Strike First to Gain the Advantage

Yue Shuo remained calm, and he had his suspicions.

He had cultivated Tai Chi Fist to the perfected level. The benefits he had gained surely went beyond the increased numbers on the panel.

His hearing and sight were now exceptionally sharp. With only a little attention, he could clearly hear sounds outside the courtyard while inside the house.

And distinguish who was speaking.

So he was in no hurry at all.

The visitor was one of his father's friends, surnamed Zhu. He did not know his full name.

Some called him Master Zhu, while others called him Old Zhu.

He owned two butcher shops in town.

He was one of the town's wealthiest households.

When his elder brother was injured, this man had been the most eager to run about helping. He had been the one to fetch the town physician.

Yue Shuo did not rush out to entertain him.

He could not act like a mother hen and handle everything for his elder brother, Yue Gu.

These social ties and personal connections from their parents' generation—

Yue Gu would have to take them up himself in the future.

Yue Shuo touched the Basic Talisman-Making Notes tucked inside his clothes. He dearly wished he had the materials and tools to try his hand at it right away.

He could not quite calm himself down.

So he simply headed for his father's study.

"Foundational Talismans can use ordinary but smooth, flat, high-quality Yellow Talisman Paper. The Talisman Ink requires rooster blood mixed with ordinary cinnabar, as well as black dog blood..."

Different talismans required different Talisman Ink formulas.

"I wonder if Father has any here..."

He felt a little hopeful.

Reason told him the chances were slim.

But looking would not cost him anything.

He had shut the study window earlier, and the brazier had not been lit. Besides, he was no longer as afraid of the cold as he had been as a child.

Without opening the window, he lit the oil lamp.

The study, barely ten square meters in size, was visible at a glance. Aside from some ordinary paper, brushes, ink, and polished stone paperweights—

It was so clean that there was not even the musty smell of insects or mold.

He rummaged through the book chest.

The travel journals his father usually loved to read were not there either.

"Heh!"

They had only gone away for a few days to visit relatives. Was there really a need to pack up every single thing they liked and take it with them?

Of course,

His parents had made it so obvious because they likely intended for the brothers to gradually piece things together.

If his elder brother had not fallen and been injured—

After grieving and sorting through their parents' "belongings," the two brothers would probably have noticed something as well.

After all, his elder brother usually seemed rather clever.

Who were they guarding against?

Yue Shuo took out a rag he had casually grabbed outside and roughly wiped down the desk and stools in the study.

As well as the empty storage shelves, which carried the faint woody scent of insect repellent.

Then he propped open the study's carved wooden window.

Light from outside streamed in, gradually brightening the room. He snuffed out the oil lamp and, seemingly without intention, listened more clearly to the conversation at the courtyard gate.

There was one more person at the gate now—a young girl.

Yue Shuo had been staring blankly out from the study when he seemed to hear the words "break off the engagement." His expression became a little strange.

Mm, surely they were not here to break off an engagement with him?

After all, he truly did not remember having any marriage arrangement. Could it be his elder brother? But when had his elder brother gotten engaged?

Could a melodramatic broken-engagement scene be about to unfold?

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river?

Yue Shuo grew curious.

He had never watched a broken engagement from up close before.

He jumped straight out through the study window and, in a few strides, darted to the courtyard gate.

There, he saw Old Zhu—no, Uncle Zhu—with a flushed face as he spoke to a girl who was clearly of marriageable age.

The girl held her head high, her face full of stubbornness.

His elder brother sat in his wooden wheelchair with a completely bewildered expression.

Oh, was his elder brother about to suffer a second broken engagement?

"We'll discuss this when we get home!"

Uncle Zhu lowered his voice and told the girl, "Father will handle this properly. Don't you trust your father?!"

The girl's eyes reddened.

"I don't!"

At that, Old Zhu's expression turned bitter. He had noticed Yue Shuo's arrival as well, and he looked over with a forced smile.

"Yue Er, don't misunderstand..."

Yue Shuo had not misunderstood at first.

But when he saw his elder brother's face slowly reddening—not flushing with anger—he found the matter increasingly interesting.

In any case, there was still some time before the town sent people to pick him up.

"Come inside and talk!"

The Yue Family's small courtyard stood somewhat apart from the other village homes, with trees in between to block the view.

Yet from afar, people were already curiously looking this way.

Old Zhu noticed as well.

After hesitating for a moment, he dragged his daughter through the courtyard gate.

