Time flowed on.
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.
On the second day after their marriage, Wei Tu and Xinghua returned to their duties, busying themselves inside and outside Li Residence without the slightest slackening.
The two of them worked even harder than before.
First Mistress Li saw all of this. Every few days, Madam Li would praise them once or twice, her words brimming with satisfaction at the marriage she had brought about.
Compared with Wei Tu, Xinghua underwent quite a change. Back when she worked in the kitchen, she would secretly sneak a bite or two of meat, but after getting married, she changed her ways.
When a pound of meat shrank to seven taels after cooking, she placed all seven taels straight onto the dining table in the inner quarters, without playing any tricks or stealing so much as a bite.
Sensing that Madam Li's satisfaction with her had reached its highest point in ten years, Xinghua finally rose onto her tiptoes and, one afternoon, cautiously greeted Madam Li before voicing her and Wei Tu's wish to request leave and return home to visit their relatives.
"The books say that unprompted attentiveness means either treachery or theft..." Madam Li was sewing shoe soles in the sitting room, hemp cord passing through layers upon layers of cloth with a soft heh-heh sound. She glanced at Xinghua and said this with a smile.
Though the words were sharp, paired with Madam Li's gentle smile, more than half of Xinghua's restraint before her mistress vanished.
"I've seen all the work you've done these past few days. Rest assured, before you return, I won't find someone else to take your place."
Madam Li gave her assurance.
"Thank you, First Mistress." Xinghua showed a grateful expression as she thanked her.
"There is one more matter..."
Xinghua hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and revealed that she intended for Wei Tu to rent Li Residence's grain fields and become a tenant farmer.
Once winter passed, they could begin planting wheat, beans, and rapeseed in the fields.
By then, finding an unclaimed plot in Li Residence's grain fields would not be easy.
"Wei won't delay feeding the horses..." Seeing that Madam Li did not reply this time, Xinghua lowered her head and added.
She also knew that this request was somewhat excessive.
No matter how capable one living person was, it could not compare to two people working separately.
If he had to tend both the fields and the horses, and did poorly at either task, Li Residence would suffer losses.
Moreover, Li Residence was located in the county town. If Wei Tu rented land to farm while also tending the horses, he could only rent Li Residence's riverside fields near the county town.
Riverside fields differed from dry hillside fields; they were all top-grade fertile farmland.
Even without careful tending, they could still yield a bountiful harvest in a drought.
"As for renting fields, we'll discuss it after you and Wei Tu return from visiting your relatives..." Madam Li neither refused nor agreed.
"Yes, First Mistress."
Xinghua left the inner courtyard with her spirits somewhat shattered, her head hanging low.
That night.
After hearing Xinghua's account, Wei Tu comforted her. "Since First Mistress did not reject your request, she must be inclined to agree. It is simply that, as the mistress of the household, she cannot grant you two requests all at once."
He did not say the rest.
Madam Li had good reason for doing this. If servants were indulged too much, sooner or later they would climb onto their master's nose and face.
That Madam Li had managed Li Residence in such impeccable order, and that the servants both respected and feared her, all showed that she was a housewife who understood the way of managing a household.
"If she doesn't agree this time, there will be a next time. Ask a few more times. First Mistress is soft-hearted; once her purpose of keeping her servants in line has been achieved, she will agree..."
Wei Tu voiced his opinion.
Even if it did not work out—
In five years, once his Health Cultivation Technique reached completion and he entered the Qi Sensing Realm, the little money earned from renting land and farming would be beneath mention.
Now, nourished by the warm current flowing from his limbs and bones, he could wield his arms with a strength of one hundred eighty pounds.
Once the Health Cultivation Technique reached completion, his physical condition would surely be even better than it was now.
With such a physique, after practicing forms and reading some military texts, he could advance and take the martial examinations, striving for the titles of Martial Scholar or Martial Graduate; or he could retreat and become an estate guard martial instructor, an honored guest of wealthy households.
The Zheng State's martial examinations tested martial arts first and strategy second.
As long as one's martial arts were proficient, even if one's military tactics were somewhat lacking, one could still obtain a martial examination title.
"Alright. Once we return, I'll ask First Mistress a few more times." After hearing Wei Tu's incisive analysis, Xinghua was amazed and thoroughly delighted.
The next day, when dawn was still dim.
Wei Tu and Xinghua packed their luggage, then left the county town under cover of darkness and headed for the countryside.
Wei Tu's registered hometown was Wei Family Village in Changming Township, Qingmu County.
From the county town to Changming Township, they had to travel more than twenty li along the official road, followed by seven or eight li of narrow mountain paths.
Halfway there.
A mule cart traveling their way passed along the official road. Wei Tu and Xinghua spent a little silver and climbed aboard.
By the time they reached the end of the official road, it was only the fourth quarter of noon, with roughly two hours left before nightfall.
Xinghua wanted to save money. Rather than stay at an inn, she planned to keep walking along the mountain road to Changming Township.
"The weather is cold. The tigers and hungry wolves on the mountain are starving enough to come down. If you take the mountain road at this hour and fail to make it home, it'll be far too dangerous."
The driver was warmhearted. Hearing Wei Tu and his wife discussing their return home to visit relatives, he immediately chimed in with a warning.
"Besides the wild beasts in the mountains, there are mountain bandits... If only your man were going back, it wouldn't be much of an issue. But with an extra wife, those people won't show any mercy."
After stopping the cart at the inn, the driver spat a thick gob of phlegm onto the ground and added another warning for Wei Tu and Xinghua.
Those who heed advice eat their fill.
Seeing that many people were staying at the roadside inn, and that their clothes were not especially wealthy-looking, Xinghua stopped being stubborn. She took out some silver and rented a lower room.
That night.
The two slept in their clothes.
At around the fourth watch, Wei Tu woke once in the middle of the night out of habit from tending horses.
At that moment, he heard a faint, disorderly clatter of hoofbeats outside.
Wei Tu walked to the window and pushed open a crack in the shutter.
Very soon.
By the bright moonlight, he saw the source of the hoofbeats several hundred meters away.
It was a cavalry unit of several dozen men, wearing helmets and crimson leather armor. The lead rider even carried a flag embroidered with the character "Zheng."
"Zheng State soldiers?" Wei Tu was surprised.
Cavalry among the government troops had always been a rare sight. Even in Qingmu County Town, he had only seen them a few times.
Their appearance outside the inn this time surely had a reason he did not understand.
Just as Wei Tu was watching closely, sounds of fighting broke out among the several dozen soldiers. Only after half a quarter of an hour did the sounds gradually die down.
A little while later, the cavalrymen departed one by one, vanishing down the official road.
On the ground, however, several saber-wielding men carrying Hengshan Sabers had been left behind.
"The government troops are suppressing bandits?"
Wei Tu guessed.
"Could another place have suffered famine or disaster? Is that why bandits have appeared?"
There were two kinds of bandits. One kind was evil by nature, highway robbers who preyed on travelers. The other consisted of good folk driven into banditry during years of famine and disaster.
Saber-wielding men ran rampant in Qing Feng Prefecture, reaching their peak during the Red Dragon Turnover of Year 15 of Qing'an. In some places hit especially hard by the disaster, three of every ten households had men who became saber fighters and saber bandits.
"I only hope this matter doesn't spread to the county town. Once the disaster grows severe, rioters become bandits and attack cities and seize strongholds. When that happens, servants from great households like ours will be made to serve as civilian laborers..."
Worry showed in Wei Tu's eyes.
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