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Kapitel 78

"Young Master, Master is waiting in the study." Zhang De's voice rang out outside the door, not loud, but loud enough for Yunfeng and me to hear clearly.

I turned to look at the door. Zhang De stood with his hands at his sides, slightly bowing. I squinted at him for a moment. Why did he always appear at such crucial moments?

I got up. Yunfeng didn't say anything, but he squeezed my hand tightly. I smiled at him, turned around and left the room.

I respectfully called out "Father" to the person sitting in the center of the study. I never expected to run into him as soon as I got home today. It was as if he had been waiting for me at the Yun residence all morning.

He looked at me without saying a word. I lowered my head slightly, smiling faintly, not wanting him to see my true feelings.

There was a moment of silence between them. After a long while, he finally spoke, "Sit down."

"Sit down? This is truly unprecedented; this is the kind of treatment I've never received before." I did as instructed and sat down in the chair on the left, still remaining silent.

"Have you gone to see Feng'er?" A scroll of calligraphy and painting was laid out in the center of the desk, held up by jade paperweights at the four corners. He looked down as if admiring it intently, but when he spoke, he was addressing me.

"Yes." I glanced at the desk and could only vaguely make out that it was a painting, but I couldn't make out what was in it.

"Have you found the answer to your question?" He lowered his head to continue admiring the painting on the table, his voice low, as if he were communicating with the painting rather than asking me.

"I was just about to ask when Uncle De called me to see Dad. Timing is always so unfortunate." I chuckled self-deprecatingly, casually playing with my fingernails.

"Is Yue'er blaming her father?" A shadow flashed, and he stood in front of me.

I looked up, without even blinking, and gave him a calm smile. I've gotten used to it. In this place, everyone except me seems to be able to appear in front of you the next second, even if they were several meters away a second ago, as if they've all practiced teleportation.

"How could I dare? Besides, Father called me here perhaps to answer my questions!"

"Then before we get answers, shouldn't Yue'er be honest with her father first?" He turned and sat down in the chair to my left, looking at me with apparent interest.

Confess? They really were waiting for me here all morning! But I've been away for three months, how could the Yun family not know my whereabouts? If the Yun family knows, how could Old Man Yun not know?

"Father, do you not know Yue'er's whereabouts and what Yue'er has done? Uncle De has truly failed in his duty." I said calmly. Since Old Man Yun knows my whereabouts, what does he want me to confess now?

"These things are probably known to everyone in the world, so how could Father not have heard about them?" He wasn't angry. He tapped the armrest of the chair lightly with the knuckle of his right middle finger, making a low, soft "tap-tap" sound, one tap after another, seemingly very casual, without any discernible rhythm or pattern.

I glanced at his right hand out of the corner of my eye. It was long and clean, and he was still tapping the armrest lightly with his knuckles. His palm was facing up, and the fine lines on it were crisscrossing. From my angle, the long lifeline was particularly noticeable.

"Then I really don't know what else I can tell Father." I turned to him and smiled slightly.

He sat down next to me like that, not in a hurry. He tapped his fingers for a while before turning to me and saying, "I heard that the Emperor personally welcomed Yue'er back to the country."

My heart skipped a beat. Why was Old Man Yun interested in this? And I only got back last night, how did he find out so quickly?

"What does Father want to know?" I asked instead of answering. Since this wasn't a question, he must have a reliable source, and there was no point in denying it.

He stroked the armrest of the chair back and forth, pondered for a moment, and then continued, "I heard that the Sixth Prince of Tianqing, who never gets involved in politics, not only led troops into battle for Yue'er, but also risked his life to save her, and his fate is still unknown."

My heart skipped a beat, and it felt like someone was choking me, making it hard to breathe. My hands unconsciously gripped the armrests of the chair, and I bit my lower lip hard. I no longer cared that my loss of composure might have played into Old Man Yun's trap, or that he had seen through my act. All I knew was that I was completely stunned by the words "his fate is still uncertain."

Didn't Ye Feng say that Xi Lan was alright? The fox also said that Xi Lan had already led the troops into battle and should be fine. But why is Old Man Yun now saying that Xi Lan's fate is still uncertain? Xi Lan, Xi Lan, why didn't you reply to my letter? Aren't you blaming me for leaving without saying goodbye, or is it because your injuries are too severe to reply? Xi Lan, if... if I misjudged you, if my abduction wasn't within your expectations, then haven't I made a fatal mistake, a mistake that could be fatal for you?

