Tang Wen and his mother naturally lived in the premium model among the prefab houses: a two-story light-steel villa built directly from iron-aluminum alloy and steel.
It covered over four hundred square meters, with the first floor combining a kitchen, reception area, and recreation space.
The second floor held the bedrooms for Zhan Junru, Gu Hanyan, and Xing'er and the older maid who attended to his mother.
Li Quan and Zhang Kui each received a room as well, though theirs were on the first floor.
The villa stood at the northern end of the courtyard, with the enormous warehouse directly behind it, allowing Tang Wen to enter whenever he needed.
With more people around, the refrigerators and freezers required a great deal of electricity.
So Tang Wen had solar panels mounted about 1.8 meters above all the tinplate prefab houses to generate photovoltaic power.
Over a month later, the houses were finished. Naturally, the next step was to allocate them as a benefit.
Tang Wen gathered nearly a thousand people in the central square of the Tinplate Castle.
"I said I would give every servant who followed me, Tang Wen, a happy life.
"Today, the simple houses have been assembled, and all of you will have new homes.
"Zhan Dongfang, Ge Ziyun, Zhao Du, Zhan Zhao, Qiao Xiao, and Tang Jun will each receive a separate prefab house.
"If you have family members, you can receive a few more.
"As for the others, the forty or fifty skilled craftsmen, masons, and operators of the excavators and stone crushers will each receive a private room.
"As long as you have skills or a special craft, you can ask me, Tang Wen, for a room.
"The rest will be separated by sex, with five people to a room.
"Although there will be five to a room, everyone will have their own bed, bedside cabinet, wardrobe, and so on.
"If you marry, I, Tang Wen, will give your family a separate room to make a home in.
"So work hard, everyone. Those who aren't married, hurry up and find yourselves wives.
"Those without husbands, hurry up and find husbands. Start families early; only with a family established can you build a livelihood.
"I was thinking it would be best to pair up among ourselves. If two of you take a liking to each other,
"Just let me know. I, Tang Wen, will arrange your wedding and provide the betrothal gifts.
"What do we call this? Keeping the rich water from flowing into outsiders' fields.
"Of course, if you can't find anyone suitable within the Tang household, you can look elsewhere.
"You can go to nearby villages and towns, or even Yanling Commandery.
"As long as you bring back a wife or find a husband to join you, the Tang household will welcome them just the same," Tang Wen said with a smile.
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" The bachelors immediately burst into applause.
"Master Tang gave us all of this. We thank Master Tang!" Zhan Dongwen shouted, and everyone knelt before Tang Wen.
Tang Wen noticed that the human aura above the newly recruited people's heads, which had previously leaned only slightly toward him, now tipped entirely in his direction.
Gu Hanyan's human aura, which had stood straight up toward the sky, also leaned slightly toward him now.
As for Ge Ziyun, his had only tilted slightly before, but now it leaned entirely toward Tang Wen.
This meant that, at this moment, almost all nine hundred-odd members of the Tang household had pledged their allegiance.
Tang Wen knew the masses were not blind. As long as he brought them benefits and advantages, they would support him.
Otherwise, talk of affection amounted to nothing. Only when interests and affection were bound together did a relationship become truly secure.
Next, Zhan Dongwen and Ge Ziyun arranged the housing allocations together.
The Tang household's servants moved happily into their new homes, every face beaming with delight.
That evening, Tang Wen made an exception and placed several bottles of Niulanshan liquor costing twenty-odd yuan on every table. With fresh pork and seafood to accompany it, everyone drank until their faces were as red as monkeys' bottoms.
Of course, far too many people came to toast him, so Tang Wen used a tiny cup only as thick as his little finger.
But after two or three hundred cups, he had still consumed about two jin of liquor.
In the end, he went down in glorious defeat, and Zhan Junru and Gu Hanyan supported him on either side as they took him back to his bedroom.
"I'm happy tonight... happy. Let's sleep together!" Tang Wen tightened his arms, holding one woman on either side as he toppled onto the bed.
"Master, you're drunk. I'll make you some sobering soup." Gu Hanyan slipped out of Tang Wen's grasp like a loach.
"I... I, I... Master, you're drunk. Let this servant wash your face," Zhan Junru hurriedly said, her face flushed.
But Tang Wen's grip was too strong. Zhan Junru had never practiced martial arts, and she did not struggle as fiercely as Gu Hanyan, so she naturally could not get free.
"No washing. Sleep with me." Tang Wen rolled over, pinning Zhan Junru beneath him, and his wolfish paws began to misbehave.
"Don't... don't do this, Master. Master, Sister is here. Sister is here..." Zhan Junru struggled, not because she was unwilling, but because Gu Hanyan was there.
"You're unwilling!" Tang Wen abruptly stopped and rolled off the bed, standing up to stare sourly at her disheveled clothes.
"N-no." Zhan Junru trembled in fright and hastily shook her head.
"Then why?" Tang Wen asked. In truth, he had already sobered up considerably.
