Meeting 1

In the morning, Li Tian woke up naturally in the bed by himself. His father must've left for work, while his mother must be at his sibling's quarters. Li Tian's brother and sister slept in the quarters directly opposite his parent's room. Surprisingly, the twins were unaffected by the loud noise last night. As the Li Manor was large and spacious, Li Tian's family property was separated from the other families in the manor. As a result, only Li Xian and Ming Guang Rong were the only ones affected by the noise. 

Sitting up, Li Tian looked at his tiny fist. Clenched, the little baby punched out. Swoosh. There was a slight noise that emanated from the boy's bones. Li Tian nodded to himself. He had grown stronger in the past six months. 

Ding… 

[System shall now provide the next mission to you.] 

[Mission: Reach Tier C 'Mandarin Proficiency'] 

As you approach the age of speech development, you have the potential to communicate in your mother tongue. Strive for Tier C 'Mandarin Proficiency' to unlock and harness your innate ability to converse in this language. 

Reward: Receive a random Cultivation Manual. 

Failure: Permanent muteness 

Deadline: Four months (Time left: 120 Days) 

'Ah?' Li Tian saw the mission and felt like the system had read his mind. Improving his Mandarin Proficiency had been on his mind ever since last night. Ever since he saw how close he was to becoming fluent in Mandarin, Li Tian decided from tomorrow onwards, he was going to focus on that. With the mission, Li Tian cemented his determination. 

The reward was even something he had not gotten before. So far, the only reward he had been granted by the system was Exp for Mandarin Proficiency. He was starting to think that the system wanted to make him into a language professor in this world. 

The only problem Li Tian saw with the reward was the word 'random'. If the cultivation manual was one that deviated on some dark path, Li Tian would not choose to learn it. The boy was not a bad person in the last life and this life. Hence, it was a coin toss on what type of cultivation he would receive. 

For now, Li Tian would set aside such thoughts. He wanted to try out speaking. He wasn't sure if his vocal cords were developed enough yet. He warmed up his voice. 

"Ahh…" 

"Ohh…" 

"Yee…" 

"Ehh…" 

"Uhh…" 

As he practiced the mandarin phonetics, Li Xian soon came into the room with a little boy and girl in each of her hand. When Li Tian saw his mother, he decided to try to speak for the first time. 

"M…Ma…Mama. (Mama means mother in mandarin)" 

"What? What did you just say, Tian Er?" When Li Xian heard what Li Tian had said, she thought her ear were playing tricks on her. She went up to her youngest son and picked him up into her arms, so that she could hear it again. 

"Mama." Li Tian said while smiling. He was happy that he could finally speak. 

"Ah! My little baby has called me mama! He called me mama!" Li Xian was over the moon. This feeling was the same when Li Xi and Li Mei spoke for the first time. 

"Tian Tian, say Gege (Gege means big brother in mandarin)!" 

"Tian Tian, say Jiejie (Jiejie means big sister in mandarin)!" 

Both Li Xi and Li Mei soon hopped on the bed to get closer to Li Tian who was sitting in Li Xian arms. 

"G..Ge..Gege. Ji..Jie..Jiejie." Li Tian quickly got it right for the twins. 

"My little Tian Er is so smart!" Li Xian gave her baby a big kiss on the cheek, followed by Li Xi and Li Mei. Everyone was ecstatic about it. Li Xian took out her phone and decided to record a video of Li Tian for Ming Guang Rong. 

"Honey, listen to this! Say Baba, Baba! (Baba means father in mandarin)" Li Xian repeated for the little baby. Her words mouthing it out for him too. 

"B..Ba..Baba! Hehe…" Li Tian said it loudly, a little giggle followed unconsciously. 

When Ming Guang Rong looked at his phone, he immediately gave Li Xian a video call. He needed to hear it for himself. Over the phone, Ming Guang Rong spoke expectantly to his youngest son. 

"Tian Er, say Baba! Baba!" 

