Chapter 6 - A Finger and A Piece of Meat

As they were crossing the Nanping River, Mr. Shen suddenly recalled something and couldn’t help but laugh. Shen Cha Yan was looking at Shen Leng clumsily doing the horse stance. When she heard his laughter, she looked at him and asked, “What are you thinking of?”

“All three of us are Shens.”

When Mr. Shen said this, he felt extremely pleased, to the point it was unfathomable to others.

Mr. Shen looked at Cha Yan, “Don’t we look like a family of three?”

“Heh.”

Mr. Shen was an elegant and cultured man. When he was in Yunxiao city, wearing his Daoist robe, there were several married women who were charmed by him. Even though he had taken off his Daoist robe and donned a normal robe instead, he looked more unconstrained, and less inflexible. He looked more sophisticated now, compared to his younger days.

Cha Yan was a beauty. At the young age of twelve, she was already an outstanding beauty.

Shen Leng was ordinary. Even though he had delicate features, he was a coolie for years on end. Hence, he had pachylosis and his skin was dark, making his eyes appear to be exceptionally bright.

Cha Yan looked at Shen Leng giggling, “And what are you laughing at?”

“A family of three.”

Shen Leng answered as he continued giggling.

“You’re the ugliest.”

Shen Cha Yan went over to him and kicked his calves. “You call this the horse stance? Your legs are so soft and unstable, as though I’m drying two strands of noodles in the sun. The horse stance has to be steady - you’re not allowed to move even the slightest bit in strong winds and rain, and even a landslide.

Shen Leng almost fell as a result of her kick. He quickly steadied himself. “I got it, senior sister.”

Shen Cha Yan frowned, “Who’s your senior sister?”

“Well, you’re not my biological sister.”

“You have a glib tongue at such a young age.”

Shen Cha Yan picked up a hemp rope from the deck that was as thick as her wrist. She held onto the hemp rope and flicked her thumb. A thump was heard and the hemp rope was severed. The hemp rope in her hand was about a meter long; she swung the rope and hit Shen Leng on the back. Shen Leng groaned in pain immediately, and his back swelled up.

Surprisingly, Mr. Shen did not say a single word. He nodded his head at Shen Leng. Did he mean that he should keep it up and that he was great?

This was not any less painful compared to Mr. Meng’s beatings. Additionally, Mr. Meng did not seem to use as much strength as this girl. The cold frown on her face made him feel as though she was his adoptive father...

“Stand firm!”

Shen Cha Yan stood there with the hemp rope in her hand. Shen Leng steadied his horse stance once again. As they traveled along the river, the boat would sway. Even ordinary men who made a living on the river would not be able to execute a steady horse stance on a swaying boat in the face of strong winds and waves, let alone a twelve year old boy. They probably were able to run about as fast as they wanted on the deck, but executing a stable horse stance was an entirely different matter.

“Just like that?” asked Shen Leng.

He was trying to ask if all he had to do was to stay in horse stance.

Shen Cha Yan replied, “You are pretty crazy.”

Thereafter, she hit him with the rope. Shen Leng thought to himself: What on earth did I do to deserve this...

He was in horse stance the entire time they were on the boat. After they got off, Mr. Shen and Shen Cha Yan sat in the carriage, while Shen Leng continued to stay in horse stance. They continued on their journey. Shen Leng did not know where the destination was. Four hours had passed and Shen Leng was sweating profusely. He started to stagger.

The coachman turned around and heaved a long sigh, “You didn’t move a muscle earlier - I thought you came from Xiangxi.”

Shen Cha Yan frowned, “Why do you have so much to say!”

The coachman looked at the rope in Shen Cha Yan’s hand and chose to keep his mouth shut. That fella that looks like a display ornament must lead a hard life.

Seeing that Shen Leng was not steady, Shen Cha Yan was about to hit him once more. Mr. Shen finally broke the silence, “It’s already very extreme. He is better than you at that time.”

Shen Cha Yan stared blankly for a moment and scoffed. She tossed the rope aside. She turned her head and looked out of the window. Joy and satisfaction flashed across her eyes.

