Teaching the Women to Fish

Leisurely days always passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, Li Dao and Jiu'er had spent ten days in Peach Spring Town.

Over those ten days, with Li Dao's help, the remaining women of Peach Spring Town had buried everyone in the village.

As those ten days slowly soothed their wounds, the women gradually recovered from their initial panic.

People of this era were resilient; a spell of hardship could not crush them completely.

On the tenth night of their stay.

A bonfire burned in a courtyard in Peach Spring Village.

All the women had set aside their work and gathered on either side of the fire.

Li Dao sat to one side, slowly telling his tale. "And so, after countless people fought together with one heart, the foreign invaders surrendered. The red emblem flew over every patch of land in that country, and everyone welcomed a new life."

Li Dao picked up the tea Jiu'er had poured for him and took a sip. "All right, that brings our story to an end."

Seeing that everyone was still lost in the tale, he asked, "If there's anything you didn't understand, I can explain it."

As soon as he finished speaking, a woman raised her hand.

Li Dao glanced over and smiled. "Liu Xia, is there something you'd like to ask?"

After more than ten days together, his extraordinary memory had already committed everyone's names and faces to heart. He knew them all now.

Liu Xia blushed shyly, but mustered her courage and said, "Benefactor, is what you said in the story true? Can women really hold up half the sky?"

The other women perked up at her question.

They had heard that line in the story too, but had not taken it seriously. It was only a story, after all. From birth until now, everything they knew told them they were mere appendages of their age.

Accusations of bringing ruin to nations and disaster to the people, of being beautiful harbingers of calamity, were so often used to condemn women.

But now that someone had actually asked, they wanted an answer.

Especially when that answer would come from their benefactor.

Li Dao looked at them and nodded. "If all women could be like you, then what I said would be true."

He stressed that they had to be like these women because some women truly could not hold anything up; they could barely even stand upright with dignity.

Hearing Li Dao's affirmative answer, every woman's eyes lit up.

With their families' pillars gone, they had not even known what to do. Once their grief faded, what remained in their hearts was mostly bewilderment.

There was not a single man left in the village. What were those who remained supposed to do?

Now, hearing that women could hold up half the sky, they suddenly felt they could shoulder their men's share of the burden too.

Watching the women whisper among themselves, Li Dao nodded slightly. It seemed to have worked. Now he could leave with peace of mind.

"Benefactor, are you leaving soon?"

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the crowd.

Li Dao paused and looked over, only to see a woman with scars on her face rise to her feet and look at him.

She was the woman he had helped carry water for back then.

If he remembered correctly, her name was Liu Xiuer.

Liu Xiuer had spoken loudly enough for the others to hear.

Panic instinctively flickered in their eyes.

Although they had long prepared themselves for this, suddenly hearing that their benefactor was leaving still proved difficult to accept.

"Yes. It's time we left."

Li Dao did not deny it. Some things could not be hidden from perceptive people, such as Liu Xiuer before him.

"Benefactor, are you really leaving? Please stay a little longer."

"Benefactor, please don't go."

"Can't you stay? We can't bear to part with you."

"..."

People in the crowd soon began pleading with him to stay.

Before Li Dao could say anything, Liu Xiuer suddenly spoke in a stern voice. "Quiet, all of you. Our benefactor has his own affairs. How could those be yours to dictate? He saved our lives and avenged us. Are you going to repay him with this unreasonable fuss?"

"Can you face your own consciences?"

Liu Xiuer's words instantly silenced everyone. Shame spread across their faces, and a few women even began sobbing on the spot.

Looking at Liu Xiuer, Li Dao could not help admiring her.

Faced with threats from Northern Barbarian cavalry, she had disfigured herself without hesitation to preserve her chastity. She had also guessed that he would soon leave, and now she had single-handedly brought the other women under control.

In the modern world of his previous life, she would undoubtedly have been a formidable career woman.

Seeing that no one objected, Liu Xiuer turned toward Li Dao.

Thud!

Liu Xiuer dropped straight to her knees. "Benefactor, we may not have read many books, but we know we can never repay you for saving our lives. We only regret that we sisters have no means to repay you now."

"If there is ever anything we sisters can help you with, please remember us, benefactor. We will never forget this kindness, lifetime after lifetime."

At this, the other women all knelt as one.

"We will never forget this kindness, lifetime after lifetime."

Then the women began kowtowing.

"Young master..."

Beside him, Jiu'er could not help speaking at the sight.

Li Dao shook his head. "It's all right."

He understood that this was the only thing these women could do. Refusing would be tantamount to insulting them.

A few breaths later.

Seeing that it was enough, Li Dao spoke up. "All right, that's enough."

Liu Xiuer immediately stopped.

The others followed suit.

Li Dao suddenly chuckled. "Don't just stare. Wipe your foreheads first."

Hearing this, the women looked at one another and discovered that everyone's forehead was black with dirt.

A sudden laugh broke the silence. As though a switch had been flipped, everyone burst into laughter, dispersing the gloom that had weighed upon their hearts for so many days.

A little while later.

As the laughter gradually subsided, Li Dao clapped his hands. "All right, everyone, stop laughing for a moment."

Hearing their benefactor speak, all the women put away their smiles.

Li Dao glanced over them and said, "These ten days together have given us a bond. Before I leave, let me give you a gift."

Curiosity appeared in every woman's eyes.

Li Dao beckoned, and Jiu'er brought a bundle over to him.

"Liu Xiuer."

"Yes, benefactor."

"Come here."

Liu Xiuer rose and walked over to Li Dao, saying respectfully, "Benefactor."

