Cultivating Civilization - Chapter 68

Jack cradled his new nephew in his arms and looked down at his curious face. His grinning mouth opened as he said “Hello little one, I am your uncle Song Tanda. Come on, say uncle.”

The baby gave out a few meaningless sounds as his arms waved in the air in an attempt to grab Jack’s nose.

From the side, Song Yuening snorted and said “He’s not even a hundred days old, Tanda. It’s gonna take a while before he starts speaking.”

Jack looked up at her as he admitted “I never got Farong to call me uncle since we were more like cousins, now’s my chance.”

When he finished his sentence his eyes widened as he exclaimed “Farong!” Jack’s eyes focused on his sister and he opened his mouth to ask “Yuening, have you heard”

*Waah!*

The baby started crying and interrupted Jack’s question. He looked down out of fear that he squeezed the little boy somewhere, but Song Yuening just clicked her tongue, leaned down, and took the baby out of his hands while saying nonsensical words.

She walked to the doorway of their bedroom and turned to look at Jack to explain “He’s just hungry. You two eat, I’ll come back soon.” With that, she entered the room and closed the door.

A couple of seconds later, Jack looked over at Hao Shixian with a serious face and growled “If you do anything to hurt either of them; I will find you, rip your soul out of your body, and make it spend all of eternity in suffering.”

Hao Shixian returned Jack’s serious gaze with one of his own. After a second of silence, he swallowed and nodded his head slowly in response to Jack’s threat.

Jack studied his brother-in-law for a moment before he turned to the stew that Song Yuening made and started filling his bowl. Hao Shixian soon joined him and they ate in silence.

A few minutes passed before Jack broke the heavy atmosphere when he asked “What did you name the boy?”

Hao Shixian looked at Jack in confusion as he said “Why would he have a name? He has not survived his first yet.”

Jack almost facepalmed as he thought ‘Right, almost forgot about that stupid custom.’, but on the outside, he just responded with “Oh, right.” and continued eating his stew.

Half an hour later, just as Hao Shixian started explaining the kinds of animals and crops they had to Jack, Song Yuening returned to the kitchen with the baby.

“He’s finally full.” She said as she handed the baby over to her husband and went to take her seat at the table.

When she sat down, she felt the peculiar atmosphere between Hao Shixian and Jack, but she decided to ignore it and filled her bowl.

Jack observed the playful boy for a while before he turned to Song Yuening and complimented “Your cooking is even better than mom’s, this was excellent.”

Hao Shixian sat up straight and added his own compliments, to which Song Yuening just rolled her eyes, but the small twist at the ends her mouth gave her pleasure away.

Jack played with his nephew as he waited for his sister to finish her meal. When she let out a satisfied sigh and leaned back in her chair, he asked “Have you heard anything about Farong?”

Song Yuening furrowed her brows as slight pain shone in her eyes when she asked in return “No, why would I?”

Jack frowned as he explained to her what happened when he ran away from their home and left Song Farong in the forest.

Song Yuening covered her mouth with her hands as tears formed in her eyes. She looked down at her bowl, and only when she had a hold on her emotions looked back up at Jack to say “I thought that I was the only survivor for all this time. I never imagined that little Farong survived too.”

Jack sighed as he leaned back in his chair and explained “That’s why I came back. I wanted to see if I could find him somewhere around here.”

They both fell into a silence as they reflected on that cursed day, only Hao Shixian had furrowed brows as he thought back. After a few seconds, he said “I think that I might know where your nephew went.”

Both Jack and Song Yuening turned to look in surprise at Hao Shixian, who continued as he looked at his wife “Yuening, you know that we went to look for Tiankai when a caravan passed through Green Wood and informed us of the destruction of the Raging Ox and Fallen Crow villages.”

Song Yuening nodded her head as she confirmed “Right, but you never said anything about my nephew being there.”

Hao Shixian nodded his head as he responded “I didn’t think that it was important at the time. But I do remember that the traders who took your sister back to the Raging Ox village returned back from there with a lost-looking boy who wasn’t with them before.”

Jack interrupted his story with “Do you know what happened to him?”

Hao Shixian thought for a second before he shook his head as he answered “I don’t know what happened after they left Green Wood. The traders meant to continue down the road past Raging Ox at first, but when they reached the burning Fallen Crow village they turned back. Since then I haven’t seen any of them again.”

Jack gave a long sigh and looked up at the ceiling of the house for a few seconds.

Only when Song Yuening reached across the table and took his hand in hers did he look back down.

“We’ll find him, the main thing now is that we know he’s alive.” she said as she squeezed Jack’s hand.

Jack gave her a sad smile as he explained “I can’t continue my search any longer. I have to start heading back to my men tomorrow morning.”

