Secret manuals

"I know. I already made that clear. We're in the mountains, and we get plenty of snow every year. They said there's a new model with a top that automatically extends and retracts, then shakes the snow off. I've seen it. It's pretty good, and it doesn't cost much more," Ye Huan's dad said.

"Then order it if it's good. One crop of vegetables in winter will earn that back." Ye Huan nodded. As long as the quality held up. The snow in the mountains was no small matter in winter.

"Dad, my sister called. She's coming back to see you in a few days," Ye Dafa told the old man.

"Hm? Why come back when it's not a holiday or anything? The Mid-Autumn Festival is still a long way off," Ye Huan's grandfather asked.

"Ah, it's my brother-in-law's job. Apparently the company wasn't doing well. He got his N+1 severance and lost his job. He's worrying about it, so they're coming back for a change of scenery." Ye Dafa's eldest sister had told him not to tell their father, but how could he hold it in?

"He's almost sixty. What can he do after losing his job? If nothing else works, he can sweep the streets," the old man said. He wasn't about to lose his temper at his son-in-law over something like this. That would be unreasonable.

"My sister said he could work as a security guard at a residential complex. That pays three thousand a month too. He just needs to muddle through a few more years until retirement." Ye Dafa didn't say much else. It was only two or three years.

"Are Zichuan and the others coming too?" the old man asked. Though he didn't treat his eldest daughter's son as well as his son's son, he had never treated him poorly either. Li Zichuan was thirty, three years older than Ye Huan, and was already married with a daughter. The old man was just asking whether his great-grandchild was coming back.

Ye Huan didn't join in. He was neither close to nor distant from his aunt's family. His uncle was an honest man, quiet and thin-skinned, while his aunt was rather domineering. Back when the old man doted on his grandson, she had been unhappy about it. Later, when she learned that all the old man's treasures were being saved for his grandson, she grew even more unhappy.

Then she insisted on moving the whole family to the provincial capital, forcing the old man to sell half a tiger skeleton to buy them a home. Only then had she settled down a little over the years.

Ye Huan's cousin had the same personality as his mother, calculating and rather selfish. Fortunately, he had married a good wife who worked in the county town. She was kind, capable, and filial. Ye Huan had met her.

The couple had a daughter a few months younger than Jingjing. Aside from her one-month celebration and first birthday, Ye Huan had only seen her once, during last year's New Year celebrations, when he gave her five hundred yuan in lucky money.

In all honesty, if his uncle hadn't been a decent person, and his cousin's wife hadn't been nice too, Ye Huan really couldn't have been bothered with his aunt and cousin.

They were always eyeing the old man's treasures. Li Zichuan no longer dared, though. He had stolen some once as a child, and Ye Wuju had strung him up on the big tree by the entrance and whipped him. After that, he had behaved.

Now he had even less chance. All the treasures were stored in Ye Huan's space. No matter what, Ye Huan wouldn't give those things to his cousin unless his grandfather said so.

His guess was right. His aunt was coming back this time to cry poverty to the old man. But if she knew the old man had prepared five million for them, he wondered whether she would blush.

Although Ye Huan's aunt didn't know exactly how many treasures the old man had, she had personally experienced half a tiger skeleton fetching over a million, so she had kept coveting them. She knew those things were meant for her nephew, but she just couldn't help wanting to take them for herself. It was all money, after all. Who knew how many millions the old man had tucked away?

"Sigh." Ye Huan's grandfather said nothing else. He had asked his grandson to prepare five million for them, but now he suddenly didn't want to give it to them. How could he not know what his daughter was coming back for?

Once Ye Dafa went to set the table, his grandfather told Ye Huan, "Don't give them that money yet. Otherwise, who knows what sort of fuss they'll make? Give it to them as help when they need it instead."

"Huh?" Ye Huan froze, then nodded. He understood. If they gave his aunt five million all at once, she would definitely ask where it had come from. Why should she get only five million out of eighty million? She could argue a person to death.

"Give me two hundred thousand first. I'll slip it to her in secret. She definitely won't broadcast it." Ye Huan's grandfather knew his daughter all too well.

"Okay. I'll put it in your cupboard tonight." Ye Huan nodded. His grandfather had been staying at his place these past few days.

"All right. I'll move back tomorrow and tidy up the west room for them to stay in," the old man said.

"All right. Take Saihu with you..." Ye Huan knew his grandfather probably wasn't used to staying here. As for himself, whenever he had nothing to do, he would go stay in the mountains. Whether for cultivation or his personal interests, it suited him.

"This is the martial arts manual handed down through our Ye Family. Keep it safe. It's passed down to men, not women. Remember that." Ye Huan's grandfather took him back inside and handed him a little booklet.

Ye Huan solemnly accepted it. Even though he now cultivated immortality, this was his family's ancestral inheritance. He wouldn't neglect it.

"This one is a secret manual on acupoint sealing and acupuncture. These arts have already been lost to the outside world, so you must keep it safe and not let it leak. Possessing jade is itself a crime. Those few acupuncture techniques in particular have been lost for hundreds of years."

"Mm." Ye Huan nodded. He had previously watched his grandfather seal acupoints and use that acupuncture technique called something like Piercing Chill, and had realized he had underestimated his family's foundations far too much.

So not only would he practice these diligently, he would also pass them down to his descendants. Some rules couldn't simply be ignored because you didn't want to follow them.

"You have the right idea now. Come back home and develop quietly. Whatever you do, don't try to show off your abilities. If your great-grandfather had been more careful back then, or hadn't acted so rashly, he wouldn't have... Ah." His grandfather sighed.

Ye Huan nodded. Yes, by his understanding, his great-grandfather had at least been above the Great Grandmaster realm. Unfortunately, he had died surrounded by the Japanese while trying to save that close friend of his.

While his grandfather wasn't looking, Ye Huan put the two booklets safely into his space. Once something was in his hands, there was nowhere safer for it.

"Time to eat," Ye Huan's mom called.

"Coming. Let's go, Grandpa. Let's have a couple of drinks." Ye Huan supported his grandfather's arm as they came out.

"What a spread. Thinking about life now, then thinking about how I used to live-why did I put myself through that? I ate pigswill and slept in a pigsty, got up earlier than the chickens and went to bed later than the dogs, all for a few thousand yuan a month. I don't even know what I was after." Ye Huan sighed, almost wishing he could give himself a beating.

"Uncle, why did you go to bed later than Saihu?" Jingjing took a bite of the chicken drumstick Ye Huan had handed her and asked.

"Well, Uncle had something wrong with his head back then. It's cured now. Hahaha! Come on, let's drink." Ye Huan laughed heartily and drank with his grandfather and dad.

Ye Wuju sipped his liquor and nodded with a smile. He wouldn't trade his life now even for the life of an immortal.

Ye Dafa felt the same and drained his glass of beer in one gulp. Ever since coming back this time, life had been too fantastical. Even by the day he got drunk with his younger brother, he still hadn't come to his senses. Every day felt like living in a dream.

He had a car. It wasn't a luxury car, but he liked it. He had tens of thousands coming in every day. Although he handed it over to his wife, he really wasn't short of spending money now. Drinking and eating meat every day was simply too comfortable. Why had life been so awkward and so miserable before? He really couldn't figure it out.