(3) Standing Up to Yue Heng

Now, Yuefeng, Yuesheng, Yuehao, and Yuehua were the four personal guards stationed at the four cardinal positions around the Manor Lord of Yueyue Manor. While Chu Mingxi had still been alive, their duty had been to protect the physical safety of Chu Mingxi and her son; Yueying, meanwhile, had always been Tian Xu's own personal bodyguard. After Chu Mingxi's passing and Tian Xu's succession as Manor Lord, Yueying took up the central position. Thanks to years of working together, the coordination between the five of them and Tian Xu was extraordinarily seamless, their teamwork flawless, which was precisely why they operated with such remarkable efficiency. Shen Wan, who had essentially never engaged in any real misconduct in Chang'an before, had naturally never had occasion to witness their skills firsthand—which was exactly why he had so badly misjudged his own chances, believing he had found an opportunity. Truly, when peaceful days stretch on too long, people lose all sense of how high the sky truly is.

Since Han Jian and Wang Qiugui had detained Hong Tai the night before, Hong Tai now had no path forward except to bow his head, beg for mercy, and implicate Shen Wan as the mastermind. And so he pointed at Shen Wan and said, "I've always been rather timid—it was only through Shopkeeper Shen's persuasion that I was drawn into doing such a thing. Now I deeply regret it, and I beg the Manor Lord to be merciful and spare me." With that, Hong Tai resumed kowtowing furiously.

Seeing Hong Tai switch sides so readily right there in front of him, Shen Wan, though he sensed the situation had turned decidedly against him, refused to simply admit defeat—otherwise, wouldn't all his previous "efforts" have been for nothing? He spat toward Hong Tai and cursed, "If you hadn't wanted to do it yourself, who could have talked you into it? Now that you're under pressure, you're pinning it all on me? Some nerve you've got, Hong!"

Hong Tai shrank back and dared not respond. He might not have been clever, but at least he knew how to read the situation and admit defeat quickly, which meant his own outcome would likely be somewhat better in the end. Shen Wan, by contrast, wasn't clever at all, yet believed himself to be—and that was precisely what had driven him into this irredeemable predicament.

"I told the mistress ages ago—is there a single item at Zhenbao Tower that isn't rare and precious? There's never a shortage of wealthy people in Chang'an; we should have started doing this long ago. If you ask me, it shouldn't stop at Yuezhou celadon—those jade pieces, jewelry, ornamental necklaces... they should all be put up for competitive bidding too. The more we do that, the higher the value of these treasures climbs, satisfying customers' desire for scarcity while letting Zhenbao Tower rake in even greater profits—both sides benefit, so why not?" Shen Wan grew increasingly self-righteous the more he spoke.

"A woman running the household naturally has limited vision, soft-hearted foolishness..."

He had barely gotten the words out when Tian Xu roared, "Yueying! Strike him across the face!" cutting him off mid-sentence.

In an instant, Yueying lunged forward, faster than lightning, and delivered two crisp, resounding slaps that echoed through the hall. Five red finger-marks bloomed instantly across both of Shen Wan's cheeks, the pain so sharp he momentarily lost all sense of direction, able only to clutch his face and grimace, baring his teeth.

Just then, from outside the door came the voices of Yuefeng and Yuehao reverently addressing someone as "Master"—and before the words had even faded, a fierce blast of palm energy, reeking of alcohol, came surging through the air. Amid the shocked gazes of Yuehua, Yuesheng, Yueying, and Yuelan, Tian Xu leapt into the air behind Shen Wan and swung his elbow to deflect what would have been a lethal blow aimed at Shen Wan. The newcomer had used only half his internal strength, yet it would still have been more than enough to shatter the heart meridian of someone like Shen Wan, who had no martial training whatsoever. Tian Xu dared not meet the strike head-on—after all, the man's martial skill and internal energy both far surpassed his own, and taking the blow directly would have been far too risky. So instead, he used the momentum against itself, redirecting the force of the palm strike. In an instant, there came the sharp crack of bone and sinew snapping in Shen Wan's right shoulder, followed immediately by his anguished howl as he crumpled to the ground. Wang Qiugui went pale as ash and turned her face away, unable to bear the sight. Han Jian, having witnessed a fair number of such scenes in his life, managed to hold onto a shred of composure and quietly took Wang Qiugui's hand to steady her. Hong Tai, who had never witnessed anything like this before, was so terrified he wet himself on the spot, his body going limp and collapsing to the ground, unable to move.

"Father, please calm your anger." Tian Xu looked somewhat troubled. Over the past decade or so, though his adoptive father had always been strict when training him alongside Yueqi and Han Jin, and though he rarely showed any warmth toward his disciples in daily life—even though outsiders spread tales of him as a demon-like figure, wild and merciless—for as long as Tian Xu could remember, this man had been nothing less than a genuinely devoted father to him in every sense, cradling and raising him with tender care: Yue Heng.

"This ungrateful wretch—your mother showed him kindness as if she had given him a second life, and yet here he is, badmouthing your mother right in front of everyone. He deserves to die ten times over. One strike, kill him, and just toss him in some ditch outside Chang'an to feed the wild dogs. What are you pleading for him for?" Yue Heng stood up straight, having intercepted Tian Xu's intervention, his face dark with fury. Since he served as master to Yueqi, none of them dared defy his will—only Tian Xu, as Manor Lord, had the standing to step in and stop him.

"Father speaks rightly. Such ingratitude, such vile words spoken against Mother—these are things Xu'er, too, could never possibly tolerate. And yet, here beneath the Emperor's very feet, we must still proceed with caution in all things." Tian Xu bowed respectfully.

