From a young age, Zhou Ming had displayed astonishing talent in every aspect. Like all parents who hoped their sons would achieve greatness, Baron Connor had very high expectations for his eldest son. But he also feared that Zhou Ming would go astray and spend all day in the fields studying things farmers ought to study. So, when Zhou Ming was nine, he sent him to the earl's estate as a knight page of Earl Lautz's family, where he studied knightly etiquette, reading and writing, and honed his martial skills under several veteran knights.
To be honest, Zhou Ming had not been happy during those three years as a knight page at the earl's estate. He had learned a great deal and excelled in every respect, but he simply could not get along with Earl Lautz's three sons. Perhaps they were jealous of how well he studied and performed, or perhaps they saw that he was more handsome than them and popular with all the girls at the estate. Whatever the reason, they always ganged up to bully him and secretly tripped him up in every possible way.
Of course, Zhou Ming was no clay doll either. If there were more than three of them, he ran. If there were fewer than three, he fought. On several occasions, he beat the three of them until their faces looked like pigs' heads.
Then, one time, those three went too far. They dug a large pit with countless sharp wooden stakes planted at the bottom and tried to shove him into it. Zhou Ming was instantly enraged. They were trying to kill him? He stopped holding back and gave them a brutal beating, making them cry for their fathers and mothers. He nearly crippled them.
With things having reached that point, Zhou