Third Master Zhao

Chen Qingjiang carried his elderly father home on his back. A Di, who had received Li LiBo's message, had long been waiting anxiously at the door. At the sight of her husband, she hurried over to support him.

When she saw Liang Qu beside him, A Di choked up even more, nearly kneeling before him on the spot. Fortunately, Liang Qu was quick-eyed and quick-handed, getting there first to help her up.

"A Shui, I truly don't know how to thank you. Today, when A Lang went out to pay the grain tax, my heart was uneasy. I kept feeling something would happen. I never imagined such a disaster would strike. If he'd really been taken to dig the Canal, the sky truly would have collapsed."

Chen Qingjiang had learned a few days ago that Liang Qu had begun to distinguish himself in martial arts, and A Di naturally knew as well. At the time, she had been furious, thinking, What good was lending him grain? They had only raised an ungrateful wretch. Rather than repay the few jin of grain, he would rather spend money learning martial arts and throwing it into the water, eating at the Small Restaurant every day.

Meanwhile, before dawn each day, she had to take Da Bao and Er Bao out to help others wash clothes, earning money to save up for the autumn tax.

Only, out of consideration for her husband's dignity, she could not make an issue of it. Yet she had never imagined that her husband's good deed that day would now bring such a tremendous return.

"Enough. It's all over now. What are you crying for? Go back and cook a proper meal. Treat these two brothers to a feast."

Chen Qingjiang clearly did not know how to comfort women. He directly sent A Di off to cook, while he carried his father inside to lie facedown.

Liang Qu had wanted to refuse, but then he remembered that he did not have a single coin on him and would have nothing to eat if he went out, so he accepted.

There were only three plates of wild vegetables, one fish, and a dish of pickled vegetables on the dining table.

The fish was fresh.

Spices were expensive. Unless it was Treasure Fish, fish cooked fresh would carry a heavy fishy smell.

Ordinary fishermen usually ate salted and smoked fish, which was easy to preserve and tasted good. Only families so poor that they could not bear to use much salt ate fresh fish.

Of course, those who could afford spices were another matter.

Chen Qingjiang was somewhat embarrassed. "There's no helping it. This is all that's left at home. Once we have money later, I'll definitely treat you to meat and fish."

Li LiBo repeatedly waved his hands. "It's fine, it's fine. We don't care about that."

"Yeah, having something to eat is already good enough. Saves me from going back to cook."

They could not even pay their household taxes and had nearly been seized to dig the Canal. Liang Qu and Li LiBo both understood the situation well. How could they possibly criticize them?

The meal was simple, but it filled their stomachs.

The couple had not eaten well to begin with, and if they had not served enough food, they would have felt even more guilty.

After returning home, Liang Qu still did not go to the Martial Arts School the next day. It was not because he wanted to keep fading from memory—if he did not go fishing again, he would starve to death! Liang Qu truly did not have even a single copper coin on him now.

After having A Fei catch fish for an entire day, Liang Qu returned to the Fishing Wharf and sold his catch.

The moment Lin Songbao saw him, he clicked his tongue in admiration. "I heard about what happened yesterday. I really couldn't tell that our Yi Xing City had a hero hidden away. You're this!"

Lin Songbao gave Liang Qu a thumbs-up.

"Can being a hero earn me two more copper coins for selling fish?"

"It can! Why not? By rights, this should come to one hundred and two wen, but I'll count it as one hundred and ten wen for you. How about it?"

Liang Qu glanced sideways at him. "You're serious?"

"Hey, why wouldn't I be? Don't look at how ruthless our Fishing Wharf is—those are other people's dealings. I, Lin Songbao, admire people like you most. What's wrong with rounding it up? We still make money either way. A little more or less, that's all. From now on, whenever you come, I'll round it up big for you. I won't let you lose out!"

Liang Qu held it in for a long while before saying, "Awesome."

He had never expected the fishing wharf owner's son to be this kind of person. It truly opened his eyes.

Once he had money, Liang Qu hurried to the Martial Arts School on the third day to train. If he did not show up again, it would be rude.

