Castle of Black Iron

CoBI, B3 Chapter 6: The Virtue of Patience

Here’s the last chapter of the week. Enjoy!

Cuppa.

Zhang Tie naturally did not know that the two terrifying men have returned, when the two guys are searching the ground he is already home.

With a new member in the house and another one joining them in ten months, Zhang Tie’s parents did not go out for past couple of nights, choosing to stay at home instead.

The meals at home have also became more sumptuous, from its taste, Zhang Tie can determine that some of the dishes are made by his future sister-in-law, and they are also well made.

When he returned home, Zhang Tie only saw his mother and future sister-in-law in it, his dad is not around. Only after Zhang Tie finished dinner, did he saw his dad, with a head full of sweat, carrying a large piece of cured meat into the house, finally understood where he went.

Zhang Tie a.s.sisted his dad to store the twenty odd kilos of cured meat, as he hung the meat in the kitchen, Zhang Tie took the opportunity to fill his nostrils with its fragrant scent, it has been a very long time since he last smelled this beautiful flavor.

Zhang Tie jokingly said, “Dad, you and mum are showing too much favoritism. I begged for a long time for this but you guys did not even bother, now when my sister-in-law is here, you guys bought it immediately, is a son worth less than a grandchild!”

“You brat” His old man laughed as he lightly knocked on Zhang Tie’s head, “I dare you to not eat this when your mother cooks it in the future!”

“Heh… Heh…” Zhang Tie smiled, in his mind, he wanted to tell them that their son had done an awesome thing in school today. However, he knows that the information will only cause his parents to worry, therefore Zhang Tie did not talk about it, “Come to think of it, how much does the cured meat cost dad?”

“58 Silvers 60 Coppers, nearly 60 silvers!” his old man grimaced as he said the amount, “it wasn’t that expensive in the past!”

Zhang Tie also jumped in shock, this is nearly his old man’s salary for a month. Looks like his parents are digging deep into their pockets for this future grandchild. Seeing the look of his old man, Zhang Tie could not help himself and said, “You must also buy more fruits for more nutrition, only then, will the baby of the Zhang’s be healthier!”

“Indeed, your mother also said the same thing…” his old man replied on reflex but suddenly paused as he noticed that he has fallen into Zhang Tie’s wordplay, he returned the favor by hitting Zhang Tie’s head a few more times in frustration, causing a ruckus in the house*.
(Cuppa: Zhang Tie’s nickname at home is ‘Baby’ and ‘Little Fruit’)

……

With his future sister-in-law now living with them, Zhang Tie also discovers that his plan to acc.u.mulate Merits by doing house ch.o.r.es is no longer possible, the house is currently in a very clean and tidy condition, there is no excuse for him to do any ch.o.r.es. Hence, Zhang Tie can only smile helplessly and try to look for another low-profile method to earn Merits.

After dinner, his mother and sister-in-law sat together and did some sewing. The daughter of a tailor does have decent sewing skills, looking at the nimble hands of her future daughter-in-law, his mother smiled till her eyes nearly closed.

Zhang Tie a.s.sisted the two of them with the cutting of fabrics and other rougher tasks, chatting with the two of them along the way.

My time in this house is getting shorter and shorter, the thought flashed through Zhang Tie’s mind as he helps with the tasks. Not i

ncluding the time left to accompany his parents in the coming months, after he graduates, based on the laws set by Black Flame City and the entire Andaman City State Alliance – > and >, everything belonging to his parents, be it the house or the right to live within it, the things that they exchange their entire lives to obtain, will be inherited by his elder brother. As for him, being the younger son of the family, his only option is to leave the city, leave this house and fight for his future outside the city.

When a wolf pup reaches adulthood, they will leave their parents and face the solitude of maturing. When an eaglet’s feathers are fully grown, and leaves their nest, they must learn to battle the storms in the skies. Even an ant, when it grows wings, will leave their hives and roam the skies in search of a place to build their own hive.

In this era, for the sake of survival, humanity began to learn from these natural laws, using them as guides when they set their laws and rules, learning from the animals and species that have superior survival capabilities, the > and > are such examples.

If humanity wants to survive in this era, they must constantly fight and improve themselves, using their courageous hearts and sharpened swords to expand and secure more territory for humans to inhabit.

They must constantly fight with the non-human races, unceasingly extinguish various dangerous lifeforms, nev build new cities and develop more habitable places for people to live and procreate.

This is the law of survival for humanity of this era, it is not related to morals but a simple, practical need to ensure humanity keeps going.

