Chapter 9: Might Makes Right

“Of course I need them. Then please trouble Aunt Tian to buy another thirty jin, using the same standard as these peanuts. Naturally, if there are bigger and plumper ones, even better.”

“Don’t worry, little brother.”

Lin Feng said to Xiao Die, “Give Auntie all the money at once.”

“All of it? Don’t we pay a deposit first?”

“Auntie will buy peanuts from other villages; she needs to have the money on hand. We can’t expect her to pay out of her own pocket, right?”

“Oh.” Xiao Die pouted, thinking that the money earned yesterday was finally running out; her eldest brother sure knew how to spend.

Lin Feng added, “Auntie, you still need to write a receipt.”

“Daughter, you write it.” Mrs. Tian pulled her daughter, Tian Xi’er, who had been hiding aside, over.

Since she had already written a receipt last night, Tian Xi’er naturally knew how. She wrote: “Received payment from Lin Feng for peanuts, totaling nine hundred wen.”

After writing it, Xiao Die counted the money and handed it over. Since Aunt Tian couldn’t write, Tian Xi’er signed and sealed it, but Lin Feng still had Mrs. Tian press her handprint.

With money in hand, Mrs. Tian and her daughter left the house cheerfully.

After a simple meal, the three of them rested. They had been traveling all day and were exhausted.

Early the next morning, Lin Feng rose early again. He found a piece of wood in the courtyard and carved a simple long wooden sword with a knife.

He wasn’t carving just for fun but to practice swordsmanship and exercise.

The previous incarnation of this wayward son was not without skill; at the very least, he could handle spear and staff, ride horses, and shoot arrows. Moreover, these were not mere flashy moves but true martial arts.

He had learned them in his youth from an old master who had traveled to Chu’s capital.

One evening, while drinking at the Drunken Immortal Tavern with some rascally friends, Lin Feng saw a group of people attacking an old Taoist on the street. The old Taoist easily defeated them single-handedly and walked away.

Lin Feng immediately put down his cup and followed the old master to a mountain outside the city. At first, the master did not teach him, but Lin Feng’s persistent nature would not let him give up. He came every day, bringing incense money and delicious food.

Eventually, the old master relented and taught him for nearly a year before Lin Feng left Chu’s capital.

Lin Feng was a son of a concubine from the Lin family’s third branch.

The Lin family’s eldest branch was the most powerful, with the eldest brother serving in the court. The second branch’s eldest was the current head of the family, and Lin Feng’s father, from the third branch, lived under his older brothers’ shadow.

Thus, his father had the lowest status among the three brothers, and Lin Feng, as a son of the third branch’s concubine, was in an even more precarious position.

More importantly, Lin Feng’s mother, Madam Chen, had no standing—not only because she was a concubine but because her mother was a woman his father had picked up from the streets, with no family background.

Because she was beautiful, his father took her as a concubine on the spot and favored her once, resulting in Lin Feng’s conception.

However, after giving birth to Lin Feng prematurely, she died of illness a few years later.

In truth, Madam Chen had long been ill when she was cast out onto the streets. Her health deteriorated after pregnancy and childbirth. Furthermore, she suffered from mistreatment and exclusion by the other wives and concubines, both physically and mentally exhausted, she soon passed away.

In short, Lin Feng grew up motherless, enduring all sorts of bullying.

As a child, he was somewhat of a scholar, but soon realized that achieving official rank was a slow process that wouldn’t change his plight of being bullied. He believed that if he didn’t want to be bullied, strength was the only answer. Hence, he was so determined to train in martial arts.

Anyone who bullied him would be beaten back. If his father punished him with a beating or confinement, once released, he would fight back again!

Thus, his reputation gradually grew. Not only within the Lin family, but even among the young men of Chu’s capital, no one dared mock him openly—at least on the surface.

Now, having drifted to this place, he couldn’t afford to neglect his martial arts; he had to keep training.

After finishing the wooden sword, he moved to the center of the courtyard and began to swing the sword. His movements were agile, his swordplay exquisite, each technique brimming with boundless power. His steps were light—still as a virgin, swift as a hare. The long sword in his hand was like a swimming dragon, sometimes forceful and vigorous, sometimes gentle as water, wielding the sword with consummate skill.

He sheathed the sword and stood still, thinking to himself that this swordplay was indeed quite good.

In his previous life, he had been a special agent, so naturally his martial arts were formidable, allowing him to appreciate the subtlety of this swordplay deeply. Only the wooden sword lacked power; when he had some money, he would visit the smithy to forge a real sword and live up to his grand vow of carrying a fine sword to roam the world.

Wiping the sweat from his face, he heard voices from next door and couldn’t help but walk to the wall. He saw Mrs. Tian and her husband pointing at the sheep in their pen and talking.

Mrs. Tian spotted Lin Feng immediately. “Yo, little brother, you’re up so early?”

“Not that early. The sun’s already out.” Lin Feng smiled. “What are you and uncle up to?”

Mrs. Tian’s husband was named Tian Zhenggen, a thin, short man with a weather-beaten face, the typical image of a rural old farmer.

Mrs. Tian said, “We’re discussing selling these two sheep.” She pointed at the two sheep in the pen.

Lin Feng saw the two sheep were still small. “Aren’t these lambs? Wouldn’t it be better to sell them when they grow bigger?”

Tian Zhenggen smiled honestly. “My second son and his wife want to buy a house in the county, so we want to sell the sheep to get some silver.”

Lin Feng recalled the quarrel from the night before—it must have been about the second son’s house purchase.

That day, Mrs. Tian must have been anxious to collect rent for the same reason, trying to quickly gather money for her second son.

“How much can you get for one sheep?”

Tian Zhenggen said, “A mature sheep can sell for six or seven taels of silver; these little ones only about three or four taels.”

He hadn’t expected sheep to be worth much more than donkeys, even more than pigs.

“Is it easy to sell them?”

Tian Zhenggen shook his head. “Not sure. If we go to the town, mostly villagers come through, and the townsfolk won’t easily spend so much silver on a sheep. If we can’t sell them there, we’ll have to go to the county.”

“I’ll help you sell them.”

“You’ll help us sell them?”

“Yes. No matter how much I sell the two lambs for, I’ll give you ten taels of silver.”

The couple exchanged a delighted glance. This was a sure profit—such a good deal!

Lin Feng looked at their rooster and goose in the yard. “Are you selling the rooster and goose too?”

“The goose and rooster don’t fetch much.” Tian Zhenggen said, “A goose sells for about four hundred wen, and a big rooster for two hundred wen is good.”

That amount wasn’t bad at all.

Why did it feel like only the donkey was cheap?

“I’ll sell them too! I’ll give you five hundred wen for the goose and three hundred wen for the rooster.”

“Thanks, little brother!” Mrs. Tian couldn’t possibly refuse such a great offer.

“We’re not selling the hens; we need them to lay eggs.” Mrs. Tian smiled. “Little brother, when can you help us sell them?”