Chapter 3 Family Members

  From afar, seeing Su Hao, Luo Ningxiang was like a happy lark, jumping and skipping with a hint of fragrance to Su Hao's side, her face wearing a sweet smile: "Big brother, you're back?"

  Su Hao pulled out a box from his bosom and handed it to Luo Ningxiang with a smile: "Little sister, you've grown up. You've become even more beautiful. This is a gift for you. The top-grade skincare product Tian Xiang Gao produced by the Tian Xiang Pavilion in the capital city."

  Lu Jingxiang happily accepted the box of Tian Xiang Gao and thanked him: "Thank you, big brother!"

  Cheng Lai walked out of the room and into the hall, saw Su Hao, and a hint of joy flashed in her eyes. She walked up to him: "Hao'er, you're back? Let me take a look! Let me take a good look. You've lost weight, did you eat breakfast well when you were outside?"

  Su Hao smiled and said: "Mother, don't worry! I'm such a big person now, I can take care of myself."

  Su Zhengtian also walked out of the inner room, looking at Su Hao with a hint of joy in his eyes, and said lightly: "You're back."

  One year ago, Su Hao reached the Bone Forging Realm and then went out to travel, seeing the world. Only now has he returned home.

  After the Su family's children have cultivated up to the third heaven of the acquired realm, they can go out and travel, make friends, broaden their horizons, and seek their own opportunities.

  At the beginning, Su Jian, the master of the Su family, obtained a six-product medium-achieving skill called "Three Yang Decision" while traveling around the world in the practice bone realm. Relying on his own perseverance and hard work, he gradually cultivated to the post-heavenly seven-heavy true gas realm, relying on his own powerful strength to establish a foundation in Xiyuan Town.

  Su Hao looked at his father, whom he hadn't seen in a year, and choked with emotion: "Yes! Father, I'm back!"

  Away from home and traveling the world, Su Hao grew up a lot. He was only able to appreciate how much his quiet and taciturn father loved him.

  Su Zhengtian didn't say much, just lightly said: "As long as you're back! Let's eat!"

  Su Han and his family quickly sat down at a long table for dinner.

  Cheng Li's face was full of loving care as she pushed a bowl of soup to Su Han's side, saying: "Han'er, this is specially stewed for you. Drink it quickly!"

  Su Han took a glance at the soup and saw that the slices of ginseng were cut very thinly, and there were also many precious medicinal herbs in the soup. The fragrance of the medicine wafted up to his nose. This bowl of soup was obviously quite valuable.

  On the side, Luo Yingxiang said with a tender and lovely tone: "Brother, this bowl of soup, Father spent one hundred taels of silver to buy a twenty-year-old top-grade old ginseng and stewed it. You must drink it all up. This soup is very good for your body!"

  Su Han looked at Su Zhengtian, his nose slightly sour, tears welling up in his eyes, a strong warmth swirling in his heart. One hundred and two silver coins were not a small sum of money. The total annual income of the Su family was only five hundred silver coins, while their expenses were also enormous, with an annual expenditure of over three hundred silver coins. Now, this fifty-year-old top-grade old ginseng had consumed half of the Su family's savings for the year. If he wasn't really heartbroken for his son, he would never have been willing to spend such a huge sum of money.

  Su Han gazed at his father, only to see that Su Zhengtian's temples had already been flecked with white hair, and there were more wrinkles between his eyebrows. It was clear that during this period, Su Zhengtian had borne enormous pressure, but in front of him, he remained as calm as ever, not saying much, shouldering all the pressure and difficulties on his broad shoulders.

  "Ah!"

  Su Han held back his tears, feeling the thick affection, and drank down the bowl of ginseng soup. A warm current circulated in his body, while a strong sense of warmth filled his heart.

  Su Zhengtian glanced at Su Hao with a serious gaze and said, "Hao'er, your younger brother was just injured and needs to nourish his body. As an older brother, you should take good care of him from now on. When brothers are united, they can cut through metal, do you understand?"

  Su Hao responded loudly: "Dad, I understand. From now on, I will take good care of my little brother and won't let anyone bully him."

  "That's good!"

  At the dinner table, Su Hao began to talk about what he had seen and heard during his travels, and the whole family was delighted.

