The Xu family held a grand wedding.
It was extremely lively.
Unlike the Yang family previously, the Wu family had been rooted in Qingjiang County for two hundred years with deep roots and flourishing branches. Their relatives and such added up to far more than the Xu family.
Xu Mingyuan led people to fetch the bride, while Xu Mingwei didn't go.
Now that all family affairs were under his management, all that remained was the transfer of the family head's authority. However, both Xu Mingshu and Xu Mingxian went along.
This time, Xu Mingshu didn't ride the white tiger but rode horses with Xu Mingxian instead.
The bride-fetching went very smoothly, but somehow Xu Mingshu got pestered by a chubby boy from one of the Wu family's in-law families.
He appeared to be fourteen or fifteen years old.
Naturally, Xu Mingshu taught him a harsh lesson.
The Xu family's only legitimate daughter, the pearl in their palm.
Showered with countless affections, and possessing a rare variant white tiger as a mount.
Who would dare provoke her?
If they laid a hand on Xu Mingshu today, neither the Wu nor Xu families would let them live but if they disobeyed their young master's orders, at most they'd get a beating.
As for which was more serious, they could still tell the difference.
"Damn it, you dare not follow my orders. Just wait until I get back, you'll regret this."
The chubby boy huffed and ran off.
"What kind of random nobodies dare to set their sights on me," Xu Mingshu said with a contemptuous smile.
Xu Mingyuan chuckled, "Random nobody wouldn't quite describe him. He's the Wu family head's nephew, from the great merchant Zhu family, rich as can be."
"Indeed covered in greasy fat," Xu Mingxian said earnestly.
"Haha, Yunnu is quite right. If he wants to marry Xueji, he definitely has no chance. I think Father wouldn't bear to let you marry out."
"That's right," Xu Mingshu blinked and smiled playfully. "I'm Father's precious darling. Hehe~"
After fetching the bride, the Xu family's party successfully returned to the Xu residence in Dongxi Village.
They held the wedding ceremony.
First bow to heaven and earth, husband and wife love without doubt.
Second bow to the elders, parents flourish together in fortune and longevity.
Then the grand feast began.
The Zhu family's madam learned that her son wanted to marry Xu Mingshu and praised him for his good taste.
She even brought it up with Bai Jing at the banquet.
Bai Jing roughly knew the situation with her youngest son and directly declined politely, saying that Xu Chuan doted on her and wanted Xu Mingshu to stay by his side for a few more years.
Madam Zhu naturally understood, maintaining a smile on the surface, but turned around and complained to her brother about the Xu family's wrongdoing.
"Elder Brother, the Xu family takes itself too seriously."
"My Feng'er has taken a fancy to the Xu family's daughter, yet was ridiculed. You're Feng'er's uncle, you must stand up for him."
The Wu family head glanced at Madam Zhu, "Xu Mingshu?"
"She's quite a good girl, heroic and spirited. Their family married my daughter, and if my family marries her, it would strengthen ties between our two families even more."
The Wu family was quite wary of the Xu family's strength. Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to clash with the Xu family.
"Elder Brother, we're talking about Feng'er. How did you end up interested?"
"What kind of situation is your son in? Just marrying an ordinary aristocratic family's daughter would be enough. Xu Mingshu? Is he even worthy?"
"Elder Brother."
"Enough, you should go back now."
The Wu family head issued an order to leave. Madam Zhu had no choice but to depart from the Wu residence.
"However, Xu Mingshu is indeed outstanding. There are too few who could match her. Only Third Brother's youngest son, Wu Youdao, would do.
At fifteen years old, he already has the strength of a second-rate martial artist. At eighteen, he could hope to become a first-rate martial artist. In his early twenties, he might reach peak Postnatal realm.
Then finding a way to obtain a few Qi-Drawing Pills from the commandery capital, he could step into the innate realm before twenty-five."
"With such talent, he's in no way inferior to the legitimate descendants of commandery capital aristocratic families. I imagine he'd be more than qualified to marry Xu Chuan's daughter."
However, what the Wu family head didn't expect was that when his third brother went to the Xu family to propose marriage, Wu Youdao was carried back instead.
Upon inquiry, it turned out that Wu Youdao had competed with Xu Mingshu. Not only did he lose, but he was inadvertently injured in his vital organs.
