Xiaojing Bay.
The Shen family yard.
Shen Momo was currently chasing and playing with several neighborhood children from the bay.
When a group of half-grown children gathered together, a sense of rivalry inevitably sparked among them.
The little girl stood with her hands on her slender hips, arguing until her face was red with a chubby, tiger-headed little boy.
“My big brother is super amazing! He can go into the water and catch fish. Yesterday, he netted a bighead carp this big from Cloudwater Lake!” The chubby boy stretched his arms as wide as he could, his face full of pride.
“My bwudder can catch fishies too! Even bigger than the ones your big brother catches!” Shen Momo refused to be outdone.
“My big brother is really strong and can row a big boat! He even promised to take me to the Inner City to ride a pleasure boat when spring comes!”
“My... my bwudder can row boats too!”
“Hmph! My big brother also knows martial arts! He goes to the city to sell fish, and he learned a fist technique that can beat a fierce tiger to death from a master at the Tiger-Subduing Martial Arts Hall in the Inner City. He's super fierce!”
“My bwudder not only knows how to practice boxing, but he can also beat up bad guys!”
Seeing that this brat of a girl had a comeback for everything, the chubby boy grew anxious, his small face flushing crimson.
“Stop copying everything I say!”
“My big brother... my big brother dares to eat poop!”
“One day, he got lost in the Dali Mountains. He was starving, so he survived by eating wild bull dung! Does your brother dare to do that?!”
“My bwudder dares to, too—”
“Ahem!”
Shen Xiuhan pushed open the courtyard gate with a dark expression, carrying his fish basket on his back.
“Bwudder!”
The little girl's eyes lit up. Without another word, she abandoned the chubby boy and ran toward Shen Xiuhan as fast as her short legs could carry her.
Shen Xiuhan sighed helplessly, bending down to scoop the little toddler into his arms.
Shen Momo's little nose twitched. Her gaze involuntarily drifted toward the fish basket, from which a faint aroma of meat wafted, causing her large eyes to roll around expectantly.
After a brief pause, Shen Momo suddenly turned her head without a word. With a solemn expression, she said crisply, “You guys should leave. My bwudder won't let me play with you anymore!”
The children exchanged bewildered glances. Seeing Shen Xiuhan's “dark face,” they immediately scattered like startled birds, fleeing the courtyard in a flash.
As soon as the courtyard gate closed, the solemn little girl instantly transformed. Wrapping her chubby, lotus-root-like arms around Shen Xiuhan's neck, she tilted her head up and spoke in a sweet, babyish voice, “Bwudder... what's in your basket? It smells so yummy... Did you bring some meat-meat for Momo?”
Looking at the little girl's adorable antics, how could Shen Xiuhan stay angry?
Amused, he let out a hearty laugh, supporting her with a single arm as he carried her into the kitchen.
In front of the stove, Madam Zheng was busy preparing breakfast.
Three bowls of porridge were already laid out.
Two were rather thin.
The other was not only thick with millet, but also sat beside two steaming hot meat pies.
“Dalang, you're back just in time,” Madam Zheng looked up and smiled. “Breakfast has just finished cooking. Eat it while it's hot.”
“Mother, I already ate while I was out.”
Shen Xiuhan set the fish basket down in the corner and said, “The martial arts hall provides my lunch now, so I only need to bring one pie with me from now on. Here, I brought this for you.”
With that, he pulled two chicken legs skewered on wooden sticks from the fish basket.
A rich, savory aroma of meat instantly filled the entire kitchen.
The massive drumsticks, roasted golden-brown and sizzling with grease, made Shen Momo's large eyes widen instantly as she jumped up and down.
“Wow! Huge chicken legs!”
“Go ahead and eat.”
Shen Xiuhan tore one off and stuffed it into the little girl's hand, then handed the other to the astonished Madam Zheng.
“Mother, I didn't run into any fish this morning, but I did catch two plump wild pheasants.”
“This... Dalang, you practice martial arts and work so hard, you should eat it...”
“Don't worry, I really did eat already.”
Shen Xiuhan waved his hand, then pointed outside at the sky. “It's getting late, Mother. I need to head to the martial arts hall. There's still one more in the basket that I want to bring to my master to take a look at.”
“Oh, right. There are also these three eggs. Let our old hen hatch them and see if we can get some chicks.”
Not long after Shen Xiuhan left.
