Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 45: 44 Chapters of Liang Family Fabric Store Chapter 45: 44 Chapters of Liang Family Fabric Store “After the next few days, Yang Zhenshan was still busy.

Though the feast had been held, there were still many matters within the clan that needed dealing with.

Repairing roads, building clan schools, and managing clan property—all these required a statement from Yang Zhenshan, as the eight hundred Silver was nominally provided by him.

Several days later, Ms. Wang came to seek him out.

Inside the main hall of the Yang family, Ms. Wang said with a beaming smile to Yang Zhenshan: “Mr. Yang, I have inquired about the young lady from the Liang Family Fabric Store, and she is indeed a good girl!”

Since their family had taken in tenants, Yang Zhenshan had been addressed as lord.

Initially, it was just the tenants who called him this, later the villagers with different surnames followed, and now the villagers from the neighboring villages also called him by this title.

“The Liang Family Fabric Store?” Yang Zhenshan looked at her puzzled.

Ms. Wang hurriedly explained: “Dad, your third brother likes the young lady from the Liang Family Fabric Store!”

Yang Minghao watched Yang Zhenshan eagerly.

Yang Zhenshan glanced at him.

No wonder this youngster had seemed a bit distracted these days; it was because of this!

“Tell me more!”

“Alright!” Ms. Wang responded cheerily, then began to introduce the young lady from the Liang Family Fabric Store.

Indeed, the young lady was the daughter of the store’s shopkeeper, fourteen years old, with a pretty appearance, usually helping out in the fabric store.

In terms of personality, according to Ms. Wang, she was gentle and virtuous, educated and reasonable, and friendly to others and so forth.

“I’m not talking nonsense; to learn about the young lady, I have visited the Liang Family Fabric Store several times over the past few days and even bought quite a bit of fabric there.”

Ms. Wang was aware of the reputation of her own tongue in public, and she took care to prove the believability of her words.

Yang Zhenshan did not doubt Ms. Wang’s words. Perhaps Ms. Wang exaggerated somewhat, but he believed Ms. Wang wouldn’t dare deceive him.

Fourteen years old!

A little girl only fourteen years old!

There was always an uncomfortable feeling in his heart about making a fourteen-year-old girl get married.

“The Liang Family Fabric Store isn’t from Anning County, is it?”

“This old woman has also inquired about that; the Liang Family Fabric Store belongs to the Liang family of Jing’an Prefecture, which is a wealthy merchant family in Jing’an,” Ms. Wang said somewhat nervously.

Wealthy merchant sounds quite affluent.

But in reality, the status of merchants isn’t high.

Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, with the scholars and warriors ranked the same.

If someone else had come to her with such a marital proposal, she probably would have scoffed at it.

Ordinary farmers can’t reach the threshold of wealthy merchants.

But the Yang family wasn’t just any ordinary farming family anymore, she knew that Yang Zhenshan was going to be an official, and she also knew about the recent visits by Luo Jin and the Second Young Master of the Lu family to the feast.

So she was worried that Yang Zhenshan might look down on merchants.

Her worry was clearly superfluous as Yang Zhenshan certainly wouldn’t disdain merchants; he felt that it was they who might look down on the Yang family.

Although the social standing of merchants is low, when wealth reaches a certain level, it can influence power.

And since the Liang family could become a wealthy merchant family in a prefecture, there certainly must be someone supporting them from behind, otherwise how could the Liang family maintain so much wealth?

“What relation is she to the Liang family?” Yang Zhenshan asked.

“It’s said that she is the legitimate daughter of the Third Branch of the Liang family! The storekeeper of the fabric store is the Third Master of the Liang family,” Ms. Wang replied.

Yang Zhenshan pondered thoughtfully.

Something seemed a bit off.

The Liang family was a wealthy merchant family of Jing’an Prefecture; logically, the descendants of the Liang family shouldn’t come to a small place like Anning County to run a store, nor should an unmarried woman be put in such a public position.

Why then would the Third Master Liang bring his family to Anning County?

Could it be that the Liang family had split?

If it was due to a family division and the Third Branch had inherited the properties in Anning County, forcing the Third Master Liang to come here, that explanation made sense.

But if this was indeed the case, then it implied that the Third Branch held a low status within the Liang family and that the properties they received in the division were quite limited.

Yang Zhenshan didn’t covet the Liang family’s properties; he merely wanted to find a trouble-free marriage for the Yang family.

Just like the Wang family and the Li family, who were both honest and simple farming folk—it was much better this way.

But for a wealthy merchant family like the Liang family, there were many complex power dynamics involved.

If the Liang family really did undergo a division, and the Third Master Liang had separated from the Liang family, then it might be possible.

Yang Zhenshan looked up at Yang Minghao.

“You have seen that young lady a few times!”

