Collecting a debt

"Second Uncle, don't you owe your nephew an explanation?"

Mo Yun's voice was not loud, but it was like a stone striking a still lake, stirring towering waves in Mo Feng's heart.

He cowered behind the millstone, trembling. As he stared at his nephew, whose bearing had changed completely, his mind had turned to mush.

Was this still the sickly, taciturn Mo Yun who grew breathless after walking just a few steps?

Those moves just now had been crisp, decisive, and seamless. The two guards had gone down without even getting a chance to fight back!

How much time had even passed?!

"Y-Yun, let your second uncle explain..." Mo Feng gave a couple of dry chuckles and leaned halfway out from behind the millstone, the fat on his face quivering. "What happened today... Shopkeeper Zhao forced me into it. I didn't want to do it either..."

"Spare me that." Mo Yun raised an eyebrow and cut him off. "I only want to know where the income from my family's fields and shops has gone all these years."

Mo Feng's expression froze, and his gaze began to wander.

"W-well..." He hemmed and hawed for a long while before finally squeezing out an answer. "Poor management. You know how hard business has been these past few years. Not only did we make nothing, your second uncle even sank quite a bit of his own money into it..."

"Oh?" Mo Yun regarded him with a faint, ambiguous smile. "So you're saying that after managing our family property for my sister and me for several years, you not only gained nothing, but actually lost money?"

"Yes, exactly!" Mo Feng nodded hastily, looking thoroughly miserable. "You have no idea, Yun. Times have been bad these past few years. Business is tough..."

"Then I'm even more curious." Mo Yun interrupted him, his tone growing colder. "If you were losing money, why did you keep clinging to it? You should have returned it to my sister and me long ago."

"Well..." Mo Feng was at a loss for words.

Mo Yun could not be bothered to beat around the bush anymore. He took the token from inside his robe and said expressionlessly:

"Second Uncle, I won't waste my breath. My father wasn't in the habit of owing people money. I know that very well. Most likely, you and Shopkeeper Zhao cooked this up together today to swallow up our house."

"Today it's the house, tomorrow it's the fields, and the day after that, will it be the shops?!"

"I didn't! Yun, you can't falsely accuse your second uncle! I'm not that kind of man!" Mo Feng's expression changed drastically, and he hurried to deny it.

"You know perfectly well whether I'm falsely accusing you." Mo Yun put away the token and looked him straight in the eye.

"Second Uncle, I have only one demand. Whether that debt to Shopkeeper Zhao is real or fake, settle it yourself. Return all our fields and shops. Starting today, my sister and I will manage them ourselves."

"But..." Mo Feng looked grim. Those fields and shops were his household's main source of income. If he returned them all, what would his family live on?

"Of course, you can refuse," Mo Yun added, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on the fine weather. "But Second Uncle, you'd better think carefully before deciding."

He paused, gazing straight at Mo Feng, and said slowly, "Do you know what standing I have at Crouching Tiger Manor?"

Mo Feng's heart lurched, and he instinctively asked, "What standing?"

"The Village Master thinks very highly of me," Mo Yun said breezily. "He says my comprehension is astonishing, that I'm a martial prodigy found only once in ten thousand. He also says someone like me comes along only once in a century, and that I'm bound to achieve great things. Second Uncle, do you understand what that means?"

Mo Feng went deathly pale.

He did not know whether Mo Yun was telling the truth, but the boy had indeed just dealt with two guards effortlessly, and one of them had even been holding a saber.

A month ago, he had still been a sickly weakling. A month later, he could beat two burly men. That rate of improvement was downright absurd!

Such a huge change in just one month? Could this boy really be a martial prodigy? Did that old martial master misjudge him when he examined his bones? Mo Feng felt deeply unsettled.

"Second Uncle, you wouldn't want Crouching Tiger Manor getting involved in our Mo Lineage's family affairs, would you?" Mo Yun added, a hint of threat in his voice.

Cold sweat broke out on Mo Feng's forehead.

He recalled the rumors about Crouching Tiger Manor.

If Crouching Tiger Manor really intervened, never mind his household—even the entire Mo Lineage would barely be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

"I-I..." Mo Feng swallowed, his mind racing.

His son Mo Fan had indeed gone to the Chaos Blade Sect. With his superior martial aptitude, his prospects were boundless. But a month had passed without so much as a message, and Mo Feng had no idea how he was doing.

If Mo Fan failed to make a name for himself in the Chaos Blade Sect, and Mo Feng offended Crouching Tiger Manor as well, he would truly be finished.

At that thought, Mo Feng gritted his teeth and decided to concede defeat.

"Yun, tell me. What do you want your second uncle to do to make this right?"

Seeing him yield, Mo Yun felt reassured and stated his demands directly. "First, you'll handle everything with Shopkeeper Zhao from here on."

"Second, return all my family's fields and shops. Give the deeds to my sister."

"Third, if you ever set your sights on our family again, I'll break your legs!"

Mo Feng's face alternated between green and white, and the heartache made him twitch. In the end, however, he nodded. "All right. Your second uncle agrees."

"Then stop dawdling. Go get the deeds now," Mo Yun urged.

Helpless, Mo Feng could only lead Mo Yun and Mo Yiyi back to his house.

When they reached Mo Feng's house, his wife, Liu, was sunning herself in the courtyard. Her expression changed on the spot when she saw Mo Yun and his sister following her husband home.

