The Nine Cauldrons

Book 2 Chapter 20 The 26th day of the Twelfth Lunar Month

“Qingshan, you’re back!” The gates of the Teng Clan’s territory opened and the gatekeepers greeted the hunting squadron warmly.

Carrying two wild chickens, Teng Qingshan smiled and responded. “Yes, Uncle Fang. We have returned. We were able to get some prey, so you will have some delicious dishes to go with your wine tonight.” While they were returning with the water tanks from the mountain, the hunters had decided to hunt some prey so that each family in the Teng Jia Village could get one Jin of meat.

“Hm?” Teng Qingshan’s eyebrows creased upon entering the training field.

On the ground, he could vaguely make out the sunken imprints of a cart’s wheels. The ground of the training field had been treaded on by practitioners for years, and it was extremely durable. Objects that were capable of rolling such deep tracks must without any doubt, be incredibly heavy. Teng Qingshan turned to the youth beside him.

“Sanzi, who came today?”

The youth replied, “Brother Qingshan, just now a troop of one hundred people escorted a huge cart pulled by two horses. They are currently outside the weapons shop.”

Qingshan pondered a bit, and then he came to a conclusion that this cart must be here to deliver the minerals and resources required for refining the 182 Frost Jade Sabers.

“Brother, Brother!” A crisp voice rang through the air.

Qingshan turned around and saw Teng Qingyu next to their mother. The current Teng Qingyu was able to run quite quickly; she ran over and gave Qingshan a hug. Subsequently, she stared wide-eyed at the wild chickens in Qingshan’s hands, “Brother, we have meat today! Two chickens!”

“Mother, please take the wild chickens back home; I am going to see Father.” Qingshan gave his mother, Yuan Lan, the birds.

“Your father will be working hard for a while, so he needs to eat more in order to replenish his energy.” Saying this, Yuan Lan took the two wild chickens.

In the Teng Jia Village, food was distributed based on each family’s contribution. Thus, families that contributed very little would get the least food. On the other hand, families like Qingshan’s, where Teng Yongfan was the number one blacksmith in the village and Teng Qingshan was the current strongest in the clan, as well as the hunting squadron leader, would receive a fairly substantial amount of food.

After the distribution, the two wild chickens were given to Teng Qingshan, for him to bring home directly.

“Brother, I am going with you.” Teng Qingyu held onto Teng Qingshan’s hand.

The adjacent Yuan Lan smiled upon seeing this. “Qingshan, just take your sister with you to see your father. You can play with her, but both of you have to be back for lunch.” Teng Qingshan replied affirmatively and held his sister’s hand. Then, they went to the weapons shop with the nearby Teng Qinghu and Teng Qinghao.

“Brother Qinghu,Brother Qinghao.” En route, from far away, Qingshan saw a cart in front of the weapons shop along with a large number of people who were mumbling to one another. He then said, “Here, take these water tanks. Make a detour and go through the back door to deliver them.”

“Yes.” Although it was fine for outsiders to see the water tanks, Teng Qinghu and Teng Qinghao knew that it was best to keep village’s matters a secret.

There was a veritable flood of people currently in the weapons shop. Most of the apprentices were carrying materials, while four people were sitting around a wooden desk in one corner of the courtyard. This group included Teng Yongfan, Teng Yunlong and two strangers, one of whom was tall and strong. This man seemed quite powerful, whereas the other was corpulent and he had a large stomach. The latter was wearing a yellow fox-fur coat and had a sparkling golden ring on his thumb.

“Qingshan, you came.” Teng Yunlong greeted Teng Qingshan smilingly from a seated position in the courtyard of the weapons shop.

“Father, Grandfather.” After greeting them happily, Teng Qingyu ran towards them.

“Yongfan, is this your daughter? She’s very cute.” The corpulent man said laughingly.

Teng Yongfan smiled and placed Teng Qingyu on his laps. The corpulent man continued: “Village Chief, Yongfan, we have cooperated for many years, so you should know that my price is not high. Of the 13,3200 taels of silver, I have already deducted a zero off the price.”

(TL: he’s not calling Yongfan the village chief, he’s just addressing them one by one)