Yang Yunfan sat inside the courtyard and exercised. A few days had already passed since Zu Tian from the Zu clan came to his house. Even though all pretenses were shed, the Zu clan didn’t seem to have done anything. But that was only on his side, he still didn’t have a clue as to the happening of his father’s merchant group because Yang Kai refused to tell him. This left Yang Yunfan feeling stifled and useless.

I know I can’t help in any way but at least tell me so that I can keep an eye on the family.

Yang Yunfan sighed and rubbed the jade pendant hung around his neck. He calmed himself down and untied the string around his neck. Holding up the string, he saw two pendants. A circular jade pendant and cylindrical bronze one- the jade had exquisite carvings on them while the bronze one was had his name 'Yunfan' etched on it. He still remembered the day a year ago when he picked the jade pendant up.

It was raining and Yang Yunfan was rushing back to his home after playing with his friends. At one time, his foot hit something on the ground and he tripped. He looked back and saw the jade pendant shimmering in the ground, half-buried. His eyes sparkled and he dug it up before bringing it back home.

It remained with him ever since. Yang Yunfan didn’t know what the jade pendant did. All he knew was that it had the extraordinary ability to clear one’s mind. Regardless, the cylindrical pendant was incomparably precious to him. His mother gifted it to him on his fifth birthday and it has remained on his neck ever since.

Yang Yunfan shook his memories of the past away and focused on exercising. His father was out of the village and his older sister had gone out to meet Shi Hao. Only he, his mother, and his younger sister were in the house. His mother was teaching his sister about the rites. Of course, Yang Yunfan tried to teach Yang Ju, only for them to start playing around 10 minutes in.

He asked his older sister to lay low for some time, but it seems like his words went in one ear and out the other.

Was he angry? No. He knew that this was just how his klutz of a sister is.

He shook his head, feeling powerless. After he was done exercising, he felt sweaty all over. Wanting to take a bath, he stopped and turned around.

“What the heck!?” he cursed and fell backward. In front of him was a blue will-o'-wisp floating in the air! Yang Yunfan looked at the blue wisp in disbelief as he slowly crawled back. The wisp bobbed up and down before shaking a bit and darting straight for him.

“S-Shit!” he scrambled to get up but the wisp was already in front of him. He held his breath and stopped making any excessive moves. The wisp circled around his head as though inspecting him. It stopped a few inches from his face. As Yang Yunfan looked on with trepidation, the wisp shook, and strangely all his anxiety and fears dissipated. It felt so natural that he didn’t even notice!

“What are you?” Yang Yunfan asked with a curious gaze as he tried to touch the blue will-o'-wisp. When he brought his finger close to it, the wisp shook again and wrapped itself around his finger, giving him the feeling of dipping his finger in cold water on a hot summer day.

“Haha!” Yang Yunfan giggled and brought his hands closer to pet it. The wisp edged into Yang Yunfan’s palm, wanting to be petted. As he petted the will-o'-wisp, the same feeling from before came but this time focusing on his palm.

“Wait, stay here!” Yang Yunfan instructed. The wisp tilted its body slightly as though not understanding what he wanted to do. “I’m going to show you to my mom!” Yang Yunfan left the will-o'-wisp in the courtyard and darted into his house as fast as he could. He found his mother in the dining room with Yang Ju.

“Mom! Mom!” Yang Yunfan excitedly called.

“What’s wrong?” seeing her son’s excitement, Luo Mengmeng was dumbfounded. It can’t be that my Shi Hao finally proposed to Xin’er?

“Come with me!”

“Why? I’m teaching Ju’er right now!”

Yang Yunfan pointed outside and exclaimed, “There’s a blue ball of light outside!”

“What?”

“Really? Really?” Yang Ju started hopping excitedly.

“Yeah! Mom, come with me!” Yang Yunfan tugged on her hand.

“Wait, what are you saying?” Luo Mengmeng stopped him.

Hearing her question, he started explaining everything he saw. After hearing her son’s ramblings, she sighed and felt a headache coming. My son, as understanding as he is, becomes incredibly doltish sometimes. Just who does he get it from? Hmm… it’s Kai’er no doubt!

“Stop!” she raised her hand. Yang Yunfan stopped hopping around. Luo Mengmeng massaged her temples, “Before taking us, go check by yourself if the ‘big ball of light’ is still there.”

Yang Yunfan cooled down, “O-Okay!”

As he walked out of the room, Yang Ju turned to her mother and asked, “Can Ju go to?!”

“No! You still haven’t learned your rites!” Luo Mengmeng refused with a stern look.

Yang Ju puffed her cheeks in anger but stayed regardless.

Yang Yunfan, on the other hand, stood in the courtyard with a dumb look on his face. The wisp was gone!

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Bro, I told you to stay! Don’t you understand basic freaking Chinese!?

With a dark look on his face, he went back to the dining room. Looking at her son’s face, Luo Mengmeng asked with a smirk, “What happened?”

Looking at his mother’s smug face, he felt like beating someone up! You know very well what happened!

“N-Nothing!” Yang Yunfan hastily replied and walked towards the backdoor.

As he was about to leave, he heard his mother’s mocking tone, “Next time, keep your balls of light to yourself!”

Yang Yunfan choked on his saliva. Damn it! Why does no one believe me?

He used the water from the well to clean up. He took off his dirty clothes and put them in the laundry pile. He put on a clean shirt and pair of shorts before going back to his mother.

As soon as he entered the dining room, his mom called out to him, “Fan’er, be a dear and clean the floor, will you?”

“Sure thing!” he took a pail of water from the well and the rag used for cleaning the floor and went to work. Time flew by as he cleaned the house. After he was done, he was exhausted. Even if the house wasn’t as big as those of big clans, cleaning it was simply a chore.

