Jiang Fa stood up and walked to the doorway.
Three people stood in the courtyard.
At the front was a middle-aged woman dressed in a pale red silk skirt, with a silver hairpin in her hair and a thick layer of powder on her face.
It was his second aunt, Lady Liu.
Behind her stood a tall, thin man in a gray cloth robe, holding a brass tobacco pipe. His shoulders were hunched, his gaze shifty, and he dared not look inside.
That was his second uncle, Jiang Wang.
Farther back stood a boy of fifteen or sixteen, dressed in a brand-new blue brocade robe, with a jade pendant of decent quality hanging at his waist. His arms were folded across his chest, his chin slightly raised, and a trace of undisguised disdain hung at the corner of his mouth.
This was Jiang Fa's younger cousin, Jiang Wenjie.
At the sight of Jiang Fa standing in the doorway, Lady Liu froze for a moment,
then said with a smile that never reached her eyes, "Oh, little Fa is back? Perfect, just perfect. With both you and your father here today, let's settle the accounts."
She advanced two steps, planting one hand on her hip and pointing the other at Jiang Dashan on the kang inside. "Back then, you said your son wanted to practice martial arts and begged us on your knees to lend you silver. Your brother was kindhearted and gave it to you without another word-a full five taels! He even said you could wait until your son had learned martial arts to pay it back."
As she spoke, her voice rose another notch. "But now? It's already the sixth month, and we haven't seen so much as a shadow of that silver. It's not that we don't care about family ties. Let's make things clear to each other's faces: when exactly are you going to pay us back?"
Jiang Fa turned to look at his father.
Jiang Dashan lay on the kang, his lips trembling, his face alternating between ashen and pale, unable to get a single word out.
He then looked at his second uncle, Jiang Wang.
Jiang Wang kept his head lowered, gripping the pipe so tightly his hand was nearly sweating. His lips moved, but in the end, he did not utter a word.
Seeing that no one answered, Lady Liu grew even more overbearing. "Not to criticize you, but I warned you back then that martial arts weren't a path for children from poor families. Those five taels were money we'd saved for Wenjie to study in the prefectural city. If we can't get it back now and Wenjie's prospects are delayed, can you afford to make that up to him?"
She pulled the boy behind her forward, her tone brimming with boastfulness. "Our Wenjie is renowned in town as a born scholar. Master Han from the county personally declared it himself, saying he was exceptionally gifted and would surely achieve great things."
Hearing his mother praise him, Jiang Wenjie straightened his back even more, and the corners of his mouth lifted further.
His gaze fell on Jiang Fa's coarse gray jacket, washed so often it had faded white, and he gave an undisguised sneer.
Lady Liu looked Jiang Fa up and down, plastering a false smile on her face. "Little Fa, your second aunt is only thinking of you. I heard you joined that Zhao Clan Martial Hall? That martial hall has no reputation in our Qingshan County. I've never even heard of it. All they teach is flowery fists and embroidered kicks. What could you possibly learn there?"
"Wenjie happens to need someone to run errands and do odd jobs when he goes to the prefectural city. Why don't you follow him from now on? Once he places high in the civil examinations, he won't treat you poorly."
"Enough."
Jiang Fa stood on the threshold, staring coldly at the three people in the courtyard.
Suddenly, he smiled.
It was a faint smile, yet Lady Liu's heart inexplicably tightened, and she instinctively shrank back half a step.
The next moment, Jiang Fa moved.
He took a step forward,
and his right foot came down squarely in the center of the bluestone threshold.
With a sharp crack, a fissure spread beneath his foot across the bluestone threshold, several inches thick and weathered by more than a decade of wind and rain.
The cracks spread rapidly like a spiderweb, running through the entire threshold in the blink of an eye and splitting it down the middle into two halves.
The false smile froze on Lady Liu's face.
Jiang Wang's pipe slipped from his fingers and struck the ground with a clang.
The disdain on Jiang Wenjie's face instantly turned to terror,
and he instinctively stepped back, only to tread on the hem of his mother's skirt, nearly tripping them both.
The courtyard instantly fell deathly silent.
"Second Aunt."
Jiang Fa's expression was icy, his voice cold and sharp. "I'll repay the silver. And the interest-not a copper short."
He paused, sweeping his gaze across their faces, then said in a low voice, "But from today onward, if anyone dares set even half a foot inside my home again and point fingers in my parents' faces, their legs will end up just like this threshold."
Jiang Wenjie's face was as white as paper, and even his voice shook. "You... you've succeeded in martial arts?"
His voice was filled with disbelief.
In his mind, Jiang Fa was nothing more than a poor boy. What skills could he possibly learn at some third-rate martial hall?
Yet now, he had broken a three-inch-thick bluestone threshold with a single stomp. How could this be mere flowery fists and embroidered kicks?
If that foot landed on a person, wouldn't it kill them?
Lady Liu and Jiang Wang exchanged a glance, each seeing the same shock and fear in the other's eyes.
Jiang Fa said nothing.
He turned, went back inside, and took a cloth pouch from his bundle.
Inside were two taels of silver pieces.
"Here are two taels of silver. As for the rest, I'll definitely repay the principal and interest in a while. Take the silver and leave."
Lady Liu looked at the two taels of silver, then at the threshold split in half, her face swelling the color of pig's liver.
Her lips trembled for a long while, but in the end, she did not dare utter a word.
She fearfully stepped forward, reached out, and grabbed the two taels of silver.
Then she turned, seized Jiang Wenjie's hand, and headed out almost as if fleeing.
Her steps were so hurried and unsteady that she nearly fell.
Second Uncle Jiang Wang brought up the rear. After taking two steps, he glanced back at Jiang Fa.
There was something indescribable in that glance, something like helplessness, yet also like guilt.
"Little Fa..."
He opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, following his wife and son out with his head lowered.
The courtyard grew quiet again.
Lady Chen stood at the kitchen doorway, still clutching that handful of wild greens, silent tears streaming down her face.
On the kang, Jiang Dashan trembled all over with excitement, struggling desperately to prop himself up,
his whole face flushed a deep purplish red, his voice trembling with excitement. "Fa! You really... really succeeded? You've become one of those warrior masters?"
Jiang Fa nodded.
"Yes."
It was only one simple word, yet it seemed to open some floodgate.
Jiang Dashan abruptly fell back onto the kang, covering his face with both hands, his shoulders heaving violently,
letting out one stifled sob after another,
and what emerged from between his fingers was the suffering and torment a middle-aged man had endured for years.
"Heaven has blessed us... Heaven has blessed us..."
Jiang Dashan wept with joy.