Delivering the Public Grain

By the pool.

Lin Mo and Jiang Yunlu stood seven paces apart, facing each other.

Everyone in the family had come out.

Jiang Chengyue had somehow gotten a bag of popcorn and was shoving it into her mouth, crunching loudly.

Situ Qiong, meanwhile, watched carefully from both sides, afraid that Lin Mo might accidentally hurt the Little Miss.

Jiang Chengshan also shouted, "Play if you want, mess around if you want, but don't go too far."

Lin Mo waved his hand. "Don't worry, I know my limits."

Jiang Chengyue raised the popcorn high. "Go for it! Little Yunlu, beat him!"

Jiang Yunlu shot Jiang Chengyue a glance. "Auntie, keep it down."

"Alright, alright, just fight." Jiang Chengyue stuffed another handful of popcorn into her mouth.

No one called for the start.

Jiang Yunlu pushed off the ground with the tip of her toe and launched herself forward like a shot.

True Qi inside her body surged along her meridians, flooding her limbs.

The sensation was like drinking a mouthful of hot water on a winter day—a warmth spreading from her dantian, but much faster and fiercer.

Situ Yunshu stood at the back of the crowd, arms crossed, expression calm.

She knew all too well what level Jiang Yunlu was at right now.

To put it bluntly, if you went back to the old Situ family, a fifteen-year-old boy could have handled her with ease.

This had nothing to do with talent—it was purely a matter of how long one had been practicing.

In the Situ family, children started martial training once they learned to read.

For the slower ones, they could gather Qi and form True Qi by age ten.

By fifteen, they had already gained a foothold, and the more gifted ones could even touch the edge of advancing to the next stage.

Jiang Yunlu had started too late.

Even with the transcendent cultivation manual Lin Mo had given her, a thin foundation was still a thin foundation—this gap couldn't be closed overnight.

Still, Situ Yunshu took another look at the steps Jiang Yunlu had taken.

Interesting.

Her daughter had impressive comprehension.

The first punch arrived.

Jiang Yunlu's fist, wrapped in a thin layer of True Qi, shot straight toward Lin Mo's chest.

The punch was crisp, with no unnecessary movements, and the angle was clever—aimed at the soft spot below the ribs.

Lin Mo raised his left arm, turned his elbow outward, and met the punch head-on.

Thud!

Even Jiang Chengyue, with popcorn in her mouth, was startled.

Lin Mo's arm didn't budge, and his body didn't sway.

The moment Jiang Yunlu retracted her fist half an inch, she twisted her hips and sent out a sweeping kick.

A mid-section roundhouse kick aimed at his waist.

This kick carried the momentum of her rotation, packing more force than the punch.

Lin Mo pressed down with his right hand, catching her calf in his palm.

"Hmm."

He nodded and commented, "Not bad, you've got strength."

Jiang Yunlu didn't respond.

After landing, she kept moving, throwing two feints before following up with a straight punch aimed at Lin Mo's chin.

This combination wasn't random.

It went low first, then mid, then high—the rhythm varied, and the transitions flowed smoothly.

Clearly, someone had taught her deliberately, not just by rote, but by breaking down each move and correcting it.

Situ Yunshu gave a slight nod.

Throughout it all, Lin Mo didn't dodge.

He blocked every punch and kick head-on, and he did it in a careful way.

He didn't just absorb the impact rigidly—he redirected some of the force at the moment of contact, so Jiang Yunlu wouldn't hurt herself on the rebound.

Only Situ Yunshu in the whole crowd noticed this detail.

Jiang Chengyue chewed on her popcorn, tilting her head to ask Jiang Chengshan, "Bro, can you tell who's winning?"

Jiang Chengshan shook his head.

"How would I know?"

“I didn’t notice either,” Jiang Chengyue said, “but Little Yunlu’s fighting really is quite graceful to watch.”

