Chapter 12: The Red Flag Book

  It was getting late, and Xiao He bid farewell and left.

  As he was about to leave, he specially went to bid farewell to Empress Lü. This also made Empress Lü's impression of Xiao He a few points better, and she seemed to be more tolerant of Zhiying as well. This also saved Liu Bang from a round of blame, and the mother and son sat in the earthen room, each lost in their own thoughts without speaking.

  The lamp oil in the clay pot is almost running out.

  In order to save some, Qian Wei only used one wick. The bean-sized flame flickered and went out, making the light in the humble room very dim.

  "Mother!"

  Liu Kan suddenly spoke up, "Can you recognize characters?"

  Qin Wei was taken aback, looking at Liu Qin in surprise, and then a proud smile appeared on her face as she nodded slightly and said, "I do recognize some characters."

  "What about Qin Wen?"

  "What?"

  Liu Kan said: "I'm saying, do you know Qin Wen?"

  Qian Wei furrowed her brow and asked inexplicably, "Ah Qian, why did you suddenly ask about this?"

  "Mother, I want to learn how to read!"

  Qianru was sewing a shirt when she heard Liu Qian's words, her hand trembled and the needle pierced her finger, causing blood to ooze out.

  "Mom, are you okay?"

  She put her fingers in her mouth and sucked them twice.

  There's no doubt that Liu Jian's previous sentence really surprised her. She was delighted, and with a tone of surprise, she said: "Ah Jian, what's wrong with you today? How did you suddenly remember to learn characters? In the past, when your mother asked you to recognize characters, you were never too willing."

  Judging from this body's owner, he is still illiterate.

  That's easy!

  As long as it can be muddled through, there won't be any more trouble. Liu Jian quickly thought of an excuse and crawled over to sit beside Qian Niang.

  "Mother, today I met Mr. Xiao and only then did I realize the importance of being literate. Mr. Xiao also advised me not to be an illiterate roughneck. I listened to what Mr. Xiao said and thought it made a lot of sense. So I wanted to talk to you about it, I want to learn how to read."

  Does Liu Jian not know how to read?

  Of course he can recognize characters! But the problem is that the characters he recognizes are mostly from later generations, and they differ greatly from the characters of this era.

  To put it bluntly, he is actually an illiterate person.

  She seemed extremely pleased, looking at Liu with a kind gaze, as if muttering to herself: "My son has grown up and become sensible!"

  "But why do you want to learn Qin Wen alone?"

  "This...” Liu Gan's mind moved, and he pushed all the reasons to Xiang Yu's head. "Mother, Mr. Xiao privately told me that if the King of Qin unified the world, he would not follow the ancient system of enfeoffment. He also said that if he didn't enfeoff, the King of Qin would definitely abolish the characters of various countries and unify them with Qin script. I think that if it's like this, then learning Qin script will be the most useful."

  Even if we don't unify the characters, children can learn Qinwen first and then other characters later, it won't delay them, what do you think?

  "What is 'not recognizing even the character for "one"'? What does 'not recognizing even the character for "one"' mean?"

  "Ah, this..."

  Liu Jian immediately reacted and explained that the idiom "目不识丁" (not recognizing a single character) probably hadn't appeared in this era yet. He hastily added, "The meaning of '目不识丁' is that one doesn't recognize a single character. It's probably Mr. Xiao's colloquialism, which ordinary people haven't heard before."

  "Oh!"

  Madam Qin nodded repeatedly, "Mr. Xiao is indeed a man of insight. I don't know much about Qin Wen, but teaching you to read should be enough. However, I don't object to your learning to read, but this martial art cannot be neglected. No matter what, that's the foundation of survival."

  "I see!"

  Liu Kan nodded in response, but his eyes involuntarily glanced at the black leather bag in the corner of the room.

  Until now, he still hasn't figured out what's inside that leather pouch. But intuitively, he feels it should be a weapon.

  What kind of treasure is it? It's so important to Mother that she won't leave its side.

  It seemed that Liu's mother had seen through his mind, and she smiled slightly. "Ah Qiang, mom knows you've always wanted to practice flag-waving techniques. However, it's not possible yet... your father said that when you can master the basic skills of flag-waving techniques, then you can wave flags."

  Besides, you're still young. Although it's said that everyone has different talents, wanting to shake the red flag is still a bit off.

  Your dad spent twenty years and still couldn't master the flag-waving technique. However, relying on the flag-stepping method, he didn't have to worry about food and drink for a living.

  "Ah Qian, if you really want to wield the flag, then master the basic skills your father taught you. When the time comes, Mother will give it to you."

  Liu Kan was full of doubts, but on the surface he couldn't reveal any flaws.

  What is that flag? Is it called a red flag? Among the eighteen kinds of martial arts, I don't seem to have heard of this thing, what does it look like?

  And he doesn't even know the basic skills of flag-waving techniques.

  At least in the information left for him by this body, there is absolutely no news of this kind.

  At a loss for what to do, the old woman rummaged through her bundle and produced an old fur coat that looked like it had been around for ages, from some animal he didn't recognize, and handed it over to him.

  "A'gan, this is the martial art passed down from your mother's family, never to be taught outside. When your father married into our family back then, this 'Chi Qi Shu' was his. Now that your father is no longer with us, your mother has handed it over to you for safekeeping. First master the basic skills, and then we'll talk about other things."

  Liu Qian let out a sound and took over the so-called "Red Flag Book" from Liu's hand.

  Is this a martial arts secret manual? I originally thought it would only appear in the plot of a novel, but it actually happened to myself, and it's really quite bizarre.

