Wait a minute, heroine

April 15th is the Zhou family’s birthday.

On the south side of Qingyun City, there is a mountain named "Chaolu". The Qingjiang River flows under the mountain, and its tributaries converge at the foot of the mountain to form Yingyue Lake. Along the lake is a scattered group of buildings. The market calls this place Zhoujiazhuang, and on the rivers and lakes, it is called "Dalu". Wei's famous swordsmanship giant - Shuiyun Jiantan!

The buildings in the center of Zhoujiazhuang are old and are inhabited by members of the Zhou family; while 70% to 80% of the surrounding buildings were expanded in recent decades. Because of the fame of the 'Sword Master' Zhou Chiyang, he came here to learn skills. There are countless warriors in the country, and there are only more than 300 people who can really become disciples of the Zhou family.

The Zhou family has lived here for generations. Their ancestors were the Sword Making Villa. Their main business was to help Jianghu build various weapons. In the previous dynasty, it was only a little-known small business.

Because Old Mrs. Zhou was generous and loved to make friends, when the Wei Dynasty was founded, he helped the rebels build many swords. As a result, the Zhou family got on the right track, but it was only a second-rate family in the world.

It was not until the emergence of the contemporary 'Sword Master' that the Zhou family was able to soar into the sky. The founding sect was renamed 'Shuiyun Jiantan', becoming the most powerful family in Zezhou after Junshantai.

Old Mrs. Zhou is too old and has no interest in worldly affairs. The current head of the Zhou family and the head of Shuiyun Sword Pool is Zhou Huaili, the eldest son of Mr. Zhou and the elder brother of the contemporary sword master.

At noon, music and singing were going on at Chaolu Peak, and celebrities from all over the world came to celebrate their birthdays, drinking and chatting in the Shijian Hall on the bank of Yingyue Lake. The village was noisy, but the back of the ancestral house was quite quiet.

Next to the water pool at the foot of the mountain, there is an old blacksmith shop. There is still a blackened signboard on the door, with the four words "Zhoujia Shop" vaguely visible. It is the place where the ancestors of the Zhou family started their business.

The fire in the blacksmith shop that has been passed down for hundreds of years has not been extinguished, and the crisp sound of forging can be heard:

Ding--

Ding--

Old Mrs. Zhou with white hair, bent at the waist, holding a hammer in her hand, hitting the iron block clamped on the tongs.

Because he is too old, his strength is not strong, but his technique is extremely stable, and even has a unique rhythm when viewed from the side.

The leader, Zhou Huaili, stood outside the blacksmith shop with his hands in sleeves. He looked about fifty years old and had a three-foot green-edged sword hanging on his waist. He looked quite imposing.

As the elder brother of a contemporary swordsman and a genuine master of swordsmanship, Zhou Huaili's status in the world is definitely not low.

But facing his biological father, no matter how old Zhou Huaili is, he can only stand quietly at the door like an ordinary son, listening to the elders' verbose words:

"The rivers and lakes are the tides of the Qingjiang River. When there is a rising tide, there is a falling tide, and vice versa; if there are no waves, it becomes stagnant water... When I was cutting swords for Xuanyuan Dynasty, who would have thought that he would be expelled from the Xuanyuan family. A rebellious son who joined the army at a young age and made great contributions, mastered peerless swordsmanship, and became the master swordsman he is today? When your grandfather was giving swordsmanship to Kuangyazi, Kuangyazi was at the top of the world and dominated the world of swordsmanship. Who could have imagined that he would be the best swordsman in the world today? , it’s hard to see even half a descendant..."

Old Mrs. Zhou has been staying in the blacksmith shop with lots of fireworks all year round. His voice is not very good, he speaks slowly and hoarsely, and you can't hear clearly even if you don't listen carefully.

After Zhou Huaili listened patiently for a long time, he said:

"Dad has told these old stories hundreds of times."

