Chapter 11 Meeting My Brother-in-Law
The night was so dark that one couldn't see their own hand in front of their face. Only by lighting lamps and using the moonlight could one see some things.
Yan Sheng, like a nimble black cat, leaped from one house to another. In the blink of an eye, he had jumped over several houses and left the town in just a few breaths.
Iwakatsu traveled quickly, but for some reason, the closer he got, the more complicated his feelings became. To be precise, Iwakatsu had only met that lord once. In Iwakatsu's memory, that lord was a gentle, refined, and well-mannered person, who knew his place, was sensible, kind, and strong.
He is more suitable to be a leader than Jiguo Yansheng.
Without further ado, Iwakatsu had this idea. Tsugikuni Iwakatsu was excellent, but he had his own goals and dreams, and the position of the family would trap him and become his cage.
"Help, help me! Is anyone there?! Ah—."
As Iwakatsu hurried along, lost in thought, a scream abruptly stopped him for three seconds. Iwakatsu quickly halted and turned to see a boy dressed in a light blue kimono and black samurai pants, running frantically, followed closely by two or three demons.
Just as the demon was about to grab him, Iwakatsu saw the boy's appearance. He had the same azure blue eyes as Muichiro in the original story, his black hair was tied up high, he looked to be about 1.6 meters tall, and his body was fair and clean, clearly a young master from a noble family.
"brush--."
With a casual flick of his wrist, Iwakatsu killed both demons instantly, blood splattering mercilessly, some of it landing on the boy's kimono sleeves.
"Tokito...family?"
Yan Sheng looked at the boy who had fallen to the ground in fright and asked indifferently. Under the moonlight, Yan Sheng's movement of sheathing his sword was extremely dreamlike and gorgeous.
Yes, yes.
The boy froze, staring blankly at Yan Sheng, who had saved him. His tall figure and handsome, refined face were striking, but what truly caught the eye were the flame-like red markings on his forehead and chin, adding a vibrant touch to his otherwise indifferent expression.
"You are Otonoko's husband, the head of the family of the successor state!" The boy recognized Iwakatsu, the head of the large family who had been missing for several years, only after looking at Iwakatsu's purple kimono.
"Otonako..."
Iwakatsu remembered. She was Iwakatsu's wife, a noble lady who could be described as perfect. The Tokito family and the Tsugikuni family had different lineages. The Tokito family was a family composed of a main branch and several branches. However, in this generation, the main branch only had one sickly child. Otonoko was originally supposed to marry him, but the marriage did not happen because of the alliance with the Tsugikuni family.
Yan Sheng's lips twitched. Incestuous marriage was indeed a common ancient problem regardless of nationality. Turning to look at the young boy brushing the dust off himself, he rummaged through his memories and remembered his brother-in-law, Shi Tou Yue, whom he had met a few times.
Tokito Etsu is Tokito Otona's younger brother, who is eight years younger than her. The last time Tsugikuni Iwakatsu saw him was when he was sixteen and accompanied Otona back to her parents' home. At that time, Tokito Etsu was just a little boy of five or six years old.
"Yue, what are you doing here...?"
Yan Sheng looked at the little guy who was almost two heads shorter than him, and his tone softened unconsciously.
"Because the fools in the family were fighting amongst themselves and making a mess of things, I ran away to find my sister."
Shi Touyue blurted out, then looked down at the phoenix eyes looking at her, and realized that she shouldn't have said that, and looked regretful.
Yan Sheng sighed inwardly. To dare to run around like this at such a young age, without any fear of being robbed or captured and sold. Yan Sheng estimated that there wasn't much time left in the night, so he scooped up the still anxious Shi Touyue and hurried towards the nearest town.
Shi Touyue felt the weightlessness of being lifted into the air, the wind whistling through his hair and cheeks, a strange feeling that both frightened and delighted him.
——
"Hello, I need two rooms."
