Bai Jing's plans

Inside the main hall.

Bai Jing was playing with Xu Dezhao in her arms, while Yang Ronghua stood beside her.

Bai Fu stepped forward and craned his head to look at Xu Dezhao.

As though he had spotted something amusing, Xu Dezhao babbled and stretched out his lotus-root-like arms, seemingly reaching for the pipe in Bai Fu's hand.

"You can't play with this." Bai Fu chuckled, his eyes filled with affection.

"Father, you're getting old. Smoke less," Bai Jing said.

"I know."

"Has something happened? Did that boy Bai Hua get into trouble?"

Sensing that something was amiss, Bai Jing ventured a guess.

"Not exactly. It's just..."

Bai Fu found it hard to speak.

His household's poor judgment and eagerness for quick gains had led to losses, and now he had to ask his daughter to cover them. It was truly difficult for an honest man like him.

As for telling Xu Chuan, he had even less face to do that.

"Father, there's no need to feel embarrassed with me. If you're in trouble, just tell me."

Quick-witted as she was, Yang Ronghua smiled and said, "Mother, I think Zhao'er is hungry. I'll take him back to nurse him."

"Mm." Bai Jing nodded.

After she left, Bai En said, "You chose a good wife for Shitou."

"I wasn't the one who chose her. Shitou took a liking to her himself. Ronghua was born into an Aristocratic Clan. The Yang Household raises its children well, and she received an outstanding upbringing. She's nothing like Xueji, who was a wild little girl from childhood and now spends all day practicing martial arts, just like a boy."

"Xueji was taught by San Shu. She won't turn out badly."

After a moment of silence, Bai Fu finally explained what had happened to him and Bai Fang's household.

"A Yuan never told me. This is the first I've heard of our Xu Household taking in large numbers of people and buying land. A hundred mu of farmland isn't such a large sum."

Bai Jing smiled. "I still have some personal savings. I'll cover this expense."

"You have that much money on hand? You don't need to draw from the Xu Household's accounts?"

"Buying things in Qingjiang County, having tea with the ladies of the Aristocratic Clans—all of that costs money, so I keep some on hand. Besides, A Yuan sends me another hundred or two hundred taels every two or three months."

"At present, I probably have seven or eight thousand taels left."

"A Yuan really is a good, filial child."

The corners of Bai Fu's mouth twitched slightly, and it felt as though a crushing weight had been lifted from his heart.

Different standing brought different horizons.

The matters that worried the Bai and Zeng households were barely worth mentioning in his daughter's eyes, and were even less of a concern to the Xu Household.

"A Yuan oversees all the Xu Household's businesses. Who knows how much money passes through his hands for approval every day?" As Bai Jing spoke, she rose and walked toward her dressing table. "Father, wait a moment."

Bai Jing took a gold-lacquered mahogany box from a drawer, opened it, and took out two thousand taels to hand to Bai Fu.

Bai Fu glanced at the amount and immediately tried to return some. "There's no need for so much."

"Keep the rest. Let yourself and Mother live a little more comfortably. Consider it a token of your daughter's affection."

"Well... all right. Oh, and there's no need to tell San Shu about this."

Bai Jing gave a soft laugh. "Father, do you think my husband would look down on the Bai Household over this? You're worrying too much. He's still the same man he was back then."

"By the way, Father, what plans do you have for the future?"

"Me? At my age, I'd be happy just to enjoy my remaining years in peace."

"What about the Bai Household, then? My younger brother is our household's only male heir. What will he do in the future?"

Bai Fu pondered this, remaining silent for a long time.

"Why not speak with my brother once this matter is settled and have him follow the Chen Household's example, becoming a vassal of the Xu Household? With my support, the Bai Household will surely be able to grow within ten or twenty years.

With the Xu Household nurturing our descendants, the Bai Household might produce powerful practitioners of the Martial Way. Perhaps we could even produce a Xiantian Martial Artist someday."

"Even after I'm gone, my brother will still be Shitou and A Yuan's own maternal uncle. They'll lend him a helping hand."

"For the next three generations, as long as I'm here, the Bai Household will certainly have nothing to worry about."

