Three days went by.
As dawn broke, Shen Qing rose from his warm bed and habitually peered outside through the earthen window.
The long-fallen snow had finally ceased, without a whisper of wind.
The sun shone brightly in the sky, a rare spell of good weather.
"Today, eight or nine out of ten, the traders from the town's Boss will likely come over. With some money, we can hitch a ride on their cart to the county town and sell all the goods we've accumulated these past few days."
Thanks to the harvest from the earlier days, Shen Qing had been able to limit his hunting to the mountains close to the house, securing enough wild rabbits and pheasants to fill his belly.
With the remaining time, he devoted all his energy to practicing Martial Arts and learning to recognize characters and read, continuously improving his progress in both.
The results were quite gratifying.
He was now able to recognize nearly a hundred characters, and his Nine Brocade Technique was reaching the realm of Great Perfection.
Everything was progressing smoothly and orderly.
Shen Qing had the habit of washing his face with snow water in the morning; then, he would continue his stance training indoors, waiting for Shen Fang to prepare breakfast.
Shen Fang, who shared the house with him, couldn't help but worry about seeing her younger brother practicing in a bizarre posture from morning till night every day. She called out, "Qingzi? Are you okay these past two days?"
"I've heard Auntie can draw some talismans, maybe she should have a look?"
Hearing this, Shen Qing couldn't help but give a wry smile.
Obviously, these past few days he had been busy with both practicing the Nine Skills and studying; so much so that his feet scarcely touched the ground.
Even his hunting had decreased, a stark change from before. Shen Fang thought he might have encountered something unclean in the mountains.
Despite her good looks and fair features, his sister wasn't very bright and lacked assertiveness.
Letting her know too much about certain matters wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Shen Qing didn't provide much of an explanation. He came up with an excuse, saying, "This is an enlightenment I've had from reading these past days, and I learned it from the books. It's for strengthening the body and improving health. Didn't you notice I've grown taller lately? I thought it might have something to do with this, so I continued practicing."
"Oh," Shen Fang, finding Shen Qing's words quite reasonable and not like he was haunted, didn't think any more of it.
As usual, she handed the cooked porridge over to Shen Qing.
The porridge was traded from another house and was far superior to the previous husk-filled meals.
With the warm porridge in his hands, Shen Qing crouched at the threshold.
He basked in the sun while skimming a circle of rice porridge along the rim of the bowl, savoring the sweetness of the rice juice.
"We'll see how things go. If it's feasible today, we can take out the two fur coats left by Chen An to sell in the county town as well. If not, we'll wait and see, looking for the next opportunity."
As Shen Qing pondered how to deal with the items from the mountains, he looked up to see Shen Xiaohu running over from behind his house.
He shouted loudly, "Brother Qingzi, something terrible has happened!"
"What terrible thing has happened? Has someone been killed by the Chen family members again in the village?" Shen Qing asked, lifting an eyelid.
"No!"
Shen Xiaohu, squatting beside Shen Qing, said with a worried face, "The traders from the town's Boss won't come to our place anymore."
"The traders won't come anymore?"
Shen Qing's expression became noticeably more serious.
Their Hongshan Village was fifty or sixty miles from the county town. Normally, the hunters from these villages would sell their game to the traders from the Boss to save a trip to the county town.
As a rule agreed upon by everyone, the price sold to the traders was slightly lower than that in the county town.
If they caught valuable game and were unwilling to sell to the traders, they could pay to ride on the traders' horse cart to sell the goods themselves in the county.
In the county town, the big families, Martial Arts Halls, government offices, and restaurants all needed their game, the wild delicacies.
If one wanted to make a move, it wasn't difficult.
Take more or less, all based on skill.
If one encountered local bullies or tyrants and got robbed, just chalk it up to bad luck.
"He's not coming anymore, I heard it loud and clear, my grandpa and the others were all talking about this. I guess I won't be able to go to the county town in the future," Shen Xiaohu's expression showed some disappointment and discomfort.
Shen Qing knew he had always wanted to visit the county town. Now with this development, the chance of him visiting the county town had become even slimmer.
He pondered for a while before asking, "The Chen Family is the most active in dealing with traders, what do they say? Are we going to be stuck with whatever we hunt in the future?"
"Damn it, don't even mention them, they're the ones who stirred up this mess," Shen Xiaohu cursed loudly: "I heard my grandpa saying that all the hunting goods in the village will have to be sold to their family, they will monopolize the purchasing and sell to the town. If you're not willing, then you have to go sell it in town yourself."
After listening, Shen Qing almost immediately thought of two words—monopoly!
This Chen Youguang, they are treating the entire Hongshan Village as their own "property."
All the hunters living in this village have to work for their family, to make money for them.
Even the usually good-tempered Shen Qing couldn't help but curse inwardly.
On second thought, their family really hadn't done many good deeds in the village.
"Brother Qingzi, my grandpa and a few others, although the Zhang Family members had their objections, they tended to agree. As for the other families, even if they are dissatisfied they can't do anything about it. The Chen family is numerous and powerful, and it's said that Chen Yuan has even learned some martial arts, we can't fight against them."
Shen Xiaohu was very downhearted.
A lot of hunters don't have much left after accounting for the daily necessities of their families from what they catch every few days.
For such a small amount, making a trip to the county and possibly having to stay overnight hardly seemed worth it.
After the start of spring, hunting goods were not easy to preserve, making the situation even worse.
Under these circumstances, life must be even harder for his uncle's family.
Shen Qing couldn't help but feel somewhat troubled.
After Shen Xiaohu left, he put down his bowl, and made up his mind not to consider retrieving the things left by the Chen family brothers in the mountains for the time being.
To forge iron, one must be strong oneself.
Since he couldn't take a coach to the county town for the time being, he decided to continue training the "Nine Skills" martial arts.
It was only a bit more.
First, he needed to increase his strength.
Two hours later.
Shen Qing alternated practicing the Hunyuan Stance, Mao Dun Stance, Tuo Ying Zhuang, and Floating Cloud Stance. His legs were already sore, and large beads of sweat seeped out on his forehead.
Just when he could no longer endure, his mind suddenly vibrated, and the ink-like characters in his vision slowly materialized.
[Skill: Nine Brocade Technique (Small Success)]
[Progress: 203/200 points]
[Status: Can Be Enhanced]
[Note: Continue training to increase progress. When Qi-Blood is perfected, you can have great strength and draw breath as smoothly as silk.]
Great!
Shen Qing was overjoyed.
After several days of diligent practice, he had finally managed to advance this martial arts skill to the next realm.
With another breakthrough, even without having reached the Great Perfection of Qi-Blood, it was probably close enough to swagger through the village.
Based on what he had been surreptitiously finding out these past few days, Chen Yuan of the Chen family had not trained to such a realm.