We'll Win!

After gathering the information, Zou Feng went on to visit several other purchasing points.

The kickback methods at the other places were all much the same.

In the end, Zou Feng discovered, rather astonished, that after this round of purchasing, there were actually five taels of silver more in his pocket!

Wasn't this way too easy to earn?

One had to know that his monthly wages at Yang Estate were only a measly fifty copper coins...

Yet the five taels of silver currently in his pocket—given Luo Yong's character, he definitely would not keep it all for himself. At the very least, he would give Zou Feng a few mace of loose silver.

No wonder Li Rui had actually developed murderous intent after realizing that Luo Yong wanted to take Zou Feng as his disciple.

Looking at it this way, saving up a sum of money in a short time really would not be difficult.

Thinking of this, Zou Feng was in high spirits. Since crossing over, his days had finally begun to truly improve.

He had martial arts to practice, meat to eat, and money to earn!

The price was merely sacrificing Brother Li.

Before long, he returned to Yang Estate. As he passed through the front courtyard, he happened to encounter several of the estate's guards sparring together.

This was not the first time Zou Feng had seen them spar.

But before, he had merely watched for entertainment. Now that he practiced the Five Poisons Palm, he could see quite a few of the finer points.

It had to be said that those martial arts masters who served as guards at Yang Estate, exempt from all productive labor, were no mere showpieces.

As they exchanged moves, fierce wind whistled, every motion measured and precise.

The movements of their techniques, along with the power they displayed, made Zou Feng feel slightly envious.

At the same time, he ran through in his mind the odds of facing these martial arts masters head-on.

The conclusion he reached was that, in a one-on-one fight, he would win!

But he would likely pay no small price as well.

After all, he only needed to land a single palm strike on them for the battle to be essentially over.

Yet after being struck, the poison would still need some time to take effect.

During that time, their furious death throes could very likely injure him, perhaps even force an all-out one-for-one exchange.

So it was best to avoid confronting them head-on.

For a technique like the Five Poisons Palm, ambushes and sneak attacks were the true kingly path.

Unless he learned another movement technique that would let him come and go as freely as he pleased.

He needed to save money quickly!

Without lingering any longer, Zou Feng headed straight for the kitchen.

When the guard martial artists sparred, there was no harm in other servants passing by and turning their heads to watch for a few moments.

But if they stood there watching for too long, they would be accused of secretly stealing martial arts.

Then a vicious beating would be unavoidable.

The rear kitchen of Yang Estate was quite large, essentially an independent small courtyard divided into three areas.

One for handling ingredients, one kitchen for cooking, and one for the cooks' living quarters.

At present, Yang Estate had three cooks: Luo Yong, his wife, and his father-in-law.

That was right. It was essentially Luo Yong's entire family that had contracted the kitchen work at Yang Estate.

And a major reason Luo Yong wanted to find a reliable disciple was that he had no children.

All these years had passed, yet his wife's belly had shown no sign of movement.

But his wife could not be blamed. He himself was unable to father children.

Furthermore, his father-in-law was old and would soon be unable to keep working, so a new cook was urgently needed to take his place.

That was why, after Luo Yong discovered that Zou Feng was a "good child," he had been so wholehearted.

Zou Feng hurried into the kitchen and bowed. "Master, the matter has been handled."

Only a disciple like him could enter directly. If Li Rui came in here without permission, he would most likely be kicked straight out.

A craftsman's trade was like martial arts—the greatest taboo was letting others secretly learn it.

After bowing, Zou Feng deliberately put on an expression of wanting to speak but hesitating.

Luo Yong understood and waved a hand. "Only your Mistress is here. There are no outsiders. Just say whatever you have to say."

So Master did not hide private money...

Nodding, Zou Feng took out the cloth pouch containing five taels of silver and presented it with both hands. "Master, please inspect it."

Taking the pouch, Luo Yong weighed it in his hand, then revealed a gratified smile.

Just as Zou Feng had guessed, Luo Yong's failure to explain the tricks of purchasing beforehand had been meant as a test.

Now, Zou Feng had not concealed the slightest thing, and the amount he handed over was not short by even a bit. This made Luo Yong reaffirm his previous judgment.

What a good child!

Most rare of all, he was clever enough not to be fooled by those crafty merchants.

"You handled it very well!"

As he spoke, Luo Yong proudly glanced back at his wife, clearly showing off his eye for choosing a disciple.

This Mistress was sturdy in build, with kind brows and a gentle face. The look she gave Zou Feng was likewise one of great satisfaction.

After a moment, Luo Yong turned solemn again. "From now on, you'll also be one of the cooks here. You should have a share of the money from this place."

"But we definitely can't swallow all this money ourselves. The steward's side still needs to be taken care of."

This did not surprise Zou Feng.

If no member of the Yang Family was involved in this sort of fleece-the-Yang-Estate scheme, that would be the strange thing.

"Go practice your knife work with your Mistress first. I'll be back shortly."

After tucking away the money pouch, Luo Yong walked out.

Zou Feng knew that Luo Yong was going to split the spoils with the steward.

And the outcome of that division would determine exactly how much ultimately ended up in Zou Feng's pocket.

In truth, Zou Feng knew his place. As a mere cook's apprentice for now, he did not ask for much.

If he could receive a share of five mace of silver, that would already be an excellent result.

Next, under Mistress Wang's instruction, Zou Feng officially began the first stage of learning to cook—practicing chopping vegetables.

But after slicing and chopping under Mistress's guidance for a while, there was still no display of knife-work proficiency on the panel.

That left him somewhat puzzled.

After all, merely reading the Herbal Compendium before had caused it to appear on the panel.

But he soon roughly understood the reason.

Because he had cultivated the Five Poisons Palm and had already achieved some small success with it, his hand-eye coordination, control over his strength, and so on were no longer comparable to those of an ordinary person.

Thus, merely shredding and slicing ingredients was no challenge to him, and could not count as an effective skill.

Of course, it was also possible that the panel simply lacked the ability to record this sort of everyday skill.

The Herbal Compendium was likely recorded and displayed mainly because it could assist him in cultivating the Five Poisons Palm.

After roughly the time it took to eat a meal had passed, Luo Yong returned.

But the instant he came in, Zou Feng knew something had happened.

Luo Yong's face was flushed red as he clutched his stomach. Gritting his teeth, he cursed, "That damned Yang Ling... that bastard actually..."

Wang hurried forward to support him, and Zou Feng immediately stepped in to help as well.

"What happened with Yang Ling? Weren't you going to report to the steward earlier?" After helping Luo Yong sit down, Wang's face was full of confusion.

Luo Yong let out a long sigh before saying, "They changed people. Yang Wei is no longer the steward; Yang Ling has taken over."

"The steward was changed this morning, by the Master's decision. We were all busy at the time, and no one even bothered to inform us!"

Upon hearing this, Wang's expression grew uglier and uglier. "Why did it have to be Yang Ling of all people? Why couldn't they have replaced him with anyone else?"

Zou Feng knew little about the Yang Family. He did not even know what Yang Ling looked like.

But judging only from Luo Yong and Wang's expressions, he knew that Yang Ling becoming steward was definitely no good thing for the kitchen staff.

The next moment, Luo Yong lowered his voice and said hatefully, "That bastard has no regard for rules at all. He actually wants every last bit of it, not leaving us a single coin!"

Hearing this, Zou Feng's heart immediately went cold by more than half.