Chapter Fifteen: Spoiled Brat

  Time flies like an arrow, a few years have passed in the blink of an eye, and suddenly it's another March.

  Jiangning, south of the city, Zao Wang Temple.

  The place is now desolate, the mud statues are broken and tilted, the curtains are dirty and can't see their original color. On the altar, a broken ceramic bowl with half a bowl of soil was placed, inside were three incense sticks as thick as fingers. The incense had been lit, with faint smoke rising. In front of the altar, a chair with one leg missing was placed, with two bricks supporting the missing leg.

  On the chair, a robust young man of seventeen or eighteen years old sat with his legs crossed, wearing a half-new and half-old satin jacket, with a grass stem in his mouth and a domestically-made imitation short-handled military knife in his hand. He was gazing coldly at the direction of the temple gate with a sneer on his face, making his face look even more ferocious with a scar above his mouth. Behind him stood twenty or thirty young men of different ages, ranging from eighteen to twelve years old. Each person's face had a few degrees of coldness, except for the delicate-looking young man standing behind the chair. His eyes showed a worried expression as he lowered his head and whispered to the young man on the chair: "Brother, don't draw your knife, what if we get into trouble with the authorities?"

  "Little brother, don't be so garrulous. Do you want me to surrender and become a subordinate? It's just one life for another, who's afraid of that?" The scar-faced youth said viciously.

  "But mother..." The handsome young man was about to continue speaking, but his voice was drowned out by the surrounding voices.

  "Second brother, don't worry. Are our fists fed on vegetarian food? Hmph! If those little rascals dare to come, my brothers and I will beat them to death!"

  "We've been roaming freely in the southern city for years, and you dare to post this openly? It's not a chance for us to practice our skills!"

  "Damn it! He thinks we're just like those northern city gangs, that he can swallow us up whenever he wants. Doesn't he see how small his belly is?"

  Just as they were speaking, the sound of horseshoes gradually grew louder, and it seemed that someone was riding a horse towards the broken temple.

  Here is the translation:

  Although the young man's words were harsh, they all had a hint of fear in their hearts. The Tiger Gang dominated the southern city, with only thirty or forty members, but the number of people from the Hero Association that was wiped out seven days ago was not inferior to theirs. The big brother of the Hero Association, Wei Xin, was the young master of the Wei family in the north of the city, and the Wei family was the largest landlord in Jiangning. Of every ten acres of land outside the city, three acres belonged to the Wei family. The Wei family's silk was directly supplied to the weaving factory in Jiangning, and the eldest son of the Wei family held an official position in the weaving factory. How could their family power be compared to that of these ordinary commoner families?

  Outside the temple, four fast horses arrived in an instant. Several young men jumped down from horseback, among whom three were smiling, and one slightly older was looking up at the sky with a huff. Among the three smiling young men, two were eleven or twelve years old, and one was fourteen or fifteen. Of the two younger ones, one appeared to be weak, while the other had a fierce and spirited look. The fierce-looking one turned back to the sulky youth and said with a smile: "Since you lost the bet, Wei Wu, you should willingly become my brother's follower. Although you are not a slave, you have signed a contract, what kind of servant dares to show such disrespect to his master?" Despite the smile, there was a hint of cruelty in his eyes, and by the end, he was scolding him.

  The young man who looked up at the sky suddenly turned pale and was stunned, unsure of what to say.

  According to the Qing Code, once a contract is signed, even one's own parents cannot intervene. If one disobeys their master and gets beaten to death, it would merely be considered a penalty of paying back the price of their body!

  That angry young man was filled with sorrow and indignation, but had to bow his head and say: "It's all the fault of this slave, please forgive me, Master, Second Master, and Mr. Gu!"

  Another eleven or twelve-year-old boy, who looked a bit weak, smiled and waved his hand: "Get up, we're all our own people, what's the point of calculating? Cao Cong, Gu Na, don't scare him anymore." In his heart, he just felt amused, probably because he didn't know the details, seeing Wei Wu's sadness and grievance, he would definitely think that he was a arrogant young master, while Cao Cong and Gu Na were his own lackeys.

  That angry young man was Wei Xin, the former tyrant of Jiangning City North and the leader of the Beihai Heroic Society, who at only seventeen years old had brought a group of youths to cause trouble in the northern city.

  The Wei family's old master had a kind heart to teach his young son, but he was also a henpecked husband. Every time before he could scold his son, he would be pinched by his wife and beg for mercy. When Wei Xin was younger, it was still okay, he just hung out with a group of kids and got into fights. Now that he's growing up, some bad influences have started to tempt him to do some bullying and harassing, fortunately the people in the Wei family are keeping a close eye on him, so nothing big has happened yet. However, the Wei family can no longer afford to be lenient, if something really happens, not only will the Wei family's reputation be ruined, but even Wei Xin's life will be in danger.

