Family Matters (Seeking Collection!)

"This feeling is truly strange!"

On the cloud bed, Wu Ming touched the Dustless Robe on his hand, finding it warm in winter and cool in summer, fitting perfectly.

He looked outside again. "Compared to last time, the flow of time seems to have changed as well... Is this normal, or did it change after I joined?"

"But since that's the case, my original excuse was to cultivate in seclusion, so now's the perfect time to do it!"

Wu Ming immediately closed his eyes. In an instant, his face emitted a soft radiance, and the True Qi within him filled his limbs and body, his physical acupoints, Revert to Root, Return to Origin, and his Innate body was achieved in a flash.

"My spirit has broken through, so it's simple for my physical body to follow... After all, I've been stuck at this bottleneck for a long time!"

Wu Ming smiled. In his sea of consciousness, a light screen also appeared:

[Reincarnator ID: Gengshen 69]
[Name: Wu Ming]
[Cultivation: Body Refinement Realm Sixth Level Innate]
[Equipment: Black Gold Ring, Dustless Robe]
[Title: Main God Apostle]

"Sigh... I can't not bring the Black Gold Ring, so I can only bring this item out this time..."

Wu Ming looked at the robe on his body, a wry smile on his face. "A mid-tier magical artifact cost me sixty small merits. With this one trip, one hundred and ten small merits are gone. If any Reincarnator tried to do reselling with this tax rate, they'd definitely go bankrupt!"

Thinking about it, he then put on a large robe on the outside to cover the Dustless Robe before calmly walking out.

"Young Master Ming!"

Two dignified and sensible young girls with proper demeanor immediately bowed. He didn't know how long they had been waiting.

"What time is it now?"

Wu Ming squinted, feeling the dazzling sunlight.

"Since Young Master entered seclusion, it has been a night and half a day. There's still less than half an hour until noon!" the maidservant said in detail, a hint of confusion flashing in her beautiful eyes.

In their eyes, their young master seemed different after a night's seclusion. His skin had become even more delicate, like the finest porcelain, and his dark eyes held an unfathomable depth.

"Mm, tell the cook to prepare. I want to eat!"

Wu Ming raised his hand.

In the sunlight, his palm was fair and flawless, white and delicate. Even the calluses and dead skin had completely disappeared.

When martial arts reach the Innate stage, Revert to Root, Return to Origin naturally has this effect.

Lunch was served quickly: three meat dishes, three vegetable dishes, and a bowl of soup, all looking and smelling delicious. Wu Ming ate heartily and with great satisfaction.

The previous profligate young master would always demand seven meat and eight vegetable dishes. He naturally wouldn't be so wasteful, but now that he was focused on martial arts, the portion sizes were just right.

"Young Master Ming!"

At this moment, Steward Wu entered. Seeing Wu Ming's whirlwind eating style, yet without appearing uncouth, he praised him inwardly.

This young master had become much more sensible since the last incident. Not only was his martial arts talent highly praised by Instructor Feng, but his conduct and how he treated others had also greatly improved, causing his loyalty to increase further.

After all, following such a master offered hope for the future.

In this era, servants like them, born into servitude and serving the Wu family for generations, had their fates intertwined with the master's family. They prospered together and suffered together.

"What happened?"

Wu Ming's heart stirred upon seeing Steward Wu's somewhat anxious expression.

He had to admit that although this man was fierce on the outside, he was still a decent subordinate. After recovering from his injuries from the Lin Qi incident, he had managed things perfectly and achieved outstanding results in the autumn harvest. Now that he looked like this, something must have happened.

"There's been a homicide case in Qingshi Village. The main culprit is from a collateral branch of the Wu family, and there's even a scandal..."

Steward Wu's face flushed and paled as he spoke.

"What does that have to do with me..."

Wu Ming stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing it actually did!

This world was Great Zhou, and he had learned that he was in a township in Yunping County, Chu Feng Commandery. This township governed three villages. The Wu Family, centered around their Fortified Village, occupied two thousand mu of land, making them a true behemoth.

According to the Zhou system, county towns had Inspectorates responsible for dealing with bandits, and townships also had Township Inspectors, who were registered officials.

However, even within Yunping County, the Wu Family held considerable influence, being local gentry and influential figures. According to unwritten rules, this Township Inspector position, though under the Inspectorate, was customarily held by someone appointed by the Wu Family.

He recalled that the carefree profligate young master had casually given this position to Feng Han, his former martial arts instructor. Later, that instructor was killed by Lin Qi's sword. His family received various compensations, even being granted a few mu of land, but the position of Township Inspector was reclaimed. Wu Ming hadn't decided who to give it to yet.

Now that this incident had occurred, the Township Inspector naturally had to step in.

Not to mention that a collateral branch of the Wu Family was involved.

In ancient times, Wu Ming, at this moment, was the head of the Wu clan. Even if there was an internal family matter, he would have to convene the ancestral hall and handle it according to family law.

In counties like this, the rule over the countryside was inherently weak, relying entirely on clan autonomy. That's why 'benevolence and filial piety' and the law were so important for killing people...

Wu Ming's heart chilled as he thought of this.

Two thousand mu of land, what kind of concept is that? The entire Yunping County only has 300,000 mu of fields, so this is almost one percent.

