Chapter 6: Entering the outer courtyard and meeting roommates

Chapter 6: Entering the outer courtyard and meeting roommates

Chapter 6: Entering the outer courtyard and meeting roommates

At Jianxiong Martial Arts School, the first month was closed training.

After the apprentice enters the academy, he has to eat, live and practice martial arts inside and is not allowed to go out or go home.

Zhou You bid farewell to his parents and checked into the martial arts hall with his luggage.

There was a wooden sign hanging at the door of the house. With the name of the martial arts school as an intimidator, Tu Laosan didn't dare to come over for the time being.

These three months are the novice protection period that Zhou You has fought for himself.

When entering the outer courtyard, the first thing to do is to pay a visit to the eldest senior brother.

The role of the eldest senior brother Lu Qiang in the outer courtyard is equivalent to that of the owner's spokesperson. He is responsible for disciplining apprentices and teaching them boxing and martial arts.

"Zhou You greets the eldest senior brother."

Lu Qiang nodded and said, "You and Liu Bing, Song Fugui, and Fang Guiqi will live in one room."

There are four apprentices in one dormitory in the outer courtyard, and there are often vacancies and fills.

Zhou You entered the dormitory with his luggage, and the other three apprentices all looked at him.

Liu Bing had dark skin, strong limbs, and his calves were covered with cuts from grass leaves, clearly a farmer.

Song Fugui looked like a city dweller at first glance. He was fair-skinned, his hands had no calluses from work, and his eyes were bright and lively.

As for Fang Guiqi, he seemed to be from another place, and it was unknown why he was able to join Jianxiong Martial Arts School.

"Where are you from, brother?"

Song Fugui was the most enthusiastic. When he saw Zhou You coming in, he helped him unload his luggage and make the bed.

When he heard that Zhou You was also a resident of the city, he became even more enthusiastic and then introduced himself.

Song Fugui's family's ancestral profession was to sell oil, and they would go from street to street carrying a load on their shoulders to buy oil.

Although walking around the streets is hard work, you can make a lot of money.

His father sent him here to learn martial arts because the world was becoming more and more chaotic and he wanted a skill to protect himself.

"To be honest, the economy has been getting worse over the past few years. My dad was robbed about ten times last year."

"When I take over the oil business at home, I must have martial arts skills to fight off the bad guys."

Song Fugui also reminded Zhou You, "Every new apprentice can receive a set of uniforms for each of the four seasons."

"From the owner?"

Zhou You was very surprised. He didn't expect the martial arts school to pay so generously.

A set of regular clothes for all four seasons would cost at least a few taels of silver. Is it all included in the tuition?

"Of course not. There is a senior brother in the inner courtyard whose family runs a business. He is very generous."

This senior brother has always been known in the martial arts school for his generosity. He buys gifts for his fellow disciples during festivals and holidays, and the apprentices from other courtyards can also follow suit and benefit from it.

Zhou You guessed that since this man was so generous, he obviously wanted to attract talents.

Opening a business requires dealing with all kinds of people. It is not enough to just spend money, you also need to be able to invite capable people to help.

Although most of the novice apprentices in Jianxiong Martial Arts School will be eliminated in the future, as long as one or two of them succeed, they will be able to repay his kindness in the future.

Song Fugui then introduced him to the other two roommates.

"Liu Bing's family is a small landowner outside the city. They own 30 to 50 mu of land, and they have to work in the fields during the busy farming season."

"They compete with neighboring villages for water sources in the early season, often engaging in armed fights involving hundreds or even thousands of people."

"In recent years, the neighboring villages have sent young men to learn martial arts, and after returning from their training, they have caused heavy casualties in their family."

"Liu Bing's clan members were willing to sacrifice their lives and sell grain to raise money to send him to the city to learn martial arts."

"He was holding back his anger, and he went out early and came back late just to learn the skills as soon as possible and beat the neighboring village."

