Jiang Juren was a great figure who had come out of Linhu Village.
He was also the most formidable person recorded in Linhu Village's local chronicles.
Unfortunately, ten years ago, Jiang Juren's entire family left Linhu Village. They did not settle in Poyang City either, but moved away directly.
As for where they went, Lin Chen did not know.
There were rumors in the village that Jiang Juren's whole family had moved to Raozhou Prefecture.
Just now, the village chief told him a piece of news. Back when Jiang Juren led his entire family to relocate, he had left behind a sentence: if an outstanding junior were to emerge in the village, they must be sure to inform him in Raozhou Prefecture.
Linhu Village was extremely far from Raozhou Prefecture. Sending someone to deliver the message in person was obviously impossible. The best method was to write a letter and hand it to a courier at the post station to deliver to the Jiang residence.
The village chief wanted him to write a letter to Jiang Juren.
He was thinking about whether he should write this letter now.
He was pondering Jiang Juren's state of mind when he said those words back then.
Was it just polite talk casually said while bidding farewell to the villagers, or did Jiang Juren truly care about Linhu Village?
Considering that Jiang Juren had not returned even once in ten years, and no one from the Jiang family had returned either, Lin Chen judged that there was a high chance those words were merely polite talk.
But a person's attitude toward something can change with age, especially feelings toward one's hometown.
Back then, Jiang Juren might have said it casually. Ten years had passed—perhaps Jiang Juren's attitude had changed.
When young, one curses their hometown for being poor; in old age, one longs for a handful of soil from home.
The older people get, the more they miss their native land and hometown.
Jiang Juren was naturally not old. According to Instructor Yu, Jiang Juren should currently be in the prime of his life as a ranked martial artist, which made his attitude even harder to gauge.
"Jiang Juren…"
Hearing his son's words, Lin Chen's father pondered for a moment. Jiang Juren was not much older than him, and he had interacted with Jiang Juren back in the village.
"Jiang Juren's ancestors fled famine and came to our village. By Jiang Juren's generation, it was only the third. Their family wasn't very populous, and they didn't interact much with the villagers."
Hearing his father's words, Lin Chen became even more certain that Jiang Juren's words back then were just said casually.
How could he not understand what rural life was like?
While it wouldn't go so far as outright exploitation or plunder, families with few adult men were more or less bullied in the village.
Even irrigation of farmland would be scheduled after families with many adult men.
On top of that, they were outsiders. Jiang Juren's impression of the villagers could not have been good. No wonder that once he rose to prominence, he left immediately.
As for the benefit of free martial training at the martial hall that the villagers of Linhu Village enjoyed, it was likely also a decision Jiang Juren made to shape his public image.
Analyzing it this way, if he wrote to Jiang Juren, Jiang Juren would, out of consideration for those polite words back then, give him some help—but only once. After that, there would be no more.
This letter had to be saved for a critical moment. Using it now would be a waste.
For the time being, he would not write to Jiang Juren.
...
...
The next day.
Before dawn, Lin Chen got up and began practicing his拳 in the courtyard.
Even though he had already trained jingqi, he would not slack off on the martial path.
Training jingqi was only the entry point to martial arts. There was still a long road ahead.
If he became complacent now and slackened in his cultivation, then even with the support of his destiny, he would not go far on the martial path.
Seeing her son get up so early, Lin Chen's mother showed a look of concern. "Chen'er, you're wearing so little. Won't you catch a chill?"
"Mother, I've already trained jingqi. My qi and blood are extremely vigorous. This bit of cold is nothing to me."
Lin Chen smiled and comforted his mother. With his current qi and blood, even in the depths of winter he wouldn't need to wrap himself in cotton clothes—let alone while practicing his拳.
By the time Lin Chen finished practicing, Lin Chen's father and elder brother had also gotten up.
Winter had already arrived. Each household's fishing boats had stopped going out on the lake, and the villagers were all idle.
The entire winter was a good season for villagers with sufficient grain at home. After a year of busyness, they could rest for a month, until after the Lantern Festival of the new year before starting the next year's labor.
