Bai Yanzhou decided that keeping quiet was still his best option.
Instead of explaining himself, he lifted a hand and gave Shen Mo’an a casual wave, hoping he would calm down.
It had the opposite effect.
Shen Mo’an’s face darkened.
“You—” To him, that careless gesture looked less like an attempt to calm things down and more like a provocation.
“You’re asking for it!” He lunged forward and threw a punch.
Bai Yanzhou moved aside at once.
Shen Mo’an’s fist passed close enough to stir his robes, and before the other man could recover, Bai Yanzhou turned and struck the inside of his arm with his palm.
He deliberately held back, using only enough force to push Shen Mo’an away.
Shen Mo’an stumbled half a step before regaining his balance.
His expression became even worse.
“You’re holding back?” Bai Yanzhou stared at him.
Apparently, that was wrong too.
He had only been trying not to injure Shen Qinglan’s brother.
If he actually hurt the man, Shen Qinglan would probably have something to say about it.
Shen Mo’an clearly didn’t appreciate the consideration.
Another punch came straight at him.
Bai Yanzhou sighed and dodged again.
What began as a one-sided attack quickly turned into a real fight.
Shen Mo’an’s punches were fierce and direct, forcing Bai Yanzhou to keep moving across the roof.
Bai Yanzhou rarely met him head-on.
He blocked when necessary and countered only when he saw an opening, careful not to use enough strength to cause a serious injury.
After several exchanges, however, Bai Yanzhou began to take the fight more seriously.
Shen Mo’an was better than he had expected.
His temper made his attacks look reckless, but his movements weren’t careless.
His footing was steady, his reactions were quick, and whenever Bai Yanzhou changed direction, he adjusted almost immediately.
Interesting.
Bai Yanzhou began testing him without even realizing it.
A feint here, a counter there, a sudden change in direction to see how quickly Shen Mo’an could react.
By the time either of them noticed how far things had gone, the peaceful morning had turned into a fight across the rooftops.
Then one of the tiles shifted beneath Shen Mo’an’s foot.
Crack!
The tile slid down the roof and shattered in the courtyard below.
A servant carrying a broom stopped and looked up.
Another maid came around the corner with a basin of water.
She followed his gaze and froze as well.
Above them, Shen Mo’an and Bai Yanzhou were still fighting.
Another tile came loose.
Crash!
The maid nearly dropped the basin.
“Young Master?!” Her shout brought more servants running into the courtyard.
One man had just stepped outside and opened his mouth to yawn when a broken piece of tile flew past him.
His mouth snapped shut.
He turned around and ran straight back the way he had come.
Within moments, the quiet courtyard was in chaos.
Inside the room, Shen Qinglan opened her eyes.
She had been sleeping soundly until a familiar shout came from somewhere above her.
She frowned.
“Brother?” Another crash followed.
Shen Qinglan pushed herself upright just as several maids hurried into the room.
“Young Miss, you’re awake!” “What happened outside?” The maids exchanged uneasy looks.
Before any of them could answer, something struck the roof above them with another loud crack.
Shen Qinglan looked up.
That certainly didn’t sound good.
She got out of bed carefully and walked toward the window.
The moment she looked outside, she stopped.
Her brother was on the roof.
So was Bai Yanzhou.
Shen Qinglan blinked in surprise.
Why was Bai Yanzhou still here?
She had assumed he went back to his own room after she fell asleep.
Unless…
Had he stayed nearby all night?
The thought caught her off guard, and she quickly pushed it aside.
There were more important things happening above her head.
For one thing, she had never seen Shen Mo’an fight before.
Shen Qinglan leaned closer to the window.
The maids immediately became nervous.
“Young Miss, please don’t stand there!” “I’m only looking.” “But they’re fighting!” “I can see that.” That was exactly why she wanted to watch.
Her brother almost never fought in front of her, and she was curious about Bai Yanzhou’s martial arts as well.
She had barely managed to follow another exchange when something came spinning down from the roof.
