Chapter 37 - The Nine Classes
They had left Wuli Gang quite some time ago when the narrow forest path finally became wide. Soon, they were accompanied by other carriages, carts, and even farmers carrying their own luggage.
Soon, the ground around them was covered in many footprints, and as they encountered an increasing amount of animal excrement, Li Huowang knew they were getting closer to Jianye town.
“Zhao Wu, do performers like the members of the Lu family have a very low status in society?” Li Huowang asked Zhao Wu, who was studying diligently.
Zhao Wu, who was using a stick to practice writing, stared at Li Huowang in surprise.
“Yeah, even though a lot of people clapped and cheered them on from below the stage, they are treated just like the prostitutes in run-down brothels. Liking them is one thing, but their status is an entirely different matter. Performers and troupes are considered the lowest among the nine classes,” whispered Zhao Wu while carefully looking toward the members of the Lu family who were in front of them.
“Really? What are the nine classes?” Li Huowang asked, feeling puzzled. If it wasn’t for that incident, he might never have known this.
“The people with the highest status are the emperors, the kings, and the ministers. The second-highest are the officials, the generals, and the soldiers. The third-highest are the nobles and the merchants. The fourth-highest are the people from the various sects. The fifth-highest are the artisans and the craftsmen. The sixth-highest are the doctors and the farmers. The seventh-highest are the shamans, the beggars, and the slaves. The eighth-highest are the robbers, the thieves, and the liars. Below them are the people belonging to the lowest class—the performers and the prostitutes. Not only is their status low, but even the treatment they receive is different. Those belonging to the bottom three classes are not allowed to marry into a wealthy family, are only allowed to wear certain types of clothes, are not allowed to ride horses or sedans, nor are they allowed to wear anything made with silks or brocades. They even have to be thrice as humble as the others in front of other officials.”
When Li Huowang heard how Zhao Wu could recite all that so easily, he was surprised. “To think that you know so much!”
“It’s nothing, really. I’ve lived in a town before, so this much is natural. That said, where were you living before this? All this should be common knowledge known by most of the people.”
Even before this, Zhao Wu had known that something was different about Li Huowang. Now, he finally had a chance to ask about it.
“I come from a very far place.” Li Huowang didn’t bother explaining. Either way, they would never understand.
Seeing how Li Huowang avoided giving him an answer, Zhao Wu did not press it any further.
“We are at least somewhat lucky; at the very least, our Emperor allows everyone to take the official exam regardless of their class or status. I’ve heard that in certain places, those from the bottom three classes are barred from taking it, meaning that their entire family would be forever stuck as members of the lower class—the performers can only continue to perform for their entire lives.”
“Is that so?” Li Huowang managed to learn something new about the world today.
“And what about me? As a Taoist, what class do I belong to?” Li Huowang asked.
“Taoists are not considered a part of the nine classes. Instead, they are a part of the three religions. Most people would respect Taoists or avoid them altogether if they are afraid of them. After all, no one wants to get involved with the supernatural.”
Zhao Wu’s explanation reassured Li Huowang, causing him to stop thinking about taking off the Taoist robe he was wearing; since they would be traveling the lands, having the conspicuous Taoist robe should give them a lot of benefits.
“Oh right, Zhao Wu, what about someone like Dan Yangzi? Would his position be considered very high?” Li Huowang asked a very important question.
“I will have to be honest about that one; I don’t know about it either. Prior to being kidnapped by him, I had never known anyone as strong as him. I just thought that the things I had heard were exaggerated.”
“Really?” said Li Huowang.
Maybe information is not very fluid here. There should be quite a lot of people as strong as Dan Yangzi, but even Zhao Wu hadn’t heard of him before, and he is a local.
Li Huowang guessed that someone like Dan Yangzi was likely someone who was being suppressed by someone or some sect. If not, then he wouldn’t have had to run deep into the forest and secretly try to become an Immortal.
“Young Taoist! Look, we can see the gate! We will reach Jianye town soon!” shouted Lu Zhuangyuan suddenly.
Hearing Lu Zhuangyuan’s hollering, Li Huowang raised his head and looked forward.
After days of traveling, he finally saw a short wall covered in moss. The wall signified that they had reached their destination, Jianye town.
The Lu family managed to enter the town successfully, but Li Huowang and the rest were not as lucky. Due to their appearances, the town guards soon came up to confront them.
The head of the guards drew his swords and stared at Li Huowang carefully. “Hold up! Stop! What are you?”
“Headguard Yan! It’s me! These are people I know. They are good people. They came here to send me back to my home.” Zhao Wu greeted the headguard with respect.
Seeing that it was Zhao Wu, the headguard lowered his swords; he knew that they were not enemies.
“Zhao Wu, where have you been? Also, ask your friends to put on something to cover themselves up. Don’t let them scare the people in the town.”
“Thank you, headguard Yan. How is my family? Are they doing well?”
“Yeah, they are doing well. Your second sister even got married to a good family. Go back and find them.”
In order to avoid getting into any more trouble, Li Huowang decided to follow Zhao Wu to a stall that was selling bamboo hats with black veils and buy a few of them.
However, even after wearing those hats, they were still quite conspicuous. Even so, they were not as scary as before.
After confirming with Lu Zhuangyuan about when they would be departing again, Li Huowang asked Zhao Wu, “Where is your house? Let’s go and find your family first.”
As everything around him was familiar to him, Zhao Wu got more and more excited; he didn’t need a bamboo hat since everyone in the village knew about him.
Zhao Wu crawled out of the cart with all his strength and leaped down, his four limbs twisted in different directions.
Puppy was just about to support him when Li Huowang told him not to. Instead, Li Huowang passed his sword to Zhao Wu before taking out the pieces of paper containing the last words of the dead guiding drug ingredients and started sorting them one by one.
Meanwhile, Zhao Wu used the sword to support himself as he stumbled back to his home.
While Jianye town looked quite big with all the people, it wasn’t really that big; Zhao Wu managed to arrive at his home quite quickly.
His family managed a small business as grain dealers. Seeing his family working inside the house, Zhao Wu shouted in a tearful voice, “Dad! I’m home!”
At that moment, Zhao Wu’s shaking voice attracted the attention of the people inside.
“Fifth brother!” A strong man who had been carrying a bag of rice while shirtless immediately dropped his cargo and ran toward Zhao Wu, hugging him tightly.
Soon after, a girl ran out from inside the house, her braids dangling in the air. She too started circling around Zhao Wu excitedly.
While they were embracing each other emotionally, Li Huowang, who had been observing everything from the sidelines, noticed something; other than the two siblings, the rest of the people in the house were completely calm. This wasn’t like a normal house.
“Senior Li, what’s wrong?” Bai Lingmiao, who had always been sensitive, immediately sensed that something was wrong with Li Huowang.
However, Li Huowang just patted the back of her hand and said ‘nothing’ in a small voice.
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