The Divine General Residence stood in the most prosperous district of Qingzhou City.
A few miles away lay Tan Palace Academy, its lofty peaks towering into the sky.
Now, hoofbeats approached the Divine General Residence. Li Pingan leaped from his horse, and the servants behind the gates hurried forward to take its reins.
After returning to the Divine General Residence, Li Pingan removed his helmet and armor. Only after changing into his usual clothes did he visit the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard, where his parents lived, to pay his respects.
As he entered the Mountains and Rivers Courtyard, Li Pingan instinctively glanced toward its southeastern corner. An old side room stood there, but only his mother's personal maid ever cleaned the dust accumulated inside. No one else was allowed near it.
Li Pingan knew that the old side room was forbidden ground within the Li Family.
It was where his Older Brother, whom he had never met, had once lived.
"Uncle Zhao."
Seeing the old man approaching, Li Pingan nodded slightly, then passed him with distant courtesy and headed straight into the main house.
The room was empty, with only two maids standing outside the door.
"Where is Mother?"
"The mistress is in the vegetable garden behind the house. She knew you would return today and said she wanted to cook you a meal with vegetables she grew herself."
One of the maids answered respectfully.
At those words, the cold sharpness in Li Pingan's eyes softened. When he had run away from home as a boy, his parents had eventually found him, and he had seen his mother weeping torrents of tears. Only then had he realized that he mattered just as much to her.
After that incident, he had matured considerably. He quietly obeyed the family rules and stopped