Hearing this, the corner of Yang Jing’s mouth twitched.

His senior brother was right. It bruised his ego, but he really couldn’t afford it.

After the various expenses that came with breaking through to the Dark Jin realm, he now had just over two hundred taels of silver on him. Even adding the ten taels of Gold and the fifty-tael silver ingot hidden in the rafters of his old home, his entire net worth didn’t even amount to four hundred taels.

Even if he went to the Exotic Beast Pavilion now, he could probably only look at the vast majority of exotic beasts. He simply couldn’t afford to buy them.

As for common Exotic Beast Meat like that of a Spirit Fish, Yang Jing could buy it from the Liu Family Medical Hall. He got it at cost price anyway, and it was quite possible that buying Spirit Fish at the Exotic Beast Pavilion would be much more expensive than getting it from the medical hall.

Thinking of this, Yang Jing lamented, ’I’m still too poor.’

’If I had enough silver coins, I could eat top-grade Exotic Beast Meat for every meal. Wouldn’t my progress skyrocket then?’

However, although Yang Jing didn’t have Exotic Beast Meat for every meal, his current regimen of medicinal supplements paired with the meat of fierce beasts was almost as nourishing as the meat of a Spirit Fish.

To the current Yang Jing, this was already excellent.

Just then, Yang Jing suddenly remembered something. He looked at Liu Maolin and asked, "By the way, Senior Brother, why do you call Miss Jinlian ’Miss’? Isn’t she already married?"

Yang Jing felt it was strange. Since that Miss Jinlian had married into the Lu Family and now held great power within it, she should be called Madam Lu, not ’Miss Jinlian’.

Liu Maolin shook his head. "I don’t know about that. Everyone else calls her that, so I just followed suit."

"I see," Yang Jing said with a slight nod.

The two exchanged a few more words before Yang Jing stood up to take his leave, politely declining Liu Maolin’s invitation to stay for a meal.

After leaving the Liu Family Medical Hall, he moved quickly. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he was back in the small courtyard in Tongyi Square, carrying a package of medicinal herbs.

The moment Yang Jing stepped through the courtyard gate, he was greeted by the aroma of cooking meat.

He had to admit, when Yang Jing used to stew meat and cook rice, he only cared about efficiency and speed, paying almost no attention to flavor. His cousin, Yang An, on the other hand, though simple and reserved, was surprisingly serious and meticulous when he set his mind to something.

The stove in the kitchen was still steaming. Hearing the noise, Yang An walked out of the kitchen. Seeing that Yang Jing was back, a smile spread across his face. "Brother Jing, you’re back. Go wash your hands, and I’ll dish out the food."

"Alright. Brother An, your cooking is getting better and better," Yang Jing praised with a smile. He then walked into the main house, placed the medicinal herbs in the medicine chest, and washed his hands before coming to the dining table.

Yang An had already set out the meal.

On the table were three large bowls of food. One bowl contained tiger meat stewed until it was tender, with a rich, fragrant broth, placed in front of the chair where Yang Jing usually sat. Another bowl held large, soy-sauce-colored chunks of horse meat. There was also a basin of simple and refreshing vegetable and tofu soup.

Alongside the three large bowls of food was a pot of coarse rice, steamed so every grain was distinct, still letting off steam in the ceramic bowl.

Yang Jing sat down and picked up a piece of tiger meat. As it entered his mouth, a rich, meaty fragrance spread, and a warmth flowed down his throat.

"Brother An, have some tiger meat," Yang Jing asked, noticing that Yang An had only put a few pieces of horse meat in his bowl.

Yang An shoveled a mouthful of rice and chuckled.

"Brother Jing, this horse meat is plenty fragrant, even more delicious than the pork we eat at home for the New Year. The tiger meat is too precious. You should keep it for yourself; your training consumes a lot of energy. Besides..." Yang An scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "I ate half a small bowl the other day, and I was burning up all night. I’m afraid I can’t handle it."

Yang Jing understood.

He knew that tiger meat was the flesh of a fierce beast. Yang An was currently just an ordinary person building his foundation. It was fine for him to eat a little tiger meat occasionally, but if he ate too much, his body wouldn’t be able to take it.

He didn’t press the matter further, simply pushing the bowl of horse meat closer to him. "Eat up. Practicing martial arts is physically demanding. You need to build up your strength."

Yang An agreed, taking a few more pieces of horse meat and letting out a few soft laughs from time to time.

