138, The Old Patriarch’s Promise

138, The Old Patriarch’s Promise

"Talk about...ah, there are thousands of worlds in books. Some talk about big principles, and some talk about small principles. Some talk about how to be an official, and some talk about how to farm, raise silkworms and pigs." Lu Mingfei added silently in his heart. It was not a lie, because in his original world, there were indeed all kinds of books.

Since it was the eldest son who said it, Lu Youtian did not doubt that the eldest son would lie, so he agreed: "Okay, okay, I will go to your adoptive father tomorrow to discuss how to castrate the pig." It was also the first time he heard that pigs could be castrated.

"How about when you are going to slaughter the pigs, tell me and I will go with you to see it?" Lu Mingfei discussed with his father.

"You don't have to go. You have an exam next month. After you finish, I'll take you to our fields." After finishing the remaining two mouthfuls of rice in his bowl, Lu Youtian remembered something and asked his eldest son, "Hey, does the book talk about castration?"

"..." Lu Mingfei thought hard, and said as he recalled, "The book says that the pig-castrating knife must be roasted over fire first. Then, the part of the pig's body to be castrated must be rubbed with strong liquor, and then some hemostatic medicine should be applied after the castration."

That should be the case, right? Although he had never seen anyone castrate a pig, he had seen doctors treat patients' wounds. Isn't pig castration just about cutting the pig and then applying some medicine to heal the wound? It's pretty much the same, right? The treatment methods should be similar.

To be on the safe side, Lu Mingfei carefully suggested to his father: "Why don't you try to castrate a piglet first. If it succeeds, you can castrate the rest. If not... why don't you ask a doctor to come and try? Maybe the doctor can do this kind of work." In fact, the best thing to do is to ask an old eunuch from the palace who can castrate people to castrate the pigs.

However, that kind of old eunuch is hard to find, and even if they are available, they can't afford it.

"Okay, I'll discuss with your godfather how to handle this matter." Lu Youtian was worried that the doctor would not be willing to do this kind of work, so they had to do it themselves.

Lu Mingcong, Lu Mingrui and Zhang Xiaobao, who were eating nearby, looked at the adults who were talking with confusion.

Facing four pairs of eyes looking at him, Lu Youtian said to these guys a little uncomfortably: "It's none of your business, hurry up and eat."

"Oh." Lu Mingrui couldn't understand what his father and brother were talking about even with his clever little head.

Not to mention the two stupid little heads of Lu Mingcong and Zhang Xiaobao, they didn't even understand what the adults meant by "slaughtering a pig".

Even the older brother Zhang Qi only understood half of what was said.

Only Liu Sanniang couldn't help but laugh, feeling that her eldest son was tricking her husband into doing this. However, she didn't doubt what her eldest son said about the benefits of castrating the pig.

After the family had finished their meal, Lu Mingfei went outside to check on what Zhang Qi and the other three boys had learned in the past few days. After relaxing outside for half an hour, he went back inside to continue reading.

During this period, Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran came early in the morning, so they went home after the sun went down and did not have dinner at their house.

So in the evening, the three of them go home and study freely.

When Lu Youtian finished his bath and was about to go to bed, he passed by his eldest son's study. He walked to the window and said to his eldest son, "Mingfei, Dad has gone to bed. You should take a bath early and don't read too late."

"Okay, you guys go to sleep, I'll take a shower later." Lu Mingfei replied.

Lu Youtian responded and went back to the main house.

Liu Sanniang waited until her husband came in and closed the door before she told him what had happened today when her mother-in-law and uncle had come to her stall and caused a commotion. After hesitating for a moment, she finally told him what Xu Yueniang had guessed.

"It would be fine if they just came to cause trouble for us, but now they want to deliberately make Mingfei fail the next exam. If any bad rumors spread, it will also affect Mingfei's reputation. You must not ignore this matter." Liu Sanniang was also worried that her husband would ignore the people and things in the Lu family's old house just because they were his eldest brother and mother.

"Don't worry, I won't ignore this matter." After hearing this, Lu Youtian's face darkened. He patted his wife's hand and said soothingly, "I'll go back to the village tomorrow and talk to the clan leader about this matter."

"Okay." Liu Sanniang felt relieved after getting her husband's promise.

That night, both the couple couldn't sleep. Liu Sanniang was worried that her mother-in-law and the eldest wife would cause trouble in the future, which would affect her eldest son's studies and upcoming exams.

Lu Youtian thought about how he had treated his family all those years, but in the end, the people closest to him stabbed him in the heart several times. Now that their lives had finally gotten better, these people closest to them wanted to harm their eldest son. This was the thing that made him unable to forgive those relatives the most.

Lu Mingfei, who was reading under the lamp, didn't know that his parents in the next room were worried about him.

He read until midnight, and when he saw Zhao Lang standing in front of his window again, he had become accustomed to it. Now the place where the two of them met had changed from Prince Ding's Mansion to the courtyard next to their house.

