Qinghe County was named after the Qinghe River, a tributary of the Lingshui River that flows through the city.
The green leaves of the riverside willows had long since fallen, but draped in a coat of white snow, they possessed a unique charm.
Although it was winter, the banks of the Qinghe River were as bustling as ever.
"Candied haws! Get your delicious candied haws!"
"Lords and ladies, countrymen all! I will now perform for you: breaking a stone on my chest!"
"Young master, why not come upstairs with me to admire the snow?"
...
Bai Yuan and Zhuang Zhao walked side-by-side down the street.
He automatically tuned out the surrounding sounds. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, but that he couldn't afford to be.
Zhuang Zhao's chubby face was split in a festive grin, his beady little eyes never leaving the exposed cleavage of the girls from Xiangnuan Pavilion.
Bai Yuan felt the slightly uncomfortable press of copper plates against his chest and felt a sense of delight.
He had sold the wild pheasant he'd caught to a game vendor for a good price: a full eighty copper plates, enough to buy more than ten pounds of sorghum flour.
But before heading to the rice shop, he planned to make a trip to the Martial Arts Hall.
In this world, the only way to have a future was to learn martial arts.
The Xuan Yang Wang Chao was founded on martial prowess, and the Martial Dao flourished.
The founding Grand Ancestor Emperor was a Grandmaster of Martial Arts who lived for a full six hundred years—an absolutely terrifying feat.
The paths to learning martial arts were few: family inheritance, joining a powerful faction, or enrolling in a Martial Arts Hall.
For common families, a Martial Arts Hall was the only place to learn, but the tuition was extremely high.
"Learn martial arts?"
"First, you pay three taels of silver to become an apprentice. If you reach the Skin-Toughening stage within two years, you can enter the Outer Courtyard. Otherwise, you either leave or continue paying tuition."
A stern-faced Martial Artist with a dark complexion introduced the terms coldly at the entrance of Huwei Arts Hall.
Bai Yuan's teeth began to ache.
The Martial Arts Hall was a real racket. Three taels of silver were enough to feed a family in Baisha Town for two years, and all it got you was an apprenticeship.
Apprentices got precious little time to actually practice martial arts; most of their time was spent doing chores around the hall.
The number of apprentices who could become a Skin-Toughening Martial Artist within two years was pitifully small. For most, it was all just a fruitless endeavor.
Bai Yuan wasn't worried. He had a cheat...
He glanced over and saw that Zhuang Zhao's expression was off. After some probing, Zhuang Zhao finally revealed the truth with a miserable look on his face.
"My old man already paid the tuition for the Martial Arts Hall. I have to start here as an apprentice in a few days."
Being ordered around like a servant in the Martial Arts Hall was nothing like the carefree life in Baisha Town.
He had no grand ambitions and naturally didn't want to go, but he couldn't stand up to his father's man-eating glare.
Once he was at the Martial Arts Hall, the fat he had painstakingly cultivated for seventeen years would surely be lost.
Bai Yuan was speechless. 'Truly, no matter the world, the sorrows and joys of humanity are not shared.'
He was struggling to earn the tuition fee, while Zhuang Zhao was already thinking about how to skip his training.
The gap between people was truly hard to put into words.
Bai Yuan didn't stay at the Martial Arts Hall for long.
He and Zhuang Zhao then went to the rice shop in the west of the city.
"How can the price have gone up again?"
"Buy it or don't. Stop getting in the way of my business."
Just as Bai Yuan and Zhuang Zhao reached the entrance of the rice shop, a young man was being held by the shop's guards and thrown out the door.
Although most of the onlookers were indignant, no one dared to speak up.
Because the rice shop was a business of the Iron Saber Gang.
Besides the Government Office, Qinghe County was home to three major powers. The Iron Saber Gang was one, and the other two were the Liu Family and Flying Eagle Castle.
These three factions had a near-monopoly on all the profitable trades in the city, and the County Magistrate's Office could only turn a blind eye.
Bai Yuan stepped over the threshold and approached one of the rice shop's clerks.
"I'd like to buy ten pounds of sorghum flour."