At this time, Liu Bing and Fang Guiqi had already left the dormitory, leaving only Zhou You and Song Fugui.

Song Fugui has been in the outer courtyard for two months and knows the situation there very well.

"And Fang Guiqi, he fled here from Sucheng. His sister got married in this city, so he asked someone to guarantee his place in the martial arts school." "He is a taciturn person, he doesn't talk and doesn't look happy, so don't bother with him."

"That's right...

Song Fugui looked at the empty bed and said, "You can sleep on Ning Daliang's bed."

Seeing Zhou You's puzzled expression, he explained, "Ning Daliang originally lived here, but he didn't come in for three months and was kicked out."

At this point, Song Fugui sighed, "What a pity, I spent a lot of money but still didn't learn it."

"But even so, with the set of Fu Hu Quan I learned at the martial arts school, I can protect myself from being bullied."

Zhou You truly felt the cold elimination system of Jianxiong Martial Arts School. Apprentices would be kicked out if they did not meet the requirements after three months.

Because of this, most of the apprentices in the martial arts school practiced very hard and did not dare to slack off at all.

As for Song Fugui...

"Haha, I'm not cut out for martial arts."

"It's been two months, and the Subduing Tiger Fist is still a mediocre skill. It won't work in the remaining month."

"I came here to make friends and look after each other in the future."

Song Fugui said to Zhou You, "Zhou You, if you learn boxing, you will have great potential if you join the business and take over your father's business in the future."

"I heard that it's not safe outside the city. If you follow the caravan, the wages are very high."

"You practice martial arts and boxing, and you can protect yourself when walking in the wild. Apply to follow the caravan, and you can earn at least 20 taels of silver."

"If I make a few more trips, I'll have enough money to build a house and marry a wife, right?"

Zhou You's family still lives in a rented house, but how easy is it to build a house in the city?
This is also what Old Man Zhou has been obsessed with all his life, wanting to have his own room.

However, it is not easy to travel long distances with a caravan.

Father Zhou mentioned at home that although long-distance caravan travels are lucrative, the risks are also skyrocketing.

Every time a caravan returned from abroad, most of the goods would be lost, and the casualties of manpower would be heavy.

Few of his peers are still alive today, because they took on long-distance jobs.
He was timid and only dared to work in the city. Although he could barely make a living, he still survived.

Song Fugui's family travels around the streets and is well-informed. Due to their professional habits, they can chat endlessly.

He mentioned that bandits were causing chaos outside the city, killing many people and burning a village to the ground.

After the fall of Sucheng, many people fled in all directions, and more refugees came to Gongliangcheng to seek survival.

Because of the arrival of these refugees, the security in the city became increasingly worse, with cases of robbery and rape emerging one after another, and the government was unable to handle it.

With sufficient manpower, local gangs grew rapidly and intensified their exploitation of merchants and civilians.

Gangs are constantly fighting each other as they expand their territory. They are fighting in the streets in broad daylight, with bloodshed everywhere and innocent people suffering.

Vicious cases are emerging one after another, and mutilated limbs are often found in wells and rivers.

Some people also said that a monster disguised as a human sneaked into the city and took advantage of the chaos to eat people's bone marrow and internal organs.

“It’s such a mess!”

Song Fugui finished his speech with a sigh, "There are not many safe places in the city, and the martial arts hall is one of them."

"It's a pity that I'm not up to the task. If I had learned boxing skills, I could have stayed in the martial arts school and continued to protect my family."

The wooden sign of his martial arts school was not hung at the door, but was hung on his body by his father as he walked around the streets to facilitate business.

In this way, no blind thief dared to rob him, thus avoiding a lot of losses.

But if Song Fugui fails to meet the requirements in another month, he will lose the qualification to stay in the martial arts school and the wooden sign will be confiscated.

"Keep working hard, there's still time."

Zhou You comforted him.

(End of this chapter)