Chapter Thirteen The Smallest Official

  The next morning, before the morning bell rang, the rooster's crowing had already started. Wang Dai Xi got up early and fetched a wooden basin of water to wash the porcelain bowls he bought yesterday in the courtyard, with the sound of clinking and clattering coming from time to time.

  Chen Xin heard the noise and couldn't sleep anymore, so he got out of bed and opened the mosquito net to take a look. The walls were covered with mosquitoes everywhere. Fortunately, he had bought a mosquito net yesterday, otherwise it would have been impossible to sleep. The cleanliness of the city in the daytime was indeed worrying. There was nothing edible in Chen Xin's room, but there were two mouse holes. Last night, several mice had crawled back and forth on the windowsill, making a ruckus for half the night.

  After dressing up, Chen Xin cleaned up the silver on his body again. The two of them originally had 50 taels each, but Liu Minyue had bought a house and furniture yesterday, so there wasn't much left. Chen Xin was going to work and couldn't bring the money with him, so he wrapped up the 50 taels of silver and prepared to give it to Liu Minyue later.

  "It seems that the pearls should be sold." Chen Xin thought to himself as he pushed open the window lattice, and saw Wang Dai Xi's small figure sitting on the ground, with her sleeves and pants rolled up, holding a cloth towel to wash dishes, her two braids jumping rhythmically.

  Hearing the sound of opening window, Wang came over with a smile and saw that it was Chen Xin. He said happily: "Brother Chen is up, I'll get you some water to wash your face."

  She quickly went to the stove and fetched a small wooden basin, then went to the large water vat to scoop out some water for Chen Xin. The vat was very big, almost as tall as Wang Daxi, but the water level inside wasn't high. Wang Daxi was only twelve or thirteen years old, and had always been malnourished. She stood on tiptoes, straining to scoop up half a basin of water, but couldn't lift it up.

  Chen Xin didn't refuse Wang Dai Xi's help in fetching water, but seeing her struggling, he went over to take it from her and placed it on the stone table. He tapped her head and said, "There's a ladle over there, use that next time."

  Wang Dai Xi looked up with a smile: "Alright, I'm just stupid."

  Chen Xin smiled, cupped his hands to scoop up water and washed his face. The cool water refreshed him, and when he looked again, the rippling water reflected his inverted image. His chin had grown a bit of stubble, his hair was slightly longer, and there was a hint of blue at the corner of his collar. Chen Xin's smile froze in surprise; it was the first time since crossing over that he had taken a good look at himself. Although only ten or so days had passed, he already looked like an ancient person. His life as a white-collar worker in the company, where he used to call the shots, now seemed as distant as if separated by centuries. Only his professional smile seemed unchanged.

  Wang Dai Xi looked at him dazedly and asked sideways: "Brother Chen, is the water not good? Should I go to the well to fetch some again?"

  "It's nothing." Chen Xin came back to his senses, wiped the water off his body with his hands and rushed to the market, kicking the door open with his foot. "Everyone get up!"

  Inside a commotion of chickens flying and dogs jumping, after a while, Zhang Da opened the door with sleepy eyes and said to Chen Xin: "Brother Chen is up, I'll help you fetch water to wash your face."

  "I've washed up, you all go to the courtyard and line up."

  "Can't we sleep some more? We slept so little yesterday..."

  Chen Xin said in a tone that brooked no questioning, "No way, come out and line up right now." After finishing speaking, he turned around and went back into the courtyard. Zhang Dahui took one look and saw that Chen was serious, so he didn't dare say anything else. The three of them hastily exited the door, with Hai Gouzi standing on the right, Zhang Dahui in the middle, and Zhang Erhui on the left.

  "Starting today, get up as soon as the sky brightens. First, practice lining up, then practice physical fitness. Each person will do 200 push-ups and 200 sit-ups. Do it again after dinner."

  "Two hundred, it's too much, oh no."

  Just as Zhang Da Hui had spoken halfway, Chen Xin kicked over with one foot and looked at the three of them coldly: "In the future during training, when I haven't said to speak, no one is allowed to talk. When speaking, you must also raise your hand first."

  The three of them had never seen Chen Xin look like this before, and they were all startled, not daring to speak. They stood up straight one by one, looking at him with a bit of fear.

  "Bring joy, you go cut a few bamboo strips from yesterday's leftovers, quickly." Chen Xin said while taking out the knife tied to his foot and throwing it onto the stone table.

  Wang Dai Xi was just about to pour out Chen Xin's wash water when he saw the scene, hastily put down the basin and entered the main room on the right, took out a remaining bamboo pole, and started chopping at the stove.

  With a creak, Liu Ming's door opened and he came out onto the corridor to watch them train, as it was too noisy in the courtyard for him to sleep.

  Wang Daili looked and stood up saying: "Liu brother, I'll help you wash your face."

  Chen Xin still said coldly: "Do a good job of weaving and then go."

  Liu Min waved his hand: "You go ahead and take care of your own business, I'll handle this myself."

