Castle of Black Iron

After supper, Zhang Tie stayed at home to chat with his family. Meanwhile, he played with that little guy who was trying to climb up everything. The atmosphere was very warm.

For Zhang Yang’s abduction, Zhang Tie’s parents still didn’t know that it was related to Zhang Tie. Neither did they know that Zhang Tie had encountered an even greater danger than Zhang Yang on that day. As Zhang Tie didn’t want them to worry about him, he just briefly described parts of the event.

At present, the Zhang family employed a servant introduced by Zhang Tie’s eldest uncle. She was called Aunt Jen. She was honest, diligent, and had a clear background. Besides 56 silver coins a month, she would also be tipped for holidays and festivals. Seeing the Zhang family sitting in the parlor, Aunt Jen made sliced fruits for them.

At the beginning, Zhang Tie’s mom was the last one who wanted to employ a servant. When she thought that it would cost them dozens of silver coins a month, Zhang Tie’s mom was very reluctant about it.

Having been very diligent in Blackhot City for so many years, Zhang Tie’s mom was not accustomed to being served by others. However, Zhang Tie’s elder sister’s stomach was growing larger while Zhang Tie’s elder brother and dad had their own work and had little time to stay at home. Zhang Tie’s mom could not take care of Zhang Tie’s elder sister-in-law while preparing the whole family’s food; therefore, she agreed to employ a servant.

Kids at the age of half year were the most torturing. Over the past half year, Zhang Cheng’an was looked after by Zhang Tie’s elder sister-in-law and Zhang Tie’s mom. He was quiet in the daytime; at night, when everybody fell asleep, this kid would be full of energy and he would need to pee or poop. Whereas, it could only be taken care by Zhang Tie’s elder sister-in-law at night. Due to long-term poor sleep, Zhang Tie thought that his elder sister-in-law looked a bit haggard.

These were the usual, trivial things in their daily lives.

Before Zhang Tie came back, Zhang Tie’s elder sister-in-law and Zhang Yang had been talking about employing a babysitter. They always tried to persuade Zhang Tie’s mom in a roundabout way.

When Zhang Tie came back today, seeing Zhang Tie’s mom being very happy, Zhang Tie’s elder sister-in-law mentioned the babysitter thing once again. Surprisingly, this time, Zhang Tie’s mom agreed at once. The whole family then became very joyful.

”We need to choose the babysitter very carefully. She should be careful and patient. Coincidentally, your dad and I had found your uncle’s home in Xince City several days ago. Your uncle has many children and your aunt lies in bed all year round due to sickness. They have severe financial problems!” Zhang Tie’s mom stared at Zhang Yang and explained, ”You and Zhang Tie have an elder female cousin. She is good-looking, over 30 years old and is working as a nursery governess in a kindergarten on street. Although working very hard, she could only make over 40 silver coins a month there. If you want to employ a babysitter, you’d better employ your cousin as we are of the same family!”

”Good idea!” Zhang Yang agreed at once, ”When I am free, I will go to the Xince City to invite my uncle’s family for a reunion!”

When Zhang Tie intended to ask about his grandparents’ health situation, he saw a wisp of grief in his mom’s eyes; therefore, he knew the answer.

After leaving Huaiyuan Prefecture 30 years, Zhang Tie knew that his grandparents must have passed away, one after another, before they came back. If not, his mom would not look that sorrowful.

”Mom, what about uncle’s family members?” Zhang Tie asked then.

”Your uncle has 4 sons and 3 daughters. 2 of his daughters and 3 of his sons have married, leaving your elder female cousin and your elder male cousin at home. Your elder female cousin is a nursery governess in a kindergarten while your elder male cousin has no official job. Your aunt lies on bed all the year round. Your uncle is a postman. He has to look after his family! If you and your elder brother can, you should help them a lot!”

”Don’t worry, mom, I believe my uncle’s family will be well off. How could my elder brother and I not help mom’s relatives when they’re in trouble? After figuring out the situation over there, we will help them!” Zhang Tie comforted his mom, ”Oh, what disease does aunt suffer?”

”Your aunt was working in an ice plant; due to her long exposure to cold conditions, she suffers from severe rheumatism and arthritis. She can’t even walk easily now!” Zhang Tie’s mom sighed.

’Rheumatism and arthritis?’ Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie smiled. Although he was not sure about dealing with other diseases, he was sure that the two diseases could definitely be cured with only a few vials of all-purpose medicament. ‘I will send a batch of all-purpose medicament to them for both my uncle’s family and my own family.’

