Chương 26: Su Jingshan

Willow County, the Su family. As the Deputy County Magistrate of Willow County, Su Jingshan was one of the parental officials of Willow County. The Su family was the greatest powerful clan in the entire Willow County. The Su family residence was a huge three-entry courtyard, with dozens of maids and servants in the estate. The Year Sacrifice was approaching, and the martial arts school was on holiday. Su Chang followed his father, Su Jinghong, back to the residence in the county city.

At the Rooster hour, after the government office ended work, Su Jingshan returned home from the office and saw Su Chang teasing a maidservant in the residence.

"Young Master! Young Master!"

"First Master is back!" The personal servant noticed Su Jingshan and hurriedly reminded him. Su Chang quickly withdrew his hand, straightened his messy clothes, came forward, and cupped his hands.

"Eldest Uncle." Su Jingshan walked past him with a cold face and did not pay him any attention. In the rear courtyard hall, Su Jinghong was accompanying an old woman in conversation. Seeing Su Jingshan come in, he hurriedly stood and cupped his hands.

"Big Brother." The old woman also smiled and said, "Jingshan, you came at just the right time." Su Jingshan put away the displeasure on his face and quickly saluted his mother.

"Mother." The old woman smiled and nodded.

"Sit." The two brothers sat before her. The old woman took Su Jingshan's hand and said, "Jinghong was just telling Mother that after the Year Sacrifice, he plans to find someone to go to the Huang family and deliver the betrothal gifts. As the eldest brother, you need to put more effort into this matter." Su Jingshan nodded in agreement.

"Mother, rest assured. This son remembers this matter." As he spoke, he turned to look at Su Jinghong and said, "Chang'er has stayed in Cloudwater Town for several years. How is his relationship with the Huang family's girl?" Su Jinghong touched his bald head and smiled somewhat awkwardly without speaking.

"Mother, you rest first. This son and Jinghong will go discuss this matter." Su Jingshan also knew his nephew's character and did not want to mention it in front of his mother. Yet at this moment, Su Chang hurriedly ran in from outside. Seeing that Su Jingshan was also there, he immediately slowed his steps, slowly came forward, and respectfully saluted the old woman.

"Grandmother, your grandson had someone make your favorite deer antler soup. It will be ready in a while." The old woman nodded happily.

"Chang'er is filial. Come accompany Grandmother and talk." Hearing this, Su Chang quickly moved closer and knelt down. Su Jingshan glanced at him without saying anything, then stood and left. Su Jinghong followed close behind. The two came to the pavilion in the courtyard. Su Jingshan stood with his hands behind his back, anger on his face.

"Such a spoiled wastrel—how can he be of great use?"

"Second Brother, do you know that news has already come from above? After the Year Sacrifice, Huang Yunxiao of the Huang family will be transferred to Willow County as County Military Commandant." Facing his eldest brother's questioning, Su Jinghong nodded somewhat cautiously. The eldest brother was like a father. Although the two were blood brothers, Su Jingshan was more than ten years older than him.

In addition, he had occupied an official position for many years, carrying the pressure of a superior, which made Su Jinghong inevitably somewhat awed. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Then do you know that the Huang family already has the intention to break the marriage agreement?" Su Jingshan spoke again, his voice unconsciously growing colder. Early this morning, Huang Yunxiao had gone to the government office to submit his official documents. The two happened to meet. After exchanging courtesies, Su Jingshan naturally brought up the matter of the marriage agreement. But Huang Yunxiao's attitude was very subtle.

He merely kept declining, saying the children were still young and that they should wait longer. Su Jingshan was not stupid. How could he not know that the Huang family already had thoughts of breaking the agreement? Before this, Huang Yunxiao had only been a commandant of the Mountain Patrol Commandant Camp, equivalent to a Hundred-Man Commander in the army. For the two families to have a marriage agreement then meant the Huang family was climbing upward.

But now, because Huang Yunxiao had made military merit by intercepting and killing the barbarian squad, he had been transferred to Willow County as County Military Commandant. In name, the two were already of equal rank. If the two families became in-laws, he could better control Willow County. At that time, whether for the development of the family or for political achievements and promotion, there would be great benefits. But now…

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" Su Jingshan sighed and asked. He understood that the biggest reason the Huang family wanted to break the agreement was definitely because this nephew of his was too unbearable. These years, in order to build a good relationship with the Huang family, Su Jinghong's family had lived in the old residence in Cloudwater Town, so he did not know exactly what had happened.

