Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 174: Chapter 170: Proposing Marriage, Asking for the Name, Matching the Zodiac Compatibility

Su Kun’s expression visibly relaxed upon hearing Yang Zhenshan’s words.

”Since that is the case, we agree to your marriage. However, regarding the wedding date, I hope you can reserve a few months for us!”

Yang Zhenshan asked, ”When does Uncle think would be an appropriate time for the wedding?”

”You two can decide on the specific date. However, since Qingyi is the Sect Leader of the Sky Blue Sword Sect, she must choose a suitable new leader before getting married,” Su Kun replied.

Yang Zhenshan felt this request was reasonable. After all, a transition period is customary even when leaving a job, let alone changing a sect leader.

However, Yu Qingyi, who sat at the head of the table, furrowed her brows.

She was pondering who would be suitable to take over as Sect Leader.

This position was not an easy one to hold.

Both strength and capability were needed to command respect.

Among her peers, Luo Feiyu was the most suitable candidate, but since Luo Feiyu was pursuing an official career, he could not become Sect Leader.

Besides Luo Feiyu, Yu Qingyi couldn’t think of another suitable person at the moment.

It wasn’t a matter of insufficient strength; it was a matter of insufficient age.

If she had a few more years, she could definitely cultivate a qualified Sect Leader.

But a few years!

Yu Qingyi’s frown deepened.

She wished to get married sooner; any later and she’d be an old maid.

Thinking of becoming an old maid, Yu Qingyi’s eyes suddenly brightened as she looked at Hua Jinqiu.

”Junior Master Hua can become the Sect Leader!”

As she thought this, the words slipped out.

”...”

Everyone in the hall looked up in surprise.

There was nothing wrong with the statement, but coming from Yu Qingyi at this moment, it seemed somewhat inappropriate.

They had just mentioned selecting a new Sect Leader so that Yu Qingyi could get married, and here Yu Qingyi had already chosen the new Sect Leader.

Girl, you’re really eager!

Yang Zhenshan could scarcely suppress a smile.

My wife-to-be does fancy me indeed.

Su Kun looked at Yu Qingyi with a face full of helplessness, his eyes also carrying a hint of complaint.

Oh, where has your usual poise and coolness gone?

Can’t a young woman have a bit of decorum?

”Pfft!”

Hua Jinqiu couldn’t help laughing out loud.

”Haha, it seems Qingyi is in a hurry. Since that’s the case, I’ll serve as Sect Leader for a few years, no objections, right?”

As a woman, she understood another woman’s plight.

Hua Jinqiu felt it was good that Yu Qingyi could marry, thereby not having to live a lonely life.

Thus, she naturally wanted to facilitate it for Yu Qingyi.

Just a few years as Sect Leader.

She wasn’t so old as to be immobile, nor as lazy as the old man Su Kun.

By then, Yu Qingyi also came to her senses and her face flushed with embarrassment.

What more could Su Kun say? He could only say, ”If so, you can decide the rest.”

The rest was easy; if Su Kun had no objections, neither would anyone else.

After the matters were settled, Yang Zhenshan stayed for a while longer at the Sky Blue Sword Sect, then stood up to take his leave.

As he left, Su Kun and the others personally escorted him down the mountain.

After Yang Zhenshan left, Hua Jinqiu and Yu Qingyi returned to Yu Qingyi’s living quarters.

Looking at the extremely simple boudoir, Hua Jinqiu sighed softly.

Every daughter loves fine clothes.

But how can daughters of the worldly society focus their energy and thoughts on fine clothes?

Yet thinking of Yu Qingyi getting married, Hua Jinqiu’s mood brightened a lot.

”Junior Master, I’m sorry!” Yu Qingyi said somewhat apologetically.

”What is there to be sorry about? It is the Sky Blue Sword Sect that has delayed you, not you who owe the sect,” said Hua Jinqiu nonchalantly.

She was bound to the Sky Blue Sword Sect for life; she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to.

But Yu Qingyi was different, she was still young and could marry.

”If it were an ordinary household, you might already have a bunch of children by now!” Hua Jinqiu said somewhat compassionately.

