Preserving One's Wisdom

That day, the air in Lin Manor was thick with the stench of blood, mingled with the heavy odor of medicinal dregs, weighing heavily upon everyone's hearts.

On the bluestone slabs of the main courtyard lay two mangled corpses that had yet to be dragged away. They were the two servants who had usually followed Second Young Master Lin Yici most closely.

The arm-thick redwood staff was covered in bits of flesh. Master Lin, gasping for breath, flung it aside, his eyes bloodshot and his chest heaving violently.

"Useless! All of you are useless! You couldn't even protect the young master—what good are you?"

Servants knelt all across the courtyard, their foreheads pressed to the icy stone bricks. None dared even breathe too loudly, fearing that fatal staff would fall upon their heads the next moment.

Chen Ping shrank at the very back of the crowd, his head lowered deeply. He appeared to be trembling, but the corner of his eye calmly swept across the scene.

Those two servants had died unjustly, yet not entirely unjustly. When the master was humiliated, the servant died. In this world, a servant's life was cheaper than grass.

Second Young Master had been beaten unconscious. With no outlet for his fury, Master Lin would naturally take it out on those around him.

First Madam's heart-rending wails came from the inner hall, making everyone's scalp prickle.

"My son! What a miserable fate you have! That damned Jin Family has gone too far in bullying us! Master, if you are still a man, then report this to the authorities! Go smash the Jin Family's shops and avenge Yici!"

First Madam rushed out with her hair disheveled, clutching Master Lin's sleeve. Her normally well-maintained face was twisted into something rather savage, and the venom in her eyes nearly overflowed.

Master Lin's face was livid. He kicked away the corpse by his feet and roared irritably,

"Report it? Report what? Yici was beaten up while fighting over a woman. Do you want the Lin Family's face to be completely lost if word gets out?"

"Then send people to smash the place! Our Lin Family has standing in Qinghe County too. Are we really supposed to swallow this insult?"

First Madam refused to let up, her sharp nails nearly digging into Master Lin's flesh.

Master Lin said nothing. He merely wore a dark expression, his gaze flickering uncertainly.

The disturbance temporarily subsided, and the corpses were wrapped in straw mats and dragged off to the mass grave.

Chen Ping had only just returned to the servants' courtyard and had not even managed a sip of water to settle his nerves when the slightly plump Head Steward slunk in with a sinister air.

"Chen Ping."

The Steward patted Chen Ping's shoulder with a smile that did not reach his eyes. The force was neither too light nor too heavy, yet it carried an icy undertone.

"Second Young Master has suffered such a calamity. Master is suffering deeply. As servants, we should share our master's burdens. Isn't that right?"

Chen Ping's heart skipped a beat, but he piled a humble smile onto his face and bent at the waist like a shrimp.

"Head Steward is right. This lowly one is willing to go through fire and water for Master."

"Good. A loyal one."

The Steward leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Take a few sensible brothers to the Jin Family's silk shop in the south of the city tonight and show them some 'color.' No need to kill anyone. Burn a few things, smash some goods, and let the Jin Family know that Lin Manor is not to be trifled with."

The hair on Chen Ping's back immediately stood on end.

Go make trouble for the Jin Family?

The Jin Family were wealthy merchants in the city. He had heard they kept quite a few skilled wanderers of the martial world, and even had genuine martial masters stationed there.

The servants Second Young Master had taken that day had all been beaten until their arms and legs were broken. Taking a few menial workers armed with brooms there was not revenge—it was plainly sending them to their deaths, making them cannon fodder for the Lin Family's anger.

This old bastard wanted him to fill a hole.

"Th-this..."

Chen Ping displayed extreme terror and hesitation, his legs shaking. "Head Steward, this lowly one... this lowly one only knows how to sweep floors. How could I dare smash up a place? That Jin Family... I heard they're terribly fierce..."

"What? Afraid?"

The Steward's face darkened, and a savage gleam flashed through his mung-bean eyes.

