Fang Han

Chapter 1: Fang Han

[Initial ratings will rise later]

[Handcrafted plot with a slow-burn early phase for growth, decisive combat in the middle, and invincible dominance in the late stage]

[Wishing all readers immense wealth and prosperity]

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Great Qian Dynasty, Azure Cloud Outer City.

In the outer city slums, deep within Mud Bay Alley, the earthen walls of the Fang Household's dilapidated courtyard had long been eroded into pockmarks by wind and rain.

In the main room, the dim light of a fish-oil lamp stretched human shadows long.

At this moment, the young and old members of the Fang Household sat crowded around a chipped dining table. The dishes on the table were very simple: only a basin of mixed-grain porridge and a small plate of salted vegetables.

The sole meat dish, a bowl of braised pork, was placed right in front of Fang Han.

Grandfather Fang Yuanshan sat in the seat of honor, his withered old hand clutching the dry tobacco pipe that had been with him for over twenty years. He did not light it, merely tapping the edge of the table gently.

"Han, are you truly certain you wish to learn martial arts?"

The grandfather's voice was hoarse and deep, striking like a hammer upon everyone's heart.

Fang Han raised his head, looking at his grandfather's gull-creased face, and nodded earnestly. "I'm certain."

Fang Han had no choice; he had to learn martial arts and become a martial artist.

Just five days ago.

As he walked through an empty, secluded alley, he was ambushed, struck unconscious by a brick, and knocked out cold for three full days.

When he woke up, Fang Han awakened his past-life wisdom, learning that his identity in a former life had been that of a nine-to-five corporate ox-and-horse.

His past-life memories were exceptionally clear, as vivid as if they belonged to another lifetime...

Recalling his past-life wisdom, Fang Han found it somewhat laughable that, having lived two lives, he was still destined for a life of poverty...

His gaze swept across the dining table. Grandmother Madam Liu had her brows tightly locked, her lips moving as if she wanted to speak but stopped;

his mother Chen Cui kept her head down, continuously placing pieces of braised pork into his bowl;

beside him, his eldest brother Fang Ding looked at the braised pork in the bowl and could not help swallowing hard, though no particular expression could be discerned on his thin, dark face.

Yet Fang Han could tell that his eldest brother desperately wanted to eat meat right now, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down unceasingly.

"Ma, I want to eat meat too!"

His young sister Fang Rui suddenly piped up, her small hands clumsily gripping her chopsticks as she reached toward Fang Han's bowl.

Chen Cui was quick-witted and blocked her, pulling the younger sister into her embrace and lowering her voice to coax her. "Rui, be good. Your second brother needs to learn martial arts and eat more meat now to build up his body. Once your second brother becomes a martial artist, you'll have meat to eat every single day."

"Ma is lying! Second brother needed to build himself up when he was sick last time, and now he needs it again..."

"Little sister!"

Fang Ding muttered a stern reprimand. Little sister Fang Rui aggrievedly pouted, tears swirling in her eyes, but she dared not make a fuss any longer.

Taking it all in, Fang Han felt something strike deeply and fiercely inside his heart.

In his past-life memories, he was an orphan who never knew what it felt like to have a family sitting together for a meal.

Now, he knew, yet it did not feel comfortable at all.

"Sigh, I've heard that learning martial arts isn't cheap," Grandmother Madam Liu spoke up at this moment, chattering away. "I asked Butcher Li at the alley entrance this morning, and he said that when his son learns martial arts at the martial arts school, the tuition fee alone for paying respects to the master is thirty taels!

That doesn't even count the money for buying those fancy medicines used to nourish Blood Qi. Times are hard these days, the world is restless, and with your father out of town and losing touch, our family's situation..."

Grandmother Madam Liu left her sentence unfinished, but everyone understood.

A family of six across three generations was squeezed into this dilapidated courtyard. In his youth, grandfather had suffered a chronic waist injury from carrying heavy loads at the docks and could no longer do heavy labor; father Fang Ning had gone out to the mountains and had been out of contact for a year.

Right now, the household relied on eldest brother Fang Ding and Fang Han, who went to the Dragon King River every day to catch fish and earn silver coins to subsidize the family expenses.

Even so, by the end of the year, let alone saving a few taels of silver, it was a question whether Fang Han's family could even earn ten taels throughout the entire year.

The martial arts school tuition required thirty taels of silver. Thirty taels—enough to cover Fang Han's family's food and clothing for three years.

The room fell silent, save for the crackling of the fish-oil lamp.

Fang Han sighed inwardly. If it truly proved impossible, he would figure something out himself.

Yet before the words could leave his mouth, Fang Yuanshan's tobacco pipe knocked against the table.

"Learn!"

A single word, spoken with unyielding resolve by the old man.

A glimmer seemed to dance within Fang Yuanshan's turbid eyes:

"Since Han was found to have the bone constitution by the martial arts instructor, it means heaven is favoring the Fang Household!

Our family has been commoners for three generations—farming, fishing, carrying heavy loads—when have we ever not lived at the mercy of others just to scrape together a meal?

If one day Han truly becomes a martial artist, our family's taxes can be reduced, corvée labor can be waived, and henceforth... we won't have to swallow down such cowardly insults ever again."

"But old man..."

"There are no buts!" Fang Yuanshan cut off his old companion. "The silver needed for the tuition, I will find a way."

Grandmother Madam Liu opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing more, merely letting out a sigh:

"Fine, fine. An old woman like me has saved up coffin money over several decades; I'll pool it together for Han to use first. We're all family, whoever uses the money is the same."