The Sky Blue Sword Sect raised Yu Qingyi but also made her suffer a lot.

The marriage back then was hastily arranged, yet it still didn’t come to fruition.

Since then, Yu Qingyi had been wearing a married woman’s hairstyle, and for years her master wanted to find her another match, but she refused each time.

Back then, Hua Jinqiu already felt for Yu Qingyi.

However, they never expected that this time Yu Qingyi would find her own match, and the person a Secondary Third Rank Commander Deputy Magistrate.

Now Hua Jinqiu felt happy for Yu Qingyi’s marriage, but also worried about her future.

Happiness because Yu Qingyi was getting married, worry because the homes of officials always had numerous issues, and she feared Yu Qingyi might not be able to cope.

The two sat together, discussing topics of the women’s households.

Although Hua Jinqiu had never been married, she still hadn’t seen a pig run?

She had heard a lot about the dark secrets of official families’ inner courts and felt it necessary to talk to Yu Qingyi about these matters.

However, Yu Qingyi was very familiar with the situation of the Yang family, and such secrets were impossible to occur in their household.

The family rule set by Yang Zhenshan that one cannot take a concubine until having no son by thirty had eliminated most of the pettiness from the inner courts.

Moreover, everyone in the Yang family lacked malicious intentions, so the internal atmosphere of the Yang family was quite harmonious, with no major conflicts.

Listening to Yu Qingyi describe the situation at the Yang family, Hua Jinqiu’s worries finally dissipated.

...

Early the next day, the bustling sound of preparation rang out from below the mountain gate of the Sky Blue Sword Sect, as the matchmaker came with the gift of selection to propose.

Since both parties had already agreed, this proposal was merely a formality.

Soon, the matchmaker left with Yu Qingyi’s birthdate information.

The next steps were to ask for the name and to ”Na Ji”, the latter being to match the birth horoscopes, managed by Ms. Wang together with the matchmaker.

Yang Zhenshan could not stay in Yuanhe County for too long, as there were still many public duties waiting for him back in An Yuan City.

On the day after proposing, Yang Zhenshan came to the Sky Blue Sword Sect again, this time to discuss not about the marriage but about employing people and appointing Luo Feiyu as an official.

To this, Su Kun naturally agreed since Yu Qingyi had already spoken to him about it.

Besides the maids and servants following Yu Qingyi as part of her dowry, the Sky Blue Sword Sect would also provide ten disciples to serve as guards for the Yang family.

This was essentially an employment relationship; the Yang family paid these disciples a monthly salary to follow the Yang family’s instructions and protect them.

Letting the Sky Blue Sword Sect, which only had a few dozen disciples, provide ten at once seemed to have a big impact, but in reality, it was not so.

The Sky Blue Sword Sect was not a sect that disciples could never leave once they joined.

The Sky Blue Sword Sect selected disciples based on aptitude, and continued affiliation depended on cultivation progress and potential.

If a disciple’s cultivation did not improve over the years, they would be asked to leave the sect.

The reason for this was due to limited resources.

The Yang family relied on Spiritual Spring Water for cultivation, while the disciples of the Sky Blue Sword Sect needed a lot of medicinal herbs; those in the Body Refining Realm needed medicinal baths, and Postnatal Martial Artists needed specially made Elixirs.

Most of the Sky Blue Sword Sect’s income was spent on purchasing these medicinal herbs and Elixirs.

With limited resources, they could only focus on training disciples with exceptional aptitude, while those with mediocre aptitude were left behind.

This was not just the case with the Sky Blue Sword Sect; most martial arts sects operated this way.

The disciples going to serve as guards in the Yang family were those with relatively mediocre aptitude. By recruiting these disciples, Yang Zhenshan was essentially helping the Sky Blue Sword Sect solve the employment issues of these disciples.

Such a stable and well-paying job was quite good for those average disciples.

”In a few days, I will have Luo Feiyu take them to An Yuan City, and you can arrange it then!”

In the hall, Su Kun spoke to Yang Zhenshan.

