Life is full of few drunken moments.

Scholar Jiang was a prominent figure who came from Lakeside Village.

He was also the most remarkable person recorded in the Lakeside Village annals.

Unfortunately, ten years ago, Scholar Jiang and his entire family left Lakeside Village. They didn't settle in Poyang City either, but moved away directly.

Lin Chen didn't know where they went.

There were rumors in the village that Scholar Jiang's family moved to Raozhou Prefecture.

Just now, the Village Chief told him a piece of news: when Scholar Jiang moved with his family, he left a message saying that if there were any outstanding younger generations in the village, they should be sure to inform him in Raozhou Prefecture.

Lakeside Village is very far from Raozhou Prefecture. It was clearly impossible for someone to go and deliver the message in person. The best method was to write a letter and give it to the Post Station attendant to deliver to Jiang Manor.

The Village Chief asked him to write to Scholar Jiang.

He was considering whether or not to write this letter now.

He was contemplating Scholar Jiang's mindset when he said those words back then.

Was it just polite talk said casually when bidding farewell to his elders and fellow villagers, or did he genuinely care about Lakeside Village?

Considering that Scholar Jiang hadn't returned in ten years, and no one from the Lin Family had returned either, Lin Chen concluded that there was a high probability Scholar Jiang was just being polite.

However, a person's attitude towards something can change with age, especially their feelings for their hometown.

Perhaps Scholar Jiang said it casually at the time, but now, ten years later, his attitude might have changed.

When young, people might complain about their hometown being poor, but in old age, they miss a patch of their hometown soil.

The older people get, the more they miss their ancestral home and hometown.

Scholar Jiang certainly wasn't old. According to Instructor Yu, Scholar Jiang should be in the prime of his life as a ranked Martial Artist, so predicting how his attitude might have changed was even more difficult.

"Scholar Jiang..."

Father Lin heard his son's words and pondered for a moment. Scholar Jiang was only a few years older than him, and he had interacted with Scholar Jiang in the village back then.

"Scholar Jiang's ancestors fled to our village during a famine. He's only the third generation, and their family wasn't very prosperous. They didn't interact much with the villagers."

Hearing his father's words, Lin Chen became even more certain that Scholar Jiang's words back then were just casual remarks.

How could he not be clear about the situation in the countryside?

Although there wouldn't be any exploitation or抢夺, families with few male members would more or less be bullied in the village.

Even for irrigating fields, they would be scheduled after families with more male members.

Coupled with being outsiders, Scholar Jiang's impression of the villagers would definitely not be good, so it's no wonder he left immediately after achieving success.

As for the benefit of free martial arts training at the Martial Arts Hall that he secured for the villagers of Lakeside Village, it was probably a decision Scholar Jiang made to shape his image.

Analyzing it this way, if he wrote to Scholar Jiang, Scholar Jiang would give him some help out of politeness due to his words back then, but it would only be once. He shouldn't expect anything after that.

This letter should be saved for a critical moment. Using it now would be a bit of a waste.

For now, he wouldn't write to Scholar Jiang.

The next day.

Just as dawn broke, Lin Chen got up and started practicing his punches in the courtyard.

Even though he had already cultivated Essence Energy, he wouldn't slack off on the Martial Path.

Cultivating Essence Energy was just the beginning of the Martial Path; there was still a long way to go.

If he became complacent now and relaxed his martial arts practice, even with his Destiny blessing, he wouldn't get far on the Martial Path.

Mother Lin saw her son get up so early and her face showed distress: "Chen'er, you're wearing so little, won't you get cold?"

"Mother, I've cultivated Essence Energy now, and my Qi and Blood are very vigorous. This little bit of cold is nothing to me."

Lin Chen smiled and comforted his mother. With his current Qi and Blood, he didn't need to wear a cotton-padded jacket even in the dead of winter, let alone when he was practicing punches.

By the time Lin Chen finished his practice, Father Lin and his eldest brother were also up.

Winter had arrived, and the fishing boats from each family no longer went out to fish. The villagers were all idle.

