Please show your spirit to our ancestors

Chapter 175: Forty Years of Life! When We Meet Again, We Are So Different
……

Shangguan Yulong's eyes were uncertain for a moment, and then gradually calmed down.

Looking at Chen Jingyun's seemingly calm and composed eyes, his thoughts raced in his mind as he quickly analyzed the situation at hand.

He speculated that Chen had probably received intelligence from the immortal old Shangguan Yuntai in advance, and knew that Shangguan's internal staff had long been dissatisfied with the 30% commission on sales. He also knew that he was definitely not here with good intentions to replace Shangguan Yuntai to negotiate the contract.

That was why Chen Ningtai shrank back and let the younger Chen Jingyun be the bad guy first.

It would be fine if the price increase could be suppressed, but if the situation ends in a bad way, Chen Ningtai can still step forward to save the situation.

"Humph!"

Chen Ningtai, this old fox, has a good plan.

It’s a pity that Shangguan Yulong is not so easy to fool.
Immediately, he stood up with a smile and said, "Since Brother Jingyun hasn't made up his mind yet, then continue to think about it. If you need anything, you can come to me at any time."

"Of course, of course." Chen Jingyun also regained his polite expression and stood up and said, "Your and my families are relatives. Even if the deal fails, we still have friendship. Don't let it ruin our relationship."

Humph, still putting pressure on?

Shangguan Yulong snorted secretly, but on the surface he was smiling: "Of course, of course. In this case, I will not bother you for now. Goodbye, goodbye, please stay."

The two of them exchanged pleasantries, fully demonstrating their magnanimity of "even if the deal fails, the friendship remains", and only then did Chen Jingyun send him out of Jintai Building.

Not long after, he returned to the VIP lounge, only to see Chen Shiwen helping to clean up the mess left over from the reception, with a hint of worry between her brows.

Seeing this, Chen Jingyun smiled and pointed at the chair, motioning Chen Shiwen to sit down and said, "Why do you look so sad?"

As he spoke, he casually turned over a teacup, picked up the spiritual cast iron teapot, and poured her a cup of the spiritual tea that had been brewed but not finished in the teapot.

This spiritual tea is extremely expensive, and even Chen Jingyun is reluctant to waste it, so the remaining ones will naturally be finished.

Chen Shiwen immediately picked up the teacup with joy and took a sip.

The tea tasted bitter, but also had an endless sweet aftertaste. After taking a sip of the tea, her hazy mind seemed to become a little clearer and her spirits lifted.

After drinking two sips, she remembered the business and looked at Chen Jingyun with a slightly worried look: "Fifth Uncle, I heard that Yu Nu is one of the pillar industries of our family. If we break up with Shangguan, will it have a big impact?"

"Of course there will be some impact." Chen Jingyun nodded with a smile, "However, our family has not fallen out with the Shangguan family. At present, the most we can say is that your fifth uncle and that Master Yulong could not reach an agreement on the project."

"Is there any difference? You represent the Chen family, and he represents the Shangguan family." Chen Shiwen was a little surprised.

"The relationships between the noble families are complicated. Although Young Master Yulong nominally represents the Shangguan family, he is actually the vanguard of the Shangguan family to appeal for their interests. It is naturally good to be able to negotiate by using power to pressure others. Even if the talks fail, as long as the basis for cooperation in interests between the two sides is still there, they will not fall apart completely."

"When the time comes, the Shangguan family only needs to send an elder to pretend to reprimand him a few words, and then make some concessions, and the situation will naturally be saved."

Chen Jingyun smiled calmly and said, "On our side, grandpa can scold me and say a few words like "youthful and hot-tempered" and "a child who doesn't know any better" and then he can save the situation."

Chen Shiwen suddenly realized: "I see. No wonder Uncle Wu and that Young Master Yulong are so strong and show an attitude of not giving in. It turns out that you two are just pawns used to show your tough attitude."

After a pause, Chen Shiwen frowned and asked, "So Uncle Wu, which is more important, the quality of the product or the sales channel? I see that Shangguan family controls the sales channel and looks very confident."

"They are all important." Chen Jingyun said seriously, "It is good to have a good product, but it does not mean that a good product will definitely sell well. Since ancient times, there have been many examples of bad money driving out good money."

