Chapter 54: Clan Meeting
The young woman who suddenly stood up had a graceful figure and quite beautiful features. Unfortunately, there was a knife scar on her left cheek, just like a crack on fine porcelain.
This woman was none other than Gu Lian, who had been rescued from Black Bear Stockade and brought down the mountain, and she was also the captain of this group of pitiful women.
Gu Lian’s eyes were full of expectation and nervousness. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, she mustered her courage and continued, “Can we also marry in a son-in-law and have children in the future?”
“Of course.” Pei Qinghe looked at Gu Lian with eyes full of approval and admiration: “You are now people of Pei Family Village, diligently farming every day. I, Pei Qinghe, will ensure you have enough to eat and wear. In the future, when you marry in a son-in-law and have children, they can also take the Pei surname.”
“Absurd nonsense!”
As expected, the one who jumped out to object was the rigid and conservative grandmother Madam Lu: “They are all women who have lost their chastity. Allowing them to settle in Pei Family Village is already Pei Clan showing benevolence and righteousness. How can we agree to such absurd matters! Whether they marry out or marry in a son-in-law, it has nothing to do with Pei Clan. How can the children they bear later take the Pei surname!”
Even Madam Li couldn’t help but chime in: “Qinghe, this matter still needs careful consideration.”
It was fine for Pei Family wives’ future children to take the Pei surname. But what relation did these women from the mountain bandit stockade have with Pei Clan?! Pei Clan was already supporting them now—did they have to support their children in the future too?
Pei Qinghe didn’t look at Madam Lu and said to Madam Li: “Not only them—in the future, as long as they come to seek refuge with Pei Clan and stay wholeheartedly, they will all receive the same treatment.”
“But…”
“They follow me and are loyal to me; their future descendants taking my Pei Qinghe’s Pei surname.” Pei Qinghe calmly interrupted Madam Li: “Moreover, Pei Clan was sentenced to the grave crime of treason by the Imperial Court, with all male members of the household executed, reduced to settling in this place. Is the Pei surname so noble? Or is there something worth scheming for?”
“For those who sincerely stay and live and die together with us, what’s wrong with letting their bloodline take the Pei surname!”
Madam Li was speechless.
Madam Lu couldn’t bear such harsh and piercing truths and angrily retorted: “Pei Clan was wronged and framed. There will surely come a day when the charges are cleared and we return to the capital.”
Pei Qinghe coldly glanced over: “Grandmother speaks with such certainty—could it be that the Crown Prince personally promised it?”
Madam Lu: “…”
“The situation in the Imperial Court is ever-changing, with constant turmoil in the Palace. The Eastern Palace can barely protect itself, so how could it have the leisure to care about the life and death of Pei Family old and young. General Meng sent people with some grain and a Beiping Army banner, and that counts as looking after Pei Clan. If real mountain bandits or roving bandits come, it takes three or four days just for a round trip to send a message. By the time reinforcements arrive, Pei Family Village would long have been looted clean. The Eastern Palace is even farther away, thousands of li distant.”
Pei Qinghe’s face showed no expression, her voice ice-cold: “We can’t rely on anyone; only by strengthening ourselves can we stand and protect ourselves.”
“Among the three clan rules, the most important is the first one. We must practice martial arts, train troops, have the ability to kill, and the capability to protect ourselves.”
“To rapidly expand population and strength, the third rule is also extremely important. We must recruit refugees and hidden households into Pei Family Village, treat them as our own people, and make them willing to stay. Ask Pei Jia and Pei Yi—do they want to leave now?”
Pei Jia and Pei Yi, who had been shrinking their necks, exchanged a glance and stood up together: “We won’t leave.”
“We want to stay in Pei Clan, forever following Sixth Sister Pei.”
Fang Datou was a step slower, but his voice was much louder than Pei Jia and Pei Yi’s: “I will also forever follow Sixth Sister Pei. Also, I want to change my name—henceforth, I will be called Pei Bing!”