"Baba!" Li Tian obediently repeated it for his father to listen. A face of glee appeared on screen. Ming Guang Rong couldn't believe his own ears. 

"My son can speak already! My son can speak already! He called my name!" From the video, Ming Guang Rong could be seen telling his subordinates about the news. He looked like a proud father that wanted to show off his children's achievement. 

This wasn't the only people that knew of this. Li Xian had told her parents already. Both Li Kui and Jing Hui Lan left their home and went to find Li Xian and her children. When they heard grandma and grandpa come out of Li Tian's mouth, both turned into proud grandparents. Back in their home, Li Kui had called up all his old friends and gloated to them that his youngest grandson had called out his name already. 

Today was a happy day for the Li Clan. Li Tian had not experienced such a scene before and as such, he was once again very glad to be reincarnated into this family. Such precious moments need to be cherished. 

…

Three months quickly passed by in the Li Manor. Li Tian, his mother, and his twin eldest siblings could be seen sitting inside the children's library. Over the past three months, Li Tian slowly started to impress everyone in the family with his terrifying mandarin ability. If it were not for the fact that everyone was present when Li Tian spoke, none of them would believe the stories being passed around. 

Now, children's books were already too simple for Li Tian. Although it was a little shocking on his mother's part, Li Tian requested for a dictionary earlier last month. To make things crazier, Li Tian requested for a dictionary that had both English and Chinese translations. This stumped Li Xian as it was already surprising enough that this youngest child of hers could already read more characters than her twins. Now, the soon-to-be toddler was requesting for a dictionary and that it must contain English translation?? 

This story soon reached the ears of everyone in the Li Manor. Not only did Li Tian's uncles and his cousins find out about this shocking news, but the old folks who were friends with Li Kui, had heard about this. 

"Did you hear about the youngest grandson of Old Li? The little baby is not even one years of age and is already able to speak very well." The old man who spoke first wore white robes. He had a long white beard that complemented his saintly look. Sipping on his tea, he continued in an orderly fashion, "I heard that all of the children's book are too easy for him, and he resorted to reading a dictionary." 

"Pah! I heard this from Old Li too!" The one that replied was a younger looking elder in black robes. Although there were some wisps of white hair, his jet black hair made him look like he had plenty of vitality in him. "Old Li even emphasized on the fact that it was not just any dictionary! The baby was already reading a dual-translation dictionary!" 

"Hahahaha that cant be true! You're lying to me right, Old Zhuge and Old Meng?! How can a baby read a dictionary?" The elder laughing heartily wore a purple robe. He had a clean shaven face unlike the two other elders. 

"I'm serious now! Don't believe me, go ask Old Li yourself!" The elder in black robes replied. 

"Tsk! You think that old geezer would tell us the truth? Last time he gloated about his grandson many years back, he said that he had mastered his family's beginner sword manual at the age of four. Pah! How could that grandson of his who was randomly swinging his sword count as mastering the sword manual?" The elder in purple smacked the table in disbelief. He pointed at the elder in black and spoke again. 

"Can you yourself even read an English dictionary!" 

"Hell no! Maybe out of the four of elders, only Old Zhuge can boast that his English proficiency is high!" 

Just as the three elders were discussing about this disbelievingly, a old man with a white beard and most white hair entered the tea house. He wore his usual dark blue robes as he strode towards the three elders cockily. The elderly in blue was Li Kui. Today, was the annual gathering for the four major clans of The Land of Hua. Those three elders were none other than the three patriarchs of the three other major clans. 

The elder in white, whose hair and beard was fully white, was the eldest of the four patriarchs. His name was Zhuge Ming Yu, the patriarch of the Zhuge clan. Tang San Ze, the elder in black, was the same age as Li Kui. He was the patriarch of the Tang clan. Lastly, the elder in purple, was the youngest patriarch in the four major clans. His name was Meng Zi, the patriarch of the Meng clan.