Chen Jingyun also liked this ambitious niece very much, so he gave her some advice.

After some small talk.

Then a servant came in and reported: "Fifth Master, Miss Lingyun of the Zheng family wants to see you."

"Ling Yun?"

Chen Shiwen heard a "sizzling" sound in her ears, and immediately realized that the person being talked about was Zheng Lingyun.

As a cultivator with four spiritual roots, Zheng Lingyun is one of the Zheng family's prominent figures and a popular candidate for the next generation head of the Zheng family.

In the past two years, there have been rumors that the current head of the Zheng family, Zheng Haoze, intends to abdicate early and pass the position of head to Zheng Lingyun.

However, Chen Shiwen knew that it was not because of these things, but because she had heard gossip a long time ago that Zheng Lingyun never married for the sake of her fifth uncle, and never took a son-in-law, and she is still a lady until now.

The rumors about the affair between Miss Zheng Lingyun and the fifth uncle in the family have never stopped. There were even rumors that the fifth uncle and his aunt quarreled and even fought over it. Of course, the one who got beaten was usually the fifth uncle.

However, rumors are just rumors. As a young member of the family, Chen Shiwen has only heard of this legendary young lady of the Zheng family and has never seen her in person.

When she heard that she was coming, her eyes immediately lit up and she looked towards the door of the VIP lounge with anticipation, as excited as if she was ready to eat melon.

"Please ask Miss Zheng to come to the VIP lounge."

After Chen Jingyun gave his instructions to the servant, he glanced at his niece who was obviously too drunk. His face suddenly darkened and he picked up the cast iron teapot and stuffed it into her arms.

"Go, go, go, take the teapot back and drink slowly."

Poor Chen Shiwen was directly expelled.

She was unwilling to give up, so she simply hid in a corridor not far away with the teapot in her pocket, and observed quietly from the cover of the corner.

After a while, a servant came over with the woman involved in the scandal.

Different from the cone-faced, big-eyed, alluring vixen Chen Shiwen had imagined, Zheng Lingyun had a slightly round face, bright eyes, and white teeth. She wasn't absolutely beautiful, but she looked like a lady from a wealthy family who brought peace and prosperity to the country.

She was wearing a smart outfit, but with a long banner draped over her shoulders, she looked like a heroic and strong woman.

As if she sensed someone was secretly watching her, she suddenly tilted her head and glanced at the pillar at the corner. She saw a girl holding a large teapot in her arms, with a furtive look and a curious face. She couldn't help but smile.

Nodding slightly at her, Zheng Lingyun continued to walk towards the VIP lounge without paying much attention.

Chen Shiwen, on the other hand, blushed when she was looked at, her heart skipped a beat, and she took a long time to recover.

"Congratulations to Lingyun for reaching the foundation-building stage." Chen Jingyun's smiling voice came from the VIP room, "Looking across Hedong County, there are not many cultivators who are so young in the foundation-building stage."

"I'm already sixty-two, but I've barely built my foundation, which is far behind you and Qianqian." Zheng Lingyun responded with a hearty smile, "Speaking of which, I was inspired by you guys and spent a lot of resources, practicing hard every day, and only then did I catch up a little."

As the two were talking, the door of the VIP room was closed with a bang.

No matter how hard Chen Shiwen listened, she couldn't hear what was being said inside. She probably used some method to block out the sound, so she had to leave in disappointment.

After returning, she met Chen Xinda who had just returned from a trip. The brother and sister boiled the remaining tea over and over again, but it became tasteless, so they made a pot of tea porridge and ate it all up happily.

In this way, another two days passed.

This day.

It was the first day of the once-in-a-decade fair in Sheshan Market.

Compared with forty years ago, the scale of Sheshan Market has expanded again and again. In terms of scale alone, the current Sheshan Market is only inferior to Yixian Market in Hedong County, and in terms of liveliness, it has even surpassed Yixian Market by a large margin.

According to the tradition of previous years, the three foundation-building families that cooperated with Sheshanfang City would use the younger generation's ring competition to warm up the big gathering.

However, decades later, the one-on-one competitions that were once designed solely to determine the winner have evolved and have become a stage for many young people to show themselves.

Anyone from the three tribes who is over 15 years old and under 25 years old can sign up to participate.

