Chương 23: Another step forward

"I'd happily take over your farmland," Shu Yang said, "As with the other villagers who have sold land to me, I can hire your family members as workers for a fair pay. Double what the Liang family is paying. But other than that, I have another suggestion for you."

"Please, I'm all ears," Chu Ping said, clasping his hands in his lap nervously. Shu Yang smiled slightly, thinking that things had been moving along nicely lately. It had been eight months since he confronted the Liang brothers, and since the rumor of his strength and connection with Lady Jiangxi spread, one blessing after another seemed to arrive, this Chu Ping being one of them. Chu Ping was an old man in his sixties, and his family had been running a bakery in Baishu Village for several generations.

That was until the Liang family set their sight on their business, and they had to sell their bakery to make ends meet eight months ago. Now, things hadn't exactly reached the point of no return for the family quite yet. They still had 20 acres of land, and this year had a good harvest. But it had become evident to several families in Baishu Village that the Liang family was growing to become more and more of a threat. If it were a year ago, these people would have no choice but to accept their fate.

But since Shu Yang managed to compete with the Liang family without suffering any loss, he became somewhat of a shield for these people who worried about their future. Shu Yang already had quite a good reputation in the village. He had taken over the land from several farmers before, and they all had been kept as workers, earning a decent wage. Even if it weren't for that, the Shu family were basically saints if you compared them to the Liang family.

Even as Shu Yang's strength increased, he didn't use his power to bully anyone, and his children were all upright and polite young people. So a few families in Baishu Village, worried about their future, sought out Shu Yang, hoping to have someone to rely on as the Liang family grew increasingly arrogant. Of course, Shu Yang wouldn't help strangers for nothing, even if they were fellow villagers. But as long as Shu Yang had something to gain from it, he didn't mind helping out to the best of his abilities.

Chu Ping was one of these struggling villagers. He knew he couldn't hope to hold on to his land for long now that the Liang family had set their sight on his family. If he didn't take action, his family might fall so far that they can never get back up again after he passes away. So, in exchange for being able to buy up the Chu family's 20 acres of land, Shu Yang would have to hire the Chu family members as workers, as well as promise to protect them if the Liang family ever bullied them.

This was, of course, a great deal for Shu Yang, and he didn't need to think about it before agreeing. But he still felt some sympathy for the old man, so he came up with another suggestion.

"You should know I own a store in Chunsi Town, right?" Shu Yang asked.

"Of course, I have a bottle of Baishu Spring Wine at home. It's delicious," Chu Ping flattered.

"Well, I'm thinking of buying another storefront. I just haven't decided what I would do with it yet. But meeting you, I suddenly had an idea," Shu Yang said. The twenty gold coins he had received from Liang Huang were more than enough to buy a store for his wine business. And now that most of this year's batch of wine had been sold, Shu Yang was wealthier than ever. And he knew that money couldn't be sitting around in a chest gathering dust; it needed to be reinvested.

"What do you think about having your family open a bakery there?" Shu Yang asked.

"A bakery? In Chunsi Town? Are you serious?" Chu Ping asked, incredulous.

"I'm serious," Shu Yang said, nodding, "It would be a joint venture between our two families. I will invest the store, no rent needed, as well as protection from potential troublemakers. Your family would take care of everything else needed to run the business. We will split the profit evenly, 50 percent each. What do you think?"

"This…Of course, I'd be more than happy to," Chu Ping answered, "But I'm afraid it might not be easy opening a bakery in Chunsi Town. There should already be plenty of established bakeries there, right?"

"I have a few ideas to make our bakery stand out," Shu Yang assured him, "For example, besides bread, we can focus on making luxurious desserts for the wealthy. I haven't found any place that sells here in Chunsi Town. But it's different in Kuo City; it's very popular among the wealthy families over there. I'm sure it will be a hit if we bring the concept to Chunsi Town."

"Desserts…That's a great idea," Chu Ping said, nodding, "But I'm afraid I don't know any-""I can supply you with a few recipes," Shu Yang interrupted, "They definitely won't be any worse than what you can find in Kuo City. Besides, your bread is good, right?" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"It's good," Chu Ping said firmly, "Definitely better than whatever the Liang family makes. If it wasn't for them undercutting our prices and bribing so many of our workers to sabotage us, we would never have lost to them."

"Then there is nothing to worry about," Shu Yang said with a smile, "A good product, at a good price, will never have a problem selling." After finishing the details with Chu Ping, Shu Yang escorted him out of the house and sighed in relief.

'Another 20 acres will soon belong to my Shu family. And this new bakery business has good prospects. My wealth will accumulate faster and faster in the future.'

