My Wife Came From A Thousand Years Ago

Chapter 21: I Just Want to Learn Martial Arts

The hope of getting rich quick had vanished.

To be honest, calling these shoes “last week’s style” wouldn’t be wrong, nor would calling them “from the Kaiyuan era,” because who’d ever think history was separated from the present by just a thin veil, ready to let someone fall through?

“They say too much computer use makes you dumb. You should cut down and get outside more.”

Xu Wenbin, not wanting to engage, stood up and headed out.

He was thinking, *Calling these broken straw shoes a Tang Dynasty antique? Why not claim they were woven by Liu Bei?*

“Come on, give it another look,” Xu Qing persisted. “Maybe there’s a way to make them look older…”

“Oh sure, like you could fake an antique. You think you’re that clever? Can’t you do something productive?” Xu Wenbin, getting irritated, pointed at him with his finger. “Quit daydreaming about this nonsense. Why not learn a thing or two from Qin Hao, huh?

Old Qin dropped by and mentioned that Xiao Hao became a police officer. When he asked what you were doing… I was too embarrassed to even say!”

He couldn’t just throw them away—what if they really were an antique from the Tang Dynasty? But if he tried selling them, they probably wouldn’t be worth more than a few months old. Truly frustrating.

“Freelance… my a**!”

Xu Wenbin’s voice shot up, but seeing the storeroom door, he lowered his tone quickly, trying to keep his anger in check. “If you weren’t already grown, I’d have grabbed a stick and given you a good beating…”

Saying this, he looked around for a stick but came up empty, so he grabbed an old sword lying beside the couch instead. “Freelance! Freelance is making fake antiques out of busted-up shoes?”

His voice trailed off, as he suddenly went silent, staring at the sword in his hand like a duck that had just been grabbed by the neck.

“It’s a toy—a cheap toy I bought!” Xu Qing quickly snatched it back, chuckling. “Just for fun… there’s no way it’s an antique.”

If his dad ran off with the sword, Jiang He would definitely lose her temper. This was her meal ticket, after all.

Xu Wenbin took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, then put them back on, his gaze fixed on the sword in Xu Qing’s hand.

“Give it to me.”

“Nope.” Xu Qing shook his head.

“You going to give it up or not?!”

“... Fine, fine, take a look.”

Xu Qing shrugged and handed the sword back with a feigned calmness. There was no way the shoes weren’t antique but the sword was, right?

“Could this actually be a real antique? How much do you think it’s worth?”

“…”

Xu Wenbin didn’t reply. His expression grew serious as he examined the sword from hilt to tip, slowly pulling it from its scabbard.

As more of the blade emerged, Xu Qing couldn’t help but hold his breath.

“Forget it!”

Wenbin, having barely pulled out a few inches, hastily sheathed the sword and tossed it back to Xu Qing, then turned to leave.

He felt ridiculous, nearly believing in this nonsense.

“Find a real job. Why don’t you try taking the civil service exam, and serve the people?”

Holding the door handle, Wenbin glanced once more toward Jiang He’s room, where the door was slightly ajar, before shutting it behind him as he left.

“…”

Xu Qing, puzzled, pulled out the sword, then sheathed it, then pulled it out again. Now he understood.

There wasn’t even a hint of oxidation on it; it was clearly a toy.

Seeing Jiang He’s door open, he casually tossed the sword over, saying, “Put this away. Don’t bring it out casually.”

As Jiang He stowed the sword and came out, Xu Qing looked her up and down with interest and asked, “What were you planning to call my dad just now?”

“I didn’t know what to call him.”

“Well, he’s my dad, my father… my ‘pa,’ it’s all the same. You can just call him Uncle. And if you ever meet my mom… or rather, my mother, you can call her Auntie.”

Xu Qing didn’t know exactly what terms were used in the Tang Dynasty, but “father” and “mother” should be safe enough.

“Uncle. Auntie.” Jiang He nodded, committing it to memory, then paused and asked, “You’re not interested in martial arts anymore?”

“Is there any shortcut to becoming a master quickly? Or maybe some kind of amazing technique?”

“There is no shortcut in martial arts.”

“…”

Xu Qing was disappointed. A few days ago, he had tried stance training, but he barely lasted five minutes. The thought of two hours was unimaginable.

In a peaceful society like today’s, martial arts had ridiculously low practicality. Apart from showing off, there was virtually no use for it. Even if you injured someone, you’d have to pay compensation…

Martial arts? Forget it.

Suffering should be for future rewards, but putting yourself through pain with no benefit—that must be some kind of disorder.

“Come play a game instead. Martial arts can wait.”

Learning to live starts with small things. When kids start becoming aware of the world, it’s often through games—even if computer games were a bit different, Xu Qing thought the idea was similar.

Puzzles and block games were games; Jianwang 3 was also a game. There wasn’t much difference.

Xu Qing’s dad had dropped by for only a moment, and once he left, Xu Qing guided Jiang He into the world of games. She started from creating a character, and before they knew it, the entire afternoon had slipped away.

For someone who had appeared out of nowhere and had to find a way to support themselves, the virtual world was a good place to start. Behind a screen, it wouldn’t matter if you were an ancient person—or even a cat that had grown human intelligence, clacking away on a keyboard.

“How does one make money from this?”

During dinner, Jiang He asked, still struggling to grasp how money worked in this world.

Did people just sit around, staring at screens while food and drinks magically arrived? It was baffling.

“Once you’re good, you help others play,” Xu Qing explained.

“Help who?”

“Uh… let me think of a way to explain this.”

Faced with Jiang He’s eager eyes, Xu Qing didn’t want to brush her off. Mostly, he didn’t want her to lose interest or feel he was misleading her.

“It’s a form of entertainment. People play games when they’re well-fed, with nothing better to do. It’s like… playing with crickets, you know?”

“Yes, a game,” Jiang He nodded in understanding.

“And there are tons of players, thousands—tens of thousands. Some of them don’t have the time to play. Not everyone is as… uh, as free as you are. They don’t have the time, so they pay people like you to play for them.”@@novelbin@@

“They don’t have time to play the game, so they hire people to play it for them?” Jiang He found it hard to believe.

“Exactly! If I’m paying for a game, I’m not going to waste time playing it myself!” Xu Qing laughed, taking a bite of his food. He thought for a moment and continued, “It’s like someone who hires a person to raise their crickets. You just take care of it, and they get to enjoy the result. Does that make sense?”

Since this was Jiang He’s first “job,” Xu Qing explained it carefully, and she listened intently.

Turning her into a gaming enthusiast was better than her sneaking out at night to scare people. That was Xu Qing’s plan, anyway.

As for the future… she had to learn how to live before thinking about what came next.

After dinner, Jiang He continued exploring the gaming world, while Xu Qing turned on the new TV to watch the evening news.

Winter Melon, full from his meal, lazily wandered around the room as if inspecting his territory. After a moment of hesitation, he finally settled on Jiang He’s lap.

As night fell, the city lit up with thousands of lights, each one representing a different life.