Such an interesting and lively event naturally attracted many people to come and watch the competition, support the gambling industry, and buy some cheap and useful goods to contribute to the rise of the market.

Early in the morning.

The sun had just risen and not long ago, a lot of people had already gathered outside the competition venue, which had become increasingly larger after multiple expansions. Crowds of people continued to pour in from afar. In just over half an hour, the surrounding area was already packed with people, and they were shoulder to shoulder, making it very lively.

As the fame of Sheshan Market continued to grow, the visitors were no longer limited to Hedong and Donghai counties.

Among these people, there are many who come from the more distant [Qibei County], [Hebei County], [Qinghe County], [Danyang County], and even from [Heyang County] there are many independent cultivators and small families who come to the market.

To this end, Chen did not hesitate to dispatch three martial arts spirit boats to shuttle back and forth between various places, trying to provide low-cost ferry services to vendors and customers who were too far away to come on their own.

This idea naturally came from Chen Xuanmo.

In his previous life, he had seen some large shopping malls with their own shuttle buses, which ran back and forth between remote towns and villages to pick up and drop off customers, thereby greatly increasing their popularity.

Sheshan Market achieved remarkable results after a little learning and imitation, adding more color to the already popular Sheshan Market.

The sun is rising.

Before they knew it, the arena was already filled with the young generation from the three tribes competing.

They all held their heads high, full of energy and spirit, and consciously divided into three teams. Among them, the Chen family had the least number of people, only eleven contestants, the Zheng family had seventeen, and the Zhao family had the largest number of people, reaching a full nineteen.

The total number of contestants reached 47, the highest in history.

It is normal that Chen has the least number of people.

Originally, the Chen family had the shortest history and started late, so naturally there were fewer members. Most of the young people participating in the competition were born between ten and twenty years after Chen Xuanmo's death.

During that period, the tribe members were in the initial stage of changing their mentality, and the reproductive concept of "no jade card, no childbirth" gradually took shape within the tribe. However, the number of purple jade cards within the tribe was very limited at that time, so the tribe members chose to have fewer children and raise them well.

The bad news is that in the past, a couple would often give birth to five, six, or seven children in their lifetime, but now a couple can only give birth to three children at most, and the fertility rate has dropped sharply. The good news is that with the popularization of the Purple Jade Plate, the probability of a couple with five spiritual roots giving birth to offspring without spiritual root qualifications has become extremely low, making the "root content" of the young descendants of the Chen family extremely high.

For this reason, despite the huge difference in the total number of clan members, the number of young cultivators sent by the Chen clan to fight was only a few less than that of the other two clans.

Suddenly.

There was a commotion from the crowd far away from the arena, and they crowded together and retreated to both sides like a tide, as if they were making way for some team to pass through.

The team that passed through the crowd were the elite clansmen from the three tribes of Cangyi Chen, Lingbei Zheng, and Nanyue Zhao.

Among them, there are three leaders, namely Chen family's foundation-building cultivator Chen Jingyun, Zheng family's foundation-building cultivator Zheng Lingyun, and Zhao family's patriarch Zhao Anxuan.

Among them, the latter two consciously dropped back a bit, putting Chen Jingyun in the front, as if they were following his lead.

It's not that they can't fly, but there are so many people around the arena now, and it would be too arrogant to fly over the heads of a group of monks to the stands. These are all distinguished guests who support the foundation of Sheshan Market.

in the crowd.

An old man with a hunched body and a limp was carrying a large, heavy, and old cargo box on his back and leading a child of eight or nine years old as he moved through the crowd, selling goods.

Seeing the elites of the three tribes approaching from afar, he stopped and a complex and incomprehensible look emerged in his turbid old eyes, which contained resentment, fear, envy and infinite loneliness.

suddenly.

Just when Chen Jingyun and his group were about to arrive, the people next to them exclaimed for some reason, and then there was a commotion, pushing and shoving, and instantly a small riot formed in the local area.

The child held by the old man was pushed and shoved by others, and a ball in his arms suddenly flew out, bumped a few times in the crowd, and then rolled in front of Chen Jingyun.

The child quickly broke free from the old man's hand, and relying on his small size and agility, he passed through the gap under the crowd and pounced on the ball with nimble movements.

