By the riverside.
Xu Yi and Zhang Tiegou cleared out a flat open space, moving all the obstructive rocks to a more distant location. This area was quickly cleaned up into something resembling a square-shaped temporary training ground.
The two had made an agreement long ago that once Zhang Tiegou’s leg healed, they would spar in martial arts.
Zhang Tiegou’s leg injury had fully healed the previous week, but since the iron teeth of the animal trap had injured the bone beneath the flesh, Xu Yi had repeatedly insisted he rest for half a month before agreeing to today’s match.
Brimming with enthusiasm, he urged Xu Yi to hurry after moving the rocks.
“Look at you being so formal about this. Aren’t we just sparring a bit? Is such a big production really necessary?” He scratched his head. Though he didn’t understand Xu Yi’s reasoning, just moments ago he had instinctively complied.
Xu Yi glanced at him sideways. “A match with stakes. Do you think being casual is appropriate?”
Zhang Tiegou: “…”
Very reasonable. He couldn’t refute Xu Yi.
Zhang Tiegou scratched his head. “So shall we start now?”
Xu Yi said, “Yes.”
As his words fell, his entire aura suddenly changed.
Having hunted in the mountains for so long, Zhang Tiegou’s instincts for danger were extremely sharp. He immediately sensed the danger emanating from Xu Yi. His gaze froze, then he clenched his fists tightly, and his casual demeanor quietly dispersed.
Xu Yi assumed what seemed like a casual stance. Zhang Tiegou couldn’t tell what it was, but anyone who had practiced Tai Chi would recognize this as the opening stance, indicating he had already entered the proper state.
His expression was calm, his entire body unified, with a naturally flowing aura.
In truth, this wasn’t Xu Yi’s first time sparring with someone.
In proper sparring, moves came one by one, testing understanding of Tai Chi and how to use its techniques to break through an opponent’s defense. But Zhang Tiegou was a brute.
Brutes didn’t need to concern themselves with technique. They relied entirely on sheer strength and robust physique.
After sensing something was off about Xu Yi, Zhang Tiegou immediately chose a direct assault.
Male competitive desire reached its peak at this moment. Whether the person opposite was enemy or friend, Xu Yi had said to take this match seriously, so he would win.
Zhang Tiegou charged forward roughly, his biceps bulging, veins popping on his palms. Then he lunged to Xu Yi’s front, reaching to grab Xu Yi’s shoulder.
Xu Yi’s tall, slender form with thin shoulders gave the immediate impression that his shoulders lacked strength, appearing to be an easily exploited weak point.
In an instant, Zhang Tiegou’s fist came whistling through the air. Xu Yi suddenly shifted his stance with his body, and while avoiding Zhang Tiegou’s fist, he stabilized himself sideways. Then his hands and feet worked in coordination to release force. His palm seized Zhang Tiegou’s arm while his knee blocked Zhang Tiegou’s legs as he tried to turn around.
Taking advantage of his momentary daze, Xu Yi pivoted and stepped forward again, landing a punch on his shoulder.
Powerful force struck him. Zhang Tiegou grunted and staggered back two steps. Just as he steadied himself, he saw Xu Yi appear before him. Then Xu Yi contracted inward and expanded outward, continuing to catch Zhang Tiegou completely off guard with no chance to react.
Zhang Tiegou was severely shocked inside. The current Xu Yi had sharp, piercing eyes, which was nothing like his usual gentle, smiling demeanor.
Normally unassuming, relying only on the cart driver Old Liu’s exaggerated boasting—how many people would believe Xu Yi truly had the ability to hunt wild boars?
Even Zhang Tiegou had to admit that previously, he hadn’t taken it seriously either.
This muscle-bound man suddenly realized why Xu Yi had given him that thank-you gift earlier.
So the sparring wager was just a formality, and the tea cakes were thanks for his agreement to teach archery afterward…
“Good brother, you’ve kept this from me for quite a while.” After figuring it out, Zhang Tiegou grinned.