"Just now, you said you would go through fire and water. Now you want to be a turtle hiding in its shell? Handle this well, and you will be rewarded. Fail, and those two servants beaten to death will be your example!"

Chen Ping swallowed, as if frightened out of his wits, and said in a trembling voice, "This lowly one... this lowly one will go! I'll call people right away!"

As he watched the Steward leave with satisfaction, the terror in Chen Ping's eyes faded, replaced by a sheet of icy chill.

Want to use me as cannon fodder? Not so easily.

Chen Ping did not go call anyone. Instead, using the excuse of going to the kitchen to collect charcoal, he slipped over to the side gate of the inner courtyard.

Yun Niang was washing vegetables beside the well, both hands red from the cold.

When she saw Chen Ping approaching, she was about to greet him, only to see him wave with a grave expression.

The two hid behind a stack of firewood, and Chen Ping whispered a few sentences at a rapid pace.

"Sister Yun, this concerns our lives. Find a way to casually let Cui'er by First Madam's side hear that... someone handling purchases said the Jin Family's eldest young master had recently taken a concubine, and she is the distant cousin of the County Marshal. The Jin Family has a powerful official backer."

Yun Niang was an intelligent woman. The moment she heard this, she understood the stakes. Her face went slightly pale as she tightly gripped Chen Ping's sleeve.

"Brother Ping, is that true?"

"Whether it is true or false is not important. What matters is whether Master believes it."

Chen Ping clasped her icy hand. "Only if Master thinks the Jin Family cannot be provoked can we survive."

Yun Niang nodded, steadied herself, picked up the basin of vegetables, and hurried away.

Within less than half an hour, this "inside news" grew wings. Through Cui'er's mouth, embellished with extra details, it reached First Madam's ears, and shortly afterward, Master Lin's as well.

Inside the study, the teacup in Master Lin's hand crashed to the floor with a sharp crack.

"A relative of the County Marshal? Is this true?"

"Master, it is better to believe it than not! Though we are a scholarly family, we are still only local gentry. How could we contend with the authorities?"

First Madam had stopped wailing, her face full of lingering fear. "If we truly anger the County Marshal, our Lin Family..."

Master Lin paced back and forth in his study, his expression shifting between light and dark.

He was greedy for wealth, but he treasured his life even more.

After weighing matters for a long time, he let out a long sigh and slumped back into his chair.

"Forget it, forget it! We are a family of scholars. We will not lower ourselves to the level of those merchant ruffians. Pass down the order: have the Steward withdraw everyone. Keep the gates tightly shut. For the coming days, no one is allowed out to stir up trouble!"

When the news reached the servants' courtyard, Chen Ping was holding several wooden sticks and pretending to "lecture" a group of menial workers.

Hearing that the operation had been canceled, the workers, who had been scared pale, felt as though they had been granted amnesty and collapsed onto the ground.

Chen Ping also let out a long breath of foul air, his palms soaked with cold sweat.

This hurdle had been cleared.

But the trouble did not end there.

At dusk, the Steward summoned Chen Ping to a corner with a dark face.

"Hmph, you brat got lucky. Master is merciful and unwilling to create more bloodshed." The Steward eyed Chen Ping askance, his tone unfriendly. "But you lot did no proper work all day, just hollering and making a racket. Everyone in the servants' courtyard will have half this month's wages deducted!"

This was outright extortion. Since the job had not been completed and the Steward had gained no profit, he intended to strip a layer of skin from the servants instead.

Chen Ping understood it as clearly as a mirror. Without the slightest hesitation, he took out a prepared piece of broken silver from his clothes, about one tael in weight, and skillfully slipped it into the Steward's hand.

"Head Steward, please calm your anger. The brothers were waiting at all times for your orders and did not dare rest all day." Chen Ping smiled apologetically and lowered his voice. "This is a small token from this lowly one. Please accept it for tea. As for the brothers' monthly wages... everyone depends on that bit of money to support their families. Please, could you...?"

