Xiaosuo couldn't understand what Old Huang was talking about.
Father?
Who's the father?
Who's whose father?
I crossed over here as an orphan, where would I have a father?
He couldn't help but look at Old Huang with a gaze that seemed to care for someone mentally challenged.
He thought, in his previous life, he'd never heard of anyone suddenly becoming senile while chatting.
Old Huang's smile was particularly lewd, making Xiaosuo feel he was up to no good.
"Old Huang, let's keep things straight. I appreciate you visiting our shop every day, but if you're trying to scam us because of your illness, we have no money."
The Shop Assistant quickly caught on:"Yes, yes, our shop is gone, we have no money to treat your illness!"
Old Huang was unfazed.
"Young Master, I'm not sick. Do you think this old man is talking nonsense?"
"What else?"
"Young Master, it's disheartening to hear you say that. I used my coffin savings to help you open this Braised Chicken Feet Shop."
"I clearly relied on my own skills... What, your coffin savings?"
"Without my ten or so taels of silver, Young Master, when would you have ever saved enough to open a shop?"
"Are you saying that the ten or so taels I found were deliberately placed in front of me by you?"
"Ten taels, I've saved for many years."
Saying this, Old Huang looked at the ruins with a heartache in his eyes.
"It's all gone... But no matter, Young Master, now that the old master is dead, it's a heaven-sent opportunity! You must come with me!"
"Wait a minute!"
Xiaosuo hadn't even recovered from the last topic.
"Old Huang, I've never heard of these things, you need to start from the beginning."
"From the beginning? Alright, alright. This old man is named Huang Shu, lost my father at one, lost my mother at two, grew up on the village's communal meals from three, survived by collecting cow dung at four, was chosen as a disciple by a wandering master at five, performed breaking stones on my chest at six, and spent a year recovering at seven..."
"Wait, wait!"
Xiaosuo felt a headache listening to this. Old Huang looked at least seventy, how long would this story go on?
"Your story doesn't need to start from the beginning, just tell mine from the start."
"Your story, Young Master?"
"Yes, my story."
Old Huang thought for a moment, as if pondering where to begin.
"Young Master, have you heard of the Four Great Clans of Mountain Chicken County?"
Xiaosuo frowned upon hearing this.
The typical setup from web novels, it was bound to come.
The Four Great Clans, it didn't sound very auspicious.
"Never heard of them, just go ahead and tell me."
"Alright. Mountain Chicken County is more than twice the size of our Yellow Dog County, with a population of millions."
"Millions? Then the County Magistrate must be invincible?"
"No. In Yellow Dog County, the County Magistrate holds all the power, but in Mountain Chicken County, besides the county officials, the four great cultivator clans Niu, Ma, Yang, and Zhu jointly govern. The Four Great Clans have immense influence, even extending to surrounding areas. For example, the Ma Family Cloth Shop on this street is run by a branch of the Ma family from Mountain Chicken County."
The Ma Family Cloth Shop was a well-known business in the county.
Small shops like Xiaosuo's Braised Chicken Feet Shop only needed to pay a small fee to Qian Banshi of the Glory Association.
But for businesses like the Ma Family Cloth Shop, it was the opposite.
They had to pay fees from the constable's leader, to the constable, the arrest warrant, the County Constable, the County Deputy, and the County Magistrate, with the amounts increasing at each level.
Xiaosuo had calculated out of boredom.
If the Ma Family Cloth Shop didn't earn thousands of taels of silver annually, they wouldn't even be able to cover the guild fees.
Thinking of this, Xiaosuo looked at the imposing Ma family courtyard with envy.
The Ma family was truly impressive, even their branch members had such fortune.
In fact, he never mentioned it, but he had dreamed more than once of becoming the manager of the Ma Family Cloth Shop, earning and spending money openly.
When he woke up smiling, he would see the spirit stone in his arms and couldn't help but cry.
Bitterly regretting that he couldn't use the gold mountain he was sitting on.
"And Young Master, your Zhu family, being one of the Four Great Clans Niu, Ma, Yang, and Zhu, is naturally no worse than the Ma family. The Zhu family pharmacy in Yellow Dog County..."
Xiaosuo felt a headache hearing the surnames of the Four Great Clans, quickly signaling Old Huang to skip over, indicating he understood their great influence and to continue with the more important parts.
He was originally surnamed Zhu?
"Young Master, have you ever wondered, what kind of parents would name their child 'Xiaosuo'? Parents always hope their children will have a good life, this sounds too bitter. Actually, your mother gave you this humble name to help you avoid disaster."
（'Xiaosuo' is a Chinese adjective mainly used to describe an environment, atmosphere, or scene that is bleak, desolate, and lacking in vitality.）
"A humble name is easy to raise, I understand."
Xiaosuo didn't mind.
He actually thought the name was quite cool.
Old Huang nodded approvingly.
