Chapter 34: Sworn Brotherhood

"Brother! Are you saying this room will be mine from now on?"

Zheng Shan asked Zheng Fa in a daze, her mouth stretched to her ears, seemingly unable to believe Zheng Fa's arrangement just now.

"What? Dare not sleep alone?" Zheng Fa laughed.

"I dare!" Little Sister hurriedly said.

Their new home in the Zhao family was not actually large, but compared to the mud house they lived in before, it was far too luxurious.

It was a small courtyard with one room on each side; Zheng Fa planned to use them as the kitchen and the woodshed.

The main house had a total of four rooms, not counting the central living room.

Of the remaining three, Zheng Fa intended for the three of them in the family to have one room each.

This made Zheng Shan overjoyed; she pulled Zheng Fa's index finger and looked toward her own room.

She even nodded solemnly: "My new room is so beautiful!"

Zheng Fa glanced inside; the room was empty, with nothing but dust covering the floor.

He didn't know where Little Sister saw the beauty.

"Your sister is still young; this room should be left for you as a study." Zheng Mother hesitated for a while before speaking: "You are now the young master's study attendant; studying is a big matter. Your sister can just sleep with me."

Hearing this, Zheng Shan lowered her head but said not a word, her small mouth pouting, looking very aggrieved.

Zheng Fa knew that Zheng Shan sleeping with Zheng Mother had always been a bit difficult: since her father's death, Zheng Mother had worked herself to exhaustion, couldn't stay up late, and slept lightly, while Zheng Shan was full of energy, slept late, yet was sensible and knew to pity her mother.

Every time Zheng Mother fell asleep, the little one dared not move a muscle, afraid of waking her mother; for her, who was lively and active, it was truly a kind of torment.

This was also why, before coming to the new home, Zheng Shan's greatest wish was to have her own bed.

"Although Little Sister is small now, she will grow up eventually; since there are extra rooms, letting her sleep here will save moving later." He said to his mother.

Little Sister's head snapped up, and she grinned foolishly at Zheng Fa.

Seeing Zheng Mother about to speak again, he continued: "I need to study; I can study in Mr. Shen's classroom, in the Seventh Young Master's study, or even at home; can't I study in the living room?"

"This... I saw that at Wang Guanshi's house, after Wang Gui enrolled, they set up a study, saying that a scholar should have a special room for books."

Zheng Fa waved his hand and laughed: "Bad students have too many stationery items... uh, I mean, books on a shelf are useless; they must be in the brain."

"But..."

"Mother, he has already studied his way to the Misty Rain Pavilion; his father lost his position as a manager just from studying. If we are to learn, we should learn something good."

"That's true!"

Gratitude toward Wang Gui made Zheng Mother very open to advice...

Zheng Shan raised both hands above her head and cheered: "Mother! I want to decorate my own room!"

"Then you clean it yourself." Seeing her daughter so happy, Zheng Mother also laughed.

"I'll sweep myself! I'll sweep Brother's room too, and Mother's room too!"

The mother and daughter happily put their heads together, murmuring and discussing how best to arrange the furniture sent by the High Manager. Zheng Fa looked at the sun and said to them: "Mother, you discuss first; I must go to Xu Jiaotou's place to practice martial arts."

Zheng Mother waved her hand, not even looking at Zheng Fa, immersed in the joy of decorating the new house, making him feel a sense of loss from being out of favor.

In the room at the training ground, Xu Jiaotou sighed deeply while stroking several thick classics before him.

His rough face was actually filled with delicate sorrow.

Xu Jiaotou's little apprentice, who was also his own nephew, walked over, saw his master's expression, and couldn't help but ask with concern: "Uncle, what's wrong?"

"Sigh, the Lady sent over the 'Spirit Crane Body'; this is to have me teach it to that boy Zheng Fa."

"'Spirit Crane Body'!" Xu Jiaotou's nephew exclaimed, looking at the book in Xu Jiaotou's hand; indeed, the three large characters on the cover were exactly 'Spirit Crane Body'.

His gaze immediately couldn't move away: "Uncle, can I take a look?"

