"You want me to spend my free time teaching you to read?"
Mr. Liu stroked his beard, his tone neither happy nor sad.
"Yes, Mr. Liu. I want to learn a certain number of characters as quickly as possible, at least to be able to read and write. This is my tuition," Zhong Lin said in a deep voice.
Mr. Liu, who was initially about to scold Zhong Lin, suddenly stopped when he saw the five-tael silver ingot on the table.
It proves that money can solve ninety-nine percent of the issues in this world, and the remaining one percent is because there's not enough money.
"Considering your eagerness to learn, I agree. You may come to see me every afternoon."
Mr. Liu waved his hand across the table casually, as if it were a breeze, and the silver on the table vanished without a trace.
While recognizing characters in the morning, Zhong Lin discovered something: his full-level calligraphy skill greatly enhanced his ability to recognize characters.
The characters in this world are similar to Chinese, also pictographic. Full-level calligraphy allows Zhong Lin to better analyze the strokes and structures of these characters. Understanding through interpretation is much faster than rote memorization. In a day, recognizing a hundred characters is possible, let alone ten.
Moreover, there's plenty of time. Zhong Lin is only an artist in the government office, not a constable. He just needs to check in once in the morning and is free afterward. Technically, he should stay in the office, but no one cares about him. Zhong Lin takes this opportunity to practice recognizing characters, but he can't do so for long, so he must complete this task as soon as possible.
"Brother Zhong, this is Old Zhou, a veteran in our government office. Almost every constable learning martial arts has consulted Old Zhou, even Chief Xue has consulted him," Chi Yan said, pointing at a constable with graying hair in a black robe.
Old Zhou looks to be in his fifties, his temples already gray, but his posture remains extremely straight, and his eyes are sharp and spirited.
Although the Martial Arts Pavilion has secret martial arts manuals, reading them alone might not get you on the right track any time soon. The best way is to find someone to teach you hands-on.
Therefore, Zhong Lin asked Chi Yan to help find a teacher.
Old Zhou was the mentor introduced by Chi Yan, also a constable in the county government, but due to his age, he no longer catches criminals and deals with miscellaneous tasks in the office.
"Old Zhou, although only at the Ninth Grade in the Skin Grinding Realm, has studied 'Flying Crane Fist' extensively and is more than enough as your martial arts mentor."
Zhong Lin dared not to be negligent and cupped his hands in salute, saying, "Zhong Lin greets Old Zhou, this little gift is a small token of respect."
Old Zhou waved his hand and said with a grin, "There's no need for formalities like Old Zhou, just call me Old Zhou. We are all from the government office, a word will suffice, forget about the gift."
"Old Zhou, are you sure? This is a twenty-year-old Huadiao wine from Baishan Tower that Brother Zhong specially fetched for you, it costs five taels of silver for this jar," Chi Yan joked.
As soon as the words were spoken, Old Zhou's gaze fixed on the wine jar in Zhong Lin's hand, his eyes glinted, and he swallowed unconsciously.
"That's too extravagant, too extravagant, but I won't be polite then."
Speaking, he directly took the wine jar from Zhong Lin's hand, gently sniffed it after removing the seal, and then exclaimed with a face full of satisfaction, "It's indeed the Drunken Huadiao from Baishan Tower, good wine, good wine indeed!"
"As long as Old Zhou likes it."
"I told you, just call me Old Zhou. Now, let me check your bones."
Zhong Lin looked excited, wondering if he might be one of those legendary martial arts geniuses.
Seeing Zhong Lin's expression, Old Zhou knew what he was thinking and said with a smile, "I'm checking your bones, not your innate talent, mainly to see your skeletal structure and determine which martial art suits you best."
Saying this, he took Zhong Lin's hand, feeling his wrist bones, shoulders, hip bones, and the spinal bones at the back.
After a moment, he stopped and exclaimed, "Zhong Lin, your bones are excellent, standard tiger back and bee waist, it's just that your diet before was lacking, and you didn't develop fully. How old are you this year?"
"Fifteen, almost sixteen."
"That's okay, you can still grow. Eat more meat in the future, and get some supplements prescribed by the doctor at the clinic. Your height should reach six feet at least," Old Zhou said.
"Old Zhou, which martial art do you think suits me?" Zhong Lin asked.
Zhong Lin had just been to the Martial Arts Pavilion, where there were thirteen complete martial arts manuals, each with a different focus.
Sometimes, the martial art isn't about being the strongest, but about being the most suitable for oneself.
Old Zhou smiled and said, "Your kind of skeleton is most suited for hard-hitting fist and kick skills. 'Iron Mountain Skill' is perfect for you."
"'Iron Mountain Skill'? Chief Xue practiced this martial art before, his iron fists were invincible in the entire Black Mountain County. I didn't expect you, Brother Zhong, to be suited for this martial art as well," Chi Yan said in surprise.
Old Zhou nodded and said, "Light as a willow, deep as the wind, old ape leaping on the sun to support me. This is a highly powerful martial art, emphasizing a force that overwhelms ten skills. Zhong Lin, do you know how to read?"
"I know a part, not completely. I'm currently learning to read with Mr. Liu in the southern part of the city," Zhong Lin said.
"Learning to read is good, there are many formulas in the secret manual, you should memorize them more after learning to read, ponder their profound meaning. For now, you can practice the moves, this martial art I studied for some time in my younger days, let me teach you."
Old Zhou took off his clothes, revealing his well-built muscles that rivaled those of young men, then lifted his arms, stepping in the 'Heavenly Gang' stance.
"The purpose of practicing the moves is to mobilize the Qi-Blood within the body, so that the Qi-Blood can flow faster, thus achieving the purpose of tempering the body. Martial Arts Ninth to Lower Third Grades primarily focus on body refinement, regardless of the martial art, just with different focuses, such as my main practice in 'Flying Crane Fist' which emphasizes lightness, evasion, and movement technique."
Old Zhou demonstrated systematically, move by move, extremely fluent, from simple to complex, with actions gradually becoming more complex. Initially, it was just punching and kicking, later even high-difficulty moves like flipping in mid-air appeared.
After about seven or eight minutes, Old Zhou finally finished, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and continued, "I really am getting old!"
After Old Zhou caught his breath, he began instructing Zhong Lin on the punching techniques.
Initially, Zhong Lin's movements were very stiff, sporadic, especially those high-difficulty actions, he couldn't execute them at all.
Later, he was mimicking the moves, barely managing to complete the entire boxing sequence, which already took an entire hour.
"Alright, that's enough for today, time to head home."
Zhong Lin also wiped his forehead's sweat and cupped his hands, "Thank you, Old Zhou."
Old Zhou waved his hand, picked up the wine jar, and stepped away.
Chi Yan also got up from his chair and, before Zhong Lin could speak, said, "Brother Zhong, do you have any silver on you? Lend me three taels for an emergency."
Zhong Lin was taken aback but still took out three taels of silver from his pocket and handed them over.