The Road to Martial Arts

"Hey, Brother Hao," Aunt Li called as she opened the courtyard gate and stepped outside. "Where are you going so early?"

Su Yun recounted Zhou Menghu's death.

"Good riddance!" Aunt Li slapped her thigh. "Wait for me. I'm coming to see, too."

She hurried back inside, brought out a child, shut the courtyard gate, and rushed to catch up with Cui Hao and Su Yun.

Aunt Li's husband had a bad leg and usually couldn't go out. Her two sons worked as waiters at a hotel in town, so the family was relatively well-off. That was why she'd had another son.

On the way to Zhou Menghu's house, Aunt Li kept hollering, "Zhou Menghu's dead! Zhou Menghu's dead!"

A woman came over and asked, "Aunt Li, what happened?"

"There was a fire at Zhou Menghu's house last night," Aunt Li said with a broad smile. "They say two people burned to death."

"Really!?" The woman's eyes, lifeless moments ago, suddenly lit up, and her limp body seemed to fill with energy.

Aunt Li lifted her chin. "Come with us and see for yourself."

"I'll come too."

With Aunt Li hollering all the way, their group of four quickly swelled to more than forty.

Before long, they reached Zhou Menghu's courtyard and saw two bodies burned to charcoal.

"Looks like they really are dead." As she stared at the charred bodies on the ground, Aunt Li whispered with her neighbors. "Heaven has opened its eyes."

The woman whispering with Aunt Li nodded deeply in agreement.

"Brother Hao," Su Yun said, clutching Cui Hao's arm. "They're burned so badly. We can't tell if one of them is Zhou Menghu."

Cui Hao nodded. "I don't think either of them looks like Zhou Menghu."

"Watch what you say." An elderly village resident corrected him. "This is Zhou Menghu's house. If the dead man isn't Zhou Menghu, then who is he?"

"Zhou Menghu was tall and burly," Cui Hao argued. "These two corpses are much too thin."

Everyone looked at Cui Hao like he was an idiot. Of course the bodies were thin after being burned to charcoal.

A cry came from nearby. They turned toward the sound and saw Jiang Huagou's wife and daughter. The woman pointed at the bodies and cursed, "Good riddance!"

Everyone began discussing how Jiang Huagou had gone hunting on Second Mountain and never returned. On the very day news of his death got back, Zhou Menghu had kicked in their door and threatened to buy Lingdang for one tael of silver.

If they refused to sell her, he'd make the widow and her child lose everything.

If Zhou Menghu hadn't died, Lingdang would certainly have been sold to a brothel within half a month.

"Brother Hao," Su Yun said, unable to hide her delight. "Lingdang has wide hips and looks like she'd bear children well. How about marrying her?"

Before Cui Hao could agree or refuse, a commotion broke out beyond the courtyard. The village head shouted, "The constables are here! Everyone out! You nosy troublemakers will go look at any commotion!"

The crowd scattered at once, squeezing out of the courtyard.

A group of constables in dark red uniforms entered. Their leader crouched beside the two bodies, examined them, and stated bluntly, "Murder."

"Who was the first to discover the bodies..."

"Brother Hao, let's go." Su Yun couldn't hide her happiness. "Let's go home and make an early lunch."

Cui Hao left with Su Yun and quietly reminded her, "Save your smiles for when we get home. It won't look good if other people see."

Su Yun immediately stopped smiling.

In all her two lifetimes, this was the first time Su Yun had cooked plain rice in the morning. The dish was chicken steamed with cracklings.

She was happier than she'd been at New Year.

As they ate and chatted, someone knocked at the courtyard gate.

Cui Hao opened it. There were four people outside, three of them ruffians who had hung around Zhou Menghu.

The young man leading them wore a training uniform embroidered with the character "Guang" on the chest. Cui Hao recognized him as Zhou Menghu's younger brother. In the little over a year since they'd last met, he'd grown burly and muscular.

"You're Cui Hao, right?" Because of Su Yun, Zhou Mengyue had a strong impression of him. "I heard you had a grudge against my brother?"

"A grudge? Not really." Cui Hao shook his head slowly. "He was always worried I couldn't pay my taxes, and even offered to lend me money. I'm more grateful to him than anything."

