Tomb raiding: Intercepting Yin Xinyue and building a family of immortals

"Third Uncle, this thing might not even be wild ginseng. Who grows ginseng on the edge of a field?"

“That’s right, if we take it to a pharmacy in the city, we’ll be laughed at. How could ginseng grow on a field ridge…”

"What you're saying makes sense, but this thing really does look like ginseng!"

"Could it be a radish, just one that looks a bit odd?"

As Su Chen walked over to the ancestral hall, he heard a heated debate inside.

Su Chen's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly pushed open the ancestral hall door and went inside.

The old clan chief Su Xiaoquan, along with several other clan elders, as well as Su Renzhao and Su Renxiu, all showed expressions of surprise and delight.

"Xiao Chen is back!"

"Xiao Chen, you're finally back! If you hadn't come back, we would have gone to the city to cause trouble for the Wu family!"

The crowd surrounded Su Chen, chattering about what had happened after he left.

Su Chen quickly waved his hand and said, "Everyone, please listen to me for a moment!"

Seeing the serious expression on Su Chen's face, everyone gradually quieted down and looked at Su Chen with suspicion.

Su Chen took a deep breath, then looked sharply at Su Renzhao and Su Renxiu!

"Fourth Uncle, Sixth Uncle! Before I left, I asked you to organize the village's uncles to patrol day and night. Why is there not a single person at the village entrance? How can anyone just come in?"

"This……"

The Su brothers were instantly speechless.

The old clan chief quickly stepped in to explain, "Xiao Chen, it's mainly because everyone was busy farming in the fields recently, so they put aside their village patrol duties."

Su Chen took a deep breath, turned to look at the old patriarch, and said with an extremely serious expression, "Patriarch, if our Su Family Village wants to develop and live a good life, we can't be as lazy as before. We need to have rules and regulations!"

"Besides, we've just survived the days of hunger, and we've only just managed to get a little rice and grain at home. If you don't protect the village, what if it gets stolen or robbed one day, and we go back to the days of hunger? Who wants that? And Er Ya and the others are right at the village entrance. There are thousands of starving refugees outside Changsha City. What if a few of them sneak in and kidnap our village's children?"

Su Chen's words were reasonable and well-founded, especially when he mentioned the children in the village, which made Su Renzhao and Su Renxiu look ashamed.

Su Renzhao stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Clan leader, you're right. This is all my fault. I'll accept whatever punishment you want!"

Su Chen shook his head, pushed through the crowd, and walked to the offering table in the ancestral hall.

On the offering table sits a wild ginseng with numerous roots.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, he picked up the wild ginseng and then solemnly said, "This wild ginseng is not the only one; more and better treasures will grow from the fields in the future."

"besides?!"

Upon hearing this, the elders in the ancestral hall, including the Su brothers, all widened their eyes.

They initially doubted whether this wild ginseng was actually ginseng.

Upon hearing Su Chen's words, everyone was shocked.

After his initial surprise, the old clan chief Su Xiaoquan quickly glanced outside and then tightly closed the ancestral hall door.

Then he turned around, his face flushed with excitement, and asked, "Xiao Chen, what you just said is true? Is this really ginseng? And, can even more good things grow in our clan's fields?"

"It's ginseng!"

Su Chen had no intention of hiding it from his clansmen, and besides, there was no way to hide it anyway.

"Haven't you noticed that the planted seedlings grow much faster?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately began to discuss it amongst themselves.

"These past few days, we've been wondering why the rice seedlings in the field are growing so fast. We thought it was because the seedlings we bought were better..."

"Yes, I also find it strange. It's grown so well in just three days. I'm afraid it will be ready for transplanting in less than ten days, and a rice harvest can be completed in a little over a month!"

"Xiao Chen, do you mean that our land will not only produce good things in the future, but everything we plant will grow quickly?"

Su Chen nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the ancestral hall.

Finally, he looked at the old clan chief, Su Xiaoquan.

"Elder Chief, the clan fields can grow treasures. Whether you plant rice or anything else, everything grows quickly. Don't you think that's a great treasure for our clan!"

Su Xiaoquan was trembling with excitement. Upon hearing Su Chen's words, he nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, of course it counts!"

The other elders beamed with joy and couldn't help but cheer.

"We're going to be rich!"

"With these 300 acres of prime land, even a fool could make a fortune!"

The Su brothers, Renzhao and Renzhao, couldn't help but show excited expressions as well.

The reason is simple: people in this era valued the land extremely highly.

