Yang Jing, however, was confident. He had no bottlenecks...
...
The next day, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Yang Jing got up. By the faint light filtering through the paper-paned window, he carefully wrapped the ten taels of Gold and the fifty-tael silver ingot. He covered the package in three layers of oilcloth, stuffed it into an inconspicuous cloth bag, and tied it securely to his back.
He tucked the other ten-tael silver ingot into his robes. The cold touch of the metal was reassuring.
Yang Jing didn't go to the Martial Arts Hall today. He was planning to make a trip home.
Having so much money in one place made him feel a little uneasy.
He spent most of his time training at the Martial Arts Hall every day. With the number of vagrants in the city on the rise, things were unstable. What if a thief snuck into his courtyard to steal from him... Yang Jing had to be on guard.
He headed west, left the city gates, and followed the main road for about twenty or thirty li. Soon, he arrived at Wazi Town, but he still had to keep going.
Yang Jing couldn't have been more familiar with the road to Yang Family Village. The earthy scent of the soil mixed with the fragrance of wheat rushed to greet him. From a distance, he could already see the old locust tree at the village entrance, with a few villagers gathered beneath it, chatting.
"Jingwa, you're back!"
An elder from the village, who had been squatting under the tree smoking a long-stemmed pipe, was the first to spot Yang Jing. He knocked his pipe against the sole of his shoe, stood up, and boomed, "I hear you've gotten real skilled in your martial arts! Even the Ning Family sent you gifts?"
His fellow villagers quickly gathered around, all talking at once, their faces full of genuine warmth.
"Yang Jing, you've really made something of yourself!"
"I'd only heard people say that mastering martial arts makes you powerful, but it turns out it's true! A rich family like the Nings even sent your family a plow ox."
"Brother Jing, do you get to eat meat every day in the city?"
"Your mother was just talking about you the other day. She said you like locust flower cakes. I still have some locust flowers left over at home. I'll bring them by later so your mom can steam some for you."
Yang Jing smiled and responded to them all.
Since his breakthrough to the Ming Jin realm, he had taken on a formal position, which also gave him a source of income. As a result, he hadn't been home as often. This time, he happened to run into the village elders and folks.
Before his breakthrough, his return to the village had never caused such a stir, and certainly not this many villagers crowding around to talk to him.
But Yang Jing knew full well that most of the villagers didn't know what the Ming Jin realm was, or what an Entry-level Martial Artist was. What they did know was the Ning Family, one of the most powerful and wealthy families in Wazi Town.
Many had heard that the Ning Family had previously wanted to buy the two mu of prime farmland north of Yang Family Village. A lot of people had felt sorry for the Yang Family, thinking them pitiful. The Nings were notoriously stingy and would surely have pushed the price down, perhaps even resorting to coercion.
But later, not only did the Ning Family stop mentioning the purchase of the Yang Family's land, they even sent their steward with a plow ox as a gift. The contrast was just too stark.
Only later did word get out that the reason for the Ning Family's drastic change in attitude was, surprisingly, Yang Shouzhuo's "money-pit" of a grandson.
Originally, many people in Yang Family Village had been skeptical about Yang Jing's martial arts training, with some even treating it as a joke.
After all, for these farming households who had tilled the land for generations, martial arts was something far removed from their lives. Moreover, the expense was simply too great for them to bear.
Take Yang Shouzhuo's large family, for example. They had once owned dozens of mu of land and were among the better-off households in Yang Family Village. But after supporting Yang Jing's training, their lives had become miserable, getting worse with each passing day. They were even on the verge of selling off all the land their ancestors had accumulated over generations.
Some villagers couldn't bear to watch and had even advised Yang Shouzhuo to stop letting Yang Jing practice martial arts.
Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, this Yang Jing would actually succeed, to the point that even the Ning Family's attitude had done a complete 180-degree turn.
Now, as these villagers gathered around Yang Jing to chat, deliberately trying to get closer to him, their motives varied. Some were sincere, some were envious, and some were simply curious. Most, however, were good-hearted people.
After exchanging a few words with his fellow villagers, Yang Jing quickened his pace and arrived at his own front gate.
He stepped forward, pushed open the courtyard gate, and walked inside.
In the courtyard, his mother was bent over, feeding the chickens. His grandmother was sitting on a stone stool, sorting vegetables, while his grandfather was mending a farm tool.
