After the New Year, the whole Black Mountain Prefecture was back to its bustling days—travelers and peddlers, people from all walks of life, wealthy merchants...
The streets just kept getting busier with people coming and going.
Maybe because they'd only been away from home for a short while, none of them missed their families much, throwing themselves headlong into work.
With more people about, more clients came looking to learn archery. Wang Heihou, Zhao Hu, and Niu Dazhuang were running back and forth all day, taking people to see the training site and introducing them to the archery instructors.
Most folks didn't complain about the venue, but when they saw Lu Chang'sheng—so skinny, with that young face—they couldn't help but have their doubts.
Luckily, as spring began, some long-term students who'd already paid returned, which gave the new clients some reassurance, and kept them from walking out right away.
Lu Chang'sheng didn't bother talking much—he just grabbed a bow, drew it, and nailed every shot.
Showing off in front of people was different from regular practice; you needed a little shock value. So when shooting in front of clients, Lu Chang'sheng would step a few meters closer than usual, making his accuracy even more impressive.
Those waffling clients watched, totally convinced, and paid up in silver coins.
By February, business was booming.
Zhao Hu and the others were so swamped they couldn't keep up, so they had to hire a few more hands—but these new hires didn't get a cut, just a regular monthly wage.
The crowd was getting too big, so the group pooled their money and rented the neighboring courtyard as another archery range to handle the overflow.
Year 732 of the Great Yuan, second day of February.
The weather—drought!
Within hundreds of miles of Black Mountain Prefecture, you couldn't feel the faintest hint of spring. Winter had just passed, and the supposedly gentle sun now showed its fierce side, scorching the earth.
People moving about seemed far more irritable than usual.
"Heard over in Tonghe Prefecture, some folks clashed with the soldiers. Lots of people died!"
"Gutsy! They dared to fight the soldiers?"
"I know, right? But truth is, those Tonghe Prefecture troops are pushovers. Heard a bunch of them died too! Not like our Black Mountain Prefecture—those Black Mountain Army guys look fierce."
"Naturally, with Lord Xu Yuan holding down the fort here—Tonghe's got nothing on us!"
...
Inside the traveler's inn, a bunch of men sat bantering over a pot of wine, chatting away for hours.
Lu Chang'sheng came out from his lesson with Ma Xuncai, listened for a bit, then slipped out once the conversation wandered elsewhere.
"There isn't a single sign of rain. It's gonna get tough later!"
It was near dusk now, and the patrolling Black Mountain Army marched past, boots heavy on the ground.
The Black Mountain Army's gear was decent, and they had a fierce aura. One broke away from the team and came into the inn.
Moments later, the loud shout came from the inn: last call, everyone out!
"Curfew time! Go home and behave yourselves!"
Lu Chang'sheng ran back to their courtyard.
"Things are rough lately—heard a bandit gang is stirring things up in Black Mountain Prefecture. Yesterday the prefect issued a curfew for the city, and now it's affecting us out here too."
Soon enough, Zhao Hu and Wang Heihou returned.
The two had been hustling nonstop lately—most of their new clients came in because of them.
Those recent hires just couldn't match their numbers.
After dinner, the crew settled into a side room and took their usual seats for the monthly accounting.
Today was the second—accounting day, just as they'd agreed.
Lu Chang'sheng brought out the prepared money bag.
"Clink!"
No matter how careful he was, the bag was so stuffed with silver coins that they still clanked together.
Everyone's eyes lit up, brimming with anticipation.
"How much?"
Zhao Hu swallowed hard, unable to hold back.
He usually tracked every single deal, and could spot any discrepancy in the records with one glance.
But after months of flawless bookkeeping from Lu Chang'sheng, he finally relaxed about it.
With this month being a whirlwind, he'd basically stopped worrying.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Lu Chang'sheng decided to play coy.
"Guess!"
"Eight hundred copper coins?" Wang Heihou ventured nervously.
It was actually a pretty high guess. Last month, the income was only six hundred copper coins—a hundred more than before the New Year.
But Lu Chang'sheng just shook his head.
"One tael of silver!" Zhao Hu's eyes lit up.
Lu Chang'sheng shook his head again, leaving Zhao Hu disappointed.
But honestly, one tael was a lot!
He figured it should be between eight and nine hundred copper coins.
If Lu Chang'ssheng hadn't denied Wang Heihou's guess, he never would've thrown out one tael.
Seeing the mood drop, Lu Chang'sheng stopped teasing.
"Last month, we earned a total of one tael and one hundred five copper!"
The whole room fell silent—so quiet you could hear a pin drop!
For a long time—
"Good! That's damn good!" Zhao Hu sucked in a slow breath.
But his voice was trembling just a bit.
...
"At three hundred copper a month, ten taels of silver would take less than three years!"
Account settled, Lu Chang'sheng sat in the courtyard, doing the math in his head. It felt unbelievably good.
Wang Heihou's and the others' smaller shares meant Lu Chang'sheng and Zhao Hu got way more money.
Maybe it was awakening that strange Golden Finger, or living two lives, but Lu Chang'sheng just felt so much steadier now.
"As long as we're making progress, it's good enough."
Compared to most, he was way better off—nothing to complain about.
The next day, everyone enjoyed a hearty lunch, then Zhao Hu took Wang Heihou out to pay the rent.
Lu Chang'sheng was now the only archery teacher at the courtyard. Most students knew how skilled he was, and only wanted to learn from him.
So there wasn't any way he could leave—might as well let Zhao Hu and Wang Heihou handle rent.
Strangely, the afternoon dragged on and they still hadn't come back.
"Little Master, we're heading home!"
"Alright! Be careful on the road!" Lu Chang'sheng saw the students out, then turned to go back—just in time to see Zhao Hu and Wang Heihou walking up, grim-faced.
Once inside, Lu Chang'sheng asked, "What happened?"
"Bastard! That old son of a bitch wants to hike up the rent!" Zhao Hu spat.
"How much?"
"A hundred copper per courtyard. That's two hundred total!" Zhao Hu said.
Lu Chang'sheng's face darkened too. Didn't expect the landlord to be so greedy.
"So what'd you say? Did you agree to it?"
Zhao Hu snorted. "Hell no! Trying to take a fifth of our earnings for doing nothing? Li Deyin's dreaming! I complained so much, he dropped it to fifty copper per courtyard."
"But these small-timers don't play. Once they get a taste, they'll only squeeze harder next time!"
Lu Chang'sheng nodded in firm agreement.
"So what should we do?" Wang Heihou was getting anxious.
He was counting on this to save up for marriage.
Zhao Hu's eyes flashed cold.
"Damn bastard, I've waited more than ten years for this shot. Li Deyin screws with me, and I'll make him pay!"
...