Chapter 8 – Attending a Feast of Treachery (1/2)

Caretaker Liu said, “But he has to eat.”

Liu Hu said, “Who doesn’t have to eat?”

Just like how sophistication came with age, village head Li had yet to grow senile. His eyes lit up. “You mean?”

“If he wants to eat, he has to work. Is there still anyone in the village who can afford to employ him? If he works for me, then wouldn’t I be able to make whatever arrangements I need to make?”

Caretaker Li saw the admiration on the father and son’s face and felt complacent. Food was the most basic necessity of people. It was impossible for food to rain from the sky. It all had to be grown from the ground. Controlling the land was equivalent to grasping the lifeblood of people. Even a brave man would be reduced to a wimp if he went three days without food.

Caretaker Liu had already come up with a countermeasure. There was actually no need to kill Li Erlang. He only needed to deal a blow to him and see what would happen. If he became usable after that, it would not be a bad outcome.

Li Qingshan woke up from a dream. He had no idea about these schemes. All he saw was a water deer lying in the courtyard. He chuckled. Without even thanking the black ox, he skinned and boned the water deer. This time, he had prepared salt to preserve the meat, just in case he could not finish it all before it went off.

After doing all that, he arrived by the side of the stream, washing his face and rinsing his mouth before beginning a day of cultivation.

For the next few days, he woke up when it was still dark and only went to sleep when it was pitch-black. He basically did not take a single step out of his home, completely cutting himself off from the outside world. He would be utterly dead beat from the training everyday such that he did not find it boring.

He was working hard for his dream. With every step forward he took, with every bit of progress he made, a whole new world seemed to be unfolding before him.

Over a dozen days passed, and Li Qingshan just happened to have finished the water deer when the village head had run out of patience. He had not managed to get even a single night of proper sleep in the past few days. Every night, he would have his two sons keep watch over him by his bedside, and only then would he barely be able to catch some sleep. At such an advanced age, there was no way for him to endure all of this. He was close to developing a serious illness, so he quickly went to discuss matters with caretaker Liu.

Caretaker Liu had become terribly worried from the waiting as well. He would send his guards to Li Qingshan’s house to check on him. The first guard reported back that Li Qingshan had been drinking and eating meat everyday, and he had even started practising martial arts. He originally was not convinced but several other guards reported the same news. Afterwards, no one dared to check on him anymore.

Seeing how village head Li was close to breaking down in tears, caretaker Liu frowned and made up his mind. “Invite him to a feast. If he comes, then he’s a brave man. If he doesn’t, then he’s just a coward putting on an act.”

An invitation card was delivered to Li Qingshan. He fiddled around with the large, red invitation. In a small village like this, marriages and funerals were normally notified of by sending a person. Rarely would they ever send a formal invitation like this, so he could not help but find this to be rather novel.

He sank into his thoughts. Nothing good could come out of this feast. If he went, he would be essentially walking head-first into a trap. He had only practised for around a dozen days. He had benefited greatly, but it was still difficult to take on multiple people with just two hands.

However, if he did not go, the reputation he had established after so much difficulty would all go to waste. If other people mentioned him, they would definitely talk about how he was afraid of going to a mere feast. It would ruin his name.

Once he showed weakness, the blows to him would be endless. Caretaker Liu’s move was truly well-schemed, forcing him between a rock and a hard place.

The black ox asked, “Are you going?”

“I just happened to have run out of food to eat. There’s someone treating me to a meal, so why wouldn’t I go? Armed with a single blade, Guan Yunchang attended a feast alone. Am I supposed to be afraid of attending this village feast?” Li Qingshan laughed aloud as a heroic spirit developed within him.1