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Chapter 92 A Youth Without Being a Bit Childish Is a Waste of Time

The sun was already setting in the west, and the river was bathed in golden light. The activities of the Sheng Shen Zhai club had come to a successful conclusion.

The classmates left the riverbank refreshed, their laughter filling the air on their way home.

"So what happened in the end?" Su Lu and Lin Zhihong walked at the back, still discussing the same topic.

"The captured chieftain confessed that it was She Ziying's younger brother who instigated the attack, but She Ziying firmly denied it. Her brother also fled back to his own tribe and refused to show his face again," Lin Zhihong said.
"But none of that matters now. She Saihua used this opportunity to catch the traitor and arrested, killed, or expelled those who opposed her. She also put the mother and son under house arrest, so she can rest easy now."

"I see..." Su Lu frowned slightly. Since the opposing forces still had remnants, for safety's sake, he and his son still could not show themselves to claim credit.

Sigh, I'd better stop thinking about good things and just completely erase She Yunluo from my mind...

~~
After getting onto the official road, most of the students returned to the town, while Su Lu and the other three went back to Erlangtan.

An afternoon of relaxation swept away their fatigue, and the four young people were full of energy again, rushing home in just a quarter of an hour.

The sun had just set, and the sky was still ablaze with red clouds. Su Lu ran into his older brother, who was returning from the community school, at his doorstep.

"Oh, Mr. Su, get out of class is over?" Su Lu asked, his voice booming and full of energy.

Chun Ge'er looked exhausted and just nodded, not wanting to say anything more.

Su Lu thought to himself, "It's only been five days, how come I already smell so strongly of work?"
"What's wrong, brother? Are you in class or out in the fields?" Su Lu asked with concern.

"It's nothing," Su Man said, dragging his heavy steps upstairs, "It's just that I dealt with eight fights in one day..."

"Eight times?!" Su Lu exclaimed in surprise. He had been studying at Taiping Academy for so long and had never seen anyone fight. He had almost forgotten what Erlangtan was like.

“You didn’t attend elementary school, so you’ve never seen it,” Su Man said with a bitter smile. “Actually, I haven’t seen it either—I hadn’t even arrived in the morning when they had already played two games; four games during lunch break; and two more games after school…”

"You don't need to worry about it after school, right?"

“They arranged the fight when they were in school…” Su Man said bitterly, “Back then, I only thought it was close to home and a community school, but I never expected that the conflict between the Su and Cheng clans would reach this point.”

"Yes." Su Lu nodded, but it was actually quite understandable. The two clans had a long-standing feud. The Su family had once been expelled from the community school, and now that they had finally returned, they would surely seek revenge for any wrongs they had committed.

From the Cheng family's perspective, they were doing well in the community school when suddenly a bunch of bandits barged in and acted arrogantly. How could they not be furious?

With powder kegs on both sides, wouldn't a single spark cause an explosion? Poor Chun-ge, he unfortunately bore the brunt of it all…

"What does elder brother plan to do?" Su Lu naturally wanted to share his brother's burdens.

"What can I do?" Chun Ge'er said with a bitter face. "I naively thought that I could discipline the students with the rules of the community school, but who in our mountains believes in that? No wonder the two clans have to study separately, because only their own elders can keep them in check with the clan's etiquette."

"Yes." Su Lu nodded. For example, their Su clan's school was founded by the old clan head. If any student dared to go against the teacher, his parents would be dragged to the ancestral hall and made to kneel as punishment.

The Cheng clan is unlikely to endorse their eldest brother; in fact, they are more likely to stir up trouble behind his back.

"The students I expelled yesterday came to class the next day as if nothing had happened. When I chased them out, they just played in the yard, making so much noise that other students couldn't study," the older brother complained.

"I asked them to call their families, but they said it's just a lousy community school, why take it so seriously?"

"Where's your ruler? Time for a spanking!" Su Lu pulled out a wooden stick and brandished it. "You lazy brat—you deserve a beating!"

"Of course I hit them, but everyone in their families thinks the same way you do, so I beat them until their skin is thick and tough." Chun Ge'er said with a wry smile, "When I hit them with my paddle, it's like scraping their skin, it's completely useless."

Su Lu glanced at his eldest brother's small frame, which wasn't much stronger than his own, and suggested, "How about we have your second brother be your henchman?"

"Don't be ridiculous, what if someone gets killed?" Su Man refused decisively, "You don't need to worry about it, I'll figure something out myself."

"Sigh, alright." Su Lu nodded, not even trying to dissuade his older brother from going.
Because he knew that 'giving up' was not in Chun Ge's dictionary...

~~
After putting down his book box in his uncle's room, Su Lu came out and said to his aunt, "Auntie, I ate too much at noon, so I won't eat tonight."

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" the eldest aunt cursed. "Who's going to eat the extra food I cooked?"

"Then you can keep it for me tonight as a midnight snack," Su Lu said.

"Still eating late-night snacks? You've only been in school for a few days and you've already picked up this bad habit?" His aunt always found a way to scold him.

Fortunately, Su Lu was already immune to it. He let it go in one ear and out the other, and didn't take it to heart at all. He still smiled and said, "I'm going out for a bit." After saying that, he ran down the stilted house and went from house to house along the narrow streets, calling out to his friends to come over for a meeting after they finished eating. The meeting place was in his godmother's courtyard.

