Chapter 118: The Two Little Ones Return Home!

After leaving the imperial palace, Li Yi returned to the Jiang residence. It was already noon, time for lunch.

As soon as Li Yi entered the Jiang residence, he saw his nine generals and his two younger brothers eating. However, the expressions on his brothers’ faces seemed off.

“Oh, eating already?”

Everyone immediately stood up and greeted him. “Instructor!” Only Li Yexu and Li Yesi remained seated, gloomily eating in silence.

Seeing this, the others tugged at their sleeves, but the two ignored Li Yi.

Li Yi pondered briefly, then smiled slightly. “Alright, let’s eat first! We’ll talk after lunch—I’m starving!”

“I’m full!” “Me too!” The two boys quickly put down their chopsticks and tried to leave as soon as Li Yi sat down.

“Stop!” Li Yi stood and approached them, his smile fading. “If you don’t want to eat, then don’t. Squat in a horse stance!”

The two boys stiffened their necks.

“I won’t say it twice!”

Seeing Li Yi’s stern face, they exchanged glances and reluctantly dropped into a horse stance.

“Hold it steady!”

After dealing with the two, Li Yi returned to his seat to eat.

Chang Dong said, “Instructor, isn’t that a bit much?”

Li Yi replied coldly, “What’s too much? Take care of yourselves first! Your easy days are over!”

The nine widened their eyes in shock. Jiang Lichen, mouth half-full, stared in disbelief. “Instructor, what do you mean? Do you think our lives now are easy?”

Li Yi asked calmly, “What do you think? Is this little training hell? In two days, I’ll go to my fief. You’ll come with me then—that’s when your real hell begins.”

Jiang Lichen swallowed his food and quickly added, “By the way, we haven’t congratulated you on becoming a count yet!”

Having spent so much time together, they instantly understood Jiang Lichen’s hint. “Yes! Congratulations, Instructor!”

“You’re amazing, Instructor!” “You’re our idol!”...

Just as the praise left them speechless, Li Yi interrupted, “Cut it out! Flattery won’t work on me. Ha ha ha, useless!”

The nine turned back to their meals, silently thinking how shameless he was.

After the meal, Li Yi told Chang Dong to take the others to rest, and to resume training after fifteen minutes. Only Li Yi and the two brothers remained.

“Second brother, third brother, is it because I didn’t let you join the last mission that you’re upset?”

Li Yexu, blunt and straightforward as always, said honestly, “That’s right! You train us so we can fight. Why didn’t you let us go? It’s not fair!”

“Not fair? Ha!” Li Yi sipped his tea, eyes calm. “Living in these times, where else can you find fairness? Don’t forget, you’re my Li family. I brought you up to be respectable, not like before, reckless and careless. But that doesn’t mean I can let you take risks. I don’t want to, nor have the authority. Of course, it’s your right—once you leave this gate, you’re free to do as you wish. I won’t stop you. But my duty is to return you unharmed to your parents. Now, let’s go.”

The two stiffened. “Go… where?”

“Home. This place no longer belongs to you.”

They were stunned. “Home?” That word was once their dream, but now to hear this place no longer belonged to them was unbearable. Every corner of the mansion bore their marks—sweat, tears, blood. They had grown accustomed to life here; changing places seemed impossible.

“Big brother, we were wrong! Please don’t send us away!”

Li Yi turned and smiled suddenly. “When will you two grow up? Come on, this place really isn’t yours anymore—at least not for now. Coming here means fighting with all you’ve got. The third generation of the Li family is just the three of us now. Do you think I can risk you? Of course, everyone has the right to choose their future, including you. If you truly love it here, that’s fine—but not now. You’re still young, with many choices ahead. Don’t hang yourself on just one tree. Rest assured, if you want to come back in five years, I won’t stop you. Come home with me. I’m leaving in a few days. You can help take care of Grandpa and Grandma. Do you know how much they miss you? Though they don’t say it, they blame me for it. I even heard from the servants that your mother often weeps quietly missing you. You don’t know how much pressure I withstood training you. Now you’ve transformed completely, I can finally breathe easy.”

After listening, the two pondered briefly, then smiled brightly. “Big brother, you have to give us a grade first!”

Li Yi gave a thumbs-up. “Full marks!”

“Yeah!” They leapt up joyfully and hugged him. “Big brother, thank you! We were immature before, maybe still are now, but we’ll work hard!”

“Haha, my brothers, I believe in you!”

“Alright! Big brother, let’s go home!”

“Good! Let’s go home! But before that, let’s change clothes and say goodbye to those nine ghosts. Oh, Yexu, if you rub your dirty clothes on me again, I won’t be so polite!”

Li Yi finished, and the two dashed off.

“Half an hour! Make it quick!”

In Chang’an, at the Li residence—

In the front hall, Red Whisk Woman played cards with Lady Cui and Bing Yu. Li Jing and Li Dejian sat in rocking chairs reading.

Lady Cui sighed, “I wonder when Yexu and Yesi will return?”

Li Dejian said, “Why come back? I think they’re doing fine with Yi’er.”

Red Whisk Woman said, “What’s so good about that? They used to be around me all the time, which annoyed me a bit, but now that they’ve been gone so long, I really miss them. That Yi’er brat is heartless, keeping my two grandsons away for so long. At least let them come back to visit!”

Suddenly—

“Haha! Second brother, third brother, did you hear that? If I don’t let you come back soon, the whole family will criticize me!”

Li Yi’s voice rang out. Everyone in the Li family stood in disbelief, looking around.

“Xuer, Sir, is that you?”

“Mother! It’s us!” Their voices sounded as three figures leapt down nimbly from the distant rooftop, movements graceful and seamless. Landing, they quickly strode toward the family in perfect unison.

Once close, the two younger brothers knelt with a thud.

“Grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, we’ve returned!”

No one had yet recovered from their shock. The trio’s movements had been so elegant, natural, and incredible. They couldn’t believe these were the same two reckless boys from before. Especially Li Jing, who knew well the difficulty of such motions. In this Tang dynasty, fewer than a hundred people could perform such moves—and none with such harmony. Suddenly, everyone realized: these two young rascals had grown into men.

Lady Cui was the first to react, helping the two up.

“Good! Good! You’re back! Let me have a good look!”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the two. A person’s bearing reveals everything about them.

They stood upright, noble and imposing, vigorous and heroic, upright and radiant. Their spines straight, bodies full of strength. Without a close look, one might think they were victorious generals returning from battle.

“Good! Good! Good!” Li Jing said thrice, revealing his deep satisfaction. “Ha ha ha! These are true sons of the Li family!”

Even Red Whisk Woman nodded approvingly—this time she was truly pleased.

Li Dejian was moved to tears. Damn it, let anyone say the Li family’s first branch has no heirs now; I’ll challenge their sons! One by one, I’ll wipe them out!

Bing Yu was also excited, though for different reasons. “Hmph! Our young master is amazing! No matter how hopeless someone is, once trained by him, they become outstanding! No wonder he’s my young master! Hee hee hee!”