Chapter 29: Save them or not? Not saving.
“Liulang, Jiuniang.”
Hua Sanlang walked into the room and saw his younger brother and sister with their heads together, looking at a book and pointing at its contents from time to time. He found it a bit strange and walked closer to take a look.
Seeing that they were actually reading a martial arts cultivation method 《Five Finger Mountain》, he couldn’t help but find it amusing.
“Jiuniang, why are you reading martial arts books again? Do you want to practice martial arts again?”
Hua Changxi was only three years old when she learned that the Great Jin Dynasty truly had martial arts masters like those in novels. At that time, Hua Liulang was just starting to practice standing meditation to build his foundation.
When Hua Changxi turned five, she pestered Hua Minghe, saying she wanted to practice martial arts. Hua Minghe, unable to resist her pleas, took her to train for about half a year.
However, practicing martial arts was too arduous. Just the standing meditation alone was something she couldn’t persist with day after day. After practicing intermittently for a while, she eventually gave up in frustration.
Because of this, Hua Changxi was often ridiculed by Old Madam Hua, who said it was presumptuous for a young woman like her to want to practice martial arts like a man.
Hua Changxi looked at Hua Sanlang: “Third Brother, after I went to the Labor Department, I think I might have done too much work. I feel like I’ve opened the Ren and Du meridians. I need to pick up martial arts again. Perhaps I can become a master in the future.”
She was unclear about the difference between cultivation and practicing martial arts, but she felt that the internal energy cultivated by martial artists should be similar to the spiritual power surging within her.
Martial artists can concentrate their internal energy in their feet to practice Lingbo Microsteps. Could she then circulate the spiritual power within her body to her feet?
As for this Five Finger Mountain, she would find an opportunity to try it out later and see what effect concentrating spiritual power in her hands would have.
Hua Sanlang saw her serious expression and quickly said, “Don’t do anything rash. Practicing martial arts is a very dangerous thing. If you don’t practice it correctly, it can harm your body.”
Hua Liulang chimed in, “Third Brother, I think Jiuniang has good ideas about practicing martial arts. When she explains things I don’t understand, I get it right away.”
Hua Sanlang was truly speechless. Jiuniang and Liulang, one dared to speak and the other dared to believe.
“Liulang, if there are parts you don’t understand, it’s best to wait until Father returns and ask him. There have been many cases of martial artists being disabled or even dying from practicing martial arts incorrectly.”
Hearing this, Hua Liulang also showed a look of fear.
Hua Changxi didn’t say anything and continued to flip through 《Five Finger Mountain》 seriously. Unexpectedly, Hua Sanlang snatched the book from her hand.
Hua Sanlang looked at his younger siblings, “Second Sister and Second Brother-in-law are sitting in the courtyard, and Cousin Shen and the others are also here. It’s rare for everyone to gather, so you should go out and chat with them.”
Upon hearing this, Hua Changxi and Hua Liulang exchanged a helpless glance and resignedly followed Hua Sanlang out of the room.
Hua Wuniang’s marriage was considered a grand occasion, but since she was going to be a concubine, the Hua family did not invite guests, only Hua Sangu’s family and Hua Erniang and her husband.
Old Master Hua’s face was unpleasant because Hua Changxi had embarrassed him. The younger generation didn’t want to linger in the main hall, so they all went to the courtyard to chat.
Seeing Hua Sanlang call out Hua Jiuniang and Hua Liulang, Hua Erniang immediately smiled and waved at Hua Jiuniang, “Jiuniang, we were just talking about you. Come over and chat with us.”
Hua Erniang, the eldest granddaughter of the Hua family, married a year ago into the Cao family, who were also low-ranking officials. Her brother-in-law, Cao Jingnian, was a patrol officer in the Five City Military Command.
Hua Changxi walked over with a smile, “What were you all saying about me?”
Hua Shierniang glanced at her, “Saying you’re incredibly bold.”
Hua Changxi returned a glare, “Those who think I’m incredibly bold are all timid as mice.”
Hua Shierniang immediately bristled, “Who are you calling timid as mice?”
Hua Changxi smiled, “Whoever takes it, I’m talking about them.”
Hua Erniang watched with amusement as her ninth and twelfth sisters bickered the moment they met. She pulled one sister by each hand, realizing after getting married how comforting it was to bicker with her sisters in her maiden days.
“You two, cherish each other. Once you get married, you won’t have the chance to bicker anymore.”
Hearing this, Hua Changxi and Hua Shierniang fell silent simultaneously.
Hua Changxi glanced at Cao Jingnian, her second brother-in-law, who was chatting animatedly with Hua Sanlang and the others, and asked in a low voice, “Second Sister, is Second Brother-in-law treating you well? Are your in-laws easy to get along with?”
Hua Erniang smiled at her husband and nodded, “Your second brother-in-law is quite affectionate. As for my in-laws, we all live together. If others can manage, so can I.”
Hua Changxi was silent for a moment, realizing that her in-laws were not easy to get along with.
Hua Erniang smiled, took off the sachet from her waist, and took out three pairs of silver earrings, handing them to Hua Qiniang, Hua Changxi, and Hua Shierniang respectively.
“You are all of an age now, it’s time for you to get your ears pierced.”
