Not Giving It One Shot, I Couldn't Accept It

He pushed open the creaking courtyard gate.

The air was thick with a stale, mingled earthy smell, laced with the faint bitterness of rotting straw.

Instead, Lu Li felt at ease.

Hearing him, Ma Xiaoling came out to greet him. The moment she saw him, her face lit up with surprise. "A-Li, what made you willing to come by today?"

Ma Xiaoling was his younger maternal aunt, his mother's biological younger sister, and his only relative in this world.

"Youngest Aunt, I missed my mother, so I came to see you."

Lu Li handed his younger maternal aunt the more than two jin of pork he had just bought.

The meat had just been purchased and had cost him six days' wages. In Blackwater City, meat was expensive—sixty copper coins per jin.

Ordinary families usually could not bear to eat it.

Their usual staple was coarse rice mixed with large amounts of millet, sorghum rice, broken corn kernels, bran, and moldy rice.

In famine years, there was more husk than rice. Being able to eat one full meal was already a blessing beyond measure.

"You came, so why bring meat? If you bring meat again next time, I won't let you through the door..."

His younger aunt circled Lu Li, looking him over, and tears began falling of their own accord.

Lu Li's eye sockets were sunken, his cheekbones protruded sharply, and the dark circles beneath his eyes looked as though someone had beaten him.

They had not met for only a year. How had the child worn himself down to such a state?

"Is Uncle-in-Law home?"

In his memories, his uncle-in-law, Chen Hai, ran a shop in Apricot Blossom Alley selling braised foods.

A year ago, Lu Li had come to borrow money, saying he wanted to practice martial arts. Chen Hai had thought he was indulging in a wild fantasy and had refused.

After that, Lu Li had never come again.

"Your uncle-in-law only just got back too. He's in the kitchen cooking...

"You earned that money through hard labor. Your youngest aunt isn't an outsider. If you came empty-handed often, your youngest aunt would be happiest."

Ma Xiaoling's eyes were full of heartache and self-reproach. She blamed herself for failing to take proper care of Lu Li as his aunt.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"Not yet."

A faint smile showed in Lu Li's eyes.

Following his aunt into the main room, Lu Li saw Little Chen Xuan running around naked.

The instant Little Chen Xuan saw Lu Li, he was so frightened that he hurried behind Ma Xiaoling and burst into loud sobs.

"Mother, I'm scared."

Lu Li's current appearance truly was frightening. His already thin shoulder blades now sat unevenly, one high and one low.

His lips were cracked and peeling in several layers, with dark blood spots congealed in the fissures.

"What are you scared of? This is your big brother, Lu Li."

Only after hearing that it was Lu Li did Little Chen Xuan timidly walk over and grab Lu Li's hand.

"Big bwother, who hit you? Once I grow up and practice martial arts, I'll avenge you."

Lu Li laughed heartily, lifted Little Chen Xuan into his arms, and wiped away his snot. "Xiaoxuan, once you practice martial arts, you must protect Big Brother."

"Mm..."

Ma Xiaoling cleared the table and prepared to eat.

Just then, Chen Hai came in carrying dishes, not even sparing Lu Li a glance.

"A-Li, are you still saving money to practice martial arts?"

"Yes, Uncle-in-Law."

Although his uncle-in-law had refused to lend him money last time, the original Lu Li had not held it against Chen Hai.

In times like these, borrowing money to practice martial arts was already something others considered impossible. Helping was kindness; refusing was only one's duty.

He had also worried that borrowing money would affect the relationship between his youngest aunt and uncle-in-law, which was why he had not dared visit for over a year.

"How much more money do you need for martial arts?"

"I'm still short eighteen hundred copper coins. If I save for another three months, it should be enough."

Chen Hai froze at those words.

Then he raised his head and looked at Lu Li, inwardly startled again.

They had not met for only half a year, but Lu Li's face was now dark and heavy-looking, clearly gray with the effects of sun and sweat soaking into his skin.

"Why are you standing there? Sit down and talk."

"Xiaoling, go get the wine I hid away. Today, our family will have a proper drink together."

When Ma Xiaoling heard Chen Hai say "our family," she could not hold back her tears again.

"What work are you doing now?"

"Uncle-in-Law, I'm working as a temporary sedan bearer at Shunhe Sedan Service on Auspicious Street."