Zhou Mengyue cast him a sidelong glance and demanded in a sinister tone, "Hold out both hands. Let me see them."

Sensing a powerful killing intent from Zhou Mengyue, Cui Hao obediently held out his hands.

Seeing that Cui Hao's hands didn't even have calluses, Zhou Mengyue knew he wasn't skilled with a blade. He couldn't beat his brother, much less split his brother's forehead open.

He turned and knocked on Aunt Li's door next door.

"I heard my brother died. Were you happy about it?"

"No... Absolutely not!" Aunt Li was terrified. Wiping away tears, she said, "I even cried!"

Cui Hao shut the courtyard gate and listened to Zhou Mengyue talking with Aunt Li from behind it. A deep unease stirred in his heart. Zhou Mengyue felt even more dangerous, even more deadly.

Afraid he might die and afraid Su Yun might be bullied, Cui Hao silently made an important decision.

After breakfast, he carried the jar of wine into town and went to Xu's Pharmacy, the closest shop to the north gate.

The shop assistant recognized Cui Hao. "Selling snake gallbladder?"

"I am. Is the fellow I spoke to last time here?"

"Don't go claiming connections. He's the young master of our shop. He's only here now and then."

"The golden snake I brought last time—the gallbladder's in the jar. Which of you can make the decision?"

The shop assistant fetched the shopkeeper, a man with a goatee. After learning why Cui Hao had come, he offered, "Five taels of silver."

Cui Hao countered, "Fifteen."

"If we process it, it's worth fifteen taels. Yours hasn't been processed, so it's not worth that much."

Cui Hao turned to leave, planning to ask around at other shops.

"Wait. Young people are so impatient." The shopkeeper stroked his goatee and said mysteriously, "Eight taels. I can't offer more."

"Twelve."

"No deal. There's no profit in it."

Cui Hao turned to leave.

"Stop!" The shopkeeper's mustache quivered with anger. He beckoned Cui Hao over. "Fine, twelve taels."

With the deal settled, and the silver he'd taken from Zhou Menghu the night before, Cui Hao had fifteen taels. He went to the Back Ninth Street and stood before Zhanhong Martial Arts Academy, the cheapest one Lin Da had mentioned.

He pulled the iron ring and knocked several times.

"Who is it?" A powerful voice rang through the door.

"My name is Cui Hao. I've come to become a disciple."

With a creak, the heavy wooden door swung open from within, and a lean man leaned out. He looked Cui Hao up and down and asked, "Have you brought the tuition?"

"I have."

The lean man stepped aside. "Master's here. Come in."

After thanking him, Cui Hao crossed the threshold with the man.

Beyond the door was a courtyard with two successive yards. The open space in the outer yard was swept clean, with wooden stakes, stone locks, stone swords, stone axes, and other training equipment scattered about.

Twenty-seven or twenty-eight men and women were training and sparring on the brick-paved ground.

Cui Hao's eyesight was decent. Among all those people, he spotted two familiar faces: the stout female warrior who'd bought seven chicks, and the young master of Xu's Pharmacy.

Turning his gaze away from the men shouting as they trained, Cui Hao went to the eaves in a corner of the outer yard. A high-backed grand chair stood there, with a middle-aged man seated in it.

He wore a gray, straight-cut, cross-collar robe and a pair of clean black cloth shoes.

"Master, this man wants to become your disciple."

Xu Dian looked up at Cui Hao. "What's your name? Where are you from? How old are you?"

Cui Hao bowed and clasped his fists. "This junior is Cui Hao, from Willow Tree Village outside town. I'm eighteen."

"A little old..." As he spoke, Xu Dian stood up and reached out with his right hand to squeeze Cui Hao's shoulder blade.

It felt like an iron clamp had seized him. Cui Hao grimaced in pain, but gritted his teeth and stayed silent.

"Your sinews still have some resilience. Your aptitude is mediocre. If you can't enter the realm of Mortal Martial Arts within two months, leave on your own."

With his cheat ability, Cui Hao dismissed both aptitude and resilience. He offered the tuition with both hands.