Chen Yuyin returned

Meng Yuan was a gentleman.

Ever since moving into the Chen Household, Meng Yuan had spent his days practicing internal cultivation to dispel the heat within his body, reading, and practicing calligraphy.

While staying in the Chen Household, Meng Yuan never overstepped his bounds. He did not pry into family affairs, wander into other courtyards, or spend time alone with Wang, nor was he particularly concerned about his food, clothing, lodging, or transportation.

Seeing that Meng Yuan, though dark-faced, conducted himself uprightly, Wang sent her two sons to spend time with him.

The Chen Household assigned generational names according to the phrase "The mountain holds green jade; cherish fine jade and preserve benevolence." Of Wang's two sons, the eldest was eight and named Chen Huaixian, while the younger was six and named Chen Huaiyuan.

Both children had the makings of martial artists and had begun taking medicinal baths at three or four.

Meng Yuan had collected many internal and external cultivation methods in his previous life. He held nothing back, teaching them as best he could, along with some lessons about life.

Wang was a gracious woman herself. She sent gold, silver, and treasures, and even assigned maids to attend him, but Meng Yuan declined them all.

"Lü Yinglong was my own brother, Chen Yuyin is my own sister-in-law, and Huaixian and Huaiyuan are both my own nephews. Why stand on ceremony?" Meng Yuan often used these words to put Wang off.

And so Wang admired him all the more.

Four months passed, and Meng Yuan had completely digested the Red Flame Fruit. The scorching sensation within him was gone, and his internal power had risen to another level.

In the blink of an eye, December had arrived, and the weather grew colder still.

Meng Yuan was kindness itself. He took some money and went outside the city to offer free medical consultations, even doing so in the Chen Household's name. When Wang learned of it, she sent him a great many medicinal herbs.

That evening, Meng Yuan returned to the Chen Household. After eating the meal Wang had specially saved for him, he saw the heavy snow outside and warmed some wine to drink while reading history.

How refined!

Before long, sounds of grief came from outside.

Meng Yuan regarded Lü Yinglong and his wife as his own brother and sister-in-law, so he immediately went out to ask what had happened.

It turned out that his dear sister-in-law Chen Yuyin had returned, but her elder brother Chen Yucheng had died away from home, and they had not even recovered his body.

What exactly did those siblings go off to do? Roam the martial world? But there's no word of either of them in the martial world! Surely they weren't really buying medicinal herbs?

Meng Yuan reckoned that the siblings' journey might well have had something to do with immortals.

About an hour passed before footsteps crunched through the shattered jade of the snow outside.

"Have you retired for the night, Master Meng?" someone called from outside the door.

Meng Yuan opened the door and saw a woman standing there.

She wore a blue cloak and was exceedingly beautiful, looking about twenty. Yet the space between her brows bore considerable traces of hardship, her sorrow was difficult to conceal, and her eyes held a certain numbness, even a vacant look.

The visitor was none other than Chen Yuyin.

That year, Meng Yuan was twenty, and Chen Yuyin was twenty-three.

When he had first met Chen Yuyin in his previous life, she had already been thirty. Though she had lacked her present youthful freshness, her mature woman's charm had been even more intoxicating.

"Are you my sister-in-law?" After nearly half a year of recuperation, Meng Yuan's face was now very fair.

Chen Yuyin said nothing. She merely stepped forward, sending a light, elusive palm strike straight at Meng Yuan's face.

Meng Yuan immediately raised his hand. Their palms met, and he blocked the blow.

Chen Yuyin retreated two steps, her brows knitting still tighter. She discovered that, young as he was, his internal power seemed inexhaustible and actually far surpassed her own.

Moreover, his internal power was fierce and domineering. It was unmistakably her family's inherited divine art, the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art!

Chen Yuyin had returned that evening bearing news of her own brother's death, only to find that she had missed her father's final moments.

Unable to suppress her grief, she had wept secretly for a while before her father's memorial tablet. Only then had she composed herself, put on a strong face, and gone to see her sister-in-law.

