Poyang County Martial Affairs Office.
Located in the central area of Poyang County, the tallest pavilion Lin Chen saw at the city gate is inside the Martial Affairs Office.
From this, it is enough to know how much the Liang Dynasty values the Martial Arts.
The Martial Affairs Office is not as easy to enter as a Martial Hall. Even after Yu Yongnian reported his identity, he still had to wait.
"Wait here."
The gatekeeper glanced at Yu Yongnian a few times, his attitude indifferent, then went inside the main gate.
After a cup of tea’s time, the gatekeeper returned, a smile now on his face, and his attitude also became more enthusiastic.
"Instructor Yu, please follow me."
The gatekeeper personally led Yu Yongnian and Lin Chen into the Martial Affairs Office, finally arriving in front of a courtyard.
"Inspector is inside, Instructor Yu, please."
After escorting them, the gatekeeper left. Yu Yongnian said to Lin Chen, "Wait at the door."
Lin Chen: ...
In the courtyard, Shu Suwan was boiling tea. Seeing Yu Yongnian enter, she smiled and said, "How come my junior brother has time to visit, the tea will be ready in a while, it’s the finest new Wuyi tea."
"Senior Sister, I’ve come this time to lodge a complaint to the Martial Affairs Office."
"A complaint?"
Although Shu Suwan knew that her junior brother would never come to the Martial Affairs Office unless something was wrong, she still felt a bit resentful when she heard this: "Can’t my junior brother ever just come to see his senior sister?"
Yu Yongnian fell silent, and Shu Suwan restrained her resentment: "Just joking with you, junior brother, what are you complaining about?"
"Martial Hall disciple Lin Chen, being the first to cultivate Essence Qi in Kaohe Town Martial Hall, the various Martial Halls are unwilling to give him a quota for an Opening Acupoints Pill, this clearly breaks the rules."
Shu Suwan looked surprised: "The Lin Chen you’re talking about, is he the one who needed work-study back then?"
"Yes, senior sister, you also know Lin Chen’s family situation, the son of a fisherman who cultivated Essence Qi with only twenty taels, what a Martial Arts talent, such a genius deserves an Opening Acupoints Pill."
"Really only spent twenty taels?"
"No less than that." Yu Yongnian confirmed: "Does senior sister also not believe me?"
"Of course, I believe my junior brother’s words." Shu Suwan lightly nodded: "But believing you is of no use, those Martial Halls won’t believe it. Junior brother, you might as well calm down and think, if you were an instructor in a Martial Hall, would you believe it?"
"There... there is a possibility not to believe."
Yu Yongnian’s nature made him unable to lie with open eyes. If he were the recruitment instructor of a Martial Hall, he would have doubts about this matter.
"Even if the Martial Hall doesn’t believe it, over the years, even if the number of students who cultivate Essence Qi exceeds eighty, there has never been a time when the Martial Hall First couldn’t get a quota."
Hearing his junior brother’s dissatisfaction, Shu Suwan had to explain: "The Martial Affairs Office does not explicitly stipulate that the Martial Hall First must be given an Opening Acupoints Pill quota. In past years, if the number exceeded eighty, the Martial Hall First student would get a quota, mostly to embody unity and fairness."
Shu Suwan knew her junior brother was lacking in some aspects of thinking. In past years, even if the number of students exceeded eighty, each town’s Martial Hall had to be given at least one quota. This was to show that the Martial Affairs Office, and the court, treated the townspeople equally.
Since a quota must be given, it surely goes to the first place.
The first place represents a better family background, with more potential.
But this time, an exception occurred. Who could have imagined that Lin Chen, a fisherman’s son, would take Martial Hall First? In this situation, the Martial Halls would naturally think of giving the quota to other students in Kaohe Town with better family backgrounds.
As long as a quota is given to Kaohe Town, it’s enough to account to the Martial Affairs Office.
"I know what you want to say, Lin Chen is a fisherman’s son yet took Martial Hall First. Wouldn’t the Martial Hall think of this point, even if the silver spent is falsified, if it can be faked once, it can be faked later, which also shows that Lin Chen has the money to continue on the Martial Path."
