FMT 43

Chapter 43 First Day of the New Year

The next day was the first day of the new year. In the morning they set off firecrackers in a lively racket. After breakfast and New Year greetings, with nothing else to do, many gathered together to play leaf cards.

Chen Shuangning was also called to play. Liandan tried a few rounds, but losing made his heart pound nervously. When he saw Liang Yun carrying Xiaodan over, he quickly took the child, gave up his seat, and let Liang Yun sit down to play.

Xue Ming brought fruit and sat with Liandan by the card table to eat. She also pressed a small bowl of mashed fruit for Xiaodan. Xiaodan stood holding onto the stool, tilting his little head back, waiting for the adults to pause between bites so she could feed him. Each time she gave him a spoonful, he ate it all in one gulp.

After eating his fill, Xiaodan held onto the chairs where the adults sat, his little feet thumping as he walked circles around. Liandan wanted to stop him, but Xue Ming laughed and said, “Let him go. Let’s see where he wants to go.”

The two watched as Xiaodan circled the table, went to the other card table nearby, and tumbled into Chen Shuangning’s arms.

Chen Shuangning picked him up at once, put him on his lap, and held him. Xiaodan went for the cards in his hand.

Liandan quickly got up and walked over. He said, “Don’t let him disturb your game, I’ll hold him.”

Chen Shuangning said, “It’s fine. I’ll soothe him. Yesterday he slept late. You should go back to the room and rest more.”

Xue Ming came over, took Liandan’s hand, and said, “There will be fireworks tonight. Let’s go back and lie down for a while to build strength, then come out in the evening to watch.”

Xue Ming pulled him away. When Liandan looked back, he still saw Xiaodan grabbing for Chen Shuangning’s cards again and again. Chen Shuangning showed no impatience. When Xiaodan snatched them away, he let him hold them, and when he needed to play, he simply replaced them with another card.

Liandan thought, Chen Shuangning seemed cold in temperament and not easy to approach, but in truth, he was very patient with children and with him.

After going back to the room, he was not sleepy yet. Liandan and Xue Ming sat in the tea room, drinking tea, eating snacks, and chatting idly.

These days, after meeting so many people, Liandan had a lot of questions. But since Chen Shuangning said he did not want him too deeply involved, he held himself back and did not ask.

But there was one question he thought would not matter much if he asked, so he could not resist. He said, “I saw many people came with their whole families. Why are they all young? I rarely see older ones.”

Xue Ming’s hand paused as she drank tea. She slowly put down the cup and sighed.

Liandan felt something was wrong and quickly said, “I was just asking casually. You don’t need to answer.”

Xue Ming shook her head. Her expression darkened. She said, “I’ll tell you a story. Just take it like listening to a tale.”

Liandan froze for a moment, then nodded.

Xue Ming said, “Once there was a bad man. He was greedy, cruel, and inhuman. He gathered many bad men like himself and together they did many evil things.”

“Later, after too many wrongs, he brought wrath upon himself. These people were crushed so badly by the righteous of the martial world that they could hardly breathe. He then decided to wash his hands of crime and hide away. But even in seclusion, his people wanted to live in luxury, to build a grand residence, and to have many servants to attend them. So before they withdrew, they decided to make a few last big moves, to pile up more wealth.”

Liandan’s brows furrowed. He felt something bad.

Xue Ming propped her hand on her forehead and looked off toward an unknown faraway place.

“But in the martial world they were already wanted by everyone, so it was hard for them to act. They turned their eyes to ordinary people outside the martial world.”

Liandan let out an “Ah,” his heartbeat quickened.

Xue Ming said, “In only a few months, they secretly robbed several rich households, stole much silver, and killed many. At first no one knew it was them, thinking it just ordinary bandits. Later they grew worse. One time, in a single day, they wiped out three households.”

“This was finally discovered. The righteous of the martial world gathered to fight them. They panicked and fled like headless flies. Along the road they killed many more, until they found the ideal place to hide and escaped pursuit.”

“They built a beautiful estate there, with many servants to wait on them.”

“But in their hearts, they were not content to settle in one corner. They still wanted to return to the martial world and dominate a region, even the entire martial world. So, along their flight, they captured many boys with good potential, wanting to raise them as weapons for their future return. Naturally, the parents would not agree, so to avoid trouble, they killed nearly all the families of those children.”

At this point, Xue Ming paused for quite a while.

Liandan seemed to understand something. His eyes grew red.

“These children were not very young. After all, men like them would not spend effort raising babies. They were children old enough to remember things and take care of themselves. So, to control them, they used poison or gu worms.”

“Some children died in the process. Some weaker ones lost their lives on the road.”

“The ones left lived every day in fear, suffering torment, but they supported each other, stood tightly united, and their bonds grew very strong. That was the only light in all their hardship.”

“Among them there was one who was the youngest, the most stubborn. He would rather die than obey. But his talent was too great, so the bad men thought of a very effective way to control him.”

Xue Ming lowered her hand, lifted her head, and looked at Liandan, whose eyes were wide and rimmed with red. She smiled and said, “I’ll tell you a secret.”

Liandan’s voice trembled. “What?”

Xue Ming gave a bitter smile. She said, “Chen Shuangning is indeed his real name. Our family name is Chen. I am his younger sister. My real name is… Chen Shuangruo. After we were brought here, we all had code names. Xue Ming is only my code name. His code name is Xue Zong.”

Liandan looked at her in shock and realization. She had a pair of eyes very much like Chen Shuangning’s.