He rotated his fists, looking even more excited.
The stance and skills Xu Yi displayed were ones he’d never witnessed before. With such a good opportunity, he naturally wanted to learn properly.
He didn’t retreat but charged forward again. This time he chose a different direction, wanting to attack Xu Yi’s waist from the side.
The result…
Xu Yi’s form rose and fell, his arms bouncing with slight tremors, yet he cleverly deflected each attack completely and even counterattacked, leaving Zhang Tiegou with absolutely no ability to defend.
Suddenly, Xu Yi threw a fierce punch, the force of wind “whooshing” past Zhang Tiegou’s cheek as the fist steadily stopped before his face.
Zhang Tiegou’s heart pounded violently out of control: “!!!”
If this punch had actually landed on his face, he would probably collapse directly to the ground. Somehow, this thought emerged in Zhang Tiegou’s mind.
Xu Yi withdrew his fist and looked at him calmly. “You lost.”
“Mm.” Zhang Tiegou panted heavily, his eyes staring fixedly at him.
After several gasps, he spoke: “Brother Xu, where exactly did you learn such skills? They’re terrifying.”
In just under half a pot of tea’s time, Zhang Tiegou had thrown dozens of punches, each one missing its target.
In contrast, Xu Yi seemed calm and unhurried, yet every move contained stored and released variations. If the two weren’t just sparring, Zhang Tiegou would probably already be lying in bed unable to move.
Xu Yi smiled. It had been a long time since he’d felt so invigorated.
“This is a set of fitness boxing techniques. As for what it’s called, I’ve forgotten.”
Thunderclap Tai Chi was the life’s work of several generations of masters. Xu Yi wasn’t sure if the Song Dynasty he inhabited would overlap with history.
Therefore, he didn’t intend to speak the name of Thunderclap Tai Chi.
Back then, he had good talent, and the master who taught him liked him very much, imparting nearly all his knowledge.
He loved Tai Chi, and Thunderclap Tai Chi could not only improve fitness but, more importantly, it had high combat effectiveness and was quite formidable as self-defense.
Zhang Tiegou’s face was full of envy. “It’s good to be educated. If a martial arts manual were placed before me, I wouldn’t recognize a single character.”
Xu Yi said, “It’s not too late to learn to read now.”
Zhang Tiegou’s eye twitched sharply. Seeing Xu Yi’s serious expression, he shook his head rapidly. “No, no! When I look at those characters like earthworms, I get dizzy.”
Xu Yi was helpless. “You envy it yet won’t study. Don’t you know: ‘Black hair doesn’t know diligence comes early, white head regrets studying comes late’?”
Zhang Tiegou listened in complete confusion and asked what that sentence meant.
Xu Yi: “…”
The two talked while walking back toward home.
Zhang Tiegou stopped pestering him with questions, afraid that asking too many would make Xu Yi find him annoying.
How could Xu Yi find him annoying? He just felt he was beyond help and didn’t intend to continue this topic with him. Setting aside his aversion to learning characters, Zhang Tiegou was still quite suitable as a friend.
Spending time with him allowed one to be more carefree.
“Brother Xu, can you teach your skills to others?” Zhang Tiegou wasn’t interested in studying, but he was interested in practicing martial arts! “Your skills are too good. When fighting, you couldn’t even be caught. It would be great if I could also learn a bit.”
Xu Yi squinted at him and asked in return, “You want to learn?”
“Of course! Who wouldn’t want to learn after seeing that? This way when I hunt in the mountains and encounter a wild boar, I won’t need to run. I’ll just beat it to death!” Zhang Tiegou waved his fists, looking eager to try.
Xu Yi said, “I can teach you, but I have one condition.”
“What condition?”
Zhang Tiegou’s face was full of excitement. “As long as you can teach me, I’ll agree to any condition!”
Xu Yi: “First finish reading the Thousand Character Classic.”
Zhang Tiegou’s rugged face cracked.
…
When they reached the house, Ah Xu and Ah Jin saw them return and said they had prepared lunch, which could be served now.