Today was a big day for the Lin family. Although the village chief would arrange the banquet, Lin Chen's father still decided to go to town to buy a whole slab of pork. His elder brother Lin Liang went along as well.
When the sky began to brighten, the village chief organized the villagers to carry tables and benches from their homes to the grain-drying ground in front of the village ancestral hall.
The winter sun was warm and gentle. When Lin Chen arrived at the ancestral hall after practicing his拳, many elderly people were already sitting there basking in the sun.
Lin Chen's mother and the village women were busy washing and chopping vegetables. Two large earthen stoves in the ancestral hall were burning fiercely, and the big pots of pork fat gave off an enticing aroma. Many children sucked on their fingers, standing by the stoves unwilling to leave.
"You little rascals, hurry up and move away. Be careful not to get burned."
After thinking for a moment, Lin Chen's mother scooped out a large ladle of the freshly rendered pork cracklings and distributed them to the children. Only then did the children happily run off.
"Mother, Second Aunt."
"Chen'er's finished practicing. Today you're the most important one—go and entertain the guests."
Second Aunt said with a smile. Seeing Lin Chen's mother carrying a basket of radishes, she hurried over to help. "Sister-in-law, slow down. Let me do it."
Seeing Second Aunt's eager manner, Lin Chen felt no dislike. His impression of Second Aunt's family was fairly good; otherwise, he wouldn't have stood up for Lin Hui yesterday.
What guests were there?
They were all villagers—no outsiders.
On his mother's side, there were two maternal uncles, but since they didn't live near the river town, the journey alone took five hours. In the dead of winter, with such a hastily arranged banquet organized by the village, Lin Chen's mother hadn't asked his elder brother to inform them.
His grandfather and eldest uncle's family did not come. After what happened yesterday, they wouldn't.
What surprised Lin Chen a bit was that Gu Fei wasn't there either. After asking Gu Fei's father, he learned that two days ago Gu Fei had gone with his mother to his maternal grandfather's home and wouldn't be back for a few days.
When the villagers saw Lin Chen appear, another wave of praise followed.
At first, Lin Chen felt quite satisfied hearing it. But when he realized that his every move was being watched, he began to feel uncomfortable.
He even had to hold back the urge to pick his nose.
Half an hour later, the arrival of the village chief saved him.
The village chief brought incense and candles, leading Lin Chen into the village ancestral hall. First, they paid respects to the ancestors, then they offered sacrifices to the Lake God. After completing the entire set of rites, it was time to start the banquet.
As the main character, Lin Chen didn't need to go around proposing toasts at every table, but he couldn't withstand the villagers主动 coming to drink with him. After such a round, even with vigorous qi and blood, he was eventually drunk.
At the moment he collapsed, vaguely, Lin Chen noticed that several village girls seemed to want to come help support him, but they were stopped by Second Aunt.
"Chen'er's had a bit too much to drink. Sister-in-law, take Chen'er home to rest."
Second Aunt shouted loudly. Lin Chen only remembered hazily hearing Second Aunt mutter in a low voice, "Hmph, these girls are all sharp little things. Our Chen'er has made something of himself—he can't be tainted by them. Chen'er is going to marry a city girl in the future."
...
...
Life rarely grants many chances to get drunk!
That evening, when Lin Chen woke up, he pretended to still be drunk and didn't return to the banquet. He lay on his hard wooden bed while his mother cooked hangover soup and plain porridge for him.
He didn't regret getting drunk.
Martial arts were his pursuit, but the scenery along the way was equally beautiful. He wasn't a heartless martial training machine.
What drove him forward—besides his pursuit of martial arts, of extraordinary power beyond ordinary people, and of changing the fate of himself and his family—was also the sense of achievement and vanity he gained along the way.
If he were to be left alone in deep mountains and forests, able to continuously break through martial realms just by training, until finally standing at the pinnacle of martial arts and then instantly growing old—
That was not a path he would choose.
He was not that kind of pure martial fanatic, for whom hearing the Way in the morning and dying in the evening would suffice.