Chapter 498: with translation of chapter title

After talking with Xiao Zong, Chen Wuji again handled the matter of those few rich young masters of Zhu Ji.

In order to stay alive, these few are actually quite hardworking.

Everyone wrote far more than fifty items, but Zhu Ji—this extremely timid young master—wrote over a hundred in one breath, listing his grandfather, father, uncles, and each of his brothers and nephews, with everything spelled out clearly.

Entities: Zhu Ji. Also maybe "Grandfather", "Father", "Uncles", "Brothers and nephews" generic.

As for when these events roughly occurred, the exact details of how they unfolded, and how they were ultimately resolved, they are described with meticulous thoroughness.

Luckily Chen Wuji has paper on hand now; otherwise, he'd need half a cart of bamboo slips to hold all the material Zhu Ji wrote.

Entities: Chen Wuji, Zhu Ji. Also "Bamboo Slip" is in glossary as Bamboo Slip.

Because Zhu Ji's writing was so good, Chen Wuji conveniently gave the others a stern talking-to and made them rewrite.

Entities: Zhu Ji, Chen Wuji.

They were all writing together, but none of them thought to copy the assignment—what a bunch of idiots.

Everyone's work was fine on its own, but next to Zhu Ji's, it falls short.

Entities: Zhu Ji.

By the time they finished, it was already the chou hour, and dawn was approaching.

Entities: Chou time (Chou time). "Chou" is in glossary as Chou. So entity: Chou time? The glossary includes Chou → Chou. So we should list "Chou". Also maybe "Chou time" is a time period; but we list the term "Chou". The glossary entry is for Chou → Chou. So we include Chou.

Chen Wuji returned to the courtyard prepared for him by Zhang Xiuer, exchanged a few words with her, and accidentally fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

Entities: Chen Wuji, Zhang Xiuer. Note glossary has Zhang Xiuer → Zhang Xiuer.

He waged a battle of wits and endurance with that gang all night; his body wasn't tired, but his mind felt somewhat weary.

Perhaps he was preoccupied with outside matters, Chen Wuji only dozed for a little over an hour, and was awake by the time it was fully bright.

Entities: Chen Wuji.

When he opened his eyes, oil lamps and candles were still lit in the room, and morning light poured in through the window.

Zhang Xiuer was slumped against his shoulder, fully dressed, in an extremely awkward position.

Entities: Zhang Xiuer.

Gazing at that exquisite face so close, Chen Wuji's heart wasn't entirely at peace, yet the night's turmoil had faded; for things Zhang Xiuer could let go of, why should he keep holding on?

Entities: Chen Wuji, Zhang Xiuer.

If Zhang Xiuer feels that this arrangement is okay, then there's nothing wrong with it.

Entities: Zhang Xiuer.

He gently lifted Zhang Xiuer's head, slipped a pillow behind it, and slowly pulled his arm free.

Entities: Zhang Xiuer, Chen Wuji.

He unfolded the blanket, about to cover Zhang Xiuer, only to discover she was awake too.

Entities: Zhang Xiuer.

She stared at him quietly with her bright, dark eyes.

"Go on sleeping; I have things to do, so I'll head out first." said Chen Wuji.

Entities: Chen Wuji.

Zhang Xiuer tugged the corner of her mouth, gave a slight nod, stretched her arms like a lazy cat, curled up under the blanket, and said, "Wuji brother, I won't see you off; just remember to stop by for tea when you can."

Entities: Zhang Xiuer, Chen Wuji as "Wuji brother" refers to Chen Wuji.

"I will."

He straightened Zhang Xiuer's blanket and then left the room.

Entities: Zhang Xiuer, Chen Wuji.

It's another beautiful day, the air fresh and the morning sun shining brightly.

"Shi Yi Shu, arrange for people to send what Zhu Ji and the others wrote to the Government Office, have Cheng Zhiheng immediately post a notice throughout the city. Also, have them discuss and work out a Chapter Program on how to handle the estates left behind by the Jia, Zhu and other aristocratic clans." Chen Wuji instructed.