As she spoke, Grandmother Madam Liu stood up and walked into the inner room, rummaging through chests and cabinets to retrieve a tightly wrapped earthen jar. When she brought it out, she was still muttering under her breath:

"I just don't know if it's enough. I've heard the martial arts school also charges some sort of master-honoring gift, and a whole set of gear costs quite a bit more besides..."

At this moment, eldest brother Fang Ding suddenly spoke in a muffled tone: "I'm joining a boat convoy next month to run the Cloud Prefecture river route; the wages are doubled."

His speech was sullen, as if squeezed out from the depths of his chest.

Fang Han could not help looking toward this eldest brother.

Fang Ding was three years older than him, yet much darker and with rougher skin. The thick calluses on both his hands were ground down from carrying heavy loads at the docks.

From childhood to adulthood, the eldest brother spoke very little but did the most work, always yielding any good food to his younger siblings without ever uttering a single complaint.

"Eldest brother..."

"Study hard," Fang Ding did not look at him, staring only at the salted vegetables before him. "Our family is counting on you."

A warmth rose in Fang Han's heart. Lowering his head to look at the fragrant piece of braised pork in his bowl, he too fell into silence.

This was his family!

Even when poor to the point of ringing emptiness, they were still willing to leave him the very last bite of food.

Meanwhile, Fang Han's thoughts drifted, recalling once more that unprovoked disaster from five days ago.

Five days ago.

He had been fishing on the Dragon King River as usual when his luck exploded, and a single net cast managed to catch a Spirit Fish!

That Spirit Fish was merely the size of a palm, entirely silver-white, its scales shimmering with a faint azure-jade luster under the sunlight.

Fang Han had seen such Spirit Fish at the fish market; they were called Azure Jade Silverfish, and a single one was worth thirty taels of silver.

Thirty taels—enough to feed his entire family for three years!

Yet before Fang Han could even rejoice, having stowed away the Spirit Fish, the corner of his eye caught sight of a small fishing boat approaching not far away, and he recognized the owner of the fishing boat.

It was Chen You, a youth of about his own age who also made a living fishing on the Dragon King River, and someone he usually exchanged greetings with when they met.

Fang Han vaguely remembered that Chen You had glanced at the Spirit Fish still hanging in the fishing net at the time, though he said nothing, simply offering a smiling greeting before rowing away.

Although Fang Han had been somewhat vigilant then, seeing Chen You paddle straight off, he set his mind at ease and brought his boat back to the shore.

He prepared to take advantage of the Spirit Fish being fresh and head to the fish market to sell it.

Who could have known that as he walked into the secluded, empty alley, the back of his head would suddenly suffer a fierce blow? He could not even scream before his vision went entirely black.

When he woke up again, three days had passed, and that Spirit Fish was nowhere to be found.

Now, as Fang Han carefully reviewed the details, he could be certain that Chen You was the one who had stabbed him in the back that day.

A trace of greed had flashed in that kid's eyes at the time; although faint, he had still caught it.

Realizing this, Fang Han could not help tightening his grip on his chopsticks.

This world was truly fucking cruel!

A single fish could cost a person's life!

Yet precisely because of this, Fang Han was all the more determined to learn martial arts.

Furthermore, two days ago when he went to the outer city to buy medicine, he happened to pass by a newly opened martial arts school holding a free bone-assessment event.

Fang Han had originally wanted to step forward to join the excitement, but he never expected that after the martial instructor finished assessing his bones, he would say that he possessed a lower-grade bone constitution and could learn martial arts.

It was at that very moment that a panel abruptly appeared in Fang Han's mind:

[Forged to Excel]
[Name: Fang Han]
[Age: Twenty-three]
[Bone Constitution: Lower-grade (Trainable)]
[Comprehension: 97]
[Realm: None]
[Martial Arts: None]
[Talent: Unyielding Practice (Never regresses), Rising Talent (Comprehension boosted)]

The appearance of the panel left Fang Han extremely excited!

Having read many web novels in his past-life memories, he could easily guess how to use the [Forged to Excel] panel!

Barring any unexpected accidents, as long as he practiced martial arts, he would advance all the way forward, and the results of every single training session would be Proof Once, Permanent Proof!

As long as he entered the martial arts school and gained exposure to martial arts...

Fang Han gathered his thoughts, took a deep breath, and swept his gaze once more across the dilapidated main room: his aged grandfather and grandmother, his silent eldest brother, his frail younger sister, and his toiling mother.

"Grandfather, grandmother, mother, eldest brother."

Fang Han stood up and gave them a solemn bow. "I will definitely study martial arts hard and make sure our family lives a good life in the future!"

Seeing his grandson so earnest, Fang Yuanshan also managed a rare smile and tapped his pipe. "Good, that's ambition."

Grandmother Madam Liu opened the tightly wrapped clay jar, took out the copper coins and broken silver inside, and handed them to Fang Han.

"All right, all right, family doesn't need to talk like that. Xiaohan, put these coins away first, and your grandfather will figure out how to scrape together the rest for you as soon as possible."

Fang Ding, standing to the side, said nothing, only giving Fang Han's lower back a heavy pat with considerable force.

Younger sister Fang Rui blinked as she looked at Fang Han, suddenly asking, "Once Second Brother becomes a martial artist, will he be able to beat away bad guys?"

Fang Han was momentarily stunned, then smiled.

That's right.

Once a martial artist, he could not only protect himself, but also his family, and he would never have to worry about being nearly beaten to death with a brick by someone again.

Looking at the panel visible only to him, Fang Han silently swore in his heart.

In this lifetime, he would surely make something of himself!