The old man gently shook his head, it was unclear whether he was helpless about her question or about her.
But still adhering to the rules, he leisurely said, "The rise of the Yan family was nothing more than assisting that person to the top. But even you, a member of the Yan family, don't know what happened later, which means that the current head of the Yan family is not a member of the Yan family himself."
It's ironic that the head of the Yan family, one of the three major military families, doesn't even have a say in his own household.
It was utterly absurd, Chaoge thought, her eyes wide. If the old man's expression hadn't seemed genuine, she would have surely assumed this was yet another prank.
How could her... such a dignified father have come to this?
Chaoge blinked repeatedly, trying to hide her extreme surprise and shock.
"It seems you really know a lot of things. I didn't come to the wrong place today." To cover up her embarrassment, Chaoge quickly pulled herself together, composed herself, and offered a compliment.
But then the old man raised another question:
Do you know Zhou Jue?
Chaoge felt that the name asked at this time must be closely related to the Yan family. The problem was that when she asked Little Red Riding Hood to look up the history, this name was not among the important ones.
I'm sorry, grandma, all I know is Amway.
Author's Note: Look! Look! [Pay attention!] The more diligent I am, the fewer comments you leave! This is forcing me to be lazy!
Let me tell you! I'm not lazy! I'm diligent! I update daily! Humph!
☆ Chapter 82: The Nineteenth Evaluation of the Yin-Yang Collection
With her worldview shattered, Chaoge maintained a calm facade while inwardly experiencing a state of utter devastation. She didn't even know how she walked back to the Ling family's branch compound.
Then, the group of brats from Yin Yang Society threw her another message: "The selection for the branch family will begin in five days, and Ling Tianquan will be there to oversee it personally."
Still lost in the shocking events of the past, Chaoge sat expressionlessly in her chair, one hand supporting her chin, her eyes immediately becoming dazed, clearly lost in thought.
Ying quietly pointed in Chaoge's direction and cast an inquiring glance at Yaochen.
The boy's mature expression, beyond his years, completely compensated for his lack of height. He simply shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.
Jiang Ningtao had been sleeping soundly at the table by the window, but he had only managed to concentrate after Chaoge returned. He glanced around the room, slowly stood up, and stretched.
Then he said slowly, "Everyone, let's go back first."
The yellow-haired female cat silently jumped from the table next to Chaoge to the ground. As if it understood human speech, it leaped into Siber's arms and even patted his arm with its front paw, silently urging him to leave quickly.
Mo Nian always listened to Ning Tao, so without hesitation, he was the first to walk out and waited for Ning Tao to come out by the door. Ying, who was the most talkative, also noticed that the atmosphere was a bit off. She picked up the unfinished fresh fruits and vegetables on the table, pursed her lips, and walked out.
Siber glanced in the direction of Yaochen and Chaoge, then looked at his other companions who had almost all left, before hurriedly picking up his feet and following them outside.
Almost as soon as they turned the corner, Chaoge's voice rang out in the hall, and he ordered without much emotion: "From today onwards, report to me everything you can find out about the Yan family, no matter what the situation is."
The black-haired boy, though slightly confused, agreed without a word of objection. He then sat down on a chair near her; the chair was rather high, and the boy's nimble climb up was somewhat comical.
But the girl who would usually seize any opportunity to mock him remained completely silent, still sitting there in the same position, her face gradually darkening.
A few minutes later, the girl stood up and walked towards the room at lightning speed, not paying any attention to whether the person behind her was following.
Almost as soon as she closed the door, she turned around abruptly, bent over, placed her hands on the boy's shoulders, glared at him with a stubborn expression, and asked through gritted teeth, "Do you know that Li Wanfang has been dead for a long time? The woman sitting in the position of matriarch in the Yan family now, she is not my mother at all!"
Yao Chen was taken aback at first, and then the computing system processed the relevant information at a speed exceeding the speed of light, but his face remained calm, looking somewhat cold to the bone: "She was never your mother. Does everyone think you are Yan Chaoge, and do you think so yourself?"
A simple sentence, yet it struck like a thunderbolt, instantly pulling Chaoge out of that extreme emotion.
Somewhat dazed, she released her grip, straightened her back, bit the knuckle of her right index finger, forcibly suppressing all her emotions. Her gaze gradually cleared, and she murmured, "...You're right." Even if the Li Wanfang in this world had long since died, she wasn't really her mother.
