Chapter 16: The Replacement Has Arrived

He slipped into the West Market Office and took a look around.

Zhang Gui didn't see Zhang Jiujiang, but ran into his little buddy's lackey, Zhang Chun.

This sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked 'new darling' of Heimu Town had originally planned to use his rich social experience to start a power struggle with his master's 'old favorite,' Zhang Gui.

But unexpectedly, Zhang Gui had suddenly risen to the top, becoming Head Clerk and taking sole charge of a market.

It suddenly made Zhang Chun realize that the 'old favorite' wasn't an 'old favorite' at all, but half his own master.

When he faced Zhang Gui again, his backbone turned cheap.

"Yo, Head Gui, you're here. On this hot day, let me get you a bowl of iced yogurt to cool off.

Officer Jiujiang was called away early this morning by the Town Head—no, now it should be Yan Family Elder—anyway, he was summoned by the Town Office.

He hasn't come back yet."

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Jiujiang rushed frantically into the yard. Spotting Zhang Gui at once, he said breathlessly:

"I just went to the East Market to look for you but couldn't find you. I figured you might have come looking for me. Lucky I ran into you.

Da Gui, I'm going back to my hometown."

"What?"

"The 'Green Bean Academy,' where Mr. Huaihe, the younger brother of Hexiang's Duke, serves as Academy Head, has accepted me as a student.

It just so happens that a fleet of ships heading back to the Mainland is departing today, so I have to leave right away.

Yan Town Head has left the two markets in my hands for you to manage. He's been promoted to External Affairs Elder—a meteoric rise—and making you a Steward is just a matter of a single document.

I already signed the endorsement when I left the Town Office, and the notice should arrive any moment.

I originally wanted to ask him to send you back to the hometown too, but then I thought, now that the Town Head has accepted the clan's appointment as External Affairs Elder, things will be smooth sailing from now on.

I'm going back to the hometown to attend Qingdou Academy—what could you do there?

It's better for you to stay in Luan Ya, managing dozens of people, eating and drinking well, and living free and easy."

As he spoke, Zhang Jiujiang's eyes reddened. "You and I, brothers who pissed in the mud together, have never been apart for long in over ten years of friendship.

After this parting, who knows when we'll see each other again."

The words were spoken with such sorrow that Zhang Gui felt sad too. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he still stubbornly forced himself to say:

"Crying over such a small thing? Zhang Jiujiang, oh Zhang Jiujiang, you're really hopeless.

Don't you remember we said we'd do something great together?

Since we're aiming for great things, how can everything go our way, and how can we never be apart?

Parting is just parting. Later, when you become a high official in the Imperial Court,

and I've built a vast enterprise on Giant Snake Head Island, we'll get together again and live a life of pleasure.

By then, you and I, brothers, will join our swords as one and be invincible under All Under Heaven.

Then we'll repay Zhang Jiuqing's favor and slowly let that bastard know how formidable you, Zhang Jiujiang, really are.

We'll make him pay for his past deeds, let you vent the anger in your heart, and live happily!"

Zhang Gui and Zhang Jiujiang—one was conceited about his hidden talents, the other felt his talents were unrecognized.

They often bickered when they talked. Zhang Jiujiang was petty; when offended, he wouldn't apologize easily, but as long as Zhang Gui gave him a sweet word or a slight show of goodwill, the skies would clear up at once.

Zhang Gui was deep and calculating, never easily offending anyone. Because Zhang Jiujiang came from a well-off family with a wide network, he would occasionally take advantage of him.

But at this very moment, in broad daylight, for some unknown reason, he started cursing the most prominent leading figure of the 'Nine-Character Generation' of the Pingyang Zhang Family.

His words were gritted with malice and clear hostility.

Hot tears streamed down his face, flowing freely.

Across from him, Zhang Jiujiang was also crying his eyes out, shaking his head with all his might and saying:

"That Zhang Jiuqing is vicious and poisonous. You, you mustn't offend him.

I'm not that petty. I've gotten his benefit and can go study at Qingdou Academy, so I'm no longer angry with him.

Really, your safety is the most important thing."

When these two little buddies interacted, each had their flaws. They would quarrel, sulk, and when emotions ran high, they would fight and curse each other.

They had sworn oaths to break off their friendship, and had even spat in each other's faces in anger.

But in the end, they held fast to a very simple saying:

'One lifetime, two brothers.'

Zhang Jiujiang left, and Zhang Gui became the Steward of both the East and West Markets of Heimu Town.

