Have a Good New Year

After returning to town, Wang Chong had no time to rest. He first sent the bodies of the fallen to the ancestral hall, then went door to door, knocking on the families' homes.

This work was harder than killing roaming bandits. Every door he knocked open was followed by a string of heart-rending sobs.

Wang Chong, a man built like an iron tower, stood in front of their doors and could not force out a single word for a long while.

In the end, he could only say in a hoarse voice, "He was a good man," then turn and leave, not daring to look back.

The village head posted an announcement.

It specially commended the militia volunteers who had followed Wang Chong into battle this time.

The notice listed every name. Forty men, ten taels of fine silver each, while those who had died in battle received double the compensation.

For a frontier town like Shuang'an Town, ten taels of silver was enough to feed and clothe a family of three for more than half a year. It counted as no small sum.

And this was still compensation and subsidy the village head had paid out of his own pocket. The imperial court's reward had to be petitioned for through the county yamen, and would not be issued that quickly.

As for Butcher Zhang's reaction, it was fiercer than the roaming bandits.

When Chen Jing returned home and told him what had happened last night, Butcher Zhang exploded on the spot. He sprang up from the bed and roared then and there:

"You little brat, your wings have hardened, huh!"

His voice was already hoarse from coughing.

With that roar, it sounded even more like a cracked gong scraping the bottom of a pot.

"You even dared hide something that big from your old man! You want to die before me too, is that it!"

Chen Jing did not talk back. He simply stood there and waited until Butcher Zhang had cursed himself out of strength, then helped him back onto the bed and patted the old man's back.

"Didn't I come back fine?"

"With the roaming bandits gone, everyone can have a proper New Year."

After Chen Jing finished speaking, he went to the stove and brewed the medicinal decoction, then brought it to Butcher Zhang. "Master, it's time for you to take your medicine too."

Butcher Zhang glared at him.

In the end, he still took the medicine bowl and drained it in one gulp.

After drinking it, he set the empty bowl down heavily on the table, turned over to face the wall, and said nothing more.

Chen Jing knew Butcher Zhang was not truly scolding him. He was afraid—afraid that Chen Jing, too, would be like those people from Creek River Village, there one moment and gone the next.

Once the great scourge of the roaming bandits had been removed, the small town's days returned to their usual rhythm.

Managing the meat shop, attending militia training, looking after the old man, and practicing martial arts—Chen Jing's life proceeded in good order.

Only, Chen Jing slightly adjusted his training schedule.

After the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique entered the threshold of mastery, further progress meant filling up 2,000 proficiency points. That was work done by water grinding stone, not something that could be achieved in a short while.

He thought it over and decided to tilt his focus toward the Fierce Tiger Stance. Stance practice was the foundation; the thicker the foundation, the greater the strength.

Only then could blade technique and spear technique unleash greater power.

So every day, he shifted one additional hour to cultivating the Fierce Tiger Stance, and by the end of the day he could gain 20 proficiency points.

Correspondingly, the proficiency gains for the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique and Basic Spear Technique dropped, rising by roughly 20 points and 10 points a day respectively.

In the blink of an eye, six days passed since the bandit chief's death.

That morning, Chen Jing had just put away his spear on the drill ground and was about to return to the meat shop when a familiar hot current suddenly exploded in his mind.

[Basic Spear Technique, Entered the Hall!]

[Basic Spear Technique (Entered the Hall: 0/2000)]

[Talent improved: Spear Like a Dragon]

[Spear Like a Dragon: You handle spear-and-staff weapons with practiced ease. When using spears and staves, precision increases by 25%.]

A warm current of air flowed through his whole body, causing both his strength and blood vitality to increase to varying degrees.

In addition, Chen Jing lowered his head and looked at the hand with which he gripped the spear.

Every inch of texture on the spear shaft in his hand had become clearer. The tip of the staff trembled slightly, as if he could grasp some kind of rhythm.

He tried thrusting once.

The staff point struck the wooden dummy's throat. With a crack, the wooden dummy did not even sway; the staff tip had stabbed precisely into the groove at the very center of the throat, not off by the slightest hair.

Before, his precision had been seven or eight hits out of ten thrusts.

Now, he feared it could reach nine hits out of ten.

However, this talent improvement was not like the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique. It only increased precision, without adding any other attributes.

Chen Jing thought it over and guessed that perhaps it was because Basic Spear Technique was too simple, training only a few basic movements such as thrusting, stabbing, chopping, and sweeping.

