He opened the fist-sized cloth bundle.
Apart from some loose silver, everything inside was copper coins.
"Twenty-five taels, seven mace, and three copper coins..."
After counting it once, Wei Sheng beamed and sighed with heartfelt appreciation. "Zhang Yan was a generous man!"
Of these nearly twenty-six taels of silver, Zhang Yan alone had contributed seventeen. The rest had come from the Golden Goose Gang members.
Besides that,
the second great haul, the Golden Goose Art, had also come from Zhang Yan.
"A Lower Vehicle lightness martial art. At perfection, one can use Void Traversal for thirteen steps through empty air..."
Wei Sheng read it with intense longing. Zhang Yan had only reached minor attainment, yet he had nearly landed a sneak attack on him, a Second Refinement martial artist, with his First Refinement strength.
Had he possessed major attainment in the Golden Goose Art at the time, Wei Sheng would have been reduced to his target even with his greater strength.
As for reaching perfection...
Zhang Yan had said he had never dared dream of it, because it was too difficult!
But once perfected, running over rooftops and scaling walls would be child's play. One could even tread thirteen steps through empty air. Such movement techniques were exceedingly rare even among Six Refinements experts!
"Movement techniques are hard?"
Wei Sheng's expression remained calm. "I only need to reach the entry level. Then, with my world-shaking wisdom, supreme effort, and just a tiny bit of Dao Origin, reaching perfection will be child's play."
For Wei Sheng, the hard part wasn't perfection. It was getting through the damn door!
"At the entry level of the Golden Goose Art, the body becomes as light as a swallow, and speed reaches twenty-five meters per second..."
At first glance, that speed didn't seem high, but for Wei Sheng, whose all-out burst only reached thirteen meters per second, the difficulty was anything but ordinary.
After all, speed wasn't like strength, where a little exercise could squeeze out a little more.
Speed improved extremely slowly. To reach twenty-five meters per second in a short time, he couldn't train step by step. He had to turn up the intensity!
And so,
early the next morning, Wei Sheng left home.
He didn't go to work. After the battle on Gaoliu Street, word of Wei Sheng's First Refinement strength had spread, enough to deter scoundrels on all sides and keep the branch hall safe for the time being.
Wei Sheng had gone out to prepare the equipment he needed to train the Golden Goose Art.
"Shopkeeper, do you have weighted leg wraps?"
Wei Sheng entered a general store, but soon walked out again in disappointment.
"Too light!"
Those sandbag leg wraps were decent, but they were all meant for martial artists who had yet to reach First Refinement. Even the heaviest weighed only a hundred jin or so.
With his current strength of two thousand jin in one arm, that much weight would feel no different from wearing nothing.
Finally, on the general store owner's recommendation, Wei Sheng came to a weapons shop on the street corner.
To his delight, the weapons shop did indeed have leg weights exceeding a hundred jin.
The trouble was that those leg weights were all made of pig iron.
Every hundred jin of pig iron cost around one tael and five mace of silver.
That didn't even include the workmanship.
If he wanted leg weights weighing three or four hundred jin, the materials alone would cost six taels of silver.
With the workmanship added, he wouldn't get them for less than seven or eight taels.
Eight taels of silver-more expensive than two doses of secret medicine!
But he still ordered a four-hundred-jin set of leg weights.
Eight taels was expensive, but compared with perfecting the Golden Goose Art, it wasn't worth mentioning.
A lightness art could save his life at a critical moment!
After arranging with the blacksmith to collect them the following afternoon, Wei Sheng left, then bought a large quantity of household necessities on the street. In particular, he bought Wei He a new long gown.
That round of spending used up another two taels of silver.
Even with some money to spare, spending ten taels in a single morning made him feel as though money were flowing away like water.
But at the thought of Wei He's reaction when he saw the new clothes, he couldn't help smiling.
Knock, knock, knock!
Wei He opened the door.
It wasn't his second brother returning, but two strangers.
The man in front was middle-aged, dressed in a coarse-cloth long gown, with a pockmarked face and shifty eyes. At first glance, he seemed somewhat familiar, as though Wei He had seen him somewhere before.
Three feet behind him stood a red-robed steward, his bearing proud, his expression composed, and a faint smile on his face.
