Chapter 4

Becoming a disciple was just a brief interlude, taking no more than half an hour to complete.

After all, Gao Shun had already made an appointment with Liu Ming to go to the county town today to sell the tiger skin, tiger bones, and tiger penis. The tiger skin and bones were fine, but the tiger penis would lose its value if left for too long, so they couldn't delay.

As for the disciple rules, they could be discussed on the way.

On the road, Liu Ming also took a quick look at his task system, which had no tasks today. It was clear that the tasks provided by the system were completely random and not available every day.

Or perhaps, because of the disciple ceremony, the daily tasks were canceled and replaced with other types of tasks?

This was a common setup, and this thought was quickly confirmed.

Uncompleted Task: Rules

Task Description: Memorize the Gao Family Disciple Rules and recite them before entering the county town. The more you recite, the more experience you gain.

Well, it seems the personal cultivation tasks have been changed to master tasks...

Perhaps this was more normal, after all, he was now a disciple with a master. Improving on his own was nothing compared to improving under the guidance of a master.

The Gao Family Disciple Rules consisted of twelve major precepts, but there were also thirty-eight detailed rules. The former were established by the Gao family's ancestors and, although some were outdated and would be phased out in a few hundred years, the rest were essential and could be used until the founding of the Huaxia Dynasty.

The latter were written by later generations. Violating them would result in a warning or a few lashes as punishment, but not expulsion from the master's door or execution. The thirty-eight detailed rules were not fixed and could be updated as needed to keep up with the times.

After hearing these rules, Liu Ming couldn't help but smile bitterly. Disciples trained according to these rules were no different from graduates of German military academies. They were strict and didn't joke around, brave and skilled in battle but not rigid... Yes, just like Gao Shun, who had been thoroughly trained.

"There are many rules, and some may seem unreasonable, but they are the results of generations of Gao family ancestors' experiments. Since you have joined the Gao family, you must remember them... At least, don't violate the twelve major precepts..." Gao Shun, who had been sternly lecturing, then thought for a moment and relaxed the boundaries.

After all, he remembered one of the thirty-eight detailed rules: "No excessive indulgence in pleasure!"

The old village chief had only one heir, and his own lineage, apart from himself, had two brothers guarding the ancestral home, so it wouldn't be cut off. If Liu Ming really abstained from pleasure and only married one woman, and if she didn't bear a son, wouldn't that affect the continuation of the other lineages?

"Disciple will follow the teachings!" Knowing that Gao Shun had relaxed the boundaries, Liu Ming was naturally very happy.

In fact, there was no problem with complete compliance. He just needed to add "in the army" before the detailed rules. For example, regarding "excessive indulgence in pleasure," in the army, it would only lead to others picking up the soap, and there wouldn't be much else to indulge in. Therefore, prohibiting excessive indulgence was necessary, and Liu Ming didn't like the intense camaraderie in the army.

The master and disciple walked to the county town, chatting along the way. Occasionally, Liu Ming's insightful remarks left Gao Shun impressed, thinking to himself: This boy has quite a talent for military affairs, it's a pity he's a village chief and not an officer...

What he didn't know was that behind Liu Ming's smile, he was secretly complaining: Master, could you talk less and be your usual taciturn self? Thanks to you, I haven't memorized much of the disciple rules...

Liu Family Village was only a hundred miles from the county town, but it was enough to exhaust Liu Ming. They walked and stopped, taking six hours to reach the county town, which was around noon.

Seeing Liu Ming's exhausted state, Gao Shun smiled and said, "Let's sell these things today and stay in the county town for the night."

"No problem, Master, I can still hold on until we get back to the village," Liu Ming said, panting.

"I didn't mean that. After we sell these things, it will probably be dark. If we travel at night, we might encounter wolf packs, which would be dangerous. Besides, it's pitch black around, and we might take the wrong path, which wouldn't be funny." Gao Shun said kindly.

"Oh, I see... Then let's stay for the night." Liu Ming also knew that Gao Shun was worried about night blindness, a common problem in those times.

In the dark, everything was pitch black, and without any lights, it was like being blind.

Liu Ming had also noticed this problem recently. With a limited diet and little meat, lacking vitamin A was inevitable. It was said that ancient people rarely fought at night, and when they did, it was only with bright lights. Was this the reason?

Entering the city required a ten-wen entry fee per person. However, the official on duty had a bit of conscience and, seeing Liu Ming's youth, reduced it to five wen. Knowing what they were selling, he didn't have any thoughts of robbing them, which was rare for an official in those times.

However, ten wen was basically half a day's food expenses for a commoner. If they couldn't earn ten wen in the city, it would be a significant loss.

The surrounding villagers rarely entered the city. If they needed to sell something, three or four people would escort a large cart to the market day, selling all the village's handmade goods and buying what they needed to break even.

