abnabooks Chapter 20 Donglan Lane
Chapter 20 Donglan Lane
The next day, at Chen Shi (7-9 AM).
Chen Luo bought some breakfast and ate it as he walked towards Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy.
Along the way, you can see many children who are not even half his height, going to the martial arts school for morning practice.
Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy has three training sessions: morning, noon, and evening. The morning session is mainly for children, and the main content taught is literacy. The evening session focuses on practicing some common boxing techniques to strengthen muscles and bones.
This is because the Nine Yang Strength has an age limit; it is most suitable when one's muscles and bones are just beginning to develop around the age of fifteen. It is not advisable to practice it if one is too young.
My predecessor also practiced here when he was a child, such as the Five Animal Frolics and the Eight Pieces of Brocade, but the effect was not ideal. It wasn't until he was sixteen years old that he was able to strengthen his muscles and bones and was officially enrolled in a martial arts school.
As for the afternoon exercise, it mainly involves women.
Because many women often had to take care of cooking and farming at home during their evening training sessions, they only had time to come to the martial arts school at noon.
But apart from the fact that the morning practice session was led by a man in his sixties, the main instructor for both the afternoon and evening practice sessions was Li Shen.
Therefore, Chen Luo also greatly admired Instructor Li. Instructor Li was clearly a martial arts master with an undeniably prestigious position, yet he taught martial arts at the martial arts academy day and night, almost without rest throughout the year.
They are much like some of the rural teachers who were rooted in the countryside in my past life.
As I pondered, the sun rose high in the sky.
When Chen Luo arrived at the entrance of the martial arts school, he immediately spotted Li Jiangwei standing next to a carriage, smiling and greeting the children who were entering the school.
She looked exceptionally radiant today.
She was no longer wearing the plain dress she usually wore at the martial arts academy, but a light blue short dress with a white gauze lining. She had obviously dressed up carefully, with strings of tassels at her waist. Her figure was graceful, her eyebrows were like distant mountains, and a touch of rouge tinted her eyes, making her look both dignified and radiant.
"Greetings, Steward Li." Chen Luo stepped forward and greeted him, slightly surprised.
He originally thought that the person leading him would be Lin Siwu, who was in charge of general affairs, but he didn't expect it to be Li Jiangwei.
"Good morning." Li Jiangwei seemed to have seen through Chen Luo's thoughts and walked closer with a smile, "Officer Lin has other matters to attend to, so I'll come and escort you today."
Chen Luo smiled and said, "Thank you for your trouble."
The two then boarded the carriage.
This was the first time Chen Luo had ridden in a carriage since his transmigration. Carriages were usually a luxury only the wealthy could afford, and they were rarely seen in the western part of the city where he lived.
A faint fragrance filled the carriage. Li Jiangwei sat upright on the opposite side, smiling as she looked at Chen Luo.
"I don't think I've ever seen you at the martial arts academy before. You mentioned that you slacked off in your martial arts training for the first two years." She asked with a hint of curiosity, "Then why did you become so diligent again in the following year?"
"You've thought it through, haven't you? You feel that martial arts has a brighter future." Chen Luo smiled and then asked, "Where's Manager Li? Is he training with Instructor Li?"
"I'm not smart enough, I don't have that talent." Li Jiangwei sighed softly and looked out the window. "My father has always wanted to send me to the ceremonial platform."
"Ceremonial stand?"
"A place to learn etiquette."
"I see." Chen Luo nodded, without asking any further questions.
There is no such place in Qingshan County. The ceremonial platform she mentioned is probably in Shang County.
"Then how did you manage to break through to the second level of Nine Yang Strength in just half a month after starting from the basics?" Li Jiangwei asked curiously.
"I can't really explain it, but I feel that after I got the basics of Nine Yang Strength, it became much easier to practice, and before I knew it, I had reached the second level of strength," Chen Luo explained with a fabricated reason.
"I see." Li Jiangwei recalled her father's words about "jade in stone" and couldn't help but steal a few more glances at Chen Luo.
As they chatted idly, the carriage bumped along the road.
About half an hour later, the car gradually became stable, and Chen Luo guessed that they had arrived at Dongcheng.
The eastern part of Qingshan County connects to the official road leading to the upper county. Looking out the car window, Chen Luo saw rows of exquisite mansions and courtyards, with even the curbs being smoother.
Most of the residents in the eastern part of the city were wealthy families, and Chen Luo had visited the area since his transmigration. In his memory, his predecessor had only visited once.
That time, it was because his father had dug up a rare ginseng in the mountains and brought it to the East City to sell. His father came along with him, and the ginseng eventually sold for a high price of two taels of silver. The father and son specially cooked a meat dish to celebrate.
