The next day.
Chen Nuo arrived at the ancestral hall.
His grand-uncle was already up.
He was slowly and leisurely practicing a set of fist techniques.
Chen Nuo didn't disturb him, waiting quietly to the side and watching.
After a short while, the old man stopped.
"I'm getting old. I can't even finish a single set anymore."
Chen Nuo went over to him.
"Grand-uncle, what fist technique is that?"
"Haha, this? It's just a Health Boxing set popular among the Martial Artists of the Yue Kingdom. It was created by the Grand Ancestor of Yue, which is why it's also called Grand Ancestor Long Fist. It doesn't require any medicinal herbs and is specifically for Nourishing the Body and prolonging life."
"When you were children, I taught it to you all while we were drinking tea at the village entrance. A shame none of you took a liking to it."
The grand-uncle sighed.
Chen Nuo gave an awkward smile.
"Alright, come inside with me. I'm going to teach you a few things. How much land our village has, how many people, which families are struggling, which are well-off, how many elders need to be cared for, and how much money the Clan has—these are all things you need to know."
"Yes, Grand-uncle."
In the days that followed.
His grand-uncle's teachings made Chen Nuo truly understand just how vast and far-reaching the Clan's power was!
A Clan, in essence, was a small, self-governing body held together by bloodlines as its pivot, ancestors as its foundation, and mutual benefit as its flesh and blood.
Here, clan rules superseded national law.
When someone did wrong, the authorities above would never get a chance to handle it. The Clan would resolve it internally, setting up its own tribunals and carrying out its own punishments.
The Clan also held collective powers, such as allocating farmland, mediating disputes, overseeing the division of households and inheritance of property, calling for armed fights, engaging in collective business, integrating resources, and even holding the power of life and death.
With power, naturally, came responsibility.
They needed to arrange marriages for single men, assist poor families, care for the widowed and elderly, protect clan members, and evade taxes...
There were tricks to all of these things.
But it all boiled down to a single word: unity.
Using blood ties, filial piety, morality, ancestors, mutual benefit—using whatever it took to band together.
A Clan Leader who truly held absolute power was, in effect, a mini-emperor.
He could easily decide the life or death of a clan member, the survival of a family.
That was the weight of a Clan Leader's authority!
...
At noon.
Chen Nuo asked to stay for a meal.
His grand-uncle was taken aback for a moment, then smiled.
"Good, good child. Stay and eat."
The grand-uncle patted Chen Nuo's shoulder.
Afterward, Chen Nuo helped his grand-uncle cook.
The grand-uncle was not a man who craved power. On the contrary, he was devoted to the Clan. The rice jar in his home was not very full, and the only vegetables were some wild greens. The only things of value were probably the few chickens hopping around on the ground.
A bowl of scrambled eggs, a bowl of wild greens drizzled with vinegar, and rice—it was a simple, frugal meal.
It was clear the grand-uncle enjoyed the lively atmosphere of having company. After they finished eating, he cheerfully recounted old stories to Chen Nuo.
Looking at his lonely grand-uncle, Chen Nuo felt a pang of conflicting emotions.
The grand-uncle's son and daughter-in-law had passed away many years ago, leaving him with only a grandson. After the grand-uncle had gone through the trouble of raising him, the boy ran off to the county town. Out of respect for the grand-uncle, many in the clan helped him out, allowing him to successfully become a butcher. But what about now? He only came back once a month.
Many villagers had wanted to beat him up on several occasions, but the grand-uncle had always intervened and stopped them.
Besides that grandson, the grand-uncle's only other close relative had been the Clan Leader—his nephew, a man with a tragic fate.
He didn't know much about the Clan Leader.
He only knew that this Clan Leader had been a fierce fighter; several armed brawls with the Hu Family had ended in a draw only because of him.
Unfortunately, he had died a few months ago during one of those brawls with the Hu Family.
He remembered that particular brawl had been caused by a dispute over irrigation water from Xiaochenxi during the summer.
"Grand-uncle, tell me about the Hu Family."
"As someone who's about to become Clan Leader, I can't be completely in the dark about who our enemies are, can I?"
Chen Nuo said suddenly.
The grand-uncle's body trembled visibly, and he fell silent.
"Grand-uncle," Chen Nuo called out again.
"Sigh."
A long sigh escaped him.
The old man's hand trembled as he stroked Chen Nuo's hair. "Good child, I know what you want to do. I am broad-minded, and I thank you."
"But there's no need. It's not necessary."
"Just focus on your Martial Arts Training. You can take revenge later."
Chen Nuo smiled and nodded obediently.
"The Hu Family... now that's a story written in blood."
The grand-uncle began to narrate the tale.
As it turned out, the Hu Family had also moved here from elsewhere, just a little earlier than the Chen Family. At first, the two families got along fine. The Hu Family produced artisans, while the Chen Family had a lot of land. They kept to themselves and didn't interfere with each other.
Unfortunately, the Imperial Court later issued an order, conscripting artisans to build a mausoleum. There was an accident, and all the artisans were buried alive with the dead.
The Hu Family suffered a devastating blow. At the same time, someone from the Chen Family made a thoughtless, cutting remark, and a small-scale armed brawl broke out, planting the seeds of future conflict.
Later, the Hu Family tried to change their trade and began to encroach on the farmland. The two families officially became enemies, engaging in armed brawls and suffering casualties every year.
After that, disputes over land, water sources, and relationships between men and women—even the most trivial matters—could spark a fight. The conflict steadily deepened until, in just a few short decades, it had become a blood feud.
And this year, they used despicable means, setting a trap to get the Clan Leader Chen killed.
The blood feud deepened even further.
"So, Grand-uncle, do you think the Hu Family will come and cause trouble when I succeed as Clan Leader?"
Chen Nuo posed the question.
"They won't," the grand-uncle answered decisively.
?
"The realm is not yet in total chaos. Even though we have armed brawls and kill each other, we haven't completely torn all semblance of civility apart. Neither side wants to force the other to go to those bloodsuckers at the Government Office."
"When that happens, no one comes out ahead."
Chen Nuo understood.
'Damn,' he thought. 'Things have gotten this bad and they still haven't had a complete falling out, all because the Government Office is even more disgusting?'
'Just what the hell has the Government Office become for people to despise it so much?'
As if sensing Chen Nuo's speechless disbelief, the grand-uncle explained, "The common folk have their ways, and the government has theirs. As long as the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate. Once you involve the Government Office, regardless of who is right or wrong, the price to pay is something no Clan can afford."
The grand-uncle's attitude of respectful distance made Chen Nuo nod.
Afterward, the two of them chatted for a while longer.
Then, the midday meal finally came to an end.
...
Time ticked by.
In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed. His grand-uncle had already told him to prepare for the succession.
During these seven days, besides learning to handle clan affairs, tending to the second-generation oyster mushrooms, and his Martial Arts Training, Chen Nuo had been experimenting with Spray Transformation.
Unfortunately, all he got was useless junk. Nothing of value.
Chen Nuo was a little disappointed. 'Was the luck with the oyster mushrooms a one-time thing?'
'What a shame.'
Aside from that, he spent his time socializing with the ten young men and Chen Yong, building connections and listening to their gossip and news.
"Sigh, the autumn harvest is only half a month away. The Tax Collectors will be coming again."
"I really want to kill every last one of those jackals."
"Hey, it's a shame we can't go up the mountain anymore. Those snakes are terrifying..."
"I heard there are big fish in Xiaochenxi recently..."
"Someone from the Hu Family actually cursed me out..."
"..."