Although a city is a very safe place to live in but it has limited s.p.a.ce within it, it is not possible to accommodate every person born within the city. For families like Zhang Tie with two sons, when the younger son completes his compulsory education and begins military service, is also when the > and > laws start its effects.

Especially when his family is having a daughter-in-law joining them and his elder brother getting married soon. As a young man who is about to enter society, it will only get more and more inconvenient for him to stay in the house, while the time he will be staying in this house in the future will only get shorter and shorter.

Over the past few days, Zhang Tie had deliberately avoided this question, trying to spend as much time with his parents as possible. He will often create jokes to make his parents laugh, trying as much as possible to reduce the pain from their impending separation.

His parents also seem to be consciously avoiding the topic, deliberately not bringing it up in their conversations. While in school, with the two month survival course approaching, Zhang Tie knows that the families of his fellow cla.s.smates, who are also younger sons like him, have already began preparing gear and all sorts of items meant for long distance travel for them.

As Zhang Tie thought of all these while feeling the time left with his family is getting shorter and shorter, the bolt of fabric on his hands has unknowingly been cut finished.

As the time is getting late and his mother’s eyes are also showing signs of tiredness. After casually speaking with them awhile longer, Zhang Tie used an excuse and went to wash up before returning to his loft in the attic.

As he enters his loft, Zhang Tie took out the triangular wooden token, after using various methods from feeling to tapping to knocking, he confirmed the material is made of red pine* and there is no miraculous or hidden contraptions in it. Other than the natural lightning shaped grains on the wood that seems special, there are no other special features that could be found. If the token is found in a children’s toy box, it can easily be pa.s.s off as a children’s wooden toy.
(Cuppa: Red Pine)

Zhang Tie felt gooseb.u.mps as he remembers the raised leg of that Hawk guy and the feeling of being searched by the hands of the snake-like man.

“f.u.c.k, that two perverts. Did they have a bad childhood? Still holding on to a kid’s toy at their age!” Zhang Tie can’t help but scolded out before placing the wooden token back into the pouch and chuck it into a box in the storeroom, not bothering about it anymore.

After putting away the wooden token, Zhang Tie draw in a deep breath and closed his eyes, after he locates the mysterious arch door, lock and enter!

What a d.a.m.n good feeling, Zhang Tie thought as he breathed in the Castle’s air, not sure if he is overthinking it, although there are only a few growing plants in the castle and its spirit energy is not much but Zhang Tie felt that whenever he revisits this place, the life force within the Castle feels to have become stronger and stronger, making the air within the Castle feel exceptionally refres.h.i.+ng.

As usual, Zhang Tie first look at the Castle’s Attributes.

Castle of Black Iron

Not much has change except the increasing momentum of Spirit Energy growth while Merit did not increase today as he did not do anything in school and at home.

After closing the Attributes window, Zhang Tie went to inspect his crops. The potatoes have grown very well, the sprouts have begun to split and branch out with the longest one growing to more than ten centimeters in length while the corn have all sprouted and broken through the ground surface.

“Pit No.1” which underwent a mutation after Zhang Tie invested three Merits on it, is still the same, no special changes could be observed. Zhang Tie’s guess is that a mutating or evolving organism develops in proportion to its rate of growth, with only one week since the start of mutation, having no results is expected.

After checking his crops, Zhang Tie went to the small tree and looked at the fruit that has become dark red in color from its initial light teal. The fruit has also grown from its starting grape size into the size of a chicken egg, its shape is also like an egg.

The Leak Prevention Fruit that is reaching its maturity caused Zhang Tie to swallow a few gulps of saliva, after checking that there is still four hours left to complete maturity. Zhang Tie scratched his head before forcing himself to calm down and squat beside it, his eyes focused on the Leak Prevention Fruit without blinking.

When his legs felt numb from the squatting, Zhang Tie stood up and began circling the small tree, in between he will often check the fruit’s status but it is still…… four hours.

When Zhang Tie once again cannot help himself, and wanted to check the fruit’s maturity another time, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Zhang Tie oh Zhang Tie, do you have no patience? A man without a bit of patience, a man who cannot hold himself well, is he worthy of Ms. Dinah?

A stalk of wheat will wilt within a year but a diamond requires millions of years to be created by nature. A bean sprout will grow after immersing a bean in water for two days while it was said that the King of Ten Thousand Trees, the olive tree, took G.o.d ten thousand years to create!

The fate of wheat stalks is to be burnt into ashes, the fate of bean sprouts is to become the digested waste of humans and animals but the diamond will become a treasure while the olive tree has become a holy symbol, this is the difference between having and not having patience.

This life of mine, do I want it to become a wheat stalk, a bean sprout or a diamond and olive tree?