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In a compound as big as the Yan Hold, it was easy to get lost in it if you weren’t familiar with it. There were arguments to be made about it making it harder for assassins to find their targets, but such benefits, Jun knew, were purely accidental: As far as he knew, the house had been rebuilt about a dozen times since its foundation had been set.

And almost all of them because expansions kept being made to the master building.

Perhaps, if the family hadn’t died in his second life, Jun would have grown old enough to see the thirteenth rebuilt of the place. As it was? He got to explore it quite a bit in his second childhood. Of these memories, the ones that stood out the most happened in the many courtyards of the hold.

Aigou Yan was someone who had gathered quite a few wives and concubines. He had long ago stopped doing so, but his surviving women still outnumbered the inner courtyards that the Yan Hold had. Perhaps it would have made it simpler if each Yan “mother” had someplace inside the mansion to hold “court” on her own, yet that precise limit was probably what made being able to claim one of the courtyards so valuable.

Even then, they all found themselves having to share with each other and their children, sometimes even having to “split” a courtyard in half. There was nothing stopping any one of them from having their tea parties and meetings with all of their followers and sycophants outside of the house. Indeed, they could have rented, coerced or simply taken one of the homes of Yan officials inside this little city island. They were grand and Confucian enough for that.

But that was apparently the same as admitting defeat.

Well, whatever the case, only a single woman did not need to do any of that.

The Matriarch of the Yan house did not share anything except her husband.

“Little Jun? ” a woman with a mix of grey and black hairs welcomed him. She was seated on a cushion and clothed chair, silk sheets hanging from the armrest, and a few female servants waiting not too far, “What could possibly bring you over to this Lady’s abode?”

The Courtyard Jun entered had the typical four paths all leading to a center. Xue Yan, the Yan Lady, was sitting down off the center under the shade of a tall tree. Musicians played at the other end of the Courtyard while servants moved invisibly to make sure things stayed comfy.

Unlike what he expected, however, there was no gaggle of minor and lesser women attending her.

But there was one of his sisters there.

“This Yan son greets his mother,” Jun bowed to her.

And then, after a second, did the same to his sister, “This Jun hopes to find you in good health, Sister.”

Xue Yan was a woman who was once a beauty. Despite her graying her and the laughter lines starting to show in her face, she still was in Jun’s opinion. She wore a white silk tunic with many vibrant blue flower designs. Her hair was draped over an elaborate jade comb and made to look grand.

Shan Yan, Jun’s sister, on the other hand, looked a bit…tired.

Shan Yan was a woman of a small bust but wide hips. Her ass wasn’t the nice soft mass that Fu had or the mass of muscle that Lingyun had, but it was perky and tight. She was actually rather tall, managing to be slightly taller than Jun. Impressive as that was it was easy to forget how statuesque she was given how she was slumping as she sat. What Jun could make out through her dress were her defined shoulders, as well as the muscles in her forearms. He could see how her thighs presented nice meaty slabs even through her dress, almost like Jun’s pig girl.

And then there were the two things that always kept people from being able to correctly label her as manish.

First was her hips which, while not as absurd as Lynguin’s, were still in the range of Fu’s. And then there was her face.

It was angular, bearing a sharp Yan nose. Her eyes were honey and her lips were slim but inviting. Her cheeks were high, her eyes were big, her hair was actually naturally slightly blue, and her eyebrows were sharp. In short, she had the face of a natural beauty. On the range of Xia, even.

But it was so dull and disinterested in this occasion that her eyes barely moved to face him as she gave him a simple acknowledgment, “Brother.”

“Now, dear, there is no need for that,” Xue chided the younger woman, something that in all of Jun’s memories Shan only bared with difficulty, and only just.

The Shan in front of him merely sighed, “I suppose.”

“So?” Xue, in order to apparently further confuse Jun, gave his sister a smile of encouragement.

“...this Shan Yan greets her brother,” Shan intoned in the flattest tone Jun had EVER seen from her, “Though, if she must apologize for her attitude, it would only be half as much as she’d have to apologize for her presence.”

“No apologies needed?” Jun pursued his lips before turning to his mother, “My apologies, Mother, it appears this Son of yours intruded on something. I’ll be back later.”

“Do sit down, little Jun,” Xue gestured to her side and, in a few moments, a cushioned chair was placed beside it, “This mother of yours do so rarely get visits from you that I, well, can hardly recall the last time you came to me.”

