"You little rascal, what are you thinking? You think your dad cares about your Tiger Subduing Fist? Am I that kind of person?" Chen Li chuckled in exasperation and slapped him on the back of the head. "I’m worried something’s wrong with your health. Do you always eat this much at the academy?"

"Not really..."

Shouheng rubbed his head and chuckled sheepishly. "It’s mainly because Mom’s stewed chicken is so fragrant. I haven’t had anything this delicious in a long time. But after starting my training, my appetite really has gotten much bigger than before..."

Chen Li nodded and asked, "At the academy, have you heard of any senior disciples participating in the Martial Examination? What Realm are they roughly at?"

Chen Shouheng mumbled, gnawing on a chicken foot he’d produced from who-knows-where, "Yeah. There are four senior disciples from the academy who’ve taken the Martial Examination. I’m not sure how long they’ve been training, but at least over ten years, I’d say. As for their Realm... I heard my roommates whispering that they’re probably in the Qi Realm. Only those in the Qi Realm have a chance of passing the Martial Examination."

"The Qi Realm?" A thought struck Chen Li.

"Yeah." Shouheng nodded emphatically and spat out a chicken bone. "It means you’ve cultivated Inner Qi."

"Cultivating Inner Qi... is all it takes?"

Chen Li froze, a thought flashing through his mind like lightning.

’Doesn’t that mean I’m qualified too?’

In truth, the realms of the Martial Dao were far more complex than Chen Li imagined.

Chen Shouheng scratched his head, trying his best to recall his master’s explanation. "Not exactly. I heard my master talk about it once. The foundation of the Martial Dao can be divided into External Cultivation and Inner Cultivation, but both paths lead to the same destination. External Cultivation focuses on Force Cultivation first, then Marrow Refining, and then Blood Refining. Finally, using your immense qi and blood, you rush the pass to enter the Qi Realm.

"Inner Cultivation is different. It requires a profound Inner Power Heart Method. The advantage is that you can directly cultivate Inner Qi, but it’s extremely difficult to get started. And in the early stages, the Inner Qi you cultivate is small in quantity and weak in quality. In actual combat, you’re much weaker than someone doing External Cultivation and are at a significant disadvantage."

Chen Li nodded to himself as he listened. This was the first time he had heard such a clear breakdown of this world’s Martial Dao system.

"Then what comes after the Qi Realm? What’s the next Realm?" he pressed.

Chen Shouheng shook his head blankly. "Master didn’t say. Maybe he’ll tell me later, when I’m further along."

Chen Li asked a few more questions about the details of Cultivation, but Shouheng was clueless about most of them.

’The academy must not teach new disciples much,’ Chen Li figured. ’You probably have to reach a certain level to access the core knowledge.’

He changed the subject to his son’s progress. "So how long do you think it’ll take for you to reach the Qi Realm?"

Chen Shouheng tilted his head and thought for a long while before saying uncertainly, "If I have enough medicinal supplements, maybe ten years or so. One of the senior disciples took eleven years to reach the Qi Realm."

Chen Li quickly did the math in his head.

’Four sets of medicine a month is forty taels. Just the cost of medicine for one year is four hundred and eighty taels.’

’Add the fifty taels for the gift to his master and his allowance, and the total for a year won’t be covered by less than six hundred taels of silver.’

’If we calculate for eight years, that’s almost five thousand taels of snowflake silver.’

’This isn’t martial arts training, this is just burning money!’

’If not for the doubled rice yield and our family’s finances becoming more solid, we probably couldn’t even afford to support Shouheng’s training alone.’

"Looks like I have to keep slaving away for money," Chen Li lamented.

...

After the New Year, his eldest son, Shouheng, returned to the academy to continue his martial arts training.

With him gone, the house suddenly became much quieter. The sounds of the two brothers roughhousing were gone, leaving only the listless play of his second son, Shouye.

In the blink of an eye, it was the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, the lean season before the new harvest.

