The Knight's Ticket

The following year, Saina's family welcomed a new addition.

It was a baby girl, named Su Na.

And just like that, another ten years flew by.

The old locust tree in Wading Village looked even more ancient, its bark cracked like a dried riverbed. But the blacksmith shop beneath it was doing better than ever.

Su Li was forty this year.

By all rights, in this era of scarce medicine and heavy taxes for the nobles, a forty-year-old man should have been stooped and hunched, his face etched with a lifetime of hardship. But Su Li was different.

The ravages of time seemed to have blunted their edge on him.

His face was still as smooth as a freshly peeled egg, and the twenty years of experience had only deepened the aura of lazy weariness that clung to him.

The fine lines around his eyes didn't make him look old; instead, they seemed like intricate carvings, making him resemble a fallen noble more than a blacksmith who spent his days covered in soot.

But he was worried now.

So worried he wanted to tear out his thick, black hair.

"Father, I want to go."

In the blacksmith shop, a young boy knelt stiffly on the ground.

This was Su Xiaochui. His build was like a young bull's, his muscles bulging against his coarse cloth clothes.

He kept his head down, his eyes, identical to Su Li's, burning with a fierce fire.

Su Li sat in his armchair, holding a lustrously polished purple clay teapot – a fake he'd made himself from memory of his past life.

"You want to go?" Su Li blew on the steam from the spout, his tone casual. "Do you know what kind of place that is?"

"I know," Su Xiaochui said, his neck stiff. "The Empire's Saint George Knight Academy. If I go, I can learn skills and become a knight."

"That's a money pit," Su Li said, slamming the teapot down on the table with a dull thud.

"It's a place that eats people and doesn't spit out the bones. The tuition alone is fifty gold coins a year, not including room and board, equipment, or bribes for the instructors. Fifty gold coins! Do you know how many times your father has to swing his hammer to save up fifty gold coins?"

Su Xiaochui fell silent.

But he didn't get up. His fists clenched tightly at his sides.

Su Li looked at his stubborn son and sighed inwardly.

This boy took after his mother. Stubborn as a mule.

In truth, Su Li knew better than anyone.

This money had to be spent.

They had to spend it, no matter the cost.

His life, his past life, his life before that, he'd been mired in this mud.

Whether you were a laborer or a blacksmith, in the eyes of those high and mighty figures, you were just an ant, a bug that could be crushed at any moment.

Only the extraordinary.

That so-called "breathing technique," the power that could let one punch a bull to death, that could imbue weapons with ether, was the only ladder to transcend class.

Once one became a knight's squire, even the lowest Iron rank, they would be considered "quasi-nobles" who were exempt from taxes and forced labor. They wouldn't even have to kneel before the town mayor.

This was something Su Li had dreamed of in his youth.

Now, the dream was over, and he was old (though his face didn't show it), but someone had to carry on this dream.

"Get up," Su Li kicked his son. "Can you earn gold coins by kneeling?"

Su Xiaochui looked up sharply, his face alight with unconcealed joy. "Father, you agree?"

"My agreement is useless. It depends on whether our money bag agrees."

Su Li stood up and walked into the inner room.

Beneath the old bed, there was a loose floorboard. Su Li skillfully pried it open and dragged out a heavy iron chest.

This was the life savings of two generations, his and Old Buck's, scraped together bit by bit.

That night.

Saina sat by the bedside, sewing clothes for Su Li while wiping away tears.

At forty, Saina's figure had changed slightly. Her once trim waist was now fuller, but also more voluptuous. The collagen in her face had begun to fade, and crow's feet had appeared around her eyes.

But in Su Li's eyes, she was still the same woman.

"Are you really letting Xiaochui go?" Saina sniffled, her voice choked with tears. "So far away, and there's a war. What if..."

"There's no 'what if'," Su Li interrupted her. "Our family's background, going back eight generations, we've all been dirt farmers. Now that we finally have a child with good talent, should I not let him take a gamble? Should he stay here in Wading Village and swing a hammer his whole life like me?"

Su Li reached out and pulled Saina into his arms.

As he held her, he noticed her body didn't feel the same as it did ten years ago. Her flesh was a little softer, her skin not as smooth.

But Su Li did not mind.

"Don't worry." Su Li patted her broad back. "That kid is sharp. Besides, the sword I forged for him was mixed with half a jin of Star-Patterned Steel. As long as he doesn't go looking for death himself, his life won't be in danger."

Saina buried her head in Su Li's chest, her tears soaking his lapels.

"Then... what about the money? We emptied everything out for this; what are we going to eat from now on?"

"We'll eat chaff and vegetables, I suppose." Su Li smiled. "As long as we don't starve to death, this trade is worth it. Just think, if our son becomes a knight lord in the future and comes back riding a tall horse, how much glory will that bring to your face? By then, Aunt Li from the east end of the village will be so envious she'll trample your doorstep to pieces."

At the mention of Aunt Li, Saina broke into a tearful smile.

Vanity, as it turned out, was the best medicine for a woman's sorrow.

Su Xiaochui left.

Carrying the family's entire savings and the heavy sword Su Li had forged with his own hands, he boarded a merchant caravan carriage bound for the Baris Empire.

Su Li did not go to see him off.

He stood at the entrance of the smithy, holding a large cattail leaf fan, fanning himself rhythmically.

Not until the shadow of the caravan had vanished from sight did he turn back into the house and slam the door with a thunderous bang.

Life had to go on.

It was just that the sound of the hammer in the smithy became denser and more urgent.

In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed.

Time was the most elusive thing. When you felt it was slow, it crawled like a snail; by the time you came to your senses, it had already dyed your temples white.

This year, Su Li was fifty.

The age of knowing one's destiny.

Wading Village had changed.

Because of the war, taxes had become heavier, and many of the village's able-bodied men had been conscripted into the army. The once lively village now appeared somewhat desolate.

But the Su family smithy still stood tall.

In the courtyard.

"Clang—"

A crisp sound of metal striking metal rang out.

But this sound was not made by Su Li.

A young woman wearing coarse cloth short-sleeved attire, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, stood before the anvil.

This was Su Na. A grown woman of twenty.

She did not take after Su Li's looks; instead, she took after Saina.

She had a large frame and a sturdy build. Her unadorned face was dotted with a few faint freckles, giving her a wild, spirited look.

At this moment, she was swinging a six-pound iron hammer, smashing it against a piece of red-hot iron.

Each strike was steady in force and precise in placement.

Sparks flew like bursting fireworks, illuminating her sweat-drenched face.

Su Li sat on a recliner to the side, holding the purple clay teapot he had used for decades, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Your posture is wrong." Su Li spoke lazily. "Don't collapse your waist; use the power of your hips to drive your upper arms. Are you forging iron? You're just tickling it."

Su Na did not turn back, merely straightening her waist, her movements never ceasing.

"Dad, don't you feel guilty saying that?" Su Na panted heavily while forging. "I've hammered this refined iron three hundred times, the impurities are all gone, and you're still nitpicking."

"I'm your father; nitpicking is my privilege." Su Li snorted.

In truth, he was satisfied.

He was even a little proud.