The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl-Chapter 497 - 493: The Grand Finale_1

Chapter 497: Chapter 493: The Grand Finale_1

Zhou Wuchang lightly coughed, taking a small sip of his tea, saying, “Yao Qin, you’re already advanced in years, the living conditions here are simple, and I’m busy with my cultivation. It’s not convenient.”

Minister Yao quickly said, “I can just live in the outer court, I assure Your Majesty that I won’t disturb you.”

Zhou Wuchang put down his teacup: “That won’t do, the outer court is resident to guards and palace attendants. It would be very inappropriate for Minister Yao to live there.”

Minister Yao wiped his old eyes, saying, “I even lived in horse stables when I was young. What does living with the guards matter now?”

Minister Liu by his side quickly chimed in, “Yes, yes, we’re fine with living in the front court.”

Surprised by the carefree attitudes of these two old coots, Zhou Wuchang gave a laugh, exhaling deeply, “Since both ministers do not mind, I will have someone prepare rooms. However, you can only bring two servants each. The rest will have to leave the village… Oh, dear, I have no choice either. We have already disrupted the villagers’ peace by coming here. I don’t want to make things difficult for the village head and the clan elders. I hope both of you will understand.”

Old Yao and old Liu nodded their heads repeatedly, “Your Majesty is right. Since we are living here, we must respect local customs. We are going to tell our attendants to stay outside the village right away.”

Yet, where else could they live? Even the villages five miles away were already occupied by people from Beijing.

With autumn already here, it’s unthinkable to have their attendants sleep outdoors. There is no clear option but to go to the county town.

Eventually, several old ministers settled down in Dongchen Village, occasionally strolling under the divine tree, craning their necks for a look. The clan leader of the Chen family felt uneasy about their constant observance, so he had one of his young grandchildren put up a sign near the tree that read: “Climbing and stealing leaves are forbidden. Violators will be expelled from the village forever.”

As soon as the sign went up, the old ministers stopped gazing at the divine tree. However, they started visiting the Jiang Family and chatting with Elder Jiang. They even presented him with boxes of ginseng and donkey-hide gelatin.

Elder Jiang, though his hair was now white, had a young-looking face and wore a white silk robe. He had an air of an immortal.

The ministers looked on enviously, particularly Old Yao, who feared death. He eagerly grabbed Elder Jiang’s hand, affectionately calling him “brother,” which gave Elder Jiang quite a start; he thought Old Yao had some unique hobby.

Wriggling his hand free from Old Yao, Elder Jiang took a few steps back, laughing nervously, “Gentlemen, please speak freely. There’s no need for such familiarity.”

Upon hearing this, Old Yao promptly said, “I feel an instant kinship with Master Jiang and I wish to discuss the ‘immortal fate’ with him. Might it be possible for you to enlighten me?”

Elder Jiang stroked his beard, “Gentlemen, you’re too kind. I’m afraid I’m not knowledgeable about the ‘immortal fate’.”

His granddaughter had restored his youth, but he himself had poor root bones and pulse energy and couldn’t cultivate, so he didn’t understand what ‘immortal fate’ was about.

Old Yao didn’t got angry. Instead, he said with a grin, “I have heard from many people that your granddaughter is the reincarnation of the Heavenly Goddess. I wanted to visit for a long time but couldn’t make the trip due to my frail body. Today, I, and a few others, came here to meet Commandery Princess Chuanhe. Do you think it would be possible?”

Elder Jiang was taken aback for a moment, then promptly shook his head, “My granddaughter isn’t living here. She’s in Zhou River Town. You should go to Zhouhe County to see her.”

Old Yao shook his head as well.

He had sent invitation cards and gifts to the princess residence before, but the princess only returned the gifts and showed no other indication. So this time, Minister Yao decided to make the trip himself.

Fortunately, they managed to insist on staying, hoping that they might bump into the princess and her husband, as long as they lived in the village continuously and permanently.

Soon after, Minister Yao and the others experienced the extraordinary nature of Dongchen village.

After they settled in, their health improved day by day. Yao Qin was so happy that he immediately wrote a letter to his son to send over his daily necessities. He decided to retire in Dongchen Village and do not wish to return to Beijing even upon death.

