Great Qian Dynasty, Canglong Prefecture, Weishui Commandery City.
Day had fully broken.
Sizzle!
From a house in Pear Blossom Alley came the crackle of meat hitting hot oil.
The red-and-white pork belly jumped slightly in the wok as the boiling oil kept drawing the rich, tender fat from the pork belly, and the smell of cooking meat filled the little courtyard.
On the windowsill outside crouched a little girl with her hair in tufts, gazing longingly into the room, a line of drool reaching halfway down the sill.
“Brother, it smells so good~~”
Watching the youth busy inside, Chen Er Ya felt her brother seemed a little different from usual today.
The night before, he had been gone all night and only came back off duty as the sky was turning gray.
Usually, when he drew a night patrol, he would wolf down whatever was at hand the moment he got home and drop into bed. Today was a rare exception.
Not only had he bought meat, he was cooking it himself.
“Nannan, wait a little longer. It's almost ready.”
The youth added seasonings to the iron wok with practiced ease, sprinkled in salt, and smiled at the girl on the windowsill.
The smile was dazzling to Chen Er Ya. Her brother looked so handsome today.
Deftly he dished the cooked pork belly into a bowl, then stir-fried a plate of seasonal vegetables in the same wok.
Chen Er Ya had grown the vegetables herself; from picking to pot, they hadn't even lost their breath yet.
His movements were practiced, and in a few quick strokes everything was done.
“Nannan, come carry the dishes. We're eating in the courtyard today.”
Chen Ping'an scooped out two bowls of rice and carried them toward the courtyard.
In the middle of the small courtyard stood an old wooden table with two stools beside it. The stools were covered in scratches, worn with the marks of the years.
“Coming.”
Chen Er Ya moved nimbly, a dish in each hand, and set them eagerly on the table.
“Brother, is there some good news today? Why so many good dishes~”
Chen Er Ya looked at the fragrant food on the table and had to fight down her drool.
On the table: two bowls of white cooked rice, clean and pure, clearly boiled from the finest polished rice; a bowl of pork belly; a plate of stir-fried seasonal vegetables; and a large bowl of savory meat-bone soup.
The milky broth steamed, enough to make anyone's mouth water.
Meals of this scale — never mind now; even when Father Chen was still alive, they had rarely enjoyed such a thing.
At that, Chen Ping'an rubbed his sister's head.
“I just felt we hadn't had meat in a long while, so I thought we'd have a meat meal for once.”
“Bro~ I'm grown up now, stop always patting my head!”
Chen Er Ya brushed her brother's hand away and glared adorably fiercely at him — and then she froze slightly.
There seemed to be a light in her brother's eyes.
She had not seen that kind of light in his eyes since their father died.
How come today...
Chen Ping'an looked at his sister tenderly and picked out a piece of pork belly, rich yet not greasy, into her bowl.
“Stop dazing off. Eat up!”
“Yes.”
Chen Er Ya gave a start, then was drawn by the smell of meat before her, bit off more than half the piece, shoveled rice with her chopsticks, and swallowed it all down along with the meat.
“So good~”
“If it's good, eat more.”
Chen Ping'an said with a smile.
“Brother eat too.”
Chen Er Ya said considerately.
“Alright.”
Chen Ping'an picked up a piece of meat and, watching Chen Er Ya eating with relish beside him, suddenly felt a strange sense of unreality.
Several years had passed since he came to this world.
He had wanted to practice martial arts, but his innate foundation was poor; he simply wasn't cut out for it. Never mind entering the martial path — even the basic conditioning had been extremely hard to train.
From the first grand ambitions and eagerness to try, to being badly beaten in the end and making peace with whatever came.
He had thought the days would keep passing like that.
But who would have thought his family would suddenly meet with misfortune.
Father Chen, always so strong, had been gravely injured on a mission.
Speaking of Father Chen, he had been a renowned tough man in Pear Blossom Alley.
A registered runner serving at the Nanquan Lane Suppression Office!
