Chapter 305: All The Comings And Goings Are Choices
Feng An could be considered a very optimistic person, and also someone who knew what to do at the right time. Sometimes Yun Ce thought he was too go with the flow, yet he still refused to change despite repeated teachings.
He felt that when spring arrived, the green grass should sprout, and when a person’s age was right, they should get married, mate, and give birth to offspring. He chose a bad wife, who was said to often urge him to strive harder in the Yun Clan Villa to get a higher position and rewards.
For this reason, Liang Kun became the imaginary enemy of his wife, because Liang Kun seemed to be more valued than Feng An. After all, Xiangcheng was under Liang Kun’s management, while Feng An in the Yun Clan Villa was just like a eunuch steward.
This actually couldn’t be blamed on Feng An’s wife. His wife came from an official slave, meaning she was previously the daughter of an official family. After her father and brothers committed offenses and were demoted to official slaves, because of her official bloodline, climbing up was innate.
This became Feng An’s biggest distress at present.
“This year’s sowing area exceeded five hundred thousand mu, mainly thanks to the large increase in livestock, and the new farming tools issued by the Lord played a role.
It is estimated that this year’s grain yield will be more than sixty percent higher than last year’s.
This relates to an important task, that is, the storage issue. The Yun Clan’s current storage issue is very serious. Last year, a lot of grain was stored outdoors in grass piles, with too much loss.
Therefore, I believe the storage issue should be prepared starting now.”
Yun Ce nodded, indicating agreement to Feng An’s work request.
1 Feng An seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then said in a low voice: “Lord, since Wu Tong has come, I request to step down from the position of chief steward of Yun Clan Villa, to give way to Wu Tong.”
1 Yun Ce looked at Feng An with a half-smile, until Feng An felt guilty and turned his face away, then said: “You never cared about being chief steward or minor steward before. Why are you suddenly bothered now?”
1 Feng An turned his head back and said: “We still need to observe superiority and inferiority.”
1 Yun Ce said: “Wu Tong has other appointments. Yun Clan Villa here still takes you as the head. As for Jin Suo Pass and Jingkou Pass, you don’t need to concern yourself with those matters.”
1 With that, he took out a crystal-clear bead from his bosom and tossed it to Feng An.
1 Feng An caught the bead and said with complex emotions: “Is this the Lord’s compensation to me?”
1 Yun Ce angrily said: “You were the one who wanted to settle accounts clearly with me first. Get out—”
1 Seeing Yun Ce angry, Feng An instead laughed, stuffed the bead into his bosom, and leisurely walked away holding the account book. He felt that he had gotten the attitude he wanted from Yun Ce, and the rest would proceed as usual.
1 E Ji was holding Yun Shuo in the courtyard sunbathing. The spring sun shone warmly on her body. Yun Shuo had been stripped naked by E Ji, and under the sun, he was holding his own little feet and gnawing on them fiercely. This child had some jaundice recently and needed more sun exposure.
1 Puppy Doggy curled up at E Ji’s feet, raising its head in confusion at the black feathered eagle standing on the wall. It felt like it had remembered something yesterday, but after sleeping it off, forgot again.
2 E Ji disdainfully kicked Doggy and said to Zhang Min: “This thing gets its brain cleared by husband from time to time. It’s quite troublesome.”
2 Zhang Min glanced at the black feathered eagle squatting on the wall and said to E Ji: “Among the beasts at home, husband looks down on Doggy the most. Lately, the red date horse has been going crazy and even broke a window last night, yet husband didn’t punish it.”
2 E Ji also glanced at the black feathered eagle and said to Zhang Min: “Are you saying this guy can understand our speech and tell what we say to the red date horse?”
2 Zhang Min said: “Now is the early spring month, exactly when eagles incubate eggs. Normally, this eagle should find a female eagle to breed and raise young at this time. Look at it, steadily squatting on the wall. Isn’t it listening to us speak?”
2 E Ji fetched a thin blanket to cover Yun Shuo, then went to the wall and said to the black feathered eagle: “You’re also considered family. If you have any thoughts, just tell me. Everything can be discussed. Making us guess blindly is not right.”
2 The black feathered eagle tilted its neck and looked down at E Ji, as if it couldn’t understand her words. It even jumped down from the wall and stood in front of E Ji, croaking noisily from its mouth.
2 This guy already seemed very large when squatting on the wall, but after landing on the ground, it was three meters tall, instantly making E Ji seem very small. So E Ji lifted her foot to kick the black feathered eagle’s leg. Those legs were like steel pillars. It didn’t hurt the eagle, but her own foot hurt.
2 A blue head poked out from the stable side. The black feathered eagle ran over clattering, raised its wings, and rubbed some oil on the blue demon’s body to apply to its own wings.
2 The stable’s enclosure wall was originally very high, but after the red date horse lived here, the wall couldn’t be made higher. The red date horse never wanted to go through the gate and always went wherever was convenient. Over time, there were a few times it didn’t jump well and took away some bricks and stones, so the wall naturally became shorter.
2 The other side of the stable was the Yun Clan Villa’s guesthouse, where Wu Tong lived. Yesterday, he had seen that oil-secreting blue demon. Liu Changsheng had mentioned the demon matter to him, and he knew about the black wind king threatening the Gui Fang people. But seeing a demon in the Yun Family still felt novel.