In the following days, Zhang Yan successively promoted several new Stewards, with an air of 'use the power or lose it.'

Everyone knew that after Zhang Yan returned to his hometown as the External Affairs Elder of the Pingyang Zhang Family, he would certainly no longer manage the affairs of Luan Ya.

Otherwise, this promotion and transfer would have been meaningless.

A few more days passed, and the merchants who had left Heimu Town gradually returned, and the town became even more prosperous than before.

Before long, the Four Seasons Trading Firm sent Owner Zhang Qitong, along with a large retinue of attendants, to Heimu Town to take Zhang Yan's place.

Zhang Qitong was the third legitimate son of Zhang Liuduo, the master of the Pingyang Zhang Family.

He had been exceptionally clever since childhood. Legend had it that at the age of five, he began studying the arithmetic classic as an introduction.

Once, being naughty, he didn't do the homework the teacher had assigned, and other students tattled on him.

The teacher questioned him and was about to hit Zhang Qitong's palm, but he claimed he had done the homework—he just accidentally spilled ink on the paper and had to tear it up.

However, he said the answers were all memorized in his heart.

With that, Zhang Qitong only glanced at the exercises in the arithmetic book and began reciting aloud, reciting a hundred formulas along with their answers without a single mistake.

The teacher knew he was being naughty and hadn't done the homework, but couldn't punish him. He shook his head and exclaimed, "A hundred calculations at a glance—what can I do with him!"

From then on, Zhang Qitong became famous throughout the countryside, known as the 'Hundred-Calculation Child.'

Such an excellent son naturally won Zhang Liuduo's great favor, and he was determined to cultivate another 'Mr. Siwei' for the family.

Unfortunately, the Pingyang Zhang Family's 'Temple Inner Family Elders' did not think that way.

Once Zhang Qitong passed the provincial examination at age nineteen, they no longer allowed him to continue with the Imperial Examination.

Instead, they sent him to the main office of the Four Seasons Trading Firm to learn the trade.

The rule of aristocratic families: fear no external bandits, only internal strife.

Therefore, the succession of the Family Head followed a set order.

Unless the eldest legitimate son was utterly incompetent, cruel, and tyrannical to the point of being inhuman, he would inevitably be the one to inherit.

At such times, what was most feared was the emergence of some prodigy or exceptional son among the other offspring of comparable status, disrupting the order of succession.

An aristocratic family is not a nouveau riche.

The Family Head did not need to be a genius of unparalleled talent; it was enough to have normal intelligence, know how to appoint people wisely, and understand when to advance or retreat.

In the past, the Pingyang Zhang Family produced Zhang Siwei, a restorer of the family's fortunes, which indeed brought them fame for a time.

Yet it was precisely because of his existence that the Pingyang Zhang Family, after Zhang Siwei's death, suffered retaliation from his political enemies.

They were driven from Pingyang Prefecture in Longjin Province to Siyang Commandery in Dongyue Sea Province.

While they still bore the empty title of the Pingyang Zhang Family, they actually bought land in Siyang Guang, built large estates, and after a hundred years of hard work, finally created Pingyang Town.

In the end, it was merely nostalgia for their homeland.

Therefore, although most of the ambitious young members of the Pingyang Zhang Family hoped the family could produce another 'second Zhang Siwei,'

the shrewd, experienced Family Elders, who deeply understood the importance of concealing one's brilliance, did not think so at all.

Especially since this potential 'second Zhang Siwei' was not the family's orthodox heir and could bring about internal strife.

And Zhang Qitong's greatest backing was his father, the Zhang Family Head, Zhang Liuduo.

Because the Ming Song Dynasty had undergone a dynastic change, the new Emperor 'Hezheng' had been Crown Prince for twenty-nine years and only became Emperor at the age of fifty-one.

Eager to accomplish great deeds and make up for lost time, he instead became impatient for quick success, doing many absurd things.

Such an Emperor, paired with a newly favored minister who considered himself a heaven-sent genius and was eager to forge ahead, was truly terrifying—one plus one was worse than zero.

Therefore, in the end, they tacitly agreed to cut off Zhang Qitong's official career.

But a son was still a son, and favoritism remained favoritism.

Moreover, because he had rationally cut off his son's prospects, Zhang Liuduo always harbored immense guilt towards Zhang Qitong.

Yet this time, for some unknown reason, he had actually sent Zhang Qitong to a godforsaken place like the Outer Wild Ocean.

It was truly strange.

(End of chapter)