It was, in truth, the first time Jun had ever approached her out of his own volition.

“Me neither, Mother,” Jun truthfully replied, “Yet this Son would speak with you all the same. It can therefore wait.”

“I said it was fine, did I not?” Xue raised an eyebrow and gave his sister a look from the corner of his eyes, “Besides, our dear Shan wouldn’t mind an extra conversationalist, would you dear?”

“Were that my opinion mattered.” Shan gave a half-hearted shrug.

“See? You are fine!” Xue waved Jun’s worries away with a laugh.

“Mother,” Jun said as his forehead furrowed, ‘What is going on?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Shan for the first time there, looked surprised. As did Xue.

“But then, this is our little Jun we are talking about,” the Yan matriarch mused as she took a sip of her tea.

“Heard what?” Jun asked as he looked at them both.

“Well, it’s no great secret dear,” Xue assured him, “Just that your sister-”

“-I failed,” Shan listlessly interrupted their mother, her eyes meeting Jun’s, showing defeated amusement, “Like you, this failure only amounts to the worth of her blood at best. At worst? Her body.”

Jun stared at her.

“Don’t be silly dear,” Xue chided her again and Jun found himself nodding his head in agreement, “Our Jun has actually started to make some waves. Tiny, insignificant waves, true, but he now has some value.”

…sigh.

“...good for you,” Shan’s listless mirth and self-depreciation only grew, “It seems you no longer need fear being the family disappointment.”

How much did Jun interact with his brother and sisters? How much did he really know about them? Raised by different nannies as they were, the answer was, in truth “somewhat but not enough.” He spent most of his second life avoiding them and would have gladly spent this one too doing the same.

But this woman wasn’t the Shan he knew. Certainly, people stopped talking about her at around this time and he never inquired as to why, but there were myriad ways of “losing” the Yan race without being crushed like THIS.

“What is worse?” Jun asked, “To never succeed because you never tried to do something or to fail greatly because you tried too much?”

“Failure is failure,” Shan replied, “Start differently but gain the same results.”

What did she do? No, what was she trying to do?

Jun recalled that Shan tried to do something altogether not TOO rare for Noble daughters that did not have the patience or skill to ply networks of connections or the tempting smile behind a fan; she tried to become a warrior.

To Shan’s credit, she was born with the sort of physicality that gave her a chance. As far as Jun knew, it wasn’t like she was necessarily lacking in talent either, but she was certainly interested in advancing her status and cause through violence. It was the sort of gambit that, even if it didn’t get her to be the Yan Lord, should still have ended with her being a valuable asset.

Being a skilled fighter was rarely a bad thing.

And, if through her Noble connections and accomplishments, she managed to attract the eye of a Sect? Well, becoming a Yan Lord would be impossible then, but that would have been considered an “equal” trade-off by Noble standards.

Yet, to be here, as she was- “What fight did Sister Shan lose to be like this?”

“Fight?” Shan barked a laugh, “Were that this Shan had the honor to fall for such a thing. Do you truly want to know, brother mine? I’ll tell you.”

She leaned into him as if there was nothing holding her back. Jun couldn’t help but lean in response too, “This Shan lost command of an entire company to a bunch of lackwit bandits.”

“And, instead of dying with the last shreds of honor that I had, was captured and ransomed back!” she loudly said, as if she were announcing it to the whole mansion.

“And I only got that privilege because I was a ‘woman’,” she spat, “I was thoroughly and completely humiliated.”

“I…see,” Jun’s eyes were wide.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Xue fanned her face as she stifled a sigh, “Well, while this Yan Lady wouldn’t have put it quite that way, that is more or less an accurate summary of things.”

“Now we are just deciding my worth,” Shan told Jun. She was starting to smile now and, ah, yes, it was self-loathing.

“We are trying to help her out,” this time, Xue DID sigh.

“We are trying to decide what man would be willing to accept this Yan bedwarmer,” Shan replied.

Xue smacked Shan in the head with her fan, “Careful Daughter, even if it’s yourself you are talking about there are still things too vile to say.”

Even if Shan was, well, right. Or maybe precisely because she was right.

But Jun didn’t voice those thoughts.

“Well, since the Young Miss is so dedicated to being sour, this is a good a time as any to have our conversation, Son,” Xue grunted, “What did you need to speak of with this Noble lady?”

Jun was actually a bit fearful of coming here after his talk with his father. However, he realized that Shan probably and completely eclipsed whatever anger Xue might have with him.