"I'll bear the consequences of whatever happens—what are you afraid of? Worst case, a life for a life. You'd let him keep running his mouth about your mother? Do you think your old man Yue is already dead?" With that, Yue Heng struck out again, aiming directly for the crown of Shen Wan's skull as he lay writhing and howling on the ground. The bulging veins on his neck, his bloodshot eyes, and the reek of alcohol clinging to him all combined to fill everyone present with a sense of dread, leaving them too frightened even to breathe.

This was almost a side of his adoptive father that Tian Xu had never witnessed before. Though Yue Heng's features were sharply carved, his gaze as piercing as a hawk's, and though the martial world regarded him as something akin to a malevolent demon, for over a decade now, despite his few words, he had always deferred to Tian Xu's mother without question, following her wishes to the letter, and toward Tian Xu—her only son—he had, aside from martial training hours, shown nothing but deep affection and tender care. Since his mother's passing, his adoptive father had been drinking himself into a stupor every single day, almost never sober. Before leaving Yueyue Manor, Auntie Gui had left him a note explaining the situation in Chang'an; truthfully, no one had expected that their father, perpetually drunk into oblivion day after day, would actually show up at all—yet here he was, a suffocating aura of violence blanketing the entire hall, pressing down on everyone present with such overwhelming force that no one dared even breathe too loudly.

Seeing Yue Heng's absolute determination to kill Shen Wan, and knowing that the one person in the world who might have talked him down had already passed away, with no one present daring to provoke his wrath further, Tian Xu—fully aware of how vastly his own skill fell short—had no choice but to grit his teeth and take the full force of Yue Heng's strike head-on. The two palms met above Shen Wan's head, internal forces clashing violently, instantly rattling Shen Wan's skull with a droning shock that made him unconsciously wet himself again, his whole body convulsing before he passed out cold.

"Xu'er... Manor Lord..." Having absorbed Yue Heng's strike, Tian Xu staggered backward two steps, unable to steady himself, a violent surge of blood and energy rising in his chest before he coughed up a mouthful of blood, startling everyone present into a chorus of alarmed cries. Yueying reacted with lightning speed, rushing forward first to support Tian Xu. Yue Heng, perhaps having drunk too much, or perhaps simply stunned that Tian Xu had taken his full strike head-on, reacted a fraction slower than Yueying, reaching out and stepping forward to help support Tian Xu as well—but Yueying had already beaten him to it. Wang Qiugui, who had been unable to bear looking at Shen Wan's gruesome state, turned back at the sound of everyone's alarmed cries and saw Tian Xu coughing blood; she too rushed forward anxiously to embrace him. Han Jian, seeing this, quickly followed suit. Yuefeng and Yuehao remained at the door, not daring to abandon their posts, watching anxiously from where they stood, while Yuehua, Yuesheng, and Yuelan all rushed toward Tian Xu at once—the scene grew rather chaotic for a moment.

"Xu'er is the lady's only child—if you injure him, how will you ever answer to her? What did she instruct you before she passed?" Wang Qiugui's son, Han Jin, was only two months apart in age from Tian Xu, and she had, in essence, served as Tian Xu's wet nurse, always treating him as her own with boundless affection. Seeing Tian Xu injured now, how could she possibly bear it? Without a second thought, she turned directly on Yue Heng, her protective instincts overriding whatever fear she might have felt a moment ago—what did she care now about whether Yue Heng was dangerous or not? She glared at him and shoved away the hand he too had extended toward Tian Xu, her large round eyes blazing with fury.

"Xu'er, how are you? Is it serious? Don't you dare scare Auntie Gui like this..." Having pushed Yue Heng aside, Wang Qiugui hurried to check on Tian Xu's injury, her overwhelming concern plain for all to see.

"Xu'er is fine, Auntie Gui, please don't worry..." Tian Xu tried to reassure Wang Qiugui, but no sooner had he spoken than another surge rose in his chest, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood, sending Wang Qiugui into a panic, tears welling in her eyes as she kept gently stroking his back while furiously berating Yue Heng.

"Why haven't you gone to fetch Physician Zhou yet? Look what you've done—if anything happens to Xu'er, all of us could die of shame and still not dare face the lady in the afterlife. What are you standing there in a daze for?"

Wang Qiugui's scolding seemed to shock Yue Heng out of his daze as though struck by an open hand. He immediately snapped to attention and barked orders toward the door: "Yuefeng, Yuehao, go fetch Zhou Mengda right away. Split up—check both Mochou Hall and Pingkang Ward."

Yuefeng and Yuehao acknowledged the order at once, rushed out of the Shen residence, mounted their horses, and galloped off at full speed. Yue Heng turned, cut through the crowd in a single leap, and pulled Tian Xu directly from Wang Qiugui's arms with precisely calibrated force—managing to take hold of Tian Xu without causing Wang Qiugui to lose her balance and stumble. With one hand he steadied Tian Xu's body, and with the other he pressed his own internal energy into Tian Xu's back, attempting to correct the chaotic flow of energy and blood within him.

Feeling Tian Xu whisked away from her arms by Yue Heng, Wang Qiugui was about to protest, but Han Jian, standing beside her, quickly drew her close and murmured soothingly, "Ah Gui, don't panic—let Master Yue handle this..."

Seeing that Yue Heng genuinely meant to make amends, and though she herself knew nothing of martial arts, Wang Qiugui understood well enough that Yue Heng was working to heal Tian Xu. Together with Han Jian's comforting words, though her heart still remained tightly knotted with worry, she wiped away the tears that had spilled out in her earlier panic and settled into an anxious quiet.