Making a Living

Cheng Hu quickly finished bandaging Linghu Ke's wound.

Fortunately, it hadn't injured his bones or tendons—only cut into the muscle.

Once the wound was bandaged, the four of them sat down to eat.

At the table, without waiting for Xiao Wang to ask again, Linghu Ke spoke up himself. "I was delivering goods for someone and ran into robbers halfway there. We fought."

"Outside the city?" Xiao Wang continued asking.

"Yeah, delivering them to Jinheng Town."

Although there were no clearly defined walls around Mount Yuan City's outer district, there was still a general boundary. As the Federation's foremost frontier city, Mount Yuan's core area was the inner city, where everything important was concentrated.

That included Federation agencies, the Federation military, Federation companies, and factories, all located underground in the inner city.

There were also several small towns near Mount Yuan City. Xiao Wang had heard of them but had never gone. For eighteen years, his range of activity had been limited to the outer city.

Listening, Xiao Wang looked at Linghu Ke and asked, "Delivering goods? Does it pay well?"

He was desperately short on money right now and had been worrying over where to earn some. The money from drug trials was not enough to cover the martial arts hall's expenses for the coming months, and he still had not come up with a single cent for Mount Yuan Martial Arts Academy's tuition.

"Junior Brother, why are you asking? It's not like you're short on money."

Xiao Wang: ???

"Who said I'm not short on money? I am! Desperately, extremely short!"

Xiao Wang looked seriously at the three of them. "You haven't been treating me like some rich guy these past few days, have you?"

"How could we?"

"Of course not."

"Mm."

Wei Zhongxing, Linghu Ke, and Cheng Hu gave three different replies—yet only two answers.

Still, Xiao Wang knew perfectly well whose answer was the most reliable.

Listening, Xiao Wang looked at Wei Zhongxing. "Master, did you ever regret charging too little for my tuition?"

"You're judging a gentleman's heart by your own petty mind. As a teacher and role model, how could I do something so despicable?"

"You used to be a teacher and role model." Xiao Wang popped a slice of pork into his mouth as he replied.

"That only proves my moral character is exemplary. How could I possibly charge you exorbitant tuition?"

"Junior Brother, are you really that short on money?" Linghu Ke asked again.

"Yeah. I still haven't got the tuition for Mount Yuan Martial Arts Academy."

"Oh." Linghu Ke nodded and explained, "For delivery work, it depends on what you're delivering and where it's going. Sometimes it pays one or two thousand Federation dollars, sometimes three or four thousand, sometimes four or five thousand. There are even jobs that pay over ten thousand."

"Over ten thousand?" Xiao Wang looked surprised. That was far higher than he had expected.

"Yeah, jobs worth over ten thousand do exist, but they generally won't let people like us handle them. They're delivered by people carrying these." As Linghu Ke spoke, he made the gesture of holding a gun.

"Guns? Private ones, or Patrol Bureau ones?" Xiao Wang asked. Of course, he did not think Patrol Bureau personnel were above doing this kind of thing.

Money could make the devil turn millstones, much less in a frontier city like this.

"Both."

Xiao Wang was not surprised. He continued, "So on the day I came to register, Senior Brother, you and Master were out making a delivery too?"

Linghu Ke nodded. "Yeah. Back when Master was still teaching at Mount Yuan Martial Arts Academy, he got to know some people. They trust him fairly well, so they occasionally ask us to deliver things."

"What kind of people were the ones who cut you?" Xiao Wang continued asking.

"Who could say? They might have come out from the outer district, or they might be from nearby towns. They could even be rebels. Life in the outer city is hard. Everyone has to find some way to survive, right?"

As Xiao Wang listened, he thought of the forty-year-old man doing drug trials. If that man had known some martial arts, perhaps he too would have gone outside the city to rob travelers, trying to find a way for himself and his daughter to survive.

Xiao Wang ate in silence for a while before asking, "Master, Senior Brother, if you have work like this in the future and need another person, call me."

He had to find a way to survive too.

Linghu Ke looked at Wei Zhongxing without saying anything. He could not make that decision.

Wei Zhongxing kept eating. Perhaps because it had been so long since he had eaten anything oily, he was constantly shoveling pork into his mouth. "Why are you looking at me? Why wouldn't we use available labor? Do you think I'm brain-damaged?"

"This disciple understands."

"Thank you, Master."

It would help both the martial arts hall and himself, Xiao Wang thought.

As they ate and talked, Cheng Hu told Linghu Ke about his spar with Xiao Wang earlier.

After hearing it, Linghu Ke looked at Xiao Wang with surprise. "Junior Brother, is what he said true? You almost beat him?"

"Don't listen to Senior Brother's nonsense. I still lost 500 Federation dollars to him. This pork was bought with that money."

Linghu Ke knew Xiao Wang was probably being modest, because he knew Cheng Hu was unlikely to lie.

After finishing their meal, Xiao Wang practiced the combat technique details of the Tiger Guard Fist several more times in the courtyard before going to bed.

Just as he lay down, he suddenly heard someone say, "Master, that's the money I was saving to marry a wife."

Xiao Wang turned his head and discovered that Cheng Hu was talking in his sleep.

"Looks like he's really upset that Master used his private savings to buy pork."

The next day.

Xiao Wang still arrived at school early. He entered through the gate and was about to head for An Han's classroom to exchange information with her when he found that An Han was already waiting for him.

The two found an empty corner.

"Any progress?" An Han asked.

Xiao Wang shook his head. "No. What about you?"

"Nothing either." An Han shook her head in reply.

"My martial arts have improved recently. I guess that's an unexpected gain. When the time comes, my chances of winning will be a little better."

"Congratulations."

After saying that, Xiao Wang could not think of anything else to say. An Han remained silent as well.

"So, shall we leave it at that for today?"

"Okay."

With that, the two headed toward their respective classrooms.

After Xiao Wang had taken a few steps, An Han suddenly called out to him from behind.

"Xiao Wang?"

Xiao Wang turned around and looked at An Han. "Yeah?"

"If I did something not very good, would you be very disappointed in me?"

Xiao Wang looked at An Han, turned fully around, and walked over to her. Looking at her, he asked, "I wanted to ask you the last two times too. Did something happen to you?"

An Han was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's go to class."

After saying that, An Han walked away on her own.

Xiao Wang watched her retreating figure, wanting to speak but stopping himself. He knew that if she would not tell him, asking was useless. Still, he was certain that something had happened to her.

The morning academic classes ended quickly.

After eating lunch in the school cafeteria, Xiao Wang still did not go train in the school's martial arts training hall. But neither did he return to Zhongxing Martial Arts Hall.

Instead, he left the school and headed all the way toward the southern part of the outer city.

About forty minutes later, he stopped at a snack stall on a street and ordered something to eat.

After sitting down, he turned his gaze toward the area diagonally across from the stall. There stood a six-story building with an enormous footprint. Outside it was a large courtyard, along with several sheds scattered throughout it whose purpose was unclear. The building looked somewhat old, but the six large characters above its entrance were striking—Mount Yuan City Patrol Bureau.

From afar, he could see six armed guards on duty at the entrance. Two stood ramrod straight while the other four patrolled back and forth.

Camouflage-painted jeeps occasionally drove in and out through the gates, every one of them subjected to strict inspection.

Xiao Wang observed while eating.

Trying to find out information on Hu Guangzhong without drawing attention might be a little difficult.

Just then, several staff members dressed in Patrol Bureau uniforms headed toward the snack stall.