Chapter 108: Chapter 103: Saber Technique Promotion; Entering the City Again
Cheng Zongyang considered his second uncle’s words for a mont before replying,
"As for the girls, we should ask them what they want. If they can handle the hardship and are willing to pursue Martial Arts Training, we can provide them with dicinal baths. If not, then we’ll let it be.
They are part of the family, and they will have to contribute to it in the future. As for the shortage of dicinal Materials, I’ll go into the county and figure sothing out."
Cheng Guangshan frowned. "Daughters eventually marry out. With sothing as important as this dicinal bath... I’m worried the secret will be leaked."
However, Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "No. I don’t plan on letting the girls marry out. Instead, we’ll find n they are willing to marry who will join our family!"
"Marry into our family?" Cheng Guangshan was taken aback. "What do you an?"
Cheng Zongyang’s gaze shifted to the young girls squatting by their second aunt, watching as she taught them to recognize characters drawn in the dirt. His expression was calm as he explained,
"The Cheng Family is small to begin with. In the future, we must increase our numbers.
In my initial plans, the Cheng Family’s future enterprises will need to be run by our own people. We may take in orphans and raise them as part of the family, but they will primarily serve as guards, enforcers, or managers of external affairs.
Any outsider who wants to enter the core of the family will have to pass through a rigorous selection process.
The true Chiefs of our enterprises can only be our own. Our population is already small, so we can’t afford to let them marry out. That’s why these girls must learn useful skills. They can either train in martial arts to protect the family, or learn to read, write, and do arithtic to help manage things.
They cannot be ordinary won who only know how to serve their husbands and raise children, or pass their ti with embroidery and poetry."
Cheng Guangshan was astonished by his nephew’s line of thinking.
In his mind, a woman’s role was to marry out, obey her husband, and be a virtuous wife who managed the household and raised children. But to his nephew, they were to beco Chiefs of the family?
However, he was not a man completely set in his ways.
If a family truly developed to the extent Zongyang had just described, it wasn’t impossible for its daughters to be capable enough to act as Chiefs.
"Do you plan the sa for Zongyun?" Cheng Guangshan suddenly asked with a smile. He knew full well how much his nephew doted on his own sister.
At the ntion of his sister, Cheng Zongyang smiled and finally nodded.
"Yes. She’ll either learn martial arts, or learn to read, write, do arithtic, and manage our enterprises. Of course, that’s all in the future. Second Uncle, our Inner Mountain Pass isn’t even fully established yet. It’s pointless to talk too much about it.
I’ll take care of the dicinal Materials. As for the matter of my cousins’ marriages, it’s best to let my uncles handle it for their own families. I’m just a junior; I won’t interfere or say anything. It would be disrespectful of my place."
"Hahaha, you kid. Alright, I understand what you’re thinking. Just leave it to ." Cheng Guangshan stood up, his face wreathed in smiles.
Cheng Zongyang looked at the Firewood Knife in his hand, his mind racing. ’If the girls really insist on marrying out, then ultimately, it’s their decision.’
’It would be best to find n they are willing to marry who are also willing to join our family. Forcing it would be counterproductive, only creating resentnt and discord—a far worse outco.’
’But before they marry, they will absolutely have to contribute to the family.’
He had never underestimated the value of won. ’Most things a man can do, a woman can also do. But there are so things a woman can do that a man might not be able to!’
He then stood up and went into the house. From a wooden cabinet, he retrieved a wineskin filled with Tiger Bone Wine he had prepared earlier. He then walked to a clearing farther behind the house, preparing to Promote his Basic Saber Technique that night.
A few of the elders saw Cheng Zongyang head behind the house and knew he was going to practice his Martial Arts Training, so they didn’t disturb him.
The clearing behind the house was surrounded by several man-high wooden stakes driven into the ground.
These were used not only for practicing his Saber Technique, but also for stance training.
He took off his shirt, drank a mouthful of about one tael of Tiger Bone Wine, and, holding the Firewood Knife, began his Cultivation.
While Cheng Zongyang was focused on his Cultivation, Cheng Guangshan went to where the other n were gathered.
"Big Brother, Brother Song, Brother Chang, I just had a chat with Zongyang."
Cheng Guangshan casually pulled over a small stool and sat down.
Cheng Guanghai, Zhou Hansong, and Zhou Hanchang imdiately put down their ceramic tea bowls, looking puzzled.
Cheng Guangshan then recounted the gist of his conversation with Cheng Zongyang.
When he was finished, the three n fell silent.
Although they were farrs and Hunters who could barely read and didn’t have a broad worldview, they could still sense the scale of Cheng Zongyang’s ambition from his words.
"Brother-in-law," Zhou Hansong, the elder uncle, said with great emotion, "if Yang’Er really has these ideas, you have to support him. With a boy like Yang’Er in the family, it’s only a matter of ti before we prosper. We can’t be the ones to hold him back."
Cheng Guanghai didn’t harbor the resentnt of a Patriarch whose son was more capable than his old man and was now calling the shots.
He had long since grown accustod to his son’s capabilities. There had been many tis, even from a young age, when Zongyang had been the one to make the final decision on family matters. So, no, he felt no such resentnt.
He just never imagined his son’s plans were this grand. So grand that he had never dread the Cheng Family could have such a future.
Hearing his brother-in-law’s words, Cheng Guanghai fell silent, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists.
Cheng Guangshan, watching his older brother from the side, understood what he was thinking.
’It’s the powerlessness a father feels when he can’t help his own son!’
It was just like the previous night, when his son had asked him why the officials at the County Magistrate’s Office didn’t care whether the refugees lived or died, and what was the point of being an official anyway.
He rembered the helplessness he’d felt, unable to answer, knowing he was disappointing his son.
"I know, Big Brother," Cheng Guanghai said then, managing a smile. "Yang’Er has his ideas, and of course, I will support them."
’I’ll work harder, too!’
Cheng Guanghai resolved silently.
"Then let Yang’Er do it. Since this is all for the sake of our family, our entire extended family, then the family’s interests must co first," Zhou Hansong said with a nod. "From now on, the Zhou Family will stand together with the Cheng Family."
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