Chapter 25: Departure |
Night gradually deepened.
The River Office patrol guards called out their farewells as they dispersed, some returning home, others arranging to drink flower wine together.
Chen Qing walked toward home, the early autumn evening breeze carrying traces of coolness.
When he reached Mute Bay, he saw fishermen gathered in twos and threes at Aunt Cuihua's door, shaking their heads and sighing, their faces clouded with worry.
Chen Qing stepped forward, "Uncle Dachun, what's happened?"
Uncle Dachun let out a heavy sigh, "Old Liu's family went to the Dawn Market early to sell pickled fish. On the way back, they were attacked. Not only was their fish money robbed, but his leg was brutally broken. He still hasn't woken up."
"There have been too many thugs attacking people lately, you be careful too!"
This outer city hid who knows how many greedy eyes.
Among them were thief gangs and many desperate criminals.
From the reed marshes on the shore, several water birds flapped their wings and took flight, merging into the deep night.
"Mother, I'm back."
Lifting the canvas cover, Chen Qing removed his sweat-soaked shirt.
Lady Han was mending fishing nets by oil lamp light, her rough fingers nimbly threading through the mesh.
"There's some fish soup in the pot."
Lady Han said without looking up.
Chen Qing ladled a bowl of clear fish soup with a few small miscellaneous fish floating sparsely within.
He took a sip and said, "We have enough fishing nets at home, Mother, you should rest too."
"Even if they don't sell now, there will come a day when they sell well."
Lady Han sighed, pressing her knuckles against her temples and rubbing, "This time of year in the past was peak fishing season. The docks should be crowded with fish buyers, but this year, the fish in the river seem to have been taxed by the Dragon King, so sparse and few."
"Now even the fishermen can't get enough to eat, and the fishing nets won't sell either."
Speaking of this, Lady Han's brow also carried traces of worry.
Outside the canvas came the sound of waves lapping gently against the boat hull, causing the vessel to rock slightly.
Chen Qing set down his bowl, his expression grave, "Mother, you've heard about Aunt Cuihua's family situation, haven't you? You need to be careful too."
Anyone with connections would want to move into the inner city for safety, wouldn't they?
But Gaolin County's property prices, even for an ordinary residence in the outer city, required fifty to several hundred taels of silver.
As for inner city dwellings, those were symbols of status and position, absolutely beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Even those seemingly ordinary shelters in the outer city required exhausting half a lifetime's savings, and even then might not be achievable in an entire lifetime.
In the end, their family foundation was simply too thin.
The next day, Chen Qing made his usual patrol rounds before entering Zhou's courtyard.
As soon as he stepped through the gate, he felt something unusual in the atmosphere.
Several gazes swept over him intermittently, disciples gathered in small groups, and their whispered conversations suddenly grew quieter when he approached.
Chen Qing felt puzzled but kept his expression calm as usual, walking toward his practice position.
Then he noticed that He Yan, who was usually so diligent, was now sitting alone on a stone stump in the corner, his face pale as death, his vacant eyes staring at the ground.
"Senior brother He."
Chen Qing walked over and called softly.
He Yan slowly raised his head, the corner of his mouth pulling into an extremely forced arc, his voice dry and hoarse, "Junior brother Chen, my breakthrough failed."
Chen Qing's heart sank, forcing a smile, "If your qi and blood are scattered, you can accumulate them again. Senior brother has a solid foundation..."
When breakthrough attempts failed, the previously accumulated qi and blood would be mostly consumed, requiring reaccumulation.
"This time it injured my foundation."
He Yan shook his head, "There may never be another chance."
Chen Qing's throat tightened, words of comfort stuck in his chest.
Obvious strength, hidden strength, transforming strength, the three great martial realms, each one a hurdle, and some people could never overcome them in their entire lives.
For disciples like He Yan who had average bone structure and ordinary family circumstances, breaking through to obvious strength was already extremely rare. Now wanting to go further and step into hidden strength was extremely difficult.
