Taiping Medical Hall was always separate from the world. On Anxi Street, no matter how many merchants came and went, how the seasons changed, spring turning to autumn, winter solstice to summer solstice, the medical hall was always there, a comforting presence.

But suddenly, Taiping Medical Hall became lively.

The World Son and the County Master scaled the walls, Liang Gou’er and Liang Mao’er took lodging there, and there was laughter, the warmth of the stove fire, and a continuous stream of jianghu guests…

Chen Ji stood outside the door, his expression complex as he looked at Old Man Yao: “Master, are you doing this so he can teach me knife skills?”

Old Man Yao stood outside the door with his hands behind his back, saying indifferently, “The Liang family’s knife technique is unparalleled in Yu State. In this world, there are many with skills, but few who seek the ‘Dao’. Learn well.”

Chen Ji was curious, “What’s the difference between skill and Dao?”

Old Man Yao explained slowly, “Dao is an ethereal direction, skill is the road beneath your feet. Remember, using Dao to control skill will lead to success in skill; using skill to control Dao will lead to the decline of skill.”

“Then why are you still having me learn knife skill first?”

“Learn it first. How to enter the knife Dao through knife skill is the Liang family’s secret, one they don’t pass on. But their Liang family currently has no heir, and this skill might be lost at any time. What if Liang Gou’er suddenly has an inspiration and passes it on to you… Right, you’ve earned quite a bit of money recently. You’ll pay for the food expenses of these two from the Liang family.”

Chen Ji became vigilant, “You’re still after my paltry savings?”

Old Man Yao, “Yes.”

Chen Ji, “…”

At this moment, Liang Mao’er’s voice rang out from the back yard, “May I ask… where do we sleep?”

Chen Ji hurriedly walked in, “Sleep in the apprentice dormitory, the big bed is enough for five people.”

Liang Mao’er quickly said, “No need, no need. The big bed is a bit crowded for five people. My brother can sleep here, I’ll sleep in the kitchen.”

Chen Ji laughed, “It’s alright, squeezing a bit won’t hurt. Winter is coming soon, the kitchen can be freezing.”

“Alright then…”

Liang Gou’er was already snoring deeply in sleep. Liang Mao’er gently placed him on the bed and took off his shoes and socks.

However, after doing all this, Liang Mao’er didn’t sleep himself. He just turned his head to look at Chen Ji and said carefully, “That… I can help with work. Cleaning, cooking, and washing clothes, I can do it all, I’m not afraid of being tired.”

Before Chen Ji could answer, Liang Mao’er actually took a wooden basin and carried away the dirty clothes and socks from the apprentice dormitory. He then went to the stove in the kitchen, fetched some plant ash, and squatted in the yard scooping up several ladles of water to scrub the clothes. He seemed afraid the medical hall would regret it and not be willing to take in their two brothers.

Plant ash and soapberries were natural cleaning agents in this era. Families with means would also add some mint, Scutellaria, and lotus leaves to the rub, leaving the clothes with a faint fragrance after washing.

Liang Mao’er was plump, and squatting on the ground was a bit strenuous. Chen Ji thought for a moment and moved a small chair for him, “Sit and wash.”

Liang Mao’er looked up and smiled, “Thank you… Sorry, I’ve caused you all trouble.”

Chen Ji sized him up. If Liang Gou’er wasn’t around, this Liang Mao’er didn’t look like a jianghu person at all, but more like a diligent waiter in some restaurant.

“You really don’t have any money?” Chen Ji doubted.

“Actually, I’ve secretly saved a little, but I can’t let my brother know,” Liang Mao’er smiled honestly, “I plan to save enough money to buy a few mu of land in the countryside of Luocheng. This way, even if my brother doesn’t sell his life for rich families, we two can still survive.”

“That’s not enough for my brother’s wine money.”

“Then what can I say…”

After Liang Mao’er finished washing the accumulated clothes of Liu Quxing and She Dengke, his belly suddenly rumbled.

Liang Mao’er looked embarrassed, “That… is there anything to eat in the medical hall? Anything is fine, I’m not a picky eater.”

Chen Ji gave Liang Mao’er a large basin of corn porridge left from last night, a dish of pickled vegetables, and four mixed-grain cakes.