Although that thing was ultimately preserved.
The physician said it would be very difficult in the future for him to navigate winding paths and storm citadels.
Although the Wu family head was angry, he was also alarmed.
The most talented descendant the Wu family had produced in a hundred years couldn't compare to the talent of a girl from that family.
What about the other male descendants besides Xu Mingwei?
Weren't they all deeply hiding their capabilities as well?!
"Even if I'm overthinking it, I must guard against it before it happens!"
That very night, he invited the family heads of the Fang, Wang, He, and Cao families to discuss jointly suppressing the Xu family. However, everything was already too late.
The Xu family's foundation in Qingjiang had been established.
Tens of thousands of acres of farmland, four seasons of crops, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, everything available, sufficient to be self-sustaining.
Zuiyun Residence and Qianjin Workshop were both industry leaders. Unless they drastically lowered prices to wage a price war, it would be difficult to seize their momentum.
Yet even if they did this, the Xu family didn't care at all.
The Xu family's goods were of excellent quality. Initially, they would lose many customers, but after ten days to half a month, those customers would automatically return.
Moreover, after comparing the two, it strengthened their resolve to choose Xu family shops.
The five great families desperately tried to suppress them, but the Xu family's momentum only grew fiercer.
They once joined forces to try to destroy the Xu family's farmland, but never expected that not a single person they sent out returned any news. They knew they must have been killed by the Xu family.
Naturally, such matters couldn't be reported to the authorities.
Even if they did report it, the Xu family could claim thieves had invaded and were killed on the spot, and the authorities would be helpless.
It would also expose their ugly faces and affect their reputation in Qingjiang.
The second year.
The Xu family expanded into the markets of five surrounding counties, establishing businesses like Zuiyun Residence and Qianjin Workshop.
The five great families could no longer suppress them at all.
In just one year, the wealth the Xu family accumulated reached the profit accumulation of the five great families over several years.
In May of that year.
Xu Mingyuan and Wu Rushan had a daughter named Xu Dejing.
In August of the same year, Xu Mingwei and Yang Ronghua had another son, named Xu Dewen.
The third year.
The Xu family's guard force had reached a scale of three hundred people.
Over a hundred servants and maids.
Five to six hundred permanent workers.
Among them, the guard force had very strict screening.
At minimum, one had to be a third-rate martial artist to join. Twenty people formed a patrol squad, and the squad leader had to be a second-rate martial artist.
Five squads formed one large company.
The company commander had to be a first-rate martial artist to serve.
As for commanding the entire guard force, that required a peak Postnatal realm martial artist.
This was just for now. In another ten years or so, probably only an innate martial artist could command the Xu family's guard force.
The fourth year.
Under the Xu family's full cultivation, Xu Mingyuan, Xu Mingshu, and Xu Mingxian all progressed. Xu Mingxian stepped into peak Postnatal realm, while Xu Mingshu and Xu Mingyuan were still a bit short.
This was all thanks to the simplified innate medicinal diet formula that Xu Chuan later researched, with effects twice that of the previous secret medicinal diet.
Otherwise, to reach such martial arts realms would probably require another two or three years.
This was already the limit of Postnatal medicinal diet.
If the medicinal effects were any stronger, they would be harmful rather than beneficial to Postnatal martial artists. However, this medicinal diet also had drawbacks.
One had to reach the physical fitness of a second-rate martial artist before starting to consume it. If a non-martial artist consumed it, they would likely die from ruptured meridians.
Based on this, Xu Chuan developed three types of secret medicinal diet.
The first type was for those below third-rate martial artists, allowing them to solidify their foundation and open their acupoints as quickly as possible.
The second type was for those below second-rate martial artists, also able to solidify foundations and additionally improve physical fitness.
The third type was the previous pseudo-innate medicinal diet.
Cultivated with these three types of medicinal diet, the cultivation speed of future Xu family descendants during the Postnatal martial artist stage would be greatly increased.
Those with ordinary talent, like Chen Daniu, who could only possibly become first-rate martial artists after age thirty, could now hope to reach peak Postnatal realm in their early twenties.
As for those with good talent, they could roughly reach peak Postnatal realm at eighteen.
Those even better, like Xu Dezhao who possessed a special bloodline, could probably reach the ultimate Postnatal realm before age sixteen.