That night he followed Zhao Lang who came to see him to the yard next door for a midnight snack, and then returned to their own yard to take a shower and sleep.

***

The next morning, after Lu Youtian sent his wife to set up a stall on South Street, he returned home and sent his four sons to the escort agency to practice martial arts. Then he returned to the pancake shop to discuss their family affairs with Lu Qingfeng.

After the city gate was opened, the two of them rode out of the city on their donkeys together.

On the way, the two men turned into Shihua Village.

This was Lu Qingfeng's first time in Shihua Village, though he had passed by here before, just not in the village itself. Seeing the many brick and tile houses in the village, he knew that most of the villagers must be living a good life.

"So you used to live here."

"Yes, we used to live in this village. Mingfei was born and raised here when he was little. It's been almost ten years since we left here." This is where the eldest son was born and raised, and it was also where he was born and raised. Lu Youtian said with some emotion, "When we left here, Mingfei was only four or five years old. Now Mingfei is already in his teens."

"Mingrui is now almost the same age as Mingfei when he first came to the city."

From the time their second son was born until now, they had never considered bringing him back to the village to see him. Lu Youtian had no intention of bringing his second son, who was born later, back to see his father and mother. It would be a lie to say that he didn't feel resentful about how his family had treated him.

Because of the resentment in his heart, his family rarely returned to the village after leaving. It has been nearly ten years since he left here. This is his second time back and the first time he has brought friends back to this place.

Hearing this, Lu Qingfeng nodded and said, "Yes, when we first met Mingfei, he was still a little kid. Now he's almost as tall as us."

Both fathers had smiles on their faces when they talked about their children.

In the fields of May, the rice seedlings are green. A gust of wind blows, and the half-high rice seedlings sway in the wind.

"Hey, Arita is back?"

"Yes, yes. Going to work in the fields?"

"Yeah. You haven't been back to the village for a long time. Why didn't Shichiro come back with you?"

"He has to study and has no time."

“…”

When he met people from the village on the road, Lu Youtian would greet them with a smile. When they asked him questions, he would only answer what he could, and would just smile away the things he couldn't. Being out there for so many years had also taught him a lot about life, and that was that one shouldn't be too honest when speaking.

After so many years away from home, I am now much more adept at dealing with the people in the village than before.

When Lu Youtian heard others praising his eldest son, the smile on his face became more genuine.

This time he came back to find their clan leader, so he did not go back to the Lu family's old house, but took Lu Qingfeng directly to the clan leader's house.

"Hello, Fifth Auntie. It's been a long time since I last saw you. How are you feeling lately?" When they arrived at the clan leader's house, Lu Youtian handed the things he had prepared in advance to the clan leader's wife, Mrs. Lao Dou.

"Okay. You're back, so what did you bring? You're being too formal with us." Old Mrs. Dou took the things Lu Youtian handed over and said, "We're all family. Next time you come back, don't bring so many things back."

"Haha, okay." Lu Youtian agreed, but in fact, he would definitely not come empty-handed next time. Seeing that Old Dou was staring at Lu Qingfeng, who came with him, he casually introduced him: "This is my friend, and Mingfei's adopted father, Boss Lu Qingfeng."

"Oh, they are all our family. Come in quickly, your fifth master is inside." Old Mrs. Dou looked at Lu Qingfeng and nodded with a smile. She asked her daughter-in-law to put the things away and bring a pot of tea into the house. She then led the two of them into the main room herself.

When they arrived at the main house, Lu Youtian greeted the old patriarch and introduced Lu Qingfeng to him.

"Please sit down." The old patriarch at home did not look too surprised when he saw Lu Youtian coming.

After Lu Youtian and Lu Qingfeng sat down, the old patriarch said with a sullen face, "Chunping came back yesterday and told me that your eldest brother and your eldest mother had gone to the city to look for you. I was just planning to go talk to your father later, but I didn't expect you to come back today."

"Don't worry, with my old bones here, your mother and your elder brother won't be able to cause any trouble."

"Thank you, Fifth Master." After receiving this reply, Lu Youtian stood up and bowed to the old patriarch.

"No need to be like this, sit down." Old Patriarch Lu waved his hand and asked Lu Youtian to sit down and talk.

Later, Lu Youtian and Lu Qingfeng sat with the old patriarch in the house for a while, and chatted about the affairs of the clan and the village. The old patriarch also asked about their eldest son's studies, and everyone chatted for a while longer.

Later, when they were about to leave, the clan leader's wife asked him if he wanted to go back to the old house to take a look.

"We have to hurry somewhere else, so we can't go over there." Lu Youtian didn't really want to go back and face those people in the old house.

"Oh, since you have something to do, just go and do your own thing." Old Mrs. Dou nodded in understanding, but did not say anything about it.

So Lu Youtian and Lu Qingfeng each led a donkey, left the old patriarch's house, and rode away on the donkey together.