That was a ball that his mother had saved up for a long time, and she used the spirit stones she had saved to buy a piece of soft skin from the belly of a spirit beast, and she sewed it for him stitch by stitch.

Seeing this, Chen Jingyun stopped, bent down to pick up the ball, smiled gently and handed the ball back to the clever-looking but dirty child.

"Thank you, thank you~"

Seeing that a very imposing adult picked up the ball for him, the child was stunned for a moment before he reacted. He hurriedly took the ball, thanked him nervously and shyly, and then ran to get into the crowd, but was grabbed by Chen Jingyun.

"Kid, where are your adults?"

He was worried about letting such a child roll around in the crowd. What if he got accidentally stepped on?
Unexpectedly, just as he finished speaking, an old man with gray hair and beard, who looked old and hunched, used his spiritual power to squeeze out of the crowd, dragged his lame leg and staggered over, protecting the child behind him, and said with fear and horror in his eyes: "Chen Jingyun, come to me if you have anything to say, don't embarrass the child!"

"?"

Chen Jingyun was slightly stunned. He looked up and down at the lame old man and asked doubtfully, "Old man, do you and I know each other?"

"Chen Jingyun, stop pretending. I am in this situation today because of you." The old man was terrified and very excited.

Chen Jingyun became more and more confused.

He didn't know the old man at all. Besides, he was always kind to others. How could he possibly make things difficult for a lame old man?

At this time.

Zhao Anxuan, the head of the Zhao family who was standing behind Chen Jingyun, stared at the old man for a few seconds, and suddenly his face changed drastically. He took a step forward and shouted angrily: "Zhao Junfei, what are you crazy about? Get out of here quickly. Don't think that the family rules are vegetarian."

Zhao Junfei?
Chen Jingyun was stunned, but then, long-lost memories came to his mind. The look in his eyes when he looked at the old man suddenly changed, becoming shocked and unbelievable: "Zhao Junfei? How... is it possible? How did you become so old?"

In his impression, although Zhao Junfei was a bit arrogant and domineering, he was also a handsome young man with high spirits and a beautiful girl in his arms.

At that time, they had a conflict and a serious clash on the ring. Chen Jingyun broke both of his legs. After that, he never paid attention to this person again. He originally thought that he had learned his lesson after recovering from his injury, and began to keep a low profile and practice in silence.

But I never thought that after forty years, he would become this completely unfamiliar person before my eyes.

Not only Chen Jingyun, but also Zheng Lingyun who was standing beside him was extremely surprised.

Although she looked down on Zhao Junfei, she had a very deep memory of him. That was why she found it incredible.

After all, Zhao Junfei has four spiritual roots, so how did he end up in such a situation?

She and Chen Jingyun thought of something almost at the same time and turned their eyes to Zhao Anxuan.

Could it be that Zhao deliberately abused Zhao Junfei in order to please Chen?
Although everyone had a grudge at the beginning, Chen Jingyun took revenge on the spot, so naturally he would not continue to hate the other party. But he has revealed this matter, so who knows...

After being looked at by the two men like this, Zhao Anxuan's fair and bearded middle-aged face suddenly turned dark.

What's that look in your eyes?
After glaring at Zheng Lingyun, he coughed twice in embarrassment and explained himself in a somewhat speechless manner: "Not really, really. Think about it, at that time, the Guangling Patriarch was still alive, how could he allow this to happen? Moreover, the Chen family had not risen at that time..."

The implication is, of course, that if it were now, with the current strength and terror of the Chen family, someone might do this to please the Chen family.

Seeing that Chen Jingyun and Zheng Lingyun's suspicious eyes relaxed a little, Zhao Anxuan wiped the sweat that had appeared at some point and continued to explain.

"When Zhao Junfei's legs were broken by Jing Yun, the Guangling Patriarch was very disappointed in him. Secondly, he was afraid that he would go to extremes due to his youthful impatience and cause trouble again, so he put him in solitary confinement."

"Unexpectedly, his mind was stuck at that time and he hit a dead end. He couldn't figure out how he could lose. Later, his behavior was known to the sect. After a brief investigation, the sect found that he had committed many bad deeds, so he was expelled from the sect."