No one paid attention to this fool.
Everyone looked toward Cart Driver Zhao Hai and Doctor Bao.
Doctor Bao quickly glanced toward Pei Yun’s direction and said loudly: “I will stay too.”
Cart Driver Zhao Hai dawdled as he stood up, looking uneasy. He quietly glanced at the Pei Clan woman sitting in the corner, mustered his courage, and spoke: “I am willing to marry into the family as a husband.”
Everyone was shocked, jaws nearly dropping.
This Zhao Hai was usually taciturn, working with his head down and rarely speaking, like a gourd that wouldn’t open. When did he hook up with a Pei Clan female dependent… No, which one had forgotten her deceased husband so quickly and taken a fancy to this unremarkable bachelor?
Pei Qinghe was not surprised at all and said indifferently: “We can discuss this matter later. Sit down first!”
Zhao Hai’s palms were sweating as he sat down amid everyone’s gazes of surprise or dissatisfaction.
Doctor Bao also sat down, full of regret in his heart. Just now, he should have shouted “I am willing to marry into the family as a husband” too…
“In my view, the first and third clan rules are more important—they are the foundation for Pei Clan’s survival. But you all only saw the second one and argued endlessly over it.”
Pei Qinghe said “you all” but her eyes only looked at Madam Lu: “Short-sighted and stupidly ignorant.”
Madam Lu’s forehead veins throbbed.
Pei Qinghe didn’t spare the others either; her black eyes like sharp blades swept over the other six old women one by one: “And you all, narrow-minded and shortsighted.”
The old women uncomfortably lowered their heads to evade.
Pei Qinghe suddenly raised her voice: “Does anyone oppose these three clan rules?”
No one spoke.
A silence fell.
Pei Qinghe had led the clan members to kill bandits time and again, fearless and invincible, and the clan members had gradually come to revere her.
Madam Lu’s lips moved, but in the end, she didn’t utter a word of opposition.
“Good, these three clan rules are hereby established.” Pei Qinghe said indifferently: “Everyone, disperse!”
The quick-witted Pei Xuan was the first to respond loudly, and together with Pei Feng, she took a group of children to read. The old women carried young children to the village to bask in the sun and do needlework. Pei Yan, Pei Yun, and the others lined up to run and train. Pei Jia and Pei Yi called Gu Lian and the others to go farming and sow seeds.
Zhao Hai came over with a flushed face, half a head taller than Pei Qinghe, huffing and puffing, stammering for a long time without managing a smooth sentence.
Pei Qinghe found it somewhat amusing: “What’s this? You dare to do the deed but not say the words?”
Zhao Hai hurriedly shook his head: “Sixth Sister misunderstands. Even if you gave me the greatest courage, I wouldn’t dare to act frivolously. Xiao Wan’er’s mother hasn’t taken the initiative to speak to me either.”
Xiao Wan’er’s birth mother, Madam Bian, was twenty-four this year. Her husband had died in battle four years ago, and Xiao Wan’er was a posthumous daughter.
Madam Bian had been a widow for four years. She originally thought she would grow old and die in Pei Clan’s back courtyard, but unexpectedly Pei Clan suffered extermination. On the road to exile, Madam Bian fell gravely ill, lying on the wooden cart for nearly a month and barely surviving. Somehow, she and Zhao Hai quietly caught each other’s eye.
Zhao Hai had been a bachelor for over twenty years, and suddenly his heart stirred with spring feelings, unstoppable. Today, taking advantage of the clan meeting, he mustered his courage and stood up.
“I am willing to marry into the family as a husband.” Zhao Hai spoke haltingly and not very smoothly, mustering all his courage to meet Pei Qinghe’s eyes: “I beg Sixth Sister to grant this.”
Pei Qinghe didn’t agree immediately and turned to look at the young woman under the tree.
This young woman with delicate features and a gentle complexion was none other than the cousin-in-law from the eighth branch, Madam Bian.
