The scorching sun hung in the sky, and the summer heat was thick.
Sweaty and carrying a load on his shoulders and back, Gu Chang'an dragged the Blood-Tusked Wild Boar and finally returned to Nanjing City.
The guards at the city gates had long since grown used to the sight of the young hunter. A brief glance was all it took to let him enter the city.
He did not linger, heading straight for the Hunter Gang shop in the southern market.
This shop sat at the end of a bustling alley, always busy year-round, serving as an important place where hunters and butchers dealt with one another.
Hanging in front of the shop was a greasy animal hide, the seal-script characters for "Hunter Gang" on it bleached white by the sun.
As soon as he drew near, someone inside recognized him: "Is the hunter Gu back?"
"Hark, this boar is big enough!"
Liu Hong, a minor leader of the Hunter Gang who was dozing under the eaves, lifted his eyelids and stood up with a smile:
"Chang'an? Did you hunt this boar all by yourself?"
Gu Chang'an nodded and replied with a smile: "Yes, Brother Liu."
Liu Hong stroked his chin, looked the boar over, and called out to the back:
"Come on, carry this fellow inside and put it on the scale!"
Two Hunter Gang ruffians stepped forward and nimbly heaved the boar onto the large scale. With a few creaking sounds, the weighing beam slowly sank.
"Brother Liu, it's weighed out—five hundred and twenty-eight catties and six taels!"
"Not bad." Liu Hong nodded with a smile, then looked at Gu Chang'an: "Wild boar meat is eight wen per catty. I'll count it as five hundred and thirty catties for you, making a total of four thousand two hundred and forty wen."
Hearing this, Gu Chang'an was slightly startled.
He had originally thought getting one or two thousand wen would be pretty good, but he hadn't expected it to be worth over four thousand!
He smiled, cupped his fists, and said: "Thank you, Brother Liu. We'll go by this price."
"You're a straightforward one." Liu Hong patted him on the shoulder, told someone to count out four taels of silver and two hundred and forty copper coins, and handed them over: "Let's keep our accounts clear."
Gu Chang'an tucked the money into his bosom and pulled a plump, tight-fleshed mountain pheasant out of his back basket.
"Brother Liu, take this mountain pheasant along with it."
Liu Hong glanced at it briefly and nodded:
"This thing has tender and fragrant meat, and restaurants love to have it. I'll give you eight hundred wen."
"Good." Gu Chang'an handed over the mountain pheasant.
Seeing his calm demeanor and resolute gaze, Liu Hong felt a secret wave of admiration in his heart, and couldn't help drawing a bit closer,
"Chang'an, you're not old, but your martial skills are extraordinary. Would you consider joining our Hunter Gang?"
"I can recommend you to the gang leader and give you the position of a minor leader, overseeing a few hunters. You won't have to risk your life going up the mountain every day, and you'll have a steady silver income every month."
Gu Chang'an pondered for a moment and ultimately shook his head.
"Many thanks for Brother Liu's kind intentions, but I still have other plans and it's inconvenient for me to join the gang."
Liu Hong stopped trying to persuade him, only nodding with a smile:
"Very well, a young man should have ambition. If you change your mind in the future, just come find me anytime."
After expressing his thanks, Gu Chang'an took his leave. The sunlight on the street was still scorching, but his steps were brisk, the silver in his hands gleamed, and his heart felt a bit more grounded.
Instead of taking the main road, he wound through small alleys and wards to return to his small courtyard.
The courtyard gate was slightly ajar, and the house was cool.
He unloaded the pheasant and rabbit, wiped away his sweat, rolled up his sleeves, and set about processing the game.
The chicken and rabbit were skinned and cleaned, then chopped up to boil into soup, while a large chunk was set aside for dinner.
The remaining clean and tender meat was packed by Gu Chang'an into several cloth bags as per usual, and he headed out the door carrying them.
"Aunt Xiao Cui, I hunted a lot today. You and the children can have this bit of meat."
"Uncle Wu, this rabbit meat is nourishing. Your teeth are good, so stewing it makes it the most fragrant."
The children also came running over to surround him, shouting: "Uncle Gu is back!"
