Chapter 4

"Uncle, spare me!"

The man was scared out of his wits. As soon as he landed, he began to beg for mercy, curling into a ball while hugging Li Mutian.

"Ah! Spare me, Uncle, spare me, Uncle, spare me..."

Li Yesheng never imagined that he just wanted to steal a melon to satisfy his craving, and in the blink of an eye, the uncle he feared most was standing before him. He was so scared he couldn't move. Who knew Li Mutian was still holding a long knife in one hand, which made him even more terrified.

"Yesheng?" Li Mutian looked closely, frowned, his face shifting between light and shadow. He stroked his beard and stared at him fixedly.

The two young men also arrived at the sound. Li Tongya raised his long staff and pressed it directly onto Li Yesheng's arm, scaring him until snot and tears flowed. Li Changhu lifted his head to look and couldn't help but be moved.

"Cousin?" Li Changhu let out a long breath and asked suspiciously.

"Why are you here?" Li Tongya asked coldly, the force of the long staff in his hand not decreasing.

"Stealing your family's melon!" Seeing Li Yesheng's stuttering appearance, Li Mutian answered for him with a cold face, put away the long knife, and turned to leave.

"Cousin, excuse us."

Li Tongya also withdrew his strength, lifted his staff, dropped a sentence, and followed his father back into the house. Only Li Changhu remained to help Li Yesheng up, wipe his face, offer a few gentle words of comfort, and politely send him out of the courtyard.

————

In the house.

Li Chijing and Li Xiangping sat blankly at the table. The mirror was hidden in his bosom, and Li Xiangping didn't dare to move. Fortunately, after a short while, his father and second brother walked into the hall.

"Where's Eldest Brother?"

He looked behind them and asked hurriedly.

"He went to see off a guest."

Li Mutian shook his head.

"I know Yesheng often comes to take advantage, but I'm terrified that tonight's events will leak out and cause the whole family to be wiped out."

Li Tongya found a small stool and sat down. Hearing this, he turned his head to look at Li Xiangping, about to speak.

"Creak."

The front door made a closing sound. Eldest brother Li Changhu had a puzzled expression. He sat on a stool and spoke to his father, Li Mutian.

"Father, why go to such lengths?"

He shook his head.

"Yesheng was just stealing a melon. You didn't do this favor, but instead chose to offend his family."

"What 'his family' or 'our family'? There is only one Li family. I am the legitimate line, he is the collateral."

Li Mutian leaned against the window, cocking his ear, and beckoned to the woman and the young child: "You go squat by the front and back doors; if anyone comes, call out."

The two agreed and exited. Li Mutian turned to close the doors and windows, patted Li Xiangping, and said:

"You tell them!"

Li Xiangping nodded forcefully and spoke in a small voice:

"Today I went to the Meichi River to catch fish and picked up an object from the river."

After speaking, he looked at his father, Li Mutian. Seeing him nod, he took the mirror out from his bosom.

Li Changhu looked at his brother, then at his father, and took the blue-gray mirror. He examined it carefully but couldn't see anything special.

Li Mutian took the mirror from his eldest son, found the small hole in the roof, moved a stone stool, placed the mirror underneath it, and squinted at his two sons.

Watching the moonlight ripple like water, and then gather above the mirror's surface like swallows returning to the forest, a pale white, gem-like lunar halo appeared.

Li Changhu stood up from his chair with a "whoosh," staring fixedly at the halo on the mirror. Li Tongya also lost his color and was moved, staring at the mirror thoughtfully.

For a full cup of tea's time, the Li family members stared silently at the mirror without a word, their expressions varied.

Li Xiangping was seeing this scene for the second time, but he was still shocked and muttered to himself:

"I have never seen such a beautiful sight since I was a child..."

"Haha, don't talk about you; even your old man has never seen such a good thing."

Li Mutian chuckled, but there was no smile in his eyes; instead, his gaze was fierce.

"This is likely an immortal's object."

Li Tongya spoke quietly, picking up his long knife and wiping it constantly. He stared at the mirror, appearing calm, but his constantly trembling hands betrayed his heart.

"If the news leaks, it will also be the cause of our family's destruction."

Li Changhu paced back and forth in the hall, his expression anxious yet excited.

Li Tongya stared fixedly at his father and said with no lack of worry.

Li Xiangping nodded and said with a smile: "Whatever the immortal rewards us with, our family will benefit infinitely."

"Fart."

Li Mutian waved his hand. "I've heard that immortals are often bloodthirsty; we must not! This mirror has been in the water for who knows how long. If someone wanted to take it, they would have picked it up long ago. How would it fall to mortals like us? I think that immortal has likely met with misfortune."

These rebellious words made Li Changhu's heart tremble with fear. He frowned, not knowing what to think.

Li Tongya, however, suddenly realized and said in a low voice:

"Could it be that the brat Li Yesheng saw it?"

"I showed this object to Father in front of the house. At that time, Brother Yesheng should have been in the field." Li Xiangping lowered his brows and eyes.

"I'll go kill him!"

Li Tongya's expression was fierce. Without hesitation, he put on his rattan armor, picked up his knife, and walked out. Li Xiangping saw this expression on his brother's face for the first time and couldn't help but look twice.

"Come back!" Li Mutian frowned and called Li Tongya to a halt, then glanced at Li Xiangping, making him look flustered.

"Father!" Li Tongya was finally anxious and spoke in a firm tone.

"Li Yesheng is a heartless and ungrateful person, arrogant without measure, yet he bites the hand that feeds him. Rather than letting him leak the news and bring about the destruction of our Li family, it is better to let him die first."

"It seems Second Brother learned quite a bit from the village teacher." Li Xiangping thought silently and lowered his head in shame. His father had sent the three of them to study, and both older brothers were liked by the teacher. Only he was young, ignorant, and mischievous; now he couldn't even understand the idioms in his brother's words.

"Then if your younger brother was ungrateful and loose-lipped, would you kill him too?"

Li Mutian laughed and asked his second son.

"Our family has no such cowards."

Li Tongya said calmly.

Li Mutian shook his head, raised his hand to straighten the wooden table, leaped up, tapped lightly on the table, and pulled a wooden box from the rafters.

Placing the wooden box on the table, he said solemnly to the three brothers before him:

"There are some things you should know. I left home at thirteen and entered Anli County along the Kong Kong Guli Road. General Yang received orders from the imperial court to attack the Shanyue and conscripted soldiers on the Kong Kong Guli Road. At that time, I had nowhere to stay, so I had to become a soldier."

"General Yang was strict in governing his army, but he also ate and lived with us, as close as family. He passed down the Shanyue soldier's combat techniques to us and told us to practice martial arts well. These techniques are widely circulated; they are easy to learn but hard to master. Ordinary people who master them are merely agile, and there is nothing miraculous about them." Li Mutian sighed. Seeing that they were listening very carefully, he continued:

"After I returned home, I studied and wrote, and I transcribed the combat techniques into these wooden slips. I have already told you to practice them carefully. Now, there is nothing special about them. This is the first thing."

Li Mutian opened the wooden box. Inside lay a wooden slip, a talisman, and some miscellaneous items like broken silver and glaze.