He walked out of the Tongfu Grand Restaurant.
Inside the restaurant, the waiter looked at Lin Ke with admiration and gratitude.
Behind him, however, the restaurant owner narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Lin Ke leave.
"Another newcomer? Just what sort of business has Qi Dayan been doing outside all these years?"
Once outside, Lin Ke looked up.
Night had already draped itself over the sky of the entire world.
"It's dark already!"
At the same time, a crisp chime sounded in his mind.
Beneath the night sky, he stopped in the middle of Chaoyang Street, where the wind occasionally stirred up the dust.
"Ding." "Choice completed." "Rewards distributed. Please check." [Reward one: Earned the approval of Great Confucian Li Chungang. May become his apprentice within three days.] [Reward two: Earned painter Wang Lin's favor. Apprenticeship established.] [Reward three: Earned the favor of the Tongfu Grand Restaurant's owner. Secured steady employment.] Note: As choice three involved saving the restaurant owner, apprenticeship is not required. The commitment of the You and Xu hours for six months has been changed to the You hour alone, and the employment period may be extended to eight months.
The You hour ran from five to seven in the afternoon, and the Xu hour from seven to nine in the evening. That meant it had been reduced to one traditional hour, or two hours.
"Not bad." A smile appeared on Lin Ke's face.
It seemed saving the owner of the Tongfu Grand Restaurant had changed the choice as well.
He only had three months to prepare. If he had more time beyond worrying about keeping himself fed, he could learn much more.
He needed to study literature, martial arts, and painting, while keeping up his wood-chopping skills!
He had to fit all of that into three months.
First came old Master Li Chungang's siwu hours, from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon.
Wang Lin's lessons were during the weishen hours, meaning he would head to the painting studio as soon as he finished with old Master Li, from one to five in the afternoon.
He would allot one traditional hour to the Tongfu Grand Restaurant. Its busiest period was the You hour, from five to seven in the afternoon, right at dinnertime.
I'll get up earlier and review what I learned the day before. Five or six in the morning, then. But will that be enough time?
Or I can adjust things when the time comes!
I'll finish at seven every evening, so I can keep chopping wood, or go learn something else?
As Lin Ke planned his schedule, a sudden commotion reached his ears.
He looked down the street. Chickens flew and dogs scattered amid clouds of dust, and he heard someone shouting behind him, "Move, move! Young fellow..."
Then someone crashed into him.
The person stopped after passing him. Seeing Lin Ke's wide eyes, he apologized, "Sorry, young fellow. I'll make it up to you next time."
And then?
Then the man pushed his cart away at a run!
Lying on the ground, Lin Ke heard a voice in the distance. "Mother of mine! Butcher Zhang, put that chopping block away, or I'll come haul off every scrap of your meat..."
"You fat bastard! If you don't put away those stools you've left in the street, I'll come break them up for firewood for my family..."
"Mother of mine! Old Li, hurry up and clean your doorway! There's blood everywhere. Watch it, or I'll shut your shop down..."
"Mother of mine! You stinking beggar, ogling girls outside the music Entertainment House all day! Pack up your stall, or I'll make you blind for real..."
"You Entertainment House woman..."
"Wang Lin, girl..."
"Mother of mine..."
The voice drew closer and closer, while the street grew ever more chaotic.
Bang... smack... bang... thud, thud, thud... swish, swish... crash and clatter...
Doors slammed, tables and chairs knocked together, crockery shattered, feet pounded, brooms swished... everything dissolved into chaos!
Lin Ke picked himself up and stood alone, bewildered, amid the dust kicked into the air by the wind and trampling feet.
As the dust slowly settled, he finally saw the street.
Not a soul in sight!
Every shop on Chaoyang Street had its doors shut tight.
At old Li Chungang's tofu shop, for instance, only Li Feiyu remained, bent over and sweeping.
Chaoyang Street, previously noisy and cluttered with things piled everywhere, had transformed in an instant. Not a thing was out of place. Everything was neat and clean.
The residents of Chaoyang had all become incredibly well-behaved, too.
Lin Ke stared, dumbfounded, then shifted his gaze toward Wang Lin's Immortal Realm Painting Studio and immediately jogged over.
