The next morning, Lin Feng woke up half an hour later than usual.
Now, the first thing Lin Feng did upon waking was practice his Kung Fu in the yard.
As he walked into the yard, he overheard his mother chatting with someone at the yard entrance.
"Little Feng's mother, have you heard? Old Feng, the village tyrant's house, caught fire last night."
"Really? How badly was it burned?"
"It started burning in the second half of the night. I guess Old Feng's neighbors must have seen it, but they didn't go to put out the fire.
It's said that even rabbits don't eat the grass near their own burrows, but the four bullies of the Old Feng family bullied their immediate neighbors the most ruthlessly.
This time, good for them, the neighbors pretended not to see it, and no one went to put out the fire.
The house is completely burned down."
Lin's mother's eyes lit up, and she asked with some anticipation, "Are the people alright?"
"How could they be alright? All four brothers of the Old Feng family are charred, you can't even tell who's who.
Gou Shengzi, who was always bullied by the Feng brothers, finally caught an opportunity.
He took a stick and beat the corpses of the four Old Feng brothers all over, turning them into a pile of ash."
Hearing this, Lin Feng was completely relieved. With someone tampering with the scene, no one would be able to see any clues.
The person chatting with Lin's mother was Lin Aunt, from Lin Feng's clan.
Lin Aunt said with a smile, "This is truly a case of evil getting its just desserts. With these few scourges gone from Little River Village, everyone can finally live a peaceful life."
Lin's mother asked curiously, "Do you know the cause of the fire?"
Lin Aunt shook her head and said, "Everything was burned away, and it was in the second half of the night, so who knows the cause? The village chief took people to take a look and then left.
Little Feng's mother, I won't talk to you anymore, I have to go back and make something good to eat to celebrate.
Today, every household in our Little River Village is eating well, just like during the New Year."
"Alright, Auntie, you go ahead and get busy, I'll go back inside and make something good to eat too."
Lin's mother was old and slept lightly. She knew that Lin Feng had gone out at night and guessed that Lin Feng had set the fire.
However, she would definitely not tell anyone and would pretend not to know.
During breakfast, Lin's mother mentioned the fire at Old Feng's house.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Chunlan ate an extra cornbread, and her condition improved even more.
Lin's mother looked at the children and said, "The children are not young anymore, it's time for their enlightenment. These few days, send them to Mr. Hong at the west end of the village to study and learn to read."
Zhou Chunlan echoed, "Mother is right. Mr. Hong is an outsider and may not retire in our Little River Village. He might leave someday.
While Mr. Hong is still here, let the children follow him to study and learn to read as soon as possible."
Lin Feng looked at the ragged clothes on the children and said, "Now that they are going to be enlightened, we should also get them some decent clothes, or it won't be good to go out."
Only then did Lin's mother notice the clothes on the children. It really couldn't be described with just the word 'ragged'. Dabao, Sanbao, and Sibao only had one pair of pants each, and their upper bodies were bare.
Erbao Lin Yuxuan was the most vain, and his clothes and pants were complete, but they were either patched or had holes.
Little Yueyue's clothes were the best, at least they didn't have any holes.
In the past, it was difficult for the Lin family to even eat their fill, let alone worry about clothes.
"It's time to get the children some decent clothes."
Erbao Lin Yuxuan said with anticipation, "Zheng Xiaobao's clothes are so beautiful, I want a set just like his."
Zheng Xiaobao's father was the village chief, and his family was more or less well-off.
Lin's mother said, "His clothes are not cheap. We'll buy them for Erbao when our family has money.
Erbao, be good, let's buy a set of coarse cloth clothes first, just enough to wear out."
Hearing this, Erbao pouted, a little unhappy, but still nodded sensibly.
Lin Feng touched Erbao's head. This little guy was not big, but he liked to be vain.
Zhou Chunlan took a sip of congee and said, "But we can't go empty-handed. We have to bring tuition fees for apprenticeship, and we have five children in our family, so we have to bring five portions."
Lin Feng put down his chopsticks, "Tomorrow I will go hunting in the mountains, hunt some game, and send it to Mr. Hong."
When Lin's mother and Zhou Chunlan heard that Lin Feng was going hunting in the mountains, they were both a little worried.
Lin's father had an accident while hunting. After going into the mountains, he never came back.
In this world, the mountains are not only home to wild animals, but also to monsters that have become spirits.
Most monsters are hidden in the deep mountains and marshes, and there are generally no monsters on the edges of the mountains.
But monsters sometimes come down the mountains.
If a hunter encounters a monster, he almost certainly dies.
Zhou Chunlan pursed her lips and said, "Husband, doesn't our family have silver? Why not buy some pork and send it to Mr. Hong?
If you go up the mountain, my mother and I will be worried at home."
"It would be too perfunctory to use pork as a tuition fee. I'll still go up the mountain to hunt some game.
You and Mother don't have to worry, I'll just set some traps on the edge of Black Mountain and catch some small animals."
Lin's mother and Zhou Chunlai stopped talking and began to clear the table.
After Lin Feng finished eating, he summoned the attribute panel, ready to upgrade the Beast Hunting Fist to the Perfect Realm.
As a result, he found that he could not upgrade. The words "Beast Hunting Fist" were still gray, not the green color that indicated it was upgradeable.
Lin Feng tried to click it, and the system prompted that it required two breakthrough points to break through.
Sure enough, the further you go in martial arts, the harder it is to break through, and the breakthrough points consumed will increase accordingly.
This was also within Lin Feng's expectations.
However, two breakthrough points were not many and were still acceptable.
If an ordinary person practiced the Beast Hunting Fist, it would take at least six or seven years of hard work to go from Great Accomplishment to Perfection.
He could break through in two days, there was nothing to be dissatisfied with.
Lin Feng took out eight taels of silver from the twenty-five taels of silver he had just obtained last night, ready to go to town to buy clothes for the children.
The clothes for the children would definitely not cost eight taels.
He also planned to buy a set of clothes for his mother and wife.
There were not enough quilts at home either. If several people shared a quilt, they would easily catch a cold and get sick.
When Lin Feng went out, he went to the outside of Wang Shanxiong's yard next door to take a look.
The yard door was locked with a big lock, and Wang Shanxiong was not at home.
Yesterday, when he was beating up the bullies, Wang Shanxiong was not in the crowd of onlookers.
It was possible that he had already left at that time.
It was good that he left, it was best if he never came back, it would save him trouble.
Lin Feng went to Lin Hu's house to call Lin Hu, and asked him to go to town with him.
The town was much closer than the county seat, and it would only take two hours to go back and forth.
When the two brothers arrived in town, they did not wander around, but went directly to the clothing store.
In the clothing store, two thugs carrying iron rods were shouting.
"Boss, it's time to pay this month's protection fee."
The middle-aged boss, wearing a melon-skin hat, came out from behind the counter.
"We just paid this month."
"Definitely not paid to our Iron Rod Gang.
The original Small Knife Gang has been replaced by our Iron Rod Gang. From this month on, we two brothers are responsible for this area.
Your protection fee must be paid to us."
"Two grandpas, can you collect it next month? We really don't have any extra money in hand after paying this month."
Bang, the leading thug slammed an iron rod on the counter.
"Stop talking nonsense with me, pay when I tell you to pay.
If you can't afford to pay, don't open this store."