A Duel Request

The Song Family's second generation mostly held official positions in the imperial court. The third generation of males, with the exception of Song Yu, all served in the military and didn't live at home. Therefore, the Old Madam chose to hold the family banquet on a rest day. Li Nuo heard from Song Mu'er that such banquets were held once a month at the Song Manor.

For a large family like the Song Family, holding family banquets frequently was meaningful. It helped to deepen the bonds between family members and foster a sense of belonging to the family.

Growing up in such an environment, even married daughters wouldn't consider themselves outsiders.

Take his wife, for example.

Or Aunt Song Zhen.

During the Old Madam's birthday banquet last time, Li Nuo was fiddled with and examined by Aunt Song Zhen for a long time. Today, he noticed her gaze still lingering on him, and he felt incredibly uneasy.

The beautiful woman stared at Li Nuo's face and couldn't help but exclaim, "Tsk... you look exactly like your father did when he was young."

A man walked over and said with a smile, "What is it, sister? It's been almost twenty years, you have two grown children, and you're still thinking about Li Xuanjing? If your husband knew, he'd be jealous again..."

"There are plenty of women in Chang'an who pine for Li Xuanjing. If I can't have him, can't I at least think about him?" The beautiful woman shot him a glare and said, "Song Hao, are you itching for a fight? Do you need me to loosen your muscles for you?"

"No, no, no..." The man waved his hands repeatedly and walked up to Li Nuo, examining him up close. "You know, he really does look like him. If you and Jiaren weren't already engaged, I don't know how many young ladies from noble families would be unable to resist..."

Li Nuo didn't know what to say when the two elders were joking. He simply cupped his fists towards the man and said, "Greetings, Fourth Uncle."

The man before him was the Old Madam's fourth son, and also the father of sisters Song Mu'er and Song Ninger.

Song Hao smiled and gently patted Li Nuo's shoulder. "He's not just as handsome, he's just as smart. Mu'er says every day that she doesn't understand what Mr. Chen teaches, but she gets it right away when Li Nuo explains it..."

"Of course, who do you think his father is?" Song Zhen looked at Li Nuo and couldn't help but touch his face again. She said with some regret, "If only I had married your father, you would be my son now. Sigh..."

From a scientific perspective, if Aunt Song Zhen had married his father, Li Nuo wouldn't exist.

However, from her words, Li Nuo caught a whiff of gossip.

His father must have been quite popular and sought after by women in his youth.

Otherwise, even after twenty years, people wouldn't still be thinking about him.

Aunt Song Zhen seemed to be looking at him, but her eyes were actually filled with the shadow of his father in his youth.

"Brother Li Nuo, let's go play shuttlecock!"

Li Nuo felt very uncomfortable being stared at. Fortunately, Song Mu'er ran over to rescue him in time. Song Zhen shifted her gaze away from him and waved her hand, saying, "Alright, alright, go play with Mu'er..."

Li Nuo didn't play shuttlecock with Song Mu'er. His own shuttlecock skills were worse than the maids at the Song Manor, and he certainly wouldn't waste his lifespan playing shuttlecock with her.

At his suggestion, the two of them ended up playing Gomoku.

Li Nuo only knew the basic rules of Go and wasn't very skilled. However, Song Mu'er didn't know how to play Go either, so Li Nuo taught her the simpler Gomoku. As they played, Li Nuo suddenly remembered something and said, "Sweet potato, sweet potato, I'm a potato!"

The young girl opposite him, who was studying her move, replied without looking up, "You want to eat sweet potato? I'll have the kitchen make it for you..."

Li Nuo was speechless. "Ninger, stop pretending to be your sister..."

As twin sisters, Song Ninger had a peculiar fondness for impersonating her sister and was never tired of it.

But how could someone fall into the same trap three times?

Song Ninger finally realized something, looked up, and snorted, "Why is she the older sister? She was just born a little earlier than me. If Mom had given birth to me first, I would be the older sister..."

Exposed by Li Nuo, Song Ninger, in a fit of pique, messed up the chessboard and ran away.

An identical figure walked in from outside. Seeing the scene, she immediately asked Li Nuo, "Did Song Ninger impersonate me again?"

Li Nuo nodded.

Song Mu'er lifted her head proudly. "Good thing I'm smart and made you use a secret code every time, otherwise she would have tricked you again!"

Li Nuo didn't want the sisters' relationship to be so strained. He said, "Sisters shouldn't always act like enemies. You're the older sister, you should let her have her way sometimes."

Song Mu'er snorted. "Who told her to snatch everything from me..."

