"Uncle, please spare my life!"
The man was terrified to his core, begging for mercy as soon as he hit the ground, huddling close to Li Mutian.
"Ah! Have mercy, Uncle, have mercy, Uncle, please..."
Li Yesheng had never imagined that while he only wanted to steal a melon to satisfy his craving, in the blink of an eye, his most feared uncle stood before him, so scared he couldn't move a muscle, and Li Mutian still held a long knife in his hand, which frightened him even more.
"Yesheng?" Li Mutian fixed his gaze upon him, furrowing his brows, his face uncertain as he stroked his beard and stared intently at him.
Li Yesheng was Li Yesheng's elder brother, their father had been bedridden for years, yet Li Yesheng spent his days idly, always looking to mooch off others.
Two youths also arrived upon hearing the noise, Li Tongya raised his long staff and pressed it directly onto Li Yesheng's arm, causing him to cry tears and snot. Li Changhu grabbed his head to have a look, and couldn't help but be moved.
"Cousin?" Li Changhu exhaled deeply, asking in confusion.
"What are you doing here?" Li Tongya asked coldly, not lessening the force on his staff.
"He came to steal our melons!" Looking at Li Yesheng's hesitant appearance, Li Mutian answered coldly on his behalf, sheathing his long knife and turning to leave.
"Cousin, no offense taken."
Li Tongya also relaxed his grip on the staff and, with a parting word, followed his father back into the house. Only Li Changhu remained, helping Li Yesheng up, wiping his face, murmuring words of comfort, and politely ushering him out of the courtyard.
————
Inside the house.
Li Chijin and Li Xiangping sat dumbfounded at the table, the Mirror hidden in their embrace, Li Xiangping not daring to move an inch, relieved when not long after their father and elder brother walked into the hall.
"Where's eldest brother?"
Looking behind them, he hurriedly asked.
"He went to see off a guest."
Li Mutian shook his head
"I know Yesheng often comes to mooch, but I'm afraid tonight's incident might leak out and bring catastrophe upon the whole family."
Li Tongya found a small stool to sit on and turned his head to glance at Li Xiangping, about to speak.
"Creak."
The door made a closing sound, eldest brother Li Changhu with a puzzled look, sat down on a stool and addressed their father Li Mutian.
"Father, why do this?"
He shook his head.
"Yesheng just stole a melon, you could have easily turned a blind eye, yet you chose to offend his family."
"What his family, my family? There is only one Li Family, my legitimate and illegitimate..."
Li Mutian leaned against the window, gesturing with his ear toward his wife and young son: "Go squat by the front and back doors, call out if someone comes."
They acknowledged and exited. Li Mutian locked the doors and windows, then patted Li Xiangping, commanding
"Speak!"
Li Xiangping nodded vigorously and began in a soft voice:
"Today I went to Meichi River to catch fish, and I found this object in the river."
Having said that, he looked at his father Li Mutian, and upon receiving a nod, he took out a Mirror from his embrace.
Li Changhu looked at his brother and then at their father, took the grey-green Mirror, and examined it carefully but couldn't discern its significance.
Li Mutian took the Mirror from his eldest son's hand, found the small hole in the roof, and placed a stone stool underneath it, setting the Mirror below and squinting at his sons.
As the moonlight rippled like water, it gathered above the surface of the Mirror like swallows swooping into the forest, casting a faint white halo akin to a gemstone.
Li Changhu "whooshed" to his feet from his chair, staring intently at the ring around the moon reflected in the Mirror, while Li Tongya also turned pale with emotion, thoughtfully fixing his gaze on the Mirror.
For the time it takes to drink a cup of tea in silence, the members of the Li Family stared at the Mirror without blinking, their expressions varied.
It was the second time Li Xiangping had seen this scene, yet he was still shocked and murmured to himself:
"I have never seen such a beautiful sight since childhood..."
"Haha, don't mention you, your father has never seen such fine things either."
Li Mutian chuckled low, yet he showed no hint of mirth, instead, his eyes were fiercely sharp.
"This must be an object of the Immortal."
Li Tongya spoke calmly, picking up his long knife and wiping it continuously. He seemed composed as he looked at the Mirror, but his trembling hands betrayed his inner turmoil.
"If word of this gets out, it could mean the destruction of our family."
Li Changhu paced back and forth in the room, his expression anxious yet excited.
"If it's something the Immortal lost, they could use magic to find it tomorrow. How would we deal with it then?"
Li Tongya looked steadily at his father, speaking not without worry.
Li Xiangping nodded and said with a smile, "Whatever the Immortal might bestow, it would be of endless benefit to our family."
"Nonsense."
Li Mutian waved his hand, "I've heard that Immortals often have a craving for killing, absolutely not! The Mirror has been in the water for who knows how long, if they wanted it, they would have collected it long ago. It's our turn, mere mortals, to find it. I think the Immortal has mostly likely met with an accident."
Li Changhu felt his heart race with fear upon hearing such an outrageous statement, frowning as he pondered something.
But Li Tongya had an epiphany, uttering in a low and deep voice:
"Could it have been seen by that kid, Li Yesheng?"
"I showed the object to father in front of the house. At that time, Yesheng should have been in the fields," said Li Xiangping, his eyes downcast.
"I'll go kill him!"
Li Tongya's expression was fierce and without hesitation, he donned the Vine Armor, grabbed his knife, and stepped outside. It was the first time Li Xiangping had seen such a look on his brother's face, prompting him to take an extra glance.
"Come back!" Li Mutian furrowed his brow as he called Li Tongya back and glanced at Li Xiangping, causing him to become visibly flustered.
"Father!" Li Tongya finally sounded frantic, his tone forceful as he spoke.
"Li Yesheng is ungrateful and boastful, flamboyant yet duplicitous. Rather than letting him slip up and leak the secret, bringing disaster upon our family, it would be better to let him die first."
"It seems brother has learned quite a lot from the village scholar," Li Xiangping thought silently, ashamedly bowing his head. Father had sent all three of them to study with the scholar, and both his brothers had gained favor. Only he, young and ignorant, mischievous, was now unable to understand the idioms used by his brother.
"What if your own younger brother betrayed us and was loose-lipped? Would you kill him too?"
Li Mutian laughed heartily, posing the question back to his son.
"Our family does not breed such cowards,"
said Li Tongya indifferently.
Li Mutian shook his head, straightened the wooden table with a lift of his hand, leaped onto it with a slight jump, and pulled a wooden box from the roof beams.
He placed the wooden box on the table and spoke earnestly to the three brothers:
"There are some things you should also know about. I left our village at the age of thirteen, headed down the ancient Lidao to Anli County. General Yang had received imperial orders to attack the Shanyue and was conscripting soldiers on the Lidao. Having nowhere else to go, your father had no choice but to enlist."
"General Yang ran a tight ship but lived and ate alongside us as if we were family. He taught us the Yue military tactics, urging us to train diligently. These tactics are widely spread and easy to learn but difficult to master. Ordinary people who master them only become more agile, showing no extraordinary abilities," Li Mutian sighed, seeing his sons listening intently, and continued:
"After I returned to our village, I studied and wrote, transcribing the battle tactics onto these Wooden Slips, which I have already instructed you all to practice thoroughly. Up to now, they don't seem to amount to much, and that's one thing."
Li Mutian opened the wooden box, which contained a Wooden Slip, a Talisman, and several pieces of broken silver and colored glaze trinkets.