In the gaps between blocks, Lin Mo had already been mentally breaking down Jiang Yunlu’s capabilities to a large extent.

Her total true qi wasn’t huge, but its circulation efficiency was higher than he’d expected.

Her techniques clearly carried the Situ family foundation, but Jiang Yunlu had made some modifications herself. Several of the transitions were handled quite cleverly—not the kind that could be taught, but rather the kind she’d figured out on her own.

There was also one thing that caught Lin Mo’s attention.

From the start of the fight until now, Jiang Yunlu’s breathing had remained steady.

That meant she wasn’t using all her strength at once—she’d held back at least twenty percent.

For someone who’d only been training recently, being able to control her output during an actual fight was far more difficult than just being physically strong.

Jiang Yunlu kicked at him again—this time faster than before.

Lin Mo intercepted it as usual, but this time he held onto her ankle without letting go, looking down at her briefly.

“That’s enough.”

Jiang Yunlu caught her breath, pulled her leg back, and steadied herself. Her forehead was lightly beaded with sweat, her cheeks a little flushed, but her eyes were bright.

“How was it?” she asked.

Lin Mo didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned his head and glanced at Situ Yunshu.

Situ Yunshu didn’t seem worried about Lin Mo hurting Jiang Yunlu; she merely nodded.

Only then did Lin Mo turn back and say just two words: “Not bad.”

Jiang Chengyue called out from the side, “What do you mean ‘not bad’! Our Little Yunlu fought beautifully!”

“It means she’s made good progress, but there’s still room to practice,” Lin Mo said.

He grabbed Jiang Yunlu’s arm and gave it a casual squeeze.

“Ow—it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

Jiang Yunlu let out a pained cry, and Jiang Chengshan immediately stepped forward.

“Lin Mo... you!”

But Lin Mo paid no attention to the Old Geezer and directly addressed Jiang Yunlu: “You’ve definitely been training like crazy—your body’s already showing some strain.”

As he spoke, Lin Mo activated the Restoration Art, instantly smoothing out the accumulated minor injuries in Jiang Yunlu’s body.

Jiang Yunlu felt her whole body become noticeably lighter.

“Amazing! Looks like I still have a long way to go before I catch up to you.”

“A long way? You call that a long way? Keep training hard—we can’t just be vases that people have to protect.”

Situ Yunshu stepped forward and gently ruffled Jiang Yunlu’s hair.

Jiang Chengyue pointed at herself. “So what—am I a vase?”

Then she pointed at Jiang Chengshan. “Brother, you’re a vase too.”

Right then, Lin Mo’s phone rang.

It was Liu Zheng.

As soon as he answered, Liu Zheng’s voice came through: “It’s done. The Xie family has all been arrested—family-run criminal syndicate, and their protective umbrella has been wiped out in one go.”

“That was fast—impressive.”

“I went straight to Director Chen and explained the situation; he arranged it immediately. It really was your name that carried weight.”

Liu Zheng genuinely cared about getting rid of local bullies and bringing peace to the community.

As for the mess the Xie family left behind, someone else would handle it.

In any case, starting tomorrow, Xie Yuwu wouldn’t be showing up at that private school anymore.

Lin Mo hung up the phone and passed the news on to Jiang Yunlu.

When Jiang Chengshan overheard this, he couldn’t help but comment, “I know this guy Xie Dongsheng—he’s definitely a thuggish character. I’ve heard that several of his real estate projects had fatal incidents, but all of them got covered up.”

Jiang Chengyue nodded vigorously. “I’ve heard about it too. I’ve never actually had any contact with them though—I guess they tried to keep me out of that sort of thing.”

Amid the chatter, Lin Mo had already pulled Jiang Yunlu aside to walk together. After a fight, it was still time to continue their sweet moments together.

Old Geezer was about to say something more when Situ Yunshu pulled him away.

"Don't go. It's time to pay the grain tax."

"No! I think my grain supply is insufficient..."