“Twice!” Yang Minghao’s face flushed with color, the boy actually felt shy.

“Have you spoken to her?”

“No!”

Yang Zhenshan’s lips twitched slightly.

Does that mean you took a liking to her just by seeing her?

Seeing her twice and you want to marry her, Yang Zhenshan didn’t know whether to call the boy naive or ignorant.

Yang Zhenshan felt that he should personally go and see the young girl, and if she was as he imagined, then taking her back home wouldn’t be a problem.

Thinking this, Yang Zhenshan allowed Ms. Wang to go back first and said that if suitable, he would seek her help as a matchmaker, and of course, the appropriate reward must not be less; Yang Zhenshan took out two silvers as a reward for Ms. Wang’s several trips to the county town.

With the silver in hand, Ms. Wang’s smile became even kinder, and she left contentedly.

The next morning.

After finishing his morning exercises, Yang Zhenshan rode Red Cloud to the county town.

Red Cloud is a Hu horse from outside Chongshan Pass, a fine breed from the Northern, superior in cold resistance and stamina than other breeds of horses, but its speed and burst power are somewhat inferior to the fine steeds of Western Da Rong.

But for Yang Zhenshan, Red Cloud’s existence brought him a lot of conveniences.

Originally, riding a cart to the county town would take half an hour, now riding a horse only takes a quarter of an hour.

And this is considering Yang Zhenshan’s unskilled horsemanship, if Yang Zhenshan was proficient in horsemanship, probably just over a quarter of an hour would be enough to reach the county town.

Riding on the horse, feeling the breeze coming towards him, Yang Zhenshan was in a very good mood.

Now I am also among those who ‘own a ride’.

This treasure (horse) is hardly inferior to that treasure (car).

Riding the horse into the town, even the constables guarding the city gates took an extra glance at him.

After entering the town, Yang Zhenshan found an inn and left Red Cloud there.

The inn in the town also serves as a parking lot, where horses and carriages can be parked, of course, there is a fee, and if you want to feed hay, there is an additional cost.

Naturally, Yang Zhenshan wasn’t stingy, directly ordered a lavish meal mixed with beans for Red Cloud.

After arranging for Red Cloud, Yang Zhenshan leisurely walked towards Liang Family Fabric Shop.

In fact, he had visited Liang Family Fabric Shop before; the cotton cloth and cotton he bought last year before winter came from here.

It was just that at that time he didn’t expect Yang Minghao would take a fancy to the girl there, so he bought the things and left without chatting more with the shopkeeper.

At this time, it was still early, and the shops had just opened for business, not many customers around.

The Liang Family Fabric Shop was even more deserted, other than a middle-aged man in his thirties fiddling with an abacus, there were no other sounds.

Yang Zhenshan walked into the Liang Family Fabric Shop, and the middle-aged man didn’t even notice him.

“Cough, cough!!” Yang Zhenshan gently coughed.

Mister Liang looked up, “What does the guest need?”

“I want to buy some cotton cloth, I wonder how much you have here?” Yang Zhenshan tried to appear more amiable.

Perhaps in the future, he would be related by marriage to Mr. Liang, naturally, it’s better to leave a good impression.

“Cotton cloth!” Mr. Liang said in surprise: “We have a lot of cotton cloth, these are all cotton cloths, which kind do you want?”

Yang Zhenshan followed his pointing finger and then stepped forward to inspect the fabric.

He really intended to buy some fabric.

Spring had already arrived, and the house also needed some clothes for spring and summer.

Besides, he was about to lead people to Chongshan Pass, planning to make several sets of clothes for those young men.

The other villagers of Yang Family Village weren’t as wealthy as the Yang family; their clothes almost always had patches, even during the New Year they were reluctant to buy a new outfit.

Since these people were going to follow him through life and death, naturally he had to take care of their food, clothing, shelter, and transport, solving their worries.

Yang Zhenshan chose three types of fabric among a pile, saying: “Give me three bolts of this kind, five bolts of this kind, and three bolts of this kind, do you have them?”

Actually, the Yang family still had a lot of fabric, but those were quite expensive, not suitable for a group of soldiers to wear.

Mr. Liang clearly did not expect Yang Zhenshan to buy so much fabric, and said in a mix of shock and joy: “Guest, please come to the back hall and sit for a while, I will prepare it for you right away.”

Eleven bolts of fabric wasn’t a small deal.

Generally, customers who come to the fabric shop to buy fabric only get a few meters, enough to make one or two outfits.

But one bolt of fabric is thirteen meters, and Yang Zhenshan buying eleven bolts was already considered a big sale for the Liang Family Fabric Shop.

Watching Mr. Liang lift the curtain, Yang Zhenshan walked in with a smile in his eyes.

His aim was to go to the back hall to look around, and also to meet that young lady.