  Soon after Su Han's family dinner, a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance and medium build, wearing a green shirt, walked in with big strides and sat down on a chair without any courtesy: "Old Fourth, Xiao Hao got into trouble today, do you know?"

  Su Yansheng had six sons. Su Zhengtian was the fourth among them. The middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance was named Su He, and he was the third in line.

  Su Zhengtian slightly furrowed his brow and glanced at Su Hao: "Hao'er, what did you do today?"

  Su Hao said: "Dad, today some rascals wanted to bully my little brother, I beat them up badly."

  Su Zhengtian turned his gaze towards Su He and looked inquiringly at him.

  "Hey! If it were just a matter of beating up those little rascals, that would be one thing. But you went too far and broke Su Hai's right hand, which will take at least a few months to recover from. This has already violated the clan rules, so punishment is unavoidable. Fourth Brother, the clan has made a decision: you four must move out of the inner courtyard within four days. From today on, your family's status as the main branch of the clan is officially abolished. Xiao Hao will also be punished by being sent to the Red Leaf Mountain hunting team to hunt demonic beasts for half a year."

  Su Han's body trembled upon hearing the words, and the chopsticks in his hand fell directly to the ground. His face suddenly changed color as he lost his voice, saying: "What? Red Leaf Mountain hunting demonic beasts for half a year? Third Uncle, isn't this punishment too severe?"

  Yao beasts are the most ferocious and powerful living beings, different from ordinary beasts. Among yao beasts, there are nine-level yao beasts and innate yao beasts.

  The demonic beast is extremely terrifying, and even a first-class demonic beast can easily swallow a wild wolf whole. Moreover, most demonic beasts are extremely ferocious, possessing various strange racial abilities. A postnatal fourth-order condensed energy realm expert may be instantly killed by a second-class demonic beast if they're not careful. Many fifth- or sixth-class demonic beasts have bodies with scales as hard as steel, impervious to knives and guns. Only human experts who have set up traps together can kill them. The innate demonic beasts are even more powerful, one of which can easily destroy a city in the Great Flame Empire by itself.

  Hongye Mountain is the outer periphery of the mountain range where monsters roam, and within Hongye Mountain, there are many monsters lurking. Among the monsters in Hongye Mountain, some can easily tear apart a human who has reached the seventh level of spiritual energy, and Su Hao was assigned to such a place, full of danger, where one misstep could lead to death.

  In fact, the hunting team of Red Leaf Mountain is the place with the highest mortality rate for the Su family. Every year, there are not a few young masters of the Su family and their invited experts who die in Red Leaf Mountain.

  Su He let out a slow sigh, gazing at Su Hao with some helplessness: "No rules, no square circle. Little Hao's move was too heavy-handed and offended the clan rules. I'm also powerless."

  Su Hao smiled: "That's nothing, isn't it just Red Leaf Mountain? This time I returned from traveling outside, and I need a series of battles to break through. In half a year on Red Leaf Mountain, I will definitely break through and advance to the post-heavenly fifth heavy gas realm."

  "Good! Good! Good, you have spirit." Su He smiled lightly and turned her head, her gaze falling on Su Zhengtian's body.

  Su Zhengtian fell silent for a moment and nodded slightly: "Third Brother, I understand. We will move out of the inner courtyard within four days."

  Su He received Su Zhengtian's response, stood up, walked to Su Han's front, looked at Su Han with a regretful gaze, and took out a box from his bosom: "Little Han, this time just treat it as a natural disaster, forget about him. This way you can live happier. This is the Nourishing Body Pill, take good care of your body. Even if you cannot cultivate martial arts, in the future you can become a great merchant or an official. In this world, besides martial arts, there are other paths to success."

  Su Han took over the nourishing pill and thanked him sincerely: "Thank you, Third Uncle!"

  Dan medicine is a very precious cultivation resource. Due to the scarcity of alchemists, even a low-grade nourishing dan costs tens of taels of silver. Taking one can strengthen the body and nourish the blood, making it extremely valuable. An ordinary family would not be able to afford a nourishing dan even after working hard for ten years. The poor are scholars, while the rich are martial artists.

