Gao Wu: Starting with playing the Flying Bat Ke Zhen'e

Day fourteen of playing Ke Zhen'e, morning.

In the familiar courtyard, the apprentices who hurried to and fro would occasionally glance at Tang Luo under the banyan tree, their eyes filled with envy.

Recently, Tang Luo has become the most famous person in the courtyard.

Everyone knows that he has found a powerful patron and become a disciple of a master. He has returned to redeem himself from his servitude.

What he practiced was the legendary "method of cultivation," a method that only cultivators could practice.

Even Steward Wang has been very accommodating to him, and now he doesn't even need to chop wood or cook meals!

They still work from sunrise to sunset every day, while others are already becoming "quasi-masters"!

A pitiful, thick barrier has already separated them.

Tang Luo looked at these strange gazes, but his eyes showed little wavering. He simply continued his cultivation.

But a sense of helplessness also welled up in his heart.

Within the Prince's mansion, the best place for cultivation was undoubtedly the martial arts training ground, with ample training equipment, plenty of space, and numerous instructors. But the problem was, he was merely a servant.

Whether he can get a spot at the martial arts arena is one thing, but if he catches the eye or dislikes the young master or lady of some family, his plan to redeem himself will likely be ruined.

However, spiritual practice requires a great deal of space.

Static exercises are relatively easy to do, but dynamic exercises absolutely cannot be practiced without sufficient space.

After much deliberation, he finally chose to stand under the familiar banyan tree in the courtyard.

Although there were quite a few people, they were mainly concentrated in the morning, noon and evening at fixed times. Moreover, the people living in the courtyard were of relatively low social status, so even if they were seen, there wouldn't be much of a problem.

While pondering, Tang Luo suddenly heard hurried footsteps beside her ear.

"Brother Luo, Manager Wang wants you to go see him."

Tang Luo looked up, glanced at the thin servant rushing towards him, took out a large coin from his pocket and pushed it into the servant's arms, then ran towards Wang He's residence.

Inside the attic, Wang He put down the letter in his hand, and on the table in front of him was a thin contract, next to which was a stack of portraits.

bang bang~

Come in~

Upon hearing this, Tang Luo pushed open the door and entered, then pulled the bolt shut behind him.

When Wang He saw him enter, he pointed to the ebony chair directly opposite him on the table: "Come, sit down."

After Tang Luo sat down and curiously looked at the items on the table, Wang He pointed to the contract in front of him and said:

"Your indenture is clearly priced at four hundred taels of silver!"

My wholesale price is three hundred taels!

Tang Luo was about to take out some money from his pocket when Wang He continued:

I'll take three hundred from you this time, I won't make a single penny.

After saying that, he picked up the portrait on the other side: "This is a portrait that is changed every year. Generally speaking, it costs ten taels of silver, but this time, I'll do you a good deed and not charge you a single coin. How about it?"

Wang He looked at Tang Luo in front of him, and seeing that he seemed hesitant, added with some displeasure, "You can go ask other people. If I, Wang He, have told even one lie, I will not..."

"No, no, no~" Tang Luo quickly waved his hand, interrupting Wang He, then took out three gold leaves from his pocket, reluctantly handed them to Wang He, and said softly, "I have never seen so much gold before."

These gold leaves were an apology gift from Wang Yuande at his banquet; there were ten in total, each weighing one tael.

The exchange rate between gold and silver was one to one hundred, which was very stable thanks to the joint control of the imperial court and the sects.

Wang He nodded, accepted the gold leaf, and pushed the portrait and indenture towards Tang Luo, his opinion of Tang Luo rising even higher.

The hardest thing for people is to accept their own shortcomings, especially those who rise from the bottom, who are even less likely to accept their own flaws.

Tang Luo's ability to recognize and frankly admit his greed is an excellent quality.

Wang He glanced at the heavy bell hanging on the wall and instructed, "Once you've accepted the indenture, hurry to the government office to cancel your slave registration; otherwise, it will eventually become a troublesome matter."

Tang Luo nodded slightly, touching the somewhat rough contract, but felt a sense of relief.

Slaves had two contracts: one held by the slave owner and the other kept by the government.

The so-called cancellation of slave status required taking the indenture to a specific department of the government for verification. After verification, both indentures were destroyed together, and the person was then transferred to civilian status and re-registered with the government.

Slavery has many inconveniences, such as being barred from holding office or having one's own residence, but most importantly, slave owners theoretically possess unlimited power over their slaves.

Slave owners could command, beat, and even kill slaves unconditionally, and the slave owners had no right to resist.

Even though he wasn't actually subjected to much criticism or beatings, this thing still hung over Tang Luo's head like the Sword of Damocles, making him tremble with fear.

This is why the first thing Tang Luo did upon returning was to redeem his indenture. If he couldn't get it back through legitimate means, he even considered using the [Ke Zhen'e] template to steal it directly.

Fortunately, things didn't turn out the worst.

Tang Luo picked up the contract and portrait, closed the door, and left again.

Inside the attic, Wang He watched Tang Luo's departing figure from afar and nodded slightly.

It was his own idea to give away the portrait for free; his elder brother had never actually mentioned it.

He personally admired Tang Luo, and Tang Luo's hard work these past few days made him feel that Tang Luo might achieve something in the future, even though they hadn't spent much time together.

He was greatly influenced by his elder brother, and this casual gift was one of them.

Ultimately, it's all just a matter of raising a hand, making a good connection, whether it works out or not, it's all the same.

Tang Luo did not rush back to the courtyard. Instead, he sped westward to the government office. After spending an hour completely removing his slave status and converting him to civilian status, he returned to the courtyard to pack his belongings.

Inside the dormitory, Tang Luo carried a wooden box that was half his height, glanced back at his former bed, then turned and left the place where he had lived for many years.

Walking alone on a fairly noisy street, Tang Luo was pondering something else.

money!

Including Wang Yuande's apology, the ten gold leaves, the one hundred taels of silver he had already received, and other miscellaneous income from looting corpses, he earned a total of about one thousand one hundred and fifty taels of silver.

This amount is enormous. You should know that the original owner only earned two hundred coins a month and two taels of silver a year. It would take him more than five hundred years to earn one thousand one hundred and fifty taels.

"But...it's far from enough." Tang Luo shook his head, glanced down at the silver in his arms, and sighed.

It looks like a lot, but in fact, it's because the predecessor earned too little.

Based on his previous life's purchasing power, he earned four hundred a month. This was mainly because he was a slave, and his wages were naturally low. In addition, the royal palace provided food and lodging, which made it even more so.

However, the herbal decoctions he needs for health maintenance are the kind he takes orally now, one dose of which can be used three times, and one dose can roughly last a day.

One dose costs five qian of silver, equivalent to two and a half months' wages for the previous owner.

For a normal cultivator in preparation for training, one dose of the decoction can last for three days, but that's different for others.

Under extreme conditions, he can use four doses a day, and one dose can be used approximately every two hours.

Not only does he use a lot, but he also absorbs it very strongly. You should know that he has only used it for ten days, and his strength is already close to five hundred jin, and he is far from reaching his limit.

His health regimen progressed at an astonishingly fast pace, but at the cost of a massive expenditure of two taels of silver per day.

However, this is still not the biggest consumption!

Squeak~

Tang Luo pushed open the door and entered. Upon entering, he saw a thin boy holding a huge stone lock. This was Zhang He, the mind reader he had picked up earlier.

He's the real culprit behind all the spending!