“Yeah, Patriarch, please see how you canask Mr. Cheng to accept all of our youths under his wing. We won’t ask formuch. We just want the young ones to be able to pick up a skill so they won’thave to starve in the future. That’s all we ask!”
“All our young ones here are kind ofrough, but they have a lot of respect for the Cheng brothers. They will be ableto learn and grow so much with them and we will have to worry less. We agree tohave them practice martial arts!”
“I agree, all our kids are unruly. Sohard to keep them in line. It will benefit them greatly to learn under Mr.Cheng!”
“…..”
Patriarch was very happy listening tothe opinions from the villagers. This was the outcome that he had hoped for. Heneeded everybody’s buy in before he go and approach Mr. Cheng.
Suddenly, he noticed one of thevillagers had a scowl on his face and had not uttered a word. He couldn’t tellwhether he agreed or disagreed with his suggestion. He couldn’t help but toask, “Liu Daxiong, what’s up with you? Your wife didn’t tell you you can’tspeak, did she?”
Everybody laughed at Patriarch’s words,Liu Daxiong, who was called out, was a little uneasy. Softly, he said, “UncleLiu, it’s not that I don’t want to send the young ones to practice martialarts, but doing that requires money. As it stands, we can barely make endsmeet, how are we going to come up with extra money for this?”
His voice was soft, but everybody heardhim clearly. Their smiles faded away. All the families were in more or less thesame situations, this will indeed be an issue!
“……”
Everybody quieted down, Patriarch lookedat them and said, “Don’t you worry. I will go and talk to Mr. Cheng in person.I am sure we can figure something out.”\n“Uncle Liu, we are counting on you!”
“Patriarch, we trust you!”
“Patriarch, we are putting our hopes onyou!”
“Uncle Liu, we thank you for our youngones!”
“…..”
Everybody started talking again, lookingthankful and grateful. They knew well that Patriarch Liu was a very resourcefulperson.
With a bottle of rice wine in his hand,Patriarch Liu slowly walked toward the Cheng’s
He was greeted by Cheng Biyuan in personand he expressed the hope of the villagers and asked him to be the first tutorever of Willow.
A tutor was really just a teacher,similar to “master”. But the villagers distinguish them clearing. An instructoronly instructs loosely, giving some advises here and there; whereas a masterand his disciples is a much more intimate relationship, almost like beingaccepted into a family.
Cheng Biyuan did not accept PatriarchLiu’s request right away. He did, however, promised that he would back to himin a couple of days.
Patriarch Liu was very grateful andthanked him for all Willow villagers.
Seeing how dedicated Patriarch Liu wasto his people, Cheng Biyuan was a little touched. Although he had the intentionto accept the request, he did want to run the idea by his family first.
After seeing off Patriarch Liu, ChengBiyuan gathered the family and told them his ask. Then, turning toward hisolder daughter, he asked, “Xiao Xiao, what do you think?”
“Dad, it’s a good thing for you toaccept disciples!” smiled Cheng Xiao Xiao, “Don’t forget, we are trying toconvert this land into our sacred land. If that’s the case, it’s only naturalfor you to have disciples.”
“That I understand. But how are we goingto arrange for it?” frowned Cheng Biyuan, “Having disciples are no small feat. Wehave to arrange them living quarters and be able to feed them. We are not readyyet. More importantly, I don’t know the talent of the young ones from Willow.”\n___
Find advanced chapters on my Patreon site! I am currently offering several different tiers.