Martial Arts: Starting from a Seemingly Real System

Qiao Rui went back to his hometown to visit his grandfather. He didn't expect to encounter people coming to Qiaojiazhai to cause trouble, so he angrily beat them up. After asking about the reason, he heard Juan'er say that her husband wanted to sell her daughter.

Qiao Rui frowned and stared at Juan'er's husband coldly, with a chill in his eyes.

Juan'er's husband was so scared that his neck shrank. He leaned towards the man next to him, swallowed his saliva, and defended himself: "How did I sell my daughter? I gave her away. Our family is so poor, and you only gave birth to daughters for me. How can I afford to raise these money-losing goods?"

"You beast, you beast!" Juan'er almost collapsed, crying fiercely, "Last year you said you gave Erniu away, but you took 30,000 yuan from her and gambled in town for a month before returning home. Do you think I don't know? My father asked me where Erniu went, and I didn't dare to tell him the truth, for fear that my uncles and brothers in the village would beat you to death..."

"Now you are eyeing my third daughter again, and you even asked your cousin from Feiyun Manor to inquire about the market situation for you. Tell me, how much silver are you going to get from selling my third daughter this time? When you spend it all, will it be the eldest daughter's turn next, and then me? You inhuman beast! These are our own flesh and blood, how can you bear to sell them to other families to be slaves..."

"What? You beast, I will fight you!" Uncle Balian, who was sitting on the side because of his injury, was furious when he heard this and was about to come over to fight. The fellow villagers here were also very angry. How could there be such a heartless father?

Qiao Rui raised his hand to stop the restless tribesmen, stared at Juan'er's husband expressionlessly and said, "What else do you have to say?"

"I..." Juan'er's husband opened his mouth, but finally had nothing to say. He looked at the man next to him for help and said weakly: "Cousin, look..."

The leading man beside him also recovered his composure at this time. After arranging his emotions, he stood up to speak, but his voice was still a little weak. "Things are different now. It is not illegal for a father to sell his daughter if his family can't make ends meet. What do you mean by this?" He coughed lightly and said, "I brought my brothers from Feiyun Manor to accompany him to pick up the child. The people in your village obstructed us, which led to some conflicts with them. As soon as you came, you beat us without asking any questions. Where is the reputation of our Feiyun Manor?"

"Feiyun Manor? Is it very powerful?" Qiao Rui's heart moved and he asked back, but on the surface he was full of disdain.

The young man laughed arrogantly when he heard Qiao Rui's question, but it triggered a coughing fit. After he finally stopped coughing, he said viciously: "Why don't you ask about the reputation of my Feiyun Manor? In this poor and remote place where the imperial power does not extend to the countryside, my Feiyun Manor is the sky! Today you hurt many of my brothers, tomorrow my Feiyun Manor will massacre your village!"

"In that case, let's just kill him to silence him, so as to avoid any future troubles!" Qiao Rui sneered.

The summer sun was setting in the west, stretching the shadows of people diagonally. After hearing Qiao Rui's cold words, several people could not help but step back slightly. The leading young man said angrily: "Naive, I am the sixth owner of Feiyun Manor. Except for my cousin, these brothers are all good fighters in my manor. If you kill us, Feiyun Manor will definitely track you down. When you ask, you will know that I am handling things for my cousin. It will be easier to find out from my cousin. If you go to his village, you will know that you are here. You still can't escape!"

"Then what do you say we should do? If I kill you, I can't escape the responsibility. If I don't kill you, you threaten me. I'm in a dilemma!" Qiao Rui sighed.

The young man's face froze, thinking that he had said too much. He rolled his eyes and said, "How about this, you let my cousin take his daughter away, and you come back with us to the manor to pay respect to my boss and admit your mistake. This will not damage the reputation of Feiyun Manor. If my boss likes you, maybe he can even reward you with the title of Seventh Manor Master. Wouldn't that make everyone happy?"

"Let me go and apologize to your boss? Your Feiyun Manor has such a big reputation. Do you think you are those water heroes who roam the three rivers? You still reward me with the title of the seventh manor owner? I would think you were interested? A small country manor can only exploit the poor people around it. What future do you have? How much money can you make? Did you see my two horses? Three hundred taels of silver each. I spent more than six hundred taels of silver on these two horses. Can you calculate how long I have to collect protection fees from you to earn back the money?" Qiao Rui's face was almost filled with the words "I look down on you country scum".

"Our Feiyun Manor is the Sanshui River Water Fort!" A man over there couldn't help but reply.

"Shut up!" the leading man, who was the sixth owner of Feiyun Manor, shouted.

"Huh? What do you mean? It seems that you don't really want to talk, right? Then let's fight!" Seeing that he was trying to hide, Qiao Rui raised his knife and showed his sword skills. Seeing this, Liu Xinyue next to him also drew out his sword, made sword gestures with his hands, and aimed at them.

"Don't, don't be impulsive!" The Sixth Manor Master's forehead was sweating, and he sighed: "This is related to the confidentiality of our manor. There are many people here and they are gossipy. I wanted to tell you on the way."

"So, Feiyun Manor is the Sanshui River Water Village? You are the people of the Sanshui River Water Village?"

"Not bad!"

"Oh, why didn't you tell me earlier? What are we fighting for?" Qiao Rui sheathed his sword and said with a happy face, "It's because I heard that there is a group of water heroes in Sanshuihe Water Village, who travel the river freely and happily. I rushed back from the city, hoping to join you!"

"This..." Isn't this plot twist too fast? The Sixth Manor Master hesitated and said, "Brother, you are so skilled? Why don't you find a famous sect to join? Or join the government!"

"Tsk!" Qiao Rui sneered, "The famous sects look down on me, and I look down on the small sects, not to mention the government. What will happen if I get in? I have to flatter my superiors and exclude my colleagues all day long. Isn't it annoying? It's not as comfortable as the Sanshui River Water Village. It's close to home and I can take care of my family. What a good thing. Not to mention being the seventh village owner, even being a small leader is better than hanging around in the city."

"Well, let's go, follow me back to see the head of the manor." The leading young man said, and then said to his cousin: "Take your woman and daughter with you!"

"Wait, Juan'er and her daughter rarely come back, let them accompany my uncle." Qiao Rui stared at Juan'er's husband and said disdainfully: "You are not still thinking of selling your daughter, are you?"

"So what?" Juan'er's husband became bolder when he saw that the relationship had eased, and replied sternly.

"You are so stupid that you are beyond redemption. You still want to sell your daughter? Your cousin is already the sixth owner of the manor. Why don't you follow him and do something? Otherwise, you can follow me. You see, I am quite skilled. I can take you to rob one or two merchant ships on the water. Wouldn't that be more money than selling your daughter? Besides, how many times can you sell your daughter? There are ships coming and going on the Sanshui River every day. I really don't know what's going on in your head." Qiao Rui said hatefully.

"Yes, I also can't stand selling my own daughter..." The man who let the cat out of the bag at the beginning continued, "We in the water village all know that we live by the water and never harm the people around us. That's why every time the constables encircle and suppress us, the people will cover up for us. You, as a father, are harming your own daughter instead!" He shook his head and said, "Besides, why do we lick blood on the edge of a knife? Isn't it to make our wives live better and to stop our children from suffering!"

"This brother is right!" Qiao Rui went over and patted him on the shoulder to praise him. He then asked everyone to get up and set off quickly so that he could meet the owner of the manor earlier.