Unsheathed

As Li Er was departing from the imperial palace with Mao Xiaodong through the secret passageway, he couldn’t help but feel as if he had been tricked by Mao Xiaodong, and he was looking a little glum and unhappy.

Mao Xiaodong smiled as he said, “They already apologized to you, what more do you want? Do you really want to beat them to the point that they have to be stretchered out of the imperial palace? Your son will be studying at Mountain Cliff Academy for a very long time, so don’t make things so awkward for him. Not only have they all apologized to you and admitted to their wrongdoing, all of them feel as if they owe you a massive favor, as does the emperor of Great Sui Nation. Isn’t that a good outcome?”

“I just feel like those people are not the type to learn their lesson without a beating, and I can’t stay at the academy, so I’ll have to trouble you to look after Li Huai and the others in my stead, Elder Mao,” Li Er sighed.

Mao Xiaodong nodded in response. “That’s only to be expected of me. Besides, there’s still the patriarch of the imperial clan, isn’t there?”

Right on cue, the storyteller appeared within the secret passageway, and he nodded with a smile as he said, “That’s right. We are extremely grateful that you were willing to resolve this matter peacefully, and our Great Sui Nation will repay you with double the sincerity.”

“I certainly hope so,” Li Er replied with a nod.

Mao Xiaodong smiled as he asked, “By the way, Li Er, you were already a ninth tier martial artist in Jewel Small World, so why are you choosing to lead an impoverished life? Right now, you’re one of only three 10th tier martial artists on the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and your combat prowess is definitely superior to Song Changjing’s. Have you not ever considered telling your family and living a better life?”

Li Er shook his head in response. “So what if I get my wife pretty clothes and jewelry, and I get Li Liu a bunch of makeup, and I feed Li Huai delicacies every single day? Is that really good for them? I don’t think so.”

“What if your wife and children think that’s the best way to live?” Mao Xiaodong asked with an amused smile.

Li Er shook his head in response once again. “Someone forbade me from doing that, but that’s only part of the reason. More importantly, I also feel like this is the right thing to do. Given the type of people my wife’s relatives are, if I had revealed my power to my wife back in the town, they would’ve done all sorts of bad things. What would I do then? Kill them? Try to reason with them? Would they listen to me? They’d say one thing to me, then do something else entirely when I’m not looking. In the end, my wife will be the one who’s most distraught as she won’t be able to face me or her family. Of course, in Jewel Small World, even the wealthiest of families aren’t that well-off.”

After completely withdrawing his aura, Li Er was looking even less imposing than the average person, giving off a very timid and cowardly appearance. However, he was speaking with a type of confidence and flair that was completely absent from the wimpy facade that he constantly kept up back in the town.

“I’ve lived in a tiny place all my life, but I’m not so foolish that I don’t understand such basic principles. For a family, stability is most important. As long as my wife and children can have meat whenever they want, and I can have some wine whenever I crave it, that’s enough. Anything more than that will only be superfluous.”

Li Er turned to look at the scenery of the capital city beyond the secret passageway, and there was something more that he had to say, but he refrained from doing so.

Even if I really am just a good-for-nothing coward, at the very least, in my son’s eyes, I’m now a decent father who hasn’t been an embarrassment to him. Do you know how happy I was to hear that?

With that in mind, Li Er immediately bade farewell to Mao Xiaodong and the storyteller, then rushed back to Mountain Cliff Academy as quickly as he could.

He wanted to see his family as soon as possible, and in addition to that, there was now one more thing that he could do with regard to his son.

————

“Li Er has truly understood the meaning of life,” Mao Xiaodong sighed. “There are many self-proclaimed intelligent people who are far inferior to him in this regard.”

“He’s a martial artist who reached the 10th tier before turning 60 years of age, there’s no way he could be an actual fool,” the storyteller remarked with a smile. “Having said that, it currently appears that the weakest of the three is Feudal Lord Song Changjing of the Great Li Empire, but he also has the highest hopes of reaching that level, and it’s not just because he’s the youngest of the three.”

Mao Xiaodong nodded in response. “Song Changjing possessed exceptional mental qualities for a martial artist, and that’s an even greater asset than his young age.”

The storyteller smiled as he asked, “Are you referring to how Song Changjing had the courage to stand his ground, even after that man appeared in the imperial palace of the Great Li Empire and put on a display of unfathomable power?”

Instead of answering the question, Mao Xiaodong smiled as he asked, “You want to ask me whether the White Jade Capital of the Great Li Empire truly exists or not, right?”

The two sly old foxes then walked along side by side in silence, with neither one looking at the other.