They strode toward the main hall.

Along the way, he glanced at Yue Da and saw him rolling his wooden wheelchair along at no slow pace. His brows relaxed somewhat.

"Father! I've already made up my mind!"

They had barely reached the main hall and had not even sat down—

When the Zhu Family girl spoke with a resolute expression.

"I absolutely will not break off the engagement! In life, I belong to the Yue Family; in death, I will be a ghost of the Yue Family!!"

Yue Shuo: ???

Things seemed different from what he had imagined.

He looked at his elder brother's ears and neck, which were gradually turning red.

Then at Uncle Zhu's helpless expression.

And spoke.

"Uncle Zhu, what exactly is going on? I still have to attend the Ascension Assembly—you know that!"

Yue Shuo deliberately, yet casually, put pressure on Old Zhu.

At the very least, do not stir up trouble for my family during these ten days. Once these ten days are over, I doubt you will dare to cause trouble for us.

Why was Yue Shuo so confident?

Naturally, he had asked around.

At the Qin Clan's Ascension Assembly, anyone found to possess a Spiritual Root would be accepted, provided their background was clean and verifiable.

He had a Spiritual Root.

The data on his character panel showed it clearly.

As for a clean background, the people of the town and villages could all attest to that. Registering through the town head was precisely for this reason.

If the town head concealed information or submitted a false report, he would be held accountable.

Lesser Desolate Island fell under the Qin Clan's jurisdiction.

Even if the Qin Clan did not personally come to arrest people and wipe out their families, they only had to pay slightly less attention to the aftermath of the sea beast tide around Lesser Desolate Island—

And Lesser Desolate Island would suffer devastating losses.

No one in the entire town or its villages would allow the town head to ruin matters over something like this.

"Sigh! How can a girl come to someone's door to discuss marriage herself? Yue Da, say something! Your father arranged this engagement before, and this is the betrothal token he left behind!"

He carefully took out an exquisite box and opened it.

Inside was a lifelike jade butterfly hairpin. Even from this betrothal token alone, one could tell that the Yue Family had once possessed considerable wealth.

But his wife had been frightened by the rumors in town.

Old Zhu had originally intended to discuss such matters away from his daughter.

Who would have thought his daughter would misunderstand?

She had thought he came to break off the engagement. He had just persuaded his wife at home while holding the token when he discovered that his daughter was gone.

That was why he had hurried over.

The betrothal token he had shown his wife had been casually tucked into his clothes and brought along.

Of course,

His daughter's misunderstanding—

Was also related to his hesitation over the past few days.

After all, Yue Da's injuries were truly severe. He was on the verge of being completely crippled, and Old Zhu could not possibly make his daughter live as a widow.

There was also a younger brother in the family who was frail and often ill.

Who would not hesitate over a family like that?

But adding flowers to brocade was nothing compared to offering charcoal in the snow!

He could see it now. The Yue Family's second son was no simple person at all, nothing like the weak, burdensome invalid others described.

As long as Yue Er was not a bottomless pit of a burden, and Yue Da was still a man—

He, Old Zhu, was not someone who broke his promises!

After Old Zhu spoke, Yue Shuo gave him several more looks.

After all, he—

Had not broken off the engagement when misfortune struck the Yue Family.

Nor had he waited for the results of the Ascension Assembly before discussing his brother's marriage.

Becoming relatives with someone like this—

Yue Shuo personally thought it was quite good. And relying on the fact that he was only twelve, he openly looked over his future sister-in-law a few times.

Healthy, lively, with delicate and lovely features.

"I..."

Under everyone's expectant gazes, Yue Gu hesitated.

Old Zhu's expression changed.

At that moment, lively voices came from outside the courtyard, drawing ever closer to their little home.

Yue Shuo glanced at his elder brother with some regret.

But when it came to a major life decision—

He could not make the choice for him. Just as he was about to rise and head to the courtyard gate to see whether the people coming to fetch him had arrived—

He saw the Zhu Family girl spring to her feet.

She snatched the betrothal token from her father's hand, tucked it away, then skillfully found a broom behind the main hall door.

Under everyone's dumbfounded stares, she went into the courtyard and swept it a few times.

Then she flung open the courtyard gate and shouted at the group outside, who had been about to knock and call out, "I'm Yue Da's wife! What are you people doing at my house?!"

Good heavens!

Was this what they called striking first to gain the advantage?

Yue Shuo looked at his brother. There seemed to be light in his brother's eyes.