Hearing the voice outside the courtyard, Liu Cuiling’s heart stirred. Without waiting for Madam Qin to speak, she hurried out to greet him. “Is it a letter from Jing’er?”
“Isn’t it just? Little Jing asked me to bring it over.” Yang Laosan handed the letter to her, then said with a smile, “Sister-in-law, that Little Jing of yours has really made something of himself. Just standing there, he’s different from people like us. In any case, he has that look—you can tell at a glance he’s formidable.”
Yang Laosan did not know that Yang Jing had already broken through to Ming Jin.
In fact, this ordinary village peddler did not even know what entering jin specifically meant.
But he could sense the change in Yang Jing. Merely standing there, the boy gave off an intimidating bearing, one that made even Yang Laosan, a peddler who had traveled far and wide, feel secretly apprehensive.
When Liu Cuiling heard Yang Laosan praising her son, the smile on her face deepened. She said politely, “Sorry to trouble you, Laosan.”
With that, Liu Cuiling hurriedly opened the envelope in her hand. Old Master Yang and Madam Qin also came over.
On the letter were characters Yang Jing had written stroke by stroke. They could not be called neat, but they had been written with utmost care:
“Grandfather, Grandmother, Mother: I hope this letter finds you well. Your child has already broken through to Ming Jin at the martial arts school and become the school master’s formal disciple. I can now take on a post, and my monthly stipend is enough for my own use. From now on, the family must not send me any more money.
“The Ning family came to our door a few days ago. It should be because your child is now a martial artist, and they do not dare”
The three of them read the letter word by word.
“Ming Jin? Formal disciple?” Old Master Yang abruptly snatched the letter, brought it close, and examined it carefully. Gradually, light appeared in his cloudy eyes. “Jing’er... Jing’er really did it?”
Before Yang Jing had begun practicing martial arts, they had not known what Ming Jin was at all.
But after Yang Jing started training, the whole family’s knowledge of martial arts could be said to have grown by leaps and bounds.
Although they were not martial artists themselves, they still knew a thing or two about martial realms such as Ming Jin and An Jin.
Madam Qin was so excited she kept wiping away tears. “Heaven has blessed us. My grandson has made something of himself!”
Liu Cuiling read the words in the letter over and over, tears falling like beads from a broken string.
The three of them gathered together again and read the letter over and over. The unease from before was like smoke scattered by the wind, gradually fading away.
Old Master Yang looked at the plow ox in the corner of the courtyard and suddenly burst into laughter. “Good lad. No wonder the Ning family changed their attitude. So it was Jing’er who made something of himself. This ox came because of Jing’er!”
Madam Qin had long since let out a sigh of relief as well. Patting her chest, she said, “That’s what I said. How could there be so many schemes? It’s our grandson who’s promising now and can support our family.”
As she spoke, she looked at Old Master Yang and nodded with a smile. “Old man, you really made the right decision. If you hadn’t sent Jing’er to practice martial arts, how could we ever have imagined a day like this?”
Yang Jing’s martial training had been decided by Old Master Yang Shouzhuo despite all opposition.
For generations, their family had buried their heads in the yellow earth, living as farmers with no prospects.
When Old Master Yang was young, he had gone out into the world and knew that if one truly wanted to change a family’s fortunes and make a clan rise, the most important thing was to produce a true martial artist.
The more chaotic the times, the more valuable martial artists became.
After learning that his grandson Yang Jing had the root bones for martial arts, Old Master Yang immediately decided to gamble everything. Even if he had to smash the pots and sell the iron, he would support Yang Jing’s martial training, even if several generations of Yang Jing’s savings all sank into it.
If he succeeded, the Yang family would soar from then on and break free of their generations-long fate as farming households.
If he failed, then at worst they would slowly accumulate land again and toil for a few more generations.
Madam Qin knew very well that some people in the village were waiting to laugh at their family.
Originally, the Yang family had owned more than twenty mu of land and could be considered a large household in the village. But in order to support Yang Jing’s martial training, their circumstances had worsened day by day.