But from her sister-in-law, Chen Yuyin had also learned that her husband was dead.

Chen Yuyin had gone numb, even though she did not care about that boorish husband of hers.

According to her father's arrangements, after that undertaking failed, the plan had been to secure a mortal emperor's throne and at least restore the glory of the Ancient Chen Kingdom.

Her father had made preparations long ago, raising her elder brother Chen Yucheng from childhood so that, when upheaval came to the realm, he could rise in revolt.

Lü Yinglong had likewise been her father's arrangement. Valuing his martial talent and boorish nature, her father had intended him to serve as her brother's general one day.

But now the man who would raise the banner was gone, and so was the general who would charge through enemy lines! Though the Chen clan had many members, none could be found who matched her brother or her late husband!

Left with no recourse, Chen Yuyin had then learned that the news of her husband's death had been brought by a man surnamed Meng, given name Yuan.

This man claimed to be her late husband's sworn brother and had already lived in their home for half a year.

According to her sister-in-law, he was noble in character, accomplished in both letters and martial arts, and widely learned. He not only taught her two nephews martial arts, but also instructed them in their studies.

Earlier, when a collateral branch of the family had challenged them and demanded their medicinal formulas and Medicine Garden, it had been his advice that got them out of the predicament.

In short, her elder sister-in-law thought very highly of Meng Yuan, and her two nephews liked him so much they were only a step away from calling him Father.

Had Chen Yuyin not known her elder sister-in-law was an honest woman, she would have suspected her of having an affair with Meng Yuan!

Now, having come through the snow to see him and tested him with a palm strike, Chen Yuyin discovered that he had also practiced her family's Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art.

And he was certainly no beginner. Rather, he seemed to have practiced it for thirty or fifty years. The depth of his internal cultivation was actually impossible to fathom.

During her one journey away, her own father had died, her own brother had died, and her husband had died too.

She raised her head and looked around. This family seemed on the verge of falling apart!

Yet at this very moment, someone stronger than her husband had appeared!

Chen Yuyin immediately composed herself, cupped her fist in salute, and asked, "What was your relationship with my late husband? And how did you learn the Pure Yang Art?"

Meng Yuan concealed nothing, simply recounting the past events one by one.

He said he came from Huai'an Prefecture in Yunzhou and had originally woven mats and sold shoes for a living. Having learned a little martial arts, he had wandered here and met Lü Yinglong a year ago.

The two had hit it off at once. After becoming sworn brothers, Meng Yuan had traveled far away.

Then, half a year ago, Meng Yuan had returned to Spring Radiance Prefecture and been invited into the mountains by Lü Yinglong.

"Somehow, he had learned there was treasure on Twin Dragon Mountain and invited me along. Who could have known there was a great serpent in that valley? Brother Lü was gravely wounded saving me. Before he died, he taught me the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art and asked me to repay the Chen clan's kindness!"

Meng Yuan sighed. "Afterward, I mistakenly ate that fruit and also ate some serpent meat. Little did I expect that, through this convergence of circumstances, I would gain several decades' worth of cultivation."

His account was seven parts truth and three parts falsehood. Lü Yinglong was dead anyway, so no one could expose him.

Besides, even if Chen Yuyin wanted to fight, Meng Yuan was willing to oblige her for a round or two.

"So that was what happened." Chen Yuyin actually accepted it at once.

"Sister-in-law, you must not grieve too deeply." Meng Yuan stepped forward and said earnestly, "Everything I have today was bestowed on me by Brother Lü, and the martial arts I practice are those of the Chen clan. I can only devote my entire life to repaying that debt. Sister-in-law, whatever you may ask of me in the future, I am willing to risk my life!"

Chen Yuyin stared into Meng Yuan's eyes. She actually felt that he was not pretending at all, as though he truly would risk his life for her.

After a little more back-and-forth, Chen Yuyin took her leave.

