Chapter 567: The Man Who Speaks Loudly

As soon as the Shaman returned home, he immediately closed the courtyard gate. Ignoring the confusion of his wives, he slipped into his room and remained there for a long time without making a sound.

The Shaman reflected on his life, which had been very fortunate. Although he lived like a wild beast for the first thirty years of his life, because he was a Great Shaman, he had not lived too difficultly; one could even say it was quite good, until their tribe suffered a disaster and went into exile.

Yet the life of exile did not last long before he met the familiar yet strange Baifeng, a savage who suddenly became the son of Heaven and displayed the abilities that such a status should have, causing the entire tribe to submit to him.

Oh, the Shaman suddenly remembered that Baifeng had actually been a member of his own tribe before, an ordinary savage who did not appear out of thin air; therefore, he had known him ever since Baifeng was born.

And he himself began to transform from the status of a Great Shaman, counting the quantity of grain, later counting more and more grain, mastering the tribe's grain, population, and property; he became more and more capable, and his power grew greater and greater.

With more and more women and descendants, his life seemed to have been even better than the Tribal Chiefs of other tribes; as a person, it seemed he had already been successful enough.

Several of his wives had already died; they ultimately did not live as long as he did. The ones remaining were not very young anymore, having long since lost the ability to bear children, and every day they complained of aching waists and legs, even more absurdly than he did.

But as for what this thing called love is, he did not know even now. However, whether he knew or not no longer mattered. Could it be that he, a man who did not even know which day he would die, still needed to take another wife? Fortunately, he had already felt familial affection very deeply.

He was waiting for his children to return from their Squads. He felt that there was a need to tell them about today's events properly, especially "Wu"—this would be the surname of their entire family. Whether it was honor or shame, it would follow them forever. Although no one would know as long as they did not speak of it, they themselves had to understand.

His sons pushed open the large wooden gate one by one and returned home, and his grandsons and granddaughters had also finished school; it was exceptionally noisy, either continuing to play or finding their fathers and mothers to talk about things at school, talking about who had bullied them again.

The sons knew that their father seemed to be feeling unwell today and had returned home early. The daughters had long since married and gone to their own homes; they would not return to this house.

The eldest, Shaohe, was the one who called the shots among all the brothers. He was the first to arrive at the door of the Shaman's room to knock and ask how his father was feeling.

The Shaman, whose eyes were somewhat hollow and dull, gradually turned around and said in a somewhat weak tone, "Come in, and call all your brothers over."

Shaohe's hand, which was prepared to push the door, paused; he was somewhat flustered, as he always had a bad premonition, but he immediately said, "Very well, Father."

Afterward, the brothers stood together at the Shaman's door. After Shaohe greeted him again, he pushed the door open and led his brothers inside.

The walls full of Glass made the entire room very bright. Added to the golden sunlight that happened to be shining obliquely into this main room where the Shaman lived, the Shaman, sitting upright by the table, was sprinkled with golden light. His hair might have already turned completely white by now, but reflecting the sunset, it looked as if he had grown a head of golden hair.

The table in the Shaman's room was very large; it was what he usually used for official business, but there were not many chairs. He would not receive guests in this room of his; he had a dedicated living room. This very large house was the Shaman's bedroom.

After the brothers greeted their father, Shaohe originally wanted to sit on a chair next to the Shaman. There were only three chairs in the room; as long as no elders were present, he, as the Legitimate Son, was naturally the only one qualified to sit.

However, just as he pulled the chair out and before his bottom had even sat down, the Shaman pointed to the side and said, "Stand and listen."

Shaohe immediately put the chair back in its original place and stood to the side. The unease in his heart grew stronger and stronger; he always felt that the atmosphere tonight was very wrong.

The Shaman pushed a piece of paper forward: "Take a look, all of you."

Shaohe hurriedly stepped forward to take the paper and saw "Changping Marquis" written on it, with only the character "Wu" on the next line. Shaohe immediately understood what this was: "Father, the King has granted you a title of nobility and a surname? When!?"

The other brothers also looked in unison at the paper in Shaohe's hand, their eyes filled with irrepressible excitement. Although the Nobility had nothing to do with them, the surname did!

The Shaman raised his hand: "Look at it first, all of you, look at it carefully."

Shaohe hurriedly handed the paper to his younger brother, while also rubbing his hands incessantly, somewhat excited.

After all of them had finished reading, they placed the paper back in front of the Shaman. What was written on it was undoubtedly a title of nobility and a surname. Although excited, they were also confused as to why it was this title and surname; they were all very curious and did not know what it meant.

"It is just as you think. This is the title and surname the King has bestowed upon me. After I return from the negotiations with the Xuanyuan Tribe, the ceremony of conferment will be held. It is estimated to be in less than a month."

The brothers were on the verge of hugging and jumping up. Although they did not cheer loudly, they looked at each other with irrepressible excitement.

Shaohe asked, "Father, we understand this 'Changping Marquis'; it is the same as the achievements of your life. But what is the meaning of this surname? We have never used this character before. Is it read as 'wu' (mistake)? Oh, right, it should be like this, the same as your name, but what does this mean?"

"It is read as 'Wu', but it has a great deal to do with 'mistake'." The Shaman pointed to the character Wu: "Wu is a person with a large mouth speaking, just like me. I have relied on one mouth for my whole life. But you also know what 'mistake' means; if you say the wrong thing, it will cause trouble!"

"Ah? This, this, why is it this meaning, Father?"

The brothers were clearly somewhat flustered. They wanted a surname, but the implication of this surname was not very good.

The Shaman sighed: "This should be the King telling me that I should control my own mouth and must not speak recklessly. I do not know if I have said anything I shouldn't have; after all, my mouth is on my body, and I am not a mute, so how could I not speak? However, even if I have said it, this surname means I will no longer be punished, or rather, this surname is the punishment for me."

The brothers only felt a shock in their hearts, finding it somewhat difficult to accept.