Samuel Grant hadn’t expected that a classmate would invite him out to have fun. He left early, carrying a bit of pocket money he’d brought from Yangzhou, ready to treat everyone. Actually, he had some friends and classmates in Yangzhou too, but with his master gone and his master's wife kicking him out, he had nowhere to settle, so he couldn’t spare the energy to lament lost friendships.

He spent most of the day with three or four classmates, letting them lead the way—watching a movie, wandering aimlessly around the university, chasing and horsing around on unfamiliar streets... At lunch, they went to a restaurant. He didn’t say much, just listened to the others gossip about class or grade-level trivialities, grinning foolishly whenever he was amused. In the end, everyone asked to borrow his homework to copy, and he agreed without a second thought.

After leaving the restaurant and stepping into the blazing sunlight, the group wondered what to do next. The class monitor yawned and invited everyone to his house to play poker. Samuel Grant didn’t like playing poker, so he asked, “How about we go to the museum instead?”

Everyone laughed at him, saying he was weird and old-fashioned, so he had to fall silent and stop making suggestions. But he really did want to go. The city was so big, with so many famous sites and the former residences of historical figures, but what he wanted to see most was the museum.

Samuel Grant couldn’t get everyone to agree to his idea, and he didn’t want to go along with theirs, so while the others went to the class monitor’s house to play poker, he took the bus home. The journey was long, and he almost got lost.

After getting off the bus, he walked slowly, sticking to the edge of the road, baked by the sun. Even though it was only a few hundred meters, he still stopped to rest in the shade. Leaning against a tree, Samuel Grant saw a taxi pull up, and then saw Eugene Bennett and Earl Howard Bennett get out—probably just back from Yuxiaoji.

The two of them were talking as they reached the door. Samuel Grant called out to his senior brother and hurried to catch up, wanting to ask what to do about the assignment from their master, since Henry Bennett wouldn’t let them touch the furong stone—did they need to pick new material?

Earl Howard Bennett was the first to turn around, but didn’t respond. Eugene Bennett turned next and did reply: “You weren’t home, and you didn’t help out at the shop either. Spent the whole day playing?”

It was only a little after two in the afternoon. Samuel Grant, sweating, said, “I went out with classmates. I thought they’d all forgotten about me.”

He explained with a smile, happy that his classmates remembered him, but Eugene Bennett ignored that: “Did you call us just now for something?”

Samuel Grant, dizzy from the heat, finally realized that his two senior brothers were a bit cold toward him, so he calmed down, dropped his smile, and put on a respectful face: “We can’t use the furong stone, and Master’s been busy lately. Are we still going to do the carving?”

Eugene Bennett said, “You’ve got some nerve bringing up the furong stone. If you hadn’t butted in and explained that day, would our eldest brother have scolded us directly? Why did you drag us into their family business?”

Earl Howard Bennett still didn’t say a word, but didn’t try to stop him either. Samuel Grant hadn’t expected that after several days, they were still waiting to call him to account. He replied, “I didn’t expect eldest brother to say that. I apologize to you both.”

“No need,” Eugene Bennett said bluntly. “Of course you didn’t expect it. You’re the one Uncle personally picked as the fifth apprentice. Behind closed doors, you’re all one family—do you think the rest of us are fools?”

Samuel Grant watched them walk away. Every word from Eugene Bennett was sharp, and though Earl Howard Bennett said nothing, the look he gave him was icy enough. He felt he’d let down the name Vera Grant had given him—his words had caused conflict, and he didn’t know how to fix it.

Samuel Grant’s good mood vanished. Passing through the main hall, he saw Henry Bennett writing at the round table—white rice paper, black ink, neat regular script. Hearing movement, Henry Bennett looked up, for once with a hint of a smile.

But Samuel Grant couldn’t smile back; instead, his face fell.

Henry Bennett’s smile faded instantly. “Who’s upset you now? Why are you sulking at me?”

Samuel Grant hadn’t planned to go inside, but now he stepped in. He strode over in an uneven gait, imitating Henry Bennett’s furious outburst from the other day, and slapped the edge of the table.

The freshly written characters were splattered with ink. Henry Bennett reached out, and Samuel Grant felt a cool stroke on his cheek.

“Were you bullied by your classmates? What’s with the tantrum?” Henry Bennett drew a line on Samuel Grant’s face. “If you’ve got energy, grind ink and lay out paper for me. Otherwise, get out—I don’t have time to play with you.”

With a black streak on his face, Samuel Grant resented Henry Bennett’s earlier anger, but didn’t want to gossip, so he held his tongue and ground the ink. Once it was ready, Henry Bennett dipped his brush and wrote: Speak what you mean, do what you say.

This was the Ding family motto, hanging in every Yuxiaoji shop. When it got old, they’d replace it with a new one.

After finishing, Henry Bennett set it aside and, without another word, quickly started writing again. Samuel Grant was so busy admiring the calligraphy that he unconsciously recited, “Big pearls and small pearls fall onto a jade plate, a single pearl breaks into two halves.” He reached out to grab the rice paper, chasing Henry Bennett around the round table, playing and laughing. “Who are you saying broke in two? Jade is easier to break than pearls!”

The air was filled with the scent of ink. The two of them worked up a sweat, and it wasn’t until Grace Carter came in to break up the scuffle that they stopped. Henry Bennett carried his paper, ink, brush, and inkstone back to the small courtyard, with Samuel Grant following behind. Outside the arched gate, he saw Ethan Carter napping in a rattan chair.

Looking closer, he noticed the book "As Mountain, As Sea" lying under the chair leg, covered in dust, its pages half crushed. Samuel Grant was furious, but having already offended his second and third senior brothers, could he afford to offend the fourth as well?

Torn between conflicting thoughts, he swallowed his anger. But before he could finish, Henry Bennett rushed over and kicked, sending Ethan Carter and the rattan chair tumbling to the ground.

Ethan Carter let out a wail: “Big brother! What are you doing!”