Pushing open the inn's wooden door, Yang Ning was met by a warm draft carrying the faint, clean scent of soapberries.
The hall was brightly lit. Behind the counter, his sister-in-law, Liu Ying, was bent over her abacus.
Nearby, his elder brother, Yang An, was arranging the sheets and bedding that had been laid out to dry.
"Second Uncle's back!"
Xiao Hua came running in first, clutching a food box. Her bright, clear call instantly broke the inn's silence.
At the sound, Liu Ying looked up, and the clicking of the abacus stopped. Yang An turned around at once as well.
When they saw Yang Ning stride in behind Xiao Hua, husband and wife both broke into heartfelt smiles of relief.
"A-Ning!"
Yang An set down what he was doing and hurried over. Liu Ying came around the counter too, her eyes faintly reddened.
But when the two of them saw what Yang Ning looked like, much of their joy faded.
His bloodstained outer robe, the wounds on his shoulder and neck that had yet to heal completely, and the exhaustion he could not conceal all stood out clearly to his brother and sister-in-law.
Liu Ying stopped in her tracks. Her lips moved as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, all that came out was a soft sigh.
Yang An had also noticed his younger brother's wounds. The smile on his face faded. His rough hands, callused from years of hard work, clenched tightly, then relaxed.
He stepped up to Yang Ning and raised a hand, as if he wanted to pat his brother on the shoulder as he had when they were children.
But in the end, he only rested it gently on Yang Ning's uninjured right arm, wordlessly asking if he was all right and revealing his worry.
"Big Brother, Sister-in-Law, I'm fine."
Yang Ning spoke first. His voice was faintly hoarse, but his tone was calm.
"They're only flesh wounds. A few bumps and bruises are inevitable when practicing martial arts. I'll be fully healed in a couple of days."
He made it sound trivial.
As if the Cloudy Force that had nearly pierced through his shoulder blade, and the internal injuries from withstanding a Bone Forging fist, were nothing more than minor bruises from an ordinary training session.
Liu Ying turned her face away and discreetly wiped the corner of her eye with her sleeve.
Yang An fell silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.
"You're back. That's what matters. You're back."
He repeated himself, his voice catching.
"You haven't eaten yet, have you?
Ying, go order some more food.
Hua'er, open your food box too. We're having a proper feast tonight!"
The mood began to warm again.
Liu Ying wiped her face, put on a smile, and hurried outside to order more dishes.
Xiao Hua cheered as she opened her food box. The delicate pastries and fragrant dishes made her exclaim in delight.
Yang An led Yang Ning to the square table in the hall and sat him down. Before long, the table was covered with food.
Lamplight glowed warmly, the aroma of the dishes filled the air, and a soft golden halo enveloped the little square table.
Yang An looked at his younger brother, sitting across from him with an upright posture and a calm gaze.
Then he looked at the feast on the table, a spread they might not even have managed to put together for the New Year in the past.
His heart was a tangle of emotions.
He picked up the wine jug and poured a small cup for both Yang Ning and himself.
"Big Brother, let me."
"Let me."
"A-Ning,"
Yang An raised his cup, his fingers trembling slightly with excitement.
"Big Brother... Big Brother is happy for you! Truly!"
He downed the wine in one gulp and coughed twice as it went down the wrong way, but his face still flushed with happiness.
"You're an officer of the Patrol Bureau. You're a retainer of the Qin Family.
Our A-Ning has made something of himself.
Your parents must be glad too, wherever they are!"
Yang Ning raised his cup and drained it. The strong liquor burned his throat, but it also eased some of his exhaustion.
"Big Brother, Sister-in-Law, don't worry. My superiors value me, and the Qin Family has treated me well.
From now on, our family's life will only get better."
Liu Ying put a piece of red-braised pork, half lean and half fat, in Yang Ning's bowl, then gave Xiao Hua a sweet osmanthus cake. Hearing his words, her eyes reddened again, though this time she was smiling.
"Good, good! A-Ning's done well, and we all get to share in the good fortune.
The inn business is going smoothly, we don't have to worry about food and clothes anymore, and Hua'er can have new clothes and go to school...
We never would've dared dream of this life, even in our dreams."
Xiao Hua ate her sweet pastry, nestled against her mother as she listened to the adults talk. She did not understand everything, but she could feel the joy filling the room.
Her little face glowed with happiness.
Yang An drank several more cups, and gradually grew more talkative. He was no longer the steady, taciturn elder brother he usually was.
He took Yang Ning's hand. His voice was thick with drink, but even more so with emotions he had held inside for far too long.
