The Bitterness of the Lower-Ranked Gang Members

After discussing the matter of teaching martial arts to his subordinates, Su Xin took a stroll around to ensure everything was in order before preparing to head back.

There were guards stationed at the hall, and his small courtyard was close to Happy Forest, so if anything happened, someone would immediately come to report it.

Moreover, given Su Xin's current reputation, it was unlikely that many people would dare to come and stir up trouble.

Even Third Master Hu and Punishment Hall Master Dong Chengwu, who were displeased with him, would not dare to provoke him at this time.

Seeing that it was nearly noon, Su Xin bought a pound of spiced beef and a lotus leaf chicken on his way back.

There were still two gang members guarding the entrance of his small courtyard.

In truth, after Su Xin's strength had greatly increased, he had wanted to dismiss them, but considering that Xin'er was still at home, he decided against it.

He had offended quite a few people, and while it was said that one should not involve family, it was better to be prepared in case he encountered someone truly deranged.

Seeing Su Xin return, the two gang members immediately said respectfully, "Boss."

Su Xin tossed them a tael of silver: "Hard work. Go grab a meal and a drink in the middle of the day, and take a rest."

The two gang members took the silver, excited: "Thank you, Boss."

They weren't excited because of the one-tael tip, but because they felt something from Su Xin's gesture—something called respect.

Pushing open the door, he saw Xin'er wielding the small wooden sword he had whittled for her with impressive vigor; she looked quite the part.

Seeing this, Su Xin suddenly remembered that it was time to let Xin'er practice internal energy as well.

Although Xin'er was young, she was very talented in her understanding of martial arts; at the very least, complex sword styles like the Great Sumeru Sword Style only needed to be taught a few times before she could mimic them well.

This talent was even better than Su Xin's own, so he believed she would learn internal energy quickly as well.

Su Xin didn't intend to train Xin'er into some martial arts heroine; if he couldn't protect her in this life and still let her come to harm, then he, as her brother, might as well just kill himself.

However, even if she wasn't going to fight on the front lines, she still needed to cultivate internal energy—just as he had told Huang Bingcheng, it was good for strengthening the body.

Furthermore, Xin'er's personality was well-suited for internal cultivation; she could endure loneliness and preferred quiet over activity.

Though she was young, she wasn't like other children who loved to run wild; instead, if you gave her an object, she could play with it quietly for an entire day.

"Brother, why are you back so early today?" Seeing Su Xin return, Xin'er immediately dropped the wooden sword and trotted over, taking the spiced beef and lotus leaf chicken from his hands.

"Of course, it's because I missed our Xin'er." Su Xin ruffled Xin'er's small head: "Wash your hands and get ready to eat. Cut the spiced beef, but remember not to sneak any bites."

Xin'er giggled and trotted off to the kitchen to cut the beef, having long forgotten Su Xin's instruction to wash her hands first.

After the meal, Su Xin took out some paper and transcribed a copy of the Quanzhen Sect Basic Internal Skill for Xin'er.

He had given the copy he obtained from the system to Li Huai, and he hadn't asked him to transcribe it; when it came time to teach the internal skill, he would just recite it to everyone.

Most of his subordinates were locals from the Joyful District, children who had grown up in the slums—how many of them were literate? Transcribing it would be useless.

"Come here, Xin'er. I'm going to teach you something new today. Remember to study hard; you can't be lazy with this."

Handing the manual to Xin'er, Su Xin said: "First, memorize the entire manual."

"Oh."

Xin'er read with a bitter little face, struggling: "Great... first... through nine..."

She stumbled through the passage, getting two out of every three characters wrong.

"You don't recognize these characters, Xin'er?" Su Xin asked in surprise.

Xin'er pouted, looking aggrieved: "Mother only taught me to read for a year before she passed away, and I've long since forgotten most of it."

The fusion of his two lives meant some things had been buried in the deepest parts of his memory, and it was only when Xin'er mentioned it that he remembered—Xin'er truly hadn't had much schooling.

In his memories, his mother had started teaching him to read and write when he was young, so even though Su Xin grew up in the slums, he could write a decent hand and had some exposure to classic poetry and literature.

His mother had naturally taught Xin'er when she was small, but Xin'er was only four or five then, and her mother had passed away less than a year later. Plus, Xin'er was so young at the time that she had likely forgotten whatever little she had learned.

"Alright then, I'll read and you listen: 'The Great Dao is first cultivated by opening the nine orifices; the nine orifices originate at the Weilu acupoint. First, channel from the Yongquan acupoint on the soles of the feet, and once the Yongquan is breached, gradually reach the knees...'"

By the time he finished reciting the short mental cultivation method, the little girl was already nodding off, clearly finding this far less interesting than swordplay.

Su Xin tapped her small head: "Don't be lazy. Tomorrow I'll hire a tutor for you to learn to read first, and then you can memorize the mental cultivation method yourself."

"No! Xin'er doesn't want to study and learn to read!"

Hearing this, Xin'er immediately refused with a bitter face, her large eyes misting over with a look of grievance.

Studying every day was so annoying; practicing swordplay was much more fun.

"No. Acting pitiful won't work. I don't intend to raise you into a refined young lady, but at the very least, you must be literate and understand reason." Su Xin waved his hand; this was clearly not up for negotiation.