Indeed. That clumsy fella was better than her, at that time.

He had no martial arts background and yet he could execute the horse stance for four hours on the boat. That was a shocking feat in itself. If the military officers from the Four Depositories Military Repository, who traveled around every part of Great Ning, were to witness that, they would definitely try their best to steal Shen Leng away from them.

For him to be able to maintain the horse stance position for so long, it meant that not only did he have a good physique, he also had a strong willpower. He was a talent that the Four Depositories Military Repository needed.

Seeing that Shen Cha Yan tossed the rope out the window, Shen Leng heaved a huge sigh of relief and sat down. Before he had a chance to sit properly, Shen Cha Yan grabbed him by the collar and tossed him out the window.

“Run alongside the carriage.”

Just those four words. It was simply unreasonable.

Shen Leng was in the horse stance position for four hours earlier on - his leg muscles were extremely sore. She did not seem to try to put herself in his shoes. She was more ruthless compared to Mr. Meng.

Shen Leng did not say anything. He rolled over and got up, and started chasing the carriage. Running was not a big deal to Shen Leng. Ever since he was ten, he carried at least 75 kilograms worth of goods and ran back and forth from the store to the dock. The distance he covered over two years was the same amount of distance as the circumference of entire Great Ning - not that Great Ning was small, but rather, he had simply ran too much.

“Faster.”

Shen Cha Yen said to the coachman. The coachman did not hit the horse with the whip. Instead, he pulled the reins to stop the horse. He took out the fees Mr. Shen paid earlier and tossed it back to him. “I don’t need your business. I have never seen anyone ill-treat someone this way before. Isn’t that child a human too? Aren’t you afraid of incurring the wrath of heaven by abusing him?”

Mr. Shen felt slightly embarrassed, “She has his best interest at heart.”

“For his own good? You are telling me this is for his own good? They are both your children. You raised your daughter to be unruly, and your son to be a coolie. If bullying someone is for his own good, shouldn’t the emperor of the Nanyue Empire be greatly indebted to Great Ning?”

This was a bad analogy. If Yang Yu, the emperor of the Nanyue Empire in the Eighth District Alley heard this, he would beat him up.

Mr. Shen explained earnestly, “I treat them both the same. She started off like that too. Whatever he’s going through now, she had gone through it before...”

“Do you think I believe that?”

The coachman pointed to the side, “Quick, get off the carriage. Whether you’re biased towards males or females, in my eyes. you’re a bastard.”

Shen Leng stood there giggling. He gave the coachman the thumbs up.

Mr. Shen was about to say something, but Shen Cha Yan jumped off the carriage. She took out some silver from her pocket and tossed it onto the carriage. “This is to compensate you.”

Thereafter, she stepped on Shen Leng’s butt. “Run!”

Shen Leng had no choice but to run. He was running and laughing at the same time, without any care. Shen Cha Yan was running behind him.

Although they were both running, their manner of running was extremely different from each other. Shen Leng’s breathing method was what he had been used to. As for Shen Cha Yan, Her breathing method was evidently more logical. Since their breathing methods were different, comparing the both of them, under the same circumstances - i.e. physical strength and physique, Shen Leng would definitely lose to her. He was nowhere near her.

The coachman stared blankly. “Your daughter is very strong and aggressive...”

Mr. Shen looked at the silver taels that Shen Cha Yan tossed onto the carriage. His heart ached a little. That girl was good at everything, except for the fact that she did not know the value of money. She casually tossed that much money at one go...He was not listening to any of the words that the coachman said. All he was thinking about was how to get the money back.

As he was thinking, the coachman reached out and took the silver taels. “Your family of three is very interesting. In our line of work, we have met all kinds of people. However, it’s my first time meeting people like you.”

Mr. Shen looked on as he kept the silver taels. He sat upright and said earnestly, “I know that in Jiangnan, according to our customs, if we visited our relatives and brought too many gifts for them, the head of the family would normally return some of it back.”

“That’s right. We are honest and kind,” replied the coachman, as he continued pulling the carriage.

Mr. Shen sighed, “Are you honest and kind?”

“I am.”

