Chapter 35 Huashan Heroine
Chapter 35 Huashan Heroine
Mount Huashan is the most precipitous mountain in the world.
In front of the mountain pavilion, heavy snow fell.
The green skirt fluttered, the cold light flashed, and the girl danced with a long sword in the snow.
The sword technique is like the nature of the mountain, and Huashan sword technique is famous for its uniqueness. There are many unexpected and deadly moves. If you can't kill the enemy with one blow, you will get into trouble.
After performing a set of Huashan sword techniques, the girl stood with a sword on her back.
Looking to the east, there was heavy snow in the sky, but there was a cliff under my feet.
She sighed softly, with a hint of sadness between her brows.
A middle-aged woman came walking on the snow, entered the pavilion, and put the fox fur coat in her arms on the girl.
Yue Lingshan looked back and said, "Mom."
"Shan'er, are you practicing swordplay and watching the snow here alone?"
"I...I want to practice swordsmanship well and help my parents to relieve their worries."
Ning Zhongze smiled and nodded: "Shan'er has made great progress recently. Her internal strength has been raised to the middle stage of Dan Jin. She is no longer lazy like before. Your father is very pleased. He said that when your Huashan swordsmanship foundation is more solid, he will let me teach you the 19 styles of Jade Maiden Sword."
"I will work hard!"
Ning Zhongze looked at her daughter. After all, she was her own flesh and blood. She had long noticed that Lingshan always seemed to be worried since she came back from Hengshan.
"For children of Jianghu, martial arts is the foundation of life. Chong'er is extremely talented. He is only in his early twenties, but he has already reached the late stage of the Armor Breaking Realm. In the future, he will take over the responsibility of the Huashan Sect from your father."
"But for Shan'er, I have selfish motives. I just want you to be happy and have everything you want. Do you understand?"
Yue Lingshan's eyes were slightly red and she threw herself into Ning Zhongze's arms.
"Are you still crying? You are almost a grown-up girl, you can get married and raise children."
"No, I will always be my mother's daughter."
Ning Zhongze gently stroked her daughter's back, her eyes full of doting. She suddenly saw a jade hairpin in Yue Lingshan's hair, which she had never seen before.
"What a beautiful Suzaku Jade Hairpin. Was it given to you by Chong'er?"
Yue Lingshan quickly stood up, wiped her eyes, and whispered, "No."
"Did you buy it with your own pocket money?"
Yue Lingshan nodded, then shook her head. She had never lied to her mother before. Suddenly her eyes became flustered and she was at a loss.
Ning Zhongze saw it and asked, "Did that person give it to you?"
Yue Lingshan looked up at her and suddenly became at a loss: "Mom, I just..."
Ning Zhongze looked at his daughter's expression and understood about 80% of what was going on.
She heard from her senior brother that her daughter was abducted by a member of a demon sect at the foot of Mount Heng and taken all the way to Pingyang City.
As it concerned their daughter's reputation, in order to avoid gossip, no one except the couple knew about it, not even the other disciples of Huashan knew about it. They only said that the little sister went to travel those days.
"Shan'er, I understand your feelings. When you are young and inexperienced, you accidentally meet a brilliant person and think he is the best in the world, thus ignoring the person who has been silently waiting by your side."
Yue Lingshan lowered her head and said nothing. That evil cult villain, apart from his appearance, did not seem to have anything to do with brilliant talent.
"Mom, let me tell you a secret."
Yue Lingshan raised her head and asked, "What?"
Ning Zhongze said: "Don't tell your father."
Yue Lingshan became interested and nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
Ning Zhongze sighed slightly and said with a smile: "In fact, when mother was your age, she also met a man. He had been famous for a long time, was extremely elegant, and was very good at music. At that time, countless women in the world were attracted to him..."
"What happened next?" Yue Lingshan was burning with gossip in her heart. Could it be that she was not her father's biological daughter?
Ning Zhongze smiled and said, "Later, of course, mother married Senior Brother, and we have been in love till now, otherwise where would you be?"
"Mom wants to tell you that when you are young, you will encounter many beautiful scenes, but some of them are too far away, so don't force it. Otherwise, you may hurt yourself and the other person."
Yue Lingshan pinched the corner of his clothes and whispered, "Mom, you think too much. I... I just treat him as a friend."
"Friend? Then can you tell mother the story of this friend?" Ning Zhongze looked at his daughter's awkward look, as if he remembered himself back then, and thought to himself, Lingshan has really grown up.
"I originally thought that he and Chong'er were childhood sweethearts, and in the future... they could be like me and my senior brother."