3 The dozen or so demons that the Gui Fang people gave to Liu Changsheng later all died. The Yun Family’s this demon, Yun Ce didn’t keep it in a cage or chain it, just let it freely move around the Yun Clan livestock shed area. And this blue demon showed no intention of escaping. It seemed this guy was doing well in the Yun Family.
3 To get back to the point, Wu Tong was also doing well in the Yun Family. Not only were the daily meals excellent, but they were also ones he had rarely eaten. What he liked most was that the Yun Family had a vast collection of books.
3 In the vast sea of documents, Ode to the Luo River Goddess wasn’t even the top-tier. Although he had only been here five days, he already had no psychological barriers to living in the Yun Family. Otherwise, for someone like him going to a certain faction, a separate official residence would still be needed.
3 Wu Tong’s internal injuries were very severe and also needed Doggy to treat, but he couldn’t let him see Doggy. These past two days, Yun Ce had been wanting to find a good opportunity to knock Wu Tong out, but the opportunities weren’t great.
3 Today, when he entered Wu Tong’s study and saw him staring intently at the blue demon, the opportunity was rare. He stepped forward and gave Wu Tong a hand chop to the neck.
3 Wu Tong softly collapsed into his arms. He didn’t choose another place and just put Wu Tong on the bed. Doggy crawled out from the bracer, and moments later, inserted a tentacle into a vein on the inside of Wu Tong’s thigh.
3 “One person tops six thousand-man generals. This person’s internal breath is too profound. Should we draw a bit?”
3 Yun Ce shook his head. To be honest, he was also envious of others’ internal breath, but unfortunately, it was Wu Tong’s, not easy to take.
3 “His internal breath circulation route seems already refined, much better than the one you fumbled around with. Luckily, this injury caused your internal breath to force open some passages. After I connected them, it became better than his.”
3 Yun Ce sighed and said: “He relies on having a master, I have no way, so I rely on having a good body.”
4 “Give me a bit more time. Once I figure out all the mysteries of this guy’s body, the children in the courtyard who show qi sensation will be easier to guide.”
4 Doggy seemed like it would be busy for a long time. Yun Ce instructed others not to enter the guesthouse and returned to his study. Qin Shu and He Qingfang were still waiting to report work.
4 In another year, it would be the time agreed with the five hundred cavalrymen when they could leave on their own. After Qin Shu and He Qingfang married and had a daughter, they had already told Yun Ce at the child’s birth that the couple planned to return to their old home in Qingzhou, remove their armor and return to civilian life, intending to live as ordinary people.
4 People with such thoughts were numerous in the cavalry ranks. After three years in the Yun Clan, from top to bottom, they had earned a lot of gold. Plus, the Yun Clan couldn’t provide them official positions, so there wasn’t much point in staying.
4 Yun Ce also knew he didn’t have the legendary ability to shake his tiger-like frame and make people bow down, nor Cao Kun’s naturally glittering rich and noble body. Moreover, with vassal lords everywhere now recruiting soldiers and buying horses, it was natural he couldn’t retain these five hundred cavalrymen.
4 “The repairs to Jingkou Pass are complete. What the general needs to do is quickly train a new cavalry force to guard Jingkou Pass.”
4 Qin Shu spoke bluntly. After seeing Yun Ce, he straightforwardly told him that these five hundred cavalrymen couldn’t be retained.
4 “No problem. When the time comes, you can go. There’s still a year. The children at home should have grown up by then. When you leave, they can take over. Oh, when leaving, remember to leave the bombs behind.”
4 Yun Ce didn’t try to retain them verbally. These people had major conflicts with his military concepts. Better to utilize their value fully and then part on good terms.
4 He Qingfang saluted Yun Ce and said: “After our little daughter was born, my husband and I truly have no more courage to set foot on the battlefield. We just want to find a quiet place to raise our little daughter to adulthood.
5 Please forgive us, General.”
5 Yun Ce sighed and said: “You’ve also been with me for a while. Why would you think I’d harm you? Rest assured. If you feel staying poses danger, you can leave now without issue.”
5 Qin Shu’s face flushed red. He hadn’t originally thought that way. It was the perceptive He Qingfang who felt it better to put things on the table clearly. After all, no one would willingly let such a strong combat power army leave their control.
5 “General, we agreed on three years. This general will not fail to lead the brothers in serving the general for three years. That won’t change.”
5 Hearing Qin Shu’s guarantee, Yun Ce stared into his eyes for a moment and smiled: “Go back and ask them. If any want to leave now, settle their military pay and let them go. No need to force them. That would cause future trouble.”
5 He Qingfang looked puzzled at the nonchalant Yun Ce, feeling something was off. Long ago, she had suggested to Yun Ce to train the army early, but he hadn’t adopted it.
5 Recently, some tall and sturdy strong men had come to Yun Clan Villa. She knew about this and felt they were very similar to the legendary Tiger Guards.
5 She wanted to ask, but seeing Yun Ce’s indifferent expression and remembering she would leave soon, she extinguished the thought.
5 After leaving Yun Clan Villa, He Qingfang said to Qin Shu: “It’s not that we don’t want to stay in the Yun Clan, but the Yun Clan doesn’t want us anymore.”