  But thinking about it, even something like soul transfer can happen, after all, it's a martial arts secret manual...it's not entirely unacceptable.

  "Tomorrow, let's go find Old Man Ting and first settle the household registration. Then we can buy a piece of land and build a house to settle down. Although you've changed a lot of Qin currency here, it should be enough to sell the land and build a house. It's not a big deal to live here permanently."

  Liu Kan was immediately anxious when he heard this!

  "Mom, don't rush into buying land."

  "Why? Didn't you go see the environment today already?"

  Liu Kan's eyes rolled around and he immediately had an excuse, "Mother, it's like this... Just now Mr. Xiao also told me not to rush into buying a house. After all, the situation is not very clear at present, if we rashly buy a house, who knows what kind of trouble will arise."

  Mr. Xiao meant: Let's get our household registration done first, and it's better to wait until the situation stabilizes before dealing with property matters, it won't be too late then.

  These words would be useless if they came from Liu Quan or Shen Shi.

  But if it were said by Xiao He, the effect would be different. Most people like to have preconceived notions. Madame Yan had a good impression of Xiao He, so after listening to Liu Yan's explanation, she nodded repeatedly, "Since Mr. Xiao says so, he must have his reasons... Ah, Mr. Xiao is a good person, steady and knowledgeable... A Yan, you should learn from him more in the future."

  "Got it!"

  Liu Kan let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

  If you go and buy a house now, then there will really be a problem.

  Since we have Xiao He as a shield here, let's make full use of him.

  "Mother, Mr. Xiao also said that before we buy a house, we can live here first. Da Shu Ge and he are friends, they agreed to settle the bill when we leave. If you think it's not suitable, I can help him with some small tasks as a return for his kindness."

  "Let's think about it for a moment," said the old woman. "This way is also good, mother can help them clean up and we won't take advantage of them."

  "My daughter is right!"

  "Alright, it's getting late, go to sleep."

  Liu Kan responded with a sound, spread out the bedding on the mat, served Madame Kan to sleep first, then spread out his own bedding and slept in his clothes.

  Today I received too many messages and need some time to digest them.

  Liu Jian fell onto the mat, thinking about what had happened during the day, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

  This night passed peacefully!

  Liu Jian had the habit of getting up early, and before dawn, he got up to see that his wife was still asleep, so he quietly picked up his bedding and went out.

  It's already summer and the days are getting longer.

  The air in the early morning is exceptionally fresh, and the fragrance of pagoda flowers wafts through the courtyard, making one's spirit suddenly become exceptionally refreshing.

  First practiced a round of Tai Chi, loosened up the body.

  Then, based on the basic punching method of Thai boxing, he started practicing. Wrapping his wrists, swinging his fists, pressing his ears, blocking... From the basic twelve moves to the mother and son fist thirty moves, to the ancient Thai boxing twenty-four moves. As time passed, Liu Kan felt that his control over his body was becoming more and more proficient.

  Although conditions did not permit it, they could no longer train openly as in their previous lives.

  But after this round of boxing, the sky was already bright, Liu Quan's upper body was red, and his sweat dripped down, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

  He let out a long breath and composed himself.

  At this time, Shen Shi accompanied Cao Wu Shang to appear in the courtyard.

  Seeing Liu Jian's sturdy muscles, Shen Shi couldn't help but say with a hint of envy: "Ah Jian, what a robust body you have, no wonder you're so fierce."

  Liu Kan smiled and put on his shirt.

  "Liu brothers, thanks to you for drawing your sword to help me out yesterday, otherwise I would have lost my life!"

  Cao Wushang stepped forward and exchanged greetings with Liu Quan.

  Liu Kan returned a courtesy and smiled: "Brother Cao doesn't have to be polite. In that situation, I think anyone would not stand idly by."

  The two of them chatted and exchanged more pleasantries.

  It was the food critic next to them who was getting impatient, "You two are really loud. If you're sincere, why not invite us for a drink today?"

  Cao Wushang said: "This is simple. However, today we won't go to Wu Ji's place for a drink. Yesterday was unlucky and we ran into those guys. Today we'll go to Wang Ji's place and not leave until we're drunk."

  Well, it's still early in the morning and you've already started drinking!

  However, Liu Jian really couldn't stand that wine with a strong smell of horse urine, and hastily said: "Today is not going to work. I still have to accompany my mother to do things, and then go to the Ting Chang to prepare the household registration. Brother, my mother and son can't help but disturb you for some days here."

  "Feel free to stay! As for the household registration, you don't need to go in person. Tonight, when Wu Shang returns, just mention it to Old Cao and he'll take care of it directly. You're Wu Shang's lifesaver, I'm sure he won't decline... Wu Shang, what do you say?"

  Cao Wu Shang nodded and agreed without hesitation.

  The three of them talked for a while longer, then Shi Rui pulled Cao Wu Shang and they went out the door.

  The sun was comfortable and shone on the porch. Liu Kan helped his mother clean up the room, then went to pay a visit to Shen Shi's parents.

  The old master didn't say anything, when Auntie Kan said she wanted to help, he asked her to take charge of the kitchen.

  This kind of thing, Liu Kan couldn't help much with. He helped his mother chop wood for a while, then was chased out of the kitchen by Auntie Kan. Sitting alone on the porch, he took out that "Red Flag Book", preparing to devote some thought and thoroughly study this legendary martial arts manual.

  Just then, footsteps were heard outside the gate of the courtyard.

  "Ah Juan, come out quickly, I and sister have come to see you!"

  Before he had finished speaking, two girls fluttered into the courtyard. Liu Kan looked up and was taken aback for a moment before revealing a helpless bitter smile.