On this day, Zhao Gui, who had often done odd jobs for the Chen Family over the years, came to their door with a face full of misery.

Upon seeing Chen Li, he fell to his knees in the main hall with a THUD and kowtowed, pleading, "Master Chen, I beg you, please be merciful and lend me two stone of grain to get through this emergency. My family... we really can’t put food on the table..."

Chen Li’s brow furrowed slightly as he shook his head in refusal. "Zhao Si, you know my rules. Besides, my eldest son’s expenses at the academy in the county seat are enormous. The truth is... even a landlord has no spare grain."

’He absolutely couldn’t set this precedent.’

’Once he did, who knew how many pairs of eyes in the village would be watching. Countless people would come asking to borrow grain.’

Tears and snot streamed down Zhao Gui’s face as he kowtowed like he was pounding garlic. "I understand your rules, it’s not that I’m ungrateful, but I’ve truly hit a dead end. I’ve already borrowed from every relative and neighbor I can. But we had to pay an extra three stone of grain after last year’s autumn harvest, and this spring they added another levy of one stone. No one has any grain left! Master, please show some mercy. I... I promise I won’t tell anyone, I’m begging you!"

Chen Li wasn’t clear on the details of how his Third Grand-uncle had negotiated with the Wang Family regarding the one thousand five hundred stone of grain the County Magistrate had levied last year for repairing the river dikes.

But in the end, it was collected at a rate of three stone per household.

It had caused quite a stir at the time.

The main issue was that the Court had long since consolidated the Population Tax and Land Tax into a single Land Tax, collected in silver coins calculated per mu. This levy for the river dikes, however, was being collected per household. Such an arrangement was obviously unfair.

Chen Li guessed that the County Magistrate probably just wanted his one thousand five hundred stone of grain. As for how it was collected, that was most likely decided in a private discussion between Chen Xingjia and the Wang Family Patriarch.

The discussion held at the time about exchanging extra grain for a position at the County Magistrate’s Office was mainly to divert attention and conflict. But Chen Li couldn’t say anything. After all, if the levy had been collected based on land acreage, his family wouldn’t have paid three stone of grain, but thirty-eight.

Chen Li knew about Zhao Gui’s situation. His family had eleven people, and Zhao Gui was the fourth son. But they only owned seventeen mu of land, which averaged out to just over one mu per person.

Even in a good harvest year, and without all the miscellaneous taxes from the county, they still wouldn’t have enough grain to eat. They had to rely on the brothers taking on odd jobs to earn some extra cash just to get by. With so many extra levies this year, they just couldn’t hold on any longer.

Chen Li looked at Zhao Gui kneeling in the hall, silent for a moment, then said, "Zhao Si, you’ve worked for my family for seven years, and you’ve always been a diligent and quick worker. How about this: you work for me as a long-term laborer for three years, at a wage of six stone of grain per year. Sign the contract, and I’ll give you a six-month advance."

Hearing this, Zhao Gui felt as if he had grasped a life-saving straw. He kowtowed repeatedly, weeping with gratitude. "Thank you, Master Chen. Thank you for your kindness. I’ll sign. I’ll sign right now."

For him, the most important thing right now was getting grain to survive.

As for signing a contract to become a long-term laborer, he actually felt it was a sign of Chen Li’s kindness.

A long-term laborer was different from an indentured servant who had sold their body. Long-term laborers didn’t sign such deeds. It just meant that for these three years, he had to be on call at all times, and could even do other work during the agricultural off-season.

In his eyes, although a long-term laborer earned a bit less, the advantage was stability. He wouldn’t have to worry about where his next meal was coming from.

What Chen Li hadn’t expected was that this moment of soft-heartedness would have significant after-effects.

Somehow, word got out. Over the next few days, many more people came to find Chen Li. They would kneel the moment they saw him, crying and begging to become long-term laborers for his family in exchange for grain.

Chen Li’s face darkened, and he refused most of them outright.

In the end, however, he still kept three men who looked honest and had proven to be diligent workers, signing contracts with them as well.