Hidden Shadow – CH 024

Chapter Twenty-Four: Progress

“Seventh Sister, what makes you say that?” Mei Ruyan looked surprised, as if she were hearing these things for the first time.

“What makes me say that?!” Mei Tingyuan stood on high, looking down at them as if they were ants. “Leaving aside everything else, just for the matter of making Grandmother faint, don’t expect me to let you off the hook.”

Mei Ruyan smiled slightly. “This matter is indeed our fault. We sisters weren’t prepared to be humiliated before going to pay our respects to Great-aunt, and we offended her. If we had known earlier that she was in poor health, we sisters would have swallowed our pride and apologized to that maid, rather than let our elder suffer.” Her words were gentle and polite, but they were barbed, because she knew that one of the family rules forbade private fights, and she was certain they wouldn’t dare to hit anyone.

“What a sharp tongue.” Mei Tingyuan moved swiftly, appearing before Mei Ruyan like a gust of wind, and slapped her across the face.

Mei Ruyan grew up being beaten, so a mere slap couldn’t stun her. The moment Mei Tingyuan’s slap landed, she retaliated with a resounding slap.

Slap! Slap! Two crisp slaps stunned everyone.

Mei Tingyuan had grown up under the protection of the Second Old Madam; she was the one who hit others, never the other way around! Enraged, she was furious.

An Jiu was watching with amusement when Mei Jiu suddenly stepped forward, shielding Mei Ruyan.

Before An Jiu could think, as Mei Tingyuan’s second, a full-force slap came crashing down; she instinctively raised her hand to block it. Then, with a swift counter-grab, she was about to break Mei Tingyuan’s arm when she realized her predicament and abruptly released her grip, taking two steps back.

Mei Ruyan inwardly regretted her actions; she had forgotten that all the children of the Mei family practiced martial arts from a young age, and a casual slap could cause half of their faces to burn with pain.

“You really do know martial arts!” Mei Tingyuan narrowed her eyes, preparing to strike again, but her arm was grabbed by Mei Tingjun.

“You’ve forgotten the clan rules!” Mei Tingjun roared. “There will be a fair fight at the end of the month; why rush things?”

Mei Tingyuan instantly regained her composure, shaking off his hand and glaring hatefully at Mei Jiu and Mei Ruyan. “You just wait!”

“Ah Yuan!” Mei Tingzhu caught up, whispering comfortingly, “Don’t be angry, just bear with it a little longer; there are only seven days left until the end of the month.”

“Aren’t you angry? Father begged Elder Zhi so many times, but he refused to take you as a disciple, yet now he easily accepted that wretched girl!” Mei Tingyuan said indignantly.

An Jiu had excellent hearing; even though the two sisters had long since gone, she heard their conversation without missing a single word.

An Jiu snapped out of her daze, only to find Mei Jiu’s legs suddenly buckling, causing her to stumble backward. Fortunately, a girl behind her caught her.

Upon witnessing this, two of the three girls who had come with Mei Ruyan quickly took their leave and departed with the second branch of the family.

Mei Ruyan, unperturbed, temporarily put aside her displeasure and said to Mei Jiu, “Sister, this is Tenth Young Lady; her given name is Ruhan.” Just from the name, it was clear she was from the first branch.

Mei Jiu smiled gratefully at her and gave a slight bow. “Greetings, Tenth Sister.”

Mei Ruhan supported her: “No need for that.”

“Sigh!” Mei Ruhan sighed. “It’s good that you have such spirit, but if you offend them, there will inevitably be another fierce battle at the end of the month.”

“Do you mean the monthly exams?” Mei Ruyan asked.

Mei Ruhan nodded. “Our family values ​​martial arts over literature. There’s a sparring component in the end-of-month exams. Although it’s supposed to be a friendly spar, if they really want to make things difficult for you, they can keep you bedridden for ten days to half a month.”

Mei Ruyan’s heart skipped a beat. She asked Mei Jiu, “Sister, you just sparred with Seventh Young Lady Mei. How good is she? Was she able to handle it?”

“I…” How could she possibly sense Mei Tingyuan’s martial arts skills?