“If you are honest and kind, don’t you think that’s too much?”

The coachman was speechless for a moment before laughing, “I’m slightly embarrassed by your words. Indeed, I was compensated a lot more than I should, but I will not refund your money.”

The last few words depicted the reality of how money soured relations amongst people.

Mr. Shen said helplessly, “We are not wealthy. In the future, we will not be doing our own business. We have to be very careful with how we spend our money. But don’t you worry, I will not snatch it back. I just hope that you will give me a chance to get it back, or convince me to give up. How about this - I will reach my hand out and you make a guess how many fingers I’m holding up.”

The coachman looked at Mr. Shen as though he was an idiot, “How many fingers you’re holding up?”

“Yes!”

Mr. Shen sounded firm and decisive.

Mr. Shen reached out his left hand and chuckled, “Make a guess.”

The coachman suddenly felt chills ran down his spine. However, he was unresigned. “You’re holding up five fingers, of course my answer is five.”

Mr. Shen said he was wrong. Thereafter, the sharp knife he was holding on his right hand sliced the little finger on his left hand. Blood spurted out. The coachman went pale immediately.

He took out the money he had taken earlier and tossed it back to Mr. Shen. “You’re crazy!”

Mr. Shen was not in a hurry to pick up the money. He placed the little finger that had dropped earlier on the wound, and took out some medicinal powder and sprinkled it on top of it. The little finger stuck nicely, and did not fall off. He took out a fabric pouch and looked for some thread and needle, before stitching his finger back together earnestly. “I have said before - I will not be doing any business in the future, and so we will be hard pressed for money. They are both undergoing puberty. They need to eat enough meat. I know for a fact that she is still young, and does not know the value of money.”

After Mr. Shen stitched his finger back, he passed the medicine to the coachman. “This is for you. It is worth more than the silver you gave me back. I concocted this; when I sold it back in Yunxiao city, a bag of it was worth two hundred taels of silver.”

The coachman turned pale and did not dare to take it.

One by one, Mr. Shen picked up the silver taels. Thereafter, he thanked the coachman.

“Just for the sake of feeding them meat?” The coachman could not help but ask.

“Yes,” replied Mr. Shen.

The coachman asked, “Is feeding them meat more important than your finger?”

“Yes.”

Mr. Shen nodded his head, “A lot more important.”

The coachman felt that he would never be able to understand that in his entire life. Nonetheless, he had more respect for Mr. Shen. He was very clear at this moment that Mr. Shen must be very skilled in martial arts. It was an easy feat for Mr. Shen to kill him and snatch the money back. However, Mr. Shen had chosen to cut off his own finger as a means of getting it back.

The children’s meal was more important that his own finger...

The coachman kept pondering over those words; the more he thought about it, the more scared he got.

“You don’t know who they are, and you don’t know how much I owe.”

Mr. Shen was as tranquil and calm as still waters, as before. He neither spoke too fast or too slow, “Whatever I owe, I will pay.”

The two fellas ran about the entire day, from afternoon till sunset. Shen Leng was drenched in sweat, and Shen Cha Yan’s forehead was filled with beads of sweat. After they stopped, Shen Cha Yan ran back to the carriage to retrieve some water. She looked at Mr. Shen’s finger and said, “Again? It’s the second time!”

Mr. Shen laughed, “Pretty much the same, the second time.”

In truth, breaking a finger the second time was a lot worse.

Shen Cha Yan seemed to be expressionless. She finished half a flask of water at one go. Thereafter, she tossed her money pouch to Mr. Shen. “It’s too heavy. Without this deadweight, I’m able to fling him three streets down.”

Shen Leng walked back and saw the blood on Mr. Shen’s finger. After a few moments of silence, he took the money pouch and tied it to his waist. “I can fling you three streets down too, even with this on my waist.”

Mr. Shen closed his eyes, feeling very blissful.

The coachman continued to be dumbfounded.

Shen Leng asked Shen Cha Yan, “You don’t seem to be scared that he cut off his finger.”

Shen Cha Yan scoffed, “I’m only scaring the coachman. It can be fixed.”

Shen Leng was speechless.