After protesting for a long time to no avail, Xin'er had to accept it with a bitter face, feeling a hundred times reluctant.

The next morning, Su Xin had Huang Bingcheng gather all his subordinates at the hall, not a single one missing.

After more than a month of development, he now had one hundred and ninety men, nearly three times as many as when he had first taken over Happy Forest.

Because of Su Xin's reputation in the Flying Eagle Gang, it wasn't just the locals from the Joyful District; even people within the Flying Eagle Gang wanted to transfer to his command—though the ten-tael monthly salary was, of course, the main factor.

Huang Bingcheng had a good eye for people, and these one hundred and ninety men were those who remained after weeding out the lazy, cunning types who just wanted to collect a paycheck; they were basically all trustworthy.

Happy Forest was not large, and usually, only one-third of these nearly two hundred gang members were patrolling the area, while the others were either resting or practicing martial arts in the training yard behind the hall.

Having everyone called together like this, the gang members knew without being told that something major must be happening.

Su Xin walked out from the backyard with Li Huai and Huang Bingcheng. Seeing their boss arrive, the crowd straightened their backs and lifted their heads, with some of the younger ones even revealing looks of reverence in their eyes.

Most of these young men had come out of the slums in the Joyful District, and they had only one reason for joining the Flying Eagle Gang: to earn a living.

However, after witnessing Su Xin's exploits, this mentality of just drifting through life instantly transformed into admiration.

Coming from the same poor background in the Joyful District, it had taken Su Xin only a little over a month to rise from the lowest-level gang member to a boss guarding his own territory.

This kind of legendary story held the greatest appeal for these young men.

Standing before the crowd, Su Xin said in a clear voice, "Before we discuss business, I have a question for you all: why did you join the Flying Eagle Gang?

Do you realize that once you enter the martial arts world, it is as deep as the sea? Even though our Flying Eagle Gang is only a small faction in Changning Prefecture, this is still the martial arts world—life and death are not in your own hands!

One moment you might be drinking heartily with your brothers, and the next, your corpse could be exposed in the street, becoming nothing more than a stepping stone for others in a gang war!"

As Su Xin's voice faded, the crowd fell into a slight commotion, unsure of what their boss meant by this.

The young men who had recently joined the Flying Eagle Gang might not have understood, but several of the older members sighed with heavy hearts.

In the mass graves outside the city, hundreds of people were buried every year.

Among those hundreds, very few were common folk; the vast majority were people from these gangs—the lowest-tier "martial artists."

"Have you figured it out? You, speak first." Su Xin pointed to someone.

Su Xin recognized this man; he was the brother of Chen San, who had been beaten to death by the Green Bamboo Gang, and his name was Li Qing.

He and the late Chen San were both newcomers who had just joined the Flying Eagle Gang, but Li Qing had left a deep impression on Su Xin. He was a man with grit and loyalty, yet he wasn't reckless and possessed a fair amount of common sense.

Being singled out by Su Xin, Li Qing froze for a moment before offering a bitter smile. "Boss, if I speak crudely, please don't take offense. I joined the gang purely for money.

My father and mother passed away early. They worked themselves to the bone raising me, and they died without ever seeing me take a wife.

I, Li Qing, haven't amounted to much either. I spend my days in the East City hauling heavy sacks for others, earning only ten copper coins a day, and even then, the brokers at the agency skim two off the top.

Living like this, let alone taking a wife, it's a struggle just to keep from starving to death.

So, I'm not resigned to this fate. I want to take a gamble while I'm still young and have some strength left!

If I'm still alive in a few years, I'll save up some money to take a wife and at least leave a seed for the Li family. Otherwise, even if I die, I won't have the face to meet my parents in the afterlife!"

After Li Qing finished speaking, the gathered gang members fell silent. They felt a bitter ache in their hearts, especially those who had also come from the Joyful District; Li Qing had essentially voiced their own inner thoughts.

In years past, when Changning Prefecture served as the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it had been quite prosperous, but ever since the Great Zhou Dynasty moved its capital, Changning Prefecture had declined year by year.

Changning Prefecture was located in the Xiangnan region, close to the Southern Barbarians. Although the land wasn't exactly barren, it was mostly highlands and forests, making it unsuitable for farming.

Originally, because it was the capital, commerce had flourished. But after the capital was moved, even the traveling merchants became scarce. The only advantage left to Changning Prefecture was its proximity to the Southern Barbarians, allowing them to purchase local specialties from the barbarian tribes to resell.

In this way, the merchants of Changning Prefecture could still manage to turn a profit, but the common people suffered. Without farmland, opportunities for manual labor were pitifully scarce.

Just like Li Qing, those who could haul heavy sacks and load cargo at the city gates to earn enough for a single meal a day were considered to have good jobs—at least they were better off than those who had no work and were left to starve.

Back then, when Su Xin joined the Flying Eagle Gang, it was also for the sake of money. He was young, and although he had some strength, the people he approached for manual labor saw his youth and turned him away.

Furthermore, even if they had hired him, those meager wages wouldn't have been enough to support both him and Xin'er, which was why Su Xin had ultimately chosen the Flying Eagle Gang.