Mei Jiu knew that saying she didn’t understand martial arts now would only make things worse, so she secretly asked An Jiu, “How good is her martial arts?”

“Terrible.” An Jiu didn’t let her be happy and immediately continued, “If I were still in my body, dealing with that little girl would be a piece of cake. But controlling your body to fight is far too much! I’m afraid I’d kill her! So you know how frustrated I am, right? In short, your physical condition is terrible, utterly terrible!”

What kind of logic was that? She could fight when she was healthy, but kill when she was unhealthy?

Mei Jiu didn’t understand martial arts, let alone the logic of an assassin.

In a situation where both sides were evenly matched in strength, killing someone required courage, but trying to thoroughly beat that person would result in heavy losses on both sides.

An Jiu killed as casually as eating; she required no courage whatsoever. She understood human weaknesses, knew how to kill with a single blow, and had extensive experience. She disliked fighting; if she could kill her opponent with one strike, she would never use two.

Mei Jiu’s body was weak and unsuitable for prolonged combat. Her habitual action just now made An Jiu wonder if she might kill Mei Tingyuan if threatened. If that happened, it wouldn’t be as simple as making one or two enemies.

In An Jiu’s view, life was one trouble after another, so she would not swallow her anger. However, she knew her limits, only causing trouble she could handle. In the current environment, she still had to keep a low profile.

Mei Jiu pondered for a long time before answering Mei Ruyan, “About the same, I suppose.”

“That’s good.” Mei Ruyan didn’t doubt Mei Jiu’s martial arts skills; after all, everyone in the Mei family practiced martial arts. Mei Jiu had been bedridden since being sold to a brothel, so it was normal that she lacked strength during her escape.

Hearing this, Mei Ruhan felt relieved and led them to the dining hall.

The Mei clan school’s dining hall, its design unknown, was built on the edge of a cliff. The protruding building hung over sixty zhang¹ high, the mountain below appearing as if cleaved by a sharp sword, with a rushing river flowing below.

There were two paths leading to the dining hall: one was a chain walkway along the cliff face; the other, a dark cave.

Mei Ruhan led them through the cave. The three of them, though the cave was still eerie, were better suited here than walking along the chain walkway on the cliff.

When they arrived at the dining hall, almost all twenty-odd people were already there, and many people cast their gazes.

The dining hall windows faced east, with tables and chairs arranged along their sides. A turn of the head revealed a sheer cliff opposite, reaching towards the sky. The three found an empty table and sat down. A maid immediately brought them water, and the food was served quickly.

Six dishes and a soup, all of excellent quality.

Mei Jiu had walked a long way through the mountains that morning and was starving. Urged on by An Jiu, she abandoned all pretense of modesty and began to eat heartily.

It was so good to be able to eat in peace like this!

An Jiu was engrossed in her meal when she sensed someone approaching. She tried to control her eyes to glance around, and surprisingly, she succeeded!

She saw Mei Tingdong approaching with an unfamiliar young man.

“Someone’s causing trouble,” An Jiu said.

Mei Jiu was exhausted and didn’t want to move a finger, nor did she have any will to resist. An Jiu easily controlled her body.

“Fourteenth Young Lady Mei.” The unfamiliar young man pushed the dishes on the table towards the window, plopped down on the table, and leaned close to Mei Jiu. “Was Sigui the one you kicked into the lake?”

An Jiu raised her eyelids slightly, and a handsome face with emerging features came into view. She reached out and picked up some food, put it in her mouth, and then shoveled a large mouthful of rice into her mouth.

“Eldest Mei!” Mei Ruhan said coldly. “Get down here; let’s talk this out.”

Mei Ruyan had gathered a lot of information today, and it took her a while to remember that this Eldest Mei was the eldest son of the main branch, named Mei Rujian, twenty years old, and had just gotten married last year.

Wasn’t he the eldest son of the main branch? Why was he coming so aggressively? It seemed like he was in cahoots with Mei Tingyuan!

Thinking this, Mei Ruyan put down her chopsticks, stood up, and called out, “Big Brother.”