However, Brother Li Nuo was right. She was the older sister, and an older sister should act like one. She wasn't as petty as Song Ninger. After a difficult internal struggle, she looked up at Li Nuo and said, "Brother Li Nuo can help Song Ninger with her homework, and you can play with her too, but you have to promise that besides Sister Jiaren, you'll always be best friends with me!"

Facing Song Mu'er's innocent request, Li Nuo said helplessly, "Okay."

"Pinky promise!"

"Pinky promise."

After making the promise with Song Mu'er, they played Gomoku for a while longer before it was time for lunch.

The location for the luncheon was the same as the Old Madam's birthday hall. Inside, a long wooden table was set up, extending almost from the back to the entrance.

The Song Mu'er sisters sat beside their parents.

Li Nuo and Song Jiaren, being the youngest in terms of seniority, sat at the back of the long table. Li Nuo sat at one end of the table, directly opposite Song Yu.

Song Yu glanced at Li Nuo and Song Jiaren before quickly looking away.

Although Jiaren had beaten him up quite a bit when she was young, she was still his sister, and he hoped she would live a good life.

He had always been bothered by the fact that his most outstanding sister had married a fool.

Therefore, he had always disliked the fool from the Li family and looked for trouble whenever he had the chance.

Now that he wasn't a fool anymore, Song Yu found him much more agreeable. Even though he had suffered losses at his hands, as long as his sister could be happy, that was all that mattered.

Song Qian sat beside Song Jiaren, already in a bad mood. When she looked up, her gaze fell upon Song Yu's slightly bruised eye, and she asked, "Xiao Yu, what happened to your eye?"

Song Yu quickly lowered his head and said, "Nothing, I just bumped into something accidentally."

Song Qian frowned and said, "I bumped into it accidentally... Can you touch one for me to see?"

Song Yu lowered his head, remaining silent.

Song Qian asked with a stern face, "Who did this?"

At this moment, a young man sitting next to Song Yu said, "It was those two brothers from the Zhou family. They ganged up on him, that's why Brother Yu got hurt."

Li Nuo had met the Song Family's relatives last time. The young man who spoke was named Du Jin, the youngest son of Song Zhen's aunt.

Song Qian put down her chopsticks and said angrily, "This is outrageous! Do the Zhou's think our Song Family has no one? Song Jin, are you just going to watch your younger brother get bullied by outsiders?"

In this branch of the Song Family, Song Qian was the eldest sister. Being called out by her elder sister, before Song Jin could say anything, Song Yu spoke up, "Eldest Sister, don't you worry about this. I've already sent a challenge to the Zhou's, and I've asked some friends to help me teach them a lesson tomorrow in the small woods behind the academy..."

Song Qian asked, "Are the people you invited reliable? When I get back to the Chen Family, I'll tell your brother-in-law, and have Chen Yu and the others come support you..."

Song Yu said confidently, "Wang Hua just broke through to the Internal Breath Realm. Dealing with those trash around Zhou Yu and Zhou Tao, he can take on ten at once. Tomorrow, I will definitely get my revenge!"

Li Nuo, who was quietly eating, looked up at them.

He wasn't a member of the Song Family and had no blood relation to Song Yu. Song Yu had been beaten, and he wasn't as indignant as Song Qian.

He only knew that Song Yu and another group of people had arranged to have a brawl tomorrow.

The Great Xia Codex stipulated that brawling with bare hands would result in forty strokes of caning; those who used weapons to beat others would receive sixty strokes of beating; breaking teeth, disfiguring ears or noses, blinding one eye, or breaking fingers or toes would result in one year of imprisonment; breaking two teeth, two or more fingers, or shaving the hair would result in one and a half years of imprisonment; beating someone to break their limbs or blind them would result in three years of imprisonment; if three or more people jointly injured someone, the sentence would be increased by one grade, five or more people by two grades, and ten or more people by three grades...

Based on his current understanding of the Codex, the stronger the strength and the nobler the identity of the convicted criminal, the more Lifespan the Codex would add.

Practicing the Legalist school, judging royalty and nobility was easier for improving cultivation than judging commoners.

Song Yu and the Zhou's had arranged a large brawl for tomorrow, and there would even be Martial Arts Masters among them.

If he could capture all of them in one go, wouldn't that be great?

Thinking of this, Li Nuo couldn't help but feel happy.

Song Yu was planning tomorrow's duel. His gaze inadvertently swept over and noticed that the corners of Li Nuo's mouth couldn't suppress a smile, as if he was laughing at him for being beaten. Filled with shame and anger, he put down his chopsticks and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Li Nuo waved his hands repeatedly, "Nothing, I just suddenly thought of some happy things..."