A Twist of Fate

"What family? He isn't your own son. Don't forget how he once kicked you out. You have a son of your own. If you want to train a martial artist, train your own son."

Xu Qing's voice was shrill, and she was furious.

She cared more about Xu Laoer, her father, than Xu Yang did. At that moment, she was also the angriest. Xu Yang, the person at the heart of it all, hadn't said a word; she'd beaten him to it.

Xu Laoer's face flushed as he was left speechless. Back when he and Zhang Cuiting had first gotten together, every time he came here, Yang Jun would beat him with a stick. That was why he hadn't moved in right away.

"Why him? He thinks he can practice martial arts? A-Jun's father was once a martial artist, so he has a chance of becoming one. Your brother's a mud-legged peasant who digs food out of the fields, a lowlife. The thought of him practicing martial arts is a joke."

Zhang Cuiting burst into laughter as if she'd heard the funniest joke. Her words were full of mockery and scorn.

Xu Qing trembled with anger and was about to keep talking, but Xu Laoer cut her off.

"Shut up. Let your brother speak. Adults are talking—what's a child like you butting in for?"

After his daughter had repeatedly snapped back at him and dredged up his past, his face darkened. He looked at Xu Yang and said, "You tell me. Are you willing to pay for it? Think carefully. A-Jun doesn't absolutely need your help to become a martial artist. It'll just take him longer.

"If you don't help A-Jun now, and he becomes a martial artist one day, it'll be too late to curry favor with him."

As for Xu Qing's claim that Xu Yang wanted to practice martial arts, he hadn't taken it seriously at all. He'd heard it as a joke, too.

Having laid out all the pros and cons, he believed that as long as Xu Yang wasn't stupid, he'd make the right choice after suffering so much in the world.

"You should think it through, too. Dorgon couldn't do it, so what makes you think you can?"

Leaving Xu Laoer baffled, Xu Yang led Xu Qing away without another word.

Even if he earned money just to feed it to a dog, he'd never use it to fund Yang Jun.

"You unfilial son!" Xu Laoer roared behind them.

By now, dusk had fallen. The sunset blazed red on the horizon, and the earth seemed clad in crimson armor.

The siblings stepped out of Zhang Cuiting's home. Xu Qing, still a young girl, couldn't help sobbing as tears streamed down her face.

She'd said they were there to get a free meal, but she'd actually wanted to see their father. What had happened was too much for her to accept.

"Don't cry. Just think of him as dead," Xu Yang comforted her.

He'd expected this before they came, so he wasn't upset.

"I'm not crying for him. I'm worried you'll miss your chance to practice martial arts, brother." The girl refused to admit she was shedding tears for Xu Laoer.

"Don't worry about the money. If he won't help, I'll find a way. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get to eat well and live in comfort."

Xu Yang gazed toward the horizon. He would become a martial artist. He didn't care much about the claim that people over eighteen couldn't practice martial arts. What mattered was that the Tri-Union Gang seemed to have its eye on his little sister. He had to become a martial artist quickly to escape their clutches.

In a world like this, being a pretty girl from the lower classes was no blessing.

The Tri-Union Gang was ruthless. Once they set their sights on someone, they'd resort to every vicious trick in the book.

Things like this had happened in the ward before. Those who gave in were spared, but those who refused were ultimately left with their families destroyed.

Li Hu might have just mentioned it offhand, but Xu Yang couldn't take the chance.

He wondered to himself how he might raise the money to practice martial arts, but for the moment, he had no leads.

"Brother, why don't we borrow money? We can go to Uncle's place in a little while. We can ask each of our relatives for a little. I know you're too proud to ask, but this is still a chance. If you miss it, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

"So what if they refuse? We've been living like this; we lost our pride ages ago."

The girl suddenly spoke up. "There's also our maternal uncle. I heard he became the Huang Family's accountant. He earns two taels a month, so he should be able to lend us some."

Even beggars had a few poor relatives, and the same was true of Xu Yang's family.

"All right," Xu Yang said.

