A few days earlier, Chu Qiguang had formally taken Chen Gang on as a manservant and taught him the martial art of the Heavenly Spirit Body Tempering Fist, even causing a faint spark of gratitude to stir within the boy.
After all, knowledge in this era was tightly controlled by the rich and powerful, let alone a deadly weapon like martial arts. Unless common peasant households sold themselves into servitude to wealthy families, they couldn't even dream of learning the barest rudiments of hand-to-hand combat.
Being able to learn real martial arts, having his body restored to normal, and seeing his physical strength vastly improved after the Heavenly Demon Foundation Establishment Method—all of this was enough to fill Chen Gang with gratitude and grant him a sliver of hope for the future.
And hope for the future... in a world where the lower classes faced layer upon layer of oppression from local gentry, officials, and religion from the moment they were born, was perhaps one of the most precious things of all.
After all, if someone like Chen Gang sold himself into servitude to a prominent household, he would be worth three or four taels of silver at most.
Moreover, for most servants, abuse and severe beatings were daily occurrences.
In a world where merely staying alive was far from guaranteed, the endurance of commoners far exceeded that of people in the modern society Chu Qiguang had once known.
Chu Qiguang looked at Chen Gang and gave a nod. "Not bad."
Receiving praise, a faint smile showed on Chen Gang's face, and he asked, "Brother Gou, are you going to give me some pointers today?"
Chu Qiguang frowned. "Are you telling me what to do?"
Chen Gang lowered his head. "N-no, I wouldn't dare."
Chu Qiguang said, "Before, I saw you had a bit of talent, so I beat you a few times to beat some martial arts into you. You turned out to have some sense and were willing to endure hardship, so I took you on.
"A fortune-teller once told me I have the destiny of a prime minister born to save the era, but I don't buy it. I believe that when you make your way in the world, success or failure is up to you. Since you've chosen to follow me, I can point you toward a path, but how you walk it will ultimately depend on yourself."
Chen Gang nodded silently. Chu Qiguang set ten taels of silver before him.
"I'm heading to the county town tomorrow. If you're willing to follow me, this ten taels of silver is your relocation allowance. From today on, your life belongs to me."
Chen Gang knew he had no real choice, but ten taels of silver combined with martial arts instruction steadily eroded whatever urge to resist remained in him.
Prompted by Chu Qiguang, he promptly accepted the silver and headed home to settle his family affairs.
Just as Chen Gang left, Ergou's younger sister, who had fled crying moments ago, came running back holding the white cat Jinxiu. She seemed to have completely forgotten what had just happened, grinning foolishly with joy.
She called out to Zhou Ergou, "Brother! I want to practice martial arts too!"
Chu Qiguang looked at his sister with a gentle, kindly expression. "Silly girl, you can't."
The girl pouted stubbornly. "Why not?"
"Because you're foolish." Chu Qiguang patted her head. "Fools can't practice martial arts."
She shouted loudly, "But I'm not foolish!"
Chu Qiguang countered, "If you weren't foolish, would you have thought of making cats farm? A cat has so little strength; how could it ever work the fields?"
Nearby, Qiao Zhi and Jinxiu nodded inwardly at his words. Qiao Zhi thought, *My early efforts to guide Chu Qiguang weren't in vain after all. I've finally steered him onto the right path.*
Chu Qiguang continued, "You should have the cats wash clothes and gather firewood in the morning, catch fish and shrimp by the river in the afternoon, and hunt pests and pull weeds in the fields at night! Aren't those chores far more suited to cats? If you couldn't even think of that, how can you claim you aren't foolish?"
"I really didn't think of that!" she said, looking puzzled. "But wouldn't doing so much work be exhausting for them?"
"So what if it's tiring?" Chu Qiguang said. "Think about it. Cats used to live as wild beasts, eating raw meat, drinking blood, unaware of the passing of years.
"But now they get to work 24/7... which means having purposeful work every single day, no longer sleeping exposed to the elements, having food, shelter, clothing, and transportation provided for them, living the life of civilized beings! Tell me, would they ever wash clothes in the wild? Could they start fires, eat cooked food, or have a roof over their heads?
"What you are doing is civilizing wild, blood-drinking beasts into a part of human civilization, teaching them to be human.
"This is a blessing for them!"
Hearing Chu Qiguang's speech, even though the girl couldn't fully comprehend all of it, she found it utterly convincing.
She nodded in sudden realization. "So that's how it is! Starting tomorrow, I'll teach the kitties how to work! Brother, tell me more about what to do..."
Chu Qiguang thought to himself, *Controlling monsters just for extortion, blackmail, or wiping out rival households is a dreadful waste. If I can unleash the productive forces of monsters, wouldn't that benefit the entire world? I might as well let my silly sister give it a try first.*
To the side, Qiao Zhi sighed repeatedly in his heart. *This kid Chu Qiguang... his demonic nature runs deep. I have to steer him properly and stomp out this foul, corrupt mindset of his. In the future, humans should do the work while the cat race enjoys the fruits!*
Qiao Zhi glanced at Jinxiu in the girl's arms. Seeing her wearing a pensive, contemplative feline expression, he grew frantic and started meowing urgently.
"Jinxiu! What are you thinking? Don't tell me you actually think he makes sense?!
"It's all lies! All trickery! Don't believe a single word!"
At his words, Jinxiu merely looked back at Qiao Zhi with a puzzled gaze, as if asking why.
Frustrated by her lack of backbone, Qiao Zhi hissed, "I did say that if you want to cultivate, you must first learn how to be human and learn civilization, but I never told you to work for humans! This is slavery! This is exploitation! You must resist to the bitter end!
"Since his sister is going to start teaching you chores, let me impart a few tricks on how to counter human exploitation.
"Whenever she speaks to you from now on, pretend you don't understand. Just stare at her with wide eyes and act completely brainless so she loses confidence in teaching you.
"Even if she does teach you, you must work slowly and make mistakes. Better yet, mess up constantly so she loses all patience with you.
"And remember to drink plenty of water and make frequent trips to the outhouse. Think about it—if you spend an hour in the latrine every day, that equals fifteen extra days of vacation a year!"
While Qiao Zhi was busy passing on advanced slacking-off tactics to his subordinate, Chu Qiguang gave a few casual instructions to his sister before heading off to see his mother.
Chu Qiguang casually explained to his mother that he was heading to the county town's Yinglue Academy with Wang Cailiang and told her he would likely be staying in the county town for the foreseeable future. If anything came up, she could turn to the Wang household for major matters and ask the neighboring Chen family for help with minor ones.
He then gave his mother ten taels of silver. He didn't dare give her too much—partly because the remaining silver was needed to purchase Hundred-Refined Ointment, and partly because having too much silver in Ergou's impoverished home would invite danger.
Ergou's mother listened attentively to Chu Qiguang's instructions, looking at him with a warm smile and nodding from time to time, placing complete trust in her son.
Before Chu Qiguang could leave, however, she called for him to wait, then brought out a wooden box and placed it into his hands.
"This was left behind by your father. He said that if you ever leave Wang Family Village in the future, I should give this wooden box to you..."
Chu Qiguang looked on with faint surprise. He took the wooden box, opened it, and found a bamboo slip inside, inscribed with three large characters.
Ergou's mother continued, "...Chu Qiguang. Your father said that if you ever venture out from Wang Family Village to make a name for yourself in the world, you'll need a proper, resounding name. Ergou won't do anymore. Let it be Chu Qiguang."
Chapter 35