"What are you two doing here?"

Once she learned why they had come, Liu's face turned livid. Planting her hands on her hips, she said shrilly, "Listen here! We've been managing those shops and fields all along. Don't even think about getting your hands on them!"

"Shut up!" Mo Feng glared at her. "Go inside and bring out all the deeds!"

Liu froze, then shrieked, "What did you say?! Why should we give them the deeds?!"

"If I tell you to get them, get them! Enough of your nonsense!" Mo Feng grew frantic, his voice rising out of pitch.

Liu wanted to throw a tantrum, but the sight of her husband looking ready to devour someone made her swallow the words on her tongue. She stormed inside with an angry huff.

Before long, she brought out a small wooden box and slammed it onto the table, her face full of resentment. "They're all here!"

Mo Yun ignored her and opened the wooden box. Several deeds lay neatly stacked inside.

He looked through them. The fields, the shops, and the old family house-nothing was missing.

"Yiyi, take a look. Are these right?" Mo Yun handed the deeds to Mo Yiyi.

Mo Yiyi took them, checked them carefully, and nodded. "Yes, these are the ones."

Only then did Mo Yun nod in satisfaction. He turned and left with Mo Yiyi.

After they left Mo Feng's house, Mo Yiyi let out a long breath, her face showing the relief of a heavy burden lifted.

"You've changed, little brother." She looked at Mo Yun, pride and a trace of puzzlement shining in her eyes. "I can hardly believe it. You've only been at Crouching Tiger Manor for a month, yet you've changed so much..."

Mo Yun smiled and shook his head. "No matter how I change, I'm still your brother."

Mo Yiyi's eyes reddened again, but this time it was from happiness.

Only after they returned to the old house did Mo Yun remember that his purchases were still on the carriage.

He slapped his forehead. "Wait here, Yiyi. I'll go get the things from the village entrance."

With that, he jogged toward the edge of the village.

When he reached the village entrance, the carriage was still parked there, and the driver was dozing against the shaft.

Feeling guilty, Mo Yun hurried over and woke him. "Sir, I'm sorry for the wait."

The driver yawned and waved a hand. "It's fine, it's fine. I figured you were from Mo Family Village. It looked like something urgent had come up earlier, so I knew you'd be back. I just waited."

Mo Yun took several dozen copper coins from inside his robe and pressed them into the driver's hand. "This is the fare. The extra is for taking up your time."

The driver accepted the money with a broad grin. "You're too kind, young man!"

Mo Yun unloaded the packages, large and small, from the carriage. Then he remembered that the iron ruler was still in his sleeve and headed to the blacksmith's shop at the village entrance.

"Grandpa Huang, here's your iron ruler." Mo Yun handed it over.

The old blacksmith took the ruler, looked him up and down, and smiled. "Yun, I hear you kicked up quite a fuss with your second uncle today?"

Mo Yun blinked. "How did you know?"

"This village is only so big. News travels fast-who wouldn't hear about the slightest rustle of wind or grass?" Old Huang laughed heartily. "Well done. That's exactly what you should've done. Your second uncle needed putting in his place. You've finally grown up. Your father would surely be happy if he knew!"

Mo Yun smiled, said goodbye to Grandpa Huang, and shouldered his purchases for the walk home.

Back at home, Mo Yiyi was sweeping the courtyard. Her eyes went wide when she saw him return carrying so many packages.

"Little brother, why did you buy so much?"

Mo Yun put everything down, pulled out the peach-pink skirt-and-jacket set, and held it out to Mo Yiyi. "Yiyi, this is for you. Try it on and see if it fits."

Mo Yiyi took the outfit, felt the fabric, and examined the color. Delight spread over her face, but she soon frowned again. "This must have cost a lot, right? Little brother, you..."

"Yiyi, stop worrying." Mo Yun cut her off. "My food and lodging at Crouching Tiger Manor are free, and I get paid every month. Besides, the Village Master thinks highly of me and gives me things every few days. I can afford this much."

That was not entirely a lie. Commander Li did indeed think highly of him and had even given him a bottle of Qi-Blood Pills.

"But..." Mo Yiyi still wanted to say something.

"No buts." Mo Yun took rouge, face powder, and food out of the bundles as well. "I bought these for you too. Pork, white flour, rice-enough to last us a while."

Looking at the table covered in purchases, Mo Yiyi felt her nose sting, and her eyes reddened despite herself.

"Yiyi, why are you crying again?" Mo Yun hurriedly wiped away her tears, all flustered.

"I'm just happy." Mo Yiyi smiled through her tears. "You've finally made something of yourself, little brother. Mother must be happy watching from heaven too."

Warmth filled Mo Yun's heart, and he patted her shoulder. "Yiyi, the hard days are over. Our family will only get better from now on. We've got the shops and fields back too, so neither of us will want for money anymore. Stop skimping on food and everything else."

"All right." Mo Yiyi wiped the corners of her eyes and nodded firmly. "I'll listen to you."

That evening, Mo Yiyi used the meat and white flour Mo Yun had brought home to prepare a lavish dinner.

The siblings sat at the table, eating the piping-hot food and talking about all the sweetness and bitterness of the past years, well into the night.

Early the next morning, Mo Yun accompanied Mo Yiyi into town.