TFWYH – Chapter 403 Wanting to Join the Army

Aunt Yang spoke confidently, completely justified.
“Yue’er and Wan-niang both said so—why shouldn’t we buy?”

Father and son exchanged speechless looks.

She turned to Li Dashan.
“Your father and I have seventy taels of silver. Didn’t you brag before that you had more than three hundred taels saved? Take the money out. Tomorrow we’re going to look at shops.”

Li Dashan clicked his tongue.
“All of it?”

“Stop talking nonsense. If I tell you to take it out, then take it out! Even if your father and I buy the shop, it’ll still be registered under your name. You’re not getting any younger—you need to marry someday, right? If we buy a good shop, you and your future wife can live there. No matter how nice this manor is, it still isn’t truly ours.”

Aunt Yang had planned everything perfectly in her mind.
Buying a shop meant having a house.
Having a house meant they could arrange a marriage for their son.

She was already looking forward to holding a chubby grandson.

Li Dashan hesitated, conflicted. After a while, he finally returned to his room and brought out all his savings.

“So much money? My son really is capable! With this kind of family wealth, getting married won’t be a problem. Once the disaster passes, Mother will find you a good bride.”

Aunt Yang happily counted the money, completely oblivious to her son’s strange expression, ignoring both father and son.

Li Wu, however, noticed something was off. Thinking his son simply hated parting with money, he laughed and scolded him.

“You brat, what kind of face is that? Your mother’s buying you a shop and you’re still unhappy?”

“How could I be unhappy?”
But… he didn’t want to get married yet.

During the recent disaster, he and Ling Sheng had been unable to sell their beef jerky anywhere.

Only after the Black Scale Cavalry arrived did their business improve again.

Especially Deputy General Wan of the Black Scale Cavalry—he had bought from them several times. The two young men gradually became familiar with him and often chatted casually.

When Deputy General Wan learned that they usually trained while carrying heavy loads, he was astonished. Eventually, he invited both Li Dashan and Ling Sheng to join the Black Scale Cavalry.

They… were tempted.

They had started learning martial arts too late. Their foundations were weak, and they had no internal energy.

Tang Wan had already told them clearly—they could only pursue the path of external martial arts practitioners.

The Martial Champion examinations gathered elite experts. With only external techniques, how could they compete with masters possessing profound internal energy? They weren’t like Tang Wan, that invincible powerhouse.

If they wanted to rise above others, their only path was to enlist.

The Black Scale Cavalry was an elite force—the backbone of the army.

This was a ready-made opportunity.

But… both he and Ling Sheng were only sons. Their parents would never agree.

Deputy General Wan understood their difficulties and told them simply to think it over and give him an answer before the Black Scale Cavalry departed.

Since returning home, he and Ling Sheng had been agonizing daily over how to persuade their parents.

It was enough to give him a splitting headache.

And now his mother wanted him to marry…

He didn’t want that.
He wanted to enlist.
He wanted military merit.
He wanted to stand out.
He wanted to become a great general.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Watching his parents happily discussing his future, Li Dashan sighed softly and slipped away in silence.

The decision to buy shops wasn’t limited to the Li family.

Ling Canghe’s family was doing the same.

Even Uncle Qin and Aunt Qin were tempted, calculating how much silver they had saved.

Only the Tang father and son had no such plans.

They were racking their brains trying to figure out how to persuade Tang Wan’s family to leave Xiangxi Town and seek safety elsewhere.

No one noticed anything unusual about them—

except Ling Yu, who knew part of the inside story.

The next morning—

The Li couple and the Ling Canghe couple didn’t even eat breakfast before excitedly arranging to inspect shops together.

The elderly Qin couple followed along as well. They didn’t have much spare money, but they still wanted to join the excitement—

who knew? Maybe they’d stumble upon a desperate seller willing to take a loss.