Obscuris Labyrinth

When they returned to Starlight Manor again, the night was as deep as a heavy black cloth, weighing heavily on the earth. At this time, the hands of the clock had quietly pointed to four in the morning. Zhao Yuxuan dragged his tired body and, as usual, was about to go back to the woodshed to sleep. Grandma Li Ruixuan frowned slightly when she saw this. On her weather - beaten yet still kind - looking face was an unmistakable expression as she said, "Zhao Yuxuan, you are now nominally my apprentice. Don't go sleep in the woodshed anymore. Go sleep in the guest room instead. From now on, just focus on your own business and don't worry about anything else. This is very important for you, for us, and for a great many people."

The reason why Zhao Yuxuan chose to sleep in the woodshed was actually to be in a huff with Lin Yaxuan in his heart. When he heard what Grandma Li Ruixuan said, he thought it over in his mind and then agreed. You know, he was also a bit worried at this time in his heart. Just this evening, he had stabbed Lin Junhui with a dagger. He thought that the guy would probably hold a grudge against him. If Lin Junhui came into the woodshed to chop firewood and his wild nature suddenly flared up, perhaps on impulse, he might casually take an axe and chop him as if he were firewood. If such a thing really happened, then he would die too worthless, it would be lighter than a feather.

Zhao Yuxuan came to the guest room and reached out to turn on the dim yellow light. With a soft "click", the room was immediately filled with warm - yellow light. He turned around and closed the door, as if shutting out all the chaos outside. Then he walked straight to the bed, lay down on it, and casually picked up the thick cloth - bound book placed beside the bed and began to read it carefully. However, after only reading for a while, his brows involuntarily furrowed, and he groaned inwardly. It turned out that there were only action diagrams embroidered with red thread on this cloth - bound book, and apart from that, there were no written explanations at all. This really put him in a difficult position. If he wanted to learn the contents on it, the difficulty was undoubtedly very great, just like groping forward in the dark without any guiding direction.

After looking at the mysterious boxing manual for a while, Zhao Yuxuan put the book aside, then leaned against the pillow and began to recall the events that had happened today. He now felt that Grandma Li Ruixuan was like a mysterious enigma, becoming more and more unfathomable. Normally, she was like an ordinary Dong village woman, busy with housework every day, her industrious figure shuttling through every corner, looking so ordinary. However, she also had an unbelievable face - retaining skill. It seemed that time had not left too many marks on her face. She could not only command apes to do various things but also use a piccolo to summon venomous snakes to attack others. All of this made Zhao Yuxuan feel astonished and at the same time couldn't help but feel a little frightened.

In this way, Zhao Yuxuan tossed and turned all night and couldn't fall asleep. When the first ray of sunlight in the morning shone through the gap in the window, a new day began. Grandma Li Ruixuan, as usual, got up early to make breakfast. Her movements were skillful and natural, as if she were just an ordinary housewife, showing no signs of anything special at all.

After breakfast was made, it was served on the dining table in the hall. At this time, Zhao Yuxuan and Lin Yaxuan walked into the hall almost simultaneously. As for Li Ruize, he generally wouldn't get up so early.

The three of them sat around the dining table, silently drinking porridge. Lin Yaxuan was obviously still brooding over what had happened last night. She put down the bowl in her hand and looked at her grandma and said, "Grandma, after breakfast, you should let this bad guy Zhao leave our home. If you let him stay here any longer, all the girls in our village will be deceived by him." There was obvious dissatisfaction and disgust in her eyes.

Grandma Li Ruixuan raised her head, looked at her gently, and said slowly, "Yaxuan, by the way, I have something to tell you. Starting from today, Zhao Yuxuan is your junior brother. He may stay in our home for a relatively long time."

As soon as the words were spoken, Lin Yaxuan was like she had heard something incredible. Her originally very delicate eyes suddenly widened, like two black gems suddenly injected with vitality. She suddenly stood up, and her voice was full of surprise and dissatisfaction as she said, "What? Bad guy Zhao is going to be my junior brother? Grandma, how is this possible?"

Grandma Li Ruixuan looked at her excited appearance and said calmly, "Yaxuan, don't ask so many questions. This matter was decided by your grandpa and me together and will not be changed anymore. Also, don't keep calling Zhao Yuxuan 'bad guy' anymore. I think his nature is not bad."

When Lin Yaxuan heard this, she immediately raised her voice and shouted, "What do you mean his nature is not bad, grandma? He must have used those sweet words to deceive you and grandpa again. This person's words can't be believed at all."

Grandma Li Ruixuan didn't seem to want to explain too much. She just turned to Zhao Yuxuan and said, "It seems that your senior sister has a very bad impression of you, Zhao Yuxuan. In the future, you should pay more attention to your words and deeds. Hurry up and apologize to your senior sister."

