Start practicing archery

Chapter 15 The Butcher and Xu Wolong
A martial arts arena.

More than two-thirds of the people were lying on the ground.

One third of them were too tired to practice, and the remaining one third gave up from the beginning.

For them, being a soldier is just a way to make a living, or some are simply forced to join the army.

Only the last third is left, and I am still struggling to hold on.

Among them, Chen Sanshi made the fastest progress, having practiced to the 25th level of standing meditation.

Secondly, there was the young man with the special breathing method, who had practiced the seventeenth standing posture.

Finally, there was a bearded man who managed to reach the twelfth level of standing still.

The three of them started practicing after receiving the skills last night.

As for the rest, the fastest they could practice was only the seventh level of standing meditation.

"It seems that the improvement in my physical condition brought by my mastery of archery is quite remarkable!"

Chen Sanshi could not have imagined that a physique of a "natural archer" would actually benefit him a lot in martial arts. He wondered what would happen when he advanced next time.

The young man and the bearded man who were standing together looked towards Chen Sanshi from time to time, as if they were competing with him.

Roll your mother!

Chen Sanshi was speechless.

When he was practicing the 26th standing posture, he felt gradually exhausted and chose to stop.

It's not that he is lazy, but he knows that you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry.

If you force yourself to continue exercising, it may cause irreversible damage to your body and will be counterproductive.

Seeing that he had stopped practicing, the young man and the bearded man fell to the ground one after another.

"Hey, what's your name?"

The bearded man wiped the sweat off his face with his hand and asked while panting.

"Chen Sanshi." Chen Sanshi replied.

"Chen Sanshi?"

The bearded man asked in surprise, "The one from Yanbian Village?"

Chen Sanshi was surprised: "Do you know me?"

The man laughed and said, "Who in the country doesn't know that Yanbian Village has produced a loyal and righteous hunter?"

"That's not the case..."

Chen Sanshi felt strange.

Loyal and righteous, does that mean he saved Shunzi's father?
But that was just a matter of two taels of silver, it shouldn't be enough to make you so famous, right?
"The mother of your sworn brother Zhang Shun beat and scolded you just because you owed them two taels of silver for saving their lives. She even wanted to sell your wife to Qin Xiong to pay off the debt. Not only did you not bear a grudge, but at the critical moment, you took the risk of being retaliated by the martial arts school disciples and took out five taels of silver to save her!"

The man patted his chest vigorously and said in a loud voice: "Where can I find such a loyal and righteous man these days? Brother, I admire you!"

"?"

Chen Sanshi's face was full of question marks.

It's true that he and Shunzi have been friends since they were young, but when did they become sworn brothers?
When did his mother start beating and scolding him?
And how is Qin Xiong's matter related to Aunt Li?

I don't know who is so ridiculous.

Is this the rumor that is spread everywhere?

"My surname is Zhu, and my given name is Tong!"

Zhu Tong cupped his hands and said, "From now on, if you don't mind, I will call you Brother Chen!"

Chen Sanshi clasped his fists in return.

Another young man came over and said, "My name is Song Yan. You are very good at practicing Zhuang Gong."

"You're not bad either." Chen Sanshi said.

Zhu Tong said in a bad manner: "Ignore this kid!"

Chen Sanshi asked doubtfully: "Brother Zhu, what are you doing..."

Before Zhu Tong could finish his words, Song Yan spoke first: "You are missing some of the skills you learned, but I am not missing anything, because Captain Luo is my second uncle, and he taught me in advance. If you want to learn, you can take eight taels of silver and go to each captain to ask for advice."

"You are so shameless, you have the nerve to say that!"

When Zhu Tong came to the military camp yesterday, he happened to see this kid with Captain Luo and heard some breathing techniques.

"Okay, thank you."

Chen Sanshi nodded.

Just as he guessed.

Song Yan also nodded, then went to find a step to sit down and rest.

Zhu Tong took out a stuffed pancake from his arms and handed it over.

Chen Sanshi was not polite and chatted with Zhu Tong while eating cakes, and got a brief understanding of each other's life experience.

