The sky was just beginning to lighten.
In a remote, rundown courtyard in the city, a young man practiced martial arts with a wooden staff, every move neat and precise.
He chopped, swept, thrust, jabbed, and flicked the staff.
There were no flashy flourishes, only practical moves.
Lin Fan held the staff in one hand, leaped into the air, and brought it down toward the ground with all his might. With a bang, dust billowed up, and a staff-shaped mark appeared on the ground.
[Basic Staff Technique Proficiency +1]
"Phew."
Lin Fan stood upright and lowered the staff, slowly exhaling a breath of stale air. His body gradually began to warm up.
Watching his proficiency increase, he nodded in satisfaction.
This was the fruit of hard work.
Back when he'd been flailing the staff around like a lunatic, he'd grasped Basic Staff Technique. After that, he'd desperately ground out proficiency, from beginner level to minor mastery, then to major mastery. During that time,
he'd noticed the technique change dramatically without him even realizing it.
It felt like the moves were correcting themselves.
By modern timekeeping, it was only five in the morning. Before he'd transmigrated, at five he'd still be sleeping like a log. How could he possibly have gotten out of bed?
But in this unfamiliar world, an oppressive tension always weighed on his mind, driving him to seize every minute and second and use his time where it counted.
How did that saying go?
It was already come to this, and you still had time to sleep?
He continued practicing the staff technique. Each swing made a muffled whoosh as it cut through the air. A long while later, a door opened next door. As usual, a little boy with a round, tigerish face stood by the fence, eyes wide as he watched without blinking.
Of course, to Lin Fan, it was as if the outside world didn't exist. He focused entirely on swinging his staff.
[Basic Staff Technique Proficiency +1]
After a long while,
Lin Fan stopped, breathing hard. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his face flushed, and most of his strength was spent.
He checked his proficiency.
[Basic Staff Technique (Major Mastery 63/1000)]
From the moment he got up until now, one shichen had passed, and his proficiency had increased by fifty points. That was the fixed rate of improvement he achieved each morning. Once he reached a certain proficiency, he stopped training.
He'd reached the limit his body could handle.
He was in a hurry, but he couldn't rush himself to death.
Lin Fan's gaze fell on the runny-nosed boy. The kid was seven, nicknamed Hu Zi, and was his neighbor. He lived with his mother, and they had just enough to get by.
Lin Fan had seen the boy's mother a few times. She was fairly pretty, and seemed to know he ran with Loyalty Hall. She didn't dare get too close to the likes of him, so she always avoided running into him.
Yong'an City was reasonably safe, but there was no avoiding the filthy things that happened in the shadows.
Lin Fan picked up a short stick from the corner, walked over to the fence, and handed it to Hu Zi. "Here, take it and play."
"Thanks, big brother." Hu Zi happily took the stick, then thought for a moment and pulled a now-cold flatbread from his clothes. "Big brother, have some."
Lin Fan smiled and patted Hu Zi's head. "Keep it for yourself. I don't need any."
"Okay."
Hu Zi happily munched on his flatbread and waved the short stick around wildly in the courtyard.
There wasn't a man alive who could resist a long, straight staff.
Lin Fan went back inside to wash up. As he left, he turned his head and happened to meet Hu Zi's mother's eyes. Startled, she hurriedly pulled her child inside, though he still wanted to play.
"Am I really that scary?"
Lin Fan rubbed his face. He thought he was pretty handsome—one of the better-looking men in Yong'an City, in fact.
Qingfang Private School.
Lin Fan stuffed the rest of his bun into his mouth and pushed open the door. An old man in a blue robe was seated at the teaching desk. Lin Fan greeted him respectfully.
"Teacher."
The old man nodded.
Lin Fan found his seat and opened the book in front of him. The old man taught the law. In his youth, he'd worked as a clerk in the government office, but when he grew too old to carry on, he'd opened a private school and started teaching law.
Direct Interpretation of Laws was a little dense and difficult to understand. Whenever Lin Fan tried reading it by himself, his brain felt like it was about to explode.
So he had to spend a little silver to attend lessons.
At that moment, the old man looked over at Lin Fan, who was sitting with his head bowed over his book, and nodded with approval. He had a deep impression of the young man. Though Lin Fan knew little about the law and struggled to absorb it, he was genuinely serious about learning.
Every day, without fail, he arrived at the school on time.
He never left early or arrived late.
