Yun Ruoyan frowned and tossed the flask aside, ignoring it in favor of meditating once more.

By this time, Yun Ruoyan was spending most of her energy and efforts on cultivation. Whatever tricks Madam An and her three dear sisters tried to employ would be insufficient to disrupt her concentration.

After her rebirth, Yun Ruoyan was very clear about her goals and future aspirations.

In her past life, she had been shortsighted and weak. Too mired in others’ perception of her, she had immediately become enamored with the one man who had shown her even the slightest interest. Without realizing his insincerity, she had placed all her passion, all her hopes, in his hands.

While reflecting on the past, Yun Ruoyan found to her surprise that she wasn’t, in fact, in love with Pei Ziao. Rather, she saw him as her only route for escaping the Yun family, escaping the trials and tribulations that had beset her.

The weaker she was, the more she latched onto Pei Ziao. That wasn’t love; it was a debilitating weakness symptomatic of her crumbling mental state. For Pei Ziao, for her only chance at salvation, she would be willing to discard her relatives and her own self. But when she left the Yun family for the Pei family, her circumstances had become all the more dire. In the end, the choices she had made had dragged her into the deep abyss.

This time, however, she would become strong. She would protect herself as well as those who truly cared for her. With her own strength, she would forge a way out of the Yun household and out into the wide, wide world!

Madam An, Yun Ruoyao, Yun Ruoyu, Yi Qianying, and Pei Ziao would all be nothing more than footnotes in Yun Ruoyan’s resplendent, illustrious career. If they didn’t bother her, then she wouldn’t bother them. But if they tried to challenge her, then she would take them on as part of her training routine!

“Miss, do you have a gift in mind for the Yun matriarch’s eightieth birthday?” In the morning, Peony asked Yun Ruoyan while brushing her hair and helping her dress up.

The Yun household was bustling with activity in preparation for this celebration.

The fiftieth, seventieth, and eightieth birthdays boasted particular significance on the Chenyuan continent. At fifty, one was halfway through life. At seventy, one was resilient, having survived disasters and calamities. At eighty, one was a font of knowledge, to be venerated for wisdom tempered by the ages. Given the Yun matriarch’s importance to the Yun family and the Yun family’s status, this would have to be a massive occasion indeed.

“I’m not sure yet.” Yun Ruoyan looked at herself in the mirror, but what popped out in her mind was a man’s figure. The man was seventeen or eighteen years old, tall and strong, but with a gentlemanly air. When he smiled, he looked very much like Yun Ruoyan herself.

On the other hand, when he wasn’t smiling, he looked particularly stern. His thick, dark brows made his sunken eyes look like two deep wells, the splitting image of Yun Lan.

This youth was none other than Yun Ruoyan’s brother, Yun Moxiao.

“During the Yun matriarch’s birthday last year, the third miss intentionally broke the top-grade jade from your mother’s dowry that you were planning on presenting to the Yun matriarch,” Peony reminded Yun Ruoyan as she combed her hair, “Of the dowry, the only remaining thing that might be worth giving is a gilded jade bracelet, but the design makes it unsuitable as an anniversary gift…”

Lin Yuemei had left Yun Ruoyan with quite a number of precious ornaments, but after all these years, she had sold off and given away a large part of her mother’s collection.

When Yun Ruoyan entered Kongming Academy, her expenditures were only going to increase. The meager amount of money she had left was far from enough for her needs.

Peony looked around glumly as she wondered how they would make ends meet.

“Peony,” Yun Ruoyan suddenly called out, “Do you think my brother will return for my grandmother’s birthday?”

“The young master?”

Peony’s hands stilled. “Now that there aren’t any ongoing wars, the young master should be in attendance, but I’ve not heard anything about his return. Miss, why don’t you see what the Yun matriarch has to say?”

Yun Moxiao was the eldest son of the Yun family, the first child between Lin Yuemei and Yun Lan, as well as Yun Ruoyan’s elder brother. When she was still a toddler, he’d entered the army and had been there for at least a decade.

The first time Yun Ruoyan saw Yun Moxiao was three years ago, when he was granted a chance vacation to see his family. At the time, Yun Ruoyan hadn’t yet been expelled from the family academy, but her cultivation was already beginning to show signs of stagnation.

Because she had lost a number of small duels in the academy, others had begun to laugh at her, and Yun Ruoyan was hiding in a corner and crying.

When Peony told Yun Moxiao about this, he had sternly punished all those who had mocked his sister.

Yun Moxiao had even consoled Yun Ruoyan by telling her that, even if she were to lose her talent, he would always protect her. That was the first time Yun Ruoyan had felt familial warmth, but it was evanescent. Soon, Yun Moxiao had left for the army once more.

Quickly after, she had been expelled from the family academy.

The next time Yun Ruoyan saw Yun Moxiao was when she married Pei Ziao. Yun Moxiao had rushed back from the army barracks, riding alongside the marriage procession on a tall stallion and personally escorting Yun Ruoyan into the Pei family.

Even now, Yun Ruoyan remembered the words that Yun Moxiao had said to Pei Ziao from outside the sedan. “If you dare treat my sister badly, I’ll dice you up and raze the Pei household to the ground.”

The next day, Yun Moxiao left the capital for the barracks, and it was on this trip that he met his death, beset by a gang of bandits. When Yun Ruoyan next saw him, it was as a mutilated corpse.