"Now that Yue'er has been bestowed the title of Princess Xiyue, it seems she truly considers herself a member of the Heavenly Family." He turned to the side, reached out and pinched my chin, forcing me to face him, so he could see all my emotions.

I feel like crying all the time, or maybe a tear or two has already slipped down my cheek without me even realizing it. My heart is aching, but I can't help but smile. Looking at this person I can't stand, can't understand, can't avoid, and can't go against, I decide to stop forcing myself to pretend and sneer: "A mother who died young, a father I only see once a month, a brother who's been poisoned and can only lie in bed every day, being forced to impersonate my brother and become prime minister despite his life—is being a member of the Yun family really better than being a member of the Tian family? Or maybe this Yun family isn't even a Yun family at all, and maybe my father's surname isn't even Yun."

"Not surnamed Yun?" He merely raised the right corner of his mouth, released my chin, and repeated those three words in a low voice.

"Father, don't you think that only when Yue'er understands the whole story can Yue'er better help Father?" I turned around, sitting in the chair, looking straight ahead, not wanting to look at the person next to me.

Thinking back to the last time he "summoned" me, it was almost half a year ago. What did he say then? It seemed like he said I could help him fulfill his wish, and that I would inherit everything from him in the future. In other words, he just wanted me to do certain things for him. So why can't I make demands? Even if I have to work for him, I should at least be clear about what I'm asking for.

"Why did Yue'er suddenly think of helping her father?" He stopped looking at me and seemed to be sitting and looking ahead, his fingers tapping absently again.

"If we don't help Dad, who else should we help? Yue'er only has Dad and brother as her family, and that's a fact that no one can change." I said calmly, as if I were talking about someone else's business.

"You two didn't think this way before," he said calmly, his emotions unreadable, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

The two of you? Besides me, it's only Yun Feng. It seems that my brother and Old Man Yun didn't get along before.

“People always learn to grow up. A father may have more than one child, but we will always only have one father, right?” I laughed after saying that.

Why didn't I understand this before? If some things are unavoidable, then taking the initiative is always better than being passively attacked. The affairs of the Yun family are not something I can simply ignore or walk away from. I don't want to be used up and left on the street without even knowing what happened to me.

"Does Yue'er really think that way?"

Feeling the gaze of the person beside me, I turned my head and met his scrutinizing eyes directly. I smiled and said, "Don't you think so, Father? I am your daughter. Even if I don't please you, you would never think of a way to hurt me. So what's there for me to complain about? Only when you are well can we be well. Only when you are happy will you love us more."

"In that case, once Feng'er recovers, Yue'er, come back with me to see your royal grandfather." He said casually, but his eyes were fixed on me, not missing a single emotion on my face.

My change of heart was so rapid, was he testing me with those words? Was he observing my reaction?

But I was still stunned by his words, and the smile on my face faltered. I trembled involuntarily and asked in a slightly shaking voice, "Grandpa Emperor?"

Where did this grandpa come from? And he's surnamed Huang! Don't scare me, okay?

"The princess of Tianqing is not bad, but how can she compare to me, Xiu Ruo?" He looked at me, a rare smile appearing on his face, but that smile and those eyes were somewhat sinister. Looking at the person in front of me, I felt that he looked exactly like someone. That's right, it was King Tianqing! King Tianqing often had this kind of smile on his face, but his eyes were also sinister.

Xiu Ruo? Xiu Ruo? I almost just lay down and pretended to be dead. His identity is already confusing enough; getting involved with Xiu Ruo on top of that is going to drive me crazy! Ugh, it seems Old Man Yun is some kind of prince of Xiu Ruo's. So why does he want my help? What a terrible feeling!

“Father, Yue’er encountered Crown Prince Xiu Ruo’s men on her way to Tianqing Kingdom.”

I wasn't trying to get close to him; I just wanted to confirm one thing. I couldn't just ask Old Man Yun what his birth order was, could I?

But Old Man Yun didn't say a word. He was playing with the thumb ring on his left thumb with his right hand. At first glance, the material of the thumb ring was similar to my earring, and the surface of the thumb ring seemed to be engraved with a pattern that was similar to my earring but incomprehensible.

The previous doubts seemed to have been answered, but how did my brother get this earring? If Old Man Yun was confronting Yun Feng, or had asked Yun Feng to do something for him before, he wouldn't have given him an earring as a token, would he?

"Don't let the people you brought run around the Yun residence." He twirled his ring for a long time before finally uttering this sentence.