Black Scorpion

"Mother, I want to learn martial arts!"

"Learn martial arts..."

Madam Wang stared blankly at Lin Yin's bare upper body. His steaming frame was beginning to show the outlines of muscles, and in the dim candlelight, it seemed to give off an inexplicable, heart-stirring presence.

This feeling... it was just like Brother Lin when he practiced martial arts.

Over the past few days, Madam Wang had noticed some changes in Lin Yin. At first his steps had been unsteady, but now he could walk normally. It was this remarkable change that had stopped her from asking too many questions.

When she found the missing Vajra Stance in the drawer, she had already begun to suspect something. Now that she knew Lin Yin had actually practiced the Stance Skill—and seemed to have made some progress—she was both shocked and delighted.

Learning martial arts... the cost of learning martial arts...

She looked at the firm, hopeful gaze of her son.

Perhaps my son has a gift for martial arts.

Madam Wang gritted her teeth, as if she had made up her mind. She pressed her lips together and looked at Lin Yin.

"Yin'er, if that's what you want, then focus on your training. As for money, don't worry about it. Mother will find a way..."

"Mother..."

Lin Yin's gaze flickered. He knew his mother had made her decision.

The next morning.

With the two hundred copper coins his mother had handed him tucked away, Lin Yin hurried to the Market.

If he was going to practice martial arts, he couldn't go without meat. He might not be able to eat as much as before, but he needed a little meat every day.

His mother wove cloth at home, doing piecework for a cloth shop. She had to work from dawn until dusk and could earn about twenty copper coins a day. That was thanks to her excellent handiwork; an ordinary household would probably make only a dozen or so.

He glanced back at Madam Wang, bent over her weaving inside the house, seeming not to dare pause for even a moment. Lin Yin's gaze turned resolute.

In the short time they had spent together, Lin Yin had felt a mother's love unlike anything he had ever known. That feeling had erased every last trace of distance between him and this world.

His mother only thought he had a talent for martial arts. She didn't know that he had already mastered the basics of the Stance Skill. No matter what... in this life, he would make something of himself!

Before heading to the Market, Lin Yin wandered around the mountain and came back with a few handfuls of wild greens. They looked like cabbage, but were called Pig Fern.

The name wasn't appealing, but they tasted excellent. When Father Lin was alive, he used to gather them whenever he went up the mountain.

Money was limited, after all, so Lin Yin had to be frugal. If he could gather some wild greens for free, he would.

By the time he reached the Market, the vendors were calling out to passersby, bringing a little life to the seemingly dilapidated Langshi Town.

When he learned that grain prices were going up again, Lin Yin had no choice but to buy some rice instead of the extra meat he'd planned on. Along with the pork, which took up most of his purchases, and the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, the total came to over two hundred copper coins. In the blink of an eye, nearly all of it was gone...

With a sack in hand, Lin Yin listened to the crowds talking as they came and went. Their talk of all kinds of harsh taxes and levies made his expression darken.

"I heard things have been unsettled on Mist Mountain lately. Some people go up and never come back. They suspect an Evil Spirit is behind it..."

"An Evil Spirit? That's just a legend. The Lin Kingdom is bearing down on us now. I heard some fugitive officials have turned bandit and are running amok."

"The Lin Kingdom is bearing down on us? No wonder they say taxes are going up... Heavens, we've had poor harvests year after year, and now they're raising taxes again... How... how are people supposed to live?"

"Prices are rising, rising again, and they're going to rise again..."

Lin Yin wandered until noon, his thoughts in turmoil.

Everything he had seen and heard along the way confirmed what his original self had known about this world. It was a time of chaos, and the common folk were destitute. He couldn't imagine how many people would fail to survive the bitter cold this year.

Someone hurried along, dragging a stinking wild chicken as if he'd struck gold. Others would kneel and beg for a one-coin discount. And women and children wandered the streets, holding their babies and begging.

Lin Yin tightened his grip on the sack woven from bamboo grass and quickened his pace.

Those two hundred copper coins had probably emptied his mother Madam Wang's savings. Now that he understood the state of the world more clearly, the grain in his sack felt especially heavy.

On the way home, Lin Yin was already starving. He wanted nothing more than to get back, light a fire, cook something, and then practice the Stance Skill. In a world like this, a little more strength meant a little more hope.

But just a hundred meters from home...

"Well now... if it isn't the great scholar Lin!"

Someone seemed to call out behind him. Lin Yin turned instinctively and saw a burly man in some kind of beast hide standing there. Memories surged through his mind, and his pupils contracted.

Li Sihu!

A minor leader in Langshi Town's Black Scorpion Gang, with seven or eight men under him. He made a living bullying the neighbors and extorting protection money, driving more than a few families to ruin!

His original self seemed to have had a run-in with him before, too.

"Why, great scholar Lin, it's only been a few days, but you're looking much more upright."

Li Sihu stared at Lin Yin with a mocking look, though a flicker of surprise appeared deep in his eyes.

Before, Lin Yin had been pale, with an almost feminine air about him. Compared to then, his somewhat slender figure now looked more upright. He had lost some of that softness and gained a young man's vigor.

The subtle change, combined with what Li Sihu knew about the boy's circumstances, made him suspect something was different.

Keeping his expression unchanged, he smiled all the same. "Have you thought about what I asked you last time?"

Last time...

Lin Yin kept his expression calm, but his heart gave a lurch as he recalled something unpleasant.

On the day his father died, Li Sihu had come to their door and said he could help Lin Yin keep attending school—but there was one condition: he had to become Steward Wang's page.

Steward Wang was unlike other men. He seemed to favor handsome boys, and Lin Yin, with his "excellent" looks and bearing, had caught his eye.

He called it being a page, but if Lin Yin entered that courtyard, there was no need to guess what would happen.

Once he understood what was behind it, Lin Yin's smile nearly broke. He forcibly swallowed his anger and cupped his hands.

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Sihu, but for now, I still don't..."

"You'd better think it through. If you're counting on that biased Old Master of yours, you'll probably never set foot in that school in your whole life.

"But if you become Master Wang's page, it'll be different. You'll eat well, live well, get into school, and even have a chance to pass the civil service exams!"

Li Sihu coaxed him patiently, his smile bright.

Once he closed this "deal," he wouldn't have to worry about money for quite some time!

"Sorry, Brother Sihu. The truth is, I don't plan to study anymore..."

Seeing how stubborn the other man was getting, Lin Yin decided to refuse outright. He even declared that he was done studying.

"Hm? You don't plan to study?"

Li Sihu paused. Seeing that Lin Yin seemed serious, he narrowed his eyes and his expression darkened. A cold glint flashed deep in his eyes.

He assumed Lin Yin was deliberately making him look bad, refusing to show him any respect.

"You really thought it through?"

"Yes!"

Holding the grass-woven sack, Lin Yin looked utterly serious. The burly man before him said nothing, only staring at him.

He pretended to panic and cupped his hands, then hurried off toward home.

Even after he had gone a long way, Lin Yin could still feel that gaze on his back, heavy as a tangible weight.