The next day, Chen Yuyin donned hemp mourning clothes for her father, her brother, and her husband.

Meng Yuan also joined them for several days of funeral meals.

Afterward, with the year's end approaching, Chen Yuyin summoned the managers of their various medicine shops and medicinal estates and began putting the household's affairs in order.

Chen Yuyin was highly capable and knew how to handle people. After working for over half a month, she had straightened out the many affairs of the medicinal estates and medicine shops.

Another half month passed before Chen Yuyin invited Meng Yuan to see the remains of the giant serpent.

Meng Yuan naturally had no objections.

Once they arrived, Chen Yuyin stood in a daze for a long time, her eyes red. Whether she was remembering her late husband or mourning the Red Flame Fruit and Black Serpent was unclear.

Seeing how she could not help clenching her little fists whenever she looked at him, Meng Yuan guessed it was the latter.

But Meng Yuan simply pretended not to notice.

I've already eaten my fill and then some. What do I care whether you go hungry!

"Sister-in-law, do you know the origins of the Black Serpent and Purple Fruit?" Meng Yuan asked casually.

"No," Chen Yuyin said.

You gave such a convincing account in my previous life, yet now you're pretending not to know! Heh, women!

"Alas. Brother Lü is gone. Sister-in-law, you must not grieve too deeply," Meng Yuan consoled her.

Chen Yuyin clenched her fists but ultimately said nothing.

Only after a long while did Chen Yuyin ask, "What plans do you have, Brother Meng?"

"I swore to repay Brother Lü and the Chen clan." Meng Yuan sighed. "Whatever you command, sister-in-law, I will obey. But something seems amiss in the realm. The new sovereign ascended the throne the year before last, and last year a great drought struck the land, with refugees rising up everywhere. The realm looks poised to fall into chaos."

Chen Yuyin looked at Meng Yuan and asked, "Brother, do you think the throne is unstable?"

"It may be. In any case, we should prepare early and mend the roof before the rain, so our Chen clansmen aren't caught up in it." Meng Yuan feigned sincerity.

Chen Yuyin said not a word, and there was no telling what she was thinking.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye, and summer's heat had arrived.

Chen Yuyin was lost in thought when Meng Yuan came to request another audience.

After three or four months together, Chen Yuyin had discovered that this Brother Meng was indeed a talented man.

He loved reading above all and had gone through her family's entire library. Classics, histories, philosophical writings, literary collections, medicine, divination, astronomy-he wanted to read them all.

He was especially fond of history and had quite a few genuine insights into the state of the realm.

That alone would have been one thing, but he had even studied military texts and knew how to command troops and arrange battle formations.

According to him, back in his hometown he had woven several pairs of straw sandals for an old man. Moved by his respect for the elderly, the old man had passed a military treatise on to him.

Chen Yuyin had studied books since childhood, and her elder brother had studied military strategy. She herself did not really understand it, but she simply felt that what this man said made sense.

Father once said that if Elder Brother rose in revolt, he would lack a valiant general and a strategist to devise plans. Lü Yinglong could have served as his vanguard general, but he's already dead. Yet this man practices the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art and has consumed the Red Flame Fruit. He now far surpasses Lü Yinglong and has considerable courage, so he could serve as a general too. And he is always discoursing on the affairs of the realm, so he seems to be a strategist as well. At worst, he can wage war on paper.

That way, he alone could serve as both general and strategist. But the brother who was to raise the banner is dead.

Could we rely on Huaixian and Huaiyuan? They're still young. How could a child lead an uprising? And how can we bind this man to us and make him serve?

Chen Yuyin thought for a good while before inviting Meng Yuan in.

That evening, they discussed the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms of earlier times.

Of these two, one wanted to probe the other's heart for the secrets of immortals, while the other wanted to use his courage, martial prowess, and strategic abilities to become ruler of the realm.

Neither harbored good intentions, yet when they met, one was refined and courteous, the other dignified and gentle. They looked for all the world like a rare pair of kindred spirits.