"Who are you?" Wei He asked in puzzlement.
"You're young Wei He, aren't you? I'm Sun Dayou, a broker from the brokerage house. Just call me Brother Sun... This gentleman is the head steward of the Hong Residence..."
Learning their identities only puzzled Wei He further.
A broker?
The Hong Residence?
What did they want with him?!
"Here's the thing... The eldest master of the Hong Residence has a son who's reached the age to begin his schooling, and he happens to need a study attendant... Young Wei He, you're fond of reading and come from a respectable background. You're just the right candidate..."
A study attendant?
Wei He brightened.
He did love reading.
Unfortunately, few books circulated outside; most were kept in the collections of the great clans.
If he became a study attendant, not only could he read, he could also earn a little extra money for the family. With that money, his second brother wouldn't have to agonize so much when buying medicinal ointments for training.
"...As long as you sign this agreement, young Wei He, not only will your meals be provided every day, you'll also receive four hundred copper coins a month, along with access to the Hong Residence's many books..."
As Sun Dayou spoke, he took the contract he had prepared from inside his robe and handed it over.
Wei He glanced at it and saw the three large characters at the top:
Indenture of enslavement!!
Wei He's face paled. It was as though a basin of cold water had been poured over his head. The joy in his eyes faded little by little, and his hands and feet went icy cold!
This wasn't becoming a study attendant!
It was selling himself to the Hong Family as a slave!
Yet Sun Dayou had deliberately left that unsaid. His intentions were sinister!
Wei He suppressed his anger, feigned ignorance, and shook his head.
"You've got it wrong. I don't like reading, and I'm with Brother Fire Ox now."
"Which Brother Fire Ox?"
"Fire Ox, one of the Five Tiger Generals under the Tiger Lord of the Fish-Dragon Gang's Weiyuan Hall!"
Though he had expected it, Sun Dayou's expression still shifted slightly at the name.
As a broker who frequently dealt with people from every walk of life, how could he not have heard of the Fish-Dragon Gang's Five Tiger Generals?
Reason told him that Fire Ox wouldn't take in a frail scholar like Wei He, who couldn't carry a thing in his hands or on his shoulders.
But he didn't dare gamble.
If Fire Ox really got involved, the Hong Family would probably be fine, but he would be in terrible trouble!
Sun Dayou glanced back at the middle-aged steward, who frowned slightly. In his recollection, there was nothing remarkable about the Wei family apart from Wei Sheng being in a gang, and he was only a lowly lackey. When had they gained a connection to Fire Ox?
Or was that brat Wei He bluffing him?
At that thought, the middle-aged steward narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a chuckle, "Don't be so quick to refuse. Think it over carefully. As long as you agree, you can get five taels of silver immediately..."
"That's right, Xiao He. Being in a gang means licking blood off a blade. How could it compare to the ease of entering the residence? This is a fine position, one ordinary people couldn't get even if they begged. If not for your parents, an opportunity like this would never have fallen to you!"
"My parents?"
Wei He froze, and a scene surfaced in his mind.
He finally knew why Sun Dayou looked familiar.
Back when his parents had been trying to scrape together thirty taels of silver, they had considered selling this house and invited a broker over to inspect it. He had seen that broker once from a distance.
Thinking back now, that broker had been the Sun Dayou standing before him.
"I don't need an opportunity like that!" Wei He refused outright and turned to leave.
The middle-aged steward's face darkened. He signaled Sun Dayou with his eyes to grab Wei He, preparing to force him to put his thumbprint on the contract.
Once his thumbprint was on it, Wei He would be a slave of the Hong Family whether he agreed or not.
Even taking the matter to the authorities wouldn't change that!
"Boy, that isn't up to you!"
Sun Dayou seized Wei He. Before he could react, Sun Dayou smeared red ink paste onto his thumb, then grabbed his hand and pressed it toward the agreement.
Wei He struggled with all his might, but couldn't break free.
He had been frail and sickly since childhood, his constitution far worse than others his age, let alone a trained fighter like Sun Dayou, who was close to First Refinement.
In another instant, his thumbprint would be on the contract.
Smack!
A slender hand appeared as though out of thin air and swept in, snatching the contract away!
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