Even after nearly ten years, Chen Luo could still smell the aroma of that meat through his predecessor's memories.
The car turned into a small alley and finally stopped at the end of the alley in front of a mansion.
The two got out of the car. Chen Luo looked up and saw that the gate of the mansion was clean and bright, but he did not see a plaque.
This mansion must be the destination, as it is named "Donglan Lane" because there is no plaque.
Several carriages were parked outside the mansion. A middle-aged man dressed as a guard stood in front of the mansion gate. When he saw Li Jiangwei get out of the carriage, he immediately turned to the side and bowed slightly.
Li Jiangwei nodded to him, received a wooden plaque engraved with the character "玖" from him, and entered the mansion, with Chen Luo following closely behind.
Passing through the gate, the interior was smaller than Chen Luo had imagined.
The front yard was just an empty courtyard with many camphor trees planted inside, lush and green. However, there was another inner courtyard gate about three zhang away.
Whether it was his imagination or not, as soon as Chen Luo stepped into the front yard, he smelled a strange, faint odor, which seemed like medicine but was not quite.
He guessed that the reason so many camphor trees were planted in the yard was probably to suppress the strange smell.
In addition, there were seven or eight people standing sparsely in the courtyard, mostly young people of similar age to Chen Luo, each dressed in fine and elegant clothes.
They noticed Li Jiangwei walking in and couldn't help but take a few more glances.
Many eyes also fell on Chen Luo, who was standing next to her.
"Apart from you, most of these people are disciples of the private school," Li Jiangwei said with a slight smile. "We'll have to wait in line here in the front yard for a while."
Even if she hadn't said anything, Chen Luo could have guessed that those people were disciples of a private school.
On the one hand, they looked well-dressed and seemed to be rich.
On the other hand, Chen Luo could sense that these people stood tall and had a steady aura, clearly skilled in external martial arts, but he didn't know how many levels of the Nine Yang Force they had reached.
He knew that private school disciples, due to their access to more specific guidance and various precious medicinal resources, were often stronger than the disciples of Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy.
If we compare the Nine Yang Strength Minor Completion to an undergraduate degree in a previous life, the success rate of private schools is said to be close to 50%, while the Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy is estimated to have less than 10%.
In short, these people are all rich, skilled in martial arts, and look young; they must be disciples of a private school.
"Is this a pharmacy?" Chen Luo asked Li Jiangwei.
He smelled the strange odor, which was somewhat similar to the scent of herbs. Moreover, Instructor Li had said that he was physically weak, so it made sense if he had brought him here to buy medicine.
This also explains why there are so many private school students here; they're probably here to buy medicine too.
"Hmm...more or less." Li Jiangwei thought for a moment, "But rather than a pharmacy, I think this place is more like a butcher shop."
Chen Luo was taken aback. "A butcher shop?"
"You'll find out soon enough," Li Jiangwei said with a slight smile.
Chen Luo realized that this girl always liked to keep things mysterious.
He didn't ask any more questions and waited for a while longer.
Several people came out of the inner courtyard, each carrying one or more burlap sacks, the contents of which were not visible.
It wasn't until number nine arrived that he and Li Jiangwei entered the inner courtyard gate, led by a servant.
Upon entering the inner courtyard, the first thing that catches the eye is a spacious traditional courtyard house.
In the courtyard, the muddy ground was covered with lime and wood ash, and a stone brick path branched into three routes leading to the east, west, and north. More than ten workers stood in a corner of the courtyard waiting for orders.
On the east side is a row of wide wooden frames that are taller than the courtyard wall, piled high with all kinds of oddly shaped and colorful grass leaves and roots.
Under the wooden frame were several stone mortars of different sizes, with stone rollers and chaff cutters inside. The earthen stove under the mortars was smoking, and it looked like it had just been extinguished. That familiar strange smell wafted along with the smoke.
As for the view on the west side, that's probably why this place is called the butcher shop.
A huge chopping board was embedded in the ground, with a row of thick iron hooks hanging above it, filled with cut pieces of meat, and next to it was a huge water vat that was as thick as three people could hug.
The rows of meat were still seeping blood, and beneath the blood was no longer muddy ground, but rather bluestone slabs for easy rinsing and several bamboo pipes for drawing water.
Chen Luo quickly scanned the area, then his gaze settled on the chunks of meat on the iron hook.
The pieces of meat were quite conspicuous, some were leg meat covered with colorful scales, some were chest and abdominal meat covered with fascia, and some were even shoulder blades with sharp claws... They varied in color, size and shape.
Although Chen Luo was a hunter, he couldn't identify the type of animal that made up the pieces of meat at a glance.
The only thing he recognized was a huge, mottled, thin film, which he identified as a snake slough. Judging from its size, he guessed it came from a python that was over two zhang long.