Seeing her junior brother about to speak, Shu Suwan knew what he wanted to say and smiled slightly: "Junior brother, you are confused by being involved."
"Please enlighten me, senior sister." Yu Yongnian frowned. What he just wanted to say was indeed that, but he didn’t know where he was confused.
"In the eyes of the people in the Martial Hall, the record of silver spent on Lin Chen’s martial arts training reported by the Martial Hall must be falsified, so the Martial Hall would consider, why fabricate it, for what purpose?"
"For what purpose?"
Yu Yongnian pondered and seemed to understand something after a long time, smiling bitterly: "So the Martial Hall suspects me of falsifying, aiming to achieve an excellent evaluation in the instructor assessment. Hence, I personally took Lin Chen to the Martial Hall, which in the eyes of those instructors even more implies that I fabricated it."
"Junior brother, no need to worry. Senior sister believes you; if you want to go back to the county town, why do all this? Just nod your head, and senior sister will arrange it for you." Shu Suwan’s words had a deep meaning, but unfortunately, Yu Yongnian did not realize it.
"Senior sister believing me is useless, the Martial Hall won’t believe it. If that’s the case, we can only take the last step."
Yu Yongnian spoke solemnly: "Senior sister, Lin Chen is from Linhu Village. That Scholar Jiang back then had some fondness for Linhu Village, specifically instructed that if any juniors from Linhu Village showed talent in Martial Arts, they could write to inform him. If Lin Chen writes to Scholar Jiang about this, and Scholar Jiang gets angry, the Martial Affairs Office may be unable to explain, so I stopped Lin Chen and informed senior sister about it first, to avoid causing you trouble."
Shu Suwan blinked slightly. How could she not understand her junior brother’s meaning, implied in those words, if the Martial Affairs Office doesn’t resolve this, they will take Lin Chen to Scholar Jiang.
"Junior brother, are you threatening senior sister with Scholar Jiang?"
"Junior brother wouldn’t dare."
"You wouldn’t dare, yet your words openly state that if Lin Chen is not given an Opening Acupoints Pill quota, you will let Lin Chen write to Scholar Jiang, claiming discrimination by the Martial Affairs Office and Martial Hall." Shu Suwan said with feigned anger.
"Lin Chen wants to write a letter, I can’t stop him; I am merely an Instructor, not Lin Chen’s elder."
"Pfft!"
Shu Suwan couldn’t hold back her laughter after hearing her junior brother’s words that didn’t match his feelings.
"Junior brother, no need to worry, this cohort of Martial Hall students is different from previous ones, and you are not yet aware of the inside story."
"The number of students who have cultivated Essence Qi has exceeded the limit. It’s not the first time such a situation has arisen, yet you still believe Lin Chen deserves this spot." Yu Yongnian’s face was resolute.
"It’s not just that the number of students exceeds the upper limit of eighty, but also because Lord Su has major plans for the Martial Hall this year."
Seeing her junior brother’s puzzled expression, Shu Suwan explained, "Poyang County has been at the bottom in the Prefecture competition for four consecutive years. The newly appointed Lord Su wants to change this situation and has sent notices to major Martial Halls. For this new cohort of students entering the Martial Hall, there will be a test every three months, and the results of these tests will determine the allocation of resources by the Martial Affairs Office to the major Martial Halls. Under such circumstances, each Martial Hall naturally wants to reserve the Opening Acupoints Pills for students with potential."
Yu Yongnian was surprised; he truly didn’t know there was such an inside story.
With the new rules set by the new Lord Su of the Martial Affairs Office, it’s only natural that the major Martial Halls hope their students rank higher in competitions. The resources provided to the Martial Hall by the Martial Affairs Office are extremely important to both the instructors and the Hall Master.
It concerns the self-interest of these instructors, no wonder they are unwilling to give Lin Chen the allocation for an Opening Acupoints Pill.
"Senior sister, Lin Chen’s journey hasn’t been easy. You heard it with your own ears back then. This child put aside his dignity for the sake of martial arts. If someone like him loses the Opening Acupoints Pill allocation just because of a poor family background, I really wouldn’t know how to face him."
Yu Yongnian looked at his senior sister with a pleading expression.