"Did everything go well with Chu Ping?" His wife, Qianyue, came up from behind and asked softly.

"Very well," Shu Yang answered with a satisfied smile and explained what the two of them had agreed upon.

"Desserts? You should bring the family over for a taste test when everything is ready," Qinayue said.

"Of course," Shu Yang agreed.

"Augh," A small voice sounded from Qianyue's arms.

"Looks like little Zheng is hungry again," Qianyue said with a smile, looking at the small baby, only a few days old, cradled in her arms. This was Shu Yang's sixth child, Shu Tianzheng, yet another boy. After a whole six years since their last child, the Shu family finally had another member. If Shu Yang were to be completely honest, he was hoping to have another cute little daughter. But son or daughter, Shu Yang was happy just to have another child.

Besides, if this one were a daughter, Qianyue might have felt six children were enough. But now that this wish hadn't been fulfilled, there was a strong possibility that she would want to try again with another child. Seeing it this way, another son was actually a blessing for Shu Yang.

"He seems hungry. I'll go breastfeed," Qianyue said, walking off to the bedroom. Shu Yang watched them walk away and once again focused on the connection to his son through the Bloodline Tree. [Name: Shu Tianzheng] [Bloodline Power: 1. 12 (Mortal - Middle)] [Traits: Slight martial art talent, Clear mind] Shu Yang smiled, increasingly pleased. He just never got tired of looking at those numbers. Tianzheng had truly managed to inherit his bloodline.

What stood out the most was that he had a 'Mortal - Middle' bloodline. This meant that Tianzheng's Bloodline Power was naturally above 3; it just hadn't gotten there yet since he was still only a baby. Add to that his future breakthroughs, and he might actually be able to raise his bloodline to the 'Mortal - High' grade eventually. Of course, that was just a guess. Shu Yang himself hadn't even reached that point yet. [Name: Shu Yang] [Bloodline Power: 3. 88 (Mortal - Middle)] [Traits: Slight martial art talent, Clear mind] The feedback from Tianzheng's birth had given Shu Yang a boost of 0. 4 in Bloodline Power, which was actually a little lower than when Tianxu had been born. But it was to be expected. Shu Yang's Bloodline Power was much higher now, and it was getting more difficult to raise it with feedback from lower values.

Shu Yang had noticed a big difference in feedback between when his children's Bloodline Power increased from 0 to 1 and when it increased above 1. This meant that Tianzheng's bloodline would feed back a lot more as he grew up and his Bloodline Power approached the 3. 0 mark.

'With Tianzheng's feedback, my bottleneck to the Innate stage shouldn't be much of a problem anymore.' Shu Yang thought, relieved. The Innate stage wasn't an impossible hurdle to begin with, and now that his talent had been raised slightly again, Shu Yang felt his training become a lot clearer.

'Another four or five years, and I should be able to get there.'

"Dad, I'm heading out for a bit," Tianren came up from behind and spoke.

"Alright. Have fun," Shu Yang waved him off with a smile. His eldest son was now 12 years old and had grown to reach Shu Yang's chin.

'Time moves so fast. Tianren is already a young man.' Shu Yang thought with a sigh.

"Was that Tianren leaving just now?" Qianyue came back again just as Tianren left.

"Who else could it be? Tianan would never let me know before leaving, and the other kids are just home all day long," Shu Yang muttered.

"You're not happy when they're running off, and not happy when they stay at home," Qianyue said with a teasing smile.

"I'll feel uncomfortable if I don't find something to complain about," Shu Yang said with a laugh. He had spent so much effort in raising his children properly that now, when they had grown up and become more independent, he grew a little uneasy. He felt he needed to instruct them in at least a few things every day.

"Tianren should be off to see that Li girl, right?" Qianyue asked.

"Probably," Shu Yang nodded, "Yezi is in the Bearing Boulder Hall, and Tianren doesn't have any other friends from what I've seen."

"What do you think of her?" Qianyue asked curiously.

"She's a good girl," Shu Yang said, "And she gets along well with the kids."

"Are you thinking of having her as a daughter-in-law?" Qianyue asked.

"That would be fine. But I'll let Tianren decide that for himself. Unless it's a girl with serious problems, the only thing that matters is that he likes her."

"That's good. I think he likes her," Qianyue said with a smile. Shu Yang would, of course, prefer a talented daughter-in-law, so that his grandkids would be more talented. But he certainly wouldn't let that preference sway his son's decision. Much more important than a talented partner was mutual understanding and love between the two, so that his grandchildren could grow up in a stable and loving home. Shu Yang would rather have an untalented grandchild with good character than a talented but wasteful one.

'Well. They're still young. We'll see how it turns out in the future.'