On the way back to the rear courtyard, the maid Xiao Cui couldn't help asking, "Madam, couldn't you have simply mentioned this to Guard Zhou?"
Li Min chuckled. "Whenever it concerns my family, I always let my husband make the decisions. What did Liu bring today?"
"Two salted ducks from the Zhou Family Cured Meat Workshop, and a bolt of..."
"Have the kitchen plate the ducks and bring them over at noon." Li Min cut off Xiao Cui before she could finish listing the gifts.
Near noon.
Master Cai returned to the mansion. He first went to First Madam's quarters, then, after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he headed to Li Min's courtyard.
Li Min helped Master Cai remove his outer clothes and wash his hands. The servants soon brought out a spread of exquisite dishes.
"Min'er, what made you think of having salted duck today?" Master Cai asked curiously, eyeing the dish on the table.
"Does my lord remember that one of my aunts has a daughter-in-law? She brought it over today. I had the kitchen prepare it right away."
After Li Min finished speaking, her expression suddenly cooled. Master Cai noticed the change and felt curious. In the past, Min'er had described Liu as a woman who knew her place. Though Min'er wasn't particularly close to her, she had never spoken of her with such a cold expression.
"I remember you mentioning her a few times. Was it Liu, from your aunt's family? Has something happened?"
Hearing her husband ask, Li Min sighed inwardly. She had plenty of relatives, but only a few were memorable enough for her husband to remember. Liu had never met him, yet he remembered her because she came to visit every year.
Otherwise, even if Li Min had been willing to help, she couldn't have asked for a favor at the last minute.
"It's nothing important, my lord. Don't worry about it." Li Min said it casually, then poured Master Cai a cup of wine.
"Tell me about it," Master Cai said with a hearty laugh after taking a sip.
Li Min set down the wine pot helplessly and complained, "Liu comes to visit every year, leaves a gift, and then goes. I thought she was a sensible woman, and the gifts weren't worth much, so I let it go. I didn't expect her to be so ambitious. Today she brought her nephew and actually wanted one of the mansion's guards to teach him martial arts."
Master Cai paused with his wine cup in hand. "I remember you said the men in your aunt's family had all passed away. Do they have money to pay for martial arts lessons?"
"She said there's no man in the family, so she wants my nephew to learn a few moves from the guards, so he won't be bullied." Li Min gave a scornful huff. "Does she think I'm a fool? If all he wanted was to learn a few moves, he could go anywhere. Clearly, she wants him to learn real martial arts but doesn't want to spend the money, so she's set her sights on our family. I've already done my duty as a relative by letting them stay for a meal. Once they're finished, I'll have Xiao Cui send them away."
Master Cai had only asked offhandedly, but Li Min's words gave him pause. "Min'er, could you be reading too much into this?"
"My lord, do you think I'm a fool too?" Li Min chided him. Her slender hand poked the beard beneath his chin. "My nephew is eighteen this year. If she's really afraid that people will bully a widow and her orphan, wouldn't she be better off finding him a wife? A girl from a family with plenty of brothers would be a far more powerful deterrent than a few martial arts moves."
"Min'er really is clever." Master Cai laughed as he stroked his beard. "But a widow and her orphan have it hard. It's not a big deal, so we can help them if we're able. Have them go to Guard Zhou. Tell him I gave the order."
"My lord!" Li Min pouted, looking reluctant. "If you help them today, my other relatives will find out, and who knows how many will come asking for favors in the future. I'll be driven mad. No."
"It's settled. If you don't want to handle it yourself, have your maid take them to Guard Zhou."
Master Cai made the final decision, then put a hand on Li Min's shoulder and pulled her into his arms. Li Min angrily shrugged, but in the end she didn't pull away. At last, she reluctantly settled onto his lap.
"Don't be angry. Next time I go to Prefecture City, I'll bring you something nice."
"That's more like it."
As Master Cai held and comforted her, Li Min lowered her head behind his back. For an instant, a smug look flickered in her eyes.
That afternoon.
"Madam Lin, Madam has some matters to attend to and can't come in person. As for the young master's martial arts lessons, she specifically instructed me to take him to Guard Zhou."
Xiao Cui had come to deliver the message. The rear courtyard of Cai Mansion was reserved for guards and male servants, so it wasn't appropriate for Liu to go there.
"Sorry for the trouble, Miss Cui'er. Yan'er, go with her."
Liu handed Lin Yan a purse. "Mind your manners when you meet Guard Zhou."
Lin Yan nodded and followed Xiao Cui through several corridors to a courtyard in the southwest corner.
Inside, a burly man sat on a stone disc.
"Guard Zhou, Madam asked me to bring Young Master Lin."
"Come in."
Guard Zhou rose to his feet and turned his gaze on Lin Yan. There wasn't the slightest trace of confusion on his face. Clearly, he'd already been told what was going on.
"Can you read?"
"I studied with a tutor for a while."
"I'm not allowed to pass on the martial arts I learned without permission. But years ago, I obtained a stance technique called Rock Stance. It's only a low-grade method. Are you willing to learn it?"
"This junior is willing."
Lin Yan agreed without hesitation. Even a low-grade method was beyond anything he could have hoped to obtain.
Guard Zhou tossed over a booklet he'd prepared earlier, and Lin Yan hurriedly caught it.
"Though Rock Stance is a low-grade method, after a few years of practice it'll increase your strength enough to handle three or five ordinary men. But you're not to teach it to anyone without my permission."