During the talk, Zhang Tie came to understand the details of what his dad and elder brother had been up to over the past half year.

After staying at home for a while, Zhang Tie’s dad couldn’t stand doing nothing anymore; so, he got a job as a material engineer of an airship manufacturing company. As he was very familiar with this job, he became passionate once again. In the latter part of the talk, Zhang Tie’s dad started to talk about manufacturing airships of high spirits. In his words, this work was far more interesting than his previous job. Additionally, there were many young men in the company, who made him very energetic.

Zhang Tie then joked, ”Dad, now that you like manufacturing airships so much, how about buying that company for you and let you be the boss?”

Hearing Zhang Tie’s words, his dad almost flicked his forehead once again, ”Although that company produces small airships, it employs over 700 workers. It’s total assets amount to more than 300,000 gold coins. That’s 300,000 gold coins! How could you buy it so easily? Let’s not say empty words!”

Zhang Tie just responded with a smile.

Zhang Yang had registered a business group and started to get involved in the food and pharmaceutical trades. After half a year’s practice, he had gradually stabilized his business.

The name of Zhang Tie’s business group was Jinwu (金乌) Business Group. Jinwu meant Sun, which was also a magical beast that lived on the sun in Chinese myths. In this age, Chinese always liked to name their organizations or group from allusions or stories in myths, such as Golden Roc Bank.

Additionally, ”金” referred to the radical ”钅” of ”铁”, which indicated Zhang Tie (张铁), while ”金乌” referred to ”阳”, which indicated ”Zhang Yang (张阳)”. This name included the brothers’ names and represented the brothers’ position in the business group.

Zhang Yang racked his mind over 2 weeks before he thought this name. He was very pleased with the name. Over the past half year, he also spent a lot of time and energy in the business group. The main scope of the company was food and drug trading. He chose the 2 areas because Zhang Tie told him that the 3rd holy war between humans and demons was nigh!

Looking back at the two previous holy wars between the human race and demons, the three most important materials were food, medicine, and weapons. In each holy war, companies or business groups in the above three industries would earn uncountable profits.

Zhang Yang bet that food and drug industries would grow increasingly important in the future and all the food and drugs would be scarce and expensive.

As would the weapons and munitions industry. However, Jinwu Business Group was not qualified to enter this industry which it required large assets and an established foundation. Therefore, he could only start from food and drugs trading.

The fish processing industry and marine creatures medicine industry were both very developed in Huaiyuan Prefecture which was located in coastal areas. This created great convenience for Jinwu Business Group to involve itself in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Now, Jinwu Business Group was mainly trading canned fish, which had an extremely long shelf life, and a medicament made of a special actiniaria’s biotoxin. The latter one could be widely applied in weapon processing to make weapons more lethal to both demons and human race.

Jinwu Business Group had already opened the market and established relations with some clients. The next step, according to Zhang Yang’s plan, was for Jinwu Business Group to extend to the upper level of the industrial chain of food and drug processing. When the holy war broke out, the most powerful ones would not purely trade the goods, but also control the resources’ sources.

Zhang Yang firstly decided to purchase a cannery; then, he would organize a small fishing team. He planned to control each important link of the production of canned fish from fishing, processing, production to sales.

Time flew, everyone was enjoying the talk with their family members. It was soon 11:00 pm. Considering that Zhang Tie’s dad had to go to work tomorrow, they then went back to their own bedrooms to sleep.

Before going back to his own bedroom, Zhang Tie asked his mom, ”Mom, do we have any liquor?”

”Yes, it’s in kitchen. Your dad bought it for making medicinal liquor. What do you want that for?”

”I want a bit!”

”Are you drinking it now?” Zhang Tie’s mom looked him with a dubious expression.

”No, I am practicing a fighting skill. Before I start, I have to clean my body with liquor. It’s used to lower the temperature of my body! Although I will stay at home for several days. I won’t drop my cultivation!” Zhang Tie fabricated as he believed that nobody would doubt his words. As for why he would use liquor instead of alcohol, who cared; perhaps liquor was more nutritious than alcohol.

Hearing that Zhang Tie would stay at home several days, Zhang Tie’s mom revealed a smile of satisfaction at once, ”The wine is in the wine cabinet, if there’s not enough, I will buy some for you tomorrow!”

”1 or 2 bottles are enough!” Zhang Tie smirked. After saying good night to his family members, he went to the kitchen and got 2 average bottles of liquor which were marked 61 degrees from the wine cabinet before heading back to his own bedroom...