After all, Tang Wen was an expert in the eighth-rank mid inner astral realm and could expel some of the alcohol through his body's apertures.
"S-Sister is here." Zhan Junru bowed her head, her blush spreading down her neck.
"You mean if she weren't here, you would..." Tang Wen bent down and reached out to pinch Zhan Junru's chin.
"Mm..." Zhan Junru's reply was fainter than a mosquito's hum.
"Master! The sobering soup is ready. Drink it while it's hot." Just as their eyes met in a deeply intimate moment, the interruption arrived: Gu Hanyan opened the door with the soup in her hands.
"Master, I'll feed you," Zhan Junru said hurriedly.
"Not you. Let Hanyan feed me," Tang Wen said angrily, pushing Zhan Junru aside.
Zhan Junru's eyes immediately reddened, and she felt so wronged she nearly cried.
"Master, you said you would respect us. Although we are your maidservants, maidservants are people too," Gu Hanyan said softly as she fed him the soup.
"I'm sorry. I was drunk just now." Tang Wen looked apologetic.
"Master, Sister is unwilling, but this servant is willing.
"You saved my father, Master. You are the Zhan family's benefactor.
"Whenever you need me, this servant is ready to attend you in bed." At that moment, Zhan Junru raised her head and spoke bravely.
"Junru, you may be a maidservant, but you're also a person. What would this make you, with neither a name nor a proper place? Don't do anything foolish," Gu Hanyan said.
"I'm willing. I've been married before. I'm already a married woman.
"And my looks are as ordinary as willow and rush. If Master finds this servant pleasing, I'm willing to warm his bed forever.
"I ask for no title. I would be content just to be a bed-warming maid."
Zhan Junru was more resolute than ever. She had cast aside her shyness and completely opened up.
"Forget it. I'm tired. Both of you go and rest." Tang Wen waved his hand.
Early the next morning, Tang Wen took Tang Jun straight to Yanling City.
Tang Jun really was a treasure he had stumbled upon. He had once been an inner disciple of the Iron Sword Sect.
He possessed eighth-rank perfection strength, but had later offended Liu Fei, the grandson of Fifth Elder Liu Yizhou, and been expelled from the Iron Sword Sect.
After leaving the sect, Liu Fei had hunted him down and badly wounded him. He finally managed to hold on until he reached Yanling City and saved his own life, but he also ended up buried in debt.
Later, the Thousand-Leaf Workshop recruited him to cast iron swords to repay his debts. He was a master craftsman in his own right.
"Tang Jun, where is the Iron Sword Sect based?" Tang Wen asked from inside the carriage, while Tang Jun served as the driver.
"On the shore of Moon Lake, beside our province's Thousand-Moon City," Tang Jun replied.
"How many disciples does it have? How strong are they, and where does it rank in our province?"
Tang Wen asked curiously, because his knowledge of the martial world was still a complete blank.
He had dreamed of martial heroes in his previous life too. He had never expected to find himself in a real martial arts world in this life.
Of course, compared with the worlds of martial arts novels where people soared through the sky and burrowed through the earth, this was merely a low-powered martial world.
"Seven or eight hundred people. It's as renowned as the Wind-Thunder Fortress in the provincial capital, and it ranks among the top twenty in the seven southern provinces," Tang Jun answered.
"That's quite strong. What's the sect master's name, and how powerful is he?" Tang Wen asked.
"The sect master is Luo Tiandao. He wields his saber so tightly that not a drop of water could get through, and he possesses a thousand jin of strength."
"A thousand jin of strength? Doesn't that make him a sixth-rank outer astral realm expert?" Tang Wen was startled.
The signature ability of such experts was forcing their inner astral energy outside their bodies to injure people from a distance.
However, their striking range was only about three zhang, and they were still less powerful than a firearm.
Of course, if a firearm were in his hands, its power would naturally be even greater.
"Of course. He might even be fifth rank. The ten highest-ranked inner elders of the Iron Sword Sect all possess sixth-rank strength.
"The only difference is which minor stage of the sixth rank they've reached.
"For instance, Sect Master Luo Tiandao has at least sixth-rank perfection strength, while the Tenth Elder has only just entered the sixth rank.
"Although they're all in the same rank, their strength differs by several hundred jin.
"Someone at perfection can knock down five or six people who have just entered the rank," Tang Jun said.
"What tier is the Iron Sword Sect's defining cultivation method?" Tang Wen asked with considerable curiosity.
"A heaven-tier low-grade heart method. The Thunderclap Heart Method practiced by the sect master, for instance, is a heaven-tier low-grade cultivation method.
"When combined with the Thunderclap Sword, it attacks like a fierce tiger descending a mountain, the sword striking with thunder and lightning. Cutting through a tree as thick as a bucket is as easy as turning over your hand.
"Of course, the Thunderclap Heart Method is the Iron Sword Sect's defining cultivation method.
"Only the sect master and the First Elder are qualified to practice it. The other elders can only practice earth-tier high-grade cultivation methods," Tang Jun said.
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