Chapter 3: The Clan Chief’s Error Reasoning (Part 1) (This chapter is free)

But could he refuse?

Cheng Tong regards the children's entrepreneurship as the public property of Cheng Jiaao, which is a clan tradition. There is no private rights in this era; the children in the clan have not yet grown up, so it doesn't make sense to them by taking the modern concept of "ownership".

After reading "Be careful of your words" several times, Zhao Xing shook his head and talked about himself: "In the past, Li Taibai once said: Read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles. So, I plan to take my children out for a study tour after spring - first go around nearby, then a little further...

Last year I saved up a lot of travel expenses, so the elders didn’t have to worry about the food and accommodation of the children… No matter how the village arranges it, the children can’t do serious business this year, so I just sent them a job… Well, my expenses are enough for ten children to study, so I will pick ten children to follow me.”

Zhao Xing said this to indirectly vent his dissatisfaction, and his words caused a buzzing sound. However, what the mountain people paid attention to was not his resentment.

Cheng Laoer, the second-ranked "elder" of Cheng clan, immediately took over the conversation: "How can the teacher take the child out... to study abroad, we can let the teacher pay for it ourselves. I will pay the money for that kid in my family."

Cheng Lao Er's child Cheng Zhuo is the worst of all children. Hearing that Zhao Xing only took ten children away, Cheng Lao Er was worried that his child would not be selected, so he quickly expressed his willingness to pay.

Cheng Laoer is a middle-aged man. This hunter is the best in hunting skills in the village. Because he is not at home all year round, his children lack fatherly love and are unbearable. Fortunately, his generous hunting is enough to support constant apology, so that his neighbors can tolerate their children's naughtiness.

In fact, Cheng Lao Er's behavior of distributing prey was also out of helplessness. Because the Song people lacked fresh preservation skills and the prey could not be preserved, the superb hunting skills did not make people rich, and the excess prey could only be sent out quickly. Therefore, although Cheng Lao Er had great skills, he had no money in his family.

After Zhao Xing came, Cheng Laoer's situation changed. Zhao Xing "invented" fresh-keeping technologies such as smoked meat, roasted bacon, and marinated meat, and began to cut the finished products into various shapes and put them in exquisite bamboo utensils to sell them to big cities. These "deeply processed" mountain goods suddenly became delicacies on the tables of powerful people.

The demand for prey was high, so Cheng Laoer simply organized a hunting team to provide raw materials to Zhao Xing, and then quickly became a "nova" in the village. In just one year, he had not had the last meal and became the "second rich man" of Chengjiaao, and could afford silk and satin.

"Read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles" - Is this what Li Bai said? Cheng Laoer didn't know, and he didn't even know if there was a person named "Li Bai". However, Cheng Laoer understood a simple truth: you can't follow the teacher. If the child gets close to Zhao Xing, he can not only know the text and write, but also learn a skill.

What is Zhao Xing planning to do this time? "Studying around the world", the elegant thing for scholars. Cheng Laoer "has enough food and clothing" and thought that the next generation will have a promising future. With such an elegant thing, the teacher will only take ten people away. Who can be missing? Who knows what the teacher will teach students when he goes out this time. At that time, my child will not be able to do it, so am I still "Cheng Laoer"?

Thinking of this, Cheng Laoer interrupted with an anxious look on his face regardless of the order of the ancestral hall.

Cheng Lao Er, a fool, knew the secret, and all the "elders" sitting by the fire pit were not stupid. After Cheng Lao Er interrupted, the other elders ignored the order of the ancestral hall and said: I must let my kid bring all the travel expenses and dry food, follow the teacher to serve tea and water...

After Zhao Xing disturbed this, the discussion in the ancestral hall suddenly went off topic.

Cheng Tong squatted by the fire pit and didn't interrupt. After a long time, he asked in a muffled voice: "Is the teacher going to Huangzhou?"

Zhao Xing nodded.

Cheng Tong said "Oh" and decided: "So, teacher, please rest."

Zhao Xing stood up and said goodbye.

Behind him, the people in the ancestral hall continued to forget the purpose of the meeting, and they talked about the children's upcoming study tour.

When the children can travel to study, the parents immediately felt that their identity has improved a lot... Well, I was originally a villager, but now, it seems that I should call myself "Standle". The problem is: Chengjiaao is full of "Standle Man Wai", which is difficult to distinguish.

At this point, several "elders" discussed enthusiastically: perhaps they should call themselves "Cheng Ershiwai" and "Cheng Sanshiwai" based on the ranking... or find a teacher to give themselves a name and then call them by name, such as "Cheng Tong Yuanshiwai", etc.

When talking about "Mr. Cheng Tongwai", people couldn't help but look at the clan leader who had been silent, and the sound in the ancestral hall suddenly decreased a lot.

Cheng Tong has not spoken since Zhao Xing left, and just lowered his head and used a fire stick to draw circles in the fire pit. Cheng Er was a silence, and he opened his mouth and called the patriarch with a new title: "In addition to Master Cheng, give me an idea - what should we do, everyone will listen to you."

Cheng Tong was furious.

What's going on? What we should have discussed was the "annual work plan", but now we are discussing the issue of "outsider". He plucked the fire stick and shouted in a deep voice: "Crack--the teacher is planning to leave."

Cheng Laowu was puzzled: "No way? Our village treats him well."

Cheng Tong could not understand the concept of private rights, and in this era, Cheng Tong's approach was completely in line with the patriarchal law and laws. He felt Zhao Xing's dissatisfaction, but he didn't know why the other party was dissatisfied, so he sorted out his ideas while talking, but this sorting out went to a wrong path.

"This is not a matter of being thin and not being thin - when the Master first came, I found that he was not simple..." Here, Cheng Tong specially used the respectful name "Teacher". He paused and continued to add: "At that time, he cured the cows in the village, and I treated him with the best Lanxi Xiaolong Group. Lanxi Xiaolong Group! That was a tribute, and people in the palace praised him after drinking it...

Well, he frowned as soon as he picked up the teacup, and he nodded slightly until he tasted a few sips of the tea. I was wondering at the beginning, why didn’t he look down on the Lanxi Xiaolongtuan? I thought about this for a long time, until last year I followed him to the county town and saw him playing with the teacup at the stall. Then I suddenly realized: It turned out that he was not frowning at the teacup at the beginning, but was dissatisfied with the teacup.

We use pottery bowls when drinking tea, but wealthy families don't need this. When I saw that the cup was playing with in small hands, I asked him what it was, and he said it was purple... The purple egg rabbit hair cup was the favorite tea set in the palace. When I heard this, I immediately burst into cold sweat.

Rabbit hair cup, listen to this name, will our villagers say this word? Don’t say that they have seen it or never heard it, but he can tell the history in one mouthful, and it is a favorite in the capital. Listen to it - drinking tea is so particular, can this person’s origin be simple?”

The patriarch's words immediately resonated with Cheng Lao Er. He said furiously: "Yes, the teacher first came to the village. Although his clothes were broken and looked like a beggar, the fabric of the clothes... tsk, we have never seen them before. My wife said that the stitches were even, not something that ordinary people could take. I guess: that should be a tribute, maybe in the palace..."
Chapter completed!