Almost all of the second generation of the Song Family held official positions at court. The third-generation men, apart from Song Yu, also served in the military and rarely lived at home. So the Old Madam chose a day off to host the family banquet. Li Nuo had heard from Song Mu'er that the Song Manor held one of these banquets every month.
For a great family like the Song Family, holding regular family banquets served an important purpose: they strengthened the bonds between family members and fostered a sense of belonging.
Having grown up in such an environment, even daughters who had married out never thought of themselves as outsiders.
Like his wife.
Like Aunt Song Zhen.
At the Old Madam's birthday banquet, Aunt Song Zhen had touched and pinched him all over, fussing over him for ages. Today, he noticed her gaze moving over him again, and immediately felt uncomfortable in his own skin.
The beautiful woman stared at Li Nuo's face and couldn't help exclaiming, "Tsk, tsk... You're practically a perfect copy of your father when he was young."
A man walked over and said with a smile, "What is it, Sis? It's been almost twenty years, and both your children are married. Are you still pining for Li Xuanjing? If brother-in-law finds out, he'll get jealous again..."
"There are plenty of women in Chang'an who pine for Li Xuanjing. Just because I couldn't have him, I'm not even allowed to think about him?" The beautiful woman shot him a glance. "Song Hao, are you itching for a beating? Want me to loosen up your bones?"
"No, no, no..." The man waved his hands frantically, then walked over to Li Nuo and gave him a close look. "I have to admit, you really do look alike. If you and Jiaren hadn't been engaged since childhood, who knows how many young ladies from noble families would be throwing themselves at you..."
The two elders were joking around, and Li Nuo didn't know what to say. He simply cupped his hands toward the man. "Greetings, Fourth Uncle."
The man before him was the Old Madam's fourth son, and the father of the sisters Song Mu'er and Song Ninger.
Song Hao smiled and patted Li Nuo on the shoulder. "You don't just look alike. You're just as clever, too. Mu'er says every day that she can't understand anything Mr. Chen teaches, but when Brother Li Nuo explains it, she gets it right away..."
"Of course. Just look whose son he is." Song Zhen looked at Li Nuo and couldn't resist touching his face again. Regretfully, she said, "If I'd been the one to marry your father back then, you'd be my son. Ah..."
Scientifically speaking, if Aunt Song Zhen had married his father, then Li Nuo wouldn't exist.
Still, he sensed a hint of gossip in her words.
His father must have been very popular with women when he was young.
Otherwise, no one would still be pining for him after twenty years.
Aunt Song Zhen seemed to be looking at him, but her eyes were full of his father's younger self.
"Brother Li Nuo, let's play shuttlecock!"
Li Nuo was feeling rather uncomfortable under her gaze, but luckily Song Mu'er rushed over and saved him. Song Zhen turned her attention away and waved them off. "All right, all right. Go play with Mu'er..."
Li Nuo didn't play shuttlecock with Song Mu'er. He wasn't as good at it as the maids at Song Manor, and he certainly wasn't going to waste his lifespan just to play with her.
At his suggestion, the two of them ended up playing Gomoku instead.
Li Nuo only knew the basic rules of Go and wasn't very good at it. Song Mu'er didn't know how to play either, so he taught her the simpler game of Gomoku. As they played, something suddenly occurred to him. "Watermelon to base, this is Potato!"
The little girl across from him was studying where to place her stone. Without looking up, she said, "You want sweet potatoes? I'll ask the kitchen to make some for you in a bit..."
Li Nuo was speechless. "Ning'er, stop pretending to be your sister..."
As Song Mu'er's twin sister, Song Ninger had a particular fondness for impersonating her, and she never seemed to tire of it.
But how could someone fall for the same trick three times?
Song Ninger finally realized what had happened. She looked up and gave a cold snort. "Why does she get to be the older sister? She was only born a little earlier than me. If Mother had given birth to me first, I'd be the older sister..."
Exposed by Li Nuo, the humiliated Song Ninger scrambled the board and dashed away.
An identical figure walked in from outside. Seeing what had happened, she immediately asked Li Nuo, "Did Song Ninger pretend to be me again?"
Li Nuo nodded.
Song Mu'er lifted her chin proudly. "Good thing I'm clever and make you use a secret code every time. Otherwise, she'd fool you again!"
Li Nuo didn't want the sisters' relationship to become so strained, so he said, "You're sisters. You can't keep acting like enemies. You're the older sister, so you can let her have her way sometimes."
Song Mu'er gave a little snort. "She wants to steal everything I have..."
