Chapter 102 The Butcher's Blade

Old He Tou stood there quietly, clutching the pig-slaughtering knife that had been with him for most of his life.

He faced Ji Chengjue and the First Prince, who were walking towards him.

He faced the carriage.

He faced the convoy behind the carriage.

He resembled a swordsman.

Ji Chengjue had never met the Sword Saint of Jin, although it was said that the Sword Saint worked under his brother Zheng. But because they were too far apart, even if he wanted an introduction, it would be difficult to arrange.

But at this moment,

Ji Chengjue suddenly felt that

the expression on Old He Tou's face

might be comparable to that of the Sword Saint when he faced the Barbarian cavalry at Xuehai Pass.

Yes,

he was the Barbarian cavalry about to be slaughtered.

Ji Chengjue knew some things in his heart; his father-in-law, Old He Tou, was a very genuine man.

If he weren't a prince, but just a constable, or even just a live-in son-in-law helping Old He Tou's family slaughter pigs and sell meat, life wouldn't be too bad.

A person only lives once,

and they really need to leave some soft places in their heart.

He wasn't his old man and couldn't reach his level. At least, for now, there was no need.

Just like Zheng said: people have to be sentimental every now and then.

Ji Chengjue thought this sentence was very true.

Therefore,

this Sixth Prince of the dynasty,

this Ji Chengjue who had been once frozen out and suppressed, and who now practically controlled the Ministry of Revenue, able to have the First Prince stand behind him and cheer him on,

knelt down

to this old pig slaughterer.

"Your son-in-law greets Father-in-Law. May Father-in-Law be well."

In terms of sentiment, the man gave him his daughter, didn't make things difficult, and didn't even mention betrothal gifts or rules, letting his daughter go with him; he should remember that.

In terms of reason, he had taken the man's daughter away for nearly half a year, and the marriage had been delayed, and now he had gotten his daughter pregnant; he was indeed in the wrong.

So, this kneel was appropriate.

Truthfully,

in the past ten years,

even kneeling to his emperor father hadn't felt as comfortable and sincere as this for Ji Lao Liu.

Old He Tou took a deep breath,

looked at Ji Chengjue,

and then looked at the First Prince standing behind Ji Chengjue.

The First Prince was there as the representative of the groom's family, so naturally he didn't need to bow, but he cupped his fist in greeting to Old He Tou.

Old He Tou didn't respond,

but instead slammed the pig-slaughtering knife directly onto the chopping block,

"Thud!"

The pig-slaughtering knife embedded itself in the chopping block, making a muffled sound.

Ji Chengjue took a deep breath, his eyes secretly looking at his brother-in-law.

Then he thought of his pregnant wife in the carriage behind.

At this time, telling his father-in-law his identity would indeed feel like using his power to suppress him. Ji Lao Liu was truly skilled in dealing with people, so he planned to lower his head and endure the anger and complaints from his father-in-law.

"Good, good, good, you little Yan, you're bullying my He family for not having a grand family, and don't see us as worthy, huh!

What do you mean by this, what do you mean by this!

I gave you my good daughter, and you treat her like this, and you treat her natal family like this?

You didn't follow the proper etiquette, and the proper procedures were nowhere to be seen; you just abducted her. How much do you look down on my daughter, how much do you look down on my He family?"

"Father-in-Law, you're being too serious. It's just that there were reasons and things got delayed."

The Ji family had many rules; when wars broke out, the Ji family prohibited marriages and funerals. This had been passed down from the ancestors.

Even Ji Wujiang's marriage wasn't really a marriage, but more like a continuation of the war and a corresponding measure.

"Give my daughter back to me. This old man doesn't have much ability in this life, but I can still afford to raise one daughter. She won't have to suffer in a rude mother-in-law's home!"

Old He Tou immediately roared:

"You unfilial son!"

He Chu came running over, sweating.

Thankfully, his dad didn't call him a bastard today.

"Take your sister off the sedan chair; let's go home! This marriage is off; your dad doesn't care for this son-in-law!"

"This………"

He Chu was at a loss for what to do.

If it were an ordinary brother-in-law who dared to treat his sister like this, with such a lack of etiquette, and even getting his sister pregnant, this brother-in-law who had grown up slaughtering pigs would have long picked up his pig-slaughtering knife stained with the resentful souls of countless dead pigs and risked his life.

But the one in front of him,

the one in front of him,

He Chu really didn't dare.

Dad,

sister's already pregnant,

you say not to marry, then she doesn't marry?

Sister's carrying an imperial descendant, an imperial descendant!

He Chu had also found out that the child in his sister's belly, if nothing unexpected happened, should be the current emperor's first grandchild.

Old He Tou saw his son standing still

and immediately scolded:

"What's wrong? Are you afraid that your sister will come back and compete with you, her older brother, for the family property!"