In the side room, the old hen nesting in her straw bed lowered her head, staring in deep contemplation at the three green eggs that had suddenly appeared beneath her rump...
...
Mei Family Martial Arts Hall.
As the morning sun began to rise, dozens of disciples in the spacious outer courtyard were tempering their blood qi, their shouts rising and falling in unison.
Shen Xiuhan, carrying his fish basket, stepped over the red-lacquered threshold and happened to be spotted by Xu Chuan, who was patrolling and correcting forms.
“Junior Brother Shen, why are you so late today?” Xu Chuan's gaze drifted to Shen Xiuhan's back, and he teased, “Did you go catching fish again?”
Shen Xiuhan didn't reply. He merely gave him a subtle wave, keeping his pace steady as he headed straight for the inner courtyard.
Xu Chuan raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Turning back, he bellowed at the disciples, “Keep your stances solid! No slacking off!”
Then, he quickly followed him inside.
Upon entering the inner courtyard, Xu Chuan saw Shen Xiuhan standing by the wall of the quarters. He had lifted the lid of the bamboo basket and was pulling out a plump, fowl-like bird.
The creature was covered in azure plumage, its beak sharp as a spire. Even in death, it still exuded a fierce aura.
“Huh?”
Xu Chuan's expression shifted slightly. He stepped forward to examine it closely, his voice filled with surprise. “Junior Brother, where did you get this? This is a Blue-Spire Chicken, a Precious Beast raised by the Ji family of the Inner City!”
“Ah?”
Shen Xiuhan's wrist froze, his expression showing even greater shock than Xu Chuan's. “The Ji family?”
“You didn't know?”
Xu Chuan squatted down and explained patiently, “Years ago, the Ji family purchased a batch of Blue-Spire Chicken eggs from Cangzhou. They went through immense trouble to hatch and raise them, breeding them to this day. It's said that they now have thirty to forty of these precious fowls in their beast park...”
“The other prominent families in the Inner City also keep their own captive Precious Beasts and Precious Fish. With a steady supply of blood qi pills and medicinal cuisine to nourish their descendants, it's no wonder they produce masters generation after generation.”
Xu Chuan reached out to ruffle the Blue-Spire Chicken's feathers, asking curiously, “Junior Brother, looking at yours... it must be a wild one caught from the outside, right?”
“Senior Brother has a keen eye,” Shen Xiuhan replied, having prepared his story beforehand. “This morning, I went to the lake shore to catch fish and happened to see this creature flying unsteadily before plunging headfirst into Mount Li. I boldly sneaked over and finished it off...”
“I figured as much,” Xu Chuan smacked his lips, nodding. “The great families of the Inner City guard their Precious Beasts and Precious Fish very closely. At most, they sell some refined pills in their family medicine shops each month. There's no way they would sell a whole specimen.”
“As for yours, it probably escaped from the depths of Mount Li.”
He turned over the Blue-Spire Chicken's wing, inspecting the torn wound underneath. “The flesh is torn outward, looking like it was bitten by some other beast. However, the meat is mostly intact, and its blood qi hasn't dissipated, so it's fine.”
Xu Chuan looked up at Shen Xiuhan. “Junior Brother, you brought this treasure to the martial arts hall because you want to ask Master to refine it into blood qi pills for you, right?”
Shen Xiuhan's expression turned serious. “Nothing escapes Senior Brother's notice. That is indeed my intention.”
“That's a simple matter,” Xu Chuan clapped his hands and laughed. “Master rarely starts the cauldron for outsiders, but she has always been generous to us inner courtyard disciples.”
“Aside from deducting the cost of auxiliary herbs and Precious Herbs needed to balance the blood qi, she usually only takes ten to twenty percent as payment for her labor.”
“The exact share depends on the yield. If the batch produces a lot of pills, she'll take twenty percent; if it's a smaller yield, she'll just take ten percent as a token.”
At this point, he looked at Shen Xiuhan. “There are no strict rules. If you find this acceptable, I'll take you to the back hall to report to her.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brother,” Shen Xiuhan agreed immediately without a second thought.
He had no doubt that if he took this Blue-Spire Chicken to an alchemist in an Inner City medicine shop, he would be lucky if they didn't pocket half of it under some pretext.
Yet Mei Shuangfeng only took ten to twenty percent...
To Shen Xiuhan, this was practically saintly.
Then again, she likely disdained squeezing such meager profits from her own disciples.
Rate on N.U.