But Liang Mao’er ate it all in one go, wiped his mouth, and then silently looked at him again.

Chen Ji took a deep breath and brought out four more mixed-grain cakes and a dish of pickled vegetables…

After Liang Mao’er finished eating, Chen Ji said faintly, “Your brother must teach me knife techniques quickly.”

“Ah? So urgent?” Liang Mao’er was a bit startled.

Chen Ji said seriously, “If your brother doesn’t teach, I’m afraid I’ll have to regret it…”

Liang Mao’er hurriedly asked, “Have you practiced knife before?”

“No.”

Liang Mao’er thought for a moment, “Then I can teach you first, I know all the basic knife skills.”

Saying that, he held up his plump body and waved twice, “When my dad taught my brother to practice knife, he also let me follow and learn, but my talent isn’t good, so I didn’t learn well.”

Chen Ji looked at Liang Mao’er’s clumsy two waves, raised an eyebrow, and changed the topic, “Was your brother like this before?”

“Not like this,” Liang Mao’er quickly said, “My brother didn’t drink alcohol before, nor did he go to those kind of ‘flower and smoke’ places. At that time, my brother was the unparalleled big knife expert in Yu State. With one person and one knife, he killed the bandits on the three mountains. Ordinary jianghu people who came to Luocheng all had to first find him to pay respects.”

Liang Mao’er spoke of his brother’s past glory, his eyes full of memories and yearning.

Chen Ji asked curiously, “What about later?”

Liang Mao’er’s tone lowered, “Later, my sister-in-law appeared. She was very beautiful and gentle, very good to my brother, and very good to me too. Sister-in-law saw my brother practicing knife and pestered him to learn, but after she finished learning, she just disappeared. From then on, my brother no longer practiced knife and took to drinking.”

The Liang family’s knife art was not passed down outside. This was not only the Liang family’s ancestral teaching, but also a cultivation secret that the Liang family people clearly understood: two different paths cannot be cultivated simultaneously.

However, Liang Gou’er passed his knife art outside, yet met with such an end.

Chen Ji asked curiously, “Did your sister-in-law never appear again?”

Liang Mao’er thought for a moment, “My brother said, she might have returned to the Northern Jing Dynasty…”

Before he finished speaking, Liang Gou’er, drunk and hazy, held onto the door frame and said angrily, “I said, don’t mention this matter again!”

Liang Mao’er shrunk his neck, “Not mentioning it, not mentioning it.”

Liang Gou’er looked at Chen Ji sideways, “You really want to learn knife?”

“Yes,” Chen Ji said sincerely.

“Then I ask you, what do you want to learn knife for?” Liang Gou’er asked again.

“Self-protection.”

Liang Gou’er burst into laughter, “Then you shouldn’t learn knife! Knife art is about being wide open and decisive. Someone who learns knife must first have the confidence to cleave open mountains. Don’t talk about self-protection. When you want to protect yourself, you’ve already given up your knife!”

Chen Ji thought for a moment, “Then what should I learn?”

Liang Gou’er threw his knife to Chen Ji and pointed to the kitchen, “Get a piece of firewood, and I’ll know what you should learn after you chop it down with one stroke.”

Chen Ji went to get a piece of firewood and stood in the middle of the yard, drew the knife, and chopped down along the grain of the firewood.

The long knife was stuck in the surface of the firewood. Only then did he realize that Liang Gou’er’s knife was actually unsharpened!

How was that possible? An unsharpened knife could chop open Lin Chaoqing’s hat in mid-air?

He looked at Liang Gou’er, “How is this knife unsharpened?”

Liang Gou’er said bluntly, “Because it’s not necessary.”

For a moment, Chen Ji didn’t know how to continue the conversation. Liang Gou’er chose the most pretentious answer between the ‘most serious’ and the ‘most not serious’.

At this time, Liu Quxing and She Dengke were also startled awake. They clung to the door frame and peered outside.

They saw Liang Gou’er carefully examining Chen Ji’s chop mark, though they didn’t know what he was looking at.

Without a word, he took the long knife from Chen Ji’s hand, waved it casually, and the firewood standing in the middle of the yard split in two, with a smooth cut surface.