Su Jinghong did not dare hide anything and directly said, "Chang'er is indeed somewhat unwilling to strive for progress, but toward the Huang family's girl, he is truly single-minded."

"Big Brother, I think the reason the Huang family wants to break the agreement is because they found a better backer." A better backer? Su Jingshan sneered.

"With the Huang family's connections, there are not many people they can get close to. The Huang family's girl is not peerlessly beautiful, nor does she have heaven-shocking talent. How could she enter the eyes of those great families?" In his view, this younger brother of his was simply shielding his son. After studying martial arts for six years and consuming countless resources, Su Chang still had not broken through to the Acquired Realm.

At such a young age, he lingered in pleasure quarters, teased maidservants, and was ignorant and incompetent. If it were Su Jingshan, he would not dare marry his daughter to such a person either.

"Big Brother, there really is one." Su Jinghong hurriedly said, "I heard Chang'er say that recently, the Huang family's girl has always been together with a boy called Jiang Wenfeng."

"Before that boy went to the martial arts school, the relationship between the two was still fairly harmonious. Ever since that boy went there, the Huang family's girl no longer pays attention to Chang'er." Surnamed Jiang? Su Jingshan frowned. He carefully recalled for a moment, but he could not find any family that matched the conditions.

"What background does this Jiang Wenfeng have?"

"He comes from Golden Willow Village in Cloudwater Town!" Su Jinghong had clearly investigated and directly said, "The Jiang family's ancestors once had military merit and held the Hairpin Rank. Passed down to this generation, the noble rank has already been reduced away. Now, they are just ordinary farmers."

"But…" Su Jinghong looked at his elder brother, then continued, "But the Jiang family's second son somehow had great fortune and actually became the student of Teacher Lu, the great scholar of the Imperial Academy…" Teacher Lu!? Su Jingshan was slightly stunned. In his mind, he could not help recalling a letter he had received some time ago. It was precisely a letter Lu Zhiyuan had personally written to him, asking to buy a piece of farmland in Golden Willow Village.

Thinking back to the past, when he learned that Lu Zhiyuan was living in seclusion in Golden Willow Village, he had once brought generous gifts, wanting his youngest son to enter Lu Zhiyuan's school and become a great scholar's student. But at the time, he had not even seen Lu Zhiyuan's face. Regarding this, Su Jingshan did not dare feel any dissatisfaction. After all, that was a contemporary great scholar, a towering figure of the literary world.

In the entire officialdom of Great Yu, there were countless scholars and officials who had come from Lu Zhiyuan's school. It was rumored that when the current Emperor of Yu was still the Crown Prince, he had once gone to the Imperial Academy to seek instruction from him.

Although more than ten years ago, rumors had spread among the people that Lu Zhiyuan wanted to do something "deceiving teachers and destroying ancestors," causing many radical scholars to denounce him verbally and in writing, this did not hinder his status as a great scholar.

"Anything else?" Su Jingshan asked in a deep voice. The Jiang family's second son becoming a great scholar's student was still far from enough to make the Huang family break the marriage agreement because of it. After all, the one close to the Huang family's girl was the Jiang family's eldest son.

"This…" Su Jinghong suddenly had nothing to say. Investigating these matters of the Jiang family was easy, but regarding Jiang Wenfeng's affairs in the martial arts school, Su Chang definitely would not talk about them.

"Enough. During this period, properly discipline that boy. Don't let him keep bringing shame to the Su family!" These few years, the heavens had shown favor. There had been several consecutive years of good harvests, without disasters or difficulties. He still wanted to produce some solid political achievements and take another step forward. There absolutely could not be any mistake because of this spoiled nephew. Su Jinghong quickly cupped his hands.

"Big Brother, rest assured. I will definitely discipline him properly!" Su Jingshan waved his hand, indicating that he should leave first. After he left, a thoughtful expression appeared on Su Jingshan's face. Regarding the Huang family's matter, he still wanted to fight for it again. After all, if the two families successfully formed a marriage alliance, it would make his path of promotion smoother.