I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 963: Chapter 257: Judge Right and Wrong for Yourself, Accept Criticism and Praise from Others

“Hahaha, Minister Luo truly has an exceptional knack for intelligence; you knew right away that this scheme was the Ning Family’s design,” Tang Feng said with a hearty laugh, clapping his hands. “But the real mastermind isn’t the Ning Family, it’s you.”

“Me?”

“Miao Zhu is but a helpless little maid with no backing. If the Ning Family really wanted to punish her, they had hundreds, if not thousands, of methods, without needing to step in personally. It’s only because of your presence, Minister, that everyone dares not act rashly. Still, she is the mother of Tang Zhen after all, and she inevitably has to make plans for her own daughter. I heard that this strategy was deliberated and redeliberated with the clan before it was finalized. And would the clan be so cautious over the illegitimate child in a maid’s belly?”

Laughing, Tang Feng added, “That’s why I say, the truly formidable one is Minister Luo!”

“This really is…”

With a wry smile on his face, Tang Luo shook his head and drained the sweet wine from his cup in one gulp.

Not receiving the response he expected, Tang Feng was not annoyed; he leaned in closer and said, “On the subject, ever since you sent Tang Ling back to Jiejiang City, the clan has been speculating about your intention to protect Miao Zhu. Some guess you want to adopt the child in her belly, right?”

“Pfft~~~ Cough cough cough.”

Startled into spraying out his sweet wine, Tang Luo regained his composure and asked with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, “Who said that, how imaginative they are! Fine, even if I adopted the child in Miao Zhu’s belly, what then? When he grows up and asks me, ‘Father, where do I come from? Why have I never seen my mother?’ what should I answer? Am I supposed to say that because I have achieved Martial Arts Divinity, I rubbed my left hand against my right hand and produced an egg?”

Hearing this, Tang Feng said, his face full of confusion, “Then I don’t understand. If it’s not for that, then why did you take on Tang Ling’s trouble? You should know, when that guy returned to Jiejiang City, he set off a huge firestorm!”

“Sigh, it’s not aimed at him personally. The old Tang Family is low on manpower, and we finally have an opportunity to expand the family tree. The child is already several months old; we can’t just let you seize it on a whim. The distinction between legitimate and illegitimate offspring is an old custom from when resources were limited. Today, the Tang Clan owns the Lingjiang Seven Cities, and would be overjoyed if every single descendant became successful. To keep favoring one side with the old rule of skewed resource allocation will only hinder greater development,” Tang Luo said calmly, shrugging his shoulders.

“But a rule that has been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years, even if it’s irrational, has become a habit. Even if some in the clan want to break the old mold, we need someone foolhardy enough to step forward first. Right now, there seems to be no one more suitable for that role than me in the Tang Clan.”

“Sometimes, I truly wonder if there really are people born with innate knowledge.”

Looking at Tang Luo’s face, Tang Feng’s eyes brimmed with curiosity, yearning to uncover the truth. “You’ve been devoted to martial arts since childhood, aside from reading history books, all that’s left is practicing combat. But where did you learn these sharp and insightful principles, could it really be a gift from heaven?”

Just as Tang Luo had said, after sending Tang Ling back to Jiejiang City, that month’s clan meeting saw proposals to adjust the treatment of illegitimate children, because the Tang Clan was no longer the hidden power holed up in half of Xiling. To remain hidden was not acting the part of a tiger pretending to be a pig but rather turning real tigers into sheep.

Those with keen insight already realized that once they began to improve the treatment of illegitimate children, the entire Tang Clan was going to undergo radical changes, and the catalyst for it all was the “foolhardy young man” before them, who had argued with the clan elders.

…

April 5th, 1785

Qingming

Suitable: Sacrificing and bathing to remove the dilapidated house and broken walls

Taboo: Holding a funeral and burial

This day marked the occasion for the Tang Clan to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, and each family was required to send a representative back to the ancestral graves at North Mountain to complete the Sacred Duty of ancestor worship.

As a martial arts researcher eager to solve a problem, Tang Luo decisively handed this task to Tang Xing, after all, he was now a married man, and of course, he should start learning such clan rituals.

At the moment, he was at the crucial step of solving the Asura Divine Heart, and he couldn’t spare even a step away from his seclusion, fearful of losing the train of thought.

However, sometimes, the more you fear something, the more likely it will come to pass—who knows how Tang Xing, supposed to be offering sacrifices at North Mountain, appeared in Lanshan City, but in any case, the little one yelling outside the mountain stream perfectly disrupted the rhythm of the research.

“Tell me, why aren’t you at North Mountain offering sacrifices, and instead you ran off to Lanshan City?” asked Tang Luo with an annoyed look and a face full of black lines.

With his head lowered, Tang Xing muttered, “My father-in-law brought the Ning Family to the sacrifice, and I didn’t want to go with them, so I let Zhen’er go back with them first!”

“Smack!”

A flick in the void struck Tang Xing’s forehead, and Tang Luo gave the silly kid a sidelong glance, “You should call her ‘mother-in-law,’ not Ning Family, understand?”

“Hiss~~~” Tang Xing sucked in a breath of cold air while covering his head and stubbornly rubbed his forehead, retorting, “I won’t; such a scheming and jealous woman doesn’t deserve to be my mother-in-law!”

“Smack!”

Another flick, and Tang Xing, holding his other forehead, fell to the ground, wailing, “Brother! Why are you doing this? I’m already married, you can’t just keep flicking my forehead!!”

“It seems you only grew in height and not in brains!” Tang Luo said, annoyed, “Remember, any woman in the Tang Clan who can become the matron of a household, may have this or that flaw, but it is absolutely impossible for them to be fools who expose such qualities as scheming and jealousy, especially when it is known to everyone!”

“You are able to concentrate on martial arts because your household is peaceful, and your wives are harmonious. All this is because your mother-in-law has sacrificed her own reputation for it. Don’t perceive things with just your eyes, as they can only see the surface. Use your heart, understand?”

Tang Xing, rubbing his head, stood up somewhat understanding but still half-doubtful, “Are you saying Ning… my mother-in-law did it on purpose? Why would she do that? Isn’t it better to speak kindly?” noveldrama

“If it had been said kindly, nobody would have listened,” Tang Luo said indifferently, “People only believe what they want to believe, not the true nature of things. A lie told a thousand times becomes a fact. In Jiejiang City, many people believe that Tang Zhen is the perfect, flawless wife, and the Ning Family is the vicious and scheming jealous woman, yet it’s up to you to discern the true from the false.”

“Enough, you won’t understand what I’m saying right now. Just remember, treat the Ning Family with the same respect you have for your mother from now on. Go get three Foundation Building Pills from the alchemy room with the token, and send them to your mother-in-law!”

The little guy who took the token responded with an “oh” and then, remembering something, excitedly turned to Tang Luo, “Brother, father and mother are soon bringing Little Nuannuan back. I heard she finished her Foundation Building at the Xu Clan and has already started cultivating the sword techniques passed down from grandfather…” He continued, and then, with a hehe, Tang Xing added, “The letter also said that mother found a sister-in-law for me in Yuanzhou. When they return, they’ll have you two married!”