Chapter 40: Sed Uncle’s Visit

  Transtor: Krukist

  The matter ed up, and Lin Yu and Lin Ling’er returo the Lin household. Nan Zhan had half a mind to ask Lin Yu to whip up more dishes for Nan Ziyan’s stash, but with Shuitian looming nearby, he held his tongue a Lin Yu go.

  Now, at home, Lin Ling’er and Lin Yu packed their things. She hesitated several times, words on her lips, but stayed silent. Lin Yu, lost in his own thoughts, missed her unease.

  After a while, with their bags nearly ready, Lin Ling’er finally spoke. “Brother, are you really ing with me to Heavenly Cloud Academy?”

  Lin Yu gave a helpless smile, ruffling her hair, strands slipping through his fingers. “No choice. I promised Puye I’d take the Vice Head gig at the Dining Pavilion.”

  “Brother, isn’t that… super risky?”

  He paused, meeting her worried gaze with a grin. “There’s some danger, sure, but not life-threatening. You know Puye’s strength better than I do—he was Father’s junior brother. He’ll have my back.”

  Lin Ling’er nodded. “True. Puye’s one of the Academy’s three Puye—some even whisper he’s the stro. Unfathomable power. Even Master Han calls him ‘Master.’ With him behind us, what’s to fear?” She trailed off, “…but…”

  Lin Yu caught her drift—she worried he’d lean too hard on Shuitian’s vague promise, ag reckless and stirring trouble. He chuckled, knowing the inal Lin Yu’s prickly nature. Before he could expin, a sharp knock echoed from outside.

  He gnced out—dusk was settling. Who’d visit now? Li Chaohua, maybe, sniffing out his new Dining Pavilion post, here to butter him up? To oners, the Academy was a sacred peak. She might push fanoderma Hall, g, *“You’re Vice Head now, Lin Yu—focus on cooking, leave the Hall to me.”*

  He smirked. Shuitian had said the Pavilion’s duties were light—a figurehead role. After some handovers, he’d be free to return. Ganoderma Hall was Lin Chaodong’s legao way he’d let Li Chaohua, or even her husband, snatch it.

  Opening the door, there she was—Li Chaohua, smug as ever, beside a gaunt middle-aged man with a goatee and sour eyes: Lin Mudong, his Sed Uncle, Lin Chaodong’s younger brother. Once a medical student, he’d peaked as a mundane healer while Lin Chaodong rose to a revered Third-Grade Spirit Apothecary.

  Lin Mudong had a knack for trade, though. After Lin Chaodong vanished into the Savage Peaks, his drug-dealing gig anoderma Hall. Naturally, his sights locked on it—a tarnished but golden signboard from Lin Chaodong’s heyday. Grabbing it could skyrocket his business.

  Lin Yu smiled faintly. “That was fast. Word travels quick—faster than a dog’s nose, huh?”

  Li Chaohua beamed, eyeing him like a fool. “Lin Yu, quit yapping nonsense. I’m here for ohing: Ganoderma Hall. Sell it or not, it’s mine. Don’t think Southwestern Marquis ties make you hot stuff. As long as you’re Lin Yu, you’ll bend—or else.”

  She nudged Lin Mudong, who sneered. Behind him loomed burly figures—muscle-bound, shirtless despite the night chill, gring at Lin Yu with menabsp;

  Lin Yu blinked, stuhis wasn’t about his Vice Head post—they were here t-arm Ganoderma Hall ht. *Father’s been gone a year, and they’re already mask-off? This is the brotherhood he cherished?* Rage boiled, spilling into a scoff. “In the capital, you’d defy the w? Robbery nds you in jail.”

  Lin Mudong leisurely pulled a note from his robe, handing it over with a cold smirk. “I came prepared. Before, I held back for blood’s sake. But you kept pushing, so don’t bme me for dropping the act.”

  Lin Yu sed it—Wang Hu’s private seal, captain of Heavenly Cloud City’s gate guard. Details unread, the seal alone screamed i: Lin Mudong was here to burn bridges.

  Calming himself, Lin Yu filed Wang Hu’s name away. He turned, plopping onto a courtyard stone bench, grinning at them. “Guess I uimated you. Teaming up with outsiders to bully your nephew—what toug family love.”

  “Heh, don’t pin this on me,” Lin Mudong sneered, stepping in and sitting across from him with a transfer deed. “I gave you plenty of face—offered a fat price. You overreached. Sign it. We’re still kin. If you’re ever in a bind, I’ll help where I …”

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