~~
A moment later, all the wise men had arrived.

The two groups were clearly separated. The larger group consisted of Su Dan, Su Lang, and seven or eight other young men from the Su family, all of whom were brothers who had taken the academy entrance exam together.

The other group consisted of only three people: Cheng Wantang, Cheng Wanfan, and Cheng Wanzhou.

It was already getting dark when Su Lu lit a pine torch and smiled at everyone, saying, "You've arrived so quickly, have you all eaten?"

"If my brother summons me, I have to hurry!" Su Lang said with a smile. In the six months since they last met, his face had thinned considerably, clearly showing he had worked hard.

"Brother, you still remember me? I'm overjoyed!" Cheng Wantang felt as if a lifetime had passed since he last saw Su Lu, even though it had only been a month.

The other two are even worse; they were taking a bath and eating watermelon with him just two hours ago.

"Brother, just tell us what's wrong, we'll go through fire and water for you!" the Su brothers shouted. But inwardly they couldn't help wondering why he had called the Cheng family along.
"I've gathered you all here because you are all my dearest friends and family, my brothers and sisters." Su Lu coughed and said to everyone, "But there are some misunderstandings between you... I just want to ask you, for my sake, can you get along peacefully and work with me on important matters?"

"Yes!" Su Dan quickly replied.

"Of course!" Su Lang and Cheng Sanwan echoed loudly. Seeing this, the other Su brothers could only nod in agreement: "No problem!"

“Good!” Su Lu nodded emphatically and raised his voice, “What does this mean? Our two families have no life-or-death feud. All we need is an opportunity, a link, to turn hostility into friendship.”

He laughed as he spoke, "If we really have an irreconcilable feud, no matter how big my face is, it won't make a difference."

"Hehehe..." The youths from both tribes nodded and laughed, indicating their agreement with his point of view. A sturdy young man named Su Yang asked, "Brother, you haven't told me yet, what big plan are you plotting!"

"In fact, I have a dream—to resolve the conflict between the two major clans, to unite our Su and Cheng clans, to break out of the mountains together, and to create a new world for our descendants!" Su Lu's voice grew more and more resolute, his eyes shining brightly in the dim light of the day!

When mobilizing teenagers, the wording must be passionate and even a bit juvenile; the louder the tone, the better the effect. Su Lu understood this principle.

"This is the big plan I'm after!" he said, his gaze sweeping over everyone. He asked in a deep voice, "Who's willing to work with me?!"

"I!"

"Me!" Su Dan, Cheng Wantang, Cheng Wanfan, and Cheng Wanzhou responded immediately, because Su Lu had already mobilized them a month ago!
On the contrary, Su Lang, Su Yang, and other brothers from the same family were somewhat confused. Wasn't it perfectly normal to mess with the Cheng family? Why did their brother suddenly say he wanted to reconcile?
As a member of the Su family, Su Dan shouldered the heavy responsibility of passing on his teachings to his fellow family members. He then declared proudly:
"Just like my brother said, there are hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, but only a few were born in Erlangtan. Once we leave these mountains and arrive in Luzhou, we are the closest of fellow villagers; once we leave Sichuan, we are the most loyal fellow villagers who stick together to conquer the world!"

“That’s right!” Cheng Wanfan picked up Su Dan’s line from back then and nodded emphatically, “We should work together to break out of the mountains and explore the world together, instead of fighting amongst ourselves in the mountains!”

Cheng Wanzhou and Cheng Wantang each performed their duties, repeating the conversation from a month ago. The young Su family member blushed and felt deeply ashamed of his narrow-mindedness.

Su Yang said enviously, "Those who have studied at the academy are just different from us frogs in a well."

"My ideal is for everyone to jump out of this deep well and into the vast world! But breaking free from the shackles of the mountains is incredibly difficult, and the strength of one clan alone is definitely not enough! What's more, the other clans will spare no effort to trip us up and hold us back. In the end, no one will be able to get out! We can only wither and rot together in the mountains..."

After Su Lu finished speaking, his gaze swept over the 'wise men' again. This time, their expressions were no longer confused, and their eyes began to gleam with fire!
"I've said my piece. I'll ask one last time: who wants to work with me?!"

"Me!" all the boys shouted in unison, without hesitation.

Their youthful exuberance was successfully ignited, and they firmly believed that they were engaged in a great and arduous cause.

"Alright! Let's begin tonight!" Su Lu waved his hand, signaling the start of the mobilization.

"Didn't my brother say that we should put aside our grudges once our generation has a voice?" But every organization has its hindrances, like Fang Cheng Wanzhou. He was worried that if things escalated, they might get beaten up.

"The plan has changed; we need to move forward." Su Lu said in a deep voice, "Do you know who inspired this ideal of mine?"

"Confucius?" the wise men asked.

"No..." Su Lu coughed and said, "It's my elder brother. He has never been interested in the conflict between the two clans and hopes to do his part to resolve the clan conflict!"

P.S. This is the fourth update on the sixth day!! It's been years since I've seen such a passionate monk!!! Please continue to subscribe and vote with your monthly tickets!

This bonus chapter is thanks to Alliance Leader Li Qiyu; eight more chapters still owed...

(End of this chapter)