Liang Gou’er turned his head to look at Chen Ji, “Knife is overbearing. My Liang family’s knife art is about not deviating and not avoiding. No matter if you have flaws or not, I chop over with one stroke, and your whole body becomes a flaw. The knife in your hand doesn’t look like a knife, but more like a sword that specifically picks flaws, a sword that takes the side path. So you shouldn’t practice knife, you should find someone to learn sword.”

“Character determines one’s path?” Chen Ji seemed to have some thoughts.

“Heart and will combine. If the path you walk doesn’t match your heart, you won’t walk far,” Liang Gou’er explained.

Next to him, Liang Mao’er doubted, “Brother, you said before that sword is the king’s way, very similar to our family’s knife art.”

Liang Gou’er looked at Chen Ji and said meaningfully, “The sword I’m talking about may not be a long sword at the waist, but the sword seed in the Jing Dynasty’s martial temple. So you shouldn’t find me to learn knife, you should go to the Jing Dynasty’s martial temple to learn sword.”

Chen Ji was a little startled.

He had once been brought by the ice flow into that ancient battlefield, and the person on that battlefield had once asked him: Who stole my sword seed?

Could the sword seed the other party was talking about be related to the sword seed in the Jing Dynasty’s martial temple?

Chen Ji asked, “Can I only go to the Jing Dynasty’s martial temple to learn?”

Liang Gou’er thought for a moment, “There should also be people cultivating it in the Ning Dynasty, but the last time someone made a move was over ten years ago, and everyone who saw him make a move is dead.”

Chen Ji fell into deep thought.

If he really had to go to the Jing Dynasty’s martial temple to cultivate, wouldn’t he have to make a great contribution in the Ning Dynasty, get promoted step by step, and finally be transferred back to the Jing Dynasty?

But when would that be?

Liang Gou’er looked at him and said, “Don’t practice knife anymore. Practicing knife now will only make you practice it crookedly, and it may not be easy to correct it later.”

Liang Mao’er muttered in a low voice, “Brother, but if he doesn’t practice, where will we live? What will we eat…”

Liang Gou’er immediately changed his tune, “You can practice stances and steps first! As the saying goes, teach fists but not steps, teach steps and hit the master! Step method is the foundation for using the whole body’s strength. If you don’t practice steps, you’ll only use the strength of one arm when you swing your fist, but how much strength does one arm have? Practice steps, and the strength comes from the legs to the hips, from the hips to the waist, from the waist to the arm. This way, the whole body’s strength gathers at one point, and then you can…”

Before he finished speaking, he heard someone shouting at the medical hall door, “Chen Ji, Chen Ji!”

She Dengke suddenly looked over. Chen Ji frowned. Both of them heard it, that was Chun Hua’s voice.

She Dengke hesitated repeatedly but finally didn’t step out of the room. Chen Ji came to the medical hall door and asked curiously, “Chun Hua girl, is something wrong?”

Chun Hua’s eye sockets still looked swollen from crying. She took out a paper invitation and said in a low voice, “My madam invites everyone from the medical hall to attend the literary gathering at the Wangfu this afternoon. She said she has something important to discuss with you in detail.”

Chen Ji flipped open the red invitation. It read: Desiring to prepare a banquet on the evening of September 10th, inviting literati and elegant persons from Luocheng, treating them broadly, dare to hope that it will not be spread outside, I am late and exhausted.

———Jing Wangfu Zhu Yunxi.

The literary gathering was organized by the World Son, and Jing Fei wanted to use this literary gathering to discuss the Liu family matter with him in detail?

Chun Hua looked at Chen Ji eye to eye and gently lifted her sleeve. They saw that it was all whip marks from vine strips.

Chen Ji shook his head, “Chun Hua girl, showing me this is useless. If I don’t want to go, even if you get beaten again, it has nothing to do with me.”

Chun Hua was anxious.

But then she heard Chen Ji’s words change, “However, pass it on to Jing Fei, I will go.”

…

One chapter today.

The Garden Master’s new book “Rebirth: Daily Account 1 Billion USD: When the Wheel of Fate Begins to Reverse”.

In this life, Lin Dong wants to become the behind-the-scenes pusher and enjoy the life of a top rich second generation.