New Year Festival

With the Liu Family's intervention, Lao Qi Fang and his wife came to beg forgiveness.

The village gossip had barely begun to stir before it vanished into thin air.

What was more, the truth of the matter—the Zhou Family's "sky-high" betrothal gifts—spread throughout Daliushu Village as well.

Of course, Fang Yue's family had not spread the news. It had come from Zhou Family Village.

After all this commotion, Zhou Xiaohua had become notorious throughout the nearby villages. It would not be easy for her to marry in the future.

But none of that had anything to do with Fang Yue's family anymore.

Before winter arrived, Fang Hu had also sent Zhang Shu back to Xiahe City.

Fang Yue no longer needed to bring food to Widow Yu's home, and life returned to normal.

Moreover, because Fang Yue's progress in White Tiger Fist had exceeded Fang Hu's expectations, Fang Hu allowed him to begin Skin Tempering early.

But Skin Tempering was a slow grind. One relied on daily fist practice to work strength into the surface of the skin.

Then, by absorbing the Secret Medicine applied to the skin's surface, the skin would gradually become tough and resilient. Once Skin Tempering was mastered, one's skin would become like gold and iron, difficult for ordinary blades and swords to harm.

Day after day passed, and in the blink of an eye, another year had come.

This day was New Year's Day.

Early in the morning.

After washing up, Fang Yue changed into new clothes, carried a New Year's gift and a newly made fishing rod, and went to Fang Hu's home.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Fang Ergou was maintaining his bows, arrows, and weapons.

Fang Ergou had once been half a head taller than him, but after more than half a year of martial arts training, Fang Yue had come from behind and caught up in height.

Furthermore, his strength had now reached fifteen hundred jin, nearly twice Fang Ergou's. Fang Ergou now possessed only eight hundred jin of strength.

This was the gap between their aptitudes. Fang Yue's aptitude could still improve every day, while Fang Ergou had already reached his limit.

Even if Fang Ergou could enter the White Tiger Martial Arts School, their current wealth simply could not support him.

After all, the poorer one's aptitude, the more body-refining Secret Medicine one needed.

The resources needed to raise one Fang Ergou could support three Fang Yues.

This often made Fang Hu sigh that he had not taken the wrong disciple.

"Brother Zhi." Seeing Fang Yue, Fang Ergou stepped forward, scratched his head, and said with a grin.

"Er Gou, happy New Year. This is for you."

Fang Yue smiled faintly and handed the fishing rod to Fang Ergou.

After his family's circumstances had improved somewhat, he had specially asked the village blacksmith to forge the hook, then selected a suitable piece of bamboo to make this fishing rod.

This rod was much more useful than the one he had used before.

Fang Ergou happened to enjoy fishing as well. Now that winter had passed and spring had come, the Xiahe River's water level was rising again, making this the perfect New Year's gift for him.

"Thank you, Brother Zhi."

Fang Ergou accepted the rod and hurriedly thanked Fang Yue. Then he carefully examined it, looking as though he could not bear to put it down.

After that,

Fang Yue pushed open the door and entered the room, where he saw Fang Hu and kowtowed in greeting.

"Yue'er, you've already come—why bring gifts? I have everything here. I lack nothing."

Fang Hu hurriedly helped Fang Yue up and glanced at the gift in his hands.

"My New Year's gift is definitely something Master doesn't have in his house," Fang Yue said with a smile.

"Oh? Then I'd like to see what it is."

Fang Hu was somewhat surprised. He knew Fang Yue's family circumstances perfectly well; they were much the same as those of most farming households in Daliushu Village.

He knew exactly what Fang Yue's family had.

Now that Fang Yue so confidently claimed this New Year's gift was something he had never seen before, Fang Hu could not help but feel curious.

"This is tea I pan-fried myself. Master, please give it a taste."

Fang Yue did not keep him guessing. He untied the bundle, revealing several Bamboo Tubes.

Then he opened their lids and poured out some needle-tip-shaped leaves.

This was tea he had made himself, pan-fried tea.

As the year drew to a close, he had realized that he had nothing particularly valuable to give Fang Hu.

Remembering that Fang Hu enjoyed tea, he noticed that this world had no pan-fried tea. So he gathered some fresh tea leaves and tried pan-frying them.

From memories of his previous life, he knew this world had no pan-fried tea—or at least, Fang Hu's household had never seen it.

The tea Fang Hu drank was all raw tea, which naturally carried a strong grassy flavor and bitterness. Its taste was far inferior to pan-fried tea.

So he had tried making some. Unexpectedly, the result was quite good. Some of the tea leaves he pan-fried left a sweet aftertaste, their rich fragrance filling the air. The quality was exceptionally fine.

"Pan-fried tea? Tea leaves can be pan-fried?"

Fang Hu did not quite believe it and immediately brewed a cup.

When the boiling water soaked the dried Morning Wild Tea, the needle-like leaves immediately stood upright one by one, distinct above and below, lush with green.

A rich tea fragrance also wafted out.

"Hmm?"

Fang Hu drank tea regularly and considered himself somewhat capable of judging it, but this pan-fried tea truly surprised him.

Though he had not yet tasted it, merely from its appearance after brewing and its fragrance, he knew it was good tea.

"Yue'er, you've put thought into this." Fang Hu praised Fang Yue. Sure enough, his home did not have such tea; indeed, he had never even seen or heard of it.

He immediately asked about it in detail.

Fang Yue explained the process of pan-frying tea thoroughly. Tea drinking was as popular in this world as it had been in his previous life, so pan-fried tea could certainly serve as a means of livelihood.

But that was all it could be. One could not make a great fortune from it.

There was little technical skill involved; others would understand it as soon as they saw it.

Besides, Fang Hu treated him extremely well, so naturally he had no need to hide anything from him.

"So that's how it is. Truly an ingenious idea. Not bad, not bad." Fang Hu smiled and offered several words of praise.

Then he continued, "Yue'er, you are gifted and intelligent, but the martial path requires even greater perseverance. Put more of your mind into training and strive to master Skin Tempering within three years. Once you enter the Bone Forging stage, you can try for the Martial Imperial Exam."

"Rest assured, Master. Yue'er understands," Fang Yue replied respectfully.

He stayed at Fang Hu's home for a while longer. Fang Hu checked his martial training progress and only relaxed after finding that he had not fallen behind.

"Your martial progress is good. After the New Year, you can follow me into the mountains," Fang Hu said.

In truth, Fang Yue's strength had long met the requirement. Fang Hu had merely not wanted to delay his martial training progress, so he had let him focus on cultivating White Tiger Fist over the past few months.

Now, however, Fang Yue's White Tiger Fist had become thoroughly proficient, and Fang Hu had nothing more to teach him.

Skin Tempering was a slow grind accumulated over years, so Fang Hu planned to bring Fang Yue into the mountains to hunt.

This would temper Fang Yue's skills, increase his combat experience, and train his archery as well, so that he would not lose his nerve when he participated in the Martial Imperial Exam.

After all, among those taking the Martial Imperial Exam were many disciples of prominent families who had been pampered since childhood. Their martial skills were good, and they could easily pass the weightlifting and archery tests.

But when it came to actual combat, they would become flustered and helpless, and their results would instead be poor.