Chapter 036: Qi Skills Are Not Passed Down to Outsiders
In the Northern Song Dynasty, if poor people could go to school, it was naturally a good thing.
But the problem needs to be viewed differently.
For Heizhu, he is a lowly person and is not young anymore. There is no point in continuing his studies and it is just a waste of time.
As for Kobayashi, she still didn't feel safe enough and didn't want to leave the yard at all.
Going out to study is a little scary for her.
So neither of them was very interested in studying.
Seeing the depressed expressions of the two, Lu Sen shook his head helplessly and said, "I'm not asking you to study hard enough to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, but I'm just asking you to learn to read and understand arithmetic, so that it will be much easier for you to do things in the future."
"My dear, how long will it take to learn?" asked Heizhu.
"If you work hard, it'll take one or two years. If you're lazy, it'll take about four or five years."
The two men breathed a sigh of relief. They both thought they were very diligent and estimated that they would be able to learn it in a year or two.
Seeing that they had no objection, Lu Sen decided the matter.
Three days later, Lu Sen personally carried a bundle of vegetables to visit the door at the foot of the mountain.
Mr. Chang was sitting in a rocking chair in the yard basking in the sun. Lu Sen knocked on the wooden door outside and said with a smile: "Mr. Chang, I am here to visit you."
When Master Chang heard Lu Sen's voice, he immediately opened his eyes. Seeing the bundle of tender green vegetables in the latter's hand, he immediately stood up and said with a smile: "Lu Xiaolang, it's rare for you to take the initiative to come to my house as a guest. Come in."
He took the initiative to walk forward, took the vegetables from Lu Sen's hand, and then took Lu Sen's hand and walked into the house.
After the two of them sat down, a middle-aged man who looked like a servant soon brought two cups of green tea on a plate and took the bundle of vegetables away.
Master Chang had gray hair. He looked at Lu Sen with a smile and said, "Lu Xiaolang and I have known each other for a while. I know that you are an honest person. I believe you came to me this time because you have something to ask me. Please speak frankly."
Here in the Northern Song Dynasty, the elderly had privileges.
Especially the elderly who have read books.
They can ignore all the cumbersome formalities and say whatever they want.
Lu Sen folded his hands and said, "I do have a request for Master Chang. I heard that the old master is going to open a clan school. I would like to send two people to school. Is that possible?"
"I run a school and teach everyone." The old man smiled happily. "If you want to send someone in, I welcome it. I won't ask about the tuition fees of ordinary students, but I want to talk to you about the tuition fees that the people you sent here, Lu Xiaolang, have to pay."
"What kind of compensation would you like, old sir? Money or dried meat?" Lu Sen asked with a fist clasped.
"These are all vulgar things." Master Chang stroked his white beard and said with a smug smile, "I want you to send me some vegetables that you grow at home."
As soon as Lu Sen heard this, he laughed.
It turns out that Mr. Chang is a connoisseur of goods. He knows that vegetables grown in his garden may not be available even if you have money.
He asked, "How much do you want, Master?"
The old man thought for a moment and said, "Let's provide 10 kilograms per month. I know that there is a season for growing vegetables, so there is no need to deliver a full month's supply at once. Just send some every few days. I also know that in half a month, it will be the frost season, and there will be four months of freezing weather. The tuition will be temporarily in arrears, and will be slowly made up in the spring of next year."
As he spoke, the saliva in Master Chang's mouth began to increase.
He really likes to eat the raw vegetables grown in Lu Sen's yard, almost to the point of addiction.
"Yes." Lu Sen nodded.
Ten pounds a month is not a lot. He stood up and asked, "When does school start?"
"October 15th." Old Master Chang took a sip of green tea and smiled happily.
He felt very happy thinking that he would have plenty of green vegetables to eat in the future.
Then Lu Sen came out of Chang's house and met Chang Wei who was just returning from the city at the door.
The little scholar's hair scarf was a little messy, and there was a pink lip mark on his neck.