Iwakatsu quickly opened two rooms, then led Shitoue to two small Japanese-style rooms on the second floor, where the staff had taken him. Only after the person who had led the way left did Iwakatsu turn to face Shitoue.
"Stay here, take it..."
Yan Sheng placed a bag of money in Shi Touyue's hand, thought for a moment, and then said, "Find a caravan... and send you there."
Shi Touyue, holding the heavy money bag, looked up at Yan Sheng's face and asked earnestly:
And what about you?
Tokito Etsu and Tokito Otona were very close, and he had known through letters that his brother-in-law had suddenly left a few years ago.
"I'm not going."
After Yan Sheng finished speaking, he turned and left, heading towards another room. This room was a semi-open-air design, and he needed to get back before sunrise.
Shi Tou Yue could only agree and watch as the other person opened the door and left. Recalling the aura of the person who had just taken over, he couldn't help but think of his grandfather, the longest-reigning head of the Shi Tou family.
Yan Sheng only relaxed after returning to his completely enclosed room, then collapsed into the bedding and began to revisit Yan Sheng's memories.
Kokushiro Tsugikuni married Otono Tokito a long time ago. From their shared memories, Kokushiro could tell that Otono was a very strong-willed woman. Beyond the constraints of being a noblewoman, she also possessed excellent management skills.
After discovering this, Kuniowa Katsumi also had Otono help him with many tasks, which allowed him more time to practice his swordsmanship. Katsumi realized that if Otono had grown up in his era, she would definitely have been even more outstanding and achieved greater success.
"Knock knock".
A crisp knock sounded, and Yan Sheng saw Shi Touyue standing awkwardly at the door through the transparent window.
"What's wrong?"
Yan Sheng opened the door and looked down at Shi Tou Yue, who was startled. The two stood there in an awkward silence. Seeing that the other party didn't react for a long time, and opened her mouth as if to say something but didn't say anything, Yan Sheng helplessly opened the door wider.
"Come in and play... a game of chess with me."
"Okay, brother-in-law."
"...Call me Yansheng-ge."
"Okay, Brother Yansheng."
Shi Touyue knelt nervously opposite Yan Sheng, watching him set up the chess pieces brought by the shop assistant. Seeing that Yan Sheng didn't move for a long time, she carefully placed her piece first.
"What do you want to ask?"
Yan Sheng looked at the chessboard without even looking up and asked the question directly.
“I…the patriarch wants me to be the successor, but I’m not very smart, and I haven’t studied it…”
Tokito held the Go stone, hesitated for a moment after saying what he wanted to say, and stared at the board without making a move.
“You can… ask Otonako.”
"Brother Yansheng?"
"Otonoko... I can help you."
Yan Sheng placed a chess piece, looked up at the puzzled Shi Touyue, and uttered three words in a low voice.
"You lost."
"Wow, Yan Sheng is amazing, he finished so quickly."
Shi Touyue realized he was in a hopeless situation and could only resign himself to tidying up the pieces. Seeing this, Yan Sheng reached out and ruffled his hair.
"Before, half of the industry... was her decision."
After Yan Sheng finished speaking, he led Shi Touyue to the door, said goodnight, and closed the door.
In truth, Iwakatsu didn't know if his actions would affect the subsequent plot. However, if Tokito Etsu became the head of the family, Tokito Otonoko's handling of affairs in Tsugikuni would be much smoother.
The younger brother is the head of another family, so with that backing, there aren't as many troublemakers complaining. Preferring sons to daughters is perfectly normal in this country.
On the other side
Yoriichi Tsugikuni had lost track of how long he had been walking. He seemed tireless in his search for Tsugikuni Iwakatsu's whereabouts, and along the way, he also hunted down many demons.
He had a hunch that his brother was still alive, and... he had a vague idea, but before he saw it, Yoriichi Tsugikuni didn't want to admit it.
We need to find my elder brother quickly.
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