Chapter 136: Chapter 114: All Achieve Entry Grade; Explaining the Plan to the n
"You’ve all successfully reached Entry Grade! This is wonderful news!" Cheng Zongyang could tell what had happened just by sensing the potent auras of qi and blood coming from four of them.
"Hahaha, my body feels completely different after reaching Entry Grade!" Cheng Guanghai exclaid, equally excited.
"Yeah! I can easily lift things weighing two or three hundred pounds. And I have endless energy for work now," his cousin, Zhou Zhenyuan, added excitedly.
"You have no ambition! You’ve beco a Martial Artist, and all you can think about is manual labor?" His father, Zhou Hansong, glared at him. "From now on, you need to train your Martial Arts more. When your second uncle goes to gather herbs, you two are going with him."
As he spoke, Zhou Hansong made sure to include Zhou Zhendong as well.
"Heh heh, don’t worry. You can count on us brothers to keep Second Uncle safe," Zhou Zhendong said with righteous conviction, patting his chest.
"Good, that’s more like it," Zhou Hanchang said with a nod.
"Right now, you all have raw Power but no technique. You still need to learn Martial Arts properly," Cheng Guangshan cut in, tempering their excitent. "Zongyang ntioned that the eight Martial Arts manuals are in the ancestral hall. Starting tomorrow, each of you can choose one to practice. You’ll only have ti at night, though. There’s too much to do during the day for you to study."
Cheng Zongyang smiled. "Take your ti. Even without any special moves, with your strength and a Firewood Knife, a single strike could split a wild boar in two."
With his father, uncles, and two cousins having reached Entry Grade, he felt much more at ease. ’At least now when I’m away from the settlent, if wild beasts co down from the mountain, there will be Martial Artists here to handle them.’
"That’s true. I’ll stick with my Bow and Arrow. I’ll make a more powerful bow for even greater lethality."
Cheng Guanghai was speaking when he suddenly turned to his son and asked, "Did you go to the County Town just to get grain?"
Cheng Zongyang calmly relayed the explanation he had already prepared.
"Father, that was only part of the reason. My main purpose was to learn about the situation in the County Town from an acquaintance. I also wanted to see if we could sell so of the goods we’ve stockpiled. But it was a no-go; very few shops in the County Town are even open. Furthermore, about Chang Younian..."
Cheng Zongyang recounted the events with a few modifications, sharing his own thoughts with his father, uncles, and cousins.
After listening, Cheng Guangshan frowned. "Zongyang, I think I mostly understand. Are you sure you want to help Li Lu? And... we have to move back to the County Town?"
The others all turned to look at Cheng Zongyang.
Cheng Zongyang explained, "Initially, my connection with Li Lu was just for gathering information. But after learning about Chang Younian’s situation, helping Li Lu get a firm footing with the new County Magistrate has beco much more important.
If we play our cards right, it’s not impossible to make Li Lu the head of the Inspection Bureau. I don’t know who the Luo Family’s political allies are, but a Noble Family certainly has enough influence to appoint a Ninth Grade Official.
For that to happen, Li Lu will have to prove his Ability. We can work on that over ti. It all cos down to earning rits.
As for moving back to the County Town, that won’t happen until the drought ends and the town stabilizes. Besides, even if we do, we won’t all move there. The County Town will just be our point of contact with the outside world, not our main ho. It’s where the family will conduct business in the future."
"Alright. As long as you have a plan," Cheng Guanghai said with a nod, understanding now.
"Yeah, for now we should focus on building up this place. It’s much more liberating here than in the County Town, and we don’t have to worry about having enough to eat or drink," said Zhou Zhendong.
"There’s still so much to build! New earthen houses, two or three root cellars, tilling farmland, planting vegetable patches, digging a pond, raising pigs... there’s a ton of work to be done," Zhou Zhenyuan listed with relish.
Everyone smiled. They all agreed that living in the Inner Mountain Pass was much more freeing than being in the County Town.
There was plenty of space, so neither children nor adults felt constrained. They could eat what they wanted without being overly cautious and could bathe whenever they pleased. Why would they go to the County Town where they’d be restricted at every turn?
But Cheng Zongyang’s expression turned serious. He said:
"That’s all for later. Right now, including , we have five Martial Artists. In a few days, when my youngest maternal uncle reaches Entry Grade, we’ll have six. While we may not have much true combat strength yet, we’re still far beyond ordinary people. Therefore, we must speed up construction here at the Inner Mountain Pass. We’ll proceed according to our original plan. I’ll get started on finding more hands."
"Right!" everyone nodded in agreent.
They were already familiar with the developnt plan for the Inner Mountain Pass. They had simply been waiting for more of them to reach Entry Grade, which would give them enough Power to protect their territory.
Now, things could finally speed up.
After that, everyone went their separate ways to rest.
The night passed uneventfully.
The next day, Cheng Zongyang slowly opened his eyes to the sound of morning birdsong and distant chatter. He then moved his younger brother’s unruly feet off of him.
Looking at his brother, who was sleeping like a log, Cheng Zongyang couldn’t help but smile.
’The kid’s only eleven, it’s still too early. We can talk about it after he officially reaches Entry Grade,’ Cheng Zongyang murmured to himself.
He had noticed over the past few days that his younger brother had taken a liking to the two Chen Family sisters.
’Good heavens, he’s got his eye on both of them.’
’The two Chen sisters are quite pretty. While they can’t compare to the young ladies of the Noble Families in town, once they fill out a bit, they’ll be even more beautiful.’
He saw it but didn’t say anything, and it was clear the other adults had noticed as well.
But they were all still young. There was no rush.
He slipped on his straw sandals and stepped out of the room.
So people were already working, so were training, and others were still asleep.
This was the true atmosphere of rural life.
After washing up, Cheng Zongyang grabbed a large bowl of porridge and so dried at. He walked over to his father, who was clearing dirt out of the cellar, and asked, "Father, how much more work is left on this cellar?"
"This one... we’re about halfway done," Cheng Guanghai said, gesturing with his hands.
"Oh, right. We should build a few more bamboo houses. I’m planning to bring so people back in a few days. That’ll give us more labor to help out, and in turn, give you, my uncles, and the others more ti to train."
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