The word is 'attempt'

Yanli delivers a proverbial bitch slap

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone froze for a moment at her unprecedented outburst. She took the opportunity to pull her little brother out from between them and shoved him behind her, putting him in between her and Wei Ying, who was lying on the bed behind them both.

"A-Jie..." A-Cheng whispered in astonishment.

"That's enough! Mother, Father I'll ask forgiveness for my rudeness and accept my punishment later but you WILL listen to what I have to say," Yanli said, trying to restrain her temper but for once, failing.

Mother scrunched up her face and seemed about to protest but Father gestured for her to continue. It was redundant; she would have continued with or without his permission, but at least it kept Mother quiet for a moment (shockingly!).

Truthfully, this was a long time coming. Yanli was tired. She was tired of the way A-Cheng's face fell every time Father would praise A-Xian but berate him. She was tired of the way he was used as ammunition by Mother. Collateral damage in a war he never asked to be a part of. She was tired seeing the strain it put on her brothers' relationship with each other. They had never even called each other 'brother', not even the martial kind, for fear of other people hearing and continuing the rumors. Or worse, for fear of Mother hearing, as A-Cheng would be scolded by Mother if he called A-Xian too familiarly. The only reason she wasn't scolded more was because she wasn't the sect heir.

A-Cheng and A-Xian loved each other, but being constantly compared to each other only fostered resentment and jealousy on the part of the younger and a tendency to downplay his own achievements and craft a carefree façade, even when things were decidedly not okay, from the older. As a result, A-Cheng was too serious a child, and A-Xian would always act playful and hide his hurts.

It was also unfair to compare the two. A-Xian was a rare genius. Anyone could see that. And initially her brother had been content to go along with him on his wild ideas, simply happy to have a friend who didn't mind his awkward and brash personality. She longed for the days of childlike innocence, before her parents had caught on to Wei Ying's brilliance.

Her father had nothing but praise and smiles to give his ward. Which wouldn't have been a problem at all except for the fact that his own son received...none. And of course mother wasn't blind. She lashed out at father for bringing Wei Ying back, for treating him like a son when his own son couldn't have the time of day from him, for setting the precedent that Wei Ying was more important than his own heir in his affections. At this point it seemed that Mother didn't even care that Father didn't like her, but that he was letting his dislike of her affect how he treated A-Cheng, just because A-Cheng was like her. Mother could never withstand that blow. She'd accept his indifference to herself, but not to her innocent child. And her temperament was so unlike her husband that they constantly misunderstood each other. Well, Mother tried her best to get Father to see her point but she never succeeded because she often lashed out with hateful words when faced with Father's uncaring demeanour. Yanli had no choice but to do it herself.

"Father, you said A-Cheng doesn't understand the sect motto. I disagree. When it comes to attempting the impossible, he probably does it the most out of everyone in this room. Because it seems impossible that he'll ever be able to please both of you at the same time and yet he keeps trying," she heard her brother's breath hitching. "Unfortunately for my poor didi, I don't think he'll attain that impossibility but nobody can deny that he certainly always attempts it," she continued scathingly. "You two don't notice what you do to him do you? How your son is in the firing line every time you have an argument. Do you even care that you're forcing him to choose between you? He always tries so hard to gain your approval Father, but you never have a kind word to say to him. You say he doesn't understand the motto well if that's truly what you think then why don't you ever try to make him understand?"