Chương 19: Practicing Stance Training

His heart was eager to return home, but the ox cart moved slowly. This familiar road home also seemed to have become much longer. Along the way, Jiang Wenfeng stood up from time to time, gazing into the distance in the direction of Golden Willow Village. When the outline of the village appeared in his sight, he directly jumped down from the ox cart.

"Father, the ox cart is too slow. I'll go back first." By the time his voice came over, he had already run forward.

"Stinky brat…" Looking at his son's back, Jiang Huanyu laughed and scolded him, then flicked the whip rope in his hand against the old ox's back.

"Go!" … In the small courtyard, when Jiang Huanyu drove the ox cart back home, Jiang Wenfeng was carefully holding his younger sister, Jiang Wenping, and grinning foolishly. Although he said that either a younger brother or younger sister was fine, in his heart, he still liked his younger sister a little more. Jiang Huanyu simply washed his hands and took his younger son from his wife's hands.

"He looks more and more like Stone when he was little." Hearing this, Jiang Wenfeng quickly came closer.

"Father, did I look like this when I was little?" Jiang Huanyu nodded. At evening, the sun slanted west, and Jiang Huanyu brought Anu back as well. At this point, the family of six could be considered gathered together for the first time.

"Father, Teacher told me to ask you when you will hold the full-month banquet for younger brother and younger sister," Anu asked while picking at the rice in his bowl during dinner. Full-month banquet? The husband and wife looked at each other. In this era, there were rules. Only when the legitimate eldest son was born could a full-month banquet be held. When Stone reached one month old back then, they had already held one.

For the legitimate eldest daughter and second son, people basically did not hold another full-month banquet. Unless it was a prominent family with many social connections, when a second son was born, they would symbolically hold a few tables, treating it as a way to increase relationships with others. The husband and wife had originally not planned to hold a full-month banquet for Jiang Wenping and Jiang wenchen.

But now that Teacher Lu had entrusted Anu to ask, he clearly wanted to come drink a cup of celebration wine. If they refused, it would probably not be good. Hu Yufen looked at the pair of children in the cradle and hesitated.

"Husband, how about we simply set up two tables of banquet?"

"There happen to be a few neighboring families in the village who sent congratulatory gifts. Invite them over for a simple meal and a cup of celebration wine." Jiang Huanyu nodded slightly. That was fine too.

"Wenping and Chen still have twenty days before they reach one month old. I'll prepare in a few days."

"We'll slaughter one of the piglets in the pen and buy some other vegetables. That should be enough." After dinner, Anu stayed in the room playing with his mother and younger siblings. Jiang Huanyu quietly pulled Jiang Wenfeng into the courtyard.

"Stone, Father wants to ask you something." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Some time ago, did you feel any change in your body?" He was still thinking about the bloodline tempering. The second child, Anu, did not have such good fortune. He wanted to see whether the eldest had received favor.

"How does Father know?" Jiang Wenfeng was somewhat surprised. He still had not had time to talk about the matter of his body changing and his strength increasing greatly.

"So your body really changed?" A trace of pleasant surprise flashed across Jiang Huanyu's face. His eldest son was learning martial arts. Having his bloodline tempered seemed even more useful. Jiang Wenfeng did not conceal it from his father and described the changes in his body in detail. After Jiang Huanyu heard this, he secretly compared it and found that it was roughly the same as what he himself had felt.

When he heard that his son's strength had suddenly surged because of the bloodline promotion, an impulse rose in his heart.

"Stone, can the stance training you cultivate truly be passed on outside?" Jiang Wenfeng nodded without hesitation.

"It's only stance training. Without the support of medicinal meals, outsiders who practice it can only strengthen the body. It isn't very useful."

"Father wants to learn?" He had always wanted his father to practice stance training with him. The family's dozens of mu of farmland and all kinds of large and small matters were all pressing on his father alone. If he could practice stance training in his free time to nourish his body, he would not be so tired. After hesitating for a while, Jiang Huanyu nodded.

"Then demonstrate it once for Father." The father and son began practicing stance training in the courtyard. The overall movements were not difficult. But because Jiang Huanyu was already twenty-seven years old now and had labored for many years, some of his bones, tendons, and muscles had aged and stiffened somewhat. After performing it once, he was in so much pain that his head was covered in sweat.

