Chapter 109 Extra 1

Chapter 109 Extra 1

Life in the mountains was calm and steady.

Bian Hong and Rong Feng followed their duties as mountain guardians, heading into the mountains to patrol on a regular basis. Whenever patrol season came around, they would have the two children board at the school in town, which worked out fine.

Then bad news came from the school—the teacher had gotten sick.

The teacher was already quite old. Bian Hong had visited him before; his hair had gone completely white, and he didn't have much strength left. Teaching might not be as hard on the body as farming, but for this old man, it was by no means easy.

Now that sickness had hit him hard, all at once, the school couldn't keep going.

Yuan Ding was a bit older than Guan Bao. He'd grown a lot over the past few years, and since he liked practicing martial arts with Rong Feng and ate well at home, he was sturdier than most kids his age.

The minute he heard the school was closing, his first thought was that books didn't matter—he'd rather learn martial arts than hit the books.

Maybe it was just teenage rebellion kicking in. One day, he made up his mind on his own: he wasn't going to school anymore. He wanted to train martial arts under his big brother, then use his skills to protect the weak and take down the strong, making a name for himself in the martial world. That way, he wouldn't disappoint Brother Xi, who'd raised him so carefully all these years.

When this came out, Bian Hong was so mad he was pulling his hair out, wishing he could grab a rolling pin and crack Yuan Ding over the head.

But the kid was at that sensitive age. Although Yuan Ding had always been sensible growing up, a kid this age, with his limited experience and way of thinking, just couldn't make decisions about his own future.

Bian Hong was just scared the boy would regret it later, and by then it'd be too late to turn back.

The kid never had parents, so Bian Hong had to plan ahead for him.

So, using Rong Feng as an example, Bian Hong sat Yuan Ding down for a serious talk.

Basically: to make it in the martial world, martial arts alone weren't enough. Bian Hong pointed at the man sitting beside him.

"Take your big brother. Even he got scammed and tricked when he was out in the world. You think your martial arts and book smarts are better than his?"

Yuan Ding scratched his head. "Big brother's martial arts are no joke—he's hardly ever met his match. But... does big brother even have book smarts?"

Bian Hong's eyes lit up. Finally, he had his hook—this was exactly the opening he needed! He waved his hand with a flourish and hauled Rong Feng over.

"Go on, ask away. If you can stump your big brother, I won't say another word—I'll even pack your travel money for the martial world today."

So, with Yuan Ding raring to go, the boy racked his brains and sat in the room going back and forth on book learning with his big brother, who called himself a "mountain brute," all morning.

In the end, he was completely beaten, practically foaming at the mouth, and slunk off in defeat.

So Yuan Ding figured: he still had to hit the books.

As for Guan Bao, that wasn't even up for debate. He was younger, but he was crazy smart when it came to studying—eager to learn and quick to catch on. It was just that his martial arts were pretty weak. Maybe because he was born during the famine years, no matter how much he ate, he could never match Yuan Ding's build. Forget swinging a sword—he was winded after two steps of running.

Both kids needed schooling, but since the school had shut down, Bian Hong figured there was no way around it.

But when Bian Hong counted on his fingers, he realized it wasn't just his own kids who had a hard time getting an education. Never mind the poor farming folk—even in the county town, families struggled to send their kids to school.

That night, Bian Hong lay in bed sighing.

Rong Feng couldn't stand to see him like that. He reached out, pulled him close, then rolled over and pinned him down.

"Don't worry. Worst case, I'll teach them at home. That's how my master taught me back in the day. In life, knowing how to act right and treat people well is enough—not everyone needs to be some great scholar."

The two were whispering in bed, and as they talked, things got heated, and the freshly fluffed cotton quilt started rolling with the motion.

Bian Hong couldn't take it anymore. He shoved the quilt open and stuck his head out to breathe—but Rong Feng came up right after him and caught his lips. The big hand on his waist under the quilt tightened, and he got yanked back under.

So Bian Hong didn't have a single thought left for anything else.

Bian Hong didn't finally fall asleep until early morning. Rong Feng took a warm, damp cloth and carefully wiped the sweat and mess off the drowsy man's body under the quilt.

Just as they were having this tender moment, someone knocked at the door. Bian Hong, half-asleep, figured it was a villager coming for medicine, so he mumbled for Rong Feng to go answer the door.

Because Rong Feng was quite skilled in medicine and pharmacology, could gather good herbs from the mountains, and was also the renowned Mountain Guard of Miemeng Mountain, the common folk at the mountain's foot would come to him for remedies and consultations whenever they had minor ailments.

They never came empty-handed—those with money paid money, those without brought goods, just so they wouldn't show up empty-handed.