She simply felt sorry for the original Yan Chaoge; the more she learned, the more she felt the original owner was an extremely tragic person. She had worked so hard to pass the imperial examinations in Yuandu, only to be poisoned on her way to her family home, never even having the chance to see her biological parents. But even after Chaoge came back to life, a smooth and successful life still awaited her. First, she was told she was forbidden from even dreaming of the position that should have been hers, and later she was forced to leave her home.
Even with the person she liked so much, she never knew what he was thinking. Or rather, she knew, but couldn't understand.
Now you're telling her that the family members you thought loved you so much aren't the real ones.
That person was the culprit who caused all of this to happen to her.
Yan Chaoge was certainly past the age of believing everything people said. Therefore, she was even more eager to know the truth.
Knowing the root cause of the Yan family's current predicament, and avenging Qinghe, she went home after doing these two things.
She returned to that place where she didn't need to scheme and plot, and where people would love her so much.
"Yaochen, tell them tomorrow that we're going to pick the best place in M3 for a meal, as a way to cheer them on for the selection in five days." After her brain had short-circuited from the shock, Yan Chaoge finally relaxed a bit. After saying a few words to Yaochen, she reached out and swiped open the smart device to browse the news about the Yan family.
Fortunately, he was already used to her rollercoaster-like topic jumps and was quite straightforward in asking his question: "Are you burning money?"
Chaoge smiled mysteriously, "That's right." Anyway, it wasn't hers that was being burned.
The next day.
Chaoge raised an eyebrow at the restaurant in front of her, where any material in any corner could automatically extend into tables and chairs.
"Incredibly extravagant..." Ying shook his head, looking at the luxurious restaurant that used transforming materials, feeling as if he had walked into a mine full of amorphous materials.
Even Jiang Ningtao's drowsiness instantly vanished. The next second, as he looked at the surrounding walls, the light in his eyes burned as if two small light bulbs were on.
Only Chaoge and Yaochen remained expressionless. Chaoge even raised her hand and yawned slightly—how disappointing! If she had known it would be such a lackluster place, she would have chosen the second-ranked restaurant.
"Unheard of high-tech? Who picked this restaurant?" The boss, who had just finished yawning, still had a somewhat cold look on his handsome face when he straightened up.
Ying raised his hand, his admiring gaze fixed on Chaoge: "Me! As expected of the boss! Even such a large area of transforming material couldn't impress you!"
Chaoge tilted her head slightly, her deep brown eyes looking in the direction of Yingzai, and smiled brightly: "If the food that's served later isn't good, you can stay here."
The eldest brother suddenly became eccentric, and Yingbao felt very wronged.
Because her bangs hadn't been trimmed in a long time, they were almost affecting her eyesight. Chaoge casually pulled a hair clip out of her pocket, and in a very self-deprecating manner, swept her bangs back and fixed them with the hair clip.
So her once somewhat youthful and delicate face now finally looked more mature.
Seeing that she could destroy the domineering aura she had built up with just one move, Yao Chen's smile revealed a hint of exhaustion—as a high-level auxiliary AI, he was really a failure. His master's leadership qualities were like electronic products, they needed to be recharged, and they would diminish with each use. What could he do?
He was desperate too!
Because they rarely had the chance to rip off their boss, and because they hadn't been open for a long time and had no pressure to generate income, the Yin Yang Ji members successfully stimulated their appetites. They ordered only the most expensive and rare ingredients, and some of the Crystalless Empire specialties served up were things that even Chaoge had never seen before.
Even she's starting to feel a bit hungry.
Then, when she saw the string of zeros at checkout, Ying took two steps toward the door, thought for a moment, and then resolutely walked back to Chaoge's side.
Chaoge glanced down at Yaochen. [What's wrong with her?]
[I was worried you wouldn't be able to pay and were about to run away, but then I thought that if you couldn't pay, you might have a conflict with the restaurant, so even though it hurts to see the materials used here, I still want to firmly support you.] Yao Chen stood calmly next to Chao Ge from beginning to end, yet his analysis of Ying's behavior was remarkably accurate.
Oh, please thank her for her trust.
