Chapitre 48: New People Old Enemies

In the morning, Li Yangyi was called by his father once more. Right now, he stood in front of the desk waiting patiently. A middle-aged man looked through his papers, seemingly troubled. He had black hair, just like the Li siblings, though he had it parted in the middle. His beard was a bit rough, but it suited him. He looked rather stately. The current head of the Extended Delight's Li household, Li Yangyi's father—Li Tianming.

"I've gone through everything you've told me yesterday," his father said while knitting his brows. "It's still rather hard to believe. However, I do not doubt that you are telling me the truth."

Li Yangyi straightened his back. His eyes showed an uncommon glister. Seeing his distrusting son like that, his father was once again surprised. "Fath—I mean, Sir. Then does it mean it is fine for me to enter the Store of Fates again?"

Li Tianming laughed at the name of that shop. What a grand name in such a small city. "No, that's out of the question. You are to stay here these days. You should have seen it yourself, the Extended Delight has gotten a lot more unruly. I'm certain something bigger is going on. And the City Lord is acting rather sketchy. I've scheduled a meeting with the Zhang family. We shall be discussing how to deal with this. Do you understand the situation we are in?"

Now it was Li Yangyi's turn to be surprised. A meeting between two family heads! That must mean something serious is happening, he thought. Yet, he didn't care about it is as much as another thing: "But Sir! If only you were to go check yourse—"

"Enough!" Li Tianming slammed his fist on the table. "Son. I didn't call you here to discuss. You only have to obey." He stared at Li Yangyi, who was stunned mute by the shout. "I'm disappointed. I always knew you as the more mature sibling, so I made sure to leave you your space. Apparently, it seems that I've had my hopes too high. Also, did you know that your idiot sister left the mansion yesterday? Make sure this doesn't happen again."

Li Yangyi bit his lips. His nails dug into his palm. "...Yes Sir."

"Good, you may leave." Li Tianming shooed him away, his face clearly irritated. Li Yangyi clasped his hands then turned around, heading for the door. His father returned to his paperwork. There were lots to do until the meeting with the Zhang family. Unlike the accidental encounter that happened in that small store, this was something really noteworthy.

However, Li Yangyi did not turn to leave. Instead, he turned around and told his father, "She is not an idiot."

"...Excuse me?"

"My sister is not an idiot," he repeated, then dashed out and slammed the door shut.

Li Tianming looked at the space his son just stood, silent. "Tsk, if only you could show this kind of love to all your family, I wouldn't have to clean your stuff up." He changed his gaze towards the window. Outside, birds flew around the flowers without any care. "Li Yangyi may have said the truth, but that doesn't mean that he was right. Illusory worlds, immortality, and magic? That's impossible. Still, there's no way that store came out of nowhere, attracting that many influential people, meaning... Damn City Lord, I can't tell what he is planning these days."

While there was another misunderstanding brewing in the main office, Li Yangyi walked back to his room. Yet, "Well, got reprimanded by the family head again, didn't you," a voice stopped him from entering. Li Yangyi turned around to ascertain the person talking, and he soon clicked his tongue.

"Isn't it eldest cousin Bufan? What brings you here?" The person Li Yangyi referred to had long black hair tight into a ponytail. He had long, foxlike eyes, making him seem a little sinister. But his bright smile kept these thoughts at bay. Just like Wang Jing, he was another person Li Yangyi couldn't deal with. However, Li Bufan differed from Wang Jing a little. He hadn't done anything worth being offended by, it's just that he gave Li Yangyi the creeps.

"No particular reason, I just wanted to see how you were doing." He smiled innocently, his eyes forming into a crescent moon. "I heard you've been frolicking in a store, mind telling me what that is all about?"

"None of your business," Li Yangyi said and walked right past him.

His cousin followed him without hesitation. "Come on, don't be so cold, aren't we family?" The smile on his face didn't disappear. "It must be nice, being the direct son of the family head. Even if you fail, you only get a slap on your wrist."

Li Yangyi stopped walking. He calmly observed Li Bufan. "Family, huh? Yes, yes, family. Isn't that a nice word," he said. "Stop with the bullshit. What family? My father won't even call me by my name, what kind of family is that supposed to be? All I see are venomous opportunists who'd backstab you at a moment's notice. The only family I have is my sister."

"Ah sorry, sorry, did I hit a nerve?" Li Bufan shrunk back, waving his hands. "I was only worried you've turned weak, but it seems like you are as untrusting as ever. I'm relieved that is the case."

"Sure, sure, thank you for your consideration," Li Yangyi blew him off. He went inside his room, leaving the guy outside. As he made sure no one else was here, he sighed, thinking about all the problems in this household. While doing so, he thought about Shu's store and wondered about the chef. Did he have any children? If so, did he treat them like his father did? "I wonder when I can meet that guy again."

Without knowing, he had already been caught by the charm of the Store of Fates.

...

Shou looked at the morning sun and stretched his hands. "Another day of hard work!"

"Stop joking around, we both know that I do all the heavy lifting here," Si immediately rebutted.

"You think anyone's gonna play today?"

Si thought for a few seconds. "Well. wouldn't Li Yinyi be interested in continuing her story? Maybe she will bring her brother this time. Also, these merchants seem to be rather entranced by this store don't you think? I'm sure that they will be here soon."

Shou picked up the broom and cleaned the outside. "Hmm, I'm not trying to disagree with you Si, but I don't think they will come today. I don't know why, but I feel like this city has gone through a change lately, and since these people are rather influential, wouldn't they be occupied."

"Oh, that might be true [nod]," Si agreed. At the same time, she was startled that Shou was able to feel the moodshift in the city, though then again, she supposed it should be only natural since he lived for this long. "But who cares, it doesn't have anything to do with us anyway."

"True that." He kept swiping the ground.

Time passed with not a lot happening. There were few people who passed the streets anyway, and when they did, they didn't spare a single thought for him. Well, except for the occasional boredom, Shou didn't mind that stuff. Si, however, kept biting her nails in anticipation, hoping someone would soon part themselves with their money.

"There, there! Someone's coming [points at the two people on the road]!"

Shou looked at the place Si hinted to and saw in the distance two women bickering while slowly walking closer.

"You damn bitch, why the hell are you here too?"

"Hah? That's my question. Why can't I be here, is this your road or something? Go to hell!"

"So what if I really bought the road? Let's say I did, will you fuck off then?"

"You've got some guts lady. You better check yourself before I break my foot up your ass."

The two continued their bickerings while grabbing at each other's hair and throwing low-grade insults. One of the girls even started spitting, elevating the dirtiness of the fight by another level. When they were close enough for Shou to make out their features, he realized that these two women were rather familiar.

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