”Understood, Junior Master, the Yang family will not mistreat them!” Yang Zhenshan responded.

Although these disciples are considered mediocre in the Sky Blue Sword Sect, they are all Martial Artists, among whom there are even two Postnatal Martial Artists, which certainly qualifies them to be guards for the Yang family.

Having left the Sky Blue Sword Sect again, Yang Zhenshan set out on his return journey to Yuanhe City.

Spring farming had already begun by then, and upon his return, Yang Zhenshan threw himself into overseeing it. Although he didn’t need to do the farming himself, he had to ensure proper supervision to prevent anyone from abusing their power and affecting the spring farming of the military households.

Such incidents were not unheard of. Although Yang Zhenshan had previously cleaned up the garrisons, one must not forget that there were many Fire Road Piles and signal towers under the jurisdiction of the defense office.

These Fire Road Piles and signal towers typically housed five to ten military households, overseen by a small flag officer. Whilst seemingly inconspicuous, if a small flag officer were to act recklessly, it could disrupt the spring farming of several military households.

At this time, Yang Zhenshan’s main focus was on these Fire Road Piles and signal towers, and he visited three to five of them each day.

He encountered many issues in some of the Fire Road Piles and signal towers. Most of these issues were leftovers from the past, such as insufficient equipment, personnel shortages, and severely damaged structures.

Of course, he also discovered some insatiably greedy bastards, treating military households like beasts of burden. They clearly had oxen for plowing yet deliberately did not allow the military households to use them; they had been issued farming tools by the garrison, yet these were sold off.

He even found a small flag officer who had sold off the seed grains, infuriating him to the point of chopping off this bastard’s head on the spot.

For more than ten days, Yang Zhenshan continued inspecting the Fire Road Piles and signal towers, until he had reviewed each one.

Over those same ten days, many things had happened in An Yuan City.

First, Luo Shang sent two Shopkeepers and over a dozen workers, who settled down a shop and a large courtyard in An Yuan City, preparing to establish the Jinxiu Workshop.

Yang Zhenshan personally met these two Shopkeepers; Luo Shang clearly had briefed them ahead to start an embroidery school.

The large courtyard they rented was to be the future embroidery school.

This matter was handled very well by the two Shopkeepers, and Yang Zhenshan simply asked a few questions before letting them manage it on their own.

Next, Luo Feiyu arrived in An Yuan City with the disciples of the Sky Blue Sword Sect.

Ten disciples - Yang Zhenshan directly placed them under Ding Qiu’s supervision; Ding Qiu was the Yang family’s chief guard, and these ten disciples would be under his command.

The teenagers previously purchased by the Yang family were also under Ding Qiu’s charge.

From now on, whenever the members of the Yang family went out, they would be accompanied by several guards.

Having these disciples from the Sky Blue Sword Sect around meant that the previous incidents Yang Yunxue encountered should not happen again.

The last issue was that the people involved in the smuggling case had been fully investigated, and both the Prefectural Government and the Military Equipment Department had resumed their operations.

Chongshan Town’s Inspection Department appointed a new Deputy Magistrate to manage the Military Equipment Department of An Yuan State, but there was not yet a new Prefect in the Prefectural Government.

This was normal since the Deputy Magistrate of the Inspection Department holds a Standard Fifth Rank position, functioning sporadically and patrolling the provinces. Military, educational, maritime, and military transit roles all fall under their purview.

Simply put, being in charge of the Military Equipment Department in An Yuan State is just an internal division of the Inspection Department, not involving official appointments or transfers, thus the Inspection Department can make arrangements internally.

However, appointing a Prefect was different; it required the Ministry of Personnel to assign someone. From the moment Lin Xuan was jailed, to the Ministry of Personnel receiving the notification, selecting a suitable official, and the arrival of the new official in An Yuan State, usually took at least two or three months.

Initially, Yang Zhenshan thought these matters were unrelated to him, and thus he just made note of them before putting them out of his mind.

However, he did not expect that the newly arrived Deputy Magistrate of the Military Equipment Department would come to him the day after arriving in An Yuan City.