017 Body Tempering Three (Xie Lan Die's Wing Alliance Leader)

Xinyu Town.

Under the dim, yellow sky, a light rain pattered down.

The yellow mud on the road had been trampled into a mushy mess, utterly disgusting. Ox carts and horse carriages passed by from time to time, splashing up flecks of mud.

Most passersby on the road wore bamboo hats and rain capes, hurrying along.

Creak.

Lin Hui pushed open the gate to his family's courtyard and saw that it was empty and quiet.

In the courtyard, an apricot tree that had only been planted not long ago trembled slightly, its branches and leaves quivering in the drizzle.

"Dad? Mom?" he called, but there was still no answer.

Did they go to work? he guessed. He stepped into the courtyard and turned to close the gate.

Suddenly, another creak sounded. The gate to a neighboring courtyard not far away opened as well.

Two short, solidly built men emerged, weighing the gray money pouches in their hands while spitting on the ground and cursing.

"Fuck! What the hell is this!? Had to make me search it myself—no money, no money, then what the fuck is this? Those trashy old dogs only know how to blow smoke out of their mouths."

"Brother Huang, should we now... Huh, someone's next door! Brother Huang, hurry!" Just as the other man was about to speak, he spotted Lin Hui standing at the Lin Family's gate. His eyes immediately lit up.

"Has that side already been collected from?" Brother Huang looked over, somewhat hesitant.

"Probably not? Didn't we just come to this area? Who would've collected it? But it's even better if someone did. We collect from them again, and then whatever we get is all ours, isn't it?" The other man gave a strange laugh. "I heard this family used to do business and run an oil mill. They've got money!"

This was not their first time collecting money repeatedly. Brother Huang immediately made up his mind and turned to approach.

"Friend, it's time for your household to pay its protection fee. We're from the Wood Flower Gang, responsible for the day-to-day business security in this area." Brother Huang approached with a gentle smile.

"Wood Flower Gang? I remember it being the Fortune Peace Gang." Lin Hui raised a brow slightly. He did not doubt the matter of protection fees—those had to be paid everywhere—but he was puzzled that the Fortune Peace Gang had been replaced by the Wood Flower Gang.

"Then you're out of the loop. We've beaten the Fortune Peace Gang so badly they don't even dare step out their front gate. From now on, this whole area falls under the Wood Flower Gang's jurisdiction." Brother Huang's eyes shifted as he smiled.

"How much?" Lin Hui did not suspect anything. He happened to have some wages on him, and paying it for his parents would settle the matter, so he asked.

"Not much. Your family's opening a small shop, so it's five thousand cash altogether for the residence and the shop." Brother Huang held out one open palm with a smile.

"How much?" Lin Hui's hand, which was reaching for his money, paused. He looked up at the man.

"Five thousand." Brother Huang repeated himself, a threatening smile appearing on his face.

"You two..." Lin Hui remained polite, "isn't five thousand a little..."

"A-Hui!" A familiar voice suddenly drifted over from the road not far away.

His mother, Yao Shan, and Old Man Lin Shunhe were hurrying home together beneath an oil-paper umbrella.

When they saw Lin Hui being blocked by Brother Huang and the other Wood Flower Gang member, they unconsciously quickened their pace.

"A-Hui, are you all right? Do you people from the Wood Flower Gang have any rules at all? Didn't you just collect money a few days ago!?" Yao Shan hurried over, grabbed Lin Hui's arm, and turned to angrily berate the two men.

"They were them, and we're us. The people who came before weren't from our Wood Flower Gang at all. You must have been scammed!" Brother Huang said with a smile.

"Every trade has its rules, every gang has its code. Does your Wood Flower Gang really let people collect money over and over until your reputation is utterly ruined?" Lin Shunhe approached with a frown.

"Heh, you say you paid, so where's the receipt? What proof do you have that you paid money before?" Brother Huang grew impatient, raising his voice.

"The wooden flower you gave us is still at our place!" Yao Shan trembled with rage.

"Anyone can carve a wooden flower. It's not some special item—who can't make one?" the other man laughed.

Lin Shunhe was about to argue further, but Lin Hui finally could not hold back. He raised a hand to stop his parents and immediately spoke up.

"Does your Wood Flower Gang have anyone from Qingfeng Temple?" Lin Hui suddenly changed the subject. First, he needed to establish the background.

"Qingfeng Temple? What place is that?" Brother Huang froze, asking blankly.

"Brother Huang, I think Offering Yu is from Qingfeng Temple..." The man beside him reacted much faster and promptly reminded him in a low voice.

"Offering Yu!?" Brother Huang's expression changed. He immediately scrutinized Lin Hui, and soon spotted the official disciple waist token unique to Qingfeng Temple beneath the cover of Lin Hui's leather rain cape.

"You can take a closer look." Lin Hui removed the waist token and tossed it over.

Brother Huang hurriedly caught it and inspected it carefully, confirming that it was not a fake. He had indeed seen a similar token on Offering Yu.

His expression changed again, and he returned the waist token with both hands.

"Since you're from Qingfeng Temple, you needn't pay this month's fee. As for what was collected before, I'll check with the gang later. You should be able to get quite a bit of it back."

"That's it?"

Lin Hui put away his waist token, his expression calm.

"This... we were the ones who offended you this time. We'll definitely give you an explanation, brother! We'll be taking our leave first." Brother Huang gritted his teeth, clasped his fists toward Lin Hui along with his follower, then turned and hurried away.

