Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 128: Chapter 124 Someone Comes to Test the Cadre

“Where is Tian Gui?” Yang Zhenshan asked again.

“About that, Mr. Tian was reassigned here two years ago. He usually resides at South Gate Fort outside the city!” Zhou Ren said.

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly; it seemed Tian Gui wasn’t too involved.

Neither should Zhou Ren be involved.

After all, something like treason couldn’t possibly involve many people; even if Cao Han uses the garrison office to carry these deeds, he would keep it secret from everyone.

Even to cover up, they would try their best not to involve the people within the office.

With this, matters seemed much simpler.

If he wanted to take control of the soldiers under the garrison office, he just needed to deal with Xu Wanfu, this trouble.

As for the others, they were not that important.

Could he take down Xu Wanfu now?

Afterward, Yang Zhenshan asked many more questions. However, Zhou Ren’s responses were ambiguous – not because Zhou Ren was trying to deceive Yang Zhenshan, but because he genuinely didn’t know about the secrets harbored in the shadows.

He was just a clerk and, despite having been in the garrison office for over a decade, his status and position ensured he wasn’t looked upon favorably.

Furthermore, since those involved intentionally maintained a superficial calm within the office, it was very hard for Zhou Ren to access any useful information.

Everything Zhou Ren knew was purely his speculation.

It was precisely because of this that he had been able to stay safe in the garrison office for so many years.

If he had really known anything, those people definitely wouldn’t have let him survive.

Realizing this, Yang Zhenshan decided to let Zhou Ren go.

“Don’t let today’s matters spread; otherwise, there’s only a dead end for you!”

“I understand, I understand!”

“You don’t understand; it’s not me who wants to kill you, but because those people won’t allow you to know too much!” Yang Zhenshan explained.

Zhou Ren shivered. “I really understand now!”

“Good, tidy yourself up before you go out; don’t let others notice anything unusual!” Yang Zhenshan instructed.

Zhou Ren then calmed himself, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, rubbed his somewhat pale cheeks, tidied up his clothes, and then bowed and took his leave.

After he left, Yang Zhenshan sank into deep thought.

He thought over many things, going through all the issues repeatedly.

Unfortunately, he knew too little, and many questions remained unresolved.

Since he couldn’t sort things out for now, Yang Zhenshan temporarily put them aside.

…

The next morning.

Yang Zhenshan stood in the courtyard holding a spear, its movements under the morning light shining brilliantly like halos encircling him.

Feeling the vigorous power within his body, experiencing the Jin Qi bursting from his bones and muscles.

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes grew increasingly bright.

The Fifth Layer of the Postnatal Realm.

Having been in this world for just over two years, he had transformed a broken body into a strong and vigorous one. As his strength increased, so did his sense of accomplishment.

Cultivation is grueling, tiring, and monotonous, but Yang Zhenshan enjoyed it, especially feeling himself continuously improving made him even more willing to immerse himself in cultivation.

It’s like leveling up in a game – watching his experience slowly increase, his level continuously rising, surpassing one player after another, defeating one monster after another, the allure naturally grew stronger.

If he were stagnant, not feeling any progress in his cultivation for months, or even years or decades, that initial drive and ambition would slowly fade away.

Thus, the golden age for Martial Artists to cultivate is from fifteen to thirty-five.

Because those are the prime years, full of energy and vigor. As long as one’s talent isn’t too shabby and one is willing to continuously work hard on cultivation, one will always make some progress.

But, once past thirty-five, the body’s functions begin to decline, and the mindset changes; by the time one is over forty, people often start calling you ’grandpa’, and while the person isn’t old yet, the heart ages first.

Yang Zhenshan always felt that mindset is very important in Martial Arts cultivation.

He didn’t think of himself as old; he still regarded himself as a young man.

“Grandpa~~”

Just as Yang Zhenshan was contemplating the idea that though a man could age, his heart shouldn’t, a crisp voice rang out from the front gate of the main house.

Well, I’m not old, but you guys are already calling me old.

“Qing Wan! Come here!”

Despite feeling a bit gloomy inside, he still showed a gentle smile on his face.

Yang Qingwan, now three years old, a chubby little girl with two buns, wearing a blue silk-embroidered jacket, looked extraordinarily cute.

The little girl ran over, hugging Yang Zhenshan’s leg, saying, “Grandpa, I want to go out and play!”

“Go play!” Yang Zhenshan picked her up and asked, “Why do you want to go out and play?”

The Yang family was originally a peasant family, Yang Mingcheng and Ms. Wang were just ordinary citizens; even though the Yang family has become wealthy now, their essential nature hasn’t changed.

Thus, their approach to raising children was still the same as before, which is to say, free-range.

And Yang Zhenshan didn’t want his granddaughter to be raised like a miss who never steps out of her door, his attitude toward children was that they should grow up healthy and happy. During their growth, they should learn what needs to be learned and practice Martial Arts when needed.

Therefore, Yang Qingwan had always been an active child, spending all day wildly playing in Yinghe Castle. Now that they had come to An Yuan State City, she initially found the courtyard quite large and fun, but after a few days, she found it boring and wanted to go out.

“It’s too boring at home; it should be lively outside! Grandpa, can you take me out to play?” Yang Qingwan clung to Yang Zhenshan’s neck with her soft, coquettishly pleading voice.

Yang Zhenshan had previously told Ms. Wang and others to minimize going out recently, so for the past few days, they really didn’t step outside.

