Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 189 Zhao Zanghu: Lord Jiang, do you want to offer sacrifices to your ancestors?

Lakeside Village!
The autumn weather is nice and refreshing!

In the past, the children in the village followed their elders to go fishing in the lake and play in the water, which was very lively.

In the open space of Linhu Village, groups of young people were standing there doing horse stance and practicing standing meditation.

"That's no good. If you can't even endure this little hardship, how are you going to compete with others when you enter the martial arts hall?"

Gu Fei walked past these young men one by one, and spoke to those who had improper postures. In the front chairs sat two middle-aged men.

Both of them are warriors who came out of Linhu Village. Although they are only at the awakening stage, they are more than enough to teach the young men of Linhu Village and lay a solid foundation for them by providing martial arts training before entering the martial arts hall.

The two worked as guards for the escort agencies in the county town, earning ten taels of silver a year, but when they returned to Linhu Village, the village only gave them three taels of silver, but the two had no complaints.

It’s not only because there is affection for the village, but also because Linhu Village is different from before.

Linhu Village is now the most lively village in the surrounding area. Every day, countless matchmakers come to Linhu Village to propose marriages to young men in the village. Many of the girls come from well-off families.

Faced with this situation, it was hard for the parents in Linhu Village not to be tempted, but Zhao Zanghu had made a statement that children in Linhu Village could not get married before the age of seventeen, and they could not even get engaged.

All the children in the village who want to learn martial arts can come to the ancestral hall. The village prepares meals for them every day, including meat and rice.

In addition to practicing martial arts, the children also have to spend an hour every day reading and learning calligraphy.

The latter was the suggestion made by Lin Chen.

Knowing that the village chief paid for the young men in the village to train their bodies in advance, Lin Chen made this suggestion.

There was no civil service examination in Daliang, but reading could make a person wise and broaden his horizons.

While the young men were practicing martial arts, a carriage drove into the village and stopped not far away.

Seeing a carriage entering the village, the boys were all attracted and glanced over secretly. Many important people had come to Linhu Village recently, but few of them rode in carriages.

Almost all the powerful people in Daliang are warriors, and most of them ride horses. Horse-drawn carriages are mostly used to transport things or for female family members to ride.

"Who is this? Why is there a carriage entering the village? Are they here to look for Lin Chen? I'll go and persuade them to leave."

Gu Fei saw the carriage parked not far away and muttered that the village chief had already explained yesterday that no outsiders were allowed to enter the village recently. It seemed that it was because Lin Chen was in seclusion practicing and could not be disturbed.

“Don’t… don’t mess around!”

The two middle-aged men sitting on the chairs looked at the man sitting on the tall horse leading the way in front of the carriage, rubbed their eyes in disbelief, and the next moment they looked at each other, then suddenly stood up from their seats, as if their buttocks were on fire.

"Master Jiang...I...am not mistaken."

"No... I'm not mistaken. Lord Jiang's appearance hasn't changed at all."

The two middle-aged men whispered something, and after confirming that they had not recognized the wrong person, they looked very excited and ran towards that direction quickly.

"Master...Jiang, what Master Jiang?" Gu Fei was a little confused and muttered, but then he thought of something. His eyes suddenly shrank, and the next moment his eyes widened. He couldn't believe his guess. Was it really that Master Jiang?

There are many adults with the surname Jiang, but there is only one Adult Jiang who is related to Linhu Village. He is the most admired and respected person in the hearts of the young people of their generation in Linhu Village.

They grew up listening to the village elders telling stories about the deeds of Mr. Jiang.

"Master Jiang?"

Two middle-aged men hurried to the carriage. One of them spoke. Although he was saying hello, there was a hint of uncertainty in his words.

"Are you Zheng Xuan?"

"Master Jiang, do you still remember me?"

Zheng Xuan was very excited. After all these years, Lord Jiang still remembered him.

Seeing the other party's excitement, Jiang Duanchao's mouth twitched slightly. How could he not remember it?

You, the guy, bullied me a lot in the village.

When he saw Zheng Xuan, Jiang Duanchao thought he would shoot him, but he found that he no longer had any resentment in his heart. He just felt a little embarrassed, but his youthful life in Linhu Village also emerged in his mind.

"Master Jiang, wait a moment. I will go and inform the village chief."

Teng Xing on the side said hello and ran away in a hurry. He was four years older than Lord Jiang. He had not been in contact with Lord Jiang for a long time in the village, but he was very familiar with him. In his opinion, it would be more appropriate to let Zheng Xuan accompany Lord Jiang to talk. He went to inform the village chief and Lin Chen.

"Village Chief, Village Chief..."

From a distance, Teng Xing shouted loudly. Zhao Zanghu apologized to Jia Nanzhu and Liu Ru who were standing by: "My lords, there may be something going on in the village. I will go and take care of it."