Now that they were in a bind, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and ask for help. He remembered that his maternal uncle was a kind man. If he could afford it, he should help. Whether he would or not, they'd have to try to find out.

Though they hadn't kept in touch much since their mother's death, blood ties didn't just disappear.

"Where did you hear all that?" Xu Yang asked curiously.

The reason he hadn't thought of his maternal uncle was that, in his memory, Zhou Shunchang had been down on his luck, too, struggling to make ends meet.

"I heard it from our cousin at Uncle's place. She saw him at a Huang Family shop..."

Xu Yang hadn't expected to see his maternal uncle, Zhou Shunchang, right outside his home before he'd even had a chance to go into the city and borrow money from him.

Bathed in the evening glow, Zhou Shunchang stood at the door in fine silk clothes, holding a slab of streaky pork.

Beside him stood a woman with a scholarly air about her. She was his cousin, Zhou Xia.

"Maternal Uncle! Cousin!"

A mother's brother held a special place in the family. The two hurried over and paid their respects, then respectfully invited their uncle and cousin inside.

"You two have had it rough all these years. Xu Laoer is an animal. If I'd known he was this kind of person, I never would've agreed to let your mother marry him."

Looking at their humble home, Zhou Shunchang couldn't help cursing Xu Laoer for being less than human.

"I didn't come today just to see how you're doing. There's something I need to discuss with you, A-Yang." After some small talk, Zhou Shunchang got to the point.

Xu Yang froze. Someone else had come to discuss something with him. Could his uncle have his eye on his money, too?

But then he thought of his uncle's son, who was already over eighteen. Surely they weren't asking him to pay for the boy's martial arts training.

"You may not know this, but the Huang Family I work for has been rising in recent years, and their business keeps growing..." Zhou Shunchang slowly explained the real reason for his visit.

In this world, no matter what kind of business you ran, you needed martial artists to protect any profitable venture. They were like nuclear weapons in Xu Yang's previous life: you might never use them, but you couldn't do without them.

The Huang Family had only started rising in recent years. They didn't have enough martial artist attendants to keep up with their growing business.

Established martial artists usually already served some faction. Poaching them would not only offend other factions, but also come at a high price.

So the best solution was to train their own. But not everyone in the Huang Family had the potential to become a martial artist, so they'd come up with another plan: seek out people who had the potential but couldn't afford to train.

The Huang Family would pay for their training on the condition that they serve as its attendants once they became martial artists. That was why Zhou Shunchang had thought of his nephew, who was at just the right age.

"Go to the Huang Family Estate first thing tomorrow morning. An experienced master will examine your bone root. If you have the right aptitude, the Huang Family will send you to a martial arts school."

"Thank you, Maternal Uncle!"

Xu Yang gave Zhou Shunchang a deep bow. He didn't ask whether this meant selling himself, or whether he'd have to serve the Huang Family for the rest of his life.

For now, if he had a chance to practice martial arts, he didn't care if it meant selling himself.

"Wear something presentable tomorrow!"

Seeing Xu Yang's clothes, patched all over, Zhou Shunchang left him half a tael of silver.

Xu Yang had wanted to refuse, since he had another outfit that was still in decent shape. But Zhou Shunchang glared at him, so he had no choice but to accept the money.

"All right, it's late, and the roads aren't safe. Your cousin and I should head back."

He didn't offer Xu Yang any words of encouragement. A person's bone root was something they were born with. He'd come only to take a chance and see whether his nephew might have the opportunity to change his fate.

"Safe travels, Maternal Uncle and Cousin!"

The siblings saw Zhou Shunchang and his daughter all the way out of White Stone Ward before returning home.

"Brother, you can practice martial arts now!"

After all those twists and turns, they were back home. The girl could no longer contain her excitement and jumped up, completely forgetting that Xu Yang still had to pass the bone-root examination before he could qualify for the Huang Family's support.

"Yeah, I can practice martial arts now," Xu Yang said softly.

He wondered whether his bone root, which had risen to twenty-two, would meet the Huang Family's requirements tomorrow.