The Inverted Dragon Is Scale

“I am not Yan Xiangma.”

Li Muyang dropped his head as he said in an embarra.s.sed tone of voice and rubbed his hands together.

He struggled all the way here, and it was only when he reached Tiandu"s Lu family"s house that he had the courage to tell the truth.

He was not Yan Xiangma; he also could not pretend to be Yan Xiangma. Otherwise, what reason could he use to see his parents and sister?

“Not Yan Xiangma?” Gongsun Yu said with a puzzled expression. He was her husband"s saviour, not the enemy, why would he use a false name?

“I knew it.” The little fatty Lu Tianyu wanted to get up from the floor. He moved a little and found that his father did not react, then nimbly got right up as he said, “The name Yan Xiangma——not everyone is willing to take it. You"re not Yan Xiangma, then who are you? Why give yourself the name Yan Xiangma? I have to say, this name is really bad.”

“I know.” Lu Qingming said smiling, his eyes were gentle. “I know you"re not Yan Xiangma.”

“You knew?” Li Muyang exclaimed. How would uncle Lu have already known when he hid his ident.i.ty so well? Besides, why did he not mention it when he knew he was not Yan Xiangma, and along the way he kept bringing up some old matters between the Lu and Yan family, which made things incredibly difficult for him and he didn"t know how to answer him at many times.

“Yan Xiangma resides in Jiangnan, I haven"t seen him in many years. But he is from Tiandu"s Yan family. A long time ago his entire family came to the Spring festival in Tiandu, although my memory of him was not very deep, but I know that he and you look a little different——” Lu Qingming explained with a smile.

“No wonder.” Li Muyang awkwardly smiled. “I knew I couldn"t deceive you. It turns out that I"ve been seen through the moment I came out.”

“Yes, I knew you were not Yan Xiangma as soon as you came out. However, since you said that this is your name, I thought you"re close with the Yan family"s Gongzi Xiangma. So, at that time, I just thought that you are one of the other juniors of the Yan family.”

“Later when I was talking to you, I asked you about the Yan family. It was only then that I found out that you"re not only not Yan Xiangma, you"re not even part of the Yan family. Do you remember I asked you about the condition of esteemed grandfather Yan"s waist injury?”

“I remember.” Li Muyang said, nodding his head.

“If you"re part of the Yan family, you should know that the esteemed Grandfather of the Yan family had not defended the border, and has always been a civil official and rarely left Tiandu. Also, the esteemed grandfather of the Yan family had never battled against Zhou nation"s General Yuan Taiji, he has no waist injury, and does not need to drink the alcohol that I brewed from dragon bone gra.s.s——”

Li Muyang felt so ashamed that he was unable to show his face. He thought he had fooled him but it turns out that he had been seen through clearly from the beginning. The reason he did not expose him was to help him maintain his face.

All along he was being laughed at?

Fortunately, he chose to confess himself in the end, or else if he had continued pretending then people would no longer be able to hold in their laughter.

“Since Uncle Lu already knew I was an impostor, why didn"t you just expose me earlier?” Li Muyang looked at Lu Qingming in the eye and asked. If Lu Qingming had asked him about it earlier, then he could have confessed and lose the ident.i.ty of Yan Xiangma earlier. He would not had been so troubled on their way here, thinking hard about how to tell Lu Qingming about his real ident.i.ty.

“You are my saviour, even if I have my suspicions, I could not question your ident.i.ty——I thought that the reason you did not want to disclose your ident.i.ty was because you have ineffable difficulties.” Lu Qingming did not take it to heart, and even came up with an excuse for Li Muyang.

“Indeed.” Since Li Muyang had been given the stairs, he must take advantage of it. “My ident.i.ty is sensitive. So I try to keep a low profile as much as possible.”

“It doesn"t matter.” Lu Qingming rea.s.sured him. “Is it convenient for you to tell us your real name now?”

“Li Muyang.” Li Muyang stated, smiling. “I am Li Muyang.”

The room went deadly silent.

Everyone looked at Li Muyang with an incomparably strange stare.

Lu Qingming"s expression was a little apprehensive, Gongsun Yu"s both hands were trembling, and Lu Tianyu"s little mouth was slightly opened as though he was saying "you can"t deceive me".

“You said——who are you?” Lu Qingming controlled his shock, asking aloud once more.

He had cultivated profound skills. He could even hear clearly the buzzing of a mosquito in the courtyard and know the wingbeat frequency per second. He knew it was impossible for him to mishear, but he was still worried that he heard it wrong.

