"The bandits those soldiers killed must have come from Baiyang County…"
"Baiyang County suffered a disaster this year."
The next day, after returning to his family home in the countryside, Wei Tu finally learned about the origins of those bladesmen from his father, Wei Bao.
Even though he had witnessed the soldiers cutting down the bandits the night before, he had kept silent about it, not daring to ask questions for fear of attracting trouble.
It was only after returning home that he dared to mention it in passing.
Six years ago, in order to keep the family alive, Wei Bao had not only sold his eldest son but also sold off part of their ancestral land.
In the years since, to make ends meet, he had traveled to Baiyang County with other villagers to work as seasonal wheat harvesters.
Baiyang County lay northwest of Qingmu County. Unlike Qingmu County, which had abundant farmland, Baiyang had mostly dry, sloping land, where wheat ripened earlier in the season.
Because of this, Wei Bao always learned about Baiyang's situation ahead of others.
"But things are getting worse… The grain relief for Baiyang County was supposed to come from the government storehouses, but seventy percent of it has gone missing from the records."
Wei Bao's voice was grim.
Hearing this, Wei Tu nodded slightly.
Even though villagers were uneducated, they could sense the changes in society far earlier than wealthy families could.
It was like ants moving before a storm—a sign of something big coming.
After discussing the previous night's events, the father and son fell into silence, not knowing what else to say.
Wei Bao's gaze shifted to Wei Tu's waist, where he noticed a tobacco pipe tucked at his belt.
Without a word, he stood up from his stool, walked to the window, and grabbed a handful of sun-dried tobacco leaves, wrapping them into a small bundle before handing it to Wei Tu.
"Try it. Grown at home."
Wei Bao's voice was calm.
For a long while—
The father and son sat side by side, taking turns inhaling from their pipes.
A thin veil of smoke swirled through the dimly lit house, layer upon layer, almost like moonlit mist.
That night.
Wei Tu was called outside by Wei Bao.
His father did not say much—he simply stood under the shadow of the eaves, took out a cloth pouch from inside his chest, and pressed it into Wei Tu's hands.
"I've wronged you all these years."
"This is what I've managed to save. Use it whether you want to buy land or redeem your indenture—it should help."
For a moment, Wei Tu remained silent, then he took the pouch.
The moment it landed in his palm—
He felt its heavy weight.
Even if it was only copper coins, there had to be at least five to six qian inside.
But as his fingers ran along the fabric, he also felt a few rough, uneven lumps, each the size of a soybean.
He knew immediately—
They were silver pieces.
However—
Before the warmth of this gesture could fully sink in, Wei Bao's next words shattered it completely.
"You're an indentured servant now. Unless you redeem your contract, you and your wife are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall to worship our ancestors…"
"Not even once."
His father's voice was calm but unyielding.
Yes.
To the people of the countryside, selling oneself into servitude wasn't considered disgraceful.
But—
A servant could never offer rituals to the ancestors or step foot into the ancestral hall.
The clan leader would never allow it.
To have a servant claim kinship with the clan was to disgrace their lineage.
"I understand."
Wei Tu's face burned, as if scalded by boiling water.
For the first time, he was glad that he stood in the darkness of the countryside, where no one could see his expression.
He clenched the money pouch tightly, swallowing hard before speaking again—
"I'll leave at first light. I won't let the villagers see me."
At that moment—
He truly understood.
For someone who had sold himself into servitude, returning home was not an honor.
It was an embarrassment to the clan.
No matter how indifferent he tried to be—
It still stung to have someone step on your head.
Wei Bao had given him money, not just out of guilt, but also to urge him to leave quietly.
Leaving Weijia Village early was better than being shunned.
"Good."
Wei Bao's lips moved slightly, as if wanting to say more, but in the end, he only gave a single word of acknowledgment.
The next morning.
The narrow mountain path was damp with morning dew, making it slippery.
Wei Tu and Xinghua walked carefully, taking small steps.