Yang Zhenshan thought about it and felt that taking the girl out for a stroll wasn’t a bad idea.

However, just as he was about to agree, Wu Hai suddenly came over, “Master!”

“Hmm, what is it?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

“Just now, someone delivered an invitation card!” Wu Hai handed an invitation card to Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan, holding the little girl with one hand, took the invitation card with the other and glanced at it.

“Jing’an Liang family, Liang Rong!”

If he remembered correctly, this Liang Rong should be the elder brother of the Third Master Liang, who was also the Family Head of the Jing’an Liang family.

Speaking of which, the Yang family and the Liang family were in-laws; if the Liang family had not disowned the Third Master Liang, this kinship would still be quite close.

Unfortunately, the Third Master Liang had long been disowned. However, when Yang Minghao married into the Liang family, the Jing’an Liang family still provided a dowry for the marriage.

The exact amount of this dowry, Yang Zhenshan was not very clear. A woman’s dowry is her own property, and in principle, the husband’s family cannot claim the woman’s dowry.

Of course, some unreliable husband’s families might squander the woman’s dowry, but that’s another story.

In any case, here it is considered a shameful act for a man to spend a woman’s dowry.

Yang Zhenshan naturally would not eye his daughter-in-law’s dowry, nor did he know the specifics of the Liang family’s dowry, but he knew it should not be too much.

When Ms. Liang went to Yinghe Castle with Yang Minghao, she did not bring many things with her.

The Third Master Liang definitely could not have provided much dowry for his daughter, but the Liang family is immensely wealthy, even if it has split. Ms. Liang is still a daughter of the Liang family.

Providing such a meager dowry is indeed somewhat unkind.

Yang Zhenshan didn’t care about Ms. Liang’s dowry, nor about how much dowry the Jing’an Liang family gave Ms. Liang, as he never cared about these things from the beginning. He even never thought about associating with the Jing’an Liang family.

Therefore, the communication between the Yang family and the Liang family has always been limited to the Third Master Liang.

Moreover, Yang Zhenshan guessed that initially, the Jing’an Liang family did not regard the Yang family highly.

Otherwise, the Jing’an Liang family wouldn’t have waited until now to come and visit Yang Zhenshan.

“Where is the person?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

“Still outside the gate!” replied Wu Hai.

“Let’s welcome him to the front courtyard first, I will change my clothes and head over!”

Since the person took the initiative to visit, it wouldn’t be right for Yang Zhenshan not to meet him.

“Yes!”

Wu Hai left, and Yang Zhenshan looked at the little girl pouting in his arms, clearly realizing that her beloved grandfather wouldn’t be taking her out to play today.

“Tomorrow, tomorrow grandpa will definitely take you out to play!”

Yang Zhenshan chuckled and pinched the little girl’s cheek.

“Really!” The little girl’s eyes instantly brightened.

“Of course, it’s true!”

Yang Zhenshan pacified the little girl and handed her over to Chunhua to take away.

He returned to the bedroom, washed up, and changed into a clean, tidy wide-sleeved robe.

By the time he arrived at the front courtyard’s main hall, Wu Hai had already prepared the tea.

Upon seeing Yang Zhenshan enter, Liang Rong quickly stood up and bowed, “Liang Rong greets Master Yang!”

Yang Zhenshan smiled and replied, “Brother Liang is too courteous, we are relatives after all, no need for such formality!”

Liang Rong, probably in his forties, was older than Yang Zhenshan, with a handsome and scholarly demeanor. Judging purely by his appearance, one would never think he was a businessman; rather, he seemed more like a scholar.

Hearing Yang Zhenshan say this, Liang Rong’s face showed a relieved expression. Before coming, he was quite worried, fearing that Yang Zhenshan wouldn’t acknowledge their kinship.

After all, it was he who drove the Third Master Liang out of the home, although he didn’t think he did anything wrong back then. However, times have changed; the Third Master Liang had climbed a high branch, a crucial one that was very useful to them.

Thus, he had to come and try to mend the relationship.

After exchanging pleasantries, Liang Rong produced a list of gifts.

“Logically, I should have come to visit Master Yang much earlier. However, there have been some problems in the family business recently, and I really couldn’t find the time to come. I hope Master Yang will forgive me!”

“A small token of humility, I hope Master Yang will accept it!”

Saying this, he handed the gift list to Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan opened the gift list, his eyes narrowing slightly.

What a generous gesture!

Usually, gifts sent were gold and silver jewelry, brushes and ink stones, cloth, etc., but Liang Rong’s gift included three shops.

And all these shops were located in Jing’an Prefecture City.

Jing’an Prefecture City was a city much more prosperous than An Yuan State City.

The shops there definitely weren’t cheap.

Besides the shops, the gift list also included gold and silver jewelry, brushes and ink stones, calligraphy and antiques, furs, cloth, and various other items.

Looking at this gift list, Yang Zhenshan had only one thought: how could the Jing’an Liang family be so wealthy?

The gifts Yang Zhenshan had received were numerous, Zhou Lan had sent him gifts several times, and the Lu family sent holiday gifts each year, but none of those gifts were comparable to this one from Liang Mao.

Even the things Zhou Lan sent to him were far inferior.

After looking over the gift list, Yang Zhenshan suddenly felt an odd emotion.

Was this a test of officials?

Such a substantial gift, what does the Liang family want to do?

Is it just because of the kinship between the two families? There’s no need to send such heavy gifts, right?