One: Youth is like morning

  "Keep the head but lose the hair, keep the hair but lose the head!"

  "Measure China's material strength, and bind it with the nation's joyful heart!"

  "Rather be with foreigners than with house slaves!"

  Flames and wails enveloped the darkness, everywhere was filled with the smell of blood, danger was approaching, running, fleeing, gasping, nowhere to go, despair...

  The night sky is collapsing, the earth is collapsing, everything is collapsing, and I am collapsing too!

  Yu Guozhen suddenly sat up from the bed, gasping violently, his body covered in cold sweat. He felt under the bed board and found that the ox-horned dagger he had hidden there was still in place, which seemed to calm him down a bit.

  A faint light came through the window, proving that it was not yet fully daylight. He slowly lifted his quilt, got dressed, and then he heard a drowsy female voice from outside: "Zhen Ge'er, what's going on?"

  "It's okay, I'm up, you go back to sleep." Yu Guozhen said.

  Although he said so, the sound of rustling still came from outside the room. After a while, a 12 or 13-year-old girl walked in, her eyes still half-closed, carrying a basin of water with her head nodding up and down. Yu Guozhen sighed and gently tapped her messy hair: "Go back to sleep, I'll get up and run for a bit."

  "Big pillar, second pillar, Zhen Ge'r have all gotten up, why haven't you?!" The little girl heard this and walked back to the outer room in a daze, but before lying down she still remembered to shout out loudly.

  Yu Guozhen pushed open the door and walked out, the eastern sky was still only showing a pale white, half of the sky was still full of stars. He shook his head and smiled, today he got up earlier than usual, no wonder Dazhu and Erzhu were still in bed.

  He stretched his limbs and, in the early summer weather of the Anhui province, even at dawn, there was not much coolness. He ran a small circle in front of the house, then followed the ridge road behind the house to the two earth tombs about half a mile away, and knelt down as usual to kowtow.

  "It's been three years... You rescued me and I became your son. For the past three years, I have kowtowed to you every day. If you have a spirit, I hope you can bless me..."

  His thoughts seemed to have returned to three years ago, that shocking explosion, he inexplicably came to this world, and was inexplicably pulled out of the fire scene by someone. He gained a new life, but lost his parents, facing this strange world at the age of twelve.

  After knocking his head nine times, Yu Guozhen slowly walked back to his own home. This was a row of extremely dilapidated houses, without even a courtyard wall, with only the main house and two side rooms, where the main house was divided into front and back, he and his maid Xiaolian lived there, the west wing was the kitchen, and the east wing was where the family servant Lao Gao's family lived.

  He didn't originally live here, he should have lived in Xiang'an Town, which is nearly two miles away from here. His father, who was buried in the tomb, had been doing business outside for many years and had also set up a house in the town. However, since his father's business capital was all provided by the clan, that house was naturally considered to be clan property. In order to avoid being coveted and harmed by the clansmen, he exchanged this row of houses, which were originally used for the farmhands to live in, far outside the town.

  Apart from the house in town, his father also left him more than 80 mu of land. This was not ancestral property, and the deed was kept at home, but since three years ago, the deed had been "kept" by someone else.

  If it weren't for this, he, a twelve-year-old boy who had just entered the world, would have been killed by someone with his eyes closed.

  But by today, these more than 80 mu of land may not be kept either. The 80 mu of land in Chaohu Plain is a good fertile field, and both inside and outside the clan, someone has been eyeing it for a long time!

  Thinking of this, Yu Guozhen's face revealed a hint of sarcastic smile. Three years ago, if they had taken action, he would have been completely powerless to resist at that time. But since they delayed for three years and gave him three years to prepare, how could he still be powerless to fight back?

  When he walked to his own home, the two young men were already standing there waiting for him. Seeing him walking back, the two young men immediately stood up straight, and in the words of Gao's couple, even when the military officers from the Wei family came out for exercise, they didn't stand as upright as them!

  Yu Guozhen watched the soldiers of Weisuo's army drill, but now the military system is in disarray. Those soldiers can't even maintain discipline, let alone form a proper formation, they are all scattered and disorderly.

  "Big pillar!" Yu Guozhen began his daily routine.

  "Arrived!"

  The tall and sturdy pillar, who was actually eighteen years old, had a robust build, with broad shoulders and a round waist. Three years of comfortable living had made him no longer as thin as he was three years ago. If he weren't an outsider working as a servant for the family, he would have been married off at his age long ago.

  "Let's start." Yu Guozhen gazed at the tall pillar.

  "Yes!" Gao Dazhu responded again, then began to speak fluently: "A homeless wanderer, if not for the master's family taking me in, would have long become a withered skeleton by the roadside. Heaven and earth are my witnesses, I, Gao Dazhu, am willing to serve the master's family with the diligence of an ox and a horse, forever without second thoughts!"

  For three years, Gao Dazhu has been reciting this passage every day. From the initial month of memorizing the first sentence and forgetting the next one, to now being able to recite it fluently, he spent a lot of time and effort.

  At this time, people may not be too naive, but like him, who has devoted himself to the host family, he does not have much psychological resistance to some of the host's strange hobbies. After all, his young master only asks him to recite this text every day, and not like the rumors in the town, where some famous families' children are said to be fond of playing with rabbits from a young age.

