Chapter 86: LI HANY’S FOUL TEMPER

Li Yan turned toward Hu Bai, keeping his voice level despite the number of eyes he could feel lingering on their small gathering.

"I intend to return with Anyu and remain at my master’s residence until I am permitted to leave properly." He glanced briefly at the growing crowd of onlookers pretending not to stare. "Standing here any longer will only draw more attention than either of us needs right now."

Hu Bai’s jaw tightened slightly, though he nodded in agreement, understanding the practical wisdom in the suggestion even if some part of him clearly wished to argue against separating so soon.

Li Hanye stepped forward before either of them could part ways completely, something urgent flickering behind his composed expression.

"Little Yan, I would like a moment of your time, if you are willing to—"

"Another time." Li Yan did not slow his pace, already turning toward Anyu, who fell into step beside him without hesitation. "This is not the place for it."

Li Hanye pressed his mouth into a thin line. However, he did not press further, aware that being seen arguing with the sect’s most talked-about disciples would only invite more speculation neither of them wanted circulating.

Disciples nearby had already begun whispering amongst themselves, some craning their necks for a better view of the exchange; he had no wish to add fuel to whatever rumors were already forming.

The group finally dispersed, each heading down their own path, and Li Hanye made his way back to his residence on Purple Mountain alone, the earlier tension of the courtyard still heavy in his chest, unresolved and unanswered.

He pushed open the gate to his courtyard and stopped almost immediately.

Several young women lingered near the entrance, clustered together as if they had been waiting for some time, giggling among themselves until they noticed him standing there.

His expression, already strained from the day’s events, must have carried more weight than he intended, because the group scattered almost instantly, fleeing through the gate without so much as a proper farewell, several of them casting nervous glances back over their shoulders as they went.

Li Hanye did not need to ask who had invited them.

He found Li Wei lounging comfortably within the main hall, entirely unbothered by the abrupt departure of his guests, as though entertaining uninvited company in someone else’s residence required no justification whatsoever.

A half-finished pot of tea sat on the low table before him, clearly taken from Li Hanye’s own private stores; his outer robe lay carelessly across the back of a chair. Several sweets from Li Hanye’s personal collection sat half-eaten beside the teapot, wrappers scattered, with no thought given to cleaning up.

"Li Wei." Li Hanye’s voice came out sharper than he intended, though he made no effort to soften it. "What is the meaning of this? How dare you enter without my permission and bring those women into my space?"

Li Wei blinked at him, genuine confusion crossing his face rather than any hint of remorse.

"Since when did I need permission?" He gestured vaguely around the hall, as though the question itself was absurd. "I have always come and gone as I please here. You have never minded before."

How dare he, an adopted child, dare to harm his younger brother. Li Hanye had only just realized, in the wake of everything he had learned, that even the marriage had never been Li Yan’s choice at all.

It was just Li Wei trying to sabotage him.

"From this moment henceforth, I do not want to see your face here, nor do you have permission to enter my residence again." His voice remained flat, final, with none of the usual warmth he reserved even for Li Wei’s more irritating habits. "Disobey this, and I will punish you accordingly. Use the time you would spend here to cultivate properly instead. That is the entire reason you were sent to this sect in the first place."

He walked past Li Wei without waiting for a response and disappeared into the residence’s inner chambers, leaving his brother standing there in stunned silence.

Li Wei stared after him, genuinely startled by the coldness in his brother’s tone. Li Hanye had scolded him plenty of times before, always with some exasperated fondness threaded through it regardless of how irritated he became.

This was different. This carried no warmth at all, nothing familiar in it whatsoever, and it left an uneasy weight sitting in his chest that he could not quite name.

He decided, after a moment, that his brother must simply be exhausted from whatever mission had kept him away. Better to leave for now and return tomorrow, once Li Hanye had rested enough to return to his usual self.

There was little point pressing the matter further while his brother remained in such a foul temper, and Li Wei had never been one to linger where he was clearly unwelcome, at least not when there were more pleasant places to spend his time instead.

In the meantime, there were other matters worth his attention, and the sooner he distracted himself from the strange unease his brother’s coldness had left behind, the better he would feel about the whole encounter.

He had been away long enough that plenty had likely changed within the sect, and Li Wei made his way toward the outer disciple quarters, confident that his popularity would make finding a willing source of gossip no difficult task at all.

Word traveled quickly among disciples eager for his attention, and he had long since learned exactly which faces to seek out whenever he wanted the full account of anything he had missed during his time away on assignment.

He found exactly what he was looking for in a young woman who had made her admiration for him rather obvious over the past several months, practically glowing the moment he approached and asked after anything interesting he might have missed during his absence.

"There is this new outer disciple who has been causing quite a storm in the sect since he arrived." She leaned in slightly, clearly eager to share whatever details she had gathered, her voice dropping into the conspiratorial tone of someone delighted to have information worth trading. "He scored first in the written exam and was given a personal reward from one of the elders."