  Su He slapped his forehead and turned around, saying: "Right, Fourth Brother, I almost forgot to tell you, I also heard some news. The Zhao family wants to propose a marriage to you, it's said that they want to take Jing Xiang as a concubine for Zhao Jun!"

  Su Zhengtian's eyes narrowed and he asked solemnly: "How accurate is this news?"

  Su He said solemnly: "More than 60%!"

  Lu Jingxiang's face turned pale upon hearing this, and she couldn't help but exclaim: "Father, I don't want to marry that person!!"

  Su Hao's face changed greatly and he couldn't help but curse loudly: "Take a concubine? That little Zhao Jun is really a toad who wants to eat swan meat! Even if he wanted to take our Ningxiang as his legitimate wife, we wouldn't let Ningxiang marry that spoiled brat. And yet he still dares to want to take a concubine?! This is truly an insult!!"

  Su Han's face also changed drastically, his fists clenched tightly, and his eyes flashed with an indescribable fury.

  Zhao Jun is the legitimate son of the Zhao family in Xiyuan Town, and he is a charming but mischievous young man. He has already ruined dozens of girls at a relatively young age. People with some status do not want to marry their good daughters to him, let alone send them to be his concubines.

  In the Da Yan imperial court, nobles could have one chief wife, two secondary wives, and concubines as many as they pleased. However, the status of concubines was lowly, with almost no human rights, and their position was even lower than that of courtesans. Many nobles had the custom of giving away their concubines. Only those families who coveted wealth and power would marry off their own daughters to others as concubines.

  Zhao Jun had once transferred more than a dozen concubines who were tired of playing to others, and even sold them into brothels. If Luo Yingxiang married such a scoundrel, her fate could be imagined.

  Su Zhengtian's voice was not loud, but it revealed a firm tone: "Ningxiang don't worry, rest assured, Father will never let you marry that person as a concubine."

  Lu Jingxiang's face regained a hint of color upon hearing this.

  Su Zhengtian thanked him and said: "Third brother, thank you."

  Su smiled and said: "Family members, what's the need to thank? Since we are family members, it is only natural that we should help each other. I just did what I was supposed to do."

  Su patted Su Han's shoulder and said: "Work hard, don't worry your dad too much, Third Uncle is leaving first."

  Su Han nodded slightly and replied: "Yes, Third Uncle."

  Su's eyes flashed with a hint of satisfaction as he turned and left.

  After Su He left, Su Zhengtian's eyes flashed with a hint of severity as he stared at Su Hao, his voice suddenly becoming stern: "Hao'er, why did you cut off Su Hai's right hand? It is forbidden for members of the same clan to harm each other. How many times have I told you this? My Su family is not a powerful clan like the Haos, and we can only stand firm in Xiyuan Town because we are united and present a united front to the outside world. If our own people start killing each other, destruction will be just around the corner."

  Su Hao looked straight at Su Zhengtian, his eyes not showing any signs of retreat. "Dad, my dantian was broken and my meridians were damaged, I can no longer cultivate martial arts. If I don't take drastic measures, it's absolutely impossible to intimidate those little rascals from the Su family. Once I leave, they'll bully me again, and my future days will be very difficult. Now that I've taken drastic measures to injure those little rascals from the Su family, if they want to bully me again, they'll have to consider my revenge. Injuring Su Hai, I don't regret it at all!! Next time they dare to make a move, I'll break their arms and legs, no big deal, I can just go hunt some demon beasts in the Red Leaf Mountain Hunting Team!!"

  Su Han heard this, his nose slightly sour, his heart was both sour and moved, having such a father and brother was Su Han's greatest fortune.

  Su Zhengtian stared at Su Hao for a while, and only then did a hint of appreciation flash in his eyes: "Hao, you can think so much for your brother, it's very comforting for me as a father. This time is an exception, don't make it a habit. Next time when you beat up those little rascals, be lighter on them, after all we are from the same clan."

  Su Hao nodded and said: "Yes, Dad!"

  The whole family had a harmonious dinner together and then dispersed.

  The next day, Su Han's family immediately packed up their luggage and left most of the servants in the inner courtyard, moving to a small yard on the west side of Xiyuan Town. The small yard belonged to Su Zhengtian himself, who had purchased it with his own money, and did not belong to the family.