Hearing the sound, all three turned their heads. When they saw Yang Jing standing at the entrance, the wrinkles on their faces instantly smoothed out into smiles.
"Jing'er, you're back?"
Liu Cui Ling wiped her hands on her apron, then pulled Yang Jing close to look him up and down. "You're taller, but you've gotten thinner. Aren't you eating well? We have money at home. I'll give you some before you leave. You must eat your fill when you get back. How can you have the strength to train if you don't eat enough?"
Elder Yang put down his hammer, coughed twice, and walked over to Yang Jing with a smile. Looking at his precious grandson, he grew more and more pleased. He nodded and said, "That's right. Take the money when you leave. Just focus on your training and don't worry about the cost."
Hearing his grandfather and mother's words warmed Yang Jing's heart. He smiled and said, "Grandpa, Mom, I'm not starving out there. I have a position at Liu's Medical Hall in the city now. I eat the meat of ferocious beasts every day, which costs five or six hundred large coins per jin. I might look thinner, but I'm all muscle."
In truth, Yang Jing's physique wasn't thin at all; on the contrary, he was exceptionally sturdy. It was just that with his recent ample diet and frantic daily training, he had shot up in height, making him appear a bit leaner than before.
After a few more words, Yang Jing turned and closed the courtyard gate. He then took the ten taels of silver from his robes and pressed it into his mother's hand. "Mom, this is ten taels of silver. Take it. See if there's anything the family needs. If not, go to the market every few days and buy a couple jin of meat to eat."
Liu Cui Ling was startled by the ten-tael silver ingot her son handed her. She had never seen so much money at once. She quickly tried to push the ingot back. "It's not easy for you out there. You keep it. Your grandpa, grandma, and I are here at home. We don't need anything."
"Mom, it's easy for me to earn money now. Ten taels is nothing," Yang Jing insisted, forcing the silver ingot back into his mother's palm. "Just take it. Buy Grandpa and Grandma some new clothes, and get some good quality rice. Stop eating that coarse grain."
Yang Jing didn't mention that he had already bought a courtyard in the city. If he told his family, it would probably frighten them half to death.
Elder Yang studied Yang Jing closely again. The boy now stood tall and straight, his clothes fitting him well. He exuded a steady aura from within. The boyish immaturity in his eyes was gone, replaced by a handsome and composed air. His every move revealed an unusual poise.
Looking at his outstanding grandson and recalling how even the wealthy Ning Family had come bearing gifts, the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth slowly smoothed into a gratified smile.
He nodded slowly. "Since it's the boy's heartfelt wish, you should take it."
After he spoke, his voice paused for a moment. "The boy has grown up."
After the elder spoke, his mother hesitated for a moment before finally putting the silver ingot away. Her eyes reddened. She turned and walked toward the kitchen, saying she was going to boil some water for Yang Jing, but she wiped away a tear behind the stove door.
While his mother was in the kitchen and his grandparents were talking in the courtyard, Yang Jing slipped into the main house.
His body tensed slightly. With a light tap of his toes on the edge of the kang bed, he leaped up like a swift swallow, landing steadily on a roof beam.
His movements were as light as a falling leaf, making not the slightest sound.
He tucked the cloth bag containing the Gold and silver ingot into a crevice at the top of the beam, covered it with a roof tile, and then leaped down, landing silently back on the ground. He dusted off his hands, sighing in relief.
Just as Yang Jing came out of the main house after doing all this, the courtyard gate was pushed open, and two figures walked in.
His Aunt Xue walked in with a bamboo basket on her arm, her steps light. Following behind her was his older cousin, Yang An.
"Jing'er is a celebrity in our village now. Your return has caused a stir among everyone," Aunt Xue said, her voice gentle and her eyes smiling. She placed the bamboo basket softly on the stone table in the corner of the yard. "I raised this chicken just waiting for you to come back and eat it. I just killed it. I'll stew a soup for you later."
The two families lived very close to each other. As soon as Aunt Xue heard someone say Yang Jing was back, she immediately killed a chicken and brought it over.
Yang Jing glanced down. The large rooster in the basket was tied with hemp rope. It felt heavy in his hands, clearly a fine one that had been specially saved for him.
"Brother Jing."
After his mother left, Yang An looked at Yang Jing and nodded in greeting.
He was a quiet person. His lips were slightly pursed, and his face showed little expression, but his eyes held a warmth at seeing Yang Jing.
"Brother An." Yang Jing smiled and nodded back.