RYEY – Chapter 74 Cheng Qiao Becomes an Apprentice

Cheng Qiao didn’t speak, just quietly waited. A few minutes later, Qiu Min suddenly opened her eyes. Forget it—Skinny Monkey had said before, this was an era where the timid starved to death, while the bold were stuffed to death.

Besides, Cheng Qiao only helped her because she had a good relationship with Skinny Monkey. Otherwise, who would give her such a chance? Opportunities like this didn’t just fall into one’s lap for free.

“Cheng Qiao, I know someone who works in supply and sales at the textile factory. At the end of the year, their factory distributes welfare goods, but many of those items require ration tickets. They don’t have enough tickets. Do you have anything cheap and practical on hand?”

“For food, I have eggs, red dates, dried black fungus, dried mushrooms, brown sugar, rock sugar, rice, and white flour. For daily use… let me think. Oh, toilet paper, soap, and lunchboxes—would those work?”

“You—you people…”

Qiu Min was almost speechless. She hadn’t expected that Cheng Qiao’s man’s business had grown so big. That meant Skinny Monkey must have made quite a fortune as well.

“How much are you selling for?”

“I’ll give it to you at supply and sales prices. You can sell to them at black market prices, or even shave off a little and still make a profit.”

“Deal! Give me two days, I’ll come find you then.”

Overjoyed, Qiu Min ran off toward the supply and sales cooperative. She needed to ask for leave, then go to the textile factory to investigate. If she could pull off this deal, the debts her family owed could all be paid off.

Cheng Qiao rode her bicycle home. Villagers saw her hauling back big bags of goods and shook their heads. They thought this educated youth had finally gotten smarter, but it turned out she was still as foolish as ever.

Mother Li saw Cheng Qiao coming back with bags again. Heart aching, she poked her daughter-in-law’s forehead, then suddenly thought of the scar there. Regretful, she lifted her bangs to check it.

“Hey, you buy all these things but don’t think of going to the hospital to ask if the scar can be removed? Such nice skin, now with four little worms crawling across it. What a pity.”

“Mom, it’s fine. Today Chunhua got married. I saw Wang Tuozi pushing a wheelbarrow full of dowry items.”

“Yes, your Aunt Wang came over and said the Chen family snatched the bicycle for themselves. You know Wang Tuozi isn’t a good man—Chunhua is in for misfortune…”

“Mom, what are you saying? If Chunhua suffers, isn’t it her own fault? Just look at my second sister-in-law’s forehead—it’s ruined. If not for Old Niu from the next village being obedient, my second sister-in-law would already be under a grave with weeds this high.”

“You child, how can you speak like that? I wasn’t sympathizing with Chunhua. I was just saying that man Wang Tuozi isn’t good. Since the Chen family kept the bicycle, he’ll surely take it out on Chunhua.”

Cheng Qiao nodded, but her eyes drifted toward her own house. Li Huan walked out, saw the things in her hands, and sighed almost imperceptibly. Looked like he had to work harder, otherwise he’d really become a freeloader living off a woman.

Cheng Qiao caught the disappointment in his eyes, and her heart tightened. She didn’t want to hurt his pride. But in this era, making extra money was so difficult.

Heaven had given her this limitless storage space—wasn’t it so she and her family could live a good life? There was no reason not to make use of it.

“Li Huan, I’ve got something to tell you later.”

“Alright, let’s go inside.”

“Second Brother, I’m hungry. You said we’d eat when Second Sister-in-law came back. She’s back now, so why aren’t we eating yet?”

Li Le still had plans to gather firewood with her buddies in the afternoon. Seeing her brother and sister-in-law about to go into the room, she quickly called out.

“Alright, alright, let’s eat, you little glutton.”

Mother Li laughed and scolded, hurrying to the kitchen. Cheng Qiao was about to help, but Li Huan grabbed her. Before eating, why not use a bit of time to recite the Tangtou Song?

Hearing that Li Huan had memorized the Tangtou Song in just one morning, Cheng Qiao felt delighted. The two decided they would go to Uncle Ye’s in the afternoon to formally become his apprentices.

After lunch, Li Huan carried a basket on his back and went with Cheng Qiao to Uncle Ye’s home. Uncle Ye had just been about to take a nap, but when he saw them arrive, a spark of interest lit his eyes.

“Which one of you will recite first?”

Cheng Qiao quickly stepped forward and recited the Tangtou Song clearly. By the end, her voice even carried a rhythm, turning it into a sort of melody.

“Excellent. Take these two books and study them. If you don’t understand something, come ask me. Especially this one—you must memorize every herb’s appearance and effect. A single mistake, and a medicine that should save lives could instead become poison.”

From a drawer, Uncle Ye pulled out two books. One was the Compendium of Materia Medica, which contained over 1,800 types of medicines and nearly 10,000 prescriptions.

The other was a hand-carved mimeographed Chinese medicine book, Lectures on Internal Medicine. It contained formulas and methods for preparing various pills—very practical indeed.

Cheng Qiao held the books as if they were treasures. She knew she had passed Uncle Ye’s test. From now on, she would be his chief disciple.

“Uncle Ye, let me recite too!”

Seeing Cheng Qiao pass, Li Huan was also happy. He stepped forward, ready to begin, but Uncle Ye stopped him.

“I’m only taking one apprentice. Do you really want to compete with your wife for it?”

“Only one? Then let my wife be your apprentice.”

Li Huan quickly backed away. Compete with his wife? What a joke.

Uncle Ye chuckled and handed him three other books. “Study them well. If you can learn, then learn. If not, just reading them is still good.”

Li Huan took a look. One was the New Book of Effective Discipline, another was Essentials of Xingyi Boxing, and the third was Six Harmonies Boxing Manual. This…

“Li Huan, you may look like a loafer, but I know what you’ve done behind the scenes. The year you killed two wild boars and saved your mother and sister, I realized you had the makings of a martial arts student.”

“Uncle Ye, you—”

“I learned a bit myself. These three books are all valuable. They don’t bother with trickery. Especially the Six Harmonies Boxing Manual, which records the grand theory of boxing, qigong for circulating qi, some secret oral formulas, and martial experiences.

The Essentials of Xingyi Boxing has traditional martial knowledge, theories about the dantian and qi cultivation—very valuable for research, and its basics are solid.

The New Book of Effective Discipline isn’t strictly martial, it’s more about military strategy. But many of its ideas are very instructive for training martial skills. Study it well.”

“Uncle Ye, are you saying I should walk the martial arts path?”

“No. My little apprentice here may look delicate and refined, but she’s got a wild heart. I’m worried she’ll sneak into the mountains alone to gather herbs and get eaten by a beast. You must serve as her protector.”

Hearing that learning from these books could help him protect his wife, Li Huan immediately stood at attention and saluted Uncle Ye—though the posture was so sloppy it almost hurt Uncle Ye’s eyes.