But after arriving, he was told that Hu Qi had begun taking leave yesterday. Their instructor had been replaced by a Martial Artist named Lu Shaohui. He was somewhat weaker than Hu Qi, but he was still a Martial Artist who had broken through two barriers.

While resting after performing a round of Ape Fist, Li LiBo whispered, "Senior Brother Xiang said Hu Martial Master is about to break through. Maybe when we see him again in a few days, he'll be a genuine Martial Master."

Liang Qu thought the timing sounded about right. Turning fish horns into pills might take some time, but more than ten days had already passed since Hu Martial Master bought the Bullhorn Pomfret.

Having eaten Treasure Fish twice, Liang Qu felt that a single Treasure Fish horn was not powerful enough to let a Martial Artist break through the Breaking Blood Barrier. It was probably used as an adjuvant medicine, or perhaps it acted as a catalyst.

Li LiBo looked around. Seeing that Lu Martial Artist was not present, he lowered his voice further. "Also, have you noticed? That Lu Martial Artist doesn't seem very willing to get close to us. He acts like he can barely be bothered with us."

Liang Qu had felt the same. "Maybe he dislikes the fishy smell on us?"

When they practiced Ape Fist before, Hu Qi would always point out their mistakes and demonstrate the correct movements. But this Senior Brother Lu did not. He would only point things out when they actively asked him, and he rarely demonstrated.

If they had not already had a foundation in Ape Fist and made few mistakes, this Senior Brother Lu would probably already have become impatient.

Even more obvious was that whenever Senior Brother Lu came near them, he would noticeably wrinkle his nose. His disdain could not have been clearer.

But Liang Qu did not want this either. He went fishing so often that even a thorough bath could not wash away the fishy smell.

"Ah, sure enough. Senior Brother Xiang and Senior Brother Hu's attitudes before made me think all Martial Masters were approachable."

"Haha, Don't mind it so much. I'm already surprised Senior Brother Hu and Senior Brother Xiang don't look down on me. As long as we can learn real skills, that's enough."

Perhaps he had read too many webnovels. When Liang Qu had first arrived and been treated kindly, he had actually found it a little unfamiliar. This was the rhythm he knew.

"Oh, right. Did you see that young master over there?"

"Which one?"

"The one over there in white, with gold thread along the edges. I heard he's the Zhao Family's Third Master, Zhao Xueyuan. I never thought he would come here to learn martial arts too. Sure enough, Master Zhao's sons all chose Yang Martial Hall. That proves our choice wasn't wrong either!"

The Zhao Residence's Third Master? Following Li LiBo's pointing finger, Liang Qu saw the so-called young master. He was indeed fair and clean. Even though his features were ordinary, there was no mistaking that air of pampered luxury. At a glance, he looked far cleaner than mud-legged people like them.

His father was Master Zhao?

Liang Qu shuddered. Looking at Third Master Zhao, he could not imagine how his father could be that kind of person. He should keep his distance in the future.

As if sensing their gazes, Zhao Xueyuan turned and glanced at them. He did not pay them much attention. He had noticed these two fishermen who had come to learn martial arts long ago, but no one cared about them, and no one would go out of their way to associate with them.

Once three months passed, they would go back wherever they had come from.

"Speaking of which, in a few more days it'll be the end of the month, and Master Yang will be able to come give lessons. I wonder whether it'll be different. Maybe I'll have an awakening too."

"Having dreams is always good."

With Lu Martial Artist absent, Liang Qu and Li LiBo chatted idly, but Xiang ChangSong's voice came from the corridor.

"Senior Brother Lu is the Martial Master on duty today, so he'll be your instructor. Though Senior Brother Lu is not Master Yang's direct disciple, he has plenty of experience. Oh, speaking of which, there are two junior brothers at the Martial Arts School who are also from Yi Xing City. Perhaps you know them."

Hearing the voice, Liang Qu and Li LiBo looked up. Li LiBo was the first to ask.

"Chen Jiechang, why is it you?"