Gu Chang'an smiled, ruffled their hair, and handed out a few strips of dried meat.
Watching the neighbors take the meat with faces full of joy, Gu Chang'an felt a warmth spread through his heart.
He knew that although this city was not large and this world was dangerous, right here within this tiny courtyard and among a few neighboring households, he had temporarily found a corner to hide his brilliance, nurture his strength, and grow steadily.
After finishing lunch, Gu Chang'an headed to the Sky Wind Martial Hall.
The Sky Wind Martial Hall was renowned throughout Nanjing City.
Although it couldn't compare to military martial academies or cultivation clans, within this small Nanning County, it was already the primary springboard for hot-blooded youths and rough-hewn fighters striving to survive.
The paving bricks inside the martial hall were polished glossy by time and sweat. A group of youths practicing martial arts were stripped to the waist, throwing punches against wooden stakes and sandbags as the wind of their fists howled.
"Hah! Hah!"
The instructor in the center of the courtyard was surnamed Lü and known as Master Lü. His physique was as burly as an iron tower, and his tiger-like eyes and lion-like voice boomed as he stood on the sparring platform to supervise and guide.
Gu Chang'an found a corner, sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing, and circulated the Iron Shirt Technique. Sweat rapidly beaded up on his body, and his muscles subtly bulged, looking like iron and stone.
The Qi and blood within him surged, his tendons and bones roaring like bells, far solidifying and weighing heavier than when he had first entered the hall.
Before long, several nearby trainees gathered together to rest, and someone suddenly began talking in low tones about something:
"Have you guys heard? The county office is going to recruit runners to specifically crack down on those bandits prowling around."
"Really? I heard a caravan was plundered on the mountain road a few days ago, with plenty of casualties."
"Of course it's true!" an enthusiastic young trainee said,
"For those of us from the martial hall, signing up even gets us priority admission!"
Another person frowned:
"But bandits aren't ones to trifle with. I heard the ones who struck this time are people from the Black Tiger Stockade, and that Fifth Chief, Ma Dahu, was already a late-stage ninth-rank martial artist several years ago—even the chief constable is wary of him."
As soon as these words left his mouth, the surroundings grew somewhat quiet for a moment.
A moment later, that enthusiastic youth looked toward Gu Chang'an again and smiled:
"Chang'an, aren't you going to go give it a try? Haven't you been training pretty fiercely lately? You might just be able to snag a spot."
While wiping away his sweat, Gu Chang'an cast a thoughtful glance at him and smiled: "Me?"
"Well, I've indeed heard about this matter too... But with my meager skills, if I really run into a ruthless character like the Black Tiger Stockade, I'm afraid I'll end up a corpse in the wilderness the moment I show my face."
That person urged: "You can't say it like that. Don't the county office runners all go out together, led by constables? If you really want to carve out a future for yourself, this is an opportunity."
Hearing this, Gu Chang'an fell silent.
"Runners."
This was a path he had considered long ago. Entering the county office and obtaining an official post would allow him to cast off the bottom-tier status of a "commoner" and acquire the identity of a "minor official."
In this way, the numerical value by which his physique increased every day would grow.
Pity—he looked at his own calloused hands, feeling the rolling yet still unsettled Qi and blood within his body.
And the cruel scene he had witnessed with his own eyes on the mountain road that day, where bandits slaughtered a caravan...
He knew it very well.
The current himself was still far from enough.
Against a figure like Ma Dahu, even if a single saber were slashed down, he feared he wouldn't even be able to block it.
Besides, this recruitment of runners by the county office was nothing more than recruiting a suicide squad, intending to have these temporary runners use their lives to earn merits for those official lords.
He wasn't so foolish as to go and throw his life away in vain.
"I'm not going for now."
"Why?" The youth was slightly startled.
"Lives can be used to gamble on the future, but they can't be used to accompany them in filling up death registries."
Gu Chang'an patted the other man's shoulder,
"If you truly want to live a long life, you have to wait until I'm a bit stronger before going to be a runner."
With that, he turned around and stood before the sandbag once again, punching like the wind, strike after strike with heavy and formidable internal force.
Every blow was like an iron ox ramming a bell, startling those nearby into sideways glances.
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