Because it did not form a complete system, the talent cultivated from it was comparatively single-purpose.

He was not discouraged. Although the Basic Spear Technique was simple and abbreviated, the increase in precision after reaching the hall-entering level meant greater killing efficiency in actual combat.

Moreover, if he had the chance to come into contact with more profound spear martial arts in the future, perhaps he could cultivate an even better talent from them.

Besides, over the past few days, Chen Jing had not been wholly occupied with cultivation.

Seeing that the New Year was drawing near, he also found time to buy some New Year goods, keeping a few jin of good meat for himself to make dumplings.

He also went to the sundry shop and bought two strings of firecrackers, a pair of Spring Festival couplets, and several sheets of red paper.

Although Shuang'an Town had been surrounded by wandering bandits for some time, after the bandit chief was executed, the blockade outside the town collapsed without being attacked.

Traveling merchants and peddlers began appearing again in ones and twos.

The New Year atmosphere in town gradually grew thicker as well.

The thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, seeing out the old and welcoming the new.

Early in the morning, Chen Jing climbed out of bed.

He spread the red paper over the chopping board, ground ink, lifted his brush, and wrote a pair of Spring Festival couplets.

Before transmigrating, he had practiced calligraphy with a brush for several years. Though it could not be called especially good, the strokes were horizontal and vertical, neat and proper; pasted outside, it would not be embarrassing.

The first line read, "May business go smoothly and add wealth and honor"; the second line read, "May the hearthfire welcome the new and receive auspicious fortune"; the horizontal scroll read, "Peace Year After Year."

He pasted the couplets onto the doorframe of the butcher shop and hung up two red lanterns, instantly adding a few touches of festive joy.

Butcher Zhang sat on the threshold, watching him bustle about.

He did not speak, but the corners of his mouth, rarely, tilted upward a little.

After pasting the couplets, Chen Jing went to the doorway and set off a string of firecrackers.

The crackling explosions echoed through the alley. The children of the neighbors covered their ears and ran past, shrieking.

Several familiar neighbors cupped their hands with smiles and said, "Happy New Year."

Chen Jing returned the greetings one by one.

"Master, great fortune in the New Year."

Chen Jing returned to the shop and paid his New Year respects to Butcher Zhang.

Butcher Zhang leaned against the bed. His complexion was slightly better than the past few days; whether it was that a man met happy occasions and his spirits lifted, or that the medicinal soups of the past few days had finally taken a little effect, no one knew.

He fished a red envelope out from under his pillow and casually tossed it to Chen Jing. "Take it. Save it for when you marry a wife later."

Chen Jing took it and weighed it in his hand. It was rather heavy.

He did not open it, but solemnly tucked it into his robes.

Neighbors came one after another to pay New Year visits. Some carried two jin of flour, some brought fried meatballs, and some held children in their arms.

Chen Jing received them one by one, serving tea and pouring water, saying a few auspicious words.

Butcher Zhang, rarely, did not put on a foul face. He nodded to everyone and even chatted a few extra words with an old neighbor.

After everyone had left, Butcher Zhang leaned against the head of the bed, gazing at the daylight gradually darkening beyond the window, and suddenly sighed with feeling:

"Muddling through in a haze, and another year is gone."

He paused, coughed twice, and said again, "At least those damned wandering bandits didn't ruin a good New Year."

During the New Year period, the butcher shop did not open, and the militia also rested.

Chen Jing rarely had a few days of leisure.

But even his leisure was spent practicing martial arts.

He stood the Fierce Tiger Stance for more than three double-hours a day, and its proficiency steadily rose by 20 points.

As for the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique, because he had not been slaughtering pigs or chopping meat these past few days and relied purely on empty practice, training for one or two double-hours a day, it only rose by around 10 proficiency points.

Butcher Zhang simply moved a chair and sat under the eaves, wrapped in his tattered padded jacket, quietly watching Chen Jing in the courtyard as he swung his blade until sweat poured like rain.

He made no sound, just watched like that.

In the blink of an eye, the fifth day of the first lunar month had passed, and Butcher Zhang had Chen Jing open the butcher shop again.

Neighbors came to buy meat, but during the New Year period there were not many customers, so slaughtering one pig every two days was enough.

Chen Jing was already handling it with ease. In the morning he slaughtered pigs and sold meat, and in the afternoon and evening he still practiced martial arts without fail.

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