Chapter 178 - 120: This is going to ruin the Nozawa family’s millennia-old foundation!

Harano didn’t see them off—he wasn’t a fan of sentimental farewells. He was in his bedroom, sighing with regret, thinking about where to find people to fill the holes left by Ah Man and Ah Qing. But then, plot twist—they both ran back. As soon as he got the news he rushed back to his office, and the moment he walked in he saw them sitting there ramrod straight, kneeling properly, faces dead serious. Except for Ah Man. She just couldn’t look serious—whenever she tried, her dotted eyebrows bunched up in the middle, and at a glance she looked like a Shiba Inu with magic powers. Ah Man had sharp ears. She turned when she heard the sound and pivoted to face him, bowing low in an exaggerated display of formality and calling out earnestly, "Lord!" Ah Qing silently mirrored her, turning to face him, hands folded on the floor, bowing so low her forehead brushed the floorboards. Harano was surprised for a second, then instantly understood: Ah Man and Ah Qing were making a statement—they wanted to switch from "friends and freeloaders" to officially becoming members of the Nozawa family, like Household Retainers. Otherwise, there’d be no need to call him that. He had no clue what had made Ah Man and Ah Qing suddenly take this leap—they’d always loved their freedom—but he hurried over, picked them both up, and shook his head, saying, "No need for all this between us. Let’s just keep things like before!" "A snake needs a head—there’s gotta be a pecking order. If we’re following you now, we can’t just mess around like before." Ah Man was way too familiar with him. They’d been friends, the kind who could crack dirty jokes together, so she was embarrassed to say right out she wanted to pledge herself. Using "greetings, Lord" was her way of announcing it. When Harano instantly understood, she relaxed. "Anyway, if we don’t call you Lord, you can’t give us annual stipends, and we can’t be working for free!" "The stipends are no problem..." Harano didn’t care about the money. Even Maeda Toshie, that fifteen-year-old hothead, could earn a hundred and fifty kan a year—he’d gotten a raise of a hundred kan for heroic service during the coup. Ah Man was ten times more useful than Maeda Toshie, so handing her a few hundred pounds of copper was nothing. He just hated that whole "Foster Parent and Child" system and was deeply wary of "dual power structures." He didn’t want a future where every Retainer built their own little empire beneath him, each with their own crew who didn’t give a damn about the head of house. Any modern person knows you need centralized power. What if, one day, one of your top Retainers’ underlings pulled the old "Lord, it’s cold, time for your imperial robe" stunt? That would be a riot. He didn’t want to start off down that crooked road, which was why he hadn’t taken on Household Retainers yet. But with Ah Man and Ah Qing... It didn’t seem like a problem. Ah Qing was absolutely not the rebellious type. And Ah Man, while wild, and totally rebel material, was a woman—in this era, there was just zero chance of her starting her own dynasty. If they wanted to call themselves Household Retainers, there was no harm. No one else would even see them as real Retainers, at most just Female Samurai like Aba, Ahe, or Tanaka—nobody would be competing with them or ruining the atmosphere. Harano’s mind wandered a bit. Eh, Ah Man and Ah Qing being Household Retainers didn’t seem to do any harm, and he really didn’t want to lose them either. So he said, "Fine, but it’s just a title, you don’t have to take it so seriously. Let’s still act like we always have." "Yes, Lord." Ah Man and Ah Qing bowed deeply again, officially joining the Nozawa family and transforming the Nozawa group from a one-man act into a three-person team. At last, Harano wasn’t a lone seedling anymore—folks like Yayoi and the Momoi brothers, as Lang Faction kids, only counted as Household Servants in these times. They didn’t even get a seat at the table and couldn’t be considered real family. Normally, only Household Retainers are proper family members—both family and Minister, expected to show both filial piety and loyalty. Harano hurried to lift them up again. Going by the "Foster Parent and Child" system, he was now technically Ah Man and Ah Qing’s "Adopted Father." Looking at his two "Adopted Daughters," his gaze melted into fatherly affection, and holding their hands, he said the traditional line: "The affairs of the household will be in your hands from now on." Ah Man immediately perked up and said, "Don’t worry, Lord! From now on, you sit back and enjoy life—leave the family business to me." Harano was speechless. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go! Aren’t you supposed to throw in a few modest lines? Why does this sound like something Cao Cao would say? You wild brat, are you planning to make me the Han Emperor? Ah, whatever. Ah Man can’t flip the world over anyway. He let it go and asked with concern, "So why the sudden change? Did something happen?" "I just realized—I don’t have to listen to the old guy about everything. Sure, he raised me, but he’s old and out of touch. He doesn’t even know your situation and insists we go back. I think it’d be better if he listened to me, moved out here and lived with us. I’ll support him with my stipend." Ah Man didn’t hide a thing from Harano, just spelled it out. "And I remember you once analyzed it—the world’s only going to get messier, Samurai will only get stronger, and in every territory a powerful Daimyo will rise, fighting till things are unified. Made a lot of sense to me. When the time comes, that run-down Koka place barely two hundred li from Kyoto won’t be able to hide. They’ll definitely get stomped. So there’s no future in running. Might as well come here and work together for a way out." So that was it—Ah Man had grown