Only after their figures had completely vanished at the end of the road did Lin Hui turn around to look at his parents.

His mother's face was filled with shock, and for a while, she could barely process what had happened.

"They just left? Them? And they even said they'd return the money they collected before?"

She could hardly believe it. How had the Wood Flower Gang, such an overbearing and arrogant force, suddenly become so easy to reason with?

"It should be true." Lin Hui nodded. "To be honest, quite a few of these gangs have ties to martial schools large and small like ours. What they fear isn't me, but the place I represent behind me. And the Qingfeng Temple people within their own gang."

Yao Shan still found it hard to believe.

She felt the matter had been resolved far too easily. Yet everything happening before her was so real that she had no choice but to believe it.

"You've undergone Body Tempering? You broke through and became a formal disciple?" her father, Lin Shunhe, suddenly asked from the side.

"Yes, I only just broke through." Lin Hui nodded calmly, meeting Lin Shunhe's gaze.

At once, he saw a trace of relief from crushing pressure appear on the man's face.

"That's good... that's good..."

But Lin Shunhe knew perfectly well that the influence and usefulness of a formal disciple were limited. If the Wood Flower Gang did not have someone from Qingfeng Temple within their gang, they likely would not have backed down so easily. There were so many martial academies and so many disciples—if they gave everyone face and stopped charging them money just because they were not elite ranked disciples, then the gangs might as well stop surviving altogether.

"Those two might not have been telling the truth either. Most likely, they knew you were a formal disciple who had entered Body Tempering, that you weren't an ordinary person, and that they probably couldn't beat you. So they simply went with the flow, found themselves a way off the stage, and ran away." He sighed. "Don't really think your status is all that powerful either. You mustn't rely on it."

"Mm, I understand, Dad." Lin Hui nodded.

"It's good that you understand... Sigh... Still, you truly have reached the point where you can help shoulder the family's burdens... A formal disciple of Qingfeng Temple can be considered a capable hand even among prominent households. You already have some standing to receive certain exemptions..."

The heavy burden he had borne alone all this time had suddenly lightened by at least thirty percent, merely because the Wood Flower Gang's protection dues had been reduced.

"Come on, Shan Shan, help warm up some wine and food. Us father and son will sit down for a few drinks." In his delight, Lin Shunhe turned and entered the house as he instructed her.

"Alright, I'll go right away." Yao Shan hurriedly turned and went inside.

After the family went back in and shut the courtyard gate, the gate of a neighboring courtyard not far away quietly opened.

A pair of eyes secretly glanced over several times, filled with envy and helplessness.

Only after quite a while did those eyes vanish again, and the courtyard gate closed.

Clink.

At the stone table in the courtyard, Lin Shunhe and Lin Hui sat facing each other, drinking with store-bought pig ears as a snack.

"This is Old Liu Tavern's aged yellow wine. It's steeped with medicinal herbs and can replenish blood and qi while refreshing the mind. Two cups won't be a problem for you." Lin Shunhe raised his wine cup and lightly clinked it against his son's.

The two pale gray wine cups rang softly in midair, crisp and pleasant.

"I actually don't like drinking." Lin Hui said helplessly. "Can I drink less?"

"Not liking it is good, haha." Lin Shunhe drained his little cup in one gulp and laughed. "Sigh, only those burdened by sorrow seek wine to loosen themselves up for a while. Looks like you don't have much sorrow yet."

"That's true." Lin Hui nodded. He gently sipped the pale amber wine. It tasted sweet, with a distinctive medicinal-herb flavor, and was surprisingly fragrant.

"To be honest, with matters like the Wood Flower Gang, I could also ask old friends to help settle them. But favors... once, twice, three times, four times—people can't keep helping you forever. If you use them too often without ever returning the help, even the best relationship will eventually break." Lin Shunhe sighed.

"So favors should be used at critical moments." Lin Hui nodded.

"That's right, but don't forget something else. Favors gradually fade with time as well. If you don't use one for too long, people may no longer acknowledge it later. So... getting the measure of it all is terribly troublesome." Lin Shunhe sighed.

"But what exactly is a favor?" Lin Hui asked calmly. He had never been interested in such things in his previous life, so he took the opportunity to ask.

"A favor is mutual exchange." Lin Shunhe smiled. "Only when others feel that they owe you will there be a time for them to repay you later. But repayment can't possibly be an exact one-for-one match. When people do things, they always leave a little extra. When you return a favor, you can't calculate it so precisely—you should give somewhat more. That way, others will come back to repay you again. Through this back-and-forth, trust can be built."

"But the premise of all this is that there must be give and take?" Lin Hui asked thoughtfully. Comparing it with certain things he had seen in his previous life, that was indeed the case.

"Yes. You need to have the ability to give, so that others will come to you. If you lack that ability, then it depends on whether the other party values righteousness, because that kind of giving is unlikely to bring any return." Lin Shunhe continued, "The reason I didn't use favors before was because I cherished them. But now that you can help support the family somewhat as well, life will be much easier from now on. I won't always have to worry about what happens when all my favors are used up."

"I see." Lin Hui nodded in understanding.

"Come on, let's have another!"

Clink.

The wine cups lightly struck together. Father and son drank cup after cup, and before long, they had finished a small flask of wine.

Lin Shunhe's face was flushed red. In the end, he happily hummed a little tune, and Yao Shan supported him into the inner room to rest.