"Swipe the card." As Yao Chen handed over the card, he noticed a transparent corner out of the corner of his eye. He subconsciously focused his attention on it and then his eyes widened in surprise.
Are you crazy???
Then, recalling what happened yesterday, she realized something. She was trying to lure someone over to confront that person about the Yan family's affairs.
That's insane.
Yao Chen looked at Chao Ge with an incomprehensible and bewildered expression, as if he wanted to know what was going on in her brain.
How could she so casually decide to meet that horrible woman, Qin Muge, again!
But no matter how much he objected, it was already a done deal.
The core urban area of the neighboring province where the Ling family is located.
A girl, idly munching on a biscuit in a store selling nutritional supplements and looking down at her phone, suddenly stopped, scattering crumbs of the hard, highly nutritious biscuit all over the floor.
She bit her lower lip, and her movements suddenly stopped. Faint lines appeared on the half of her face hidden in the shadows, unseen by anyone.
Her aura instantly turned gloomy, as if she had merged with the shadows by the wall, and a few barely audible words escaped from her lips: "How dare she!"
The girl who caused such a big stir by going out for a meal had no sense of being a troublemaker. Despite Yao Chen's murderous glare, she calmly walked back to the Ling family mansion through the back door.
The big headache wouldn't be answered for several days, and Chaoge had nothing to do at the moment. She even thought about going back to her room and sleeping until the family division selection in four days.
Perhaps it's because Ling Tianquan is in charge, but those guys who used to come and provoke us at the gate all the time have been completely gone lately. Of course, it's also possible that they're putting in a lot of effort to practice in private and try to make a name for themselves in front of Ling Tianquan the day after tomorrow.
And so, Chaoge actually had so much free time that the day of the selection actually arrived.
The selection rules for the Ling family branch were very simple, testing only individual ability and mecha piloting skills. Individual ability was assessed comprehensively, and mecha piloting also tested many aspects, but the rules were simple and brutal—a competition.
Initially, the arena was divided into dozens of different arenas, with the advanced contestants continuing to face off in pairs until only one remained.
Chaoge really wants to give a thumbs up to the guy who came up with this idea.
Dude, a brain is a good thing, why don't you have one?
The only thing that comforted her was that Ling Tianquan hadn't been there since morning. Looking at the empty seat in the center of the judging panel, she felt incredibly relieved.
The man's aura was usually even more domineering than Qin Muge's. As the second most powerful war god in the empire among the generals, Chaoge didn't really want to confront this guy who was just like a beast with instincts.
Because she was only focused on avoiding relegation, Chaoge had no intention of revealing much of her power in the individual competition to arouse suspicion. The same was true for the people from Yin Yang Ji who came with her; Chaoge had already limited the power each person could use, not exceeding six and a half stars. If they felt that their opponent exceeded this strength, they would concede defeat.
When she stated this standard, a chorus of sighs and lamentations erupted within the Yin-Yang group.
【This is unnecessary.】 Yao Chen's emotions hadn't been adjusted yet, and he was complaining in Chao Ge's mind in a strange tone, meaning that since she dared to attract Qin Muge, why bother to hide it?
"Being exposed to that person's eyes and being exposed to the whole world's eyes are two different things," Chaoge explained patiently.
"Isn't Qin Muge your whole world?" Yao Chen sneered and continued to reply. Ying, who was walking beside him, felt a chill and turned to look at him, somewhat puzzled as to what was wrong with the second leader's sudden sneer.
Chaoge, too lazy to pay attention to his abnormal behavior towards Qin Muge, glanced at him and continued, "You can eat anything, but you can't say anything, Little Red Riding Hood. I can live without her, but I can't live without you."
Yao Chen's steps suddenly stopped, and as if his computer had crashed, he tripped over his own feet and fell.
He then silently got up and glanced at Chaoge:
Do you think saying such cheesy things will stop me from getting angry?
Chaoge met his gaze, shrugged, and walked forward on her own.
I thought to myself, who cares if you're angry or not? Just seeing your system malfunction is enough to make me happy, okay?
Hahahahahahaha!
Author's Note: Ugh... I'm so annoyed by my professional internship, so I'm updating the story now lol
They'll meet in the next chapter! Aren't you excited about this preview?!
Tell me how many years you've been waiting, hahaha!
So, if you're happy now, why don't you comfort me a little?