There is certainly a reason for Richard Sullivan's somewhat aloof nature, inherited from his previous life—he believes in the saying "a gentleman's friendship is as light as water." Unless someone is a close confidant, it's hard for him to form deep connections. On the other hand, the origins of Mrs. Cooper and her daughter are rather mysterious, making Richard Sullivan have to be cautious. Lily is also not an easy girl to get along with, so even though everyone lives under the same roof, they rarely have warm conversations.

Lily's sudden change made Richard Sullivan even more vigilant.

However, he is good at hiding his feelings, and as a child, even adults would find it hard to notice any change in his thoughts, let alone Lily, who is only seven or eight years old—how could she possibly see through him? The more she smiled sweetly and spoke kindly, the more cautious Richard Sullivan became.

"Lily, have you completed your foundation building yet?"

Lily first showed a proud expression, then shook her head dejectedly. "I could have completed foundation building two years ago and entered the Qi Refining and Bone Tempering stage. But... little scholar, I'm not stupid, it's just that limited conditions delayed me!"

This little girl didn't really want to teach him martial arts; she probably wanted to use his convenience to complete her own foundation building.

Who is Richard Sullivan?

Even though Lily tried to be careful, she was still seen through by Richard Sullivan without realizing it.

Thinking back, when Lily entered the The Sullivan Family, she was at the foundation building stage. The reason she hid in the The Sullivan Family was partly to find a place to stay, but also likely due to the pressures of life. As a servant, how much could she possibly earn? Just enough to get by. But Lily wanted to practice, to lay her foundation, and needed medicinal aids—without money, how could she succeed?

"Lily sis, is it very hard to complete foundation building without medicinal aids?"

Lily shook her head. "Not really... Master said that perseverance will eventually lead to a breakthrough, but the sooner you complete it, the better, because the older you get, the harder it is to break through. If you miss the best age for Qi Refining and Bone Tempering, you'll never reach the level of grandmaster in the future."

This was the first time Richard Sullivan had heard such a thing, and he couldn't help but ask, "Then in today's world, who is a grandmaster?"

What was originally an ordinary question made Lily a bit impatient.

"Little scholar, why do you ask so much? You just need to tell me, do you want to learn the Dragon Subduing Technique from me or not?"

Chapter 5: Second Master of Anyuan Hall (Part 1)

Richard Sullivan didn't know whether Lily came to him on Mrs. Cooper's orders or on her own initiative.

But he thought it was more likely her own idea. Based on his observations, Mrs. Cooper was a cautious and careful woman who would never do anything out of line. She had been at the The Sullivan Family for three years, always kept a low profile, and never caused trouble.

There were reasons related to David Sullivan, but even more so because of Mrs. Cooper herself.

For example, she rarely left David Sullivan's residence, was very careful in dealing with people, and never tried to compete for attention. To be honest, Mrs. Cooper was quite pretty, but she never dressed up, and even deliberately concealed her looks.

After the young lady of the Cui family married in, she brought two personal maids with her.

Over time, Samuel Sullivan even forgot about Mrs. Cooper's existence. Whatever little thoughts he had back then had long since vanished.

So, Richard Sullivan felt that Lily coming to him today was probably behind Mrs. Cooper's back.

According to her, she had completed foundation building and needed the right conditions to break through her bottleneck and enter the Qi Refining stage as soon as possible. Although Richard Sullivan didn't know exactly what the right age was that Lily mentioned, he figured it must be approaching.

Otherwise, why would Lily come to him?

David Sullivan is the chief steward of Anyuan Hall, holding the purse strings.

All income and expenses of Anyuan Hall should, in theory, be managed by George Sullivan and Samuel Sullivan, or perhaps taken over by the young lady of the Cui family. But George Sullivan trusts David Sullivan greatly, and after marrying the Cui family lady, Samuel Sullivan's official career took off—he even connected with Yang Su, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and was appointed as a legal officer in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a sixth-rank position.

As a result, Samuel Sullivan had even less time to manage household affairs.

The Cui family lady is gentle by nature and can't keep the household in check. George Sullivan simply handed everything over to David Sullivan. Unless there was a special reason, George Sullivan wouldn't interfere, preferring to read and cultivate himself, enjoying his leisure.

Richard Sullivan guessed that Lily probably had her eye on the power in David Sullivan's hands.

Using the excuse of letting Richard Sullivan practice martial arts to gain benefits and break through her current bottleneck as soon as possible. For a little girl of only seven or eight to have such scheming and come up with such a plan really surprised Richard Sullivan.

But he still agreed, since it was a win-win situation—why not?

...

"You want to practice martial arts?"

That night, Richard Sullivan made his request to David Sullivan to practice martial arts.

After all, if he wanted to practice and build his foundation, he needed David Sullivan's support. Otherwise, how could he afford such huge expenses?

Richard Clark said, "Grandpa, I saw Lily sis practicing martial arts, and it looked really interesting, so I want to learn from her."

David Sullivan was not unaware of Lily's martial arts practice.

The ancestor of George Sullivan, Thomas Sullivan, was famous for his martial prowess back in the day. There is a stone tablet at the entrance of Anyuan Hall, said to have been erected by Thomas Sullivan himself, with the inscription: "The Seven Virtues of Martial Morality: Suppress violence, restrain weapons, protect the great, establish merit, unite the people, and enrich wealth."