"Young Master is indeed sensible. You are the bloodline of the Zhu family head. The old master saw you born as beautiful as jade, he named you..."
"Wait, stop, stop!"
Xiaosuo broke out in a cold sweat, hoping it wasn't the name of a famous scholar.
Though it didn't violate any taboos, it still felt off.
Taking a deep breath, he said:"Continue."
"Alright. The old master saw you born as beautiful as jade, he named you Zhu Yuanmei."
('Zhu Yuanmei' is a name typically used by women.)
Xiaosuo stared at Old Huang with the expression of a subway grandpa looking at a phone.
Old Huang didn't notice Xiaosuo's expression.
"Young Master Mei, from now on you don't have to be called Xiaosuo anymore. You can acknowledge your ancestry and tell others you're a descendant of the Four Great Clans Niu, Ma, Yang, and Zhu, Zhu Yuanmei!"
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Xiaosuo coughed loudly to cover Old Huang's voice, cautiously looking around to make sure no one heard Old Huang's words before he breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't want anyone to know he was called that name.
"From now on, I'll still be called Xiaosuo. Xia must be my mother's surname, right?"
"No, your mother's surname is Lu. At the time, your mother couldn't protect herself, so she naturally wouldn't use her own surname to let you survive."
"Then why am I surnamed Xiao?"
"It was randomly chosen, it sounds nice."
"I..."
Xiaosuo was too tired to argue anymore.
"Forget it, tell me about my parents."
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"Your father Zhu Fulu was a cultivator, and your mother was the only daughter of a regular merchant. Later, she became one of your father's 1,270 concubines."
"Tell me separately. Start with my father being a cultivator."
"Alright. Your father Zhu Fulu was born to a hunter, an ordinary person who couldn't cultivate. Because he saved the descendant of a great figure while hunting in the mountains, he was given a Vein Opening Pill by the great figure, gaining a cultivator's physique and stepping into the Immortal Sect. The Zhu family was gradually established by your father."
"A Vein Opening Pill can allow someone who can't cultivate to start cultivating?"
"Yes. The Vein Opening Pill is incredibly precious, allowing a mortal to ascend to the heavens in one step. Countless spirit stones couldn't exchange for one."
Indeed, the heavens wouldn't let him be reborn here to live an ordinary life.
There was still a path left!
Xiaosuo nodded.
"I understand my father's story, tell me about my mother."
"Your mother was the only daughter of the Lu family blacksmith shop owner. The owner failed in a business deal, owing a huge debt. Coincidentally, your father Zhu Fulu was taking a concubine for his sixtieth birthday, so your mother voluntarily married him to use the dowry to pay off her father's debt."
"What, taking a concubine at sixty? My father must have been in good health."
"That's nothing. Your father was a cultivator, his lifespan far exceeded that of ordinary people. At sixty, he looked like someone in their forties."
Indeed, the lifespan of cultivators was much longer than that of ordinary people.
"A few years later, your mother gave birth to you. But Zhu Fulu saw that you had no cultivation aptitude, so he never specifically visited you and your mother again, turning his attention to cultivating new concubines."
"My father was a lecher? It sounds like he had many concubines."
"Not exactly. The reason he took so many concubines was to hope for a descendant with cultivation aptitude to inherit the Zhu family business."
Old Huang rolled up his dry tobacco, his face looking troubled.
"Unlike the Niu, Ma, and Yang families, which had at least two cultivators, the Zhu family relied solely on your father to grow. Once he died, the Zhu family would be devoured by the other three families and the County Magistrate, leaving nothing."
"So he desperately wanted to have a descendant with cultivation aptitude to support the Zhu family?"
Old Huang nodded:
"Exactly. But it's not that easy, the probability of ordinary people having a descendant with cultivation aptitude is one in ten thousand."
Xiaosuo was puzzled and timely inserted a question.
"If he wanted to have more descendants to increase the probability, why didn't he have more after my mother gave birth to me? Wouldn't more be better?"
"Not exactly."
Old Huang's face was even more troubled.
"The first child a woman gives birth to has the best aptitude. If the first child doesn't have cultivation aptitude, it's almost impossible for subsequent children to have it."
A person's time and energy are limited, especially for the Zhu family head.
He couldn't waste it on things with almost no probability.
So it was imaginable that those concubines who only gave birth to ordinary children and their children became neglected in the Zhu family.
Including Xiaosuo's mother.
Xiaosuo could tell how powerless his mother was in this matter.
"Then why did my mother, who wasn't favored, bring about a deadly disaster?"
"Because you are Zhu Fulu's son, eligible to receive the Zhu family's Vein Opening Pill. Zhu Fulu worked hard for the Immortal Sect for many years, and after his death, he might be posthumously awarded a Vein Opening Pill. But who it would be given to was uncertain. Better safe than sorry, his main wife and favored concubines killed Zhu Fulu's concubines and children to prevent the Vein Opening Pill from falling into the wrong hands."