The Steward pinched the broken silver, feeling its edges against his fingers. His tense, plump face finally relaxed, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"You brat knows how to behave. Fine, their wages will be paid as usual. Be sharper from now on."

The Steward left with his hands behind his back. Chen Ping watched his retreating figure, touched his shriveled money pouch, and a trace of pain flashed through his eyes, though there was even more relief.

This tael of silver had bought safety. It had bought time.

The night grew deep and still, with the cold moon hanging high.

Carrying a lantern, Chen Ping began his night patrol through the manor. Ever since becoming Acting Foreman, night patrols had become part of his routine duties.

As he passed Master Lin's study, the lights inside were still on.

Chen Ping lightened his steps and held his breath. After two medicinal baths and progress in his internal cultivation, his hearing far surpassed that of ordinary people.

"Alas..."

A desolate sigh came from within the study.

"The Lin Family has passed down through a single line for three generations. When it came to Yici's generation, I had hoped he might study a little, earn some scholarly honors, and bring glory to our ancestors. Who could have known he would turn out to be such an unworthy thing? And now he has become little more than a living corpse..."

Master Lin's voice was steeped in exhaustion and loneliness. "If even one disciple from a collateral branch of the clan could earn scholarly honors, why would my Lin Family have to endure the insults of merchants in this tiny patch of land?"

Standing in the shadows beneath the window, Chen Ping's heart jolted.

Scholarly honors.

In the rigidly stratified Liang Dynasty, all pursuits were lowly, while study alone stood high. With scholarly honors came official status and entry into the privileged class. Even a county magistrate would have to show some respect.

Yet studying and taking the civil examinations was like thousands of troops crossing a single-log bridge, and family background and inheritance mattered greatly. As a servant born into slave registration, he was not even qualified to enter the examination hall.

But...

A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed through Chen Ping's mind.

Besides the civil examination, there was also the Imperial Military Examination!

Though the Liang Dynasty valued literature and slighted martial arts, wars had raged year after year along the Borderlands, and the Imperial Court desperately sought martial talent. The Imperial Military Examination did not ask about one's origins. So long as one's background was clean, one possessed commoner registration, or one had a master's recommendation, one could register.

Once he passed, even if he became merely a Military Xiucai, he could shed his slave registration and transform his household!

The fingers clutching Chen Ping's lantern suddenly tightened, his knuckles whitening.

He possessed the [Heaven Rewards Diligence] fate, and as long as he trained, his martial progress would advance a thousand miles in a day. His Shattered Stone Palm had already reached great mastery, while his Longevity of Pine and Crane had achieved initial success. Compared to those crude men who only knew how to temper their strength, he held an enormous advantage.

This was a path.

A broad golden road leading to freedom, dignity, and even the Path of Eternal Life.

Chen Ping forced down the wild pounding in his chest.

But this could not be rushed, nor could the Lin Family learn of it. If they discovered that a servant harbored such ambitions, they would likely strangle him in the cradle at the first opportunity.

He had to plan. He had to endure. He had to wait for the right moment.

And this was not only his own affair.

Chen Ping raised his head, his gaze passing through layer upon layer of courtyards toward the inner courtyard. There, one lamp had been left burning for him.

Redeeming himself, removing his slave registration, taking the examination. All of it required money—vast amounts of money.

"Looks like I need to discuss this with Sister Yun."

Chen Ping murmured to himself. In the freezing winter night, two scorching flames burned in his eyes.

Moonlight flowed like water over the high walls of Lin Manor, casting a ghastly pale gleam.

Chen Ping walked to the wall and reached out to touch the cold, rough blue bricks. This wall kept out the wind and rain beyond, but it also imprisoned the freedom within.

Once, he had believed that as long as he kept his head down here, had food to eat, and secretly practiced martial arts to pursue immortality, that would be paradise.

But today's events made him understand: without status, without standing, no matter how high his martial arts were, he was only a watchdog in a wealthy estate, liable to be kicked aside—or even slaughtered—at any moment.