When the two sides met, they saluted with fists at the same time, and then passed each other.
Before Lu Sen walked far, he heard the old man's roar from the Chang family's house behind him: "You evil beast, you are going to have affairs again, ruining the family tradition! Lai Fu, bring me my walking stick."
Lu Sen laughed out loud after hearing this. After returning home, he took Hei Zhu to the city to buy pens, ink, paper and inkstone for both of them.
The last time the Cao family wanted to buy wooden armor, they sent a large amount of gold, silver and treasures. As long as Lu Sen doesn't spend it recklessly, with the current level of self-sufficiency in the yard, he probably won't be able to spend it all in his lifetime.
In fact, there is nowhere to spend the money.
So even though the pens, ink, paper and inkstone are expensive, Lu Sen doesn't feel bad at all buying them.
The following days flew by, and in the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed.
Kurobashi and Kobayashi began to learn to read in the school at the foot of the mountain.
At first, Kobayashi was afraid to go to school, and didn't want to go.
But after a few days, she began to enjoy going to school every day.
The school is divided into boys' and girls' classes. Mr. Chang is a decent person and it is impossible for him to have mixed classes for both boys and girls.
In addition to learning to read and write, the girls' class also invited embroiderers from the Chang family to teach needlework and how to make some simple home-cooked dishes.
It can be said that the women's class opened by Mr. Chang is mainly based on "practicality".
In the girls' class, Kobayashi also made many friends of the same age. Gradually, she became less shy and showed some confidence.
By the way, Kobayashi is now much whiter and her skin color is not much different from that of an ordinary girl.
After all, she had been eating well and sleeping well every day for the past three months, with vegetables and honey that added life value. Even if she was a real black person, she would probably start to turn white.
At the end of October, the city of Bianjing finally got colder, and the first frost of the year fell.
It was still warm as spring in Lu Sen's yard.
Flowers are blooming on the grass, colorful butterflies are flying, and bees are busy.
But outsiders cannot see all this.
The elm trees planted by Lu Sen before have grown more than two meters tall, and the forest farm is in a U-shape, enclosing two acres of grassland.
Moreover, the wooden building was built at the U-shaped entrance. Lu Sen also specially planted some holly trees at the U-shaped entrance. They were not trimmed, so that their green and crispness could block the extra space.
Now, no matter who you are, you can no longer see the two acres of magical grassland from outside the yard. You can only see the wooden building, a mature elm forest, and the mountain spring stream beside the trees.
Only when you enter the yard and walk to the right side of the wooden building can you experience what is called a different world and a paradise on earth.
It was also on this day that Lu Sen woke up and found that there were changes in his character panel.
Originally there were only two status bars, red and yellow, but now there is an additional blue bar.
And there is an additional skill column on the character panel.
Taiyi Hunyuan Gong: 2.
He practiced this secret book for a whole month and finally got the hang of it.
After washing up, Lu Sen said to Hei Zhu and Xiao Lin Qin at breakfast: "You guys go to school later. I'm going to the city by myself. If I don't come back at noon , you guys can eat first. Do you understand?"
The two nodded repeatedly.
In fact, Heizhu really wanted to accompany Lu Sen into the city, but when it came to studying, her husband never gave them any room for maneuver . Unless there was something special, he would never let them ask for leave.
Sometimes he even takes the initiative to help them with their lessons!
After eating breakfast, Kurobashi and Kobayashi went to the school at the foot of the mountain.
Lu Sen put a bundle of vegetables into his system backpack and went into the city.
After leaving the yard, it was a bit cold outside. Lu Sen wore two thick cloth clothes, but still felt a bit cold. He even wanted to take off the stone armor in the equipment bar and change into cloth clothes that could provide more "warmth value", but he thought better of it.
This world is not very safe. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little cold, but when people die, there is really nothing left.
After walking for nearly half an hour, Lu Sen finally entered the city and arrived at the gate of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Although Zhan Zhao also had a house in Bianjing City, he spent most of his time living in the backyard of Kaifeng Mansion. This was mainly because he was too busy with official duties, so he simply stayed there and was too lazy to go home.