Moreover, at some point, rumors had begun spreading through the village, saying that her grandson was not putting any effort into his martial training at the school in the city, that he was not cut out for martial arts, and that he could never make it down that path.
Now look at them. Look at how promising her grandson was—even the Ning family, one of the foremost wealthy and powerful gentry families in Wazi Township, had sent someone over with gifts.
Liu Cuiling walked up to the plow ox and gently stroked its back. This ox was glossy and sleek, much sturdier than the one their family had sold before.
They were just short of an ox for the spring plowing. With it, the work in the fields would become more than half as easy, and they would no longer have to watch others’ expressions when borrowing an ox.
While the three of them were talking, someone else entered through the courtyard gate.
Aunt Xue shi and Yang An walked in one after another.
“Did something happen? I heard you talking from outside just now,” Xue shi asked.
Yang An looked around the courtyard. Only after seeing that there were no other outsiders did he let out a breath of relief.
Ever since the Ning family had sent that plow ox over yesterday, the whole family had been restless.
The Ning family’s sudden change had left them at a loss. They had even worried that the Ning family was thinking of using this ox to exchange for those two mu of prime land north of the village, without even intending to pay silver for it.
That was why Xue shi had also been keeping an eye on the old master’s side, worried that the Ning family might come to cause trouble.
In the past, Xue shi might not have cared so much about Old Master Yang, his wife, and Liu Cuiling. But now that the two households had resolved their estrangement and their relationship was harmonious, they naturally became closer.
“Xiao An, this is the letter your younger brother wrote. Read it to your mother.” Liu Cuiling knew Xue shi was illiterate and handed the letter to Yang An.
Yang An nodded, took the letter, and read its contents aloud word by word.
As Yang An read, his eyes widened.
There was only one thought in his mind—Brother Jing had cultivated jin force!
Compared with the others in the family, Yang An was also enthusiastic about martial arts and had taken the initiative to learn a great deal about the martial path, so he naturally understood very clearly what cultivating jin force meant.
That meant becoming a true martial artist who had entered jin.
At this moment, Yang An instantly understood why the Ning family had come to deliver gifts and show goodwill.
He could also vaguely imagine that the fate of their family might be about to undergo an enormous change.
Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, two months had gone by.
The sky was gradually darkening. After Yang Jing finished training, he left the martial arts school and walked along the streets of Chengping Ward.
With a thought, the martial path panel appeared before his eyes the next moment—
[Mountain-Crushing Fist, Minor Achievement (211/500)]
After more than two months of diligent, bitter practice, the progress of his Mountain-Crushing Fist was nearly halfway there.
The reason he could progress so quickly was, aside from his own daily training without fail, most importantly, dietary supplementation.
With the Liu family providing ten jin of bear meat every month, plus Yang Jing’s monthly stipend of ten taels of silver, Yang Jing’s dietary supplementation now mainly consisted of bear meat, with horse meat as a supplement.
“I still don’t have enough silver. If I had enough money to buy the meat of fierce beasts, then with large amounts of nourishment, the progress of my Mountain-Crushing Fist would definitely be much faster.”
Yang Jing thought to himself.
But for the time being, there was no good solution.
He spent most of every day on martial training. Occasionally, he helped the Liu family escort a shipment of medicinal herbs, but he simply did not have the extra energy to earn more silver.
Shaking his head, Yang Jing stopped thinking about it.
As things were now, he was already quite satisfied.
Although his cultivation speed could not compare with those geniuses whose root bones were middle-grade or above, for Yang Jing, while his speed was somewhat slower, he had no bottlenecks. He was destined to break through to An Jin.
Those disciples with good root bones might cultivate faster for a time, but in the end, they would inevitably be delayed before a bottleneck for a long while, or perhaps never be able to take that crucial step.
“Mm?”
When he returned to Datong Ward and was about to reach the courtyard gate, Yang Jing’s brows furrowed slightly.