  The eldest son of the Wei family was named Wei Ren, with a courtesy name of Fengyang. He served as an official in the Jiangning Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, although he was only a minor sixth-grade official, but because of his efficient handling of affairs, he was highly valued by Cao Yin.

  Cao Pi has been living a life of both literary and military pursuits since he moved to the "Seeking Self Residence" four years ago. On the literary side, he continued his studies at the clan school; on the military side, in addition to insisting on exercising every day to strengthen his body, he also started following several martial arts instructors from the Cao family. As for horseback riding and archery, Cao Pi was personally taught by Cao Yi. Cao Yi originally did not want his son to be obsessed with martial arts, but seeing that he had named his new residence "Seeking Self Residence", knowing it meant "it is better to seek oneself than to seek others", he felt guilty in his heart and could not bear to scold him.

  What Cao Kun did was just to protect himself in times of crisis, training to strengthen his body, learning knife and archery skills for self-defense. From running and walking at the beginning to carrying heavy loads later, Cao Kun challenged his physical limits time and again. Every time he felt exhausted, he would look at the sign "Seeking Self-Dwelling" and recall the pain of being kidnapped and disabled that year. If he couldn't learn self-defense skills, he would have to rely on bodyguards in the future, putting his life in someone else's hands, which was something he didn't want. Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and persisted.

  The books still need to be read, but Cao Guang no longer has any thoughts of becoming a top scholar. In the Qing dynasty, every three years there was a big exam, with tens of millions of children competing for the title of "秀才", tens of thousands of "秀才" competing for the title of "举人", thousands of "举人" competing for the title of "进士", and hundreds of "进士" competing for the title of "状元". The chances were one in tens of millions! Although Cao Guang had a good memory, he didn't have the confidence to write an outstanding eight-part essay. Reading books was just to broaden his knowledge, just to distract himself from the fatigue caused by overexertion.

  "Qiu Ji Ju" is adjacent to Cao's school field, except for Cao Gong, the maidservant Hui Xin and An Xiang followed him to serve. Hui Xin was originally Bi Xi, but she changed her name to avoid the senior maid's name taboo in the old lady's courtyard. Cao Gong asked her and knew that her original name was Feng Manlan, so he took "Hui Xin" from "Lan Zhi Hui Xin" as her new name. Tea Jing, who was assigned to Cao Gong by the old lady along with Bi Xi that year, was sent to Chun Nuan Ju because Cao Gong disliked her temperament, citing that his third sister had fewer servants to attend to. To prevent the old lady from assigning another maid to him, Cao Gong begged to have Xiao Mei, a junior maid who assisted Hui Xin, promoted to take her place. The old lady disliked Xiao Mei's name and changed it to "An Xiang". After the front courtyard was cleaned up, Cao Gong moved out of the old lady's courtyard with Hui Xin and An Xiang.

  In the Western Capital, Cao Song heard that his older brother was learning martial arts and came over to join in every day. Originally disliking reading, he seemed to prefer all sorts of sweaty exercises. Knowing that Gu Na was at the Cao residence, Cao Song even dragged him over. Towards this nominal "study partner" of his, Cao Fang initially had a lukewarm attitude, having neither the mood nor the time to coax this slightly awkward child. After learning about his mother's remarriage and discovering the confusion and panic he inadvertently revealed, Cao Fang couldn't bring himself to be heartless. He was just a kid after all, having experienced the loss of his father and his mother's remarriage, and being in a dependent situation - it was normal for him to be a bit awkward, so why bother taking it out on him? Thinking this way, he began to treat Gu Na with kindness and warmth.

  Although Gu Na was a bit eccentric, he wasn't stupid and naturally understood Cao Kun's concerns, although on the surface he remained calm, in his heart he gradually became dependent on him.

  Cao Gong, Cao Song and Gu Na studied together at the clan school, read books together, and fought together on the school grounds. Before they knew it, four years had passed. Although they had the same teacher, the three of them were different in their martial arts skills. Cao Song only practiced attacking, fighting quickly and fiercely with his fists; Gu Na only practiced defense, rarely taking the initiative to attack. Cao Gong, however, was different from both of them, practicing both offense and defense.

  At first, because of his young age and weak strength, Cao Fang couldn't even beat a single guard. A year later, he was able to easily defeat a guard in an attack, whether it was offense or defense, he could win. No one would give him any quarter just because he was the young master of the mansion, because every time Cao Fang competed with the guards, he would put up several silver ingots as stakes. The winner would get money to buy wine, and the loser would have to wash stinky socks for half a month for the other guards.