There were two constables guarding there. Lu Sen walked over, clasped his fists and said, "I'm Lu Sen from the low hill outside the city. Could you please inform Captain Zhan that a friend is visiting?"
One of the detectives saw that Lu Sen had an extraordinary temperament and was obviously not an ordinary person, so he nodded and said, "Young man, please wait a moment. I will go in and talk to Captain Zhan."
"Thank you." Lu Sen clasped his fists.
Not long after, Zhan Zhao came out in a sky blue uniform. As soon as he came out, he smiled and clasped his fists and said, "Lu Xiaolang, I haven't seen you for a while. You came just in time. I have just finished my official duties and will be on leave for a few days. I plan to go home and recuperate. Why don't you come to my house and stay? We can cook some wine together."
"What a coincidence." Lu Sen put his right hand behind his back, then took out the bundle of vegetables from the system backpack and said, "I just happened to bring some green vegetables with me."
Zhan Zhao's eyes lit up: "This is great. I've been eating a lot of meat and fish these days. I can't even find some green vegetables. Now I can satisfy my craving."
At the end of October, the temperature in Bianjing City started to turn cold, and there were not many green vegetables grown. Even if they were available on the market, they were ridiculously expensive.
Most people can’t afford it.
The two of them set off together.
Zhan Zhao’s house was not far from Feng Mansion, and it would take about an incense stick of time to get there.
The two men entered the house, and the old butler who stayed behind heard the noise and came over to serve his master.
Soon the charcoal stove became red hot and yellow plum wine was boiling on it.
The aroma of wine filled the air. The old butler washed the lettuce, put it on a plate and brought it in.
Also brought in was a bowl of thinly sliced bacon.
When the Huangmei wine was boiling, Zhan Zhao poured a glass for each of them, put a piece of bacon in his own glass, warmed it with boiling wine, and finally wrapped it in lettuce and put it into his mouth.
Zhan Zhao closed his eyes, chewed slowly, and exclaimed, "This is a delicious meal."
Lu Sen tried the same thing and found that it tasted really good.
Both of them are people who don't pay much attention to etiquette. Although Zhan Zhao is now an official, he is still a man of the rivers and lakes in essence, accustomed to eating meat and drinking wine with big mouthfuls.
As a modern man, Lu Sen acts casually as long as it does not affect others and does whatever he feels comfortable with.
So the two of them didn't waste any polite conversation and quickly started chatting.
Zhan Zhao was a very talkative person, always telling interesting stories about the Jianghu, such as the swordsman fighting the three villains, the Thunder Blade killing fifty bandits in a row to repay a favor, and finally dying of exhaustion.
Lu Sen told some strange stories, such as the aurora in the northern cold land, and the giant Kun in the sea that was ten feet long and ate thousands of kilograms of shrimps every day.
Also, on the border of a certain continent in the west, there are yellow-spotted deer with necks two meters long, which can fight with lions.
Zhan Zhao was stunned by what he heard.
"Lu Xiaolang, you have seen all of this before."
"I have seen it, but I haven't really seen it." Lu Sen thought for a moment and said, "Captain Zhan, you have heard of the mechanical device with music in my house, right?"
Zhan Zhao nodded.
"My master once built a mechanical device that could see the scroll." Lu Sen explained in words that Zhan Zhao could understand, "It can record everything that my master has seen in that device, as if it were right in front of me. I grew up watching those things, so I know a lot of useful and useless things."
"Can you, Lu Xiaolang, build the mechanism that can be seen on the screen?" Zhan Zhao looked at Lu Sen eagerly.
Zhan Zhao is not very interested in music.
But if he could see the customs of the world thousands or tens of thousands of miles away, he would really feel it was magical and very interested.
Lu Sen thought about it and said, "It's not possible now, but it may not be impossible in the future."
In fact, among the tens of thousands of recipes, there are not only televisions, but also projectors.