  Wang sat down again with a happy and timid expression, starting to weave the rattan strips.

  Several people stood like this, the three Haigouzi didn't know what Chen Xin was going to do, nervously watching Chen Xin, in the courtyard there was only the sound of Wang Dai Xi laboriously cutting bamboo.

  After a while, Wang Daiji finally brought over two rattan sticks. Chen Xin casually picked one and swung it twice, testing its strength. The stick made a whooshing sound in the air. The three Haigouzi couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

  "Now start shouting slogans, Hai Gouz leads, and three people shout together."

  "Bowl is on the left, chopsticks are on the right"

  "Bowl is left, chopsticks are right"

  "First out left, then out right"

  "First out left, then out right"

  "Left hand right foot, left foot right hand."

  "Left hand right foot, left foot right hand."

  Several people shouted ten times without error, they had practiced on this road and still had some foundation.

  "Now one by one, the seagull shouts slogans, and Zhang Da Hui walks."

  "Start walking, bowl and chopsticks, bowl and chopsticks...... Stand at attention."

  Zhang Da Hui's walking was still fine, but as soon as he stopped, his feet got tangled and it took him several steps to stop. Just as he let out a sigh of relief, a bamboo stick came flying through the air and slapped against his arm with a loud "thwack".

  "Oh no!"

  "Bang", "Don't call."

  "Oh no!"

  "Bang." "Don't shout."

  “。。。”

  "How is Li Ding done?"

  "After hearing the command, step out with your left foot and bring your right foot to meet it."

  "Zhang Da will shout slogans, Zhang Er will take a walk."

  "Start walking, bowl and chopsticks, bowl and chopsticks...... Stand at attention."

  Zhang Erhui was fully focused and finally walked in the right direction.

  "Second conference walks well, second conference shouts slogans, sea dog walks."

  "Start walking, bowl and chopsticks, bowl and chopsticks...... Stand at attention."

  "Ouch!"

  "Bang", "Don't call."

  "Oh no!"

  "Bang." "Don't shout."

  “。。。”

  "Come again in order."

  After several rounds, all three of them were beaten and had several red marks on their hands.

  Chen Xin held the rattan stick and looked at the three of them, asking: "Now you can speak, why did you enter the pass?"

  "It's a Tartar... Ah!" Zhang Da had just said half a sentence when the whip came down again.

  "I said at the beginning, everyone has to raise their hand when speaking."

  Zhang Dahuai hastily raised his hand and replied: "It was the Tartars who occupied our home."

  "Why did the Tartars occupy your home."

  Zhang Er raised his hand and said, "We can't beat them."

  "Well said, if you can't fight back, you'll lose your home. Nowadays, it's not a world where reason prevails, some people will take advantage of you, occupy your yard and break your arms and legs. What are you going to do?"

  "Hey, we can kill him, but Brother Chen, why are we practicing this formation instead of our sword and spear techniques?"

  "I say it's useful, and now is not the time for you to practice with swords and spears. What's more important than swords and spears is discipline. During training, no one is allowed to bargain, from now on, do as I say, train every day, starting with physical strength."

  Chen Xin finished speaking and looked at the sky, the morning bell had already been struck, and it was time to go to work at the pawnshop. He handed the rattan stick to Liu Min and said in a low voice: "Min, you watch them, if someone does something wrong, hit them, they won't get hurt. You need to discipline them well, they even dare to haggle with me."

  Liu Min nodded in agreement and escorted Chen Xin out the door. Only when they reached the entrance did he ask Chen Xin, "These are just kids, isn't this a bit too harsh? Besides, we don't need to resort to violence nowadays. If all else fails, let them go find some work to do."

  "They were still young at 16 or 17, now they're all grown up and many have married and had children. Take Dai Zhengang's example, and the Shen family too - what's the point of talking about it? If you don't practice now, when the time comes, it will be too late. They can put off their work for now, but they still need to train in the afternoon and study characters at night."

  Chen Xin suddenly remembered something, "The bag of silver under my pillow, you take it first. At noon, we need to give them meat to eat. If we can't start a fire, go buy some at the restaurant. Otherwise, they won't get enough nutrition. Also, Dai Zheng and his group are coming today, help arrange their accommodations."

  Having finished speaking, he went out and headed towards the Temple of Literature.

  Liu Min returned to the yard, bringing three people to start practicing physical strength. This was also taught by Chen Xin on the road. They did push-ups in sets of 20, with a total of ten sets, resting between each set.

  After doing three sets, everyone was panting heavily. Zhang Erhui was small in stature and couldn't do the fourth set. He crawled on the ground, unable to get up, his face flushed red. Liu Min saw this and couldn't bear it, so he said: "Erhui is small, doing half is enough, you can go rest now."

  Zhang Da Hui saw him and also said to Liu Min: "Liu brother, I can't do it anymore. I didn't sleep well last night and have no energy left."

  "Alright then, you rest too..."