Especially after learning that Lin Fan ran with Loyalty Hall, the old man couldn't help but think more highly of him. What did that say?
It said the young man had ambition. He knew there was no future in gang life, yet he was patient enough to study and seek a better way forward.
As for joining a gang, he must have been driven to it by circumstance. It was understandable.
Before long, people began arriving one after another. They had all come to study the law for the exam a month away. Their families were all fairly well-off; the poorest of them was Lin Fan.
"Well, look at you, arriving bright and early, you little hoodlum."
Lin Fan frowned slightly and looked at the young man sitting nearby. Ever since the fellow learned Lin Fan was a low-ranking member of Loyalty Hall, he'd been picking on him.
Sometimes, Lin Fan got so angry he imagined cracking the man's skull with a staff on a dark and windy night.
Chen Liang saw that Lin Fan wasn't responding and continued, "Go ahead and waste your time studying. The only way you'll pass is if the sun rises in the west."
He didn't take Lin Fan seriously at all.
His uncle worked for the government office.
His uncle had told him he only needed to study the law for show, and that everything would be arranged for him when the time came.
So whenever Chen Liang saw a hoodlum sitting in the same school as him, it left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Quiet. Class is starting."
The old man rapped his teaching ruler on the desk. He glanced at Chen Liang with open disdain, but when his gaze turned to Lin Fan, it softened with approval. Lin Fan was patient and calm; he could endure provocation without losing his temper. Someone like him was suited to working for the government office.
As for those spoiled young masters, if he didn't need the money, he wouldn't bother teaching them.
Lin Fan naturally noticed the old man's expression.
He had no family or connections in this world. It couldn't hurt to behave well in front of the old man and leave him with a good impression.
"Turn to page seventeen. Today we'll discuss rape cases. There are several kinds. First, ordinary rape: using violence to force a woman to have sex. The punishment is death by hanging. Even an attempted rape is still a serious crime, usually punishable by one hundred strokes of the cane and exile three thousand li."
Lin Fan listened attentively to the teacher's explanation, committing it all to memory. These laws were harsh. On Earth, a rapist would only get a few years in prison.
"But rape cases also include cases involving a freeborn person and a bonded person, and cases involving relatives. There are two possible scenarios when a freeborn person and a bonded person are involved. First, if a bonded man rapes a freeborn woman, the punishment is severe: execution by decapitation. But if a freeborn man rapes a bonded woman, the punishment is either caning or imprisonment..."
Lin Fan paused slightly at that. He remembered this was a feudal dynasty, so he didn't say anything more.
"Hey, bonded person—that's talking about you," Chen Liang said with a quiet laugh.
Lin Fan smiled at Chen Liang, memorizing his face. You bastard, just you wait. If I weren't so weak right now, if I hadn't learned the Martial Way yet, would I let you prance around in front of me like this?
Of course, he knew how the household registration system worked here.
Freeborn people were scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.
Bonded people included entertainers, beggars, outcasts, boat-dwellers, and slaves.
He belonged to the beggar class.
Time passed quickly.
Lin Fan learned a great deal during the lesson, and his grasp of the law improved. Chen Liang, on the other hand, grew drowsy as he listened. The law was one thing; reality was another.
If he raped someone from the beggar class, nothing would happen to him.
"Class dismissed."
The old man stood up to leave.
"Thank you, Teacher. You've worked hard."
Lin Fan rose and spoke respectfully.
The old man stroked his beard and nodded with a smile. Which teacher wouldn't like a well-mannered student? The other students were a complete mess and had no manners at all.
After the old man left,
Lin Fan looked at Chen Liang and said, "I think I know why you keep picking on me."
"Hm?" Chen Liang asked curiously.
Those who hadn't left yet turned their curious gazes toward them as well.
Lin Fan pointed at Chen Liang's face, then at his own. "Because you're jealous that I'm better-looking than you. But looks are something you're born with; there's nothing you can do about that. Your face, though—it's fat and covered in bumps, like a toad. Just sitting next to you makes my skin crawl. I'm leaving. Looking at you any longer might make me throw up."
As soon as he finished speaking,
everyone around them burst out laughing.
Bang!
"You bastard!"
Chen Liang slammed his palm on the desk in a fury, his face livid. What made him angriest was people making fun of his face—and he couldn't even argue back, because his face really was ugly.
By then, Lin Fan had already strode away.
He didn't even glance at Chen Liang.
All he could hear was Chen Liang's impotent, furious cursing.