"Well... I'll ask your brother when I get back. He's the one who has to make the decision, after all. As for me, I haven't many days left to look forward to."

Bai Fu returned home.

After receiving the land deed from his Zeng Household son-in-law, he handed him his share of the silver, and the couple took their leave.

"Father, I really can't stand the way the Zeng Household acts. When they want something, they shamelessly call me 'little brother' over and over. The moment trouble comes, they turn aggressive."

Bai Hua said, "By the way, this won't cause any trouble for my sister, will it?"

"You don't need to worry about your sister."

After some thought, Bai Fu told Bai Hua what Bai Jing had proposed.

"Join the Xu Household? Become their vassals?" Bai Hua murmured.

"Don't just look at how the Chen Household is running around working for the Xu Household right now. They're looking to the future. A household like the Xu Household, rising to prominence in a single generation, is something Qingjiang County rarely sees in hundreds of years."

"Without an Aristocratic Clan's resources and nurturing, producing a true genius is far too difficult."

"But if we ride the Xu Household's wind, perhaps our Bai Household can also stand out in a few decades and rise with the tide."

Bai Fu said no more, leaving the point for him to consider.

After thinking it over carefully for a long while, Bai Hua said, "All right. I'll go to the Xu Household in a few days to discuss it."

Had he not encountered this drought, the likes of which came only once in a century, Bai Hua would have been unwilling.

But the current circumstances had opened his eyes.

An ordinary commoner household simply had no ability to withstand natural disasters or human calamities.

Unless, like the Xu Household, they produced someone of extraordinary talent—but even then, whether that prosperity could last remained unknown.

Never mind all of Great Wei; even in Qingjiang County alone, countless Aristocratic Clans had risen and fallen.

Every hundred years, another batch was swept away.

Even Qingjiang's foremost Aristocratic Clan, the Wu Household, had only accumulated close to two hundred years of foundations. Whether it would endure or decline over the next century was still unknown.

If the Chen Household had not had its ties with Xu Chuan, the Xu Household probably would not even have accepted it as a vassal Lineage.

The same was true of the Bai Household.

In the eyes of an Aristocratic Clan, they simply did not measure up.

Several days later.

Bai Hua went to the Xu Household to discuss the matter with Xu Mingwei, who was quite surprised.

The Xu Household would naturally lend Bai Jing's birth household a helping hand, but that support would only go so far.

"Uncle, I still need to ask my father about this. I'll give you an answer tomorrow. Would that be all right?"

"Of course. We'll do as you say, Shitou."

During the day, aside from practicing, Xu Chuan would visit the Jade-Cold Pool to tend the medicinal herbs.

Only when the Golden Crow sank in the west did he return home.

Xu Mingwei told him about the matter.

"Why would your uncle suddenly ask to become our household's vassal?"

"I made some inquiries. The Bai Household suffered considerable losses in this drought. Several months ago, they bought the hundred mu of farmland they'd been renting, then rented another hundred mu. But when the drought came, they were helpless."

"Mother put up the money for them and bought all the land. Perhaps this was her suggestion."

Xu Chuan stroked his short beard and pondered for a moment before raising his head with a soft laugh. "Your mother's horizons have broadened now. She's begun making plans for her birth household, too."

"Then let's grant your mother's wish."

"Yes, Father."

Two days later, the Bai Household also joined the Xu Household.

Bai Hua's six-year-old son was sent to the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall, where he received the same training as the youths the Xu Household had selected for their promising root bones.

Training at the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall was divided into three tiers.

The first tier naturally consisted of direct descendants of the Xu Household, such as Xu Mingxuan. They now consumed the secret medicinal meals Xu Chuan had developed through his research.

The second tier consisted of the children of Household Servants and guards who had good root bones and a chance of reaching Xiantian. They were given the Dragon Elephant Sect's secret medicinal meals.

The third tier consisted of children from other Lineages and wealthy merchant households who paid tuition to enter. They consumed ordinary medicinal meals collected by the Xu Household.

Amid the drought, all the great Aristocratic Clans sought only to avoid losses.

Only the Xu Household continued to gather strength.