Within Zhou's courtyard, obvious strength disciples were considered registered disciples, while only hidden strength disciples were considered core members.
Over the following days, He Yan continued appearing in Zhou's courtyard.
He became unusually silent, no longer the He Yan who rose at dawn and rested at midnight.
More often, he simply sat under the old locust tree in the corner of the courtyard, staring blankly at the gray sky, his empty gaze frighteningly hollow.
Many senior and junior brothers in the courtyard shook their heads and sighed upon seeing this, while more people simply turned away numbly. Such scenes were not uncommon in Zhou's courtyard.
"Naive!"
On the other side, Qin Lie took all this in and sneered coldly, "If 'heaven rewards diligence' really worked, Zhou's courtyard would be full of hidden strength practitioners by now."
His words seemed to suggest that he, Qin Lie, was different from 'them.'
Luo Qian agreed deeply, "Over these years, I've seen too many disciples like this. Martial arts ultimately requires talent."
Sun Shun opened his mouth but finally only let out a deep sigh, saying nothing.
This day, at evening time, Chen Qing had just finished two rounds of boxing practice and was sitting on a bench catching his breath.
At this moment, He Yan walked over carrying a bundle.
Seeing this, Chen Qing was slightly startled, "Leaving?"
He Yan nodded slightly, his voice somewhat hoarse, "Mm, staying here... has no meaning anymore."
Chen Qing pondered for a moment, then said quietly, "Senior brother He, have you really thought this through?"
"I've thought it through." He Yan answered calmly.
His tone was light, as if describing some trivial matter, though his heart was churning like overturned seas with surging waves.
Chen Qing said no more.
He Yan let out a soft breath, his gaze looking into the distance, "These past two years, I always believed in 'heaven rewards diligence,' and believed that through martial examinations I could change my fate. So I practiced desperately, even when others looked down on me, I didn't mind, instead taking it as motivation."
He smiled, but only he knew the bitterness in that smile.
Chen Qing looked into He Yan's eyes, where tears struggled to be restrained but ultimately couldn't be completely hidden.
"These past years..."
He Yan's voice was hoarse, "I kept comforting myself that everything would get better, but what was the reality? Not only did things not improve, they got worse and worse..."
He could no longer suppress himself, lowering his head, his shoulders trembling slightly, "My dream is shattered... completely shattered. After trying so hard for so long, I still have nothing. Junior brother Chen, do you know that feeling? Every day when you open your eyes, you can't see any hope. Everything above your head is black, without a single ray of light... That oppression, that despair, makes it impossible to breathe."
Surrounding disciples noticed the commotion here and cast their gazes over.
"Senior brother He..." Chen Qing reached out and gently patted He Yan's shoulder.
In this world, how many people weren't like this? Coming with dreams but ultimately having to leave in disappointment.
"Even now I don't understand what I was so persistent about..."
He Yan wiped the corner of his eyes, "Did I really want to practice martial arts, or was I just trying to prove myself?"
He laughed bitterly, "Thinking about it now, it's not that martial arts are useless... it's that I'm useless."
He took a deep breath, stood up, and patted Chen Qing's shoulder, "I'm leaving. I won't be able to practice martial arts with you anymore from now on. But you must persist, absolutely never give up."
"Junior brother Chen, you're very diligent. Before you appeared, I didn't believe anyone in this world could be more diligent than me, more desperate than me, until you appeared. Your family is poor, you eat coarse grains and beans every day, yet still practice desperately. I truly admire you. I feel that if heaven has eyes, it will surely let you succeed. Though senior brother is a failure, I truly hope you can succeed."
"Senior brother He..." Chen Qing's throat tightened.
"You must remember my words." He Yan said finally.
"Which words?"
"Any of them!"
With that, he gathered up his bundle, turned and walked toward the back gate of Zhou's courtyard.
His figure appeared particularly thin in the morning light, like a fallen leaf drifting silently into the distance.
In the twenty-eighth year of Emperor Shizong's reign, on the third day of the sixth month, that day was sunny, but in Chen Qing's heart, a heavy rain fell.
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