  He didn't know that Yu Guozhen had a term for this in his heart: brainwashing.

  Relying solely on good material treatment to maintain the loyalty of such servants is very unreliable, and moderate brainwashing can have a multiplier effect.

  Then there were the two pillars, just like the big pillar, and his attitude was extremely serious when reciting. Every time he saw this serious look, Yu Guozhen thought of the scene when they took in their family. It wasn't easy for this family to escape from Shaanxi to here, and at that time, they were all starving for who knows how long. The seriousness with which they ate their first bowl of rice made it impossible for Yu Guozhen to forget after seeing it.

  In the kitchen, Gao, who was busy preparing breakfast, was also muttering to himself in a low voice. He was a simple and honest man from northern Shaanxi, just like the thick and sturdy yellow earth of his hometown. His face was full of wrinkles, making him look older than he actually was, although he had long forgotten his own birthday.

  "Amitabha Buddha! With such a kind-hearted master like Xiang Zhen, heaven will surely bless him with a good wife soon." His mother-in-law joined her palms together in prayer.

  Lao Gao and his family were truly loyal to Yu Guozhen. They wandered from Shaanxi to Wuwei Prefecture, witnessing many life-and-death separations along the way. At that time, 12-year-old Yu Guozhen overruled everyone's objections, saying he wanted to accumulate "benevolent deeds" for his deceased parents by taking in Lao Gao and his family. Only then did they finally settle down; otherwise, who knows where they would have ended up?

  After finishing reciting, Yu Guozhen took Gao Dazhu and Gao Erzhu to start running. Every morning before breakfast, they would run along the river bend for about 10 miles. Although they looked easy, Yu Guozhen and the Gao brothers all had sandbags tied to their feet. At first, the sandbag was only half a kilogram heavy, but now it has become two kilograms heavy.

  For three years, as long as the weather wasn't too bad, this scene would be performed every morning. Running ten miles on the small path by the river bay would take them about half an hour. At first, the villagers nearby thought Yu Guozhen was just a naughty kid who had lost his parents and was playing with two companions, but later they got used to it and nobody mentioned this thing again.

  Yu Guozhen's parents left him a small inheritance, but it was enough to feed seven or eight people for three to five years. As a result, breakfast was quite rich, with porridge, steamed buns filled with fish and meat, and pickled vegetables. The three half-grown children were all well-fed.

  As usual, after eating, Yu Guozhen had to tell Da Zhu and Er Zhu how to do arithmetic. Three years ago, these two kids didn't even recognize a single character, and couldn't count above 100. Now, with the addition of Xiao Lian, they have all learned simple multiplication. Every time Gao saw this scene, he felt satisfied in his heart: The young master was teaching his own children the skills of managing the household and accounting, and when their family prospered in the future, at least one of them would become a steward.

  It was because of such expectations for the future that Lao Gao's family had repeatedly whispered behind his back about finding a daughter-in-law for Da Zhu, but Lao Gao had secretly swatted them away each time. When the young master comes of age and inherits the title, the clan will have to give him some property to manage as the eldest son of the third house, at which point Da Zhu and Er Zhu will be by his side, and finding a wife then would be better than now!

  However, today's class was interrupted. Yu Guozhen had not yet begun to speak when the big yellow dog outside started barking loudly, and then a loud voice shouted: "Brother Zhen, Brother Zhen, Fourth Master is calling for you!"

  Yu Guozhen's fourth uncle is Yu Yigou, and the outside Yu Guozhen is also familiar with him. They are from the same family as Yu Gouer. This branch of the Yu family has the same surname but a different clan as the descendants of Yu Tingyu, who claim to be the descendants of Temür, the Grand Chancellor of the Yuan Dynasty. However, they have the same ancestor as General Yu Dayou, who was from Fengyang Prefecture's Huoqiu County and had been living in Wuwei State for nearly two hundred years. Now there are four branches, with Yu Guozhen being the third branch. This branch has few descendants, and now only he is left. The fourth branch has two elder uncles, Yu Yigou and Yu Yijin, who are brothers. There are five siblings of the same generation as Yu Guozhen. The first branch originally had no heir, but was succeeded by Yu Yijian, a cousin from the second branch. Although he is the eldest uncle, his position in the family is not high due to being a son born out of wedlock. The second branch also has two uncles, Yu Yiqin and Yu Yixuan. Yu Yiqin is now the head of the clan, while Yu Yixuan holds the title of Juren and has the most say in the family.

  It was precisely because of the blessing of Yu Wu's juren status that the Yu family's landholdings were exempt from taxation, and thus in Xiang'an Town, the Yu family could also be considered a prominent family.

  Yu Guozhen did not rush to respond, Yu Yigu's mind, he was very clear, no more than looking at the 80 mu of land under his name. His parents had passed away, and there were no powerful elders in his uncle's family. If it weren't for him giving away the large house in their family to Second Uncle Yu Yiqin three years ago, he might have died prematurely due to some reason.

  Gao Dazhu and Gao Erzhu both had furious expressions on their faces, the two brothers were very tall and big-headed. Yu Guozhen looked at their red faces due to anger and smiled slightly.

  He knew the storm was approaching.