Chapter Four: The Eldest Young Master’s Enlightenment

At that time, Zheng Shizhen did not want to leave. He told Madam Zhao, “Old Madam, I’ve grown accustomed to living in Zhang Manor. I’ll stay here in this large courtyard as an insignificant gatekeeper. The Tian family should be agreeable to that.”

The Tian family retained Zheng Shizhen. Today, when Zhang Chen moved to Zhang Manor to live, Zheng Shizhen also came over. He cursed the Tian family, “Letting the eldest young master move to Zhang Manor for a long stay—Tian family is being utterly unreasonable!”

“Tian Xuewen is the county magistrate, and he is the future Heng King’s father-in-law; we can’t afford to provoke them,” Zhang Chen smiled and said, “Uncle Zheng, let’s wait a while. After I familiarize myself with the situation, I’ll move to that large courtyard.”

Zhang Manor had nearly three thousand villagers; it was a fairly large village.

There were two main streets running east to west. The front street of Zhang Manor had more than ten shops, including restaurants, clinics, blacksmiths, grain and oil stores, and general stores.

Zhang Chen rented two small restaurants on the front street and invited Zhang Dacai, Zheng Shizhen, and more than a dozen Zhang family guards to dine.

After two quarters of an hour, the comrades left the restaurant fully satisfied.

Of course, Zhang Chen, Feiniu, and Xia Hua were also well-fed and pleasantly drunk.

It was worth mentioning that a little while ago, when Zhang Chen went to settle the bill, he found that Zheng Shizhen had already paid.

As dusk fell, Zhang Dacai led the more than a dozen guards riding horses, hastening back to the county seat.

Zheng Shizhen returned to that large courtyard, while Zhang Chen, Feiniu, and Xia Hua returned to the small courtyard at the back street.

Upon returning home, Feiniu boiled some hot water.

After nightfall, Xia Hua changed into her nightdress in the bathing room, preparing to assist Zhang Chen with his bath.

“I can bathe myself,” Zhang Chen said without entering the bathing room. “Xia Hua, you use the hot water to wash. It’s not cold tonight; I’ll bathe with cold water.”

Saying that, Zhang Chen walked to the well. Beside it stood a large water jar filled with clear water drawn by Feiniu from the well.

Wearing only his underpants, Zhang Chen bathed using the cool water from the jar.

There were trees in the courtyard, but no lanterns hung from them.

Under the faint moonlight and starlight, Zhang Chen changed into a clean pair of underpants. He tossed his dirty underpants into a copper basin and squatted to wash them.

“I’ll wash them, your servant will wash them...” Xia Hua rushed over, her face full of panic. The eldest young master wouldn’t let her help bathe him and was washing his underpants himself. He must be out of his mind—he’d been driven crazy by that vile woman, Tian Yachun!

Not letting Xia Hua help with his bath, the eldest young master washed his underpants himself. He had been angered senseless by the Tian family. Perhaps the eldest young master would kick her fewer times in the future—this might be a good thing!

“I’ll wash myself. Hmm, you wash then.” Zhang Chen stood up. In the Ming Dynasty, men and women were not equal. He kicked Feiniu. “Don’t you need money for candles? Go blow out the kitchen candles quickly.”

“There isn’t much firewood left. Don’t forget to go to the little forest outside the village to chop firewood tomorrow,” he scolded Feiniu before going to sleep.

Xia Hua had already made Zhang Chen’s bed. Zhang Chen lay down on the large bed, deeply pondering how to get rich.

Coming from the 21st century, Zhang Chen was confident he could quickly produce low-tech products like soap, glass, cigarettes, and cement.

Without backing or self-protection abilities, for now, Zhang Chen dared not make soap or other such products.

The world was chaotic, but Zhang Chen did not dare kill, burn, or rob. He smiled—he could cheat, find ways to swindle some silver, preferably from the Tian family, and recover the more than fifty thousand taels of silver in the dowry.

