Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 79 - 80: Marriage Alliance

Lu Chang’sheng finally saw the anxiety swirling in the woman’s heart, which brought him back to that moment long ago, when he’d first set out from Zhao Family Village on an unknown journey.

But back then, the young girl was much quieter than she was now, standing outside the crowd in silence, her eyes filled with a hint of confusion and despair.

His heart was suddenly pricked with pain, and a flood of words surged up inside him, but they were already so close and accustomed to each other’s presence that all those sticky-sweet lines sounded childish the moment they reached his lips.

In the end, Lu Chang’sheng just gave a little smile, saying in his usual casual tone, "Nangua, spend the rest of your life with me, okay?"

Lu Heitu’s face was full of disappointment. She thought she should have talked to her second brother earlier, maybe asked how to actually say something that would make a woman happy.

Best case, it’d be as sappy as the love stories the storytellers spin out there, or like in those operas, with dramatic twists and turns, all leading up to some heart-wrenching confession that made the woman cry a river.

But since her own second brother was the lead here, she figured dramatic twists weren’t needed, but damn, was that touching line just way too sloppy!

Unacceptable, completely unacceptable! 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

But to her surprise, Li Nangua just lit up and gave a soft little "Mm."

Her cheeks looked like they could drip water.

Lu Heitu’s eyes nearly popped out of her head watching all this, but in the end, she could only chalk it up to her second brother being just too damn charming.

······

When it came to the wedding, Lu Chang’sheng wasn’t fussy, and for Li Nangua and folks like Wang Heihou, this was all brand new too—none of them had ever done this before.

Mr. and Mrs. Lu had some experience, but times had changed; you couldn’t just go by the old village customs anymore.

In the end, they had no choice but to bring in a professional matchmaker from outside to run the show.

As luck would have it, the third day after the New Year turned out to be a good day, so they got everything ready, and on the day: incense was burned for the ancestors, the bride stepped over the fire basin, and the couple bowed and were married.

That night, Lu Chang’sheng and Li Nangua lay in each other’s arms. They looked at each other, a bit awkward.

"I think, back when we were slacking off, I once saw your bare butt," Lu Chang’sheng said with a grin.

Li Nangua’s cheeks blushed deep red as she reached over and gave his waist a gentle pinch.

Lu Chang’sheng faked a pained yelp, but only until Li Nangua, worried, showed a flash of concern—then he dropped the act.

Li Nangua didn’t get mad, just said defensively, "Back then, my clothes were torn! And—I covered up as soon as everyone looked away!"

She’d thought nobody noticed it at the time—turns out, her man had sneaked a peek after all.

She wanted to smack him a few times, but couldn’t bring herself to do it, so all she could do was hug him tighter.

But thanks to Lu Chang’sheng’s silly interruption, most of the embarrassment had faded away.

Lu Chang’sheng may never have butchered a pig, but he’d sure seen them run—seeing the way Nangua melted, he slowly made his move.

All those years of Pile Skill practice paid off—he didn’t sleep all the way till dawn.

The two slept in each other’s arms, skin pressed to skin.

With his beloved so close, Lu Chang’sheng felt his heart grow a little heavy.

"Starting tomorrow, I need to focus on cultivation again."

"What’s up?" Li Nangua caught the worry on Lu Chang’sheng’s face and asked gently.

Lu Chang’sheng thought for a bit. He knew Nangua was smart; keeping it from her would just make her even more anxious, so he told her what happened today.

"They’re all Nobles. News coming from them is probably true."

Lu Chang’sheng nodded. Back then, he’d noticed those few guys, with that young Zhao as their leader, but the other party seemed to avoid getting too tangled with him—they had Zhou Yu deliver the message instead.

"This is all just to force me to pick a side. No matter which way I go, I’ll have to come up with an answer."

Lu Chang’sheng felt a chill inside.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of them; he was just worried about the whole Great Yuan situation.

The fighting was probably coming to a head, and who knew—maybe his family would get caught in the crossfire.

"How about we just go back to Zhao Family Village together?" Li Nangua said softly.

She didn’t want to see Lu Chang’sheng burning himself out with all of this. As long as they were together, she’d do anything.

"Let’s see how it plays out. It’s not like there’s no way out here. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just join a camp and be done with it."

Lu Chang’sheng had already made up his mind. Over the past few years, he’d figured out a lot—if he wanted to get out of this mess, he needed to start with the Dean of the Martial Artist Institute.

Of course, nothing was certain. All he could do was hope that come evaluation day, he could impress the Dean and be accepted as a student.

After a night of intense effort, dripping with sweat, Lu Chang’sheng was beat and quickly fell asleep.

Li Nangua lay on his chest, her eyes full of tenderness and pain.

All those years—maybe only she knew how much pressure this man carried.

In her heart, she was already thinking how to help lighten his burden.

······

The days that followed, Lu Chang’sheng kept a low profile, only leaving home when he absolutely had to report for work at the prefecture. All his other time went into martial arts training at home.

Li Nangua started to manage his business ventures, like the tavern and the bookstore.

Smart and eager to learn, it only took her half a year to get all the businesses running smoothly—and even double their profits.

The Martial Artist Council was also doing pretty well.

To avoid attracting attention from the big bosses, Council members began spreading out intentionally—some joined other organizations, and some became trainers at different noble houses.

Anyone with potential, Lu Chang’sheng would invest in, case by case.

Oftentimes, all some folks needed was a shot—and they’d make something of themselves.

As for whether spreading out would cause everyone to lose their sense of unity, after discussion with Liang Yun, Lu Chang’sheng set the rule that every year, at the end of the year, there’d be a banquet in a low-key marketplace in the outer city. That way everyone could connect, share information, and hopefully walk away with new opportunities.

One thing was especially crucial: as long as he stayed at the top, the Martial Artist Council had its core. The group would hold together.

And as time passed, these folks began to bring him returns too.

That included over a dozen common martial arts techniques, plus information and business assets.

Black Mountain Prefecture was massive. The Four Gates area alone had space for hundreds of thousands, with all kinds of characters mixed in; ninety-nine percent of the businesses were already claimed. But the owners got weak with time, or sometimes some reckless folks took over in the name of some faction.

With the Council’s strength, taking these businesses was absolutely doable. Sure, the profits weren’t huge on their own, but bundled together, it was pretty impressive.

But as his strength grew, the medicinal soups needed for practicing Flood Stake got more and more expensive, so he started feeling the pinch when it came to silver coins.