Suddenly—
Xinghua's foot slipped.
She stumbled, falling against the rocky hillside, wincing as she rubbed her ankle.
"Wei Ge'er, does your father dislike me? I called him 'Father,' and he didn't even acknowledge it…"
Xinghua's eyes welled with tears.
"And the ancestral hall…"
Her voice quivered, clearly troubled by the fact that she hadn't been allowed to enter the Wei family's ancestral shrine to offer her respects.
Wei Tu didn't respond immediately.
Instead, he reached out and gently stroked her head, pulling her into his arms, letting her tears soak into his chest.
"One day, that will change."
He silently vowed.
When they married, he had already felt guilty for not being able to give her a proper ceremony with the three betrothal gifts and six ceremonial rites.
But now—
They had come all the way back to his hometown, and he couldn't even take her into the ancestral hall.
Instead, they had left at dawn, slipping away like disgraced outcasts from Weijia Village…
How could he not care about that?
Upon returning to Li Manor, Wei Tu's life resumed its usual routine.
The matter of renting farmland was never mentioned again by First Madam Li Tongshi, as if she had completely forgotten about it.
Wei Tu suspected otherwise—
It was likely that Li Manor was deliberately putting them on hold, testing their patience.
After all, granting favors and withholding privileges was how households maintained control over their servants.
He continued to reassure Xinghua, telling her to wait and see.
Six months passed.
Spring was just around the corner, and soon it would be planting season.
Seeing that Li Tongshi still hadn't brought up the topic of land rental, Xinghua finally gave up on the idea of Wei Tu becoming a tenant farmer this year.
Turtle Breath Energy Cultivation (34/100): Nine cycles per day, complete in five years.
It had been over a year since he obtained Turtle Breath Energy Cultivation.
One afternoon, while practicing, Wei Tu reached his thirteenth stance repetition, when suddenly—
A deep, surging sound echoed within his body, like waves crashing against a shoreline.
At the same time, his stance work began to feel different, as if a mysterious rhythm had emerged within his movements.
Moments later—
A powerful surge of warmth flowed through his limbs and bones, strengthening his physical body far beyond before.
"Could it be that the cultivation technique has reached the Minor Accomplishment stage?"
Wei Tu immediately checked the progress recorded within his Late Bloomer destiny.
From what he knew—
Martial disciplines were generally divided into four stages:
Beginner, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Perfection.
Now that he had reached over a third of his progress, coupled with this new transformation in his body, he reasoned that he had likely stepped into the Minor Accomplishment stage of Turtle Breath Energy Cultivation.
"Let's test it with a two-hundred-jin stone lock."
Once the warmth in his body subsided, Wei Tu regulated his breathing before turning his gaze toward a set of stone locks in the corner of the courtyard.
Stone locks were simple training weights, and after deciding to pursue martial strength, he had spent a small sum of silver to purchase a set from a nearby farmer.
Walking up to them, he placed one hand on the two-hundred-jin stone lock and exerted force.
With little effort—
The massive weight lifted off the ground, rising to his chest level, then up to his shoulder.
"I did it!"
A look of delight flashed across Wei Tu's face.
Lifting two hundred jin wasn't impossible for an ordinary adult, but there was a vast difference between lifting it with both hands and lifting it with one arm alone.
Now that he could effortlessly lift it with one hand, he officially met the physical requirements to compete in the martial examinations.
However—
Being physically strong alone wasn't enough to secure a title in the martial examinations.
Beyond stone lifting, the exam also included:
Blade combat
Hard bow drawing
Mounted archery
Military strategy assessment
"I need to start training in archery while saving money to buy back my freedom."
"A servant cannot take the martial examination."
Wei Tu set down the stone lock, deep in thought about his next steps.
At the moment—
The fastest and most effective way for him to rise above his current station was to pass Zheng Kingdom's triennial martial examination.
Although the martial path was less prestigious than the scholarly path, for a commoner, earning a martial title was still a massive leap in social status.