Make money and cultivate (seek 1 recommendation vote)

  "Do you want to learn 'Tiger Leaping Knife Skill'?"

  The old man in grey robes heard this and his expression slightly froze for a moment.

  As the head of the school, he was naturally very clear that there were many young students who had tried to practice the "Tiger Leaping Knife Method" before, but they all gave up later. Currently, only Yan Han is still persisting in practicing it. He wanted to advise Ye Chen to change his martial arts, but seeing Ye Chen's excited face, he thought for a moment and gave up advising him, letting this kid taste the bitterness too.

  "The 'Tiger Leaping Knife Method' is an advanced knife method, but it only has six moves. Compared to the dozens or hundreds of complex moves in other knife methods and sword techniques, this one has very few moves. From now on, follow Yan Han to practice."

  An old man in a grey robe shouted at a young man who was practicing his sword alone on the school grounds, "Yan Han, come here for a moment!"

  "What's the head of the Stone Clan looking for me for?"

  That young scholar put away his sword and walked over with a cold expression.

  "This is Ye Chen's junior brother, who has just reached the fourth layer of Body Refining. From now on, he will follow you to cultivate and you will teach him knife skills."

  The old man pointed at Ye Chen and introduced with a smile.

  "Why should I be bothered with bringing a newcomer along to cultivate? It's purely a waste of my time! There are over 200 junior brothers and sisters in the Upper Court, why don't you find someone else to bring him?"

  Frowning in the cold, looking very displeased.

  "This school only has you studying the 'Tiger Leaping Knife Method', and you're the most proficient at it, so only you can guide him. If I weren't cultivating the 'Shadowless Leg' myself, I wouldn't need to ask you to guide him either. In any case, I'm entrusting this person to you, handle it as you see fit."

  The old man in grey robes spoke with an air that brooked no argument. With that, he turned and left, leaving Chilly to his own devices.

  Yan Han didn't dare to mess with the Grandmaster, and instead shot a cold glance at Ye Chen.

  "Please give me more guidance, Master!"

  Ye Chen hastily cupped his hands together and spoke with a sincere attitude.

  "Today's morning exercise has ended, let's talk about it tomorrow."

  He lifted his head to gaze at the scorching sun in the empty sky at noon, his face cold, and left the school grounds.

  The students of Beiyue Academy cultivate both literature and martial arts.

  In the morning, I practice martial arts and cultivate my skills. In the afternoon, I study literature and read books to recognize characters.

  However, the country emphasizes martial arts and de-emphasizes literature. The sole purpose of learning to read and write is to be able to understand martial arts classics. Unless one plans to become a learned scholar-official in the future, generally no one would spend too much time and energy on literature. Therefore, students at the academy can go to the library to study on their own, or attend classes at school, or arrange their own reading schedule, relatively freely.

  This morning's practice has ended, and the students of Beilu Academy have dispersed from the martial arts training grounds.

  Ye Chen left the martial arts training ground.

  He didn't have much time to study, so he used his afternoons to work and earn money for his own cultivation.

  Ye Chen finished lunch and hurried to the logistics courtyard of the academy, waiting with his hands down on the stone steps outside Li's house, ready to receive his chores from Li. Although Li's title was not high, he was in charge of all the logistics work assignments in the Northern Slope Academy, and for Ye Chen, a poor student in the academy, he was absolutely a powerful figure within the academy.

  Before long, dozens of poor boys who were preparing to receive corvee came to the miscellaneous courtyard one after another.

  "Ye Shixiong, here to take on miscellaneous tasks again!"

  "Congratulations to Master Ye for suddenly entering the middle stage of body refinement, I hope Master will guide and support me more in the future!"

  These young students of the lower house, seeing Ye Chen, all enthusiastically greeted him, and then lined up behind him one by one. The upper house students were all senior brothers and sisters in front of the lower house students.

  "All of you junior brothers, with diligent practice and bitter training, will eventually enter the middle stage of Body Refining!"

  Ye Chen smiled and nodded in response.

  Many who come here to receive miscellaneous tasks and make money are poor civilians in the early stages of refining their bodies. After meeting many times, they become more familiar with each other. However, everyone is focused on completing their miscellaneous tasks and doesn't have the mind to discuss anything else.

  Creak.

  The door opened.

  Li Zongguan finished his lunch, belched contentedly, patted his belly, and held a thick book in his hand as he came to the front steps of the house.

  "General Manager!"

  Ye Chen hastily replied with respect.

  "Ye Chen, you're always the first to arrive and almost never absent. You've earned a lot of money over the years, enough to marry a wife, right?"

  Li Zongguan saw Ye Chen standing in front of the steps again and couldn't help but smile.

  "The steward laughed and said, 'Ordinary days are too expensive to cultivate, poor and destitute, don't know how many years it will take to marry a wife. Steward, what tasks do you have today?'"