"One hundred cents."
The clerk, who was as skinny as a monkey, arrogantly held out his hand.
Bai Yuan sighed inwardly.
'The price went up again, just as I thought.'
The price of grain in the city kept rising. Sorghum flour, in particular, had gone from eight cents per pound to ten.
The Iron Saber Gang monopolized the grain trade in Qinghe County. With only one rice shop in the city, the prices were whatever they said they were.
Who knew how many more families would have to tighten their belts, or how many would even starve to death.
'This man-eating world... '
"Eight pounds, then."
He took out the eighty copper plates from his robes, which were not even warm yet from his body heat.
The clerk snatched the copper coins from Bai Yuan's hand with disdain, grabbed a cloth sack, and tossed it to him without a second glance.
Bai Yuan reached in and grabbed a handful of the sorghum flour. It felt coarse; they had mixed in a good amount of wheat bran.
Wheat bran cost only half as much as sorghum flour, but the rice shop was powerful and bullied its customers. There was nowhere to complain, so the people of Qinghe County could only accept their bad luck.
Bai Yuan shouldered the sack of sorghum flour and left in silence, a white line of flour dusting his shoulder.
He had neither the desire nor the ability to stand out and cause trouble.
Life was a lot like a game. When you were weak in the early stages, you should focus on leveling up, not taunting elite monsters.
The two of them soon walked out of Qinghe City.
Zhuang Zhao was unusually silent the entire way.
This was exactly why he rarely came to the city, even though there were many fun things to do. It was just too stifling.
But he wasn't completely naive; he knew he was powerless to change the way the world was.
At least, he couldn't...
He snuck a glance at Bai Yuan beside him.
Bai Yuan's expression was calm, showing no trace of frustration or anger.
Zhuang Zhao was certain that Bai Yuan wasn't suppressing his emotions; it was a genuine, deep-seated tranquility.
'Brother Yuan really has changed.'
Zhuang Zhao felt a little down.
The Brother Yuan who used to sneak around with him, chasing birds and smashing eggs, was gone for good.
Baisha Town wasn't far from Qinghe County. After walking for about an hour, the two could see the entrance to the town.
The town entrance was bustling today, crowded with people.
"If you see this man, report it immediately! The Iron Saber Gang is offering a heavy reward!"
A skinny, middle-aged man with an aquiline nose, dressed in a black, short-sleeved martial tunic, was holding up a portrait.
Beside him stood five young men dressed in the same attire, clearly also from the Iron Saber Gang.
Zhuang Zhao loved a good spectacle and wouldn't miss something this interesting for the world. He jogged forward, his fat jiggling with every step.
Bai Yuan stood at the very edge of the crowd.
He, too, was curious what kind of person would warrant so much attention from the Iron Saber Gang.
The portrait showed a middle-aged man with a full, bushy beard. He looked fierce and menacing—clearly a dangerous character at a glance.
Anyone targeted by the Iron Saber Gang was certainly no ordinary person.
Bai Yuan didn't pay it much mind.
These matters had very little to do with a young Hunter who had only just managed to secure his next meal.
His top priority was saving up the three taels of silver for the Martial Arts Hall's tuition.
'I have a cheat, after all. I can't just be a Hunter my whole life, can I?'
The crowd dispersed. Bai Yuan said goodbye to Zhuang Zhao and returned to his small wooden cabin.
When he pushed open the door and entered, Xiao Qiaoniang was weaving a scented sachet.
Scented sachets were trinkets that only the women of wealthy households in the city could afford. Xiao Qiaoniang was acquainted with the Chen Family's Women in town, and it was they who had introduced her to this weaving work.
Xiao Qiaoniang only had to focus on the weaving; the Chen Family's Women handled the raw materials and sales.
Although she didn't earn many copper plates this way, at least she didn't have to show her face in public.
Seeing Bai Yuan return, Xiao Qiaoniang put down the hemp thread in her hands.
"Uncle, you're back?"
"I'm back."
"Sister-in-law, I want to discuss something with you. I want to join a Martial Arts Hall."