“I am Li Muyang.” Li Muyang once again stated his name, seeing the look in everyone"s eyes, he added with an understanding and wry smile, “I told you that my ident.i.ty is sensitive. Because of some misunderstanding, the world thinks I killed Cui family"s Cui Zhaoren——So, the Cui family had been trying to kill me to avenge him. There"s nothing I could do, the Cui family is great and powerful. I, a little student, is no match for them. Several times I was almost killed by the people that they sent out. When I"m outside, I can only hide my ident.i.ty, to avoid drawing attention from the a.s.sa.s.sins of the Cui family——”

Li Muyang looked at Liu Qingming gratefully. “On the way home, Uncle Lu has been thanking me for saving him. But I wanted to announce my ident.i.ty at that time. I have more reasons to thank you. If it were not for the Lu family, my father, mother and sister——they would have been killed because of their relationship with me. If that happens, I will live a life of guilt and regret.”

Li Muyang bowed deeply to Lu Qingming in a standard aristocratic etiquette. “Uncle Lu, thank you for bringing my parents and sister to Tiandu"s Lu family"s house, thank you for saving their life.”

He waited for a good while, yet no one came to support him back up.

He waited a little longer and still no one came over to support him up.

“If you don"t support me back up, I"ll get up myself.” Li Muyang thought. “How come these n.o.bles don"t just follow the standard routine?”

He waited and waited, but Lu Qingming still did not come over to support him up.

Li Muyang could not wait any longer.

When he looked up, he found that Lu Qingming"s eyes were red, emotionally moved, as though he had seen his son who had been separated from him for many years.

“Uncle Lu, are you——what? Is everything okay?” Li Muyang asked with a puzzled face.

“I"m all right.” Lu Qingming"s voice was hoa.r.s.e, like something was blocking his throat.

“You are Li Muyang?” Gongsun Yu was much more emotional, staring unblinkingly at Li Muyang, big beads of tears pouring down her cheeks. She looked much more like she had been reunited with her long-lost son.

“Yes.” Li Muyang nodded. Then he bowed earnestly to Gongsun Yu as he said, “I have not thanked Aunt. I heard from Qiji, that it was Aunt who personally went to Jiangnan to bring my father, mother and sister to Tiandu. This kindness, Li Muyang will not forget.”

“Muyang——” Gongsun Yu"s body had as though been emptied, even the strength to stand was gone. She wanted to rush over to Li Muyang, wanted to hold Li Muyang in her arms.

But as she shifted her foot, she almost tumbled to the ground.

Lu Qingming had sharp eyes and agile hands. He held Gongsun Yu with one arm at once and looked at his wife with a look of disapprobation. “Xiao Yu, what are you doing? Stay calm.”

“I——” Gongsun Yu wanted to speak but stopped at a second thought, not knowing what to say.

At this very moment, her thoughts were in a complete whirl.

But her unwavering eyes were still fixed on Li Muyang, as though he would disappear from her sight if she blinked.

“So you are Li Muyang?” Lu Tianyu looked at Li Muyang with his eyes wide open. “You did not die?”

“Who said I was dead?” Li Muyang asked.

“Everyone says you"re dead.”

“Tianyu——” Gongsun Yu scolded.

“Oh, that"s not right, my big sister doesn"t believe you"re dead.” Lu Tianyu looked at Li Muyang as he explained in a serious voice. “Everyone says you are dead, she did not believe it. She says she won"t believe it until she sees your body. She believed that you must be alive and will come back to see her.”

Li Muyang felt his heart warming. He did not expect Lu Qiji to have so much confidence in him. “Qiji actually believed in me, when she came back I must prpoperly thank her——”

After a brief pause, he found it rather strange. “Didn"t you say Qiji had left? How did she tell you that she believes I"m not dead?”

“I am talking about Li Shinian.” Lu Tianyu looked at him like he"s an idiot. “Lu Qiji is my big sister, Li Shinian is also my big sister.”

“I see.” Li Muyang nodded. He turned to Lu Tianyu and very seriously bowed his head at Lu Tianyu. “Thank you little young Master for taking care of Li Shinian.”

Li Muyang was incredibly grateful that the young master of an aristocratic family was willing to recognise his little sister as his older sister. At first he was worried that his parents and sister would feel inferior since they were living under someone else"s roof. Now it seemed that his worry was unnecessary.

“Why so polite? Didn"t I tell you? She"s my sister. Isn"t it natural for a little brother to take care of his big sister?” Lu Tianyu said with a proud face.

“You"re right.” Li Muyang smiled.

He turned round to Lu Qingming. “Uncle Lu, can I go to see my parents and sister? To be honest with you, the reason I followed you back to Tiandu, was mainly to see them. It"s been several months I saw them, I really miss them.”

Lu Qingming looked at Gongsun Yu, who was staring at Li Muyang"s dirty robe and messy hair. “Muyang, first take a bath and change into clean clothes——“

Li Muyang glanced at himself, and said: “You"re right. Although I could not come back in silken robes, but I cannot make them feel that my life outside has been incredibly difficult.”

Gongsun Yu came over and took Li Muyang"s hand, “Come, I"ll take you to bath——”

“Aunt——” Li Muyang immediately refused, bowing thankfully. “A servant can take me there, how could I dare ask you?”