Old Mrs. Zhou was hammering the iron in an orderly manner. He seemed not to hear his son's words and continued to mutter:

"It's not easy to make a living in Jianghu. Tell me, if I had refused when Xuanyuan came to ask me to make a knife, how many members of the Zhou family would be left in the world now?"

"Dad has been known to everyone in the world for his generosity. If it weren't for this, there wouldn't be so many friends from the world coming to congratulate him on his 100th birthday..."

"This is not generosity. A handful of rice when others are in poverty is far better than a thousand gold in salary when they are prosperous; a cold look when others are in poverty may result in the whole family being wiped out in the future. This is the case in the world..."

"Dad, I'm past the age where I know my destiny. I'm not young anymore. It's your birthday today, so take a day off."

Old Mrs. Zhou paused in his hammering action. After a moment of silence, he continued to lift the hammer.

Ding--

Ding--

The inside and outside of the blacksmith shop became quiet, except for the sound of forging iron.

Zhou Huaili waited for a while. Seeing that Old Master Zhou was not in the mood to go out to meet guests, he stopped trying to persuade him and walked out of the ancestral house to the Shijian Hall on the bank of Yingyue Lake.

"Shijian" means to understand the way of swordsmanship. The sword master Zhou Chiyang realized the way of swordsmanship by the lakeside and soared to the sky. He became the most powerful swordsman in the world from a small swordsmith.

For this reason, the Shijian Hall is regarded as the holy land of Shuiyun Jiantan. No one is allowed to enter on weekdays. It is only opened when a celebration banquet is held. The people who can enter are all well-known celebrities.

Zhou Huaili and his servants entered from the back of Shijian Hall. It can be seen that the large hall was full of guests, and outside the door was the blue-blue Yingyue Lake. There was a huge stone beside the lake with the word "Xia" written on it, which was carved by the sword master Zhou Chiyang himself. , the handwriting is like a silver hook and iron painting, sharp and sharp, and many people are watching under the big sword.

Seeing the word 'xia', Zhou Huaili's eyes flashed with a hint of displeasure.

As the saying goes, ‘Every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite’, and this is also true for the Zhou family.

Zhou Huaili became the head of the family at an early age. Because of the family's wealth, he was not very polite to his younger brother, who was much loved by his father. Although they did not draw swords against each other, they had many quarrels with each other.

After his younger brother struck the twelve states with frost, he did not teach him a lesson. After carving a word, he picked up the sword and left, and began to travel across the mountains, rivers and swamps, never returning to his hometown.

Zhou Huaili knew that his younger brother was teaching him a lesson, and like his father, he hoped that he would "return from his lost ways", but he never felt that there was anything wrong with his behavior.

His younger brother, Zhou Chiyang, was obsessed with swordsmanship and had no interest in the worldly family business. He even looked down on his philistine and utilitarian brother. He was a hero respected by everyone in the world, but such a person could only be a 'face', not a family member.

The powerful forces in the world all talk about "chivalry", but if they only care about these, no matter how great their abilities are, they will never be able to accumulate a family fortune.

He, Zhou Huaili, is indeed a philistine, not noble and chivalrous enough, but without his philistine, where would the Zhou family have such a large number of guests today, and where would they have the vast tracts of fertile land outside?

If he hadn't devoted half his life to running the business, no matter how famous the Sword Master was, the Zhou family would still be just a small aristocratic family, still making a living by blacksmithing to this day.

Between personal fame in the world and the prosperity and wealth of his clan, what's wrong with him choosing the latter?

The distracting thoughts disappeared in a flash. Zhou Huaili came to Shijian Hall. When he saw the guests present, he put on a smile and cupped his hands and said:

“Mrs.

The guests in the lobby are all famous celebrities from around Zezhou, and the seven or eight people sitting at the head table are all famous masters in the world, including the Sanjue Immortal of Wuzhou Sanjue Valley and the head of Junshan Terrace, Xuanyuan Hongzhi. And so on, it can be said that the wealthy families near Zezhou have all sent people here.

But to say that the ones with the highest status here are the two women sitting at the top!