Shen Qinglan’s eyes widened.
She stepped back and covered her face just as a tile smashed into the ground outside the window.
Pieces of clay scattered across the stone.
For a second, Shen Qinglan didn’t move.
Then she slowly lowered her hands and touched her face.
Everything was still where it should be.
She let out a breath.
“That almost hit my face.” The maids stared at her.
That was what she was worried about?
“Young Miss, we need to move away from the window.” Before Shen Qinglan could object, they surrounded her.
One maid held her by the shoulders while another carefully took her uninjured arm.
“Wait, I can walk by myself.” “Then please walk faster!” They hurried her away from the window.
Shen Qinglan kept trying to look back.
“I haven’t finished watching.” “Young Miss, if you stay there any longer, you may not have a face left to worry about!” Shen Qinglan stopped.
That was a fair point.
She allowed them to take her to a safer part of the courtyard, but as soon as they let go of her, she looked up again.
Watching from below wasn’t quite as good, but it would do.
Unfortunately, the fight was getting worse.
Shen Mo’an attacked again, Bai Yanzhou dodged, and another tile cracked beneath their feet.
Then another.
Before long, pieces of broken tile were falling into the courtyard.
“Watch out!” “Move!” “Another one!” Servants scattered in every direction, covering their heads as they ran.
Someone abandoned a broom in the middle of the path, another left a basin behind, and one maid nearly ran straight into a pillar while trying to avoid a falling tile.
Shen Qinglan stared at the mess.
Her earlier excitement slowly disappeared.
At this point, she was no longer interested in who would win.
She was more concerned about whether there would be any roof left by the time they finished.
Another tile shattered nearby.
Shen Qinglan rubbed her temple.
This was getting ridiculous.
Bai Yanzhou seemed to be thinking the same thing.
He avoided another punch and glanced down at the courtyard.
Broken tiles were everywhere.
Servants were running around in panic, and the courtyard looked nothing like it had when he first arrived.
All because Shen Mo’an had found him outside his sister’s room at dawn.
For some reason, Bai Yanzhou thought of the roasted goose again.
The goose had been eaten hours ago, yet the trouble somehow kept growing.
Before he could decide whether a dead goose had ever caused this much trouble in the history of Bai Manor, an angry voice thundered through the courtyard.
“Both of you, stop right now!” The fighting stopped.
Shen Qinglan turned toward the courtyard gate.
Shen Yuxing was coming toward them, and judging by his expression, someone was about to have a very unpleasant morning.
A maid had rushed over earlier to tell him that his son had climbed onto the roof above Shen Qinglan’s room and started fighting the eldest young master of Bai Manor.
Shen Yuxing hadn’t believed her at first.
Mo’an might be impulsive, but surely he had enough sense not to start a fight on someone else’s roof.
Then Shen Yuxing arrived and looked up.
His son wasn’t merely fighting.
He was destroying the roof while doing it.
“SHEN MO’AN!” The roar echoed across the courtyard.
“GET DOWN HERE!” Even Bai Yanzhou instinctively glanced toward him.
That brief distraction was enough.
Shen Mo’an had already thrown another punch.
Bai Yanzhou noticed too late.
He jerked his head aside just before the fist reached him.
The punch missed his cheek by a hair.
Bai Yanzhou froze.
He slowly lifted a hand and touched his face.
Still there.
No blood.
No broken nose.
Good.
He let out a long breath and sat down heavily on the roof.
That had been far too close.
He had survived assassins and ambushes, along with more dangerous situations than he cared to remember.
Yet somehow, a morning at his own home had nearly cost him his face.
Shen Mo’an was still glaring at him, Shen Yuxing was furious below, the servants were staring at the ruined courtyard, and Shen Qinglan was standing off to one side watching everything.
Bai Yanzhou sat there for a moment, too tired to deal with any of them.
Then, once again, he thought of the goose he had roasted the night before.
His expression went blank.
Yes.
This had definitely started with that goose.
He should never have roasted the stupid thing.