"No, Dad."

He Chu was provoked like this and could only brace himself and walk to the sedan chair and say:

"Sis, Dad wants us to go home first."

The curtain was lifted,

and the He family's daughter walked out of the sedan chair.

She saw her dad and saw her husband kneeling in front of her dad. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't say anything and followed her brother into the house.

He Chu carefully accompanied his sister, afraid that something would happen to her, that she might slip or something.

After entering the house and closing the door,

the He family's daughter immediately reached out and pinched her brother,

and angrily scolded:

"Brother, what are you doing!"

……

"Father-in-Law, please calm down. My feelings for Sisi are sincere. I was wrong before. Now, whatever the proper procedure is, we'll follow it, okay?

What other families have, we must have;

what other families don't have but you want, we can also have.

Your son-in-law respects you."

"Heh, you only say nice things; who knows what you're really thinking? My He family's daughter isn't so desperate to marry!"

In fact,

when the father-in-law and son-in-law were arguing,

they didn't mention the pregnancy.

Cooking the rice before it's done is often the greatest weapon for a son-in-law to control his father-in-law and mother-in-law;

anyway, your daughter is already carrying my child, and I'm already in an invincible position!

But this matter couldn't be said outside; otherwise, it would really be "shameful."

Old He Tou wouldn't be silly enough to say it himself.

Ji Lao Liu was so good at dealing with people that he naturally wouldn't say it either.

At this time,

the First Prince, as the elder of the groom's family, finally remembered what he was here for.

He stepped forward

and said:

"Old He, my father is in the capital and is tied up with secular affairs, so it's inconvenient for him to come, so I'll represent the family to present the betrothal gifts for my younger brother.

The previous lack of etiquette was indeed our family's fault, and my brother's actions were indeed a bit reckless. Please don't blame him, Old He.

Since the two young people are already together, we elders should naturally help them succeed."

"Hmph."

Old He Tou ignored the First Prince, turned around, took out his treasured pig-slaughtering knife,

and went directly back to the house.

Ji Chengjue also slowly stood up and patted the dust off his knees.

"Your father-in-law is not easy to deal with," the First Prince said with emotion.

"There's no choice; who told me to deserve it? Hey, move the stuff quickly. Carry it in, hurry."

The First Prince nodded and waved for the people behind to carry in the betrothal gifts. He also took the gift list, which he would personally hand over to Old He Tou later.

Even though the First Prince had led troops, fought battles, and seen the world, he couldn't help but twitch slightly when he saw this gift list.

How many hind legs of pork, how many forelegs of pork, how many pig heads………

These pigs

were all precious

because it was said that this was the gift list set by the father emperor.

It was hard to imagine

that the father emperor would seriously set such a gift list of how many hind legs of pork.

Moreover, these pig legs were purchased by the current Crown Prince under imperial order.

Even the most ordinary pig, after this, its value would have increased a hundredfold, right?

The servants pushed open the He family's door and carried the gifts in, box after box.

In the courtyard,

Old He Tou sat in an old armchair,

his pig-slaughtering knife always by his side.

Seeing people carrying things inside,

he just sat there with an iron face and didn't say a word.

The surroundings were filled with many neighbors who had come to watch the fun.

Before, because the Old He family's daughter had been taken away, but there was no news, there were many rumors in the neighborhood, saying all sorts of things.

Whoever came to buy pork, whether they were cutting a pound or slicing an ounce, would ask Old He Tou, how come there's no news about your daughter and son-in-law?

In the end,

Old He Tou had to send the letter to the nearby private school teacher to read it, and then he ran to tell the neighbors himself,

saying that his daughter and son-in-law were living well in the capital,

living in a big house,

eating meat every meal,

and having servants and maids.

He also said that his son-in-law wanted to take him to the capital to retire, but he didn't want to go, saying what was so good about the capital? Nanan County was his home, and besides, he couldn't bear to leave these neighbors.

In fact, the letter only had He Chu's "good" greetings, and most of it was Old He Tou's own imagination.

But today, when the neighbors saw these betrothal gifts, they were indeed amazed. As expected of the son-in-law from the capital; his family was indeed wealthy!

But some busybodies were suspicious

and said:

"Why send so much pork for the betrothal gift, and to the home of a butcher?

Isn't Old He's in-laws a bit crazy?

Or are the in-laws and Old He in the same business, both slaughtering pigs and selling meat?"

Ji Chengjue and the First Prince walked into the house. Ji Chengjue stood still, and the First Prince stepped forward to hand over the betrothal gift list.

"Old He, this is the betrothal gift. See if there's anything missing; you can mention it."

Old He Tou had actually seen many pigs already.

However,

when he saw the gift list again,

well,

he didn't recognize the words, but he recognized the words related to pigs and the numbers of kilograms and quantities behind them.