I'll ask what's going on.
"Master, let me help!"
Wang Lin was moving the paintings displayed outside. At his voice, she replied gently without even raising her head, "All right!"
Wang Lin looked at Lin Ke with a beaming smile, gentle and gracious, her tenderness flowing like water.
Something's wrong!
"Master, something's come up. I have to go!"
The sight of Wang Lin like that immediately sent a shiver through Lin Ke. He hurriedly switched targets, fixing his gaze on Li Feiyu, who was sweeping nearby.
Just as Lin Ke switched targets, Li Feiyu straightened up, stopped sweeping, and looked at him.
Killing intent boiled in his eyes.
Are you sick in the head...?
Grumbling inwardly, Lin Ke never even paused. In the end, he ran straight back to his own front door!
Nobody here is someone to mess with!
They're all on the lowborn registry. Which of them would be easy to handle?
Forget asking around. I'd better go home...
Standing at his door, Lin Ke thought for a moment, then went into the courtyard and carried out the wooden stump beneath the eaves. He sat down by the entrance, took a handful of sunflower seeds from inside his robe, and looked down the street.
He had nabbed the seeds from the fat restaurant owner earlier. The owner had looked so pained that even recalling it annoyed Lin Ke.
When he had said he needed work, the owner had spent ages calculating on his abacus before offering him two steamed buns a day.
Smack!
Smack!
As he was thinking, a figure appeared down the street, accompanied by the sound of footsteps.
It looked like a man, the source of the loud shouting from earlier.
Looking over, he saw a saber hanging askew at the man's waist, so loosely that the end of its sheath dragged along the ground.
The man first reached the music Entertainment House and pointed at a short, plump woman wearing heavy makeup. Lin Ke couldn't make out what he was saying.
Then Lin Ke saw that even those who had closed their shops had their doors knocked open if their entrances were still messy.
Anyone who hadn't tidied up had the man come to their door and curse them with a finger pointed in their face.
He was simply too far away for Lin Ke to hear the insults.
Then the man reached Wang Lin's shop. Seeing no paintings outside, he started talking to her.
This time, Lin Ke finally caught a few scattered words. "Just look at you... honestly, he's my superior at work, and he's on the commoner registry, after all... just think, in the end he could only wipe it on the wall! Thirteen copper coins? Isn't that too expensive..."
Good grief!
Lin Ke felt he had overheard something extraordinary.
Even with a finger pointed in her face, Wang Lin kept smiling politely.
Lin Ke silently marveled at the sight.
Is this man another powerful expert?
Then he saw Wang Lin cast a smiling glance at him?
A very deliberate glance!
The man talking to Wang Lin followed her gaze, but merely frowned slightly before looking away.
Lin Ke hurriedly gave Wang Lin a sheepish smile.
He stuffed the sunflower seeds into his pocket, then slapped the back of his right hand with his left. Only after Wang Lin looked away did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Having finished with Wang Lin, the man glanced at Lin Ke without saying anything, then angrily turned toward Li Feiyu, who was sweeping nearby, and strode over to him.
This time, Lin Ke finally got the whole juicy melon... no, the whole lecture.
The gist was that old Master Li Chungang's blood tofu had left the entrance filthy, and cleaning it up needed to be a priority.
Lin Ke reached into his pocket, took out the sunflower seeds, and resumed cracking them.
Now he finally got a clear look at the man's face.
He was a middle-aged man who looked somewhat younger than old Qi.
His face was a little dark, with rugged lines and a mustache that slanted down on either side. Nothing else about him particularly stood out. He wore a Dark Green Martial Outfit, with a long saber in a black sheath slung at his waist.
After he walked toward Li Feiyu, his back faced Lin Ke, who finally noticed a character on the back of his clothing.
[Constable].
Understanding dawned on Lin Ke.
A constable!
The Miscellaneous Treatise on Market Regulations stated: The Lower Nine Professions comprised storytellers, yamen runners, menial laborers, traveling merchants, servants, matchmakers, pardoned convicts, thieves, and prostitutes.
Constables were one kind of yamen runner.
Before you continue