"Do you want to die? I served in the Zhao family for twenty years before the Lady appreciated me and let me learn this Spirit Crane Body; unfortunately..."

"Uncle, it took you twenty years to earn that qualification," Xu Jiaotou's nephew lowered his voice slightly: "That's too biased..."

"Shut up; your audacity is getting bolder and bolder; is the Lady someone you can talk about?" Xu Jiaotou slapped his own nephew on the head.

Xu Jiaotou's nephew rubbed his head, baring his teeth: "I just saw Uncle sighing and wanted to speak up for you!"

Xu Jiaotou's face improved considerably and he spoke: "It's not for that; it's... didn't I want to take Zheng Fa as my disciple before?"

"Now you can't take him!" Xu Jiaotou's nephew suddenly realized.

"Yes, now that he has the Lady's favor, how could I have such a big face! How would the Lady look at me?" Xu Jiaotou nodded: "Still, the matter of taking a disciple should have been told to Zheng Fa earlier."

"If told earlier, he would be my junior brother!" His nephew understood.

"Even if we can't form a master-disciple bond, speaking earlier could still form a good connection!"

Xu Jiaotou looked very regretful, not seeing his nephew's eyes roll as he quietly walked toward the outside of the training ground.

When Zheng Fa walked to the training ground entrance, he saw a young man squatting there as if waiting for someone; this person looked somewhat familiar, seemingly one of the few standing beside Xu Jiaotou last time.

He stopped, bowed slightly to the other party, and prepared to walk inside the gate.

He saw the other party leap up, looking at him with a face full of joy, and said enthusiastically: "Brother Zheng!"

"Hmm?" Zheng Fa stopped, looking at the other party in confusion: "Who might you be?"

"We met last time! Xu Jiaotou is my uncle."

"Brother Xu, do you need something from me?"

"Nothing major!" The other party walked forward and enthusiastically grabbed Zheng Fa's arm: "We had a brief meeting last time, and I felt we were old friends at first sight; this time it's even more coincidental to meet here by chance; truly fate!"

Zheng Fa looked at the two shallow pits the person had squatted out on the ground, tilted his head back, and dodged the other party's enthusiastic saliva: "Indeed, a pleasure to meet you!"

"How about this, let us swear brotherhood!" Before the words finished, Zheng Fa watched with wide eyes as the other party, from the place he had just been squatting, pulled out an incense burner, inserted three sticks of incense, and three wisps of green smoke rose curling upward.

"This... isn't that a bit hasty?"

"The saying goes 'meeting under a tilted roof'; meeting Brother Zheng gives me exactly that feeling."

The other party was so enthusiastic; as the saying goes, one never strikes a smiling face, so Zheng Fa could only tactfully say, "This... forming a blood brotherhood is hardly necessary. How about we simply address each other as brothers in daily life?"

"In that case..." Seeing he seemed reluctant, the Chengguang Zhi Zi of the Xu Sect also felt it inappropriate to force the matter and could only nod with difficulty, speaking with genuine feeling, "You must remember, I already regard you as my younger brother in my heart, Brother Zheng!"

"Brother Xu, I have other matters to attend to, I must go first!" Zheng Fa replied and hurriedly ran away.

The other party was still standing in place, shouting, "We shall discuss our brotherly affection another day!"

Zheng Fa walked into the training ground and found the room where the Xu Sect Instructor was located.

He saw the Xu Sect Instructor standing with his hands behind his back, looking at him with tear-filled tiger eyes and a face full of deep affection, as if gazing upon an old acquaintance.

"Instructor?" he asked cautiously.

"Little Zheng, do you know what day it is today?"

"What day?"

"When I was young, I had a younger brother with whom I shared a very close bond. Unfortunately, he died young, and today is his death anniversary..."

Zheng Fa said in a low voice, "Instructor, please accept my condolences."

The Xu Sect Instructor wiped his face and said, "To be honest, the first time I saw you, I felt you resembled my late younger brother."

"..."

"Let us form a blood brotherhood!"

"Wait, that sounds... a bit familiar." Zheng Fa looked at the incense table behind the Xu Sect Instructor and said with a frown.