"Father, you have to practice this stance training diligently from now on. Otherwise, when you grow old, your body will have problems." Jiang Wenfeng supported him with some heartache and helped him sit down.

"Sigh!" Jiang Huanyu held his waist and let out a heavy sigh.

"Stance training works better when paired with some fist and leg techniques. But I don't dare pass the martial arts school's fist techniques to you. However, there are some simple army fists that I can demonstrate for Father." Jiang Wenfeng stood in the courtyard and displayed some simple fist and leg techniques commonly used by army soldiers. Looking at his son's proper-looking movements, Jiang Huanyu felt very gratified.

If this were placed in his previous life, then at the very least, he would be a national-level martial arts athlete. The silver had not been spent in vain! The army fist techniques were simple. After Jiang Huanyu roughly memorized them, he prepared to stand in stances for a period of time first, loosen up his body, and then try cultivating them.

Early the next morning, he first got up and sent Jiang Wenyan to Lu Zhiyuan's place, solemnly handing over an invitation and inviting Lu Zhiyuan to come to their home to drink celebration wine when the time came. Lu Zhiyuan gladly accepted the invitation. When he returned home, Jiang Huanyu looked at the empty invitation before him and fell into thought.

This invitation had originally been prepared for Huang Qingzhou when he later sent Stone to the martial arts school, but he was worried that this action might seem somewhat presumptuous. Although the two families had some interaction because Jiang Wenfeng was learning martial arts at the school, their previous friendship had not been renewed. Suddenly sending an invitation would inevitably be somewhat abrupt. After hesitating for a while, he finally lifted his brush and began writing.

After the ink on it dried, Jiang Huanyu tucked the invitation into his robes. At the entrance of Cloudwater Town's martial arts school, Jiang Huanyu took the invitation out from his robes.

"Stone, keep this." He handed the invitation over.

"Is it for Elder Uncle Huang?" Stone asked in confusion. Jiang Huanyu shook his head slightly.

"Yes and no."

"Keep this invitation. Don't tell outsiders first. If your Elder Uncle Huang asks about your younger brother and sister, then give him the invitation."

"Tell him this was sent by Father, but you forgot."

"If he does not ask, then after your younger brother and sister's full-month banquet is over, throw this invitation away." After Jiang Wenfeng heard this, he was somewhat puzzled, but he still nodded seriously. He had once unintentionally revealed the matter of his wife's pregnancy to Huang Qingzhou. If the other party had the intention, he should remember this matter. If he did not ask, that meant he did not care very much, and their family had no need to insist on sticking close to him.

"All right, go in." Watching his son's figure disappear into the martial arts school entrance, Jiang Huanyu drove the ox cart toward the town market. His family did not have any powerful or prominent friends. Inviting people to eat only required some simple seasonal vegetables, paired with chicken, fish, meat, and eggs. The seasonal vegetables in this season were nothing more than some radishes and cabbages.

If they slaughtered one pig at home and then found a way to get some fish, that would more or less be enough. At evening, Jiang Huanyu pulled a cart of purchased ingredients back home. Hu Yufen came forward, glanced at them, and asked in confusion, "Husband didn't buy any wine?" If they invited people to drink celebration wine, how could there be no wine? Jiang Huanyu smiled bitterly.

"Buying these vegetables, fruits, and seasonings already cost several taels of silver. The wine from the town's wine shop is too expensive."

"I'm preparing to dig out the rice wine our family brewed." That rice wine had been brewed by him when Stone was born. It had originally been meant to be kept until Stone got married, then taken out. But now, the family's silver was truly tight, so it could only be taken out first for the emergency.

"Will it be a bit lacking?" Hu Yufen was somewhat worried. After all, besides the neighbors, there was also a great scholar like Lu Zhiyuan. Jiang Huanyu, however, was rather confident. In his previous life, as someone from Hubei, brewing rice wine was a skill he had mastered since childhood. He would not dare call it fine wine, but he was still confident that it was better than those inferior wines from the town's wine shop.