Swindling the Tian family required opportunity. Zhang Chen thought for dozens of minutes but couldn’t come up with a good plan. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

The next day, at the second quarter of the hour of Mao, Zhang Chen woke up.

In his previous life, Zhang Chen of this era usually got up at this time to practice martial arts.

Zhang Chen, a doctor from the 21st century, had inherited the body of this era’s Zhang Chen. The original owner’s biological clock woke him.

Upon waking, Zhang Chen found a beautiful young girl lying on his bed.

The girl wore a cotton camisole nightgown with a short hem that barely covered her underpants. Xia Hua lay flat on the large bed; the hem of her nightgown had long since ridden up, her black underpants stretched tight, and one strap of the nightgown had slipped off, exposing much of her pale white chest to the air.

“Xia Hua, why are you on my bed? Hmm, you go back to sleep then,” Zhang Chen said softly, getting up quietly and doing the Taizu Long Fist in the small courtyard.

Zhang Chen of this era mastered Taizu Long Fist, and Zhang Chen the doctor had the original owner’s memories, so he also knew this style.

In the inner chamber bedroom, on the large bed,

Xia Hua stretched lazily. “Eldest young master, since the spring when you were twelve years old, I have mostly slept on your bed at night. Of course, last night I had to sleep on your big bed.”

Taizu Long Fist, also called the Thirty-Two Posture Long Fist, was reportedly created by Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin. It shone brilliantly in the Ming Dynasty and was known as the “Mother of a Hundred Fists.”

Focusing his energy and calming his mind, Zhang Chen performed a full set of Taizu Long Fist. After finishing and standing steady, he suddenly heard a “crack” from his lower abdomen’s Dantian point.

“That must be an illusion. There can’t be any sound inside my Dantian,” Zhang Chen muttered, cursing Feiniu who had just come out of the side room. He then raised his right leg and kicked a paulownia tree about the thickness of a grown man’s calf.

With a “crack,” the paulownia tree broke.

Due to the force, the cloth shoe on Zhang Chen’s right foot was shattered.

With a cacophony of rustling, crashing, and cracking, the paulownia tree fell to the ground, smashing and toppling many things.

“Oh my goodness!” Feiniu was so shocked he plopped down on the ground. “The eldest young master’s been angered senseless by the Tian family. His belly is full of energy. The eldest young master’s anger has enlightened his qigong. His qigong is truly formidable; his strength is immense!”

“What’s going on? What’s going on? Is it an earth dragon flipping over? (An earthquake) Eldest young master, run quickly...” Xia Hua, hair disheveled, rushed out from the main room. “Feiniu, protect the eldest young master and run quickly!”

“It’s nothing. I just didn’t control my strength well during practice,” Zhang Chen said as he changed into a new pair of cloth shoes. “I’m going for a run. Xia Hua, bake some scallion pancakes, stir-fry a few eggs, and slice some pickled vegetables for me.”

“Better have millet porridge. Eldest young master, will you run for an hour?” Xia Hua replied from the bedroom while changing clothes. “Feiniu, hurry up and clean the courtyard. You eat a lot; later, you’ll knead dough, and in the afternoon, I’ll steam a batch of buns.”

When in the Zhang family’s large courtyard, Zhang Chen lived in a delicate small courtyard at the back.

The Zhang family’s back courtyard had a large dining hall; Zhang Chen’s small courtyard had a small kitchen.

When Zhang Chen didn’t want to eat at the main dining hall, Xia Hua would cook small meals for him. She often cooked for him before.

“The eldest young master can do martial arts; he eats even more than me...” Feiniu grumbled as he tidied the courtyard. Standing less than 1.75 meters tall and weighing nearly 100 kilograms, his hands and feet were surprisingly nimble.

This was the happy life of the three: Zhang Chen, Feiniu, and Xia Hua.

Jogging out of Zhang Manor, Zhang Chen kicked a wooden stake about the thickness of a grown man’s arm buried by the roadside at the village entrance.

With a “crack,” the wooden stake broke.

Zhang Chen discovered that his strength had indeed increased considerably.