"How did you let yourself get worn down like this? Keep grinding for another three months, and your body will be wrung dry. Even if you save enough money then, you'll be a rotten seedling. How will you practice martial arts?"

Lu Li silently nodded.

"Ten taels of silver are only the three-month apprenticeship fee. What about the later costs for medicinal baths and nourishing food? Have you thought about that?"

"I'll become an apprentice and learn the fist arts first. If I'm not suited to martial arts, I'll come help Uncle-in-Law work and support you in your old age."

The moment Chen Hai heard this, he somehow became angry.

"Can martial arts be learned in three months?"

"How could martial arts have some quick path to success? Even an outsider like me knows the early stages are all about laying foundations and tempering one's qi and blood..."

"Do you absolutely have to learn martial arts?"

"I want to fight for it once. If I don't give it one shot, I can't accept it."

Hearing those words, Chen Hai was stunned, and his heart softened as well.

"My old home still has two mu of land. Tomorrow, I'll ask someone to sell it and support your martial arts training."

"Eat first."

Lu Li was quite surprised as well. He had come today intending to borrow money, and he had even prepared many words of persuasion.

He had not expected Chen Hai to agree before he could say them.

"Great, great! Big bwother is going to practice martial arts!"

"Uncle-in-Law, I can save enough money in three months at most. There's no need to sell the land back home..."

Before he could finish, Chen Hai took out a money pouch from his robes and poured all the money inside onto the table. This was the money he had set aside to purchase goods for the second half of the year.

Chen Hai counted out two thousand copper coins and pushed them in front of Lu Li.

"Right now, your aunt is your only relative. If we don't take care of you, who will? Take the money. Go become an apprentice first thing tomorrow morning."

"As for the later medicinal baths and nourishing food, I'll find another way."

His aunt smiled at the side as well. "A-Li, listen to your uncle-in-law. Take it and become an apprentice early."

That night, Lu Li drank alcohol for the first time in ages.

The alcohol in this world could be summed up in one word: fierce!

"Why did you change your mind today?" Ma Xiaoling asked as she looked at the drunken Chen Hai.

"Back then, during holidays and festivals, his father brought rabbits, pheasants, and wild boar meat and shared plenty with us."

"After your sister passed away, if you hadn't been pregnant at the time, I would have wanted to bring him home." Chen Hai mumbled indistinctly.

"Xuan is still young now. In the future, he'll have to walk the path of martial arts too. Let A-Li test the waters first. If he succeeds, naturally everyone will rejoice."

"What if he doesn't?"

"I never expected him to succeed. Later, I'll bring him along to make braised foods... after all, he's family."

"He can endure hardship. He managed to stick with work as humiliating and exhausting as carrying sedans. Whatever he does, he won't do badly."

"Tonight, when I watched him speak, it was as if he had become another person. He's become sensible. People truly do grow faster after suffering hardship."

"My husband is righteous and kind."

"Let him train on his own. Whatever he can make of it is his fate."

"Martial arts also depend on aptitude. Beyond the suffering of the body, the ambition in one's heart cannot fall short either."

"I think A-Li's ambition is not lacking now."

"I think so too."

The next day.

When Lu Li woke up, there was a bowl of minced meat soup by his bedside.

Lu Li was in a daze.

Having family felt wonderful!

He got dressed, washed his face, and pulled out the money he had previously hidden beneath Little Chen Xuan's bed.

There were five taels of silver in total, saved over the past two years.

He had told no one where he hid the money.

To hide it, he had racked his brains and changed locations several times.

There were too many people and too many prying eyes at Hometown Inn, so he had nowhere to hide it.

Only in the end had he discovered a hole beneath Little Chen Xuan's bed.

He thought that even if his aunt found the silver, it would be fine. That was still better than having outsiders steal it.

Carrying the silver, he jogged all the way back to Hometown Inn.

Then, in the latrine behind Hometown Inn's courtyard, he dug out the three taels of silver he had hidden over the past year.

Afterward, he informed Liu Rushuang that he had other matters to attend to today and could not go to the sedan service.

Liu Rushuang was rather surprised.

She pressed him about where he was going, saying that if he set this work aside for a day, it would be difficult to pick it back up again.

Lu Li only said he had urgent business to handle, then strode away from Hometown Inn.

Half an incense stick later, Lu Li stood before Golden Gate Martial Academy on West Gate Street, ten taels of silver tucked against his chest and breath coming in ragged gasps.