  Ye Chen smiled and scratched his head.

  Li Zongguan nodded, flipping through the notebook in his hand, and said, "There are many miscellaneous tasks to be done in the academy today. You can choose one first! The big kitchen, water fetching, firewood chopping, vegetable garden, gatekeeping, night patrol, sweeping the courtyard, cleaning the leaves on the roof of the school buildings inside and outside, clearing weeds inside and outside the school grounds. Each task can earn ten to dozens of copper coins. Which one do you want to do today?"

  Inside the North Mountain Academy, there are many miscellaneous tasks that require hiring poor students to help with, in order to support their studies.

  Ye Chen spent nearly ten years in the academy, every day taking on these miscellaneous tasks, earning silver coins which he used to buy medicinal herbs for cultivation and tempering his body. However, as his cultivation gradually improved, the copper coins earned from ordinary daily miscellaneous tasks were too few.

  "Grand Steward, I've reached the 4th layer of Body Refining today and have entered the Upper Court. I need more money to buy herbs for cultivation. Which job is the most profitable? You're the most knowledgeable about this, Grand Steward, so arrange one for me!"

  Leaf morning period expect way.

  "Have you reached the fourth layer of Body Refining?....... There's a new task at the Academy that can earn quite a bit of silver, this task was originally arranged for the Academy teachers to do, not for students. However, as you are now an upper house student, your status is close to that of the Academy teachers, so it's okay if you do it."

  Li Zongguan looked surprised and then said with a deep sigh.

  "Thank you, sir! I'll just wait for your orders!"

  Ye Chen was overjoyed.

  He had a strong desire to cultivate and become stronger, but this required money to buy herbs for tempering his physique.

  "This academy has recently purchased a batch of old books from all over the Wu State, with as many as several thousand volumes loaded on dozens of horse-drawn carriages, piled up in the old book warehouse of the library."

  "These old books were collected from some small bookstores and declining families, and need to be sorted and categorized. Many of them are damaged, including incomplete or useless volumes. Those that can be sorted will be sorted, and those that should be discarded will be discarded."

  "This is a tedious task, and the academy has allocated a sum of silver to hire someone to sort out these books. I'll give you one month's time to clean up these books, with a daily wage of one tael of silver."

  "This is a miscellaneous token, take it to find Wang Guan Shi in the book pavilion and get the old book library key."

  Li Zongguan handed over a token to Ye Chen.

  "Thank you, Grand Master! I will complete the task on time within a month."

  Ye Chen excitedly took over the token, almost shouting with joy.

  This was the largest single amount he had ever received and the longest time-consuming miscellaneous work.

  "No way, earning one or two silver coins a day? Such a good job was taken by Brother Ye Chen! If I had known earlier, I would have lined up earlier!" "Forget it, he's an Upper House disciple, so he has the qualifications to take on the task of organizing the library. We're all Lower House disciples, we don't even qualify to take it!"

  The students in the back of the line, waiting to receive their chores from Li Zongguan, widened their eyes one by one, almost shouting with envy.

  Inside the academy, general odd jobs can only earn dozens of copper coins per day, at most not exceeding one hundred. Jobs like organizing old bookstores that can earn one or two silver threads in a day, equivalent to one thousand copper coins, have never been had before.

  And can still be connected for a month, receiving a full thirty taels of silver thread.

  What a great gift for the poor students in the academy!

  Of course, Ye Chen came to Beilu Academy at the age of five and stayed in the academy for ten years, doing miscellaneous chores for a full ten years before having such a relationship with Li Zongguan. Otherwise, Li Zongguan would not have handed over such an important task to Ye Chen.

  "Wang Guanshi, his disciples came forward with orders to sort out the books in the old library."

  Ye Chen held the miscellaneous token and came to the book pavilion of the academy, where he found Wang Guanshi.

  The Beiyue Academy has only one pavilion.

  Inside are hidden a large number of Wu State's literary, military, geographical and historical records, as well as the most precious martial arts classics.

  Borrowing books in the library requires a fee per volume. The basic martial arts on the lower levels are relatively cheap. The advanced high-level martial skills on the top level are exorbitantly expensive. There are many guards inside and outside the library, with late-stage cultivators sitting in to prevent theft.

  Ye Chen rarely borrowed books here and was reluctant to part with his copper coins.

  Under the book building, there is an old library. Inside, there are a large number of unsorted and worn-out books, but ordinary people cannot enter. The key to the old library is in the hands of Wang Guanshi, who is in charge of the book building.

  "How did Director Li get a student like you to organize books?... Never mind, since Director Li asked you to come, just go do the work."

  Wang Guanshi knew in his heart that there might be a cat's paw, hiring a teacher to work and hiring a student to work, the price given is different, with a difference of several times. Li Zongguan mostly borrowed this to deduct silver and enrich himself, he also didn't dare to openly take Li Zongguan's money.