As soon as he saw it,

his eyes immediately widened.

What did this mean?

It was completely double his dowry!

How many hind legs of pork he sent, the in-laws actually sent back double!

Does that mean the young couple doesn't need anything else to live on, just needs to eat pork every day, sleep on a quilt made of pork, and wear clothes made of pigskin?

This was a declaration of war.

This was a counterattack against him,

and it was insulting him in his most familiar battlefield!

"If there's anything else missing or lacking, you can mention it, and I'll go get it right away. In any case, let's get the young couple married as soon as possible so that we don't have to worry, and the young couple can live a peaceful life and have children soon."

Some things were inconvenient to say outside, but inside, they could be said.

Old He Tou ignored the First Prince

and instead pointed at Ji Chengjue

and shouted:

"You kid, come here!"

"Yes."

Ji Lao Liu walked forward respectfully.

"This old man only has this one daughter; she's been held in the palm of my hand since she was little. If you want to marry her, you can, but you have to swear to ensure that she won't suffer any grievances in the future!"

"Your son-in-law swears that he will never let Sisi suffer even the slightest grievance."

"Not enough; swear another oath, swear………"

Old He Tou hesitated for a moment

and then said:

"Forget it, don't swear, but you have to listen to me, kid. If you treat my daughter badly in the future, even if this old man dies and becomes a vengeful ghost, I will never forgive you!"

"Yes, your son-in-law will keep it in mind."

Old He Tou pointed to the betrothal gifts over there and continued to shout:

"You must remember today, remember today, that you, knelt down and begged this old man to marry my daughter to you, that you begged to take my daughter away from me!"

When Ji Lao Liu heard this, he knelt down

and said:

"Your son-in-law will keep it in mind."

Old He Tou took a deep breath.

As he spoke,

tears began to trickle down.

At this moment,

he truly felt the state of mind of a father when he sent his daughter off to get married.

The child's mother left early, and he had raised his precious daughter as both a father and a mother. Since she was little, her brother could eat poorly and play poorly, but his daughter could have whatever she wanted, without any hesitation.

Other families were planning to raise their daughters for someone else's family, waiting to exchange marriages or betrothal gifts for their family's men to marry, but not the Old He family. The Old He family's daughter was spoiled by her father and brother!

"This old man only has one daughter in this life; you have to, you have to, you have to take good care of her, really have to take good care of her.

Giving birth is hard; giving birth for a woman is like walking through the gates of hell.

This old man knows that my daughter is carrying your child. This old man doesn't hope for a house full of descendants; I only hope that my daughter can be healthy and live a good life.

Her mother got sick when she gave birth to her back then."

These words were actually very inappropriate for an elder to say because elders would only bless their descendants with a house full of children. In this era, women passing on the family line was a mission and a task.

But Old He Tou really felt sorry for his daughter. Every time she gave birth, she would lose ten percent of her own vitality.

Don't have too many, really don't have too many.

Seeing this scene,

the First Prince on the side also felt some emotion.

To be honest,

the Ji family brothers hadn't really felt much fatherly love and care.

In fact, among the women that the First Prince brought back from the snowfield this time, two were pregnant, but the children they bore would not be entered into the imperial family's golden register.

First, because their blood was not pure. After all, who knew if the women sent to serve the emperor were really carrying the Ji family's seed;

second, because the mother's status was too low. Her mother could be a commoner of Yan, a Qian person, or a Chu person, but a Barbarian—sorry, in the eyes of the Yan court, Barbarians weren't even considered people.

The children born later would likely not be surnamed Ji and would be adopted by a special person in the palace.

So,

strictly speaking,

the one in his sixth brother's wife's belly was the one the father emperor valued, and it was also the first new life of the Ji family's new generation.

If it was a boy, then it would be the eldest imperial grandson!

There was no word "嫡" (dí, of the primary wife/lineage),

but who knew

if it could be added in the future!

"Get up, get up. There are still many neighbors outside, and some relatives and friends are on the way. I went to the restaurant last night to book a few tables, and you'll come with me to entertain the relatives and friends later."

"Yes, your son-in-law understands."

"Well, you go and entertain them. This old man……… this old man will go inside and change his clothes first."

"Okay."

Ji Lao Liu stood up, took out a lot of snacks and candies from over there, and began to distribute them to the neighbors outside the door.

"Congratulations, congratulations."

"Congratulations, congratulations."

"Same to you, same to you."

……

As soon as Old He Tou entered the house, he quickly closed the door.

He Chu in the house immediately came over and asked with concern:

"Dad? Are you okay?"

"Thump!"

Old He Tou leaned directly against the door and collapsed to the ground,

constantly stroking his chest with his hand,

fearing:

"A prince…… he's a prince…… whew…… scared me to death…… scared me to death……

Daughter, Dad can only teach him this one time."