Volume 1: The True Dragon of Purple Void – Chapter 10: The Hidden Dragon and the Proud Phoenix

The birthday banquet for the Chu family’s elderly matriarch began at noon, but the main feast was scheduled for evening. The entire banquet hall was divided into three sections: in the middle was the area designated for celebrating the matriarch’s birthday; beside it, guests including distant relatives, friends, and others were entertained; and in a slightly smaller area, there were children—mostly grandchildren from various families. Surprisingly, Chu Fangshan entrusted all the arrangements to his eldest grandson, Chu Tiancheng. Although Tiancheng was only fifteen, his behavior, planning, and organization showed great competence and clarity, already reflecting the grandeur of his grandfather Chu Fangshan. Han Yixue, who came to inspect, nodded in approval silently.

On such occasions, Tianfeng and Tianyu were naturally present. As Tianyu grew older and his mental abilities gradually recovered, though his mind hadn’t fully awakened, he no longer had the silly appearance of someone who used to drip snot and saliva. Instead, he had a well-proportioned physique with flexible muscles. If observed closely, his words and actions also carried a hint of Zen-like qualities…

However, Tianyu still preferred to follow his second brother, Tianfeng. Only Tianfeng could keep up with Tiancheng’s mature demeanor. Moreover, Tianfeng, full of energy, was skilled at everything from playing around to picking fights—according to his own words, “Live as you please; every day is exciting!”

Tianfeng, already bored by the banquet, took the chance to sneak out with Tianyu. They went to the shallow pool in the courtyard behind the building, planning to dive in and catch goldfish. Unexpectedly, they saw two boys and girls around their age standing nearby, admiring the fish. With Tianfeng’s carefree nature from childhood and his grandmother’s indulgence, he blurted out exaggeratedly, “Ah~ So someone’s already ‘falling in love’ here! Little Third, see? You gotta start courting girls early, or it’ll be too late when we grow up. Look how fast they’re at it!”

“Second brother, what does ‘courting girls’ mean?”

“You idiot, don’t you understand? It means when a boy wants to be with a girl, they can kiss each other and do other things. There’s more to it, but the benefits are countless…”

“Oh, like Big Brother, with so many girls wanting to be with him—what’s that called?”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying! Whatever it is, let’s catch fish first…”

The two brothers’ nonsense had already angered the boy who had arrived first. He first bowed his head and asked the girl, “Sis, I’m going to beat those two guys. Do you mind?” Seeing her calm expression and silence, he stepped forward, waving his arms and saying, “Hey, kid! What are you talking nonsense about? Daring to speak ill of me and my sister—do you want a fight?”
“Wow, you two are siblings? Huh, then why are you so close…” Tianfeng said dismissively.
“Damn, are you trying to be tough, kid? From that school? Have you heard of King Ba Chao from Shengyu Middle School?”
“King Ba Chao? Never heard of him. I’m from Changjiang Road Primary School, and I’m about to graduate and go to middle school. So what? You wanted a fight, right? Why ask so many questions? Are you planning to get beaten by me so you can go complain to our teacher?”
“Damn, primary school? I’m not going to complain to your teacher. Today, you’ll learn what real middle school strength is. You two, attack together…” With that, he prepared to charge in and start fighting, and Tianfeng was also excitedly ready for a fight. Suddenly, the girl pulled back the boy who was about to move forward. His momentum stopped abruptly. He was about to curse, but when he saw it was his sister, he swallowed his insults and almost choked, coughing twice. Before he could ask what was going on, she simply said, “Let’s go!”
The boy tried to protest, but seeing her cold expression, he swallowed his words again and followed her behind, feeling humiliated. He didn’t say a word, not even glancing back at the Chu brothers.
Tianfeng was also confused. Tianyu asked puzzledly, “Elder brother, is… is the fight not happening anymore?”
It took a while for Tianfeng to realize what was going on. Spitting out words, he said, “What the hell? Big noise for nothing. Some so-called King Ba Chao—nothing but a total jerk. Kid, don’t go! I…”
The girl, who had already walked some distance, suddenly turned around and stared at Tianfeng, her eyes flashing with coldness. Only then did Tianfeng get a clear look at her face. Though a child still didn’t understand beauty, he found the girl in front of him truly beautiful. Moreover, there was something about her that made him afraid to look directly at her, especially those eyes, which seemed to envelop him like a tangible force, making his back tingle and preventing him from thinking of resisting. His harsh words were forced back down.

As the girl walked away, Tian Feng was pulled back to reality by Tian Yu’s words: “Second brother, are we still going down to catch fish?” He then looked down at the goldfish swimming in the pond, waiting for his brother’s reply. Seeing that his third brother still seemed clueless, he didn’t bother to explain further. Having lost his interest, he didn’t even say goodbye to his brother and walked back in silence, deeply frustrated and unable to understand how, with his skills and fighting experience, he could be afraid of a girl to the point of not even having the courage to look at her.

…Indeed, the boy and girl who encountered the Chu brothers were Qin Nianchao and Qin Nianran, brother and sister.

“Sis, why are you pulling me away? Why won’t you let me teach those two a lesson? Hehe, but it’s satisfying anyway—that arrogant kid turned into a chicken just from your glance. Haha, it seems I’m not the only one like that. Haha… But though it’s satisfying, it’s not as good as actually beating them up…”

Nianran gave her brother an annoyed look and said, “What’s there to fight about? One idiot and two brutes!”

