Chapter 9: Driven into a Dead End (Please add to favorites and follow for updates)

Spring passed and autumn came.

In the blink of an eye.

Another year had gone by.

During the spring plowing period of the twenty-third year of Qing'an, Madam Li finally relented and rented three mu of riverside land outside Qingshan County to Wei Tu and his wife.

However, regarding the rent, Madam Li did not budge in the slightest. Like the other tenant farmers, they were required to hand over sixty percent of the grain harvested from the land.

Fortunately, the Li family's rent included the land tax levied by the government, unlike other landlords who made the tenants pay the tax themselves.

In other words.

For the three mu of land Wei Tu farmed, after handing over the sixty percent rent, the remaining forty percent was his own.

Furthermore, while planting wheat, they could also plant some soybeans in the gaps between the wheat seedlings.

This was another source of additional income.

Half a month before the wheat turned yellow and ripe, Master Li Yaozu took his servant, Wei Tu, to the prefectural city to pay the tuition for his eldest son, Li Xingye, at the prefectural academy.

"The prefectural instructor is truly a piece of work. The wheat won't be ripe for another ten days, yet he insists on collecting tuition at this exact time. It’s clear he just wants to squeeze out a bit more silver..."

On the road, Li Yaozu rode on horseback while Wei Tu led the horse toward the prefectural city. As he walked, Li Yaozu kept looking back at the mule cart carrying grain behind them, complaining that paying the tuition so early this year had caused him to lose money for nothing.

Wei Tu remained silent, quietly listening to Li Yaozu’s long sighs and mutterings to himself.

Every year.

Before the grain harvest.

After the grain harvest.

The price of grain was different.

It seemed like the same amount of tuition was being paid, but because the market price of grain fluctuated, the prefectural academy used this timing to resell the grain and make a tidy profit.

Wei Tu had heard Li Yaozu complain about these sordid dealings at the academy at least eight or ten times; he was long since familiar with it.

"In another half a month, after the grain is harvested, I will have saved enough of the missing money."

"All that remains is to persuade Li Yaozu and Madam Li to let me redeem my indenture."

Wei Tu pondered to himself.

Just as planned, after more than a year of scrimping and saving, the money he had on hand was not far off from the ten taels required for his redemption.

Now, all that was missing was convincing Li Yaozu and Madam Li to agree to his redemption, return his indenture, and be willing to write a letter of proof.

However—

Just as Wei Tu was thinking about how to bring up the subject of buying back his indenture, Master Li Yaozu, having finished complaining about the academy instructor, suddenly struck up a conversation with him.

"Wei Tu, you have a sturdy build and great strength. Why don't you stay with Xingye and serve as his attendant?"

"Protect him."

"As his father, I would be able to rest a little easier."

Li Yaozu tightened the reins, forcing Wei Tu to stop in front of the horse. He looked down at Wei Tu, stroked the goat beard on his chin, and said with a glint of calculation in his eyes.

"The young master already has people serving him. If I go, I’d just be taking someone else's place, and it wouldn't be good to ruin the young master's mood for studying." Wei Tu paused for a moment, finding a suitable excuse to brush him off.

"In another half a year, it will be the county-level child examination."

Wei Tu added.

The time between the civil and military examinations in the county was about half a month, with the civil exam coming first and the military exam later, so he knew the timing of the child examination perfectly well.

"That's true, we mustn't hinder Xingye's studies." Li Yaozu hesitated for a short while, nodded heavily, and did not bring the matter up again.

However.

Li Yaozu didn't bring it up again.

But Wei Tu kept the matter in his heart.

"What was Li Yaozu thinking, trying to send me away during the busy autumn season?"

On the way back to the Li residence in Qingshan County after paying the tuition, Wei Tu kept pondering the reason for this.

Master Li Yaozu was not an easy man to deal with; this was the consensus among all the servants in the Li residence.

And this, in turn, showed Li Yaozu's shrewdness—he was not easily fooled.

If he could think of how changing attendants would affect the eldest young master's studies, how could Li Yaozu not have thought of it?

That was impossible!

Returning to the Li residence.

Wei Tu sought out Caixia, the head maid, told her the confusion in his heart, and asked for her opinion.

Caixia had entered the Li residence in the same batch as him, and they had always had a good relationship.

The news that his marriage to Xinghua had been permitted by Madam Li had also been relayed to him by Caixia through Chunlan.

"The way I see it, it might be that the Master has set his sights on Sister Xinghua..."

Caixia pulled Wei Tu to the corner of the corridor, found a spot where no one could see them, and whispered her judgment.

"The Eldest Mistress hasn't been very happy lately. A few nights ago, I heard the Master and the Eldest Mistress arguing, saying that the Master was having an affair with the wives of those tenant farmers..."

"If he sends you away, the fields you rent will have no one to tend them, and Sister Xinghua will be at his mercy."

Caixia said, word by word.

"What a sinister mind..."

After hearing Caixia's words, Wei Tu's face turned dark, and he wished he could tear Li Yaozu limb from limb right then and there.

In the past.

He had heard that some tenant farmers, in order to rent good land from landlords, would offer their wives to sleep with them.

But he never imagined that this seemingly "kind" Li residence was also filled with such schemes.

Sending him to be the eldest young master's attendant was likely not Li Yaozu's true intention; forcing him to submit and offer up Xinghua was the real goal.

If he didn't submit.

The grain he had worked hard to grow for a year would go to waste in the fields.

If he didn't submit.

There would be no chance of renting such good land again next year.

As for why Li Yaozu didn't directly force Xinghua, who hadn't been married before, he could guess the general reasons.

First, Madam Li ran the household strictly and was somewhat jealous; she did not allow Li Yaozu to take concubines or mess with the maids.

Even Caixia, the head maid, had been a bed-chamber maid for so long and was still technically a virgin.

Second, it was a matter of family reputation. One couldn't have rumors spreading inside the Li residence that the Master liked to dally with maids; that would ruin his reputation.

Li Yaozu himself didn't want such things to happen.

Third.

Toying with maids.

Whether to give them status or not was a difficult issue.

But forcing a tenant's wife to submit left no such worries.

The lowly folk in the countryside didn't have the feudal moral codes of "death is a small matter, loss of virtue is a great one." As long as the matter wasn't known to others, it could be easily brushed aside.

"I know about this now."

"Thank you, Caixia."

A moment later, Wei Tu slowly unclenched his fists, bowed to Caixia, and thanked her.

"It's nothing." Caixia smiled. "When I was punished by the Eldest Mistress in the past, Sister Xinghua secretly brought me food. I have always remembered that kindness."

...

Returning to the main room.

After feeding the half-grown black horse, Wei Tu practiced his health-cultivation exercises a few times to warm up his body.

"With my current martial prowess, securing a military degree is not quite a certainty, but it's not far off."

"If I go directly to Madam Li to speak about my redemption, with her intelligence, she shouldn't stop me."

Wei Tu pondered.

Shallow waters cannot raise a true dragon.

He believed Madam Li should understand what kind of trouble it would cause to keep a martial artist with a "rebellious bone" in the house.

"If it doesn't work..."

"If Madam Li is unwise..."

A hint of ruthlessness appeared in Wei Tu's eyes.

With a blade in one's heart, the urge to kill arises naturally.

With his current strength, slaughtering the entire Li residence would not be a difficult task.

Of course, he remembered the Li residence's kindness in saving his life and would not do such a thing, but escaping the Li residence, becoming an outlaw, and turning into a bandit was certainly possible.

He had had enough of being submissive.

Two paths.

Either redeem himself and take the military examination, or become an outlaw and be a swordsman!

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(End of chapter)