The ideal little brother

Li Yu woke up just before sunrise due to the habit of waking early. Finishing the daily morning deeds, taking a bath and eating breakfast, he set off towards the north gate which lead towards the neighbouring city, Surging River city. Waiting at the north gate, he passed the time counting the money he had saved up till now, with the total coming up to about 10000 gold coins. With 1 gold coin being equal to 100 silver coins and 10000 copper coins, the amount of money he had saved up was enough for 200 families of 5 people to live a comfortable life for a decade. It was more than enough for him to open an inn in the capital where the brothers were about to move.

It may sound that the beast hunter was a dream job that earned loads of money. However, in reality, it wasn't so. As most hunters would engage in melee combat due to arrows being hard to penetrate the thick hides of most beasts, they were bound to get injured during their hunts. Sharing the money with their teammates as hunting solo was life threatening, paying heavy medical fees to doctors during the treatment, and sustaining daily lives while recuperating the wounds left most hunters with very little savings. Whereas Li Yu's 'talent' ensured almost no injuries during hunts and with his money grubber mindset that only required him to buy cheapest salt from the market while procuring the food from the valley, he had little to no expenditure. The heaviest wound he ever sustained was a big lump to his forehead, which he got from a low hanging tree branch while running away from a lion. After being employed by the inn, he could eat free dinner there while shamelessly demanding leftovers which were eaten during breakfast and lunch.

The other reason was his intelligent little brother Li Ming who, being inspired by his 'righteous and hardworking' big brother, studied hard at the academy, getting the highest grades at the very first year of studying. The headmaster of the academy, impressed by Li Ming, refunded the 1000 gold coins annual fees and gave Li Ming a scholarship, providing his every needs during the four years, hence Li Yu could save the money he would otherwise have spent on his brother. After the four years, getting the best grades each year, Li Ming was then recommended to go to the capital to work under one of the top scholars in the country, while studying directly under him. He would get a good wage and a large villa to live along with many servants. Everything was going fine, except a little worry that nagged at Li Yu's mind.

It was Li Ming's straightforward and righteous nature. While the village and their neighboring city, Surging River city, could accommodate people with mindset like Li Ming, Li Yu knew that the same couldn't be accepted at the capital. With many idiotic and despotic third generations, ruthless and cruel second generations, and wily and cunning first generations, the capital was full of many types of people that were difficult to get along with. You could offend a person easily if you didn't have a flexible mind there. Bowing your head to the rich and powerful, acting servile when needed etc were the basics to survive if you did not have a powerful backer.

While the scholar's group could provide for everything, they absolutely wouldn't stand out if they offended someone they couldn't afford to offend. Hence, Li Yu was worried about his brother's nature. He had prepared for a long talk about the ways of the world, but he knew that Li Ming would listen to everything he said, but never accept to change his nature.

Thus, he was prepared to take his brother to Yellow Leaf valley, to show him the truth that he hid for many years, about his cowardly nature and ways to survive in dire circumstances. Hoping for his brother to change for the better, he continued waiting while thinking about spending some money to buy nice clothes for himself and his brother. After 15 minutes, he could see a youth in white riding a brown horse with a big back rucksack tied to the horse. The youth was handsome while his face was slightly immature, showing his low age. His face was similar to Li Yu's, but it had an aura of righteousness that Li Yu clearly lacked. His face lit up when he saw Li Yu, jumping down the running horse impatiently, and getting on his knees in front of Li Yu, saying loudly "Little brother greets big brother". The youth was clearly Li Ming.

"How many times have I forbidden you to kneel" Li Yu said, feigning anger as he hurriedly lifted Li Ming up to his feet. Watching closely his brother for a while, he hugged Li Ming tightly. Li Ming returned the hug, while his eyes turned red due meeting his brother after a long time.

Li Yu said "Come, I have reserved lunch at Mei's Inn". Li Ming's expression quickly turned to that of joy, he remembered that whenever his brother had a large haul, he would always treat Li Ming a nice meal at Mei's Inn. Especially after he went to the academy, whenever he came for a week to stay during holidays, he would always be treated a meal there regularly. Li Yu never spent money for himself, but he spent it lavishly for his brother. Li Ming agreed, knowing that rejection was useless. Both quickly headed home while talking about Li Ming's time at academy, where Li Ming kept his rucksack and kept the horse in the yard. The horse was a gift he got from the headmaster when he broke the record of the highest grade at the academy in his four years there.