Hua Changxi and the other two were very happy to receive the earrings, “Thank you, Second Sister.”
“Go, Liulang!”
“Go, Third Brother!”
The Hua sisters turned their heads and saw Hua Liulang sparring with Shen Mosheng, Hua Ergu’s third son. Everyone else was cheering them on.
“Let’s go take a look too.”
As Hua Changxi approached, she watched the two sparring closely and was surprised to find that their movements appeared exceptionally slow to her.
If their fight were recorded as a video, she would be seeing it at 0.25x speed.
As her Realm Points increased, she had indeed felt her five senses enhancing, but she had no direct concept of the extent of the enhancement.
But now, she knew.
“Liulang, why are you just doing palm strikes? Directly use your fingers like claws to grab Mosheng Cousin’s shoulder.”
Hua Changxi directly pointed out the flaws in their sparring.
Hua Liulang heard Hua Changxi’s voice and instinctively did as she said. He actually managed to grab Shen Mosheng’s shoulders, then followed up with a side kick, knocking him to the ground.
“I won!”
Hua Liulang cheered happily, looking at Hua Changxi excitedly, “Jiuniang, your eyesight is amazing! I didn’t even realize I could grab Mosheng’s shoulders.”
Hua Changxi smiled and said nothing. She wanted to learn 《Five Finger Mountain》 and 《Lingbo Microsteps》, planning to copy both books and take them back to the Labor Department to study slowly.
Seeing that Hua Erniang had Hua Qiniang and Hua Shierniang with her, and that Cousin Shen and the others had Hua Sanlang and the others, she secretly slipped back to her room to start copying books.
Hua Sangu’s family and Hua Erniang and her husband were going home, so dinner was moved up by half an hour.
After dinner, Hua Changxi, holding the transcribed 《Five Finger Mountain》 and 《Lingbo Microsteps》, along with a bag of food prepared by Madam Yao, left the Hua family after Hua Sangu’s family and Hua Erniang and her husband departed.
Hua Liulang escorted Hua Changxi all the way to the Medical Affairs Department.
“Liulang, I’m here, you can go back.”
“I’ll watch you go in before I leave.”
Hua Changxi glanced helplessly at the entrance of the Medical Affairs Department, “Laborers can’t use the main entrance, I have to take a detour to the back door.”
Hua Liulang said, “Then I’ll accompany you to the back door.” With that, he walked ahead without waiting for her.
Seeing that it was already getting dark, Hua Changxi didn’t want to waste time arguing and could only quicken her pace to catch up.
However, just as they turned off the main street and entered the back street, Hua Changxi suddenly grabbed Hua Liulang and quickly hid behind the shade of a tree by the roadside.
“Jiuniang, what’s wrong?”
“Shh, someone is fighting.”
Soon, four people appeared in their line of sight.
One person was running with a limp, while the other three were chasing closely behind.
Looking at the person in front, Hua Changxi instinctively stood up and took a step forward, but the next moment she retracted her foot and crouched back behind the tree shade.
Hua Liulang saw this and asked in a low voice, “What, do you know that person?”
Hua Changxi looked at Yu Hui, who was running towards the back door with difficulty, and nodded, “Yes, I know him. He’s a minor steward from the storeroom.”
At this moment, Yu Hui was caught up by the people behind him. He was kicked flying three to four meters away and fell heavily to the ground.
“Run, you think you can run? Keep running!”
“Beat him, beat him hard!”
Hua Liulang watched Yu Hui curled up in a ball, being punched and kicked by three people, and couldn’t help but look at his sister, “Since you know him, should we go help him? I think I can handle those three.”
Hua Changxi shook her head and said with almost cold indifference, “My relationship with him is not enough for me to risk my life to save him.”
Not to mention that the three chasing Yu Hui were all martial artists, even if they were ordinary people, as long as they didn’t kill him, she would inevitably offend them by saving Yu Hui.
She didn’t know the origin or background of those three, the risk was too great.
“This is the back street of the Medical Affairs Department, those three wouldn’t dare to kill anyone here.”
As Hua Changxi had expected, the three cursed and left after beating Yu Hui for over a quarter of an hour.
Yu Hui had already fallen unconscious, with only the rise and fall of his chest proving he was still alive.
Hua Changxi and Hua Liulang got up and walked over.
Hua Changxi said, “Liulang, help me lift him, I’ll carry him into the Medical Affairs Department.”
She hadn’t intervened earlier for fear of trouble, but now that the attackers were gone, carrying Yu Hui back to the storeroom was feasible.
Hua Liulang quickly stepped forward to help. While supporting Yu Hui, he noticed that the clothes on his back were torn, and then he saw a red palm print on his back.
Seeing the red palm print, Hua Liulang’s expression changed, “Jiuniang, this person must have offended a Fourth-Rank martial artist. You should interact with him less in the future.”
Only martial artists of Fourth Rank and above could cultivate internal energy.
Only by using internal energy could such a clear palm print be left on a person.
Hua Changxi glanced at the palm print on Yu Hui’s back, said nothing, bent down, and picked him up, “Liulang, I’m going in. You should go back quickly, don’t linger outside.”
After watching Hua Changxi carry the person into the Medical Affairs Department, Hua Liulang turned and headed home.