’Before I came,’ he thought, ’both Grandfather and Mother told me that after I got to the city, I should take care of Brother Jing’s daily needs so he could focus all his energy on his martial arts training, and that I should do all the hard work.’

’But look at this now. How is this hard work at all? This is the life of an immortal, with meat and rice at every meal. I never even dared to dream of this before.’

The two ate in silence. The chirping of cicadas outside the courtyard mixed with the clinking of bowls and spoons, creating a comforting, down-to-earth warmth.

...

「Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.」

There were only three days left until the training ground trials.

On this day, Yang the Third picked up a family letter written by Yang An from Tongyi Square. He chatted familiarly with Yang An for a while, then drove his ox-cart out of the city with his goods.

By dusk, Yang the Third had returned to Yang Family Village.

He first delivered the letter from Yang An to the old master, Yang Shouzhuo. After leaving, he habitually drove his ox-cart and stopped under the old locust tree at the village entrance.

The moment Yang the Third stopped, before he could even jump down from the cart, he was surrounded by several fellow villagers who were cooling off in the shade.

"Third, you’re back from the county. What’s the latest news?" an old man squatting on a rock and smoking a long-stemmed pipe asked first.

Yang the Third jumped down from the ox-cart, patting the dust off his clothes. With a smug look on his face, he raised his voice. "You all have no idea! Our village’s Yang Jing is incredible now! In a few more days, he’s going to participate in the Martial Examination. If he passes, he’ll have a proper official position. From now on, he’ll be a big shot in the county town!"

As soon as he said this, the crowd under the tree erupted in an uproar.

Most of these ordinary villagers didn’t know what the training ground trials were and uniformly referred to it as the Martial Examination.

"What? The Martial Examination? In the operas, they say you have to earn that with real skill!"

"That Yang Jing kid has been sturdy since he was little. Who knew he’d have such a destiny?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"If he really passes, our village will have produced a nobleman!"

The villagers discussed it with great excitement.

Listening to the crowd’s discussion, Yang the Third stood up even straighter and replied, "But of course! I’ve seen him practice his fist techniques with my own eyes. He can punch right through a sandbag, no joke! If that fist landed on a person, my goodness, the consequences..."

"Tch, Third, stop bragging. Do you think passing the Martial Examination is that easy? That’s the Martial Examination! You have to be a celestial star descended to earth to pass that," a thin, dark-skinned, middle-aged man scoffed, though his expression was clearly a bit stiff.

"Yang Ji, you can act tough for now. Let’s not even talk about whether Yang Jing can pass the Martial Examination. Even right now, he could crush you with a single finger." Yang the Third looked at the man and snorted. "It’s only because Yang Jing is magnanimous and can’t be bothered with a frog in a well like you. Do you have any idea how powerful he is now? Or what kind of big shots he associates with?"

This thin, dark-skinned man was named Yang Ji. He had a history of disputes with the Yang Family over land and felt terrible seeing Yang Jing’s prospects improve day by day.

"Pah! You lackey!" Yang Ji cursed with a glare. "No matter how powerful he gets, I’m not afraid of him. Does he dare to kill me? Does he have no regard for the law? Let’s not even say he isn’t an official yet. Even if he becomes one, he has to know that even the emperor is subject to the same laws as the common people. Even opera singers know that principle."

A woman nearby sneered, "Yang Ji, why don’t you go take a look at the wasteland to the south? It’s practically become a mass grave. And it’s not just refugees’ bodies in there. Have you seen the authorities do anything about it?"

Hearing this, the other villagers under the tree burst into laughter.

Yang Ji’s face turned a ghastly shade of green and white. With an ugly expression, he forcefully flung his tattered sleeve and turned to leave.

"Yang Ji, why don’t we make a bet? Let’s bet on whether Yang Jing can pass this Martial Examination," Yang the Third suddenly shouted.

"Bet what?" Yang Ji paused.

"I’ll bet your wife’s—" Seeing Yang Ji about to lunge at him in a rage, Yang the Third quickly continued, "—that hairpin your wife wears. My old woman’s been eyeing it for a long time."

Yang Ji’s expression was grim. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, "What are you putting up?"

...

P.S.

Dear readers, this book will be going premium at midnight. I should be updating with five Chapters, totaling twenty thousand characters.

I’m asking for your monthly tickets and first-time subscriptions.

After going premium, the basic daily update will be two Chapters, eight thousand characters total.

As for bonus Chapters, there will be one for every one hundred monthly tickets and one for every five thousand Qidian Coins. These will all be large, four-thousand-character Chapters.

This author bows deeply. Thank you all so much for your support along the way!