"Teng Xing, what's wrong?"

"Jiang... Lord Jiang has returned to the village."

"Master Jiang?"

Zhao Zanghu was also stunned. Jiang Duanchao returned to the village?

Jia Nanzhu and Liu Ru, who were standing a few feet away, could hear the conversation between Zhao Zanghu and Teng Xing clearly.

"Junior Brother Liu, your Canglan Martial Academy is moving so fast?"

Jiang Duanchao is a Jiangnan Dao warrior, and he had performed very well in the martial arts hall. At that time, he was already in the Wuzheng Hall and knew Jiang Duanchao's situation very well. He knew that Jiang Duanchao graduated from Canglan Martial Arts Academy.

At this point in time, Jiang Duanchao chose to return to Linhu Village. It is impossible to say that there is no trace of Canglan Martial Arts Academy there.

"I don't know this, Senior Brother Jiang is also from Linhu Village?"

There was a look of surprise on Liu Ru's face. He really didn't know that Junior Brother Jiang was also from Linhu Village. He only mentioned that Junior Brother Jiang's daughter seemed to have an unusual relationship with Lin Chen when he wrote a letter back to the martial arts academy.

You should know that Junior Brother Jiang is from Linhu Village, so he had already asked Junior Brother Jiang to come to Linhu Village together.

"Thank you for your concern. Since Jiang Duanchao is here, you and I will go to see him."

Jia Nanzhu didn't mind Canglan Martial Arts Academy's move to play the emotional card. If he were Canglan Martial Arts Academy, he would do the same, mobilizing all the connections that could influence Lin Chen's decision. This just shows how much Canglan Martial Arts Academy values Lin Chen.

"Old village chief, the two of us will go with you."

Zhao Canghu was a little worried about Jiang Duanchao's return. He was the one who knew Jiang Duanchao's feelings about the village best. He had used the method of flattery to force Jiang Duanchao to seek benefits from Linhu Village. Now he was really afraid to meet Jiang Duanchao.

When he heard Jia Nanzhu speak, he felt relieved at once.

Jiang Duanchao definitely didn't come back to cause trouble this time, but to target Lin Chen. If that's the case, there's nothing to be afraid of, not to mention that these two adults are here.

"Go and notify Lin Chen again."

…………

A quarter of an hour later, Linhu Village was extremely lively.

Lord Jiang is back in the village!

The news spread throughout Linhu Village in a short time, and all the villagers ran to the open space in front of the ancestral hall as soon as they heard the news.

In the hearts of the villagers of Linhu Village, although Lin Chen is very promising, the most promising one is still Lord Jiang.

Maybe Lin Chen will be able to catch up with Lord Jiang in the future, but now in the hearts of the villagers, Lord Jiang's position is still irreplaceable.

Lin.

Lin's mother was cleaning the fishing nets. Although the Lin family had enough money from fishing, Lin's father was used to fishing, and it would be too uncomfortable for him to just sit there and rest. Lin's father and his son, Lin Liang, would still go out to fish in the lake every day, but most of the catches were given to the young men in the village who were exercising to make fish soup.

"Sister-in-law, Lord Jiang is back, and everyone in our village has gone to the village entrance to welcome him."

Er Niang hurriedly walked into the Lin family’s door and shouted to Lin’s mother.

"Master Jiang?"

It took Mother Lin a few breaths to realize who Lord Jiang was, and she quickly put down her fishing net: "Lord Jiang is back, so I'll go greet him too."

When Lin's mother married to Linhu Village, Lord Jiang was already away learning martial arts. She had never met Lord Jiang, but in Lin's mother's heart, Lord Jiang was also the benefactor of their Lin family.

If Lord Jiang hadn't allowed the young men from Linhu Village to enter the martial arts hall for free, Chen'er would have had no money to go to the martial arts hall, and the Lin family would not have the good life they have today.

By the time Lin's mother and Er Niang arrived at the open space at the entrance of the village, the villagers of Linhu Village had already surrounded them in three layers. However, when these villagers saw Lin's mother coming, they were very knowledgeable and made way for her.

"That must be Lord Jiang, he is really amazing."

Mother Lin couldn't find any adjectives to describe it, but she felt that Lord Jiang was very majestic, more majestic than any official she had ever seen.

Because of her own son, she had met many high-ranking officials, such as the county magistrate and the prefect, but they were all inferior to Lord Jiang.

"That little girl is so pretty."

Second Lady's eyes fell on a young girl behind Jiang Duanchao. Mother Lin followed her gaze and could not help but nodded: "She must be Lord Jiang's daughter. She is really pretty."

This temperament, this appearance... cannot be compared with the girls in the village... nor can the young ladies from the wealthy families in the town.

