As Yang Zhenshan and Lin Zhan were talking, a snowball the size of a fist suddenly flew towards Yang Zhenshan.
Yang Zhenshan instinctively wanted to raise his hand to block the snowball, but he only lifted it slightly before stopping, allowing the snowball to hit him on the head.
Lin Zhan was momentarily taken aback. "Master!"
Yang Zhenshan, with a stern face, looked at Yang Chengxian. At this moment, Yang Chengxian was staring at Yang Zhenshan with hands and feet in disarray, his eyes filled with trepidation.
Looking at him, Yang Zhenshan said, "You little monkey, getting more and more unruly. Let’s see how Grandpa deals with you!"
With those words, Yang Zhenshan grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and threw it at Yang Chengxian.
The soft snowball exploded on Yang Chengxian’s head, and he was momentarily stunned before realizing, "Ah, Grandpa’s coming, run!"
Following his shout, a bunch of little ones giggled and scattered in all directions.
From time to time, Yang Zhenshan threw snowballs at them, and they also fired back.
For a while, Yang Zhenshan’s participation made an already lively scene even more bustling.
Yang Zhenshan caught Yang Chengyou, "You’re the naughtiest little rascal!"
Saying that, he threw Yang Chengyou into a nearby pile of snow. Far from being scared, Yang Chengyou instead scooped up a handful of snow and doused Yang Zhenshan’s chest with it.
The dragon begets nine sons, each different from the others.
The third generation of the Yang family is numerous and diverse in character and temperament.
Yang Chengye is mature and steady, Yang Chengmao is clever and studious, Yang Wanqing is proper and polite, Yang Chengxian is lively and active, Yang Chengzhang is the most mischievous, Yang Chengyou is the biggest troublemaker, and there’s Yang Wanting the little chatterbox, who never lets there be a moment’s peace with her prattle.
Of course, there are also the well-behaved ones, like Wang Mingzhe, this kid has been lazy since he was little, loving nothing more than to sleep, and it’s still the same now.
Then there’s Jiang Miao, the little girl, who is sweet and endearing, much to the pleasure of Yang Zhenshan.
With so many children in the Yang family, everyday life is quite lively, especially when Yang Chengxian, Yang Chengzhang, and Yang Chengyou, these three rascals, get together. Climbing the roofs to strip tiles, climbing trees to snatch bird eggs, or catching fish in the pond, they often turn the house upside down, causing the servants no end of headaches.
And all of this can be traced back to Yang Zhenshan.
Yang Zhenshan is not a very proper person himself; he doesn’t like to make the children stiff and constrained. Sometimes he even plays with them, which makes these kids uncontrollable when they get rowdy.
Of course, as wild as they can get, when it is time to cultivate, they must practice; when it is time for learning, they go obediently to school.
This is because neither cultivation nor schooling are under the purview of Yang Zhenshan; cultivation is overseen by Yang Mingcheng, who takes practicing very seriously and is the strictest with these nephews.
In the school, the Yang family has hired many teachers. There are masters teaching Confucianism and nannies teaching manners, and neither the masters nor the nannies allow these youngsters to play around.
However, today is the first day of the new year, and the schoolteachers and nannies are on holiday, so the little ones are let loose to romp about to their heart’s content.
Lin Zhan watched Yang Zhenshan, who was playing with the children, and couldn’t help showing a faint smile.
Inside the hall, Yu Qingyi glanced towards the courtyard and saw Yang Zhenshan playing with the children, both amused and helpless, she shook her head.
"This old fool always acts so ridiculously!"
"Hehe, Dad has always been fond of the children, Mother shouldn’t mind him!" The plump Ms. Wang stood behind Yu Qingyi, laughing.
"How can I manage him?" Yu Qingyi said.
Mrs. Li laughed, "We all know Dad listens to Mother the most!"
"That’s not true, it’s Mother who listens to Dad the most." Mrs. Liang said with a playful laugh.
After she said that, everyone couldn’t help but giggle.
Mrs. Zheng still kept a lady’s decorum, laughing behind her hand.
"You all, even making fun of me! Truly undisciplined!"
While she said so, Yu Qingyi was also laughing along.
The festive atmosphere of the New Year continued until after the Lantern Festival, when the varied government offices at Chongshan Pass started operating again, and Yang Zhenshan was plunged into busyness.
A new year, a new beginning.
There are numerous neglected matters in Chongshan Town waiting for the General Mansion to address.
In the main hall of the General Mansion, Yang Zhenshan gathered all the department heads from various departments together.
All the department heads of the General Mansion come from the Guardian Department of the Tenglong Guard, and they are officials familiar with handling miscellaneous government affairs.
With the Tenglong Guard as the foundation, Yang Zhenshan will not face the situation of being short-staffed in Chongshan Town.
The first major task for the General Mansion at the start of the year is the recruitment of soldiers for the Five Camps, which is managed by the Military Selection Department and the Military Registration Department.
The second major task is training soldiers, a responsibility for the Grain and Provision Department and the Weapons and Armor Department, led by Guerrilla Generals from the Five Camps like Song Dashan, Luo Feiyu, and other camp officers.
Recruiting soldiers and training them does not require too much attention from Yang Zhenshan, as the officials of the General Mansion and people like Song Dashan are fully capable.
After all, these are tasks they have done in the Tenglong Guard, so they are well-practiced.
Therefore, after assigning these two tasks, Yang Zhenshan washed his hands of the matter.
The third task is a water conservancy project.
In the main hall, Yang Zhenshan hung the map of Chongshan Town on the screen again.
"The Ying River, originating from the Three Peaks Mountain on the West Road of Chongshan Town, has twelve tributaries upstream in the West Road, flowing generally from west to east, passing through Daning City, Guining City, Jianzhou City, Ningzhou City, Chongshan Pass, An Yuan City, and Songzhou City before emptying into the sea near Haiwei. The river is over a thousand kilometers long, and from Jianzhou City westward, navigation by boat is possible!"