty, yet their trembling, glistening texture hooked directly at the noses of the young laborers.

Xu Yuan turned his head away with difficulty and continued dealing with the polished rice and vegetable stalks before him, but the food in his mouth became increasingly tasteless.

Laborers only got a taste of meat once every ten days. Even so, they were already immensely satisfied.

Most people outside could not even eat their fill.

If they had a chance to eat a fragrant piece of fatty meat, that would simply be a stroke of fortune reaching the heavens.

"Go, go, go! What's there to look at? Eat your meals properly!"

Fatty Wang came out wearing a greasy, oil-stained cook's apron, cursing a few times as his hand swiftly whisked away the bowl of meat.

Seeing his fat waist thicker than a water barrel, some young laborers could not help muttering under their breaths.

"That damned fatty does nothing but gorge himself. Hope you burst yourself to death!"

After eating, the laborers continued working, scarcely letting their feet touch the ground.

Aside from the time spent eating and sleeping, they had almost no free time in a day.

By the time the setting sun spread its light and dusk deepened.

After attending to the martial instructors' daily needs, the late-autumn night darkened quickly, and before long, one could no longer see another person clearly.

The laborers all shed their weary outer garments and hurried into the communal sleeping quarters, savoring the rare warmth.

Wearing rough cloth clothes covered in patches, Xu Yuan came to a secluded spot in the large courtyard.

After confirming that no one was walking about and everyone had gone to rest.

Only then did he take a deep breath and slowly begin practicing a set of boxing forms.

Though it was called a fist art, it was leisurely and unhurried, clearly more like a kind of exercise. Its movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water, soothing and graceful—it was unmistakably the famous Tai Chi Fist.

[Name: Xu Yuan]

[Skill: Tai Chi Exercise (Beginner 99%)]

[Aptitude: 1 (Utterly mediocre)]

"Just a little more, and I'll break through."

After finishing the set, Xu Yuan was already sweating, but he felt thoroughly relaxed, and much of the day's exhaustion had vanished.

Looking at the System Panel before his eyes, curiosity surged in his heart, and he decided to practice it once more.

Like the vast majority of his predecessors, he had been accompanied by a System Panel after transmigrating.

As a sage of webnovels with 21,900 hours of Tomato Reading under his belt, Xu Yuan quickly understood that this was his Golden Finger.

After many attempts, he had successfully activated the System Panel using the Tai Chi Fist he had taken as a university elective in his previous life.

He had practiced it for nearly two months. Aside from seeing the fist art's progress, he had yet to discover any other use.

I hope it has some effect.

Xu Yuan could not help feeling dispirited.

This body was not an orphan's. He still had an elder brother and sister-in-law at home. Because life had been difficult, he had no choice but to enter the Shangyang Family.

Only on the one day of leave granted each month could he find time to return and visit them.

There are two more days until my day off.

Xu Yuan pondered as each move and stance unfolded skillfully in his hands, his posture light and fluid, rounded and seamless as one.

In less than fifteen minutes, he completed the full set of Tai Chi Fist. Xu Yuan stopped and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

At the same time, his body trembled. A warm current seemed to spread and flow from top to bottom, as though he were soaking in a hot spring. The comfort made him let out a soft groan.

"Could it be that Tai Chi Fist has broken through?"

Startled and uncertain, he hurriedly looked at the System Panel.

[Name: Xu Yuan]

[Skill: Tai Chi Exercise (Minor Accomplishment 1%)]

[Aptitude: 3 (Above average)]

At a glance, it was immediately different.

The aptitude field that had once read utterly mediocre had clearly changed!