The next day.
The light snow suddenly stopped.
Lu Chang'sheng sat on the threshold, sighing inwardly.
A good year comes with auspicious snow.
If only the snow could keep falling—come next spring, even without rain, this land could have some respite.
But at the moment, that's just wishful thinking.
"Archery is almost at Minor Achievement!"
With a proper bow and arrows, progress really sped up.
"Archery: (Form)"
"Entry required: 0.1 years (already achieved)"
"Minor Achievement required: 0.5 years"
"Great Success required: 2.5 years"
He did some quick math—it had been nearly four months since he started learning archery. Another month and he'd reach Minor Achievement.
Lu Chang'sheng was pretty used to it by now.
"The Great Way has thousands of layers, but the years leave no trace!"
He stretched lazily, feeling clear-headed and refreshed.
"All set, Chang'sheng!"
Wang Heihou and Li Nangua made their way over.
Li Nangua handed two exquisite pouches to Lu Chang'sheng.
The bags were bought in town, called 'Xunzi Sleeve'. They were originally scented handkerchiefs used by women, until a scholar named Xunzi began wrapping his silver coins in them to take home. After Xunzi passed the imperial exams, these bags took on an air of refined mystery, and soon caught on all over.
He squeezed it gently—the softness of the fabric mingled with the cold hardness of copper coins, a unique and oddly satisfying sensation.
"I don't get it. Why waste so many copper coins on this thing?"
Wang Heihou muttered to himself.
One Xunzi Sleeve costs 5 copper coins, so that's 10 gone right away. Add in the coins tucked inside, and that's 50 copper coins out the door.
They'd only made barely two hundred copper coins in over half a month!
Lu Chang'sheng shook his head and said, "This isn't something we can skimp on! For us, it's a Peace Talisman!"
"Have you two noticed anything strange lately?"
Lu Chang'sheng was quietly testing them.
Li Nangua answered, "There've been people watching us from outside. I get the feeling they're up to no good!"
Girls always notice the small stuff.
Lu Chang'sheng gave Li Nangua an approving nod.
Her cheeks turned a little rosy—maybe eating regularly these days had filled out her face a bit. She looked kind of cute.
"Now that you mention it, I remember! When I was out recruiting the other day, some guy kept following me. But I managed to shake him off!"
Wang Heihou was still pretty cautious, and Lu Chang'sheng was glad for it.
"The work we've got is like a hot bun—once people catch a whiff, the rats start crawling in from everywhere. And since we can't protect it ourselves, we've only got one choice: find a big tree to lean on!"
Lu Chang'sheng didn't get too hung up about it.
"Then why don't we just go straight to the Three Red Gang? Why bother handing copper coins to that Zhao Hu?" Wang Heihou grumbled.
Lu Chang'sheng smiled mysteriously, "You'll understand soon enough."
Some things can't be explained—all you can do is let them experience it for themselves.
Soon after, Lu Chang'sheng and Wang Heihou arrived at Zhao Hu's courtyard.
"You two?"
The plump woman from last time was sweeping outside.
"Madam, is Master Zhao Hu at home?"
She looked a bit displeased to see them, but as soon as Lu Chang'sheng spoke, her expression softened considerably.
"He's in!"
She waved them inside.
Moments later, they saw Zhao Hu himself.
Zhao Hu looked tired, not at all happy to see them.
But when Lu Chang'sheng set one Xunzi Sleeve pouch on the table, he froze up for a second—then snatched it up instantly.
"Ten copper coins isn't much, but—where'd you get all that copper?"
Even his breathing grew heavy.
He was sharp when it came to money. He knew Lu Chang'sheng's crew was short on coin; scraping by for half a month was already rough.
How could they spare enough to hand over another pouch?
"This past half month, we found ourselves a job—"
"No way!" Zhao Hu cut him off before he could finish, "What kind of jobs do you think are out there? Black Mountain Prefecture's social ranks run deep, ties on ties, and as for jobs—they've already been picked clean. No way a guy like you could find anything!"
As he spoke, Zhao Hu's eyes were almost bloodshot—scaring Wang Heihou silly.
"So what you said before, about finding us work, that was just talk?" Lu Chang'sheng wasn't intimidated; he forced a wry laugh.
This visit was different from the last; this time, he felt confident.
And he could tell—even though Zhao Hu looked furious, he was actually less scary than before.
It's like how a dog that bites doesn't bark—the anger you bottle up is always the worst.
"A job? If it was so easy to find, I wouldn't still be here!" Zhao Hu didn't mince words.
He figured Lu Chang'sheng would blow up and call him a liar, but—
"Then I'm relieved!" Lu Chang'sheng said with a smile.
"What do you mean?"
"Please, Master, let me explain," Lu Chang'sheng continued. "You're probably curious where we got this coin. Like I said, we found ourselves work—"
Zhao Hu's mouth twitched, ready to shoot him down. But thinking it over, he held back.
"One person signs up for archery training: twenty copper coins for seven days. In twenty days, we recruited more than twenty people. Our earnings..."
Lu Chang'sheng laid it out, piece by piece.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hu's attitude changed—from sneering, to genuinely shocked.
It was as if he was looking at a freak.
"So this—is your—work?" he muttered.
"It is."
"Then why bring it to me? What's this conversation for?"
"I want you in on it, Master!"
"Heh... ha ha..." Zhao Hu let out a laugh, starting softly, then rising to a full belly laugh.
Lu Chang'sheng gave Wang Heihou a reassuring smile. Watching Zhao Hu, he felt like he could sense what was going on in that man's head.
"You're thinking, now you know about it and there's money to be made—why not do it yourself, right, Master?"
"Of course! It's just roping people in for archery! I've been hustling through Black Mountain Prefecture for years—call me arrogant, but I do know my way around these little side gigs!" Zhao Hu grinned back.
Strangely, looking at this kid's smile, Zhao Hu got the urge to mimic it. There was something magnetic about him.
But halfway through his chuckle, his face froze hard.
All because of one thing Lu Chang'sheng said—
"Then why, after all these years, haven't you accomplished a damn thing?"
"Chang'sheng!" Wang Heihou felt his hair stand on end—the nerves making him wish Lu Chang'sheng would hurry up and apologize to Zhao Hu.
Chang'sheng was usually such a savvy, kind kid—why was he being so careless today?
Even Wang Heihou could see it—Zhao Hu had just been gutted by that comment; it struck right at his core, dangerously so.
Zhao Hu's face flushed, his eyes bloodshot, staring at Lu Chang'sheng like a cornered lone wolf.
"You... what... did you say!" His voice was so hoarse, it sounded like it crawled up from hell itself.
Wang Heihou's knees buckled—he plopped down on the ground in a panic.
However, what Lu Chang'sheng said next instantly dispelled the heavy tension in the room.