(1) The Apple of His Eye

A clatter of hoofbeats rose along the blue-grey flagstone road in front of Yueyue Manor as the merchant caravan galloped forward without pause. Tian Xu and Yue Heng climbed down from the carriage before the "Benevolence and Righteousness, Passed Down Through Generations" plaque, walked up the steps, and stepped through the gate—only for Guo Huilian, who had been lying in ambush beside the door for a good while, to suddenly spring out and launch a surprise attack on Tian Xu. She simply wanted to find someone to test out the basic grappling technique her adoptive father had taught her before he left on this trip—would it actually work? Her adoptive father had told her that anyone without real martial training who tried such a technique had to rely entirely on the element of surprise to have any chance of turning the tables on an opponent and saving their own life. And so she had decided to catch Tenth Brother completely off guard, striking first, just to see for herself whether it actually worked.

The manor's hidden guards, seeing this unfold, found themselves genuinely torn. Protecting the Manor Lord from an attack was their sworn duty—but the attacker happened to be Guo Huilian, the very apple of Lord Yue's eye. How could they possibly dare to act rashly? If they actually hurt Guo Huilian in the process, they'd never hear the end of it. And indeed, Yue Heng was already glaring daggers at them, his eyes carrying an unmistakable warning, that cold, devouring look sparing not even Yueying—who among them would dare make a move now?

Guo Huilian closed the distance in a few quick strides, striking out with both hands to try to seize Tian Xu's wrists, her feet joining in the attack as she aimed a fierce kick at the back of his knee—only for Tian Xu's stance to prove nimble and steady, easily dodging aside, and with barely any effort at all, catching both of Guo Huilian's wrists and pinning them in reverse.

"Ow... ow..." With both hands pinned, Guo Huilian had no choice but to admit defeat and cry out in pain, begging him to let go. The sheer contrast between their two frames was striking—though Guo Huilian had grown considerably taller over these past three years, she still fell far short of Tian Xu, who had shot up in height and grown broad-shouldered besides. At eighteen, Tian Xu now stood exactly as tall as Yue Heng. With Guo Huilian crying out in pain against such a stark difference in size, anyone watching would naturally have taken her for the helpless victim.

And so Tian Xu quickly let go of her. Partly because he genuinely looked, in that moment, very much like someone bullying the weak; and partly out of fear that his adoptive father would take pity on the little girl and come looking to settle the score with him afterward. He gave Guo Huilian's forehead a light flick, telling her that what she'd just done was genuinely foolish. She was usually so quick-witted—what on earth had gotten into her today, acting so out of character and doing something so foolish?

"Father clearly said that as long as you catch someone off guard, it's easy to succeed—that was a complete lie..." Guo Huilian rubbed her forehead where Tian Xu had flicked it, voicing her displeasure to Yue Heng.

"We already knew perfectly well you were hiding sneakily behind that door, up to who knows what. And besides, Xu'er already knew you'd learned the basic grappling technique—Yaya, that was practically suicide, hardly catching anyone off guard at all." Yue Heng spoke gently, sounding like an entirely different person from the man who'd just been glaring daggers at the hidden guards moments before.

"Is that really true?" Guo Huilian looked toward Tian Xu, half convinced. Tian Xu nodded and said with a smile, "Good thing Yaya isn't technically Father's disciple—otherwise, pulling a foolish stunt like handing your own head over on a platter would have brought real shame on your master."

"Ah..." Guo Huilian gave an embarrassed laugh, feeling thoroughly clumsy, her face flushing red at once.

"If Father hadn't kept Yueying and the hidden guards in check and forbidden them from acting, attacking the Manor Lord would have gotten you either beaten to death or turned into a pincushion full of stray arrows..."

"Thank you, Father, for sparing my life." Hearing this, Guo Huilian hurried to put on a placating smile, offering Yue Heng a proper, respectful bow with hands clasped, then took hold of his arm with both hands and began wheedling. "Yaya will never do it again..." She held up two fingers, striking the pose of someone swearing an oath to heaven.

The little girl's wheedling was, without fail, the one surefire weapon against Yue Heng—likely because, having lived nearly to the age of fifty without anyone ever wheedling him like this before, he found it thoroughly disarming. A faint smile even crept across his face, unmistakably the look of a man for whom "having a daughter is enough to want for nothing else." At first, everyone at Yueyue Manor had found this change in Yue Heng rather hard to get used to, but once they noticed how much Guo Huilian had, almost invisibly, helped heal his despondent gloom, they were only too glad to see such a heartening transformation, and the whole manor, top to bottom, felt genuine gratitude toward Guo Huilian for it—Tian Xu most of all. He finally understood why Guo Huilian had always been General Guo's favorite child growing up; she truly did possess a unique quality all her own, one that made every middle-aged "old father" in her orbit want to cradle her in the palm of his hand and treat her like a treasure beyond price.