Yang Yunfan put everything back in its place and crashed on his bed. The exhaustion made his eyes heavy and swiftly fell asleep.

----------------------------------------

Yang Yunfan groggily opened his eyes and slowly sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the window. The sun had completely set and it was evening. He stood up from his bed and stretched lazily. Scratching his back, he walked out of his bed intent on washing up at the well. He walked lethargically. As he walked through the halls, he walked past Yang Ju’s room. It was quiet, perhaps she was sleeping or not in there. He resumed his walk and went past a guest room before passing by his older sister’s room.

“Wuuu~ hic! Wuuu~” His eyes widened. Any sleepiness he might’ve had was thrown out of the window.

Kachak!

He barged into the room, only to see Yang Xin looking at him with widened eyes that were red. Tears streamed from her face.

“No- hic! Leave!” Yang Xin covered her face and looked away from him. She buried her face in her hands.

“W-What happened?” Yang Yunfan rushed to her side. His bubbly older sister rarely cried, so what the hell happened for her to be sobbing like this?

“N-Nothing! Leave!” she turned around, trying not to face her worried younger brother.

“Yang Xin, talk to me!” he berated her as he was getting frustrated at her behavior.

Yang Xin flinched before slowly removing her hands from her face. What he saw left him in utter disbelief which swiftly turned into anger. Her left cheek was swollen red! He hadn’t seen it from his angle before but now, now he could see it clearly. She had been hit!

“Who did this?” Yang Yunfan gnashed his teeth.

“S-Shi Hao,” Yang Xin stammered as she reluctantly got the answer out.

“What?” that answer had put a full stop to his anger as he tried to process what he just heard.

Yang Xin nodded meekly as though she had done something wrong.

“Tell me what happened?” Yang Yunfan asked again.

After a while, Yang Xin reluctantly told him what happened. As she recounted the events, tears started streaming down her face again as she sobbed. Amidst her sobs, she finished the story. On the other hand, Yang Yunfan felt as though the sky had collapsed on his head.

What…the fuck…?

Hours Earlier

Leaving the house quickly, Yang Xin had gone to their usual meeting spot in the morning. But after waiting for hours and hours, Shi Hao had still not shown up. Being sick of waiting, she went to the Shi family’s house but the guards wouldn’t let her in. Under her insistence, the guards reluctantly informed Shi Hao of her arrival. After making her stand in the scorching sun for a while, Shi Hao appeared but with a stern and cold gaze in contrast to the soft and loving gaze he had shown when he was previously around Yang Xin.

“Why are you here?” Shi Hao spat out coldly.

“W-What do you mean?” Taken aback by his attitude, she began explaining, “You didn’t come so I came to see you!” She then pointed at the guards, “But they wouldn’t let me in!”

Shi Hao paused upon hearing her words and looked at the guards. To her surprise, he nodded and praised, “Good job!”

“Yes, Young Master!” the guards cupped their fists and bowed.

“W-What’s the meaning of this?” Yang Xin asked in utter disbelief.

“Stop blabbering!” Shi Hao raised his hands and berated her. Yang Xin flinched and stopped talking. He spoke again, “Don’t bother talking to me again. I’m not going to see a wench like you again!”

“W-What?” Yang Xin’s head was spinning; she had no idea what happened to her loving Shi Hao. Without waiting for her, Shi Hao turned her back to her and started leaving.

Yang Xin panicked and rushed forward, “Shi Hao, what are you saying!?” But before she could get close, the guards aimed their spears at her and stopped her in her tracks.

Shi Hao turned around and waved his hand down. The guards immediately lowered their spears. He slowly walked towards her.

Yang Xin looked at him with panicked eyes and smiled weakly, “T-There might be some sort of misu-!”

Thap!

She fell to the ground with a dumbfounded look as she raised her hand and touched her stinging cheek. Shi Hao had mercilessly slapped her! She looked up at him and saw him wiping his hands with a handkerchief with a look of disgust as though he had stepped on shit.

After he was done wiping, he looked at her with disdain, “Don’t ever come around here, slut[1]!” Before leaving, he sneered, “You don’t even come close to Young Miss Zu!”

He then left, cruelly leaving Yang Xin on the ground. The guards in front of the entrance looked at her with a mocking look. Yang Xin stayed on the ground with her hand on her cheek for a good 5 minutes as her thoughts spun furiously trying to comprehend what just happened. In the end, with tears welling in her eyes, she ran away from there and locked herself in her room.

Back to the present, Yang Yunfan had a grim look on her face. But he didn’t want to think right now. Hugging his sister, he consoled her, “Please don’t cry!”

Yang Xin’s tears dripped down, wetting his shoulder. Patting her back, he continued, “It’ll be okay! Maybe it was fate!”

Yang Xin came out of her embrace and looked at him in incomprehension, “What do you mean?”

“If Shi Hao left you for a reason like that, then that just means you guys weren’t fated to be!” Yang Yunfan shook his head, “This also means that you might just meet your fated one later.”

“No! He was my fated one!” she spoke crankily.

“If he really was your fated one, then he wouldn’t leave you! It’s as simple as that.”

“This…” Yang Xin was dumbfounded. Her younger brother’s words had logic but that still didn’t ease the ache in her heart.

Yang Yunfan had also noticed this, so he stayed with her. He consoled her until the twists and turns of the day finally took a toll on her mind and she fell asleep. When Yang Yunfan left the room, it was already night.

Closing the door behind him, he sighed heavily and slumped down heavily, leaning back on the door. He looked at the ceiling with an exasperated look.

Young Miss Zu… The underlying implications of this matter are far graver than it seems. Father, just where are you now?