  After another year, one enemy became two, then three after a few more years, and the numbers kept increasing slowly. Until a few months ago, several bodyguards working together still couldn't take down Cao Yun, and that's when his life as a bodyguard came to an end. To be able to become a bodyguard for the Cao family, one had to have some real skills. Although Cao Yun didn't have any incredible internal energy or extraordinary abilities, relying on his agile movements and sufficient physical strength, it wasn't easy to master such close-range combat skills.

  After the end of campus life, Cao Yun became somewhat disoriented and didn't know what to do for a while. Cao Song and Gu Na, seeing that Cao Yun was not going to the campus, lost interest in dancing with swords. Cao Song spent his days on the streets, looking for opportunities to "behave chivalrously" and act as a "hero"; Gu Na, on the other hand, held books every day, besides studying the lessons at school, he also had to complete the homework left by Zhuang Chang.

  Because Cao Song didn't like to use the Cao family's name, he soon suffered a loss and was beaten by local thugs until his face was bruised. Cao Song loved to save face and wouldn't let his servants help him, so he came to ask his brother to avenge him.

  Cao Hua's heart ached for Cao Song, and he also wanted to try out the skills of outsiders. He went there with pleasure. Unexpectedly, in a short time, he easily defeated his opponents. Cao Song thought it was fun, so he took these people as his younger brothers, set down rules, and considered it a repayment to the local area for its peace.

  When the news reached the Weaving Department, Cao Yin and Zhuang Chang thought it was just a child's prank and didn't take it to heart. The Cao family had strict rules, and Cao Song's personality was introverted, so the two brothers knew their limits.

  Not to mention a gang of thugs, even the masters are not enough to be feared. Since four years ago, after Cao Hua's death, there have been two high-ranking masters from the Cao family secretly protecting him, and nothing will happen. Only Wei Ren thought of his younger brother at home, and he was moved in his heart, so he privately asked Cao Hua to teach Wei Xin a lesson. At that time, even if mother wanted to stop it, she couldn't.

  Wei Ren was a trusted subordinate of Cao Yin, and he was familiar with Cao Guang and his brother Cao Song. Although Cao Guang did not want to get involved in many things, when Cao Song heard that the target of the disciplinary action was the leader of the City North Heroes Association, he naturally became eager to try, and spent all day following his older brother around. Cao Guang was annoyed by him and agreed to take on the task. Within three days, Gu Na had investigated the members of the Heroes Association and their habits, and had formulated a corresponding "annihilation" plan.

  In the 44th year of Kangxi, on March 9th, in the south city market, Cao Huan and Cao Yun brought out Gu Na, leading a group of people from the Hero Gathering to a deserted alley. A moment later, the Hero Gathering dispersed, and after Wei Xin, the leader of the Hero Gathering, was defeated, he signed a contract selling himself into servitude.

  Wei Xin, although momentarily impulsive, was willing to gamble and sign away his life contract, but thinking of his heroic reputation accumulated over the years disappearing into thin air, how could he be at peace? He returned home, gathered 20 or 30 thugs to guard the house, and furiously sought a showdown. The result was naturally not unexpected, the Wei family servants were defeated, and Cao Guang and others emerged victorious.

  When the disturbance became too big, Mrs. Wei cried and complained, but Mr. Wei had already received a letter from his eldest son, knowing that the other party was Cao Gongzi, pretending to be accompanied by people, and then pretended to be frightened and apologized, finally returned home due to "shock" and "serious illness", stubbornly wanting to punish his younger son for "beating Cao Gongzi" and "bringing disaster to the family". Mrs. Wei dared not persuade him again, and Wei Xin was also scared into obedience, obediently allowing his brother to send himself to the Cao family as Cao Song's long follower.

  Wei Xin, from being a arrogant and domineering young master, became an attendant of a child even younger than himself. The disappointment in his heart can be imagined. After spending several days at the Cao residence, seeing Cao Pi chatting and laughing with his elder brother Wei Ren as if they were close friends, Wei Xin realized he had been deceived. To think that it was these young masters of the Cao family who had provoked a big fight, yet still managed to gain an advantage, what nonsense about "bringing calamity to the family". Thinking this way, he became indignant and ran back home.

  Although Mr. Wei was reluctant to let his son be a servant, he also knew that if he continued to indulge him, he would eventually get into big trouble. It's better to serve in the Cao Mansion for a few years and smooth out his temper through the Cao family to achieve a good reputation.

  Cao Gong had not yet spoken, Gu Na had already proposed that according to the Qing Code, escaped slaves were punishable by death. In the end, it was still Cao Gong who spoke up for him and he only received twenty blows with a stick. Wei Xin had no family backing and was beaten again, so he could only obediently become a long-term follower, but in his heart, he cursed these few spoiled rich kids who relied on their powerful connections.