"How could they possibly kill so many people? Weren't they afraid of Zhu Fulu's wrath?"
"Zhu Fulu was already in dire straits at the time, he had no time to care about these tools. In his prime, he spent a lot of energy desperately having children instead of continuing to explore the immortal path because he was severely injured on a trip, his lifespan greatly reduced, and his cultivation path couldn't progress further."
Zhu Fulu knew how to grasp the main contradiction.
As long as it didn't interfere with him taking concubines and having children, he turned a blind eye to his wives and concubines' actions.
"So, the Zhu family was taking concubines on one hand and killing them on the other?"
Old Huang nodded.
"Those were very bizarre days. The front door was hosting a wedding, welcoming a new concubine with a grand sedan chair, while the back door was holding a funeral, with a large and small sarcophagus being carried away by the bride's family. Later, the Zhu family's reputation in Mountain Chicken County was ruined, no decent girl was willing to marry Zhu Fulu, so he went to neighboring counties or remote mountain counties to take concubines. As long as they were virgins, he accepted them all."
At this point, Old Huang's eyes turned red.
"Even the heavens have eyes, after harming so many girls, they didn't let that bastard Zhu Fulu have a single immortal child!"
Xiaosuo saw Old Huang's appearance and knew he must have been affected by Zhu Fulu's actions too.
After a moment of silence, Xiaosuo asked:"Then how did I escape?"
"Through a substitution, you were switched out."
Old Huang pinched his thumb and forefinger together, extinguishing the cigarette.
Then, with his withered hands covering his face, he seemed to be wiping away old tears.
Xiaosuo didn't disturb him, and the Shop Assistant listened intently, looking sorrowful.
Let Old Huang digest this pain himself before continuing the story.
"I was a dyer in Mountain Chicken County. I had two daughters, and although we weren't rich, we didn't worry about food. Until my daughters got married, everything changed."
Old Huang seemed a bit wistful.
"My eldest daughter was rebellious, didn't listen to me or her mother, and insisted on marrying a soldier. After she gave birth to a son, that damned soldier died in battle shortly after."
Speaking with a bit of a choke, Old Huang took two deep breaths.
"My second daughter was only two years younger than the eldest, and soon reached marriageable age. With her sister's widowhood as a precedent, the second daughter was very obedient, letting me and her mother arrange everything. I thought the Zhu family was a big tree to lean on, so I let the second daughter marry him. Who would have thought Zhu Fulu was a bastard!"
Old Huang couldn't suppress his pain any longer, crying and cursing as he spoke.
"After my second daughter gave birth, Zhu Fulu only looked once and never came again. The servants, accustomed to reading faces, knew my second daughter was another to be neglected. My little grandson was only three days old when the servants left. Fortunately, your mother lived nearby and often went to help her. But relying on your mother wasn't a long-term solution, so my eldest daughter often took my eldest grandson to the Zhu residence to help. Who would have thought, who would have thought..."
Old Huang couldn't continue, sobbing uncontrollably, almost out of breath.
"Who would have thought that one day, those heartless wives and concubines of his poisoned my second daughter's food, and except for my eldest daughter who didn't eat because she wasn't hungry, my second daughter and my two grandsons all died bleeding from their orifices..."
Old Huang gasped for air, his frail chest heaving violently, tears streaming down his face.
Xiaosuo gently patted Old Huang's back, helping him catch his breath.
After a while, Old Huang continued.
"My eldest daughter's cries attracted your mother. At the time, you and your mother hadn't eaten yet, escaping disaster. But your mother knew that escaping today didn't mean escaping tomorrow. Seeing that my dead grandson was about your age and somewhat resembled you, she thought of substituting you, letting you pretend to be my grandson and leave with my eldest daughter. Perhaps it was the bond formed while caring for my second daughter. In the end, my eldest daughter agreed."
"And then?"
"Then your mother, afraid of being seen through by Zhu Fulu's heartless wives and concubines, after sending you and my eldest daughter away, set up the scene and ate the poisoned food herself, dying on the spot. Your maternal grandfather's family, losing their only daughter and grandson, naturally didn't let it go, causing a ruckus at the Zhu residence, only to be wiped out by bandits that very night."
Only then did Xiaosuo understand his origins.
Having a father was no better than not having one, not being an orphan was worse than being one.
"Then what happened to your eldest daughter?" Xiaosuo asked.
"My eldest daughter returned home, her heart dead. She wrote down your story on paper, telling us old folks to burn some money at your mother's grave for my grandson, then hanged herself. A few months later, my wife couldn't bear the blow of losing both daughters and grandsons and passed away.
You weren't my real grandson, I couldn't treat you as my own and raise you. But you were just an innocent child, and I was left without descendants. To repay your mother's kindness in caring for my second daughter, I gave you my coffin savings to open a shop, fulfilling my duty."
Another long silence followed.
"But now, your father is dead. Your opportunity has come."
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