My Liang Family Is Full of Loyal Martyrs - Thanks to "A Fine Bird Chooses the Tree It Roosts In" for the Alliance Leader Reward

"Just luck."

Liang Yue pondered his wording for a long while, but that was all he could say.

It sounded modest, but it was actually the plain truth.

"I'll submit the letter right away and request commendations for you," Hu Tiehan said. "This time, you two really did render great service."

Liang Yue asked with a smile, "Then can we become official guards?"

"It can be considered, but whether it happens will depend on our superiors." Hu Tiehan replied, "After all, the main credit should still go to the official guards. Whether the credit on you subordinate guards carries enough weight is hard to say."

"Brother Hu." Chen Ju placed a hand on the table. "The chief credit this time should go to those two. I only assisted from the side; recording secondary credit for me is enough. It's fine even if there's none."

"Don't be ridiculous." Hu Tiehan immediately said. "Your family sent you to the station to build up merit too. You don't run into a big fish like this every day."

"I'm not being ridiculous." Chen Ju said solemnly, "Liang Yue and Da Chun need this merit more than I do. I'm already an official guard, and my immediate superior isn't dead. No matter how urgently I want it, I can't be promoted to guard officer. But if I give this chief credit to them and it lets them become official guards at once, that would naturally be best."

Liang Yue gave Chen Ju a grateful look.

This time, he did not refuse.

Pang Chun was also moved. He patted Chen Ju's shoulder and said, "Chen Ju, you're so nice."

"..." Hu Tiehan alone frowned, feeling that although those words were touching, something about them was also rather strange.

After chatting briefly, the three left with smiles. They went to have their wounds treated and bandaged, rested for a while, and when evening came and they were about to head home, Liang Yue asked one more question.

"How is that arsonist?" he asked. "Did he explain why he committed the crime?"

Hu Tiehan's expression became inscrutable. "The case is already closed, and the credit has been recorded for you. Why are you still concerned about this?"

"He didn't seem like he acted of his own accord. Someone was most likely directing him from behind the scenes, so I wanted to ask." Liang Yue answered honestly.

In this era, phosphorus powder was not so easily produced. Only the Imperial Court's Ministry of Works, or certain Qi Refiners who cultivated the arts of alchemy, could possibly possess secret formulas for it. It was absolutely not something an old farmer selling sour plum soup could easily obtain.

"Ahem..." Hu Tiehan coughed lightly. "The case ends here, so there's no need for you to concern yourself with it anymore. I'll send someone to deal with what comes next."

"What?" Liang Yue furrowed his brow and immediately grasped the crux of the matter. "The person behind this has a powerful background?"

But upon second thought, it seemed strange. "What important figure would send someone to set fire in Fukang Ward? That's far too beneath them. Was it some underworld force?"

"You really are smart, kid, but remember to rein it in a little. Once you leave this room, some things need to rot in your belly..." Seeing that he clearly could not hide it from him, Hu Tiehan could only say, "The mastermind behind this was the Dragon Tooth Gang."

"The Dragon Tooth Gang?"

In Dragon Abyss City, probably no one had not heard of that gang. As an enormous gang force, several of the most prosperous streets in the southern district were Dragon Tooth Gang territory, including the Red Sleeve Brothel.

Even three-year-old children knew that Hong the First of the Dragon Tooth Gang was the most formidable man in the southern district.

Yet they rarely fought, brawled, stole, robbed, or caused trouble like ordinary street ruffians. They had always been quite orderly, never stingy with their secret tributes to the various government offices, and even less likely to provoke those in public office.

Thus, Liang Yue had only heard their name and never had the chance to encounter them.

"Why would they do something like this? Even if some shop had offended them, surely not an entire Linmen Street had become their enemy?" he continued asking.

"That is not something you need to know. Even I don't know." Hu Tiehan shook his head. "You only need to remember that if we want peace in the southern district, we must ultimately give the Dragon Tooth Gang some face."

His hand pointed upward again. "They're connected to heaven."

With the arson case resolved, there was no need to work extra night patrols. Liang Yue was able to finish early and go home.

As he passed through Linmen Street, the shops lining the road warmly called out, "Captain Liang! Going home?"

"Want a bowl of wontons?"

The elderly couple at the tavern called out even more enthusiastically, "Come eat at our place tomorrow! My treat."

"..."

Fukang Ward was not large. The news that Liang Yue had helped them catch the arsonist spread through the ward in a single evening. Before, everyone had only seen him as an unfamiliar young subordinate guard, perhaps fearing nothing more than the official uniform he wore. Now, he was someone who had done something practical for them. Naturally, their attitude had changed, and even their voices had become far more cordial.

Still, Liang Yue harbored a trace of guilt. The true culprit could not be punished, and the people of Linmen Street were not truly safe yet.

But those matters lay beyond the scope of his abilities, and he could not possibly force himself to meddle in them.

Fortunately, he had stumbled into great merit again today, and there was hope for becoming an official guard, so his mood was good overall. When he passed a pastry shop, he bought two pounds of date cake. His younger brother and sister both loved it.

His family lived in Peaceful Lane, only a few streets away from the station. It was not far, and he returned in a moment. The instant he entered the mouth of the lane, he heard a loud, shrill female voice.

"You beast who deserves to be hacked into a thousand pieces, carrying two dung balls for eyes and not even looking whose doorstep this is! My Liang Family is full of loyal martyrs! How dare you act so recklessly..."