"Yes!" Chen Li responded, then asked, "Family Head, how should we dispose of those few young masters?"

"Let Cheng Zhiheng and Zhang Xun and the others go discuss." Chen Wuji said.

"Yes!"

Having slept only this little, Chen Wuji doesn't want to use his brain at all.

"Go get the horses, let's go take a look at the Jia Family." Chen Wuji said.

"Yes!"

Leaving Taohua Yuan, Chen Wuji brought people to simply eat something on the street, then headed straight to the Jia Family's Zhuangzi outside the city, Jia Family Fortress.

In Da Yu, there is a gulf as great as a heavenly moat between the aristocratic clans and ordinary commoners.

That cannot be bridged or caught up to merely by passing the imperial examinations or earning a large sum of money.

It's not even the same order of magnitude!

This strong disparity manifests in countless places.

Before even reaching the Jia Family Fortress, huge archways began to appear one after another.

From the moment one enters the first archway, it is already considered entering the Jia Family's territory.

Within this area of several dozen li, there are basically no self-cultivating farmers; it's all Jia Family's tenant farmers and hired laborers.

After looking at the scale of the Jia Family Fortress, Chen Wuji also understood why Jia Wentao and the others looked down on Gu Wenjie so much; the aristocratic clans of Yunan and Hezhou indeed have some differences.

This disparity isn't particularly obvious, but it does exist, like the difference between the wealthy in an ordinary county and the wealthy in a provincial capital—whether in region or social circles, there are gaps.

After passing the third archway, Chen Wuji saw the troops stationed there.

He also saw Yang Tiejiang.

This stubborn, ruthless commandant, who sometimes makes his troops dare not even breathe when they see him, is personally wielding a Knife to slaughter sheep by the roadside; not far off, a group of soldiers are responsible for dividing the meat and cooking it.

Seeing Chen Wuji come in person, Yang Tiejiang flung his hand, stuck the boning knife into the wooden post, roughly wiped his bloody hands with a sheepskin, and strode forward to greet him, "Commandant, why have you come in person?"

"I've never seen what the aristocratic clans' Zhuangzi are like; I've come to take a look." Chen Wuji dismounted, glanced around and smiled, "Looks like I've come at just the right time for mutton stew?"

"This morning the soldiers discovered a flock of ownerless sheep on the mountain; after asking the locals nearby, we found out they were sheep raised by hired hands of the Jia Family. I kept part for the soldiers to improve their rations, and distributed the rest to the nearby residents." Yang Tiejiang said.

Chen Wuji nodded, "Why not keep a bit more? These new recruits seem to have built up a lot of resentment from your training; not improving their meals a bit, to slightly ease their resentment?"

Yang Tiejiang waved his hand indifferently, "These kids just need a lesson; after a few days of shouting they stop. I've repeated certain things to them, but they still can't understand; once they've been on the battlefield a few times, they'll stop shouting."

"Indeed, things need to be taught through experience; teaching person-to-person won't work, but teaching through battlefield matters is too harsh, so we should still pay attention to it sometimes." Chen Wuji nodded, "However, you have more experience than I do in these matters; I'm just casually speaking."

In the matter of drilling troops, Yang Tiejiang is the true expert.

Although Chen Wuji has many ideas, often some of them are overly presumptuous and not practical. For things he doesn't understand or only half-understands, he would rather discard his own opinion and listen to those true experts.

Arrogance is an accomplice to destruction.

For a transmigrator, being aware of this is at least the minimum.

After two lifetimes as a person, still constantly acting all self-important, it's pretty much useless.

Yang Tiejiang brought over a small stool from the roadside, asked Chen Wuji to sit down, then said: "Teaching on the battlefield is indeed somewhat harsh, but if these kids never go to the battlefield, they will never learn a lesson; they only remember how strict I am, how severe my punishments are, and instead they oppose me everywhere, thinking of causing trouble like internal strife within the camp."

"The sticks must be given, the sweet dates must be given, but lessons must be given even more; without lessons, they will never know that what I teach them is truly what protects their lives."