Even when they were about to flee famine half a year ago, the old clan chief was reluctant to sell these clan fields.

The reason is that farmland is the lifeblood of ordinary people in this era, and they value it even more than their own lives.

These precious clan fields have undergone such miraculous changes that they are more excited than if they had thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in front of them.

but……

Seeing everyone's excitement, Su Chen snorted and poured cold water on their enthusiasm.

"These three hundred acres of clan land are so precious. If outsiders find out, can we protect them with our current strength?"

"Forehead……"

One sentence stunned everyone, and they fell silent.

The elders understood this principle better than anyone: "A child carrying gold through a bustling market is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime."

Thinking of this, an elder hurriedly said, "Chief Xiao Chen is right! Ren Zhao, Ren Xiu, what are you standing there for? Quickly organize people to patrol! From now on, no one from outside the village is allowed to enter!"

Someone else added, "Also, make sure to give special instructions to your family, especially the children. No one is allowed to tell anyone about the treasure found in the field! Anyone who does will be removed from the family register and will never be allowed into the ancestral graveyard!"

"Yes, go and tell all the old women in the house to stop them from gossiping outside!"

Seeing that everyone finally realized the seriousness of the situation, Su Chen nodded.

Without saying a word, Su Renzhao and his brother rushed out of the ancestral hall and went door to door to issue a gag order.

At present, Sujia Village has barely escaped famine, with a population of less than forty and a total of less than five guns and pistols!

If they were to encounter a powerful family that tried to seize their wealth through trickery and force, Su Family Village would be utterly powerless to resist.

The only way is to keep the news under wraps and prevent outsiders from knowing about it!

If we can weather this period and wait until Sujia Village grows up to have a population of one or two hundred and a few dozen guns, we won't need to be so cautious.

Seeing that Su Renzhao and his brother had left, Su Chen wanted to go back first to sort out the spoils from this trip to Biaoziling.

However, at that moment, the old clan chief Su Xiaoquan suddenly called out to him.

"Xiao Chen, wait a minute, I have something to tell you."

Su Chen was taken aback, then asked, "Elder Chief, what is it?"

Su Xiaoquan smiled and said, "We've all seen what you've done lately. You've done a great job, much better than me. But you're not young anymore, it's time for you to settle down and start a family."

Upon hearing this, the elders in the ancestral hall immediately beamed with joy.

Su Chen's face stiffened...

There aren't many girls in this era who can meet his standards.

He had no desire to follow the old ways of arranged marriages or matchmakers.

Thinking of this, Su Chen hurriedly declined, saying, "Elder Chief, I am still young, it is too early to talk about this."

"It's getting late!"

Su Xiaoquan shook his head with a smile.

"We didn't say anything before because our Su family couldn't even afford to eat, but now that the family is getting better and better, your marriage must be put on the agenda."

The other elders in the ancestral hall quickly joined in the discussion.

"Yes, Xiao Chen, as the head of the clan, you should set an example and ensure the Su family continues to thrive!"

"Our Su family is not very large right now, so we have to rely on you younger generation to have more children!"

"Hehe, back in the day, Xiao Chen was still wearing open-crotch pants. He would pee on my face when I held him. Now he's a big boy..."

Su Chen's face darkened, and he quickly said, "Seventh Uncle, there's no need to talk about these things from when we were kids."

Perhaps sensing what Su Chen was thinking, Su Xiaoquan walked up to the ancestral hall tablet with a smile and took out a marriage certificate from behind it.

"Xiao Chen, this marriage wasn't arranged by me on my own initiative. It was a marriage arranged for you by your parents when you were little. That was more than ten years ago."

Baby kiss?

Upon hearing this, Su Chen immediately felt a headache coming on.

Just as she was about to politely decline, Su Xiaoquan explained, "This is something your parents entrusted to me before they passed away. They asked me to give you this marriage certificate when I returned. Also, don't rush to refuse. I heard from your parents that the girl is from the capital. There are still more than half a year until the date stipulated in the marriage certificate, and this is your parents' only wish before they passed away..."

"When did my parents get to know people from the capital?"

Su Chen was taken aback and subconsciously asked a question.

“You were only a few days old then. Your father traveled all over the country doing business and met a lot of people. Perhaps that’s when the marriage was arranged.”

Hearing Su Xiaoquan say this, Su Chen hesitated for a moment, but still put the marriage certificate away.

He figured he could just send the woman's family a letter announcing the engagement after a while.