"If you dare come any closer, I can destroy you!"

"Weren't you barking like a dog just now? Take half a step back here and see whether this old lady won't chop your dog legs off and toss them in the pot!"

"..."

The voice was so piercing that it cleared the street of all the neighbors. Doors and windows that had been open were shut one after another, everyone afraid of catching stray trouble.

Liang Yue hurried several steps back to his front door.

There stood a sturdily built woman. Her delicate skin revealed that she must have been a beauty in her youth, but the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and the white at her roots showed every hardship time had carved into her.

It was Liang Yue's mother, Li Caiyun.

The number one person in Peaceful Lane whom nobody dared provoke.

"Mother, Mother, Mother..." Liang Yue hurried forward and pulled her back. "What happened this time? Who provoked you again?"

"No one provoked me." Li Caiyun said indignantly, her gaze still fixed relentlessly toward the other end of the lane.

"Then who are you scolding?" Liang Yue asked.

"A dog." Li Caiyun said.

"Huh?" Liang Yue froze. Well then, Mother could even trade blows with a dog?

"Our family is a house of loyal martyrs, so our doorstep must be spotless. That beast actually dared pee in front of our house. Scolding it was going easy on it!" Li Caiyun was still fuming. "If I catch it, I'll geld it right down to the root!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Liang Yue pushed her back into the courtyard. "Let's hurry inside and eat. I'm starving."

"Xiao Yun and Xiao Peng are both back. They've been waiting for you." Hearing him say so, Li Caiyun returned to the house with her hands on her hips.

The Liang Family's single courtyard house was divided into five or six small rooms. The kitchen already held prepared food: two plates of stir-fried vegetables and a bowl of light soup.

In earlier years, Li Caiyun had mended clothes for others to raise her three children, and the Liang Family had long lived in poverty. After Liang Yue went out to take up his post, they had gained another source of income, and things had improved somewhat. Still, they could only barely make ends meet.

This was also an important reason why he was so eager to become an official guard. If there were an official guard in the family, the Liang Family's circumstances would improve.

Though their days were poor, the atmosphere in the family was good.

A teenage boy and girl were already seated at the table.

His younger sister Liang Xiaoyun wore a long pink-and-white gauze dress, her hair loosely gathered up. Her unadorned face had fine brows and almond eyes, and she possessed a lean, elegant grace. Her shoulders and neck were white as fine porcelain, while her slender waist curved smoothly.

She was at the age when she was still growing. Tall and slender, she still looked rather slight. Sitting there, she gave off a fresh and delicate air, like a tiny white flower just beginning to bud.

His younger brother Liang Peng resembled Xiao Yun by about thirty percent. His face was pale as jade, his brows and eyes handsome, and his build likewise slightly thin. He was every inch a refined and gentle young gentleman.

The two were twins, born together, and both were sixteen this year. It was only natural that they looked alike.

Only Liang Yue, born two years earlier, had thick brows and large eyes, his features rather unlike those of his younger brother and sister.

What all three shared was a gentle appearance. They all looked utterly harmless to man and beast. The neighbors in the lane often said that it was truly strange for someone as fierce as Li Caiyun to raise three children with such pure and kind dispositions.

When Liang Peng saw Liang Yue, he quietly raised three fingers. Liang Yue understood at once and nodded lightly before sitting down without revealing anything.

As Li Caiyun sat down, she said, "Ever since you became an Imperial Capital Guard, you leave early and return late every day. Our family rarely gets to eat together with everyone present anymore."

"You can't blame it all on me." Liang Yue smiled. "Xiao Yun and Xiao Peng are busy with their studies now, and they often return late too."

"Yes, you've all grown up." Li Caiyun sighed with feeling, then asked, "How are things for you two at the academies? Is everything going smoothly? Are any classmates bullying you?"

"Mother, how could that be?" Liang Xiaoyun answered gently. "Our Bamboo Forest Academy only admits girls. Everyone gets along very well, and the teachers at the academy like me too."

"The teachers at our Nanshan Academy are all learned great scholars, and the academy rules are strict." Liang Peng also smiled. "My fellow students and I are intimate friends, and we get along splendidly."

"That's good." Li Caiyun nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Liang Yue. "How about you? Subordinate guard work must be exhausting, right?"

"I was just about to tell you, Mother. I got lucky today and earned a little merit." Liang Yue said. "I should have hope of becoming an official guard."

"Oh my, that's wonderful news!" Li Caiyun immediately beamed with joy.

The family finished the meal amid maternal kindness and filial devotion, all of them basking in happy harmony.

Then the three siblings sent their mother back to her room, cleaned up the dishes together, and returned to their respective bedrooms. The moment Li Caiyun entered her room, the other three doors immediately opened at the same time.

Two little heads poked out together.

After looking left and right and confirming that all was safe, Liang Xiaoyun and Liang Peng both slipped into Liang Yue's room.

"What is it?" The three gathered around a small table, and Liang Yue asked, "Another meeting?"

Liang Peng sat upright and slowly replied, "I got into a fight with a classmate at the academy. His father is an official, and I'm worried he'll retaliate against me. So I wanted us to discuss it and see how we should respond."

Thanks to "A Fine Bird Chooses the Tree It Roosts In" for becoming this book's esteemed Glory Alliance Leader, the fifth Alliance Leader! Thank you, thank you!