Change

By the time Zhao Feng returned to the village entrance, night had fallen. The weather was gradually turning colder, and with less farm work to do, some villagers had finished their household chores and gathered at the entrance to chat.

Seeing several familiar villagers, Zhao Feng took the initiative to greet them.

"Uncle Chen."

"Aunt Ruan, you've eaten already?"

Hearing his voice, they turned and saw Zhao Feng. At once, they all took an involuntary step back, as though avoiding a plague god.

"Wasn't this kid already a fool? Out running around again, huh?"

"A dog can't stop eating shit."

"Poor Zhao Youlin's family is about to be ruined by him. His family used to be so prosperous, all because of this spendthrift."

"Stay away from him. He's not right in the head."

Hearing their comments, Zhao Feng lowered his head awkwardly and walked around them. He knew that the original owner had once been a scourge in the village. Though it was the original owner's mess, he was the one carrying the blame.

None of them noticed the bulging cloth bag at his waist.

After entering the village, Zhao Feng ran into his cousin, Zhao Sheng, the youngest son of his eldest uncle's family.

According to the original owner's memories, his eldest uncle's family was far better off than theirs. The eldest son, Zhao Xing, worked for the children of wealthy families in the inner city, while the younger son, Zhao Sheng, had reportedly been sent to a martial arts hall in the city not long ago to learn martial arts.

The original owner and Zhao Sheng had been childhood playmates, but they had grown distant after growing up. More precisely, the original owner had shamelessly tried to cozy up to him, only to have his warm face pressed against a cold ass. Zhao Sheng simply ignored him.

The original owner had not seen Zhao Sheng for quite some time. The man before him was much sturdier than in his memories, with a hint of heroic spirit between his brows. Clearly, martial training had changed him.

Zhao Sheng spotted Zhao Feng from far away. Contempt flashed across his face as he turned his head and pretended not to see him.

In the past, the original owner would certainly have gone up to ingratiate himself. But the current Zhao Feng had no interest in that. He watched coldly as Zhao Sheng strode off with the square, swaggering gait of an official toward his home in the west of the village.

Zhao Feng headed toward his own home at the eastern end of the village. From afar, he saw a flickering glow outside his front gate.

Tap. Tap.

Zhao Youlin sat on the threshold, silently puffing on his dry tobacco one drag at a time.

Zhao Feng remembered that whenever the original owner had stayed out fooling around until late, his father would sit here on the threshold, silently smoking as he waited for him to return. That flickering ember was his father's mood made visible.

Warmth rose in his heart as he stepped forward.

"Dad, I'm back!"

Zhao Youlin looked up at him, not noticing the bulging cloth bag at his waist.

"It's good that you're back. Come eat." His voice was hoarse.

Zhao Feng entered the house. The atmosphere in the courtyard was heavy. His mother and sister-in-law both had their heads lowered as they wiped away tears.

"Second Uncle, you went out fooling around again! My mother and grandmother were both crying!" Zhao Bao'er and Zhao Zihuai jumped out together, pouting as they spoke.

Over the past month, their formerly hateful second uncle had become gentle and kind. Zhao Bao'er and Zhao Zihuai were no longer so afraid of him.

"Your second uncle wasn't fooling around. Look what I brought you." As he spoke, Zhao Feng pulled a plump rabbit from the cloth bag.

Today, following the method his father had taught him, he searched for rabbit holes. By luck, he came across a rabbit fleeing in panic and shot it with one arrow. His rudimentary archery had shown its power.

"A... rabbit?" Under the dim light from the main hall, Zhao Bao'er recognized it first and cried out in delight.

"What?" His mother Yang Shi and sister-in-law Tian Cuihua forgot about wiping their tears and hurried over to look.

"It really is a rabbit!" Yang Shi cried out joyfully.

"Feng'er, where did this rabbit come from?" Zhao Youlin asked sternly. The whole family immediately looked at Zhao Feng worriedly. It couldn't have been stolen from somewhere again, could it?

"Of course I caught it. I shot it with an arrow." Zhao Feng pointed at the quiver on his back.

It was his first time hunting. Though he had learned plenty of experience and techniques from Zhao Youlin, he lacked practical experience. He had spent half a day catching just one rabbit, and that already counted as good luck.

"You really caught it?" Delight appeared on Zhao Youlin's face. During this period, his second son had indeed kept asking him about hunting experience and techniques, but where had this archery skill come from?

He was an old hunter. He knew just how hard it was to hit a running rabbit. "Swift as a fleeing rabbit" was no empty phrase.

"Of course your son caught it. I was lucky." Zhao Feng had no intention of revealing his archery skill. As for the panel, he could not reveal even the slightest bit of it—not even to his closest family.

"Mother, take it with Sister-in-law and prepare it. We're eating meat tonight!"

"Oh, we get to eat meat!" Zhao Bao'er and Zhao Zihuai jumped three feet into the air.

"Second Uncle, we should trade this rabbit for some coarse rice instead." Tian Cuihua said. Winter was about to come, and there was not much grain left in the house.

"Sister-in-law, look how skinny Bao'er and Zihuai are. And Dad's body won't recover well without meat. As for grain, I'll find a way." Zhao Feng said.

"Cuihua, Feng'er caught this rabbit. Let him decide how to use it," Zhao Youlin said.

"Alright, then." Since her father-in-law, the head of the household, had spoken, Tian Cuihua could not object further.

Zhao Bao'er and Zhao Zihuai, whose eyes had already dimmed, once again leaped three feet into the air.