Zhao Yuxuan was already twenty - one years old this year, three years older than Lin Yaxuan. Letting him be this so - called "junior brother" made him extremely unwilling in his heart. He felt as if he was being forced to do something he hated very much. However, when under someone else's roof, one has to bow one's head. So he had to endure the grievance in his heart and reluctantly called out, "Senior Sister."

Lin Yaxuan just snorted and held her head high, like a proud peacock, completely ignoring Zhao Yuxuan's friendly gesture, as if he didn't exist at all.

At this time, only Grandma Li Ruixuan's soft sigh was heard as she said earnestly, "You two, you should know that in the future, there may be a long time when you need to cooperate with and help each other. You can't be like this now. You should get to know each other well."

When Lin Yaxuan heard this, she immediately shouted excitedly again, "Who wants to cooperate and help him? He is such a liar and bad guy. The more I get to know him, the more disgusted I will surely be. Grandma, what's wrong with you and grandpa? I really don't like this person. Hurry up and drive him away."

As she said this, she actually walked quickly to behind the door, picked up a broom, and swung it at Zhao Yuxuan. There was anger and annoyance in her eyes, as if Zhao Yuxuan was a pest she hated deeply.

Zhao Yuxuan didn't expect Lin Yaxuan to do this suddenly, so he had to jump around clumsily to avoid it. He was very depressed in his heart and also a little angry. You know, he had always been the type of a charming young man popular with girls since he was a child. Even when his family was in trouble, at the railway station, there was a girl like Long Yue who had a secret crush on him. However, in front of Lin Yaxuan, he was like he had suddenly become an annoying fly that she couldn't avoid quickly enough. But, on second thought, he also felt that he deserved it a little. Who let his first impression in front of her be so bad? Plus, there were people like A Liang, A Ling, and A Zhang who had wrongly accused him in front of her, so his image in Lin Yaxuan's heart was extremely bad. It was extremely difficult to change from this "bad egg" image to a "good egg" image.

Just at this moment, only Grandma Li Ruixuan's stern voice was heard, "Yaxuan, stop. How can you treat your junior brother like this?"

When Lin Yaxuan heard her grandma's scolding, her eyes immediately turned red, like a ripe cherry, and the crystal - clear teardrops swirled in her eyes and then rolled down like broken - string beads. She sobbed and said, "Grandma, for such an outsider, you actually scolded me. You and grandpa don't love me anymore, you don't love me anymore."

As she was crying, she threw the broom in her hand hard at Zhao Yuxuan, and then, like a wronged little rabbit, she turned around and ran into the inner room.

Grandma Li Ruixuan naturally loved her granddaughter dearly. She immediately wanted to follow her. But after taking only two steps, she seemed to suddenly remember something and then turned around and walked into the inner room. Soon, she came out holding a pile of Dong village men's clothes and looked at Zhao Yuxuan and said, "Zhao Yuxuan, go and do what you should do. Change into this set of Dong clothes. In this way, you won't be so conspicuous in the village. Also, you should be more tolerant of your senior sister. Well, Yaxuan is a very innocent child. Since she was a child, no one has ever lied to her in front of her. You are the first one, and you almost hurt her grandpa. We can understand you, but Yaxuan may not be able to figure it out for a while."

After saying these words, she hurriedly walked towards the inner room again, obviously to coax her granddaughter.

Zhao Yuxuan took the set of Dong clothes and walked into his room. He quickly changed into this set of clothes. Behold, this was a set of Dong clothes with black cloth bordered with red - edged flower patterns. The workmanship was very fine, and every stitch seemed to tell of the maker's care. Moreover, this set of clothes fit him very well. He secretly estimated in his heart that this should be sewn by Grandma Li Ruixuan herself. He couldn't help but admire Grandma Li Ruixuan's craftsmanship very much, thinking that she was really omnipotent. However, he also thought that it would take at least several days to sew such a set of clothes. It seemed that the couple had long wanted to keep him in the Dong village. It was only after last night's test that they finally made this decision.

After getting dressed, Zhao Yuxuan began to think about that cloth - bound book again. To be honest, facing this boxing manual without any written explanations, he really had the feeling of not knowing where to start practicing, like a sailor lost in the vast ocean, unable to find the direction. He thought that it seemed that he could only first learn more about Dong martial arts. However, he secretly vowed in his heart that he must learn it as soon as possible. Not to mention unraveling the mystery of his parents' death for the time being, just talking about the present, the most urgent thing was Lin Yaxuan's situation. Her martial arts skills seemed very good, and she was quite dissatisfied with him. If she hid it from Li Ruize and Grandma Li Ruixuan and beat him up from time to time, as a man, he would always be too embarrassed to go and complain all the time. Being beaten by a woman was really too frustrating and too humiliating. He really needed strength to protect himself.