Blood Fare and Gratitude, Carriage Yard Exploitation

The next day, before dawn.

The watch drum had just sounded the hour of the hare when someone knocked on the side gate of No. 38, Crouching Ox Alley.

"Who is it?"

Brother Wei opened the door, bleary-eyed, and froze when he saw Qin Geng standing outside.

It was still dark, and the wind cut to the bone, yet Qin Geng was already brimming with energy, his body still warm from the journey over.

"Morning, Brother Wei."

Qin Geng wasted no words. He entered the courtyard and headed straight for the stable.

Chopping fodder, mixing feed, cracking eggs—his hands moved too deftly for a novice.

Even the chestnut horse, usually so proud, behaved itself under Qin Geng's care and let him tend to it.

After feeding the horse, Qin Geng picked up a broom to clear away the manure and snow, then carried water and chopped firewood.

By the time daylight filled the courtyard, he had swept away every trace of snow, filled the water jar, and stacked neatly split firewood beneath the eaves.

Brother Wei stood under the veranda, watching Qin Geng with sweat beading on his forehead, and couldn't help frowning.

"Brother Qin, you don't have to work this hard."

Brother Wei walked over. "The master isn't even awake yet. You can take your time. There are still several hours till noon."

Qin Geng was stacking firewood. He looked up with a smile. "It's fine, Brother Wei. I've nowhere else to go anyway, and I'd only be sitting idle. Since I've taken the job, I ought to do it well."

With that, he bent back to his work, leaving nothing half-done.

"..."

Brother Wei said nothing. He watched Qin Geng's practiced movements and tireless back, but doubts began to stir in his mind.

He had heard everything in the main hall that day.

Master Ye had told this fellow to work for a few months without wages, with meals provided.

Just like Brother Wei, he was being tested for a permanent job.

And since Qin Geng had a letter of recommendation, he was someone they knew well.

Judging by his build and the way he worked, he was capable, too.

"This courtyard may be big, but Master Ye lives here alone."

Brother Wei did the sums in his head. "One permanent hand is plenty. I came on someone's recommendation too, with a three-month trial. Now I've only got one month left."

"If this fellow stays, won't I have to pack up and leave?"

At the thought, Brother Wei's expression shifted several times.

These days, it was terribly hard to find a job with a decent master who provided food and lodging and didn't beat or curse his servants on a whim.

Since coming to work at Master Ye's home, he hadn't had a thing to fret over. Master Ye gave him plenty of leeway, hardly anyone visited, and the Ye Family owned no fields, so he never had to haul water out to irrigate them...

All he had to do was tend the great horse and the lean hound. Master Ye knew he couldn't handle the goshawk properly and took care of it himself; Brother Wei only had to feed it. To his mind, this was a job he wouldn't trade for gold.

Brother Wei looked at Qin Geng, a trace of wariness entering his eyes.

He had originally thought he could slack off a little these next few days and let the newcomer do more of the work.

But now...

"I'd better get moving too."

Brother Wei said no more. He silently took up a nearby broom and began sweeping the nooks and crannies Qin Geng had already swept once.

He even took the chickens' feed basin away and washed it.

Qin Geng glanced at Brother Wei, puzzled by his sudden burst of diligence, then paid it no mind and went on brushing the chestnut horse.

How could he know that before he had even become an apprentice, he had unwittingly been taken for a fierce rival come to steal another man's rice bowl?

They worked until noon, when the sun stood high.

There weren't many rules in Master Ye's courtyard. They ate in a small room beside the rear kitchen.

Brother Wei led Qin Geng there with practiced ease. Two large basins of food were already on the table: one held pork stewed with glass noodles, glistening with oil;

the other held generous chunks of red meat, glossy and red, trembling softly.

"Go on, eat. That basin's yours. Master's orders."

Brother Wei said nothing more. He picked up a steamed bun and dug in, slurping as he ate.

Qin Geng stood on no ceremony either. The red meat had a firm bite and a slightly sweet flavor, with just a touch of fat. It was delicious.

A mouthful of meat, a bite of white-flour bun—he ate with relish.

But by the end of the meal, something nagged at him.

When he usually ate Stewed Delight, a whole pound left his belly full of solid food, stretched tight.

That fullness was heavy, like having stones in his stomach.

This meal was different.

After more than half a pound of lean meat, his belly felt no such swelling. Instead, it was as though a furnace had been lit throughout his limbs and bones.

Wave after wave of heat rushed from his stomach through his body. The ache in his back and legs from the morning's work vanished under its warmth, leaving him so comfortable he wanted to hum.

The feeling was surprisingly like what he had felt after drinking that cup of Imperial Dragon Well from Shopkeeper Lu.

Something's different about this meat.

Qin Geng considered it quietly.

This wasn't meat sold in the markets.

Vital energy was hidden in it, making it a powerful restorative. In martial circles, they called it "blood fare"—meat from beasts found in the mountains.

Scholarship Is Cheap, Martial Arts Are Expensive. It wasn't just medicinal baths that cost money; the food needed day after day was a bottomless pit, too.

Without blood fare to nourish the body, training without replenishment would break it sooner or later.

Qin Geng stole a glance at Brother Wei beside him.

Brother Wei's mouth shone with grease as he ate, but he showed no unusual reaction. Presumably, there was nothing special about his basin of pork and glass noodles.

So this isn't everyday fare for the Ye Family. It was prepared especially for me.

Qin Geng understood.

Even if they never became master and apprentice, he would remember this kindness.

Fed and rested, Qin Geng took his leave.

It was noon when he returned to the shanties in South City.

Today brought a strange sight: a dark crowd had gathered on the open ground outside Xu Jin's Shanty.

Qin Geng swept his gaze over them and understood.

The heads of nearly all the dozen or so shanties scattered across South City were there.

These shanty heads were men much like Xu Chun and Ma Laifu, leaders of their respective shanties.

These seasoned hands, men whose words carried weight among South City's carriage drivers, now crouched on the ground with worried faces, smoking their pipes. Smoke curled around them, and the mood was stifling.

South City was poor.

None of its carriage drivers could afford to live in a tenement courtyard. Most crowded into these shanties, more than two hundred of them.

Add the drifters who couldn't even afford a shanty and slept wherever they found a wall to lean against, and South City had some three hundred carriage drivers in all.

Those three hundred-odd people made up the carriage drivers' world at the bottom of South City.

"Brother Five's back!"

Someone shouted.

The carriage drivers crouching on the ground rose one after another and looked eagerly toward Qin Geng.

Qin Geng had made a name for himself by now. Even in coarse cloth, he cut an imposing figure as he stood there, his temples bulging high, looking like a man no one should cross.

"Brother Five."

"Brother Qin Five."

Greetings rose from every side, carrying respect that came from the heart.

They respected Qin Geng because he had dared to smash the Bluestone Table, refuse the Dragon King Society's ghost marriage, and kill Chen Sanpi with a single punch to establish his standing.

When a man had the skills, everyone had to respect him.