"After that, he went completely crazy and tried to break out of the confinement room several times. As a result, he was naturally guarded more strictly and was even locked up."

"Although his legs were treated and he took bone-hardening pills, his legs didn't recover properly because of his own foolish behavior, and he ended up lame."

"His family also found many famous doctors for him and gave him a lot of tranquilizing pills. It was not until many years later that his madness gradually got better."

"But everything is irreversible, and the family will no longer devote resources to training him. Fortunately, he has four spiritual roots after all, so the family found a five spiritual roots girl from a small family far away to be his wife, hoping that he can leave some bloodline."

"Alas, maybe he was too shocked. After a few years, he started to go crazy occasionally. Even when he wasn't crazy, he would drink and make trouble all day. After a long time, his wife couldn't stand it anymore, so she cried and begged for a divorce from the Guangling Patriarch."

"The ancestor firstly thought that she had given birth to a child, which was considered a contribution to the family. Secondly, he also sympathized with the child, so he approved her request and compensated her with a large amount of spirit stones."

"But after this incident, Zhao Junfei's condition became even more unstable, and he was constantly marginalized in the family. It was not until he was in his forties that his condition began to improve. Later, his son got married and had children. After he had a grandson, his condition became more stable, and he even began to learn to work hard."

"It's a pity that time cannot be reversed. Everything has been missed. The life of a marginalized small family is not satisfactory. The family could not let him manage things, so he tried to find a way to make a living. He started selling small things in the market to make a living. When the market managers found out, they didn't make things difficult for him. They even didn't charge him for the stall fee."

Because Zhao Junfei's identity was somewhat sensitive, his affairs would naturally be reported to Zhao Anxuan by his clansmen, which was why he knew it so clearly.

After saying this in one breath, he felt relieved, expressing that Zhao Junfei had brought such a fate upon himself, and it was not because of the Zhao family's deliberate harsh treatment.

Hearing this, Chen Jingyun's brows relaxed, but he was still sighing in his heart.

At that time, he was just as young and energetic, and was just as passionate as when he confronted Zhao Junfei, and he was even willing to fight to the end without giving in.

But he never thought that Zhao Junfei's life would become so miserable because of that ring match.

Of course, there is no regret about this.

If he were to go back to his youth, he would still confront Zhao Junfei head-on, and the result might not be any different.

He just looked at the dirty child with some pity, and asked Zhao Anxuan: "Uncle, does this child have spiritual roots?"

"We're lucky. This child has five spiritual roots." Zhao Anxuan answered truthfully.

The wives that Zhao Junfei and his son married did not have high spiritual roots, and his son's daughter-in-law even had a congenital disability. It was indeed a great fortune for them to have a grandson with five spiritual roots.

"I didn't return your spirit stone to you when I picked it up, but today I will return it to your grandson."

Chen Jingyun took out two spirit stone tickets worth 100 spirit stones from his storage bag, but instead of giving them to Zhao Junfei and the child, he gave them directly to Zhao Anxuan: "Uncle, please give them to the child in batches every year."

"Jingyun, don't worry. This child is also a descendant of our Zhao family. We will train him. We won't give him special treatment, but we won't be harsh on him either." Zhao Anxuan waved his hands repeatedly, "As for the spirit stones, we won't need them."

Chen Jingyun didn't say much. After forcing the spirit stone ticket to Zhao Anxuan, he smiled and nodded to the child hiding behind Zhao Junfei, and then continued to walk forward.

It was not until they reached the viewing stand that a group of people used their own methods to get onto the viewing stand in full view of the public.

This time, Chen Jingyun, as the representative of Sheshanfangshi, hosted the competition and announced the official start of Sheshanfangshi's once-in-a-decade youth competition.

The clear sunlight sprinkled down, as if casting a halo on him, making his figure look even more upright and shining.

far away.

The weathered old man who was holding the child's hand tightly looked up at the scene, his hunched body shaking constantly.

"Pap~"

A drop of water fell on the floor tile, leaving a small water mark, and soon there was a second drop, and a third drop...

Unconsciously, tears of regret and annoyance slid down his wrinkled and dry face, leaving a small, eye-catching mark of water at his feet.

He regretted it.

I regret that I was too arrogant and reckless when I was young and successful.

……

(End of this chapter)