But the problem is that the recipe is cumbersome.
If you break down accessories like transistors and circuit boards, you'll find a whole host of synthetic materials.
The real trouble is that those two things need electricity, unlike a jukebox that can be hand-cranked.
There are many types of generators, such as diesel generators, wind turbines and so on.
Among them, wind turbines are the easiest to manufacture, and Lu Sen can now provide the materials and accessories.
But the problem is that this stuff is at a higher level and is 'grey' in the recipe.
Lu Sen is not qualified to build it yet.
Zhan Zhao said expectantly, "If you make it in the future, you must invite me to your house to see it."
"Sure." Seeing that the two had almost finished eating and drinking and the atmosphere was getting lively, Lu Sen said, "This time I came to see Captain Zhan to ask about the Qi training secret book."
“Oh, please feel free to tell me if you have any questions.” Zhan Zhao nodded.
"Yesterday I was able to master the Taiyi Hunyuan Gong."
"Have you gotten started? It would take a normal person at least half a year to get started."
Zhan Zhao was stunned for a moment, then said "I'm sorry" and grabbed Lu Sen's right hand, and injected a stream of internal energy into Lu Sen's body.
After a few breaths, his expression became quite shocked.
"Lu Xiaolang, your body doesn't have any hidden injuries at all, it's full of vitality, and your meridians are naturally unobstructed! This is not the body of an ordinary person, no wonder you can cultivate qi within a month."
After being shocked, Zhan Zhao felt it was natural.
This Lu Xiaolang possesses supernatural powers and can even practice real magic. It's not surprising that he learns the secrets of Qi training from the human world.
Lu Sen didn't find it strange. He had a golden finger, ate vegetables grown in the yard every day, and drank honey from time to time. It would be strange if he had hidden injuries in his body.
He asked, "I just want to ask Captain Zhan, after these internal energies are trained, how should they be used? Is there any explanation?"
The Taiyi Hunyuan Gong secret book only describes how to cultivate Qi, but does not describe how to use Qi.
"Of course there are." Zhan Zhao nodded and said rather embarrassedly: "But these are all secrets that are not passed down by each family. I'm sorry that it's difficult for me to explain it clearly."
Understood!
No wonder even the Qi training secret book handed to the late emperor did not mention the use of "internal energy". It turns out that the Taoists in Zhongnan Mountain still have a hidden trick after all.
However, it can be seen from this incident that how to use "internal energy" is the core of all sects and all family martial arts.
That was about all they had to say. The two chatted for a while, and around noon, Lu Sen, who was a little drunk, left Zhan Zhao's house.
Zhan Zhao stood at the door of his house, looking at Lu Sen's receding back, and sighed somewhat unhappily.
In fact, he really wanted to pass on the essence of his family's martial arts to Lu Sen, but before he started learning martial arts as a child, he knelt in front of the portrait of his ancestors and swore an oath that the Zhan family's martial arts must not be passed on to outsiders.
Unlike Zhan Zhao who was depressed because he couldn't help his friend, Lu Sen was in a relatively good mood.
Although I didn't get what I wanted from Zhan Zhao, at least I was able to solve my own doubts.
He was not in a hurry... If he didn't have a method to stimulate the internal energy, then he didn't have one. He would just practice the energy first and build up the 'quantity'.
Anyway, I have a lot of special resources in my hands, and there will always be "knights" in trouble. When the time comes, I can use special supplies to exchange their skills. For example, if a martial artist is injured and dying, I can use a golden apple to exchange his internal skills. Do you think it is possible?
Of course there is a probability that it will succeed.
So Lu Sen is not in a hurry.
He walked slowly towards the city gate, and when he passed a brothel, he saw a large group of people gathered at the gate.
A lot of people were pointing fingers.
Lu Sen didn't want to watch at first, but he accidentally saw an acquaintance standing among the crowd.
He walked over, patted the other person on the shoulder, and asked, "Brother Cao, why are you here?"
Cao You turned around, his face was pale and his body was shaking slightly.