As for surplus grain, grain merchants would come to buy it, so there was no need to actively enter the city to sell it.

What Liu Ming found most annoying was that, according to Gao Shun, during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han, the entry tax was only one wen. At that time, the city was bustling, but later, the taxes became heavier. In the Central Plains, especially in Luoyang, the entry tax was as high as one hundred wen, truly "commoners not allowed to enter."

Today was not market day, so the city wasn't as bustling, and the goods on the streets weren't as abundant. However, tiger penis and bones, if not sold early, would lose value, so they had to come today.

"Master, where are we going to sell these things?" Liu Ming asked curiously.

At that moment, he was still very happy.

Just now, the system had notified him that he had completed the task, and it was 100% complete. The former bookworm, now still sharp, had memorized all fifty rules in just six hours.

Each rule was worth 10 experience points, and fifty rules earned him 500 experience points. With a series of cheerful notifications, Liu Ming leveled up to level 5 (Experience: 300/350).

He didn't choose to increase his physical strength but chose intelligence. The reason was that he believed that practicing martial arts in the future would also boost his physical strength, while increasing intelligence would be more difficult, so it was best to allocate the free points to intelligence and politics for the time being.

Another reason was that he didn't want to be sold and count the money for others.

After all, there were too many geniuses in the Three Kingdoms period...

For skills, he didn't choose others but focused on "Enlightenment."

He had previously asked the system and learned that chosen skills could still be upgraded by spending skill points, which would increase the skill's proficiency by 30% at the basic stage, 10% at the intermediate stage, 5% at the advanced stage, and 2% at the master stage.

By choosing "Enlightenment" again, Liu Ming's original basic (65%) "Enlightenment" skill was upgraded to basic (95%). He believed that soon, he would enter the intermediate stage. At that time, he should be able to clearly distinguish the verses in the Book of Songs and the Analects of Confucius and read them fluently.

With this thought, Liu Ming was genuinely happy.

"The tiger skin is fine; wealthy families like to buy them to decorate their homes. Especially this complete tiger skin, it should be very popular. However, to sell the tiger bones and penis in Zhuo County, we can only sell them to Zhang the Butcher. Their prices are fair, and we won't be cheated," Gao Shun said with a smile.

"Zhang the Butcher in Zhuo County? Is his name Zhang Fei?!" Liu Ming's eyes lit up.

"That's his son, but he has started to take over his father's business in the past two years." Gao Shun smiled bitterly, wondering how Liu Ming knew about Zhang Fei.

"Old Brother Gao, what a rare guest! Are you here to buy something? Who is this...?" A rough voice came from behind.

Liu Ming followed the voice and saw a man with a fair face and no beard, looking somewhat handsome but with very crude manners, standing behind a meat counter and shouting at them. He was clearly a butcher.

"Little Brother Zhang, this is the young village chief of our village, who will soon inherit the position. He is also my newly recruited disciple, so you mustn't bully him! Yesterday, he hunted a tiger, and today we are here to sell the tiger skin and other items," Gao Shun greeted him with a bow.

"If he is your disciple, Old Brother Gao, how could I bully him? Hey, little boy, greet Uncle Zhang, and I'll give you a red envelope!" The butcher spoke without respect, completely ignoring that the boy was a future village chief.

"Descendant of the Prince of Zhongshan, great-grandson of Emperor Jing of Han, Liu Ming, village chief of Liu Family Village, greets Uncle Zhang!" Liu Ming didn't hold back and introduced himself with his most prestigious title.

"Wow, a royal descendant?! But this Prince of Zhongshan..." The butcher showed a look of disdain.

"Wing德, don't be silly. The young village chief is listed in the clan records and is not a fraud!" Gao Shun knew what he was about to say and immediately scolded him loudly.

Liu Ming didn't know much, but from their conversation, he could guess that the claim of being a descendant of the Prince of Zhongshan had been overused by many people with the surname Liu for hundreds of years. It was unclear whether Liu Bei was genuine, but he clung to this overused claim.

Then he realized that the man in front of him was surnamed Zhang, a butcher, and Gao Shun called him "Wing德"... Could it be! This man was the black-faced Zhang Fei?! This didn't make sense! The man in front of him had a fair face and no beard, and looked somewhat handsome. If not for his behavior, he might have been a scholar.

But this man was actually Zhang Fei?!

...

From a young age, Zhang Fei's father had put a lot of effort into his education, hiring famous teachers to teach him both academics and martial arts. Zhang Fei was actually a man of literary talent, especially skilled in painting women.

However, he was outgoing and enjoyed making friends with chivalrous people, and the influence of his friends made him rough, or perhaps it was his nature. Because of his love for chivalry, it was not surprising that he became acquainted with Gao Shun, a well-known hunter who often came to Zhuo County for trade.