up, gained some perspective, and her ideas didn’t line up with the old folks anymore. She wanted to fight for the right to speak and run things herself. That’s normal, isn’t it? Every kid grows up and gets there sooner or later! Harano nodded gently, then asked with concern, "And your... grandfather, will he be willing to come?" "I’ll convince him!" Ah Man was brimming with confidence. She used to argue with her grandfather all the time—a few more fights wouldn’t hurt. Harano was actually a bit partial to Ah Man’s grandpa. Judging by Ah Man and Ah Qing, he had to be a real tough old guy. Snagging him would be a huge win. Harano immediately added, "Do your best convincing him. Whatever he wants, we can make it work. Even if he can’t leave behind his old village and wants to bring the whole lot with him, that’s negotiable. Once we’ve got a big enough turf, he can pick any spot to resettle them, anywhere he likes!" This sort of little thing didn’t bother him at all—he might as well let them skip taxes and build their own "Ninja Village," sending in trained Ninja for their tribute. Anyway, the Koka people had a tradition of going out as mercenaries—it probably wouldn’t be a big deal to them. "Don’t worry, it’ll be fine—he can’t outargue me!" Ah Man had decided—it was time to "Topple the old" and shove her grandfather to one side, let him retire in peace, and she’d take Life-saving Style to new heights. After she finished, she hesitated, then dragged over the leather pouch Harano had given her earlier. "This is...the farewell gift you gave us before. Now that we’re not leaving, this money...you should take it back!" "Great!" Harano reached out to grab it, but after tugging the leather pouch a couple times with no luck, realized Ah Man was gripping it tight, refusing to let go. Her face twisted in an epic struggle, looking devastated—until Ah Qing silently moved forward on her knees and pried Ah Man’s fingers loose. Only then did Ah Man sigh and release it, the pain etched on her face—honestly, if she’d known it would be like this, she wouldn’t have bothered putting on airs and taking the gift. Swallowing something and spitting it back out—truly torture. Harano didn’t mind—this was a sizable chunk of change, a pouch stuffed with silver coins, with a "silver note" hidden at the bottom. The last time, it was a separation gift for risking their necks to save him. But now they weren’t leaving, so the money was of no use—better to plow it back into production. Besides, Ah Man had priors. If she took this money to gamble, it’d all be gone. He had to take it back. With the return gift recovered, that was that. Not only were Ah Man and Ah Qing not leaving, they were now officially part of the Nozawa family—even planning to move Life-saving Style to Wanjin and make it their home from now on. A blessing in disguise. At noon, Harano cooked up a table full of good dishes and had a proper meal with Ah Man and Ah Qing to celebrate the arrival of new members. After the feast, everything went back to normal—whatever they were doing before, they kept doing. It didn’t feel like much had changed—maybe just an added old man in the future. But for Ah Man, things were different—her mindset was new now; she was a real Nozawa Household Retainer, an important part of the home. First, she mulled over what proper name to give herself. She hesitated about whether to use Harano’s family name, then considered changing her name from Ah Man to something formal like Man Chiyoda or Man no Maru. Then she thought about which character from Harano’s name, "Jia Yuan," she should take for herself, per the "Wumaozi" tradition. She wasn’t sure if "Jia" or "Yuan" sounded better—neither seemed great. Or maybe using Wanjin as a family name was good, like Wanjin Man Chiyoda...but wait, Wanjin already had an Endo Chiyoda, so Man Chiyoda wouldn’t work. Maybe Wanjin Man no Maru... After thinking for a while and getting nowhere, she decided to just keep calling herself Ah Man for now, and talk it out with the others later. Naming was a big deal, after all—she should get Grandpa’s opinion too. Just because she was in charge now didn’t mean Grandpa’s input didn’t matter—his opinion was still important. She set the whole name thing aside for the moment and looked around the Wanjin domain, still kind of rough and unpolished. Her dotted brows slowly scrunched together. Before, she was just a guest—throwing in an "unpleasant truth" now and then, as a friend. Day-to-day, everything in Wanjin seemed fine—actually, it was developing great. In a month, they’d made as much progress as most noble clans managed in a year. But now, looking at it through new eyes, she could see a ton of problems. All those Faction kids and Household Servants seemed to walk way too slow—no sense of urgency at all. It was annoying just to watch. And that donkey—also irritating. Always eating fodder, never doing any work, totally looked like a useless beast the more she watched. Looking closer, Harano’s problems were pretty big too. He was getting on in years, almost an old man, and still refusing to get married. Every time the topic came up, he had an excuse. Wouldn’t even bother to have a son. Wasn’t he supposed to care about the family legacy? He’s basically rebelling—about to trash the Nozawa family’s thousand-year foundation! How hard is it to have a son? Blow out the candle and every woman’s the same. It’s him who’s got all the problems! Ah Man wandered around; before, the territory had seemed so vibrant, but now—from the head of house down to the kids—everybody had issues, and no one was acting like a proper human being. Clearly, things needed a serious overhaul. Someone had to get out the little whip and keep these people moving. At the very least, everyone should be able to cover two rooms per breath—they couldn’t just dawdle along. No choice—it had to be done. This was her home now, a place to stake her life on!