Rong Feng was used to this. Back when his master was alive, he too had treated the surrounding villagers for minor aches and fevers.

But now, even shamanic tasks like curing fright or warding off evil spirits brought people to Rong Feng and Bian Hong. By some coincidence, they actually managed to resolve all of them.

So their reputation grew louder and louder, and the area around Mirror Lake grew increasingly lively.

Bian Hong didn't even need to plant vegetables in the summer—villagers came in waves, and the vegetable rack in the kitchen was always full. Bian Hong had never imagined such a day would come.

The couple's prestige among the nearby folk surpassed even that of the prefectural officials.

Bian Hong, still in bed, was groggy but didn't dare sleep too deeply, afraid that if someone truly had a serious illness, he'd need to help.

Rong Feng had been gone for a long while without returning, so Bian Hong had no choice but to support his waist, stretch his limbs a bit, pick a high-collared long robe from the wardrobe, and head out to see what was going on.

But when he stepped out the door, he saw no one else in the courtyard—only Rong Feng sitting in the small pavilion for resting. On the table sat a large red-lacquered box, and inside, gleaming gold—a pile of gold ingots!

Bian Hong was still drowsy and only blinked sluggishly, thinking to himself that Rong Feng was quite something—how had he hidden away so much private money?

However, when Rong Feng explained where the gold came from, Bian Hong actually felt rather sorry for him.

The man sighed, shook his head at the large box of gold, and said,

"This is the back pay owed to the Mountain Guards all these years."

Two generations of master and disciple, all those years of wages for guarding the mountain—it was all right here.

It seemed the imperial treasury had finally sorted out its finances and remembered the Mountain Guards who hadn't been paid in decades. Fortunately, they had made the mountain their home and couldn't starve—otherwise...

It was a bitter thought. Rong Feng hadn't even had money to marry back then, only that hundred catties of millet, saved up frugally by his mother.

Now that the money had finally arrived, the mother he wanted to honor was gone.

Some things weren't worth dwelling on. The two just sat at the table, opened the pay box, and counted the gold ingots one by one.

"That's a lot!" Bian Hong exclaimed.

Rong Feng nodded. "Nowhere to spend it either. Let's just stash it away at the bottom of the chest."

Indeed, with such a large sum, the two had no worries about food or clothing—there was truly nowhere to spend it.

Early in the morning, the two sat in the dew-laden grass pavilion, staring wide-eyed at decades of delayed wages.

Finally, Rong Feng blinked and suddenly said, "How about we hire a teacher, build a house, and start a school?"

Bian Hong was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded.

No sooner said than done. They chose a small town centrally located among the nearby villages and towns for the school's site.

Rong Feng bought the land and built the house, while Bian Hong went around inviting renowned teachers.

No matter their background—whether from the imperial exams or family pedigree—as long as they had the knowledge to teach and nurture students, that was enough. Bian Hong took it a step further: he wanted to hire several teachers to split students up by level, moving them up step by step—elementary, middle, then advanced—so nobody got left behind.

Once the academy was built, it wasn't just their own kids who'd have a place to study—kids from nearby villages and towns who couldn't afford school would have somewhere to go too.

In hardship, tend to your own virtue; in prosperity, help the world.

He had a whole chest of gold and nowhere to spend it.

When the nearby villagers heard that the Shushan Guard was planning to put up a building, they showed up without a second thought, tools in hand, ready to help. They were good people and wouldn't take a cent—just helping out to return favors. After all, who hasn't knocked on a neighbor's door at midnight asking for medicine when sick?

Besides, putting money into a school was a good deed for the whole community.

They worked all summer, and the school was finally finished right at the tail end of the autumn harvest. But they still didn't have many teachers—just enough for elementary and middle school. For anything higher, they didn't have any big-name scholars with that kind of deep knowledge.

Even so, Bian Hong was over the moon. On opening day, he and Rong Feng stood outside the window, listening to the kids reading aloud, and felt truly proud.

The gold wasn't wasted.

That night, the moonlight was bright, the moon hung in the sky, as clear and pure as a silver plate.

The two walked hand in hand along the road home.

However, tonight, under the shimmering reflection of Mirror Lake, two figures stood at the entrance of their home.

One was robust and sharp, clad in tight-fitting attire, with a ponytail of coarse hair carelessly tied back, just like Rong Feng's, a straw stalk dangling from his mouth, exuding a carefree and rebellious air.

The other was refined and noble, with a restrained brilliance, his demeanor as gentle as the moonlight tonight, yet his eyes held the strategic depth of a warrior's mind, his white robe exuding scholarly elegance.

The four stood at the door, exchanging glances.

Finally, it was the scholar who spoke first, a slight smile curving his lips.

"I heard your academy is still short one teacher."