“Miss, are you alright? Have I hurt you?”

Peony had finished combing Yun Ruoyan’s hair and was peering in the mirror to see how it looked on her mistress. In shock, however, she saw tears glistening as they rolled down Yun Ruoyan’s face.

“No, no, it’s nothing.” Yun Ruoyan wiped away her tears with a sleeve. “Some dust got into my eyes.”

“What?” Peony turned to look out the window. It was bright and sunny outside; where would the dust have come from?!

Yun Ruoyan turned back to her reflection and smiled. No, there’s still time. This tragedy can still be prevented.

Yun Ruoyan was playing cards with her grandmother, a recent pastime that the Yun matriarch had become enamored with.

“Oh no, not again!” Yun Ruoyan cried out, dropping the remainder of the cards in her hand on the table. “I’ve lost once more! Grandmother, won’t you go easy on me? My pitiful monthly stipend’s all going to go into your pocket!”

The Yun matriarch beamed. “There, there. You agreed to play with me, didn’t you?”

“Well, not anymore!” Yun Ruoyan pretended to be vexed as she continued, “Grandmother, you’re too skilled at cards. If I keep playing, I’ll only lose more!”

The Yun matriarch began to laugh at her lovable granddaughter.

“Mother, what’s making you so happy?” Madam An suddenly walked into the Yun matriarch’s rooms and asked. She’d heard the Yun matriarch’s laughter as soon as she stepped into her residence, and was curious what could be making her so happy.

When she turned and saw Yun Ruoyan, her eyes couldn’t help but flash. As if nothing had happened, however, she quickly began to smile. “Ruoyan, you’re here too? No wonder Mother’s so happy!”

“That’s right, Ruoyan really does make me happy.” The Yun matriarch didn’t hide her affection for Yun Ruoyan at all. “Of all the girls, only Ruoyan had the patience to play cards with me.”

When Madam An heard the Yun matriarch’s words, she smiled embarrassedly. “Ruoyu and Ruoyao have been helping train the new members of the family academy, and Qianying’s about to get married. She’s been working hard with the seamstresses on her clothes this last week.”

Madam An turned to Yun Ruoyan again. “Ruoyan’s the only one among the girls who has a significant amount of free time, and it’s good that she’s spending that time with you, Mother.”

Madam An was clearly stating that Yun Ruoyan was a layabout, but Yun Ruoyan didn’t seem to get upset at all. Instead, mirroring Madam An’s simpering smile, she replied, “Of course, Mother. To me, spending more time with my grandmother’s incredibly important.”

The Yun matriarch didn’t say anything, but she did chuckle a few times, pleased by her granddaughter’s words.

“What a filial girl you are, Ruoyan,” Madam An praised as she laughed hollowly.

Yun Ruoyan took out a walnut from a tray of snacks, smashed the outer shell with a little hammer, carefully cleaned away the residue, and then handed the clean nut to the Yun matriarch. “Grandmother, here.”

The Yun matriarch took the nut and chewed it carefully as she asked Madam An, “How are the marriage proceedings for Qianying going?”

“The wedding will take place at the end of next month, on August 28th. It’s a propitious day when the sun will pass over its ecliptic, very suitable for weddings,” Madam An replied respectfully, sneaking glances at Yun Ruoyan all the while. This brat must go to her grandmother’s rooms quite often, for the two of them to be so familiar.

The rest of her sisters were far too unwilling to do so. Even Yi Qianying was only able to sit and chat idly with her grandmother for an hour at a time. On the other hand, Yun Ruoyao and Yun Ruoyu complained about not having anything to talk about with their grandmother, and wouldn’t take the initiative to visit unless it was necessary.

The Yun matriarch ate three walnuts in a row and reached out for more, but Yun Ruoyan stopped her. “Grandmother, you can’t have too many walnuts. Walnuts are rather oily, so please have some tea instead. If you’d like more walnuts, I’ll crack more for you later.”

The Yun matriarch took a cup of tea that Yun Ruoyan had poured for her before returning to Madam An. “That’s almost when Kongming Academy’s reopening for the fall, isn’t it? Has the roster been announced?”

“We haven’t gotten the roster yet, but the children themselves know who’s gotten in, and I have a pretty good idea myself. Kongming Academy will open again in mid-September, conveniently after Qianying’s marriage. The children will be able to enter the academy alongside the Crown Prince. Fortunately, the Crown Prince is two years ahead of them, so he can even help make sure that they aren’t bullied.”

When Madam An finished replying to the Yun matriarch’s questions, she brought up a few small details regarding her eightieth anniversary, as well as the list of invited guests.

Although the Yun matriarch didn’t generally care for matters of the household, Yun Lan placed particular importance on this anniversary. Afraid that she would miss some crucial detail, Madam An had taken to reporting everything to the Yun matriarch in order to safeguard herself from Yun Lan’s displeasure. Those out of the loop would only think that Madam An was careful, conscientious, and respectful.

As Yun Ruoyan heard Madam An recite the list of guests, she began to frown.

The Crown Prince, Li Qianxiao.

The head of the Pei family and his sole heir, Pei Yingxiong and Pei Ziao.

The head of the Li family, Li Tianling.

The Slaughtering King, Li Mo.

Everyone whom she didn’t want to be present… would be!