Two bare-chested giants with knotted muscle stood guard at the city lord's mansion gates, a sight to make anyone falter.
The party followed Li Yun around to the right.
A clear voice rang out behind them: "Jiang Chen!"
Jiang Chen turned. It was Sun Xiaoman — small, cute, bouncing high above the crowd, waving at him.
Beside her waddled a round fat boy. Sun Xiaoyan, who else.
"Miss Sun!" Jiang Chen called back with a smile.
"Why so proper? Call me Xiaoman." Sun Xiaoman sauntered over and thumped him in the belly.
Jiang Chen sucked in a sharp breath, keeping his brightest smile so as not to lose face: "Okay... Xiaoman. And you too, Xiaoyan!"
The group looked fresh from outside the city — traces of battle still on them. Yang Xiong and Zhao Tiehe were not with them; probably they did not always work the same jobs.
Sun Xiaoman waved her people off and turned back: "So what are you here for — to see us, or...?"
Jiang Chen introduced Li Yun, Zhao Yan, and the others with a smile: "We took a mission to clear beasts."
"Good! That's what I like to hear!" Sun Xiaoman was all boldness: "Haven't found lodging yet, have you? All of you — stay at my house!"
"Sis." Sun Xiaoyan tugged at her sleeve from behind. "You're a girl. Bringing men home doesn't look good..."
"What's wrong with it? Our house is huge. You can arrange it, can't you?"
"My bed is so small, it's barely enough for me!"
"Did I say they'd sleep in your bed?"
"Then sleeping with you is even worse, right?"
"What kind of thoughts are you stuffing in that fat head of yours?"
Just as the siblings nearly came to blows, Li Yun spoke up: "Miss Sun, we've already booked rooms. Besides, we're heading out to clear beasts soon. Staying at your estate wouldn't be convenient."
Jiang Chen added: "We're all out with Senior Brother Li Yun; he handles everything. Xiaoman, Xiaoyan, don't trouble yourselves. Once the mission's done, we'll drink together!"
"Ah, fine, fine." Sun Xiaoman dropped her fierce look in an instant and turned back with a grin: "Then I'll gather Tiehe and the others when the time comes."
The two groups parted.
The moment Jiang Chen and the others were out of earshot, Sun Xiaoman's face fell: "Fatty, undermining me, are you? So stingy! What will our Maple City friends think of us?"
But Sun Xiaoyan knew his sister too well to stick around and get beaten. He was already dashing into the mansion.
Sun Xiaoman chased him in a whirlwind, chaos trailing behind. The guards had long since grown used to it; every one of them stared straight ahead.
Sister and brother crashed into the study one after another.
Behind the desk sat a handsome middle-aged woman, bent over papers.
This was Dou Yuemei, the current city lord of Three Mountain City — and the mother of Sun Xiaoman and Sun Xiaoyan.
Sun Xiaoyan dove into her arms, pointing a chubby finger: "Look at her!"
Dou Yuemei set down her brush, cradling the round Sun Xiaoyan, unbothered by how odd the picture looked. Her phoenix eyes fixed on the charging Sun Xiaoman.
"Sun Xiaoman! What are you doing now?"
She had such a gentle name. Her bearing could only be called bold.
Sun Xiaoman stopped at the study door, indignant: "The eldest sister acts as mother. What's wrong with me educating him a little?"
"He already has a mother. He doesn't need that many!"
Sun Xiaoman was briefly struck dumb. She stomped her bare foot on the tiles with a bang: "Mom! You're so biased!"
Dou Yuemei hugged Sun Xiaoyan possessively, as if it were the most natural thing: "Of course I am. A married daughter is like water poured out!"
"I'm not married yet!"
"Isn't that just a matter of time?"
Sun Xiaoyan, safe in his mother's arms, chimed in: "Exactly. And today she was making eyes at some Jiang guy!"
"Fatty, your skin is itching!" Sun Xiaoman flew into a rage, fists up.
Dou Yuemei raised one hand. A gentle current of energy held Sun Xiaoman in place, letting her advance not an inch.
"Girls shouldn't be so rough." She arched an eyebrow, curious: "So what's this about a Jiang guy?"
"Don't listen to his crap!" Sun Xiaoman couldn't push through, fury rising: "Jiang Chen is the one who transferred fifty Dao merit to us for nothing last time! And now he's come to help clear beasts. What's wrong with me greeting him? It's this heartless son of yours, so stingy he's afraid someone will crowd him!"
"Oh, then we should host him properly." Dou Yuemei nodded, then asked: "Is he handsome?"
Sun Xiaoman felt this conversation was impossible. "Mom!"
Sun Xiaoyan made sure to be heard: "He's all right-looking. But not as good-looking as that Zhao guy."
"You don't understand this, my foolish son. A man who's too pretty is useless. He needs some meat on him." Dou Yuemei pinched Sun Xiaoyan's chubby cheek: "Look at you, all plump. So cute."
Sun Xiaoyan twisted shyly, a little embarrassed.
Sun Xiaoman took a deep breath, composed herself, and said levelly: "Mom, are you favoring boys over girls?"
Dou Yuemei nodded with complete confidence: "Yes. So what?"
Sun Xiaoman roared: "Dou! You're a woman too!"
"Exactly! Look at me, the perfect example. My heart went entirely to your dead father — when did I ever look back at my birth family? When my father was dying, he must have regretted not doting on his precious son more. I served your father while he lived; after he died, I still had to prop up the Sun family and raise you two. From a delicate young girl to this thick-waisted, loud-voiced city lord! Tell me, what use is doting on a daughter?"
Sun Xiaoman: ...
She had no answer.
She kicked the study door off its hinges and stormed out, fuming.
...
Meanwhile, Jiang Chen and the others had left Sun Xiaoman behind and gone to find lodging.
Huang Azhan grinned lewdly: "Not bad, Jiang Chen. The city lord's daughter, huh."
Jiang Chen sighed: "She's really just a friend."
"Hehehe. Sure, sure."
Zhao Yan said dryly from the side: "Huang Azhan, if you're not afraid of being pounded to paste by the Mountain-Toppling Hammers, keep making that lewd laugh."
Huang Azhan instantly recalled the Mountain-Toppling Hammers sweeping the Three-City Trial. He shut his mouth with a shiver.
Li Yun seemed to know the place well, leading them to an inn with practiced ease.
The inn was small, but not shabby.
A few tables and chairs sat in the common room, all wiped clean.
The innkeeper was an old man whose eyesight had gone. He squinted at Li Yun for a long moment before breaking into a grin: "There you are, little Li?"
Li Yun greeted him like an old acquaintance: "Yes, Grandpa Zhang. Four rooms, please."
"Two rooms. Don't waste money even if you have it. Four grown men can't squeeze together?"
"Fine, as you say."
"Doing well lately?"
"Quite well. And you, Grandpa?"
"All good."
Jiang Chen watched silently. Li Yun fit into this place so easily, as if he had lived here a long time.
"His son and daughter-in-law were eaten by beasts on the highway, coming back to the city." Li Yun said as they went upstairs. "By the time the patrol guards arrived, not even a bone was left."
Jiang Chen fell silent. Maple City's territory had few beasts. It was rare for one to charge the highway.
He could hardly imagine it. If even the highway was unsafe, how much pressure did the common folk of Three Mountain City bear?
And what kept their stubborn hope alive?
"He keeps thinking his son isn't dead. That one day he'll come back. So every day he sits at the inn door."
Li Yun sighed and said no more.