There was a hint of grievance in Shu Suwan’s eyes, "Junior brother, since you’ve personally come to me, how could I possibly stand by and do nothing?"
Junior brother, you don’t understand your senior sister at all.
"Thank you, senior sister." Yu Yongnian was overjoyed to hear this and immediately responded.
"Don’t thank me yet. I do have a method in mind, but it’s uncertain whether it will work," Shu Suwan waved her hand, and curiously asked, "Junior brother, are you so concerned about Lin Chen because you’ve taken him as a Direct Disciple?"
The relationship between an instructor and a student is inherently that of master and disciple, but this bond is not solid. Many instructors privately take on talented and promising students as their disciples, which is the true master-disciple relationship.
"Spending less than twenty taels of silver to cultivate Essence Qi—isn’t it worthy of concern?" Yu Yongnian did not conceal his true thoughts from his senior sister: "I never intended to take Lin Chen as a disciple."
"Why not take him?" Shu Suwan was quite puzzled. Given that her junior brother was so concerned and optimistic about Lin Chen, it would be more reasonable to take him as a disciple.
"I am just a regular instructor; how much help can I provide Lin Chen if I take him on? If a village or town student can make a name for themselves on the Martial Path, they will naturally catch the attention of those powerful figures. The weight of the first mentor is not insignificant."
Upon hearing this, Shu Suwan was moved: "Lin Chen is truly fortunate to have encountered you, junior brother."
The path of martial arts involves immense expenditure.
Many martial arts prodigies who can stand out come from large families themselves. Practitioners of martial arts are wary of the backgrounds of these talented students and won’t take them as disciples.
But if a village boy makes a name in martial arts.
Clean, without background, no lineage.
These are the types of disciples those martial arts practitioners like best, and once taken on, they are nurtured as heirs.
"Not necessarily fortunate, junior brother just feels that a determined young man who can set aside his dignity should not be let down."
Even now, Yu Yongnian remembers when Lin Chen came to his courtyard, saying he wanted to work and study diligently.
Without a firm belief in the Martial Path, how could a young boy come up with such actions and say such words?
He could imagine that on that night of partitioning, Lin Chen must have tossed and turned in bed, thinking all night before coming up with this plan. Even before stepping into his courtyard, he probably gathered his courage after much hesitation to propose working and studying diligently.
"Senior sister is aware, so please wait here a moment, I will handle this matter."
"Junior brother thanks you on behalf of Lin Chen." Yu Yongnian said with a smile.
"I’ve never seen you so concerned about your own affairs, yet you’re so excited about a student’s matter."
Shu Suwan’s words carried a certain meaning, which Yu Yongnian didn’t quite pick up.
Shu Suwan left the courtyard and saw Lin Chen, standing by the door, stopping in her tracks.
"Lin Chen, a student from the Kaohe Town Martial Hall, greets you, madam."
Seeing an elegant woman walk out from the courtyard, Lin Chen was momentarily stunned. After reacting, he quickly saluted, while internally guessing the woman’s identity.
This woman’s aura is quite unusual, could she be the Inspector Shu from the Martial Affairs Office?
If that’s the case, the relationship between the instructor and Inspector Shu...
The spirit of gossip ignited in Lin Chen’s heart. In the ten months at the Martial Hall, he had seen the families of Instructor Liu and Instructor Chen show up, but never Instructor Yu’s family.
"Your Instructor Yu is willing to fall out with me, his senior sister, over your matter. If you don’t secure an Opening Acupoints Pill allocation, he’s prepared to take you to Raozhou Prefecture to complain to Lord Jiang."
Shu Suwan’s expression was serious, showing no sign of emotion, and Lin Chen hesitated, unsure if her words were true, but still replied, "Instructor Yu’s care for his disciple, the disciple will always remember."
"A master does not raise two different kinds of disciples; they all turn out the same. Enough, go inside and keep your Instructor Yu company for tea."
Hearing Lin Chen’s response, Shu Suwan seemingly scolded, but she was satisfied with Lin Chen’s response in her heart.
He didn’t change his words to curry favor with her.
If Lin Chen had said "Dare not," she would have been troubled, proving her junior brother was mistaken in his judgment.

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