Inside the main hall, Bai Jing was playing with Xu Dezhao in her arms, with Yang Ronghua standing beside her.
Bai Fu stepped forward and leaned in to look at Xu Dezhao.
Xu Dezhao, as if seeing something interesting, extended his lotus-root-like arms with baby babbles, seemingly wanting the pipe in Bai Fu's hand.
"This can't be given to you to play with." Bai Fu said with a beaming smile, his eyes full of loving kindness.
"Father, you're getting old. Smoke less."
"I know."
"Did something happen? Did that boy Ahua cause trouble?"
Bai Jing sensed something amiss and half-guessed.
"Not exactly, it's just..."
His own family had poor judgment and sought quick success, leading to losses, and now asking his own daughter to make up for it, this was truly difficult for this honest man.
As for telling Xu Chuan, he had even less face for that.
"Father, what's there to be embarrassed about with me? If there's a difficulty, just say it."
Yang Ronghua, being intelligent, said with a smile, "Mother, I see Zhao'er is hungry too. Let me take him back to nurse."
"Mm." Bai Jing nodded.
After she left, Bai Fu said, "You picked a good wife for Shitou."
"Daughter didn't pick her. Shitou chose her himself. Ronghua was born into an aristocratic family. The Yang family's upbringing is excellent, and they cultivate their children outstandingly. Unlike Xueji, who's been like a wild girl since childhood. Now she practices martial arts all day like a boy."
"Xueji was taught by Sansu. She won't be lacking."
After a moment of silence, Bai Fu finally explained the situation with his and Bai Fang's family.
"Ahyuan didn't inform me. This is the first time I'm hearing about our Xu family massively recruiting people and acquiring fields. A hundred mu of farmland isn't a large amount."
Bai Jing said with a smile, "I still have some personal savings. Let me provide this money."
"You have that much money? Without going through the Xu family accounts?"
"Buying things in Qingjiang County, having tea with those aristocratic family ladies, all these require expenses, so I do have a sum of money. Moreover, Ahyuan sends me one or two hundred taels every two or three months."
"Now, I have about seven or eight thousand taels on hand."
"Ahyuan truly is a filial good child."
The corners of Bai Fu's mouth twitched slightly, as if a thousand-jun weight had been lifted from his heart.
Different levels, different perspectives.
What the Bai and Zeng families worried about was insignificant in his daughter's eyes, and even more trivial to the Xu family.
"Ahyuan manages all of the Xu family's businesses. Every day, who knows how much money passes through his hands for approval." As Bai Jing spoke, she stood and walked toward her vanity, saying, "Father, wait a moment."
Bai Jing took out a gold-lacquered red wooden box from the drawer. After opening it, she took out two thousand taels and handed them to Bai Fu.
Bai Fu looked and immediately tried to return part of it. "This is too much."
"Keep the rest for yourself and Mother to live more comfortably. Consider it daughter's sentiment."
"Alright then. Oh, there's no need to tell Sansu about this."
Upon hearing this, Bai Jing smiled lightly. "Father, do you think husband would look down on the Bai family because of this? You're really overthinking it. Husband is still the same husband as before."
"By the way, Father, what are your plans for the future?"
"Me? At my age, being able to enjoy my twilight years peacefully would be good enough."
"What about the Bai family? My brother is our family's only male heir. What will happen to him in the future?"
Bai Fu fell into contemplation and remained silent for a long time.
"How about this, after this matter is settled, you talk to my brother and have him become a vassal of the Xu family like the Chen family. With my help, the Bai family will definitely develop within ten or twenty years. If Bai family descendants receive Xu family cultivation, perhaps martial arts experts might emerge. In the future, there might even be innate martial artists."
"Even if I'm no longer here later, my brother is still Shitou and Ahyuan's maternal uncle. They'll also lend a hand or two."
"Within three generations, as long as I'm here, the Bai family will definitely be worry-free."