A registered runner was one whose name was truly entered in the Suppression Office's rolls, whose standing was genuinely recognized by the authorities and by the gangs, great and small.
When Father Chen was around, the family hadn't been rich, but they had lived far better than ordinary commoners.
But with Father Chen down, the household lost its income, and things went steadily downhill.
Half a year ago, Father Chen had let go of the world and left them forever, leaving only the two siblings to depend on each other.
In fact, had Father Chen not spent the last month or so before his death running himself ragged for his son's future, worn out in body and spirit, by rights he should have lived at least another half year.
Parents' love is the kind that plans far ahead.
Through Father Chen's maneuvering before he died, Chen Ping'an had become an unregistered runner at the Nanquan Lane Suppression Office.
Unregistered though the post was, being a runner gave him and his sister the guarantee of a living.
Chen Ping'an knew that to work out this position for him, Father Chen had given up not only his own compensation for the injury suffered in the line of duty and all the provisions that followed, but had also spent every last bit of the family's savings and even borrowed money to grease every connection up and down the Suppression Office.
Better to teach a man to fish than to hand him a fish.
Savings, however large, would eventually be eaten away.
But once Chen Ping'an was settled in as a runner at the Suppression Office, that was a steady stream of income.
Even as an unregistered runner, aside from any gray income, he had a monthly stipend of eight qian.
For ordinary commoners, that was not a low income at all.
Besides, with Father Chen gone and his protective standing gone with him, it would be very hard for Chen Ping'an alone to hold on to the family property Father Chen had built up. Too much wealth would surely draw greedy eyes and invite unnecessary trouble.
All things considered, Father Chen's decision had undoubtedly been the right one.
Since half a year ago, Chen Ping'an had officially joined the Nanquan Lane Suppression Office as an unregistered runner, and life had settled into something bland and unremarkable.
The light in his eyes had gradually dimmed amid the repetition of each day.
But... yesterday!
Yesterday he hadn't come home all night, and it had not been the usual routine night patrol. He had received a secret operation order and joined the head runner and runners of the Nanquan Lane Suppression Office in raiding a small gang.
That small gang preyed on the streets and was rampant, with an utterly foul reputation.
Its fall was, for ordinary people, naturally a very good thing.
Chen Ping'an, of course, would not naively believe that the Nanquan Lane Suppression Office had acted to punish evil and uphold good, or to display the majesty of Great Qian law.
The raid last night most likely had everything to do with the grinding struggle of forces behind the scenes.
Probably once one old one was gone, a new one would be born.
Still, none of that had anything to do with Chen Ping'an.
Yesterday his luck had been excellent: while the head runner and runners clashed with the gang's leaders and members, he had inadvertently picked up a martial arts manual in the gang's den.
Not some divine technique — just an ordinary, commonplace lower-grade body-refining martial art. Iron Shirt!
And such a common thing as Iron Shirt, he hadn't even been able to carry out.
For raids like this, before leaving there was always a body search, to keep anyone from carrying off spoils.
Unable to take it out, Chen Ping'an voluntarily handed in the Iron Shirt.
But before handing it over, he had read it through carefully.
And that one read-through had raised boundless hope in Chen Ping'an for the life ahead of him.
At the thought, his expression grew a shade more eager.
He blinked several times, and a few lines of text appeared in his sight.
Name: Chen Ping'an
Realm: None
Martial Art: Iron Shirt not yet entered (0/5)
...
“Brother, what are you spacing out for? Eat quickly~ if you don't, I'm going to finish all the dishes~”
Seeing Chen Ping'an spacing out, Chen Er Ya reminded him.
“Ha, I let you get a head start. Now watch me catch up.”
Chen Ping'an picked up the seasonal vegetables and put them straight into his mouth, chewed a few times together with the rice, and was about to swallow.
Outside the courtyard gate, a violent knocking suddenly rang out. Along with the knocking came a shout thick with menace.
“Open the door! Tiger Head Gang!”
...