Song Yuening furrowed her brows as she asked “What do you mean, Tanda?”

Jack sat back up in his chair and started explaining everything that happened to him in the time they spent apart.

He started from what happened once he ran back to their village; he tried to explain his experiences in the Sect and the friends he made there, and their flight from the Sect during the huge battle. When he reached a darker part in his story, Jack would try to skip past it, but he saw that he didn’t fool the clever eyes of his sister.

After talking for more than an hour, he finally reached the part of his story when he returned to the Raging Ox village. When he explained how the village now looked and that he made a shrine for their family, Song Yuening finally broke down and started crying.

Before Jack could react, Hao Shixian gave him the baby to hold and went to comfort his wife.

A few minutes later, Song Yuening regained her composure and apologized “I’m sorry, Tanda. I have not gone back to the village since I came to Green Wood. I just couldn’t make myself return to look at that desolation.”

Jack shook his head as he said “I understand, there’s no need for you to suffer through that again.”

Song Yuening surprised him when she responded with “No, I have to go see it and pray for our family.” She turned towards Hao Shixian and continued “When the boy turns old enough we will go back and give him his name there.”

Hao Shixian didn’t hesitate as he nodded his head in agreement with his wife.

Jack watched their tender moment for just a second, before he looked down at his nephew and made an oath just to himself ‘For Farong, this little one, and all that have yet to come to this damned world, I swear, I will do everything in my power to change their current life of suffering.’

When he looked back up he saw the smiling faces of Song Yuening and Hao Shixian looking at him. “What?” Jack asked.

They exchanged a look, and then Song Yuening said “It’s nothing, you just had this look on your face. It looked adorable.”

Jack snorted and looked back down at his nephew, leaving the two to their own machinations.

They spent the rest of the day chatting, and when dusk came Jack helped them out with taking care of the animals.

Hao Shixian felt a little strange when he watched an Immortal herding Kui, but after a while, he realized that Jack knew what he needed to do and left him to his work.

When night came, Jack refused his sister’s offer to sleep with Hao Shixian’s relatives and made his usual traveling bed on the floor of the kitchen.

In the morning, after breakfast, Jack helped his sister out with a few chores and started packing his things up.

“You really can’t stay for a few more days?” Song Yuening asked him as she watched his movements with sorrow in her eyes.

Jack shook his head as he answered “I would like to, but I can’t. My men need me and I have been selfish enough with this little excursion.”

Song Yuening sighed and went out to the fields to get her husband.

When they returned, Hao Shixian went straight to Jack and fell down on his knees.

Both Song Yuening and Jack felt taken aback by his actions and stood frozen for a second. Just as they planned to ask him what he meant by this, Hao Shixian bowed his head on the ground and pleaded “Brother-in-law, I beg you to come and take our son as your disciple when you think that he’s of age.”

When she heard the request, Song Yuening hissed “Shixian what do you think you’re doing. Tanda has enough problems to deal with, he can’t”

Jack decided to stop this farce so he stepped up to the prostrated Hao Shixian and picked him up from the ground like a child. He looked Hao Shixian straight into his eyes and said “When I am able, I will return for all of you. On that day, you can all decide for yourself whether you want to learn how to cultivate or not. No one needs to beg me for what I will give away freely, least of all my family.”

Both Hao Shixian and Song Yuening looked at Jack in shock, and after a few seconds Song Yuening asked “Do you really mean it, Tanda?”

Jack gave her a reassuring smile as he confirmed “I do. Just live your life and wait for me.” His smile turned playful as he said “Maybe make a few more future disciples to call me uncle the next time I visit.”

Song Yuening blushed, and Hao Shixian nodded his head a few times to signal that he would give it his best.

Jack laughed at them and took out a pouch out of his robe. He handed it over to his sister with a serious expression on his face as he said “This is my gift to my nephew and you. Use it as best as you can, but don’t let others know that you have it.”

Song Yuening looked in confusion at her brother and opened the heavy pouch. Once she saw the shine of coins in it her mouth fell open and she quickly closed the pouch.

She looked up at Jack with wide eyes and whispered “We can’t take this. It’s too much even for the whole village, what can the three of us do with so much?” while she tried to give the pouch back to him.

Jack shook his head in refusal as he pushed it away and said “Take good care of yourselves. That’s all I ask. If I don’t return by the time the boy turns ten, use it to move to a safer place.”

Both Song Yuening and Hao Shixian had solemn looks on their faces when they realized what Jack meant. They didn’t refuse his gift anymore and promised to hide it carefully.

With a last hug and a kiss on the cheek, Jack turned away from his sister’s family and walked away towards the West.

After a dozen meters, he turned around to brand the image of the little family on his retinas and used Moon Step to disappear into the forest.