Zhu Tong was a butcher in Zhujia Village. Not long ago, he was almost exiled to the south to do hard labor because he couldn't stand the local gentry bullying widows. He spent most of his family's money to run the business, so he joined the army in his hometown instead. "Old Zhu, give me a cake too."

As the two chatted, a hand quietly reached out to Zhu Tong's arms, but was slapped away: "Get lost!"

Chen Sanshi looked up and found that it was the man who had explained the meaning of "selecting forward" to everyone before. He looked to be nearly fifty years old and even had white hair.

Zhu Tong introduced him unhappily, "This is Xu Wencai, a notorious lazy guy in Zhujia Village."

Xu Wencai said unhappily: "Hey, who are you calling a lazy guy?"

"You either stay at home and do nothing all day, or you goof around everywhere. On weekdays, your mother has to farm to support you. If you are not a lazy person, then who is a lazy person?!"

Zhu Tong said contemptuously: "Look, your mother died and there is no one to work and earn money. You can't pay the taxes, so you were taken here to be sent to the army to make up the numbers."

If you can't pay the taxes, you will be sent to serve as a soldier.

As for Zhang Shun being sent to build the canal, it was purely to offend people.

"You...you're talking nonsense!"

Xu Wencai said excitedly: "When I stay at home, I read thousands of books. When I go out to travel, I travel thousands of miles! I want to do great things!"

Zhu Tong spitted and said, "You nicknamed yourself Wolong, but you can't even pass the exam to become a scholar, and you're still talking nonsense to me!"

"You...Okay, can you give me a piece of cake before I leave?"

Xu Wencai hasn't eaten for two days.

In the past two years, the military settlements have not even been provided with food unless there is a war.

If people had enough to eat every day, there would be more soldiers willing to join the army.

"A disgraceful thing."

Zhu Tong finally threw a pancake over.

Xu Wencai immediately ran to the side happily, took out a book, and read it with relish while eating the cake.

Chen Sanshi noticed that the heavy bag behind him seemed to be full of books, so much so that the old scholar could not even straighten his back.

"Brother Xu."

He took the initiative to ask: "Can I borrow this book and take a look? I will return it to you after I finish reading it."

There was only one book left in his house. It would be difficult to improve his reading progress by reading it over and over again. It would be a waste of money to buy a new one, and he would need a lot of money to practice martial arts in the future.

"No loan."

Xu Wencai didn't even think about it.

"..."

Chen Sanshi hesitated for a moment and asked again: "Xu Wolong, lend me a copy. I promise to return it to you without any damage after reading it."

"cough……"

Xu Wencai almost choked on his pancake. He asked, "What did you just say?"

"Xu Wolong, I said I wanted to borrow a book from you." Chen Sanshi repeated.

"Hmm~"

Xu Wencai narrowed his eyes in enjoyment: "Since you are so sincere, I guess you are also a person who loves reading."

"Correct."

Chen Sanshi confessed: "I was also a scholar before. I took the exam for several years but failed to pass. I joined the army because I couldn't make it."

"Really?"

Xu Wencai became excited.

"Seriously!"

"Okay, that's what I said!"

Xu Wencai said indignantly: "The imperial examination of the Great Sheng Dynasty is bullshit. It is a test of dead essays. What's the point? Our truly talented people are all buried!

You can pick any book you want to read! "

He simply spread out the bundle on the ground, displaying all kinds of books, ranging from poetry to vernacular novels, from history books to ghost stories.

"If I hadn't been trying to collect money to buy a coffin for my mother's burial, I would still have a room full of books!"

"..."

Chen Sanshi picked one at random: "Thank you Xu Wolong."

The guards do not provide meals.

Generally, after a certain time, the military households would go home to eat.

Chen Sanshi also packed up his things.

Before leaving, he found Xu Bin and asked if he could get a heavy bow.

Mastery is so helpful to the practice of martial arts, and small success is even more promising, so the practice of archery cannot be interrupted.

(End of this chapter)