By the time Yang Shi and Tian Cuihua brought out the rabbit meat and coarse rice porridge, the two little ones were already so hungry their chests stuck to their backs, drooling nonstop.

"Mother, why is there only half?" Zhao Feng asked.

"Your sister-in-law said she wanted to salt the other half and save it," Yang Shi said.

Zhao Feng could only let them do as they wished. He took the rabbit leg from his own bowl and divided it between Bao'er and Zihuai. Bao'er picked up a piece of rabbit meat and carefully placed it into her mouth. Her eyes immediately lit up.

"Fragrant! Delicious!"

She and Zihuai fought over the food, eating with great relish.

When Zhao Feng took a bite of rabbit meat, he too tasted meat for the first time in ages. Though this body had often stolen things from home to trade for wine and meat before, since he had transmigrated here, he had gone months without tasting meat.

He felt as though his taste buds were dancing with joy, while every cell in his body erupted with craving for protein. Before long, he had cleaned out every last bit of rabbit meat porridge in his bowl.

"Feng'er, here." Mother Yang Shi and his father both picked the rabbit meat from their own bowls and gave it to him.

"Dad, Mom, I'm really full. You both need nourishment too, especially Dad. Your leg still needs to heal." Zhao Feng's eyes burned. His parents' indulgence of him had also been an important reason why the original owner had become spoiled and squandered the family fortune. On Earth, he had been an orphan. Here, though they were poor enough to struggle for a full meal, he had tasted the warmth of family.

With meat on the table, the household seemed more alive. The gloom that had hung over the Zhao family for months scattered somewhat, and everyone began talking more.

Before long, the rabbit meat and coarse rice porridge in the earthenware basin had been scraped clean. Even the tiniest bits of rabbit offal were eaten up.

"Dad, Mom, Sister-in-law, I want to learn martial arts." Zhao Feng took the chance to voice his desire. The moment his words fell, the atmosphere around the square table froze.

Tian Cuihua looked anxiously from her mother-in-law to her father-in-law, hoping they would speak up and stop him.

"You want to learn martial arts? Son, I heard practicing martial arts isn't easy. It costs a lot of money," Yang Shi said. The family already struggled to fill their stomachs. Where would they find the silver to let her son study martial arts?

More importantly, her son had always been an unreliable wastrel. Even if he had changed somewhat now, could he endure the hardship of martial training?

Zhao Youlin said nothing. He merely packed another bowl of tobacco and began smoking again, tap, tap.

"Bao'er, Zihuai, go play in the courtyard. Children shouldn't breathe secondhand smoke." Zhao Feng sent the two little ones out into the courtyard.

"Dad, if we want to change our family's situation, martial arts are our only path," Zhao Feng said.

"But Feng'er, since you can hunt now, you could become a hunter like your father and still make a living. Why do you have to study martial arts?" Zhao Youlin asked.

"Dad, times are getting harder and harder. The harsh taxes and levies keep increasing. Even if we know how to hunt, it'll be hard to make a living. If I can pass the Martial Scholar examination, I can exempt our family from the government's taxes and corvée labor. Then everything we harvest will belong to us, and neither you, my elder brother, nor I will have to serve that damned corvée labor anymore," Zhao Feng said.

The three of them immediately began breathing faster. Keeping all their harvest and being exempt from corvée labor was an enormous temptation for farming families like theirs.

After all, of the money and grain they earned through a year of bitter toil, more than seventy percent went toward various taxes. They had even heard that the government would raise taxes again next year.

Then there was corvée labor twice a year, a mountain pressing down on their heads. At the thought of it, Zhao Youlin could not help but shudder. Every year, corvée labor was a day of suffering. Returning alive was already a blessing.

Even now, there was still no news from the eldest son, who had gone to serve corvée labor.

"If I can pass the martial examination and gain even half an official status, it'll also be much easier to find my elder brother," Zhao Feng said in a deep voice.

Tian Cuihua's eyes immediately lit up. Though she did not want her brother-in-law to spend money learning martial arts, she was naturally moved if it could help bring her husband back.

"Even if I don't become a Martial Scholar, as long as I become a martial master, I can still help the family."

"Alright!" Zhao Youlin gritted his teeth and knocked the tobacco pipe against the sole of his shoe.

"But learning martial arts means going to the martial arts hall in the county. The tuition for taking a master... I heard Old Ding in the village mention it before. It costs nearly ten taels of silver."

"Ten taels of silver..." Yang Shi's face went pale. Ten taels of silver had been two years' worth of income when the family was doing well.

Now, there was not a single coin left in the house.

"If we'd known Second Uncle wanted to learn martial arts, we shouldn't have eaten the rabbit. We should've sold it," Tian Cuihua said.

One rabbit hide could only be exchanged for a little silver.

Even if they thickened their faces and returned to her parents' home to borrow some more, it would still be far short of ten taels.

"When your grandfather divided the household, he gave most of the old house and farmland to your eldest uncle. He only gave me five taels of silver and three mu of good land. But your eldest aunt has always held those five taels and never given them to me, saying she was keeping them for me. She has kept them for decades now," Zhao Youlin said slowly.

Zhao Feng remembered that the original owner's grandfather had always favored the eldest uncle and treated his second son, Zhao Youlin, poorly. Perhaps that was one reason Zhao Youlin later favored him, his younger son, so much.

"It's time to get it back," Zhao Youlin said.

With five taels of silver, they could scrape together another few taels from here and there, and that would be about enough.

Zhao Feng frowned slightly. From what he remembered of his eldest uncle's conduct, the chances of getting that silver back were likely slim.

"Dad, I'll go with you."