Yu Mu began his story. “The first I heard was that two members of the Song clan’s younger generation had been humiliated by one of our own.” Yu Jian nodded, smiling. For some reason, this made Yu Mu even more nervous. He continued his story, recounting how the Song clan elder had come to him, and he had gone with the elder to have William apologize. He then ended with William’s public insult to the Song clan elder and Yu Mu.

One of the other elders with Yu Mu spoke up. “Is there any doubt that he insulted a Yu clan elder? He should be punished for this!”

Yu Jian tilted his head. “I don’t recall hearing any mention of anyone in our Yu clan in that story except for Hui’lam. Maybe it’s my old ears. Perhaps you could repeat it.”

Yu Mu, rather reluctantly, repeated the story again, speaking loudly and clearly.

Yu Jian shook his head. “Upon repetition, it indeed sounds the same. I am unsure why you have not apologized for your false accusations already.”

A different elder spoke up. “He quite clearly insulted Yu Mu, that cannot be denied!”

Yu Jian nodded. “Ah, that is right. He did insult you, Yu Mu.” Yu Jian frowned. “However, I still fail to see how he lost any face for our Yu clan, or even insulted a member of our family, let alone an elder.”

“Is not Yu Mu your own nephew? How can you say this!” One of the elders couldn’t hold back his voice.

“I suppose I must admit that I share some blood with Yu Mu, but it should be obvious that he is not a member of the Yu clan. After all, what member of the Yu clan would support the Song clan in any way. No member of the Yu clan would ask one of our juniors to apologize to the Song clan for humiliating them instead of rewarding him.”

“But-” another elder spoke up, but was immediately cut off.

“Shut up. I don’t even know how all of your rabble got in here. Only members of the Yu Clan have the right to speak here.”

“I am-” another one started, only to be slapped across the face. His head whipped to the side, and William thought he saw blood and maybe a tooth fly out of his mouth.

“I said only members of the Yu clan have the right to speak here. I’ll not stand an entire group of you outsiders coming into our compound and bringing accusations against my family and clan! You have one minute to leave the property.”

The first elder who had spoken up was trembling in rage. “Even as a Grand Elder, you cannot-” This time, it wasn’t a slap, but a real strike to the jaw. William had heard the sound of bones breaking only a few times before, but it was still easily recognizable.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I am being lenient only because the Yu clan is righteous. However, I will not be so gentle to intruders on the family property if they are found here.” He paused for a moment. “It seems you only have half your time left. I wouldn’t want to be found intruding on our property after the grace period is up.”

At this point, everyone realized how serious he was, and started running as fast as they could. William thought it was extremely undignified… and entirely necessary. Even he almost ran away, and he wasn’t even being intentionally intimidated. “Isn’t this going to cause trouble?”

“Trouble?” Yu Jian turned toward William and looked down on him with a truly kind smile. Then, he cracked his knuckles. “I haven’t caused any trouble in almost a dozen years. In fact, I haven’t even started.”

William looked at Dong Xin. He had thought that as a Grand Elder, Yu Jian would be… different. However, Dong Xin’s look told William everything he needed to know. To William, at least, he thought it said, “Yes, your grandfather is that kind of person.” William wasn’t sure if he wanted to be Yu Jian’s grandson anymore… but he had to admit that it was definitely better than not being his grandson. It was nice to actually have someone powerful on his side, but he wasn’t sure if it was going to be good in the long run.

-----

Over the next few days, Yu Jian only spent his time causing minimal amounts of trouble. Some people got a stern talking to, which sometimes went a bit further than just talking, but nobody else was kicked out of the house. Those who had been suppressing William and his sister found themselves in rather less position than they had been, but family politics were just that. Everything had occurred just within the family. Meanwhile, those elders with Yu Mu had been supporting the Song clan, even just with their words, in order to suppress family members. Even the other grand elders couldn’t say much, especially since the matter involved Yu Jian’s “new” grandson.

William thought that Yu Jian showed a surprising amount of restraint based on what he had seen earlier. However, instead of instilling him with confidence, it just made him worried about when he would actually start “causing trouble”.

Big Sister Li was surprised to see the return of her barely remembered grandfather. It was somewhat awkward, since he was apparently responsible for her lack of ability to train ki properly. However, the worse part was that he had disappeared and not been around for so long, leaving her mostly to her own devices. Showing up and changing things seemed just like too little too late. However, William hoped that time would help.

Indeed, over the course of the next year they grew, if not close, at least less awkward around each other. William did his best to help with that, but knew he could only do so much, notwithstanding his lack of exceptional social skills. William continued to train, motivated by the fact that there were others who were concerned about the Demon King, as well as the fact that he had a new teacher, his grandfather, who had many interesting insights to share with him. The rivalry with the Song clan escalated over the year. Nothing more than bruises and occasionally broken bones, but conflicts erupted almost every time juniors and even some seniors of the clans met. None of the juniors of the Yu clan were allowed to go out except in pairs, and sometimes with more or an adult escort. Then, it was time for the next family tournament. William was prepared this time, since he actually knew he would be participating. He wanted to see how he compared to people now. It was rather hard to measure his growth against people who were much above him, after all.