Jiang Duanchao looked at the enthusiastic villagers surrounding him and felt a little guilty. He had no good feelings towards Linhu Village and was deceived by Zhao Zanghu when he tried to fight for the welfare of Linhu Village. But he did not expect these villagers to be so grateful to him.

I feel unworthy of this.

This made him feel better about Zhao Zanghu. Although this old guy had cheated him, he also established a good image for him in front of the villagers.

Zhao Zanghu could also feel that Jiang Duanchao's eyes looking at him were no longer as sharp as before, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had kept some tricks in mind and established a good image of Jiang Duanchao in the eyes of the villagers.

When he saw Lin's mother standing in the crowd, he immediately introduced her to Jiang Duanchao, "Master Jiang, let me introduce you. This is Lin Chen's mother."

Jiang Duanchao looked in the direction Zhao Zanghu was looking and saw Lin's mother. Her expression didn't change much. She looked like an ordinary village woman, nothing special about her. He didn't expect that she could give birth to a young genius like Lin Chen.

But what Jiang Duanchao didn't expect was that when Zhao Zanghu introduced Lin's mother's identity, his precious daughter behind him actually took the initiative to walk over there.

"You...you are Junior Brother Lin's mother, right?"

"I...I am."

Mother Lin did not expect that the beautiful daughter of the Jiang family, who was as beautiful as a fairy, would take the initiative to walk up to her and talk to her.

"I often hear Junior Brother Lin say that his mother treats him very well and cooks all kinds of delicious food for him. Many times he says that, I want to eat it."

Jiang Qing smiled brilliantly, her dimples blossoming and her silvery white teeth showing, which almost stunned Lin's mother.

This... Such a beautiful girl, it would be great if she were my daughter-in-law.

"Sister-in-law, Miss Jiang said where is Lin Chen."

Seeing that Mother Lin was in a daze, Er Niang pushed her waist. Mother Lin finally reacted and asked in a panic, "Miss Jiang, are you familiar with Chen'er?"

"Well, Lin Chen and I both graduated from Jingshui Martial Arts School. You can just call me Xiaoqing or Qing'er, aunt."

"That... that's not good. You are the daughter of the Jiang family..."

"There's nothing wrong with that. Lin Chen and I are senior sisters and brothers, so you are the elder. It's normal for elders to call each other by their first names."

Mother Lin hesitated for a moment and said, "Then I'll call you Xiaoqing."

Qing'er, that's too intimate. Lin's mother knew that this was how the elders in the family called her, and it was inappropriate for her to call her that.

"It's all right. Just follow your aunt's wishes."

Jiang Qing smiled sweetly and wanted to continue talking, but Jiang Duanchao on the other side felt a little jealous. His own precious children had never smiled like that at him, but they smiled so sweetly at outsiders.

"Qing'er, Dad will introduce you to some elders in the village."

"Aunt, I'll go over first."

After hearing what her father said, Jiang Qing said hello to Lin's mother and then walked back slowly.

"Sister-in-law, I'm afraid this Miss Jiang and Lin Chen have a special relationship."

After Jiang Qing turned and left, Er Niang whispered something in Lin's mother's ear.

"Ms. Jiang said that she and Lin Chen are senior sisters and junior brothers."

"How could it be as simple as a senior and junior sister?" Er Niang didn't believe it was as simple as a senior and junior sister. Her own sister-in-law was confused by the situation. She saw it clearly from the side. This Miss Jiang's attitude towards her sister-in-law was not like that towards ordinary elders.

If they were just ordinary senior and junior sisters and brothers, would they need to have such an attitude?
Besides, if they were just ordinary senior and junior sisters and brothers, with Chen'er's personality, would he talk about his younger brother's sister-in-law?
"Everyone, please don't gather together. Everyone, please disperse. The village will set up a banquet to entertain Lord Jiang later. Everyone, please remember to come."

Zhao Zanghu saw that it was nothing to worry about so many villagers gathering here, so he waved them away and asked Jiang Duanchao, "Master Jiang, you should worship your ancestors when you come back this time. The ancestral hall in our village has been renovated, and it is very convenient to worship your ancestors now."

Worshiping ancestors?

Jiang Duanchao glanced at Zhao Canghu and said, "The tablets of our Jiang family's ancestors have been taken away from the ancestral hall. Whose ancestors should we offer sacrifices to?"

But in front of so many people, especially seeing the expectant eyes of these villagers, Jiang Duanchao couldn't bear to refuse: "Let the village chief arrange it."

Hearing Jiang Duanchao's agreement, Zhao Canghu's old face was full of smiles. Lord Jiang has also come to worship the ancestors, so the price of the spirit tablets and plaques in the ancestral hall should also increase. In the future, each spirit tablet will cost two hundred taels.

PS: I didn’t write 10,000 words today because I didn’t have enough time. I will update three chapters tomorrow and one chapter in the early morning, around 2 o’clock.

(End of this chapter)