Pooling Money

Although Lin Jie was related to him, he was no connection worth cultivating. He was the typical sort who suffered when you prospered and rejoiced when you fell on hard times.

He was of no value to Lin Xuan, so there was no need to waste time on him.

With a local household plaque, entering the county town was easy.

But if one wanted to travel more than a hundred li away, one had to apply to the authorities for a travel pass. Otherwise, one would be treated as a vagrant—crippled at best, executed at worst.

Lin Xuan bought salt in the county town, put it into a salt jar, and hurried home carrying it.

He had brought along some of his own pocket money, leftovers from what his mother had given him to buy things, along with New Year gift money.

They had not eaten meat in a long time. He had brought the money specifically to buy some.

Fresh pork cost twenty-five coins per jin. Gritting his teeth, he bought a jin of pork belly.

Pork was nearly twice as expensive as it had been in peaceful times.

Rice prices were even more vicious. It now cost forty coins per jin, five times the old price!

Lin Xuan wrapped the pork in cloth and quickly slipped back home.

Once home, he took out the pork he had bought and handed it to his mother.

"Mother, I bought a jin of pork. Cook it so we can eat."

"Oh my, why did you buy pork?" Chen Fang's heart ached over the money. She had not eaten meat in a long while, yet she still felt Lin Xuan had wasted it.

Lin Xuan took the initiative to tell his mother and Lin An, "I want to practice martial arts."

At his words, the needle and thread in Chen Fang's hands abruptly stopped. After a long while, she let out a heavy sigh.

"Silly child, do you think practicing martial arts is so easy? As the old saying goes, the poor pursue learning, the rich pursue martial arts. You can still borrow old books and copy them when studying, but martial arts require refined food, training your muscles and bones, and finding a master. Which one of those doesn't burn through silver?"

She raised her eyes and swept them over the bare, impoverished room. Fine cracks ran through the mud-brick walls, and her voice unconsciously lowered.

"There are only twenty taels of silver left in the family altogether, and your grandfather saved that up over many years.

"Natural disasters have never stopped these past years. We have had no harvest for five years already. If another disaster comes, the three of us will not even have thin porridge to drink. If you pour money into martial arts too, are we supposed to keep living?

"You have the Only Son Exemption. You might not be conscripted. Let's give up this idea of practicing martial arts, all right?"

Great Jin had a rule called the Only Son Exemption. It meant that if there was only one male in a household, he did not have to serve in the military.

How could Lin Xuan not know that? But now that he possessed the talent [Martial Prodigy], the martial path was his best way out.

Even if he had to flee in the future, he would be able to protect the two of them.

As for the "Only Son Exemption," when the nation reached a moment of crisis, no one would abide by such a rule.

The Shihao Officials from his previous life, and the national army's press-ganging of men, were both bloody examples. Expecting rulers at the end of their rope to follow the rules was nothing but a fantasy.

After thinking it over, he said, "Even Great-Grandfather went to the battlefield among the men of our family. There has been no good news from the war, and the conflict with the Qiangqu People will only sink deeper and deeper. Can I really escape military service?

"We should know what the front lines are like. Without skill or strength, going there means becoming a target for the Qiangqu People to chop down.

"I practice martial arts to survive and earn military merit.

"Only if I survive will the three of us have hope. Otherwise, if I am conscripted into the army and become a ghost beneath the Qiangqu People's blades, this family will truly fall apart.

"Mother, you only need to give me three taels of silver. I will find my own way to practice martial arts."

How could Chen Fang not know that her son was telling the truth? Over the years, she had watched her husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law get dragged off to the front one after another. What she feared most was that her youngest son would follow in their footsteps.

"Will three taels really be enough? Don't tell me you were fooled by someone in the county town and are thinking of gambling, trying to win big with a small stake."

"Mother, trust me. I have my own way." Lin Xuan's tone was firm.

Lin An watched the two of them silently from the side without speaking. Neither mother nor son was wrong. The one at fault... was probably this world.

Chen Fang was silent for a long while. Then, dragging her swollen leg, she slowly stood and went over to the rice jar, where she felt around inside.

After a while, she pulled out a wooden box.

She slowly opened it and took out five thumb-sized pieces of silver, slightly blackened with age.

"Mother will give you five taels of silver. But whatever you do, don't take it gambling."

Lin Xuan smiled and said frankly, "Mother, rest assured. I plan to build up my strength first, then hunt for meat, sell game and pelts to earn money. It has nothing to do with gambling."

In his previous life, he had enjoyed wielding spears and staffs and practicing archery. He was quite familiar with traditional bows, so hunting small game should not be a problem.

Seeing Chen Fang support Lin Xuan, Lin An also took small steps back to her room and brought out a little ceramic jar shaped like a pig.

It looked quite heavy, and her hands were a little unsteady as she carried it out.

This thing was called a piggy bank. It was an ancient savings jar, with a hole in the back of the ceramic pig that only let money in, never out.

When one wanted to take the money out, it meant the piggy bank had to be smashed.

Chen Fang felt comforted when she saw Lin An bring out the piggy bank.

Lin An smashed it against the ground. The ceramic jar instantly broke into pieces, revealing quite a few copper coins.

Smiling, she said to Lin Xuan, "Little brother, this is the loose change I have saved over the years. If you want to practice martial arts, take it and use it."

Lin An's father had been a physician, and being steeped in his influence, she understood some medicinal principles as well.

After the Lin Family adopted her, she would carefully select herbs while working in the fields, dry them, and sell them for money. She had secretly saved it over the years, intending to use it as dowry money. She did not want the Lin Family to be the only ones giving.

Lin Xuan had always been honest and simple, and he was handsome as well. He had always treated her with enough respect and was someone she could build a life with.

She had long since made up her mind not to act according to Chen Fang's attitude. If Chen Fang refused to give Lin Xuan silver for martial arts training, she would secretly give him this money, without making her mother-in-law lose face.

Since Chen Fang supported him, she brought it out openly.

Looking at the money his mother and Lin An had brought out, Lin Xuan was deeply moved.

The original owner had suffered somewhat, too poor to afford meat or clothes, but he still had a mother who loved him and a child bride. Though he had been wealthy in his previous life, not a single person had truly loved him.

The thought that had once risen in him—to abandon the two of them and flee on his own—vanished without a trace at that moment.

He reached out, hugged Lin An, kissed her on the cheek, and said softly, "Sister, you're too good to me! When I make it big, I'll repay this money tenfold, a hundredfold."

Lin An's cheeks and the roots of her ears could not help turning red. This boy had been so honest before; he had never made such a move.

She stammered, "Repay... repay what? You're still saying such things to me?"

Seeing this, Chen Fang rolled her eyes at her son. "All right, all right, I'm still here. Aren't you ashamed?"

Lin Xuan counted Lin An's savings. Between the broken silver and copper coins, there were four taels and three hundred sixty-three coins in total.

That meant his starting capital now amounted to a little over nine taels of silver. It was more or less enough.

He did not need to go to the county town to find a martial arts school and take a master, because military households themselves had channels for practicing martial arts.

Great Jin's Grand Ancestor had founded the nation through martial strength. He compiled the internal cultivation method he practiced into a book and spread it through the army. Basic military households could generally learn Grand Ancestor Internal Strength.

What lower-ranking military households could practice was only the most basic internal strength method. They had to kill enemies and earn merit before they could obtain higher-level methods.

Lin Xuan searched through the relics his father had left behind and soon found Grand Ancestor Internal Strength.