For villagers with sufficient food at home, the entire winter was a good season. After a year of hard work, they could rest for a month until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the following year, when they would begin another year of busyness.

Today was a big day for the Lin Family. Although the Village Chief would organize the banquet, Father Lin still decided to go to town to buy a side of pork, and his eldest brother Lin Liang went with him.

As the sky began to brighten, the Village Chief organized the villagers to move their tables and benches to the threshing ground in front of the village Ancestral Hall.

The winter sun was warm. When Lin Chen arrived at the Ancestral Hall after finishing his practice, many old people were sitting there basking in the sun.

Mother Lin and the women of the village were busy washing and chopping vegetables. Two large clay stoves in the Ancestral Hall were burning fiercely, and the lard in the large pots emitted an enticing aroma. Many children were sucking their fingers and standing by the stoves, unwilling to leave.

"You little rascals, hurry up and move away, be careful not to get burned."

Mother Lin thought for a moment, scooped out a large spoonful of the leftover meat oil residue from the freshly rendered lard in the pot, and distributed it to these children. Only after receiving the meat oil residue did the children happily leave.

"Mother, Second Aunt."

"Chen'er has finished practicing. You're the most important person today. Go quickly and entertain the guests."

Second Aunt smiled and spoke, seeing Mother Lin carrying a basket of radishes, she quickly went over to help: "Sister-in-law, slow down, let me."

Lin Chen watched Second Aunt's eager demeanor and wasn't particularly bothered. He had a decent impression of Second Aunt's family, otherwise, he wouldn't have stood up for Lin Hui yesterday.

Where did the guests come from?

They were all people from the village, no outsiders.

His mother had two uncles on her side, but because they didn't live in Riverbend Town, just the journey would take five hours. In the dead of winter, with a temporary banquet arranged by the village, Mother Lin hadn't asked her older brother to notify them.

His grandfather, uncle, and aunt's family hadn't come. After what happened yesterday, they wouldn't come either.

What surprised Lin Chen a little was that Gu Fei wasn't there either. He asked Gu Fei's father and found out that Gu Fei had gone with her mother to her maternal grandfather's house two days ago and wouldn't be back for a few days.

When the villagers saw Lin Chen appear, there was another round of praise.

At first, Lin Chen was quite pleased listening to it, but when he realized his every move was being watched, Lin Chen felt a little uncomfortable.

He even had to hold back from picking his nose.

Half an hour later, the Village Chief's arrival rescued him.

The Village Chief brought incense and candles and led Lin Chen into the village's Ancestral Hall. First, they paid respects to the ancestors, then they offered sacrifices to the Lake God. After the set of rituals was completed, it was time for the banquet to begin.

As the guest of honor, Lin Chen didn't have to go table to table to toast, but he couldn't stop the villagers from actively coming to him to drink. After such a gathering, even with abundant Qi and Blood, he still ended up getting drunk.

The moment he fell, vaguely, Lin Chen noticed that a few village girls seemed to want to help him up but were stopped by Second Aunt.

"Chen'er is a little drunk. Sister-in-law, you take Chen'er home to rest."

Second Aunt shouted, and Lin Chen only vaguely remembered hearing Second Aunt quietly mutter: "Hmph, these girls are shrewd. Our Chen'er is promising now, he can't be tainted by them. Chen'er will marry a city girl in the future."

How many times in life do you get drunk!

Lin Chen, who woke up in the evening, pretended to be drunk and didn't go back to the banquet. Lying on his hard bed, his mother had made him hangover soup and plain porridge.

He wasn't annoyed about being drunk.

The Martial Path was his pursuit, but the scenery along the way was equally beautiful. He wasn't a heartless martial arts robot.

The motivation supporting his progress, besides the pursuit of the Martial Path and powerful strength beyond ordinary people, was also changing his and his family's Destiny, gaining a sense of accomplishment and vanity.

If he were left alone in the deep mountains and old forests, where he could continuously break through Martial Path realms just by practicing martial arts, until he finally stood at the peak of the Martial Path and then instantly aged...

He wouldn't choose such a path.

He wasn't that kind of pure martial arts fanatic who could hear the Dao in the morning and die in the evening content.