Still…

“Father said you were mad at me for taking up concubines,” Jun told her. Even if his aunt mother seemed well-disposed now, he couldn’t count on her not remembering her grudge when he went to ask her for favors, “So this Son of yours came to make peace with you.”

“Oh, you did, did you?” Xue smiled widely, “Am I really so terrible that you’d believe that I need pacifying?”

“So you are not angry?” Jun asked.

“Do you have any idea how much money and time I spent on that money-grubbing bint?” Xue’s smile, all of a sudden, disappeared into a growl, “Of course I am!”

“Still, that you came here to right your wrongs speaks volumes of your maturity,” Xue graced Jun once again with a smile, “Were that all our children were like that.”

“I defer to mother Xue’s opinion,” Jun gave a short head bow.

“As you should,” Xue laughed, “Well, well, WELL, I now have two children to help! Oh, what a wonderful burden has been handed to this Mother! I-”

“-actually, how guilty are you feeling?” she stopped and looked at Jun with a suspicious look.

How far are you willing to gain my favor?, she was in truth asking.

It wasn’t often that Jun’s mothers were this straightforward with this sort of question. But then, It wasn’t like Jun was so important that Xue had to be delicate. Honestly, he considered this one of the perks of being perceived as useless.

Now, what had father said?

“In light of Mother’s efforts,” Jun began, “I am willing to take up any woman she deemed fit for this Son.”

“I cannot claim to be willing to move from my current residence,” Jun added, the only stipulation that he would not budge on, “But that aside? Name the woman and this Jun will make a Yan lady out of her.”

“Will you now…” Xue smile grew until she opened her mouth.

And then just as promptly closed it.

“Anyone I pick?” she asked with suspicion.

“So long as it doesn’t require that I move,” Jun confirmed.

“A trifling matter,” the Yan matriarch waved her hand, “But fine, so long as it doesn’t require you to move, you will accept anyone I pick, no matter who it might be?”

“Yes,” Jun nodded.

“Anyone?” Xue asked for the third time. Her fingers had started to twitch and the look in her eye had grown a bit too intense.

“Y-yes?” Jun said again, this time more nervously. Some choices would obviously be worse than others, but he could, in the worst-case scenario, just have his official wife live far away from him. A cruel choice, yes, but one he would try to make as fair as he could. In this matter, however, he could not afford to care more about his prospective wife than he did his overall goals.

So this should be fine.

He was ready for it.

Xue Yan studied his face, as if she were looking for any sign that he might be lying or making a joke at her expense. It made Jun sweat a little bit, truth be told, but he was resolute in gaining this connection.

Xue Yan’s lips thinned as her eyes slanted….and then she laughed.

It was a clear pearly thing that sounded the most genuine he’d ever heard from her.

“You best perk up, daughter of mine,” Xue told Shan, who had just been studying the ground while Jun and her mother talked, “I have a solution to both your problems.”

“How so?” both Shan and Jun tilted their heads in confusion.

“Oh, look at you two, you are soooo cute already!” Xue gushed as she hid a giggle behind her fan.

“But of course, it’s for the good of the family…” she cleared her throat and nodded to herself.

Along the way, she had started to sweat a little bit. Something Jun had never seen her do.

“Mother Xue, you are not making any sense,” Jun said.

“Do you really not understand?” Xue asked as her gaze went from him to Shan, a pit falling in Jun’s stomach as he started to get an inkling of what she meant, “When it’s so perfect?”

“He’s not the only one, I do not know what you mean either, Mother,” Shan frowned.

“Oh, dear my dears,” Xue took both of their right hands

And placed them above each other.

“It’s the simplest thing, really.”

“You, Jun Yan, shall take this Noble daughter of the Yan as your lawful wife,” Xue gleefully told him, making his fingers close around Shan’s. Her hand felt warm.

“And you, Shan Yan, shall find a husband in our rising Jun Yan,” their mother made her close her hand to, making them squeeze.

“What?” Both Jun and Shan asked in disbelief.

“It’s about time we made the Yan blood purer!” Xue sighed with satisfaction, “Oh, do hope you have more than two children and do what me and my dear related husband couldn’t.”

“....what?” Jun asked again, his sister’s hand getting sweaty in his own.

“Little Jun, must you force this Mother to be explicit?” Xue gave him a disapproving look.

“You are going to marry your sister.”