"Then I'll go back and ask your brother. After all, he's the one who mainly makes decisions. As for me, I don't have many days left to look forward to."
Bai Fu returned home.
After taking his son-in-law Zeng's land deed and distributing the silver to him, the couple took their leave.
"Father, I really can't stand the Zeng family's face. When they want benefits, they fawn and call me 'brother.' When problems arise, they become aggressive and pressing."
Bai Hua said, "By the way, this matter won't affect elder sister, will it?"
"You don't need to worry about your elder sister."
Bai Fu thought for a moment and told Bai Hua about Bai Jing's intention.
"Merge into the Xu family? Become a vassal of the Xu family?" Bai Hua murmured in a low voice.
"Don't look at how the Chen family currently works hard for the Xu family. They're focused on the future. A family like the Xu family that can rise in one generation is rarely seen in Qingjiang County over hundreds of years."
"Without aristocratic family resources and cultivation, it's too difficult to produce a true genius."
"But if we ride the Xu family's wind, perhaps our Bai family can also stand out and rise with the momentum in several decades."
Bai Fu stopped there.
Upon hearing this, Bai Hua thought seriously for a while and said, "Alright, in a few days I'll go to the Xu family to discuss this matter."
If he hadn't encountered this once-in-a-century great drought, Bai Hua would have been unwilling in his heart. However, the current situation had also made him see clearly.
Ordinary common families simply had no ability to deal with natural disasters and man-made calamities.
Unless they also produced a great talent like the Xu family, but whether it could continue was unknown.
Not to mention all of Great Wei, just in Qingjiang County alone, who knew how many aristocratic families had risen and fallen?
Every hundred years, a batch would be eliminated.
Even Qingjiang's foremost aristocratic family, the Wu family, had only close to two hundred years of foundation. Whether they would continue or decline in the next hundred years was still unknown.
If the Chen family didn't have their relationship with Xu Chuan, the Xu family probably wouldn't even accept them as a vassal family.
The same applied to his Bai family.
In the eyes of aristocratic families, they simply weren't qualified.
Several days later, Bai Hua came to the Xu family to discuss this matter with Xu Mingwei, which quite surprised him.
For Bai Jing's natal family, the Xu family would naturally lend a hand or two, but only to a certain extent.
"Uncle, I still need to ask my father about this matter. I'll give you an answer tomorrow. Is that acceptable?"
"Alright, we'll do as you say, Shitou."
During the day, apart from practicing his skills, Xu Chuan would go to Jade Cold Pool to look after those medicinal materials.
He only returned home when the golden crow set in the west.
Xu Mingwei told him about this matter.
"Out of the blue, why would your uncle bring up becoming our family's vassal?"
"I made inquiries. Due to this drought, the Bai family suffered considerable losses. Several months ago, they purchased the hundred mu of farmland they had been renting, then rented another hundred mu. But when the great drought came, they were at a loss."
"Mother paid this sum for them and bought all the land. It was probably Mother's suggestion."
Xu Chuan stroked his short beard, pondered briefly, then looked up with a light smile. "Your mother's perspective has now become broader too. She's also begun planning for her natal family."
"Just fulfill your mother's wishes."
"Yes, Father."
Two days later, the Bai family also merged into the Xu family.
Bai Hua's six-year-old youngest son was sent to the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall to be cultivated the same as the young men with good bone structure that the Xu family had selected.
The Dragon Elephant Martial Hall's cultivation was divided into three tiers.
The first tier was naturally the Xu family direct line like Xu Mingxuan, who currently took the secret medicinal diet that Xu Chuan had researched.
The second tier consisted of children of servants and guards with good bone structure who had hope of reaching innate, who used the Dragon Elephant Sect's secret medicinal diet.
The third tier consisted of children of other families and wealthy merchants who paid tuition to enter, who took ordinary medicinal diets collected by the Xu family.
Under the drought disaster, all the major aristocratic families only sought not to operate at a loss.
Only the Xu family continuously accumulated strength.