"This is for all of you."

Li Dao placed the bundle in her hands.

"Benefactor, what's inside...?"

"Open it and see for yourself."

"May I?"

"Of course. I've given it to you, so it's yours."

Only then did Liu Xiuer carefully open the bundle.

Three books came into view.

When she saw what those three books were, her pupils trembled. She hurriedly said, "Benefactor, we can't accept this. These are far too precious."

"Precious?"

Li Dao shook his head. "To me, these things aren't worth a single coin."

"But..."

Liu Xiuer wanted to say more.

"No buts."

Li Dao cut her off and said bluntly, "Don't you want to hold your fate in your own hands?"

"Or do you want to see what happened before happen again in Peach Spring Village?"

"Look at the women behind you. How are they supposed to protect themselves?"

Each question pierced Liu Xiuer's heart like a bayonet, gradually clearing her mind.

Li Dao stroked Liu Xiuer's head as he would Jiu'er's. "There's also a very practical question."

"How do you intend to help me when you're this ordinary?"

"Only by becoming stronger. Unless all that talk of repaying me was just talk, and you never intended to make it happen."

"No!"

Liu Xiuer hurriedly shook her head, then suddenly fell silent.

She lowered her gaze to the bundle in her hands. Inside were three books.

Yellow Sun Art.

Swift Wind Saber Technique.

Mandarin Duck Combined Attack Formation.

The Yellow Sun Art was something Li Dao had looted from a Northern Barbarians commander.

He had created the Swift Wind Saber Technique by improving the Gale Saber Technique. It was well suited to ordinary people seeking to master the basics quickly.

As for the last book, the Mandarin Duck Combined Attack Formation came from the Pagoda Art of War.

It was a simple combined attack formation that required few participants, making it well suited to the women of Peach Spring Village.

As for why he was giving these things to them.

It was because of the principle that "giving someone a fish is not as good as teaching them to fish."

Rather than worry about them, he might as well let them grow stronger themselves.

They did not even need to become all that strong. Even if every one of them merely grasped the basics of the Yellow Sun Art and barely became a Houtian Martial Artist, those Northern Barbarians cavalrymen would not have broken into Peach Spring Village so easily.

If a few of them trained particularly well, they might even win if they faced those same Northern Barbarians cavalrymen again.

Seeing Liu Xiuer remain silent, Li Dao said nothing either.

Her tightly clenched hands alone showed how desperately she wanted this chance to grasp her own fate.

At last, after a little while, Liu Xiuer relaxed.

When she raised her head again, Li Dao saw a flame in her eyes. He did not know exactly what kind of flame it was, but he understood that she had accepted.

"Thank you, benefactor."

Liu Xiuer did not know what else to say, so she could only repeat the words so often on her lips.

This time, however, her tone felt different. There seemed to be a touch of fervor in it.

Li Dao gave it no further thought. As long as she had understood, that was enough.

Early the next morning.

Outside Peach Spring Village.

Li Dao led the carriage slowly onto the old road outside the village, with Liu Xiuer and the others following behind.

They looked at Li Dao by the carriage, their eyes full of reluctance to part, yet they could say nothing.

Li Dao hopped onto the carriage seat, turned toward those behind him, and said gently, "All right, this is far enough. Hurry back."

They did not know what to say. In the end, they could only bow together and say, "Goodbye, benefactor."

Li Dao smiled faintly. "I hope we'll meet again someday. Take care."

"Hyah!"

With the crack of a whip, the carriage set off along the old road, slowly traveling farther away.

It left behind a row of figures gazing into the distance.

Only long after the carriage had vanished completely at the end of the old road did they gradually come to their senses, unable to hide the loss on their faces.

Beside them, Liu Xiuer took in everyone's expressions.

She stepped forward and suddenly said, "Let me ask you one thing. Do you want to repay our benefactor's kindness?"

Everyone paused, but soon began answering.

"Yes, of course we do. I had already given up all hope back then. If not for our benefactor, I really don't know how I could have found the courage to go on living."

"I nearly died at the hands of those northern brutes. If not for our benefactor, I wouldn't have survived."

"I nearly lost my chastity. Our benefactor was the one who saved us all."

Liu Xiuer nodded. "Since you all want to repay our benefactor's kindness, then starting today, there's one thing we must do: become stronger."

"Because only by becoming stronger can we be useful."

"Only by becoming stronger can we live with dignity."

"Our benefactor said women can hold up half the sky, but search your hearts. Can you really do it?"

At those words, the women began to feel uncertain.

It had sounded wonderful yesterday, but now that their heads were clear and they saw the endless work waiting for them, they immediately began doubting themselves.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd said, "Liu Xiuer, just tell us what you want us to do."

A spark flashed deep in Liu Xiuer's eyes as she said, "Cultivate!"

Cultivate?

Confusion appeared in many women's eyes. A great many of them did not understand what that meant.

Liu Xiuer understood why and said plainly, "You don't need to think too much. All you need to know is that if you want to become useful, to become someone useful to our benefactor, you only need to listen to me."

The women exchanged glances, then nodded together.

"Liu Xiuer, you were always the village beauty, the prettiest of us all. We'll listen to you."

"Liu Xiuer, I never accepted you before, but for the sake of that scar on your face, I'll follow you."

"I'll follow you too!"

"Me too."

"..."

As everyone agreed one after another, Liu Xiuer drew a deep breath, feeling the weight of many more burdens settle onto her fragile shoulders.

But as soon as she thought of what she had been through earlier, she quickly rallied.

She silently said in her heart, Benefactor, we will surely meet again.