Xue Ming said, “When I was sent away I was only three years old. I was raised outside by an old woman. When I returned here and saw him again, more than ten years had already passed. He thought I didn’t remember him, but I remembered everything clearly.”

Xue Ming tipped back the cup of tea in front of her and drained it. When she set the cup down she said, “I also remember that on that Spring Festival day when I was three, how my parents, grandparents, other relatives, and the servants in our household were killed. Their blood dyed the garden waterways completely red.”

Tears came to Liandan’s eyes. He grasped the hand Xue Ming had resting on the table.

Xue Ming shook her head. She said, “I’m fine. Those who should die already died completely four years ago. My brother and the others personally took revenge.”

“Only the Left and Right Protectors escaped in the chaos. You have seen the Left Protector, that monk Yuanjing from Lingyun Temple.”

Liandan gave a shocked “Ah.” He heard Xue Ming continue, “As long as we get rid of those two remnants, our parents can rest in peace.”

Xue Ming rose and walked to the window. She pushed it open. The garden outside and the courtyards below came into view.

She looked out. Her pupils narrowed. “This residence was built with our parents’ family fortune.”

“My brother disbanded that disgusting demonic sect. But many people were unwilling to leave, because they no longer had homes. So this place was kept as our home.”

“Some went out later, built families, and started new lives. But they still stay in touch and meet often.”

“And with the Left and Right Protectors still alive, everyone knows that sooner or later they will become a serious threat. So they are spread out everywhere, always watching those two, coordinating with my brother’s actions.”

“Every Spring Festival, they come back. But not only for the holiday.”

“My brother and I were taken here on that Spring Festival day. They know he feels sorrow in his heart, so they come especially to be with him.”

Liandan lowered his head and wiped his tears. He asked softly, “Since those bad men are mostly dead, why don’t you and your brother acknowledge each other?”

“He doesn’t want to.”

“Why?”

Xue Ming lowered her head and did not answer.

After a while, Liandan thought of another question. He asked, “You… how old are you this year?”

Xue Ming answered, “Seventeen.”

Liandan stared at her in shock.

Xue Ming said, “My brother, after this Spring Festival, will be exactly twenty.”

That meant that when Liandan first met Chen Shuangning, he had only been eighteen.

….

That night, Chen Shuangning drank too much again, though not as much as the night before.

He did everything normally, almost showing no drunkenness.

But after everyone went outside to watch the fireworks, when he suddenly said he wanted to make a late-night meal for everyone, they all looked at each other, and clearly realized that he really had drunk too much.

Chen Shuangning would not let anyone go with him. He went to the kitchen alone. In the dining hall, the others waited restlessly. Only Liandan acted normal, holding both of Xiaodan’s little hands and walking him around to burn off energy.

Even Xue Ming’s face showed hesitation, torn between wanting to slip away quickly and feeling that since her brother rarely cooked, it would be wrong not to give him face.

While they hesitated, Chen Shuangning had already called for them to come in and carry out the noodles.

Everyone sat properly at the table. In front of them were bowls of something unclear, whether noodle sheets or noodles, just a mush.

Liu Shuqi gritted his teeth, lifted his bowl, ate a mouthful, turned his head and coughed, then forced himself to swallow.

But beside Xue Ming, Liandan was already eating quickly, slurping mouthful after mouthful. In no time he finished a whole bowl. Along the way he even fed Xiaodan a few bites, and Xiaodan also ate happily.

After Liandan finished and set down his bowl, he noticed everyone’s eyes all fixed on him.

Chen Shuangning tapped his fingers lightly on the table, two knocks. Immediately everyone pulled their gazes back. Even if they had to pinch their noses, they drank down the mush in front of them.

Xue Ming took a sip, paused, then another. She secretly asked Liandan, “How can you eat that?”

Liandan looked confused. “Why not eat it? Isn’t it tasty?”

“In the past, whenever my brother said he would cook, all the senior brothers would run away in fear,” Xue Ming shook her head with a smile. “You really are…”

She did not finish the words “you really are what.”

When the others had mostly finished eating, Chen Shuangning stood up and said, “The one who cooked doesn’t wash the bowls. I’m leaving first.”

Saying that, he went to Liandan, took Xiaodan from his arms, and put the child into Xue Ming’s.

Liandan looked at him in puzzlement. Chen Shuangning grabbed his wrist and said, “Come on, I’ll take you to play.”

Liandan, completely confused, was pulled out of the room. Xue Ming, afraid her brother might do something reckless from drinking, hurried after them. Liu Shuqi and the others followed as well.

Outside the dining hall, Chen Shuangning released Liandan’s wrist and instead wrapped an arm around his waist. Before Liandan’s face could even turn red, his head went dizzy, his vision blurred, and he was suddenly in midair. He screamed “Ah!” and quickly clung tightly to the young man’s neck, pressing himself close to him, terrified of falling.

Chen Shuanning held Liandan. Their bodies moved as light as birds. Stepping on rooftops and tree branches, they jumped high. With the ge’er’s screams echoing, the two finally landed on a branch of a tall tree in the courtyard.

The weather was good that night. The sky was thin with clouds like mist. The crescent moon hung like a hook.

On the tree was a pair of figures. One carefree and unrestrained, the other holding on tight, looking around in both fear and wonder.

Liu Shuqi frowned in disapproval. “He shouldn’t be using inner strength so carelessly.”

Xue Ming tilted her head back to look at the two in the tree. A faint smile was on her face. She said, “He’s rarely this happy. Let him be.”