If I Could Drink Another Cup of Hot Wine in Peaceful Times, I'd Have No Regrets

"Elite Selection?"

Luo Bin quickly got dressed and looked at Feng Yi with some confusion. He'd only been assigned to Black Sheath Hall last night, and now, first thing the next morning, he was being told to do something... Hall Master Luo really was making him work off his debt in earnest.

Feng Yi lowered his head and pondered for a moment before explaining,

"Elite Selection is a long-standing custom of the Green Bamboo Gang. 'Elite' naturally means the sharpest edge, so the Elite Selection is about picking out the sharpest blades. But there hasn't been any fighting near Ping City lately..."

At this, Feng Yi gave Luo Bin a deep look and said no more. But after the "Crimson" had purged and refined Luo Bin's body, his mind had become exceptionally sharp.

"Is it connected to demons?"

Damn.

Luo Bin knew that he and the other former Pei Family servants wouldn't have an easy time in the gang. He hadn't expected to be shoved into the fray and made to risk his life on the very second day.

Still, it was already pretty good of Luo Wendi not to have killed them on the spot last night.

Luo Bin followed Feng Yi, chatting with him as they walked.

They passed through the side courtyard's main gate. Inside Pei Mansion, people jostled shoulder to shoulder, as if it were New Year's. The dozen or so servants assigned under Luo Bin were especially cheerful, smiles plastered across their faces.

Seeing them, Luo Bin finally let out a breath and put his mind at ease...

The May sun was warm and hazy. On East Ping City's New Street, the asphalt shimmered with ripples of oily light. The air was thick with the mingled scents of earthy soil, the clean fragrance of foreign soap, and sweet roasted chestnuts.

Though the scenery was lovely, the surroundings felt starkly divided. On one side stood New Street, filled with imported goods and Western influences; on the other stretched endless rows of shacks, where many rickshaw pullers rested.

Some people even lived in those shacks. Dozens crowded together, the interiors reeking to high heaven.

Luo Bin turned to look at one of the shacks and saw several poorly dressed women of varying ages. Some looked barely past twenty. With their children beside them, they stood outside the shacks, watching the passersby with hopeful eyes.

One child met Luo Bin's gaze. His mother immediately leaned out and spotted Luo Bin in the distance. A smile spread across her face as she tried to catch his attention.

"Gentlemen, I can cook and do laundry. A bowl of porridge a day is enough for my child..." The woman looked at Feng Yi, but called out to Luo Bin.

She thought Feng Yi, dressed so respectably, was the one capable of supporting her and her child, while the young man beside him might be willing to take them in out of kindness.

Luo Bin pretended not to hear. He turned away, his heart trembling as he remembered a line from a TV drama in his previous life:

"If I could drink another cup of hot wine in peaceful times, I'd have no regrets."

In a world like this, having no man to hold up the household was practically a disaster.

The two of them reached the entrance to a department store on New Street. From the stone archway diagonally across the road came a burst of cheerful laughter.

A black plaque with gold lettering hung above the archway. It read [Ping City Women's Normal School]. A notice announcing admissions to the new school was posted beside the gate, its corners curling slightly in the breeze.

Female students came and went, wearing moon-white blouses and black skirts that fell below the knee, books in their arms. Most had their hair cut neatly to their ears, giving them a fresh, youthful beauty.

Of course, in his previous life, Luo Bin had seen countless influencers flaunting their charms, thanks to modern big-data algorithms. And, as a former university student council vice chairman, he'd seen plenty of the world.

So facing these alluring female students, he felt neither inferior nor timid. Feng Yi, on the other hand, grew more and more awkward the closer they got to the girls' school.

"Brother Luo, we're at Black Sheath Hall headquarters."

Luo Bin looked around. Apart from the department store and this girls' school, what other building could possibly be their destination?

And where was the plaque bearing the five characters [Green Bamboo Black Sheath Hall], like the one at Pei Mansion?

Feng Yi scratched his head sheepishly. "Brother Luo, don't be embarrassed. Come a few more times and you'll get used to it."

With that, he walked toward the girls' school's archway, awkward but resolute.

Holy hell!

So Black Sheath Hall headquarters was inside Ping City Women's Normal School!

Then he absolutely had to pledge his loyalty with all his heart!

Luo Bin had thought that two grown men entering a girls' school would cause an uproar, but after walking for a while, he realized that the female students there were already used to it...

A few minutes later, the somewhat cramped school path began to open up, and a huge black iron gate came into view.

"This is our hall?"

"That's right. Come in with me."

Luo Bin followed Feng Yi inside. Before them stretched a broad lawn like those in an estate. Luo Wendi stood out in particular. Just as he had last night, he wore a neat gray-black suit and held a pocket watch in his hand.

Nearly twenty people stood evenly spaced on the lawn in front of him, seemingly practicing a stance... Luo Bin wasn't entirely sure.

Farther away, a dense crowd stood on a mound of earth. They were probably gang members too, though the few people seated beside Luo Wendi didn't look like ordinary folk.

The most striking pair were a man and a woman. The woman looked seventeen or eighteen and wore a fitted, moon-white Western-style dress with a slightly short hem. Though Ping City wasn't far from a major city like Tianhai, such a fashionable outfit was still rarely seen.

It accentuated her slender figure. Pearl buttons trimmed her collar, and her black hair was pinned into a low bun. She held a small Western-style handbag.

The boy sitting beside her was a little younger, around thirteen or fourteen. He wore a white shirt, and his hair was neatly combed.

At a glance, they were from a wealthy family—and not just any wealthy family.

Feng Yi nudged Luo Bin with his elbow. "Brother Luo, these twenty people are about to finish. When they do, join the next group. The hall master approves of you, but at a time like this, it's still best to know your place..."

Luo Bin nodded. "Don't worry. I'm not that reckless. I'll just follow the rules."

"Good."

Luo Wendi's gaze briefly swept over the two approaching men, but he said nothing.

About fifteen minutes later, people practicing the stance on the lawn began collapsing one after another. Luo Bin wasn't surprised. In an era like this, the gang members at the bottom couldn't even get enough to eat, let alone withstand stance training this intense.

Luo Wendi stepped into the middle of the crowd and spoke in a clear voice. "Do as I say. Place your feet apart, and let your hands fall naturally, held in front of your abdomen. Keep your body relaxed but not slack, tense but not rigid..."

"Breathe..."

"Focus..."

Standing in a far corner, Luo Bin realized that this was indeed a superior stance technique. Some of its finer points bore a striking resemblance to those in [White Ape Through-Arm Fist].

He listened carefully to Luo Wendi's explanation and quickly pieced together its general structure and finer details. This was the improvement in mental strength and recovery that "Crimson" had given Luo Bin when it first modified his martial arts.

If his mind and brain had still been as foggy as they were before, he wouldn't have been able to work out the structure and details. He might not even have remembered more than a few of Luo Wendi's words.

A little more time passed. The elegant woman nearby could no longer sit still. She stood and asked,

"Uncle Luo, we've gone through several groups, but only a handful can practice the Primordial Stance—fewer than ten. My younger brother and I won't be able to explain this to Father when we get back..."