After a few years, Dongchen Village underwent a significant transformation.

More and more people settled around the area, all with green-brick, black-tile mansions.

There were two markets now, one at South Slope, under the old village. The villagers had revamped and built many inns and restaurants on the old streets, gradually forming a market there as well.

But the markets of the South Slope were larger and more luxurious, and the original inhabitants were mostly wealthy.

In recent years, due to people frequently seeking blessings from the Jiang family, the Jiang family reluctantly had to lead their children and grandchildren to live in Yingbao’s Divine Mansion.

In the end, even Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu were unable to resist the bother, bringing their wives, children, and those willing to leave from the Yue Family to live in the Divine Mansion.

Seeing his daughter and son-in-law leaving, Mr. Wu, after discussing with his wife and son, also proposed to follow Yingbao when she came to see him.

Thus, Mr. Wu and his family of dozens also moved into the Divine Mansion.

Afterwards, it was Lady Wen, her husband, and their son Wen Hengyin, as well as their daughter and son-in-law.

In the Divine Mansion, they each had their own piece of land, including houses and farmland. During their leisure time, they would farm, look at the surrounding exotic scenery, and Lady Wen and her husband would even gather some Spiritual Medicines, learning to concoct some medicines to improve their cultivation base.

At the Book Pavilion, Yingbao allowed Master Wu Daozi to manage it. Everyone who wanted to borrow a book had to register first.

Nuannuan came running with her younger brothers and sisters, “Mother, shall we go to the islands tomorrow?”

Yingbao nodded, pointing at a few of the cunning ones, saying: “They haven’t reached the fifth layer of Qi cultivation, they can’t leave yet.”

Many places in this realm are very barbaric, especially hostile to outsiders, so children can’t take risks without cultivating to the fifth layer of Qi or above.

Jiang Wu popped a Spiritual Medicine into his mouth, chewed it a bit and swallowed it, saying, “Sister, I’ll go out tomorrow too.”

He, along with Huzi, Wei Zhan, Wen Hengyin and the others, loved to follow their sister on her adventures. Not only do they encounter various strange beasts, but they also get see huge whales in the sea.

Some of the whales were even larger than the palaces of the Imperial Palace, an awe-inspiring sight.

Before Yingbao could reply, Jiang Quan intervened, saying, “Why go to that island? The people there are as poor as church mice, they can’t even afford pants. Let’s go to bigger neighboring countries. I’ve brought a lot of silk and porcelain, and I’m ready to sell it.”

For the past few years, Jiang Quan had been traveling with Yingbao all over the world, using the porcelain he had made from domestic kiln-burning and the cotton silk fabric he had, to exchange for a lot of gold, silver, gems and exquisite crafts. He was ecstatic, ever since he entrusted his shop in Beijing to the shopkeeper to manage, and started to bring back goods from around the world to sell.

As a result, his shop gradually became the most eye-catching major store in all of Beijing.

Yingbao: “The island we’re going to isn’t the one to the east, it’s further away. There are big lobsters there and I want to catch some to raise here.”

“Sea turtle! Sea turtle! I want to bring back a big sea turtle!” Jiang Qi was shouting.

Last time they saw many huge tortoises on an island, larger than the millstone of Dongchen Village. His aunt only took in two or three, and they were claimed by his younger brothers and sisters.

He also wanted to bring back a turtle to use as a mount and to sleep on.

“Good, if we encounter one, we’ll bring it back.” Yingbao agreed, then spoke to her second cousin, “You don’t need to be in a hurry, after we catch the lobsters, we will take you to trade silk.”

Nothing was more important than eating seafood.

Especially after mummy and Nuannuan had developed a spicy seasoning. Periodically, Yingbao would lead the family to the seashore to pick up seashells and catch lobsters.

Cooking the giant oysters, which were as big as bowls, with the spicy seasoning was incredibly delicious, Master Wu Daozi and Mr. Wu loved that dish the most.

Yingbao then glanced back at the garden. Mrs. Wu, Mrs. Luo and others, were wearing fashionable dresses, delicate step shakes on their heads, draped in exquisite silks, holding round fans, were talking with a few of the silver-haired dragon youngsters, looking radiant and highly pleasing to the eyes.