In the blink of an eye, a night passed.
The next day at Yin Hour, under the schedule’s electric shock, Su Yu was still forced to reluctantly jog towards the Martial Hall before dawn.
However, perhaps due to the increase in physical fitness from standing stake, this time Su Yu made it from home to the Martial Hall in less than ten minutes. Although because the schedule forced him to travel at his physical limit, he was still exhausted…
Once again pushing open the gate of the Martial Hall Outer Courtyard, arriving under the familiar courtyard wall with the standing stake diagram, Su Yu’s new day of Bullhead Man martial training began again.
“…”
“What’s that noise?”
Once again, the sound of Su Yu pushing open the door woke Lin Qiaoqiao. She subconsciously rubbed her eyes and muttered.
When she gradually became clear-headed, she sat up, her delicate brows furrowed.
“Could it be that Su Yu again?”
“But… impossible. Although I don’t want to admit it, he did practice for almost an entire day in the Martial Hall yesterday. A person who hasn’t trained for so long suddenly trains so intensely, and then the next day he can get up this early to practice again?”
Feeling that this was counterintuitive, Lin Qiaoqiao got up in disbelief, simply threw on a piece of clothing, picked up her lantern, and headed towards the Outer Courtyard again.
And as expected, standing at the back door of the Outer Courtyard, she once again saw Su Yu’s standing stake figure.
But this time, whether it was her imagination or not, she actually noticed that Su Yu’s standing stake posture was noticeably more standard than yesterday.
‘He really did come to practice martial arts again…’
‘His stance has indeed become much more standard, but that’s probably because Senior Brother Zhou Yuan gave him some pointers yesterday.’
‘But what’s the point of practicing like this? His Root Bone is below standard, can’t even reach a barely C Grade rank. His family has no money, no Qi Blood Pills or meat supplements… The Qi and Blood generated from training won’t be proportional to the strain. Practicing like this, even if you can persevere, your body will collapse within three days and won’t allow you to continue.’
She shook her head and couldn’t help but sigh. Perhaps because Su Yu had persisted in training all day yesterday and came to the Martial Hall so early today, there was clearly no longer the disdain in Lin Qiaoqiao’s eyes from yesterday.
More than that, it was a pity.
Without looking further, Lin Qiaoqiao turned and went back to her room.
Maybe he’ll hold on for one more day tomorrow, but the day after, the day after that, it’s absolutely impossible. Martial arts are very cruel; she knew this well.
‘Did I really offend her?’
Su Yu naturally noticed someone spying on him, but he didn’t have time to think too much about it, just continued training silently.
—
This entire day also passed quickly in training. Compared to the confusion of unexpected events the previous day, Su Yu this day clearly had an easier and more relaxed time under the schedule’s planning.
And the training progress grew steadily.
“Old Su, are you serious? Do you really intend to practice martial arts?”
In the evening, during break time, Ye Liang and the others accosted Su Yu who was preparing to go home, asking in surprise.
“Just giving it a try. After all, practicing martial arts is the best way out, isn’t it?” Su Yu just smiled and replied.
“But… it’s also the most costly and cruel path, isn’t it, Old Su?” Tong Qiqi didn’t quite agree. She said softly: “Old Su, it’s precisely because you have no talent that you’ve been hanging out with us for so many years, aren’t we all just… ordinary people?”
“Speaking of which, I probably won’t be able to hang out with you like this for much longer. My family plans to move to town soon. A relative of mine said they can introduce me to a job as a maidservant in a big clan. It pays seven or eight hundred coppers a month!”
“Isn’t that almost one tael of silver!” Qian Ergou couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.
“Of course.” Tong Qiqi said proudly.
“I’m about the same, but I’ll probably stay in the village and inherit my dad’s butcher shop. For the second half of my life, I’ll be dealing with chickens, ducks, cows, and pigs.” Ye Liang shrugged.
“Oh right, speaking of that, Ergou, how’s your mother? What did the doctor say? And your face is all swollen, what happened?” Ye Liang looked at Qian Ergou.
Qian Ergou immediately stammered, unable to speak.
“The situation is okay. The doctor said the illness can be treated, but it will cost a lot of silver. I even gave half a tael of silver yesterday to help Ergou out… As for his face, he got beaten because he tried to flirt with the girl at the pharmacy yesterday.” Su Yu said with a smile.
“That’s good.” Ye Liang breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, you flirted with a girl? Serves you right, Ergou!” Tong Qiqi looked at Qian Ergou scornfully.
“Haha…” Qian Ergou gave an embarrassed laugh, but couldn’t help shooting a grateful glance at Su Yu.
Afterwards, Ye Liang and Tong Qiqi each went home, while Qian Ergou didn’t leave. He said softly:
“Thanks, Old Su, for not spilling my secret.”
“It’s nothing.” Su Yu shook his head.
“But… I thought it over carefully when I got home yesterday. I really shouldn’t drag you all into this. If you’re thinking of practicing martial arts because of my matter, then don’t bother torturing yourself… We all know your situation. Your Root Bone is bad, and the family’s money is all used for your younger sister’s training, so there’s nothing left for you. So don’t worry about me… I plan to move away with my mother. It might be a bit harder after moving, but it’s better than losing our lives.” Qian Ergou said seriously.
“Don’t flatter yourself. Practicing martial arts for you? What a thought, Ergou. I just want to try it for myself.” Su Yu kicked him.
“That’s good… Then I’ll support you mentally. And your half tael of silver, I’ll find a way to pay you back, and Old Ye’s, and Qiqi’s. But don’t get involved in this matter anymore. Last time we were lucky that they let us go… But next time, who knows? Those are people who kill without batting an eye!” Qian Ergou said very solemnly.
“Anyway, Qiqi is going to leave soon, Ye Liang has money and isn’t afraid of trouble, and I’m moving away. You have your younger sister to protect you, so the Stream Sand Gang probably won’t do anything to you… Let’s end it here.”
Qian Ergou spoke to himself, then his expression dimmed. He waved his hand weakly, turned, and went down the street in the other direction.
Su Yu was silent. In his heart, he hadn’t given up on the idea of dealing with this matter, because in this world, moving was not as easy as Qian Ergou had said… In towns, at least there were martial arts experts from the imperial court to protect and guard, but outside the village, it was the territory of demons. Wealthy families could hire guards and follow large merchant caravans, so they could safely reach the next town.
But for a family like Ergou’s… not to mention whether they could safely reach the next village town, even the house and land in Stream Rock Village would be completely cleared out as assets.
If they moved to the next village, life wouldn’t just be hard… they would probably starve to death.
‘No use thinking too much. I have to keep training. In two more days, the progress bar will be complete.’
[Standing Stake Skill Training Progress: 18/100 -> 40/100 (First Level·Left Eye Acupoint)]
—
Thus, the next day, Su Yu got up ahead of time and pushed open the Martial Hall gate promptly at Yin Hour again.
However, today, Lin Qiaoqiao did not come to check.
After all, in her view, this was probably Su Yu’s last day.
It had nothing to do with belief or persistence; it was a matter of his body being unable to hold up.