"It would be fine even if he was just an ordinary citizen. But he is a member of the Demon Sect. Could it be that all the extraordinary men in the world have entered Black Wood Cliff?"
"It seems that I need to discuss it with my senior brother as soon as possible to settle the matter between her and Chong'er."
..............................
study.
The scholar in blue sat at the desk, flipping through a yellow book with a slightly frown on his face.
It is no wonder that Yue Lingshan is born beautiful and elegant, Ning Zhongze is a heroic female knight, and Yue Buqun is also a first-class handsome man. With such parents, it is natural that the daughter's appearance will not be bad.
"Junior sister, you came at the right time."
Before Ning Zhongze could speak, Yue Buqun handed over the yellow book.
Ning Zhongze flipped through a few pages, which were all the amounts of money and grain reported by the various farms under Huashan's name. Compared with previous years, the amounts were short by 10% to 30%. She couldn't help but frown.
Among the Five Mountains sword sects, the Songshan Sect is the best when it comes to economics.
Of the farmland in the counties surrounding Songshan, 50% belonged to Shaolin Temple and 40% belonged to Songshan Sect. In addition, Zuo Lengchan, as the leader of the Five Mountains, had a high reputation, and many second- and third-rate Jianghu forces came to him to show their respect.
Huashan was not good at managing and buying real estate, but after all, he had a hundred years of heritage and owned more than 3,000 acres of fertile land, which were scattered throughout Huayin Prefecture, and he had set up six farms to manage them.
Most of the village heads were old friends of the Huashan Sect. To be honest, many of them were Yue Buqun’s uncles.
Ning Zhongze put down the yellow book and looked at Yue Buqun.
"We had an agreement back then that 60% of the profit from the land would go to the public. Considering that they are the elders, we have not checked the accounts over the years. As long as they are passable, it's fine."
"For three consecutive years, there have been no major disasters around Huashan, but the taxes and levies paid to the government have been decreasing."
"This year it's even worse, there's just so much less."
Yue Buqun sighed: "Junior sister, what do you think we should do?"
Ning Zhongze thought for a moment and said, "The troops must be fed before they move. Brother, you have tried to recruit more disciples to strengthen the sect, but you always gave up because of the lack of money and food, right?"
In a big sect like Huashan, there are many interpersonal relationships in the martial arts world. Today, an old senior retires from the sect, and tomorrow the leader celebrates his birthday. Gifts have to be given, and they can't be light.
Yue Buqun cherishes the reputation of "Gentleman Sword" and never accepts gifts from the escort agency, nor does he make money by hosting weddings or funerals. His expenses on social favors are basically ten times the return.
In this way, they mainly rely on the farm for support.
Expenses on social relationships account for a large part, and the cost of training disciples is even more.
Food, clothing, housing, transportation, rice, vegetables, meat, purchasing weapons, medicine for treating wounds, and medicinal baths needed to strengthen muscles and bones, all the above details cost money.
Although the Huashan Sect seems to have a respected status in the martial arts world, its disciples are extremely poor. When Ning Zhongze saw the Vermillion Bird Jade Hairpin that Yue Lingshan was wearing, he thought that it would take her half a year to save up pocket money, so he was surprised.
Ning Zhongze said, "There is no order without rules. I think we should send people down the mountain to check the accounts every year. If there are any frauds, we will warn them once, and take back the farms and estates twice. Anyway, the land deeds are in our hands."
Yue Buqun hesitated and said, "If this gets out, will my fellow martial artists gossip about it?"
Ning Zhongze said: "As long as you are right and have a clear conscience, we cannot stop outsiders from gossiping."
"After all, they are also elders of the Huashan Sect. When they were young, they made contributions and shed blood for Huashan."
"Then we have never been harsh to our seniors."
"Their descendants live like eagles and dogs, wearing fine clothes and eating delicious food. What's worse, they use the name of Huashan Sect to oppress the good people. What kind of life do we Chong'er and Shan'er live?"
"Shan'er has reached the age of marriage, but she still doesn't have two decent pieces of jewelry or clothes. She is not the kind of person who cares about food and clothing, but as a mother, I cannot turn a blind eye to it."
Yue Buqun said: “Then I will have to trouble Junior Sister to step in and take care of this matter. For Master’s sake, I hope they will restrain themselves and not ruin the friendship among fellow disciples.”
The previous leader of Huashan, Ning Qingyu, was Ning Zhongze’s father.
Ning Zhongze nodded. This matter was difficult to handle, but it was indeed the most appropriate way for him to step forward, so as to avoid as much gossip as possible.
(End of this chapter)