Guard Zhou was cold and clearly had no intention of instructing him personally.
There were three Madams in the household, and Third Mistress was only a concubine. The relatives she'd brought were poor, too. If the master hadn't given the order, people like them wouldn't even have been allowed into his courtyard.
Poor people had no business dreaming of learning martial arts.
"Thank you, Master Zhou, for imparting the technique."
Lin Yan remained sincere. He was the one asking for help. As long as the other man had helped him, there was no need to dwell on his attitude.
"It's not free. Ten taels of silver."
At Guard Zhou's words, the courtyard fell silent for a moment. Xiao Cui frowned, but Lin Yan only paused briefly before taking out silver from the purse his aunt had given him. He gathered ten taels and handed them to Guard Zhou.
Ten taels for a martial arts method wasn't expensive.
His former self had made inquiries about learning martial arts.
There were so-called martial arts manuals for sale on the market. They cost at least twenty taels, and there was no way to know whether they were genuine.
Ten taels for a genuine martial arts manual was a bargain.
Guard Zhou weighed the silver in his hand, then tucked it into his robes.
"These ten taels only buy you the chance to practice Rock Stance. You're not to teach it to anyone without my permission."
"This junior will remember."
Lin Yan remained as respectful as before, without the slightest resentment at having paid. Seeing that Guard Zhou had nothing more to say, he took the initiative to ask, "Sir, are there any particular dietary requirements for practicing Rock Stance?"
Since this concerned his future in martial arts, it couldn't hurt to ask. As for saving face, that could wait.
"Dietary requirements?"
A trace of impatience crossed Guard Zhou's face. "Of course there are. You need as much polished rice as you can eat at every meal, plenty of meat and fish to replenish your vitality, and medicated baths and decoctions to go with it. That'll cost at least five or six taels a month, and sometimes dozens. Can you afford that?"
Lin Yan: ...
"Don't get ahead of yourself. Keep your feet on the ground and practice for a few years. It'll be enough if you end up stronger than an ordinary man. Do you really think you'll make something of yourself?"
His own family had been fairly well-off, but he hadn't known how to economize at first. He'd thought he could make rapid breakthroughs, and in the end he'd spent every last coin. Otherwise, why would he have ended up as a guard in a merchant's household, earning sixty catties of meat and eight taels of silver a month?
Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Xiao Cui cut in. "Guard Zhou still has to practice. We won't disturb him."
Before leaving, Lin Yan respectfully bowed to Guard Zhou. "This junior will take his leave."
"He must be furious at being looked down on. So young, and already such a hypocrite."
Guard Zhou's mocking voice drifted out from inside as they walked through the courtyard gate.
Lin Yan: ...
"Yan'er, did everything go smoothly?"
"Very smoothly. I've obtained a martial arts method. Guard Zhou said the techniques aren't passed on lightly, so he charged ten taels for teaching it."
On the way out of Cai Mansion, Lin Yan shared the good news and spared Liu the bad. He said nothing about Guard Zhou's attitude.
"That's only right. Guard Zhou was willing to teach you, so we should be grateful. Don't resent having to pay. Since you've chosen to practice martial arts, you must work hard and be ready to endure hardship."
Liu went on and on, repeating the same familiar advice, but Lin Yan listened attentively, not the least bit impatient.
Cai Mansion's rear courtyard.
Xiao Cui recounted the whole story from beginning to end.
Li Min rubbed her brow and looked at Master Cai, whose face had darkened. "My lord, my nephew must have been too tactless and upset Guard Zhou."
Master Cai looked displeased. The reason he'd told Min'er's cousin's son to go to Zhou Yong was not only to show the authority of the head of the household; he'd also wanted to test Zhou Yong.
He'd hired Zhou Yong two months earlier. He wanted to know whether Zhou Yong was content to serve as a guard in the mansion and whether he respected him as the master of the household.
If Zhou Yong had no respect for him, he would never keep him.
Many wealthy merchants had hired guards, only to end up raising a tiger in their home and having their wealth swallowed by their own guards.
Since he had personally given the order this time, even if Zhou Yong looked down on the boy, he should at least have shown some courtesy.
That undisguised contempt also showed that Zhou Yong had little respect for him as the master of the household.
"A martial artist who came up as a rogue cultivator isn't suited to being a guard. I should choose someone from a martial arts school instead."
Master Cai had made up his mind. He would dismiss Zhou Yong at the end of the month and hire a martial artist trained at a martial arts school.
Martial artists trained at a school wouldn't dare betray their employer. Otherwise, they'd ruin the school's reputation, and the entire school would suffer when its students looked for work.
But martial artists trained at a school charged quite a bit more than a rogue cultivator like Zhou Yong.
"As for your nephew, have Xiao Cui take him twenty taels of silver later."
Ten taels would refund what Guard Zhou had taken. The other ten would preserve Cai Mansion's dignity.
PS: I'm releasing three chapters at once. After taking a three-month break, I'm publishing again.
The reason for the long gap was that having a child affected me. Without a stockpile of chapters, it was too easy for my thoughts to be derailed whenever my child had a fever, earache, or illness. So I decided to build up a backlog.
I hoped to stockpile three hundred chapters, but I only managed a hundred.
I've also learned from experience not to obsess too much over the numbers and disrupt my own pace just to chase the thrill of writing.
In short, it's a fresh start for a new book. I hope you'll support me.