Lunch was simple.
Zhang Tiegou’s household didn’t lack meat. During this half month when he couldn’t hunt in the mountains, they’d been eating dried meat.
While Xu Yi and Zhang Tiegou were busy sparring, the two youngsters hadn’t been idle either.
After autumn arrived, shepherd’s purse began growing. With no other neighbors around Zhang Tiegou’s house, there was plenty of wild shepherd’s purse nearby.
They took baskets to the surrounding area and dug up quite a lot of wild shepherd’s purse to bring back.
The wild vegetables were blanched to remove their astringent taste, then could be stir-fried together with soaked and shredded dried meat.
The stir-fried dried meat released a fragrant aroma that even made Old Liu praise their cooking skills from the side.
“At this age, Ah Jin can already make such good food. If she could work as a cook in a wealthy household in the future, she’d have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of her life.”
Ah Jin turned her head to look at him and said seriously, “I won’t go to other people’s homes. I want to stay by the young master’s side forever.”
Old Liu grinned, showing his yellow teeth.
Here, they stir-fried the meat dish and also made a plate of scrambled eggs. The eggs were from Village Chief Zhang’s family. Xu Yi had told them to cook and eat them, so Ah Xu didn’t hesitate to use them.
Afterward, he and Ah Jin steamed a pot of bean rice, and lunch was ready.
Not long after eating lunch, Zhang Tiegou said he would take Xu Yi up the mountain to practice archery.
“Behind the village, going a bit deeper into the mountain where no one goes, it’s very secluded there. I set up two targets there. They’re a bit old, but still usable.” As Zhang Tiegou spoke, he began preparing tools for going up the mountain.
The mountains had mosquitoes and poisonous snakes. Before going up, they needed to tie their trouser legs tightly. After changing clothes, Zhang Tiegou went to fetch the bow and arrows.
The bow and arrows he had were ones he’d carved himself. Having been idle these past days, he’d even made a new bow for Xu Yi.
This new bow felt quite weighty in hand. The bow body was made of ironwood, and the string was made with fish glue. Xu Yi saw that this bow’s craftsmanship was rather crude, but looking at the bow Zhang Tiegou originally used, he felt Zhang Tiegou had done his best.
Hearing they were going up the mountain, Ah Xu asked Xu Yi somewhat longingly, “Young master, may I go along?”
“You want to learn archery?”
Zhang Tiegou asked him cheerfully from the side.
Ah Xu nodded. He also wanted to learn.
Zhang Tiegou said bluntly, “You can’t draw this bow, so you can’t learn.”
Xu Yi fell silent.
Ah Xu’s expression looked like he was about to cry.
Xu Yi glared at Zhang Tiegou and said, “This time you can watch from the side. If you really want to learn, I’ll teach you later.”
Archery depended on individual talent. Xu Yi felt that if he couldn’t learn it, he could let Ah Xu learn instead. Once Ah Xu learned, future long-range tasks could be entrusted to him.
In just a few seconds, Xu Yi had already thought about how to arrange future plans.
Zhang Tiegou had long since figured out that Xu Yi doted on children. Seeing he was bringing the older one, Zhang Tiegou asked if he should bring the younger one too.
“Leaving a little girl to guard the house alone isn’t appropriate.”
His excuse was quite effective. Xu Yi was very receptive to persuasion and brought Ah Jin along as well.
Learning she could also follow the young master and brother into the mountains, Ah Jin was delighted and happily ran off to pack water.
“This child is easy to please.” Old Liu watched from the side with a chuckle.
He looked at Xu Yi and Zhang Tiegou. “Doctor Xu, it’s not convenient for me to follow you. Hunter Zhang, rest assured, I’ll guard the house for you.”
Xu Yi nodded at him.
Before long, their group entered the mountain behind Baili Village.
The mountain behind Baili Village wasn’t tall, but it was deep.