With this foundation in hand, as long as it's not an exceptionally severe drought or flood, it's a guaranteed several thousand taels of silver every year, a harvest that's as solid as a rock. What's more, it requires no effort to manage and serves as the foundation for a family's rise!

The Wu siblings have no close relatives, only a few distant branches. How could they possibly hold onto this?

He tapped his head then, remembering. The previous Wu Family was merely a small landlord with a hundred mu.

It was only after Wu Qing rose to prominence, even being accepted into the Daoist Academy, that they were exempted from taxes. Many people attached themselves to the family, and only then did they reach the current scale of two thousand mu.

In reality, if not for the fact that they were new gentry and the previous prodigal son had been somewhat wasteful, they might have had three thousand mu!

"Whoa... I didn't expect Sister Wu Qing to be so amazing! It's almost equivalent to the position of a juren..."

Wu Ming thought to himself, then said to Steward Wu, "That's right... aren't there some outstanding accounts in Qingshi Village? Gather a few people, and let's go take a look!"

Before, he had been lying low because of the Main God Hall mission. Now that it was successfully completed, Wu Ming had nothing else to do.

"Yes, sir!"

Steward Wu immediately bowed and went to call people. Wu Ming watched his retreating back, but for some reason, a tremor flashed through his heart.

"I feel inexplicably uneasy. Could it be a martial artist's premonition? Just kidding... What could possibly happen to me in the Great Zhou world?"

Even as he said this, Wu Ming's eyes became somewhat distant. "Someone! Call Master Feng Han to come with me!"

Innate martial artists, with their True Qi condensed into a single mass, and returning from the Postnatal to the Innate stage, basically rarely suffer from worldly illnesses, nor would they experience palpitations for no reason.

Seeing the servant go to deliver the message, Wu Ming's mood calmed down, and he gave a self-deprecating smile, "I'm really... afraid of dying!"

"The big plan has succeeded!"

Seeing seven horsemen burst out from the fortified village, a person who had been monitoring outside the village had their eyes flash. They secretly released a gray sparrow.

This sparrow was unremarkable. It flapped its wings, flew through the air, and landed on a person's shoulder.

"Daoist Qingping, has that Wu family young man come out?"

Another person beside him saw the sparrow perched on the Daoist's shoulder and their eyes lit up.

These were the two people who had been waiting outside the Wu Family Fortified Village!

"Naturally! The person I arranged saw the Wu family young man before. He's an extremely meticulous person and would never mistake him!"

Daoist Qingping's eyes seemed to emit a faint fire. "Steward Yu, the rest will proceed according to plan!"

"Good! I wish you, Daoist, swift success!"

Steward Yu cupped his hands and smiled, full of confidence in the Daoist.

"Qingshi Village!"

Wu Ming knew none of this. He, along with Steward Wu, Feng Han, and four sturdy household guards, galloped to Qingshi Village.

"Young Master Wu has arrived!"

As soon as they entered the village, several village elders were waiting, their faces filled with humility.

They had no choice but to be humble. Half the village were their tenants; how could they stand tall?

"Where is he? I want to see him!"

Wu Ming dismounted and walked to a tiled house on the east side of the village.

The courtyard was not large, the ground was paved with polished bluestone, the windows were bright, and there was a small threshing ground. For a rural area, this was practically a mansion.

The main lineage of the Wu Family now only has Wu Qing and Wu Ming... The rest are distant collateral branches, scattered throughout the surrounding villages. I heard that at the beginning, there were some unpleasantness regarding land ownership, which earned Wu Qing's displeasure...

If they were the true core family, they would have all moved into the fortified village by now.

After all, within a fortified village, there were granaries, storehouses, mills, blacksmith shops, livestock pens, and even physicians. It was like a small kingdom, and what's more, it was safe, almost comparable to a county town.

But now, besides Wu Ming and Wu Qing, the most numerous residents were the born servants, the hired help, and the most loyal tenants, which was telling.

"It's just... even though they are distant collateral branches, this incident will still have some impact on our family's reputation..."

Wu Ming frowned and went to inspect the main house.

"The crime scene is right there; we haven't dared to touch it!"

A village elder said respectfully, lifting the curtain. Wu Ming glanced inside and saw two corpses, one old and one young, hastily covered with mats, with a pool of black blood on the ground.

One of the old men looked familiar. In his memory, this person seemed to be a distant uncle or something. He had also set his sights on the family's ancestral hundred mu of fertile land back then. Seeing him now, Wu Ming felt a surge of disgust.

Of course, this was not the time to dwell on that.

Wu Ming's ears twitched, and faint voices from outside drifted in: "I heard it was a father-in-law who had incest with his daughter-in-law, and when his son caught him, it immediately turned into a bloody case..."

"Alas, two lives! I've seen Madam Dong too. Her eyes are bewitching, her face carries the bloom of peach blossoms. Indeed, she's a femme fatale!"

"It's misfortune in the family that brought about this wicked offspring... The key is that the son committed suicide in the end, showing a sliver of conscience..."

Regardless of the relationship, this incident would have some impact on the Wu Family. At this moment, Wu Ming's expression suddenly darkened.

"Oh no! Madam Dong has hanged herself!"

Just then, another old woman cried out in alarm, making Wu Ming's face even darker.