————

By the time Li Er returned to the academy, his wife and his children were already having dinner. Lin Shouyi had gotten two large hampers of food, and the entire table was filled. Li Huai’s mother was sitting with him on the same bench, while Li Liu and Lin Shouyi were seated across from each other, and there was also a stool prepared for Li Er.

Only after arriving at the entrance of the room did Li Er recall that he had forgotten to buy anything. Due to the fact that Lin Shouyi was present, his wife didn’t immediately make him suffer the consequences, but the look in her eyes clearly told him that he was not off the hook. Li Er rubbed his hands together as he sat down at the table, and he noticed that there was a jar of wine. He took a glance at Lin Shouyi, then asked, “How about we have a drink together?”

Lin Shouyi hesitated momentarily, then nodded in response. “I don’t have a very good tolerance for wine, so I’ll only have a little with you, Uncle Li.”

“That won’t do! You need to develop your tolerance,” Li Er said with a grin.

His wife immediately flared up with rage upon hearing this. “Why? So he can become an alcoholic like you?!”

Lin Shouyi’s hand shuddered slightly, and he almost dropped the large bowl of wine that he was offering to Li Er. He was normally always so serious and aloof, but in this moment, there was a wide smile on his face.

Li Er was also startled by his wife’s outburst, and he almost dropped the jar of wine that he was holding as well.

Li Huai took a large bite out of a greasy chicken drumstick, then said in a muffled voice, “I’ll go to the foot of the mountain to buy you a jar of fine wine, Father. I’ll borrow the money from Lin Shouyi and get Chen Ping’an to repay him for me in the future, so just drink to your heart’s content.”

Li Er was very happy to hear this, and it was as if he had just received an imperial pardon from his son. If his son were to buy him some wine, then he would have a justification to drink in front of his wife.

Li Er’s mother was always very pleasant and amicable to him, and she said, “You can buy your father some wine, but just get the cheapest wine. It would be a waste to get him any good wine.”

Li Er poured some wine into a bowl for Lin Shouyi, then also poured himself some wine as he nodded with a smile and chimed in, “Yeah, just get me the cheap stuff. There’s no need to get anything expensive.”

Li Huai rolled his eyes in response. “You should stop being so strict, Mother. Are you really not afraid that Father is going to run away with some vixen someday?”

Li Huai’s mother gave Li Er a stern glare from across the table as she replied, “He wouldn’t dare! Besides, even if he dared to go after some vixen, they have to be willing to take him!”

Li Er hurriedly gulped down a large mouthful of wine as he nodded and agreed, “You’re right, you’re right, no one wants me.”

His wife slammed a hand down onto the table as she interrogated, “Whether anyone wants you or not is one thing, but whether you’re having these thoughts is another thing entirely! Are you having these thoughts or not?!”

Li Er immediately set his bowl down onto the table, then sat up straight as he vowed, “Definitely not!”

His wife glanced at Lin Shouyi, who was drinking his own bowl of wine with an amused expression, then turned to her daughter with a smile as she said, “Liu’er, you have to find a good and honest husband for yourself in the future so you won’t get abused, understood?”

Li Liu merely nodded in response without offering a reply, and she picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks before setting it down in Li Huai’s bowl.

Lin Shouyi only dared to sneak furtive glances at Li Liu out of the corner of his eyes, and even though he had only taken a small sip of wine, he was already feeling a little intoxicated, as if he were looking at the most beautiful scenery in the world.

————

The next day, Li Huai bought his father a flagon of fine wine in secret, then dragged him over to the lake before crouching down and watching his father drink.

As he did so, he said in a quiet voice, “This is a flagon of the expensive stuff. I put a flagon of cheap wine in the room for you to drink at the table so Mother won’t scold you.”

Li Er nodded with a smile before gulping down a large mouthful of wine.

To him, this was a far more blissful experience than ascending to the 10th tier.

“This must’ve been really expensive, right?” he asked with a bashful smile.

Li Huai looked up at his father with a vibrant smile while supporting his cheeks with his hands, and instead of answering the question, he reassured, “Don’t worry about me, Father, I’m doing really well in the academy, and I’m really, really happy that you could come and see me.”

Li Er nodded in response as he hurriedly gulped down another mouthful of wine to suppress the tears that were threatening to spill over.

Only then did he recall that he had been in such a hurry to get back to the academy the day before that he hadn’t gotten a chance to meet Cai Jingshen. He decided there and then that after finishing this flagon of wine, he was going to pay Cai Jingshen a visit, but instead of reasoning with him, he was just going to give him a beating this time.