Upon hearing this, Nianchao thought it made sense and agreed, saying, “Hehe, sis is right. What kind of people are we? Why bother with idiots and brutes? As ‘grown-ups,’ we shouldn’t care about them! By the way, who are they? Idiots and brutes alike?”

Hearing her brother keep calling them idiots, Nianran felt annoyed for no reason. Of course, she knew one of them was Chu Fangshan’s second grandson, and the other was the idiot Chu Tianyu, her fiancé.

Just as Nianchao, who felt proud of himself, suddenly seemed to remember something, he counted on his fingers for a long time before asking his sister in confusion, “Sis, you just said one idiot and two brutes. That should be three people, right? There are only two of them. Who’s the third? Could they have set up an ambush?”

Nianran gave her brother a look as if he were stupid and muttered, “Idiot…”

“What? Idiot? Is there another idiot? How many people did they have in ambush? Oh no, that was so close! Ah, sis is really great—she noticed it early and prevented me from falling into their trap. But sis, I don’t quite understand. It seems we got there first. When did they set up the ambush? And how did they know in advance that we’d have a conflict? Hey, sis, why are you walking so fast? Wait for your brother!”

Ignoring her brother, who wasn’t much better than an idiot, Nian Ran hurried forward, muttering to herself, “What’s wrong with me? Why do I keep feeling that something’s off?” As she thought this, her body suddenly trembled, and the scene from earlier flashed through her mind—when she used the Ice Heart Jade Technique to emit cold energy, Tian Feng opposite her was clearly under pressure, yet her foolish husband, who was betrothed to her, wasn’t affected at all and was even in high spirits, picking up a dry branch to poke at the fish in the water for fun.

Even if he was an idiot and hadn’t seen her gaze, anyone would have felt the cold aura radiating from her. Was he so stupid he had no reaction at all, or…?

With doubts arising, Nian Ran immediately turned back to verify.

“Hehe, sister, just wait for me. There’s no need to come back for me! Huh? Where are you going again? Weren’t you going back? Hey, sister, wait for me…”

…

After playing with the goldfish for a while and seeing that her second brother still hadn’t replied, Tian Yu looked up, ready to search for him, when she suddenly realized there was only him left by the fish pond. Worry set in immediately. She looked around frantically, hoping to spot her second brother, calling out his name repeatedly, hoping he would suddenly appear from somewhere to play hide-and-seek and startle her. But after calling for a long time with no response, anxious, she had no choice but to follow her memory back the way she came, hoping to run into him.

Finally finding the building, Tian Yu looked around as she walked, when suddenly she saw a group of about a dozen children gathered in front. One in the middle vaguely resembled her second brother, but before she could see clearly, the children on the periphery blocked her view. Tian Yu felt hopeful and ran over without thinking, shouting loudly, “Second brother~~~”

Only when she got closer did she awkwardly realize that the person in the middle wasn’t her second brother at all, but just someone with a somewhat similar face. The dozen or so children who had been gathered there suddenly stopped when this child kept shouting for her second brother. They all looked at each other, thinking one of them might really be her second brother.

The child who resembled her second brother suddenly said, “There’s no second brother here, but there are two cousins…”

Tianyu also recognized the person speaking—it was indeed his cousin. He was Chu Tianao from his second uncle’s family. Standing beside him were his second cousin Chu Tianjie, his younger cousin Chu Yuna, and many children from his second uncle’s relatives. He had met them at banquets with his eldest and second brothers. His eldest brother had told him that his second uncle didn’t listen to their grandfather, so their family rarely interacted with them. He only occasionally saw them at his great-grandmother’s birthdays, which had never been so grand before; they were just hastily attended.

Nervously, he said in a soft voice, “Hello, eldest cousin… Hello, second cousin… Hello, cousin…”

Before he could finish, his second cousin Chu Tianjie interrupted him in a mocking tone, “‘Hello, cousin…’? Can you even speak? Look at you, an idiot. You must be the fool from the Chu family who hasn’t appeared in a hundred years. Just now in the hall, you looked pretty decent, and I thought you’d improved. But as soon as you opened your mouth, it’s clear you’re not only an idiot but also full of stupidity. Look, everyone! This is our family’s idiot brother. Hahaha…”

Tianyu’s face turned red from his mocking words, especially when he saw everyone laughing at him. His cousin’s tinkling laughter was particularly grating. For the first time in his life, Tianyu felt anger. Before, people had called him an idiot, but they were outsiders. And with his second brother’s fists, no one in school dared to mess with him. At home, he was doted on by everyone. He had never suffered such public humiliation before.

Excited, he stammered even more unclearly, “W-what are you all doing? W-why say such things? M-my mom said I’m not, not an idiot…”

This only provoked even more laughter. Chu Tianjie laughed uproariously, “Haha, I’m dying! ‘My mom said I’m not an idiot…’ An idiot claiming he’s not an idiot! Hahaha…”

Chu Yuna also bent over with laughter, gasping for breath, “What an idiot! Hehe, listening to him talk is so funny!”

The only one who hardly smiled was Chu Tianao. Seeing Tianyu’s face turn increasingly pale under their mockery, from initial shame to extreme anger, as his whole body trembled, especially his eyes, which made everyone feel uneasy under his gaze. They had indeed gone too far. Just as he was about to wave his hand to stop them, a pleasant yet cold voice spoke first: “Heh, today I’ve seen something even funnier—a bunch of fools who are shameless and smug enough to laugh at others as fools…”