All Heavens Strategy Game

As dusk fell, the sky grew darker.

During this time, Su Dashun paced back and forth in the courtyard, his face filled with hesitation.

Even eating felt like chewing wax, completely tasteless.

In the past, Su Dashun would always put on airs, considering himself an elder and looking down on any younger generation.

But today, he had to admit that he had been lectured by an eight-year-old child, and his mind was in turmoil.

An eight-year-old child left him completely bewildered, as clueless as a greenhorn.

What should I do?

"I have four children. My eldest and second sons are already married with children, my third daughter is unmarried, and my fourth son is still young, not even ten years old..."

"I have a whole family to take care of!"

"If I actually convinced the whole village to support Su Ming's martial arts training, even if it meant starving, I would still support him until he succeeded, only to find that Su Ming never amounted to anything and was completely useless..."

"Everyone's money has gone down the drain. The whole village will blame me, even hate me. Being beaten is the least of my worries; my entire family will be ruined in the village, and everyone will talk about us behind our backs."

"Sigh... If I were 20 years younger, and not yet married with children, perhaps I would have gone all out to help this kid without hesitation."

"Now...it's a pity, I'm old, I've lost my courage!"

An oil lamp was lit inside the room.

Wang Cuihua, the wife, was mending clothes by the lamplight, while her youngest son, who was not yet ten years old, tossed and turned beside her, refusing to go to sleep.

Looking at the flickering oil lamp in front of him, and then at his wife and youngest son, Su Dashun simply couldn't bring himself to do such a risky and important thing.

"Da Shun, go to bed early. Oil lamps are expensive, don't waste it."

Wang Cuihua kept talking: "You still have to go to work in the fields tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll go to the county town with Shanzi to sell firewood. We'll work hard to earn more money so that our whole family can save up for a few more years and then send our youngest son to school."

"The bigwigs in the city all say that all other professions are inferior, only studying is superior. Our family are all rough people and farmers, but we can't do without a scholar. We must send our youngest son to school so that he can make something of himself."

Su Dashun replied, "Education is expensive..."

Wang Cuihua stubbornly insisted, "No matter how expensive it is, we have to send our youngest son to school! If he succeeds, he can become an official. Even if I starve to death, I will send him away to study!"

The youngest son, tossing and turning beside him, muttered, "I don't want to study, I want to eat meat. Instead of sending me to school, you should use the money to buy me meat. We haven't had meat in ages..."

"What are you eating for? In this year of famine, do you see any family in the village with meat to eat? Go to sleep!" Wang Cuihua scolded.

"Oh...but I'm hungry...I just want to eat meat..."

"What are you hungry for? You won't be hungry when you're asleep. Wouldn't it be better if you used the energy you would have for eating meat on studying?" The old man's wife patted their youngest son on the head and shooed him back into bed.

As Su Dashun listened to Wang Cuihua's incessant chatter about sending her youngest son to school, and to his son's grumbling about wanting meat, he opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

Eating meat... I can't even get my family to eat meat, I'm such a failure!

He really wanted his wife and children to eat meat and even go to school, knowing it would be difficult for them to support themselves alone.

Moreover, his youngest son was hopeless and completely unsuitable for studying; hoping that his youngest son would study and become an official was just a pipe dream.

Does the whole family want to get ahead?

Ha ha,

Go to your next life!

He couldn't help but think of Su Ming.

His once dormant spirit stirred again, like a seed sprouting in his heart.

If... if we support Su Ming to practice martial arts, perhaps we can really realize these extravagant hopes?

Su Ming is clever and quick-witted. At only eight years old, he can defeat adults. He will definitely succeed in martial arts!

Once he has mastered his skills, whether he becomes a bodyguard for a wealthy family or a chivalrous knight-errant, he will be a well-known figure in the village.

Back then, if Su Ming had just given his family a little help, they wouldn't have been rich, but they certainly would have had meat to eat every day!