"A-Ning... I'm so happy... but I'm also... hurting so much!"
He thumped his chest, and his eyes suddenly reddened.
"Big Brother was useless!
"After our parents died so early, I couldn't give you a good life. You had to go laboring for the Porter Guild while you were still a little boy, hauling carts, exposed to wind and sun, and putting up with people looking down on you...
"It breaks my heart!"
"Your sister-in-law..."
He looked at Liu Ying, who was quietly wiping away tears.
"She's never had an easy life with me either. She's had to manage the household, scrimp and save, and mend the same clothes for three years...
"And Hua'er..."
He wiped his face, his voice choking.
"In this world, ordinary folk like us have to spend every ounce of strength just to stay alive.
"I always thought we could hold on a little longer, save a little more, and maybe tomorrow would be better...
"But tomorrow kept turning into another tomorrow...
"I've let you down. I've let your sister-in-law down. I've let Hua'er down!"
Hot tears finally slid from the man's eyes, dripping onto the rough wooden table.
Yang Ning put down his chopsticks, stood, and went to his elder brother's side. He firmly held down his shoulder, trembling with emotion.
He did not offer empty words of comfort. They would have meant too little.
He simply looked his brother in the eyes and spoke each word clearly and firmly.
"Big Brother, what happened before is over.
"From now on, you have me.
"I promise our family's life will get better—ten times, a hundred times better than it is now!
"No one will ever make our family suffer or live in hardship again!"
Yang An looked up at his younger brother and nodded heavily. No words were needed.
Liu Ying wiped away her tears and smiled.
"All right, all right. Why talk about all this on such a happy day?
"A-Ning's made something of himself, and we should be happy for him.
"A-Ning, now that you've risen to a higher position, more people will be watching you. Be careful and stay safe.
"Those underworld types from the Blood Ape Gang, and..."
"Sister-in-Law, don't worry,"
Yang Ning said slowly.
"The Blood Ape Gang is already gone. From top to bottom, some are dead and the rest have been arrested. They won't be a threat anymore.
"East Street will be much more peaceful from now on, and our family won't have to fear them anymore."
Yang An and Liu Ying both breathed a sigh of relief.
"But..."
Yang Ning's tone shifted, his voice sinking lower.
"There's one person, and one score, that I still have to settle."
His brother and sister-in-law stared at him in surprise.
Yang Ning's gaze seemed to pierce through time, returning to that infuriating scene in the Hundred Herb Hall.
His fingers unconsciously rubbed the rim of his wine cup as he spoke slowly.
"Fei Yan."
Liu Ying's face paled. Yang An clenched his fists so hard the veins stood out on his arms.
The humiliation and despair of that day surged back into their minds.
"That ungrateful, good-for-nothing wretch!"
Yang Ning raised his eyes. His gaze swept across his brother and sister-in-law before settling on his elder brother's reddened eyes.
His voice was terrifyingly calm, yet filled with a determination more scorching and tenacious than an erupting volcano.
"I remember every bit of it: how he humiliated my brother, looked down on the Yang Family, and trampled on the bond our fathers shared..."
"If I don't avenge this, I won't be at peace, and my martial path won't be clear. Big Brother, Sister-in-Law, don't worry.
"One day—
"I'll make Fei Yan kneel before my brother, admit his vileness with his own mouth, and kowtow in apology!
"I'll make him pay for every single word he said!"
On his way back, Yang Ning had already sent someone to the Hundred Herb Hall, but that slippery eel had vanished early and was said to have gone to the Inner City.
That had left Yang Ning tossing and turning, his anger with nowhere to go.
"A-Ning..."
In the end, Yang An only patted his younger brother firmly on the shoulder. A thousand words became a single sigh.
"Be careful, whatever you do.
"Your sister-in-law and I don't ask for great wealth or high status. We only want you safe and sound."
Yang Ning nodded, his gaze softening again.
"I know.
"Big Brother, Sister-in-Law, let's eat. The food's getting cold."
He picked up a dish and put it in his mouth. The familiar, home-cooked taste was simple and warm, driving away the biting chill of their earlier words.
Outside the window, the night was deep. Inside, the lamplight was warm and welcoming.
The road ahead might be strewn with brambles, but at least tonight, the hard-won warmth of having his family together was enough to soothe the dust of the road.
P.S. Don't worry, Fei Yan, who humiliated the protagonist, will get the cruelest, most heartbreaking, and most gruesome death imaginable.
I'll have to design it carefully.
Before you continue