Arriving at the private room in the inn for an early lunch, Li Yu listened his brother's accounts till lunch arrived. Seeing a meat dish and a vegetable dish along with the special medicinal dish made up of beast and herbs, Li Ming quickly started eating after finishing his talk. Li Yu did not touch his food, coughed a bit to strengthen his resolve, and said " Li Ming, I have always wanted to talk about a particular thing to you."

Li Ming replied while eating " I know, you want me to change my nature, right? "

" What? How did you know?" asked Li Yu, clearly bewildered.

" Headmaster already had the same talk with me. Before starting the talk, he had the same expression as you and started with exact same words as you. In fact, many friends have talked the same thing to me." replied Li Ming, exasperated.

Li Yu asked, a bit expectant" So, what do you think about it? Are you ready for changing yourself for the better?"

Li Ming rolled his eyes, annoyed, and replied " Brother, I know what you are worried about, and I can assure you to never argue with any arrogant person after going to the capital, always minding my own business, lowering my head when needed. Headmaster is already satisfied with what I said. I am not a 12 year kid filled with righteousness anymore"

Li Yu was ecstatic, however, he couldn't help but test his brother " Okay, answer my question then. Let's say an arrogant young master passes by in carriage, which is very fast. An old granny or grandpa, who couldn't move away fast enough, is about to crash with the carriage. What would you do?"

Li Ming replied with a firm expression " Of course I will save. I may not bother to get into arguments and I may lower my head to the rich and powerful, but I have my bottom line. I won't stand idly by seeing injustice on the road."

Li Yu banged the table hard enough that the food almost toppled over, and reprimanded angrily " Nonsense! Who do you think you are? A hero? A savior of mankind? There is so much injustice in the world, will you meddle in all these affairs? What if the king unjustly executed someone? Will you go argue with him?"

Li Ming lowered his head, not arguing. He knew that his elder brother loved him dearly, always thinking about him and never bearing to scold him no matter what mistakes he made. In fact, the only time his brother was this angry was when he secretly went out to the Yellow Leaf valley to hunt when Li Ming was 11, clearly intending to follow Li Yu's example and start hunting at 11 like his brother. Li Yu, hearing from the neighbouring uncle about Li Ming carrying his bow and arrows in the direction of Yellow Leaf valley, quickly ran after him. Just as Li Ming was about to enter the deeper parts where beasts were frequently seen, Li Yu caught up, slapped him hard, and started scolding him. Li Ming cried all day that day, angry at Li Yu. But Li Yu didn't care, instead warning to beat him more severely if he found Li Ming going to hunt again. Li Ming clearly remembered waking up at night, hearing Li Yu crying. Li Ming realised his reckless actions and apologized the next day.

Li Yu continued angrily " You clearly don't understand the thought process of the arrogant bastards. You saving people under their nose is equal to provoking them. Yes, Scholar's Association may back you up due to them being needing to maintain their righteous image. But what about the problems that occur in the dark?"

Li Ming argued back " Well, I can make the matter bigger by spreading rumours which will force the king to intervene. He will have to act if wants to maintain the kingly image in front of everyone"

Li Yu replied angrily " Wow, you think yourself a smartass don't you? Let me remind you the reason you were able to have a proper childhood with well fed stomach, good clothes to wear, and free time to play with neighbouring children was because your elder brother was out there hunting the beasts. Do you know why I had to do that? It was because of the ruthless order from the king preventing male orphans to be adopted. Do you think I didn't want a carefree childhood? But I couldn't have it! All thanks to the king. Do you think a ruthless person like him is easy to play with? He will have you killed secretly if you forced him to act! And everyone will think you deserved your end!" Li Yu felt pain in his heart as he said about his own childhood troubles to Li Ming. He didn't want his brother to over think things, but he had to clear up the picture of the world to Li Ming today, no matter how strict he sound.

He continued with a slightly lower voice " Do you know how I hunted the beasts till date? I sneaked up at them, lay traps for them, aiming only for the eyes or butt holes for a guaranteed shot, running away at the slightest mistake on my part. Surprised? Do you feel the tall image of your brother crumbling down? Do you feel your brother is a cowardly bastard? Everyone in the village says that behind my back. But I had to act that way, I had no choice! I had a brother waiting back at home, hoping his elder brother would feed him the best food, buy him the best clothes and toys, fulfill his every wish. I am not bothered that someone talked behind my back, because I had a duty! Duty towards you to keep you happy! Duty towards our parents that gave us our life to make their given life worth living so that they can smile from the heavens! As long as I can fulfill my duty, I don't care what happens to anyone else. Do you think your life is cheap, that you can just go about and place some illusory delusions of righteousness above your own life? Have you thought about what will happen to me if something untoward happened to you?"