Walking inward for the time it takes two incense sticks to burn, few human traces could be seen. Weeds grew densely all around, shrubs were thick, and there wasn’t even a single obvious mountain path.
Xu Yi’s gaze swept the surroundings as he distributed the small cloth bags tied at his waist to Ah Xu and Ah Jin.
He asked Zhang Tiegou, “Few villagers come here?”
“Right.” Zhang Tiegou answered without hesitation. “Our mountains have many poisonous snakes. Villagers are afraid of coming in and getting bitten by snakes. Being bitten by a snake makes survival difficult. Over time, not many people are willing to come in.”
Xu Yi asked, “Why not use snake-repelling medicine?”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Tiegou cursed and complained to Xu Yi that the traveling merchants who came to the village to sell snake-repelling medicine were too wicked, often selling them fake medicine. Last time when he was bitten by a snake and nearly died, wasn’t it because of that fake medicine?
Xu Yi sighed. Selling fake medicine truly couldn’t be eradicated in any dynasty.
He remembered that regardless of the dynasty, punishment for manufacturing and selling fake medicine was never lenient. Unfortunately, the profits were too great and the waters too deep.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were records of certain places where the “Ripened Medicine Office” supervision was corrupt. Corrupt officials colluded with dishonest merchants, resulting in medicines sold to medical halls and common people being shoddily made. Fake medicines ran rampant, medicine quality dropped drastically, various complaints arose among the people, and they also lost confidence in the government-run “Ripened Medicine Office.”
At that time, all of Southern Song was already in a precarious state.
Even though the court’s Ministry of Justice issued many strict prohibitions, on the surface people didn’t dare, but privately it repeatedly couldn’t be prevented.
His thoughts returning, after walking for half a shichen, Xu Yi and the others finally reached the secluded place Zhang Tiegou mentioned.
The vegetation here wasn’t as lush as before. Two worn, tattered circular hemp rope targets hung on two adjacent trees.
Zhang Tiegou said the targets were stuffed with reeds and dry grass inside. As long as one had accuracy, they could hit them.
Without another word, he raised his hand and drew the bow. With a “swish,” a wooden arrow flew out, hitting the bullseye dead center.
“Hehe, I haven’t touched a bow in half a month. I’m a bit rusty.” Zhang Tiegou seemed to say casually.
Xu Yi’s lips curved in a slight smile, knowing he wanted to show off.
“Please teach me, Brother Zhang.” He flattered him.
Zhang Tiegou: “Easy enough. Just watch whether I can hit it again.”
His hand reached toward the leather quiver at his waist again, drew out an arrow and held it between two fingers. At the moment of drawing the bow, his arrowhead tilted slightly downward.
The “swish” of air being split sounded again.
This time, the arrowhead entered the bullseye without question, then the arrow fletching vibrated slightly before slowly stopping.
Xu Yi raised an eyebrow. Zhang Tiegou’s accuracy was even better than he’d thought.
However, this wooden arrow didn’t have much power. When its arrowhead shot out and struck high-hardness objects like stones or ironwood, the arrowhead essentially lost its effectiveness.
But for the novice Xu Yi, it was just right.
Soon, it was Xu Yi’s turn to nock and shoot an arrow.
Zhang Tiegou guided his bow-drawing posture from the side. Seeing his two fingers empty, he said, “Once you can hit the target, I’ll give you a thumb ring made from wolf bone.”
Xu Yi narrowed his eyes. “Really?”
Zhang Tiegou said unhappily, “I, Zhang Tiegou, always keep my word. When have I ever deceived you?”
Xu Yi said nothing more.
His gaze fell on the target twenty meters away as his mind recalled what Zhang Tiegou had done in the instant of shooting.
While carefully recalling, Xu Yi slowly lowered the raised arrowhead. When the arrowhead was below the bullseye, estimating a distance of half a centimeter, his fingers holding the wooden arrow released.
“Swish.”
A brief sound, and the wooden arrow shot out rapidly. In an instant it flew toward the target, hitting directly below the bullseye.
Only half an inch from the bullseye.