But Brother Li Nuo was right. She was the older sister, and an older sister had to act like one. She wasn't as petty as Song Ninger. After a difficult struggle with her thoughts, she looked up and said to Li Nuo, "Brother Li Nuo can teach Song Ninger, and you can play with her, but you have to promise that, apart from Sister Jiaren, I'll always be your number one!"
Faced with Song Mu'er's innocent request, Li Nuo could only say, "All right."
"Pinky promise!"
"Pinky promise."
After making the promise to Song Mu'er, the two played Gomoku for a while. Then it was time for lunch.
The banquet was held in the same place as the Old Madam's birthday banquet. A long wooden table had been set up in the hall, stretching almost from the far end all the way to the entrance.
The sisters Song Mu'er and Song Ninger sat beside their parents.
Li Nuo and Song Jiaren, being the youngest generation, sat toward the far end of the table. Li Nuo sat at one end, directly across from Song Yu.
Song Yu glanced up at Li Nuo and Song Jiaren, then quickly looked away.
Though Jiaren had beaten him up plenty of times as a child, she was still his younger sister, and he wanted her to be happy.
He had always been troubled by the fact that his most outstanding younger sister had married a fool.
That was why he had never liked the fool from the Li Family and took every opportunity to make trouble for him.
Now that Li Nuo wasn't a fool anymore, Song Yu found him much more likable. He might have suffered at Li Nuo's hands himself, but no matter what, all that mattered was that his younger sister could be happy.
Song Qian sat beside Song Jiaren and was already in a bad mood. When she looked up, she caught sight of Song Yu's bruised eye and asked, "Xiao Yu, what happened to your eye?"
Song Yu quickly lowered his head. "Nothing. I bumped it by accident."
Song Qian furrowed her brow. "You bumped it by accident? Go on, bump it again and let me see."
Song Yu lowered his head and said nothing.
Song Qian's face darkened. "Who did this?"
Just then, a young man sitting beside Song Yu said, "It was those two brothers from the Zhou Family. They ganged up on Brother Yu, so he got the worst of it."
Li Nuo had met the Song Family relatives at the previous banquet. The young man who spoke was Du Jin, Aunt Song Zhen's younger son.
Song Qian set down her chopsticks and said angrily, "Unbelievable! Do those Zhou fellows think there's no one in the Song Family? Song Jin, are you just going to watch your younger brother get bullied by outsiders?"
Song Qian was the eldest of her branch of the Song Family. Called out by his elder sister, Song Jin hadn't yet said a word when Song Yu spoke up. "Eldest Sister, don't get involved. I've already sent those Zhou fellows a challenge, and I've arranged for some friends to meet them tomorrow in the woods behind the academy and teach them a good lesson..."
Song Qian asked, "Are the people you've called up to the task? When I get back to the Chen Family, I'll tell your brother-in-law. Chen Yu and the others can come help you make a show of force..."
Song Yu said confidently, "Wang Hua just broke through to the Internal Breath Realm. He can take on ten of those good-for-nothings around Zhou Yu and Zhou Tao by himself. Tomorrow, I'll finally wipe away this disgrace!"
Li Nuo had been eating quietly. Now he looked up at them.
He wasn't a member of the Song Family and wasn't related to Song Yu by blood. He didn't feel as indignant as Song Qian just because Song Yu had been beaten up.
All he knew was that Song Yu and another group had arranged to get into a brawl tomorrow.
The Great Xia Codex stipulated: fistfighting without weapons earned forty strokes of the cane; assaulting someone with a weapon earned sixty strokes; knocking out teeth, mutilating the ears or nose, blinding one eye, or breaking fingers or toes earned one year of imprisonment; breaking two or more teeth or fingers, or shaving off someone's hair, earned a year and a half; breaking someone's limbs or blinding one eye earned Three Years of Imprisonment; injuring someone in a group beating of three or more people increased the punishment by one degree, five or more by two degrees, and ten or more by three degrees...
Based on Li Nuo's current understanding of the Code of Law, the stronger the offender and the more noble their status, the more lifespan the Code of Law added.
In Legalist cultivation, trying royal and noble offenders also made it easier to improve one's cultivation than trying commoners.
Song Yu and the Zhou fellows had arranged to bring plenty of people to a brawl tomorrow, including Martial Dao experts.
If he brought people along and rounded them all up, wouldn't that be perfect?
At the thought, Li Nuo couldn't stop himself from grinning.
Song Yu was planning tomorrow's duel when he glanced over and noticed that Li Nuo couldn't suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth. It seemed as if he was laughing at Song Yu for getting beaten up. Annoyed and embarrassed, Song Yu put down his chopsticks and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Li Nuo waved his hands quickly. "Nothing. I just thought of something that made me happy..."
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