Even sending the youngest son to school and feeding him meat can be done simultaneously without having to choose one over the other...

Once Su Dashun had this thought, he could no longer suppress it. His heart began to flutter uncontrollably, and he fantasized that the other party would become rich and help others get rich, thus giving his family a hand.

Once a person's greed is aroused, it can never be extinguished. It burns uncontrollably in the heart like a wildfire, and his eyes begin to turn bloodshot.

Su Dashun touched his head, which was missing an ear, and began to weigh the gains and losses:

"The village has over two hundred households. If they are to truly fulfill Su Ming's conditions, each household would need to contribute at least twenty to thirty copper coins per month, possibly even more."

"These days, people are extremely frugal, even with a single copper coin. Who would be willing to part with so much money!"

"Some people might be so stubborn that they wouldn't contribute even a single penny, no matter how much you plead with them, making the burden even heavier for the others..."

"As the person in charge of this project, I must bear all the risks of failure..."

Gradually, cold sweat began to appear on Su Dashun's forehead.

The pressure was so great that he felt his heart pounding wildly, as if it were about to burst out of his chest.

It's a success, and the benefits are huge!

But if it fails, the consequences can be severe!

He was just a small village chief in a mountain village. He had some experience, but how could he dare to do something that involved the interests of the entire village?

"Oh, Cuihua, there's something I really can't figure out. Could you give me some advice?"

"What is it?" Wang Cuihua asked without looking up.

Su Dashun sighed and said, "If there's something we're asked to do, we'll bear a huge responsibility, have to pay a considerable amount of money every month, and there's even the possibility that people in the village might starve to death..."

"It will take at least several years to see any results..."

"If things fail, we won't be able to stay in the village, we won't be able to become village chiefs, our homes will be vandalized, we'll be gossiped about and cursed, we'll have to leave our homes and go elsewhere to make a living..."

"But if we succeed, we'll reap unimaginable benefits. Sending our son to school is a piece of cake, and eating meat every month won't be a fantasy. We could very well rise to great heights, become incredibly wealthy, and maybe even move to the city..."

Do you think this kind of thing should be done?

Wang Cuihua didn't think much of it, assuming her old man was just bored, and replied without hesitation, "Do it! Why not? It would be stupid not to do something so good!"

"Huh?" Su Dashun's expression froze, not expecting such an answer: "Why? What great news is this?"

To this, the woman, who had spent her entire life working in the fields, looked up and answered matter-of-factly:

"Our family is in such a state that we often don't know where our next meal will come from, and we don't see meat for months at a time. Our children will be farmers who toil in the fields all their lives. Unless we have a stroke of good luck, no matter how hard we work for decades or even a hundred years, we will still be destined to toil in the fields, never having enough to eat or wear, and being trampled underfoot by those officials and village chiefs."

"If we can accomplish just one thing, we can move into the city and finally enjoy the life we've been waiting for for a hundred years—what a windfall! Isn't this a pie falling from the sky?"

"Even if it fails, the worst that can happen is leaving our hometown. We won't lose our lives. What's the price? Compared to the blessings we'll receive if we succeed, it's nothing! As long as we succeed, we can go to the city and become rich and powerful, with everyone rising to prominence..."

Wang Cuihua became more and more agitated as she spoke: "Some people want to make big money but don't even have the means! If there really were a risk-free job that could make a fortune, how could it possibly be our turn?"

"All we have left is this worthless life, and countless powerful and influential people are above us. Those good things are only for them; for us, it's always a business where we have to lose our heads to make money!"

"But what you're talking about, at worst it's leaving your hometown, it won't cost you your life—why wouldn't you do it? What's the fear of losing face? What's the fear of being talked about behind your back? What's the fear of leaving your hometown? So many people would beg God for such an opportunity, and they still can't get it!"

"..."

As he listened to these words, Su Dashun's eyes grew brighter and his thoughts became clearer.

The big issue that had been weighing on my mind suddenly became clear and unobstructed!

He got it!