Upon hearing Yun Ruoyao's question, Madam An was silent for a moment. She had never managed to see through Yun Lan nor predict his thoughts. When she'd gotten married with Yun Lan along with Lin Yuemei, she'd seen how much he adored her.

He had spared no expense in cultivating their first child, Yun Moxiao.

Yun Moxiao himself wasn't aware of it, but Madam An was. Every year, Yun Lan would send large amounts of material comforts to Yun Moxiao's troop in the army.

General Huang was very fond of Yun Moxiao, and the gifts from the Yun family only motivated him to train his disciple all the better.

Yun Moxiao himself was diligent and hardworking, and it was the combination of these events that allowed him to become an eighth-rank blademaster, fifth-rank beastmaster, and the youngest high-ranking military officer in the army since Li Mo.

But Yun Ruoyan wasn't treated with the same courtesy. As far as Madam An was aware, even if Yun Ruoyan had become ugly and lost her talent at cultivation, she was still a daughter born to him and the woman he loved most in the world. Even if she were ugly and untalented, he would hardly discard her.

That was why she hadn't dared to harm her overtly at the very beginning, only pushing the blame for minor incidents on her instead. However, she found to her surprise that Yun Lan didn't seem to care about his daughter at all.

She slowly increased the number and severity of such incidents; a light punishment would be a scolding, and a harsh punishment a night of starvation while kneeling in the ancestral hall.

Madam An hadn't wanted to take Yun Ruoyan's life at first, but she couldn't help but be annoyed every time she saw her. Whenever she looked at Yun Ruoyan, it reminded her of her mother, Lin Yuemei. Even after Lin Yuemei had died, she had left behind another annoyance: Yun Ruoyan! How could she not be frustrated?!

Especially now, when Yun Ruoyan was no longer an ugly duckling. She moved with unusual grace and dignity, and her cultivation once again began to rise at a rapid pace.

Startlingly, Madam An found that Yun Lan still didn’t seem to care about his daughter. Although Madam An was a little confused as to why, she would bet that Yun Lan still disliked her, especially after she had tried to settle old feuds in front of Yun Moxiao. Whenever anyone brought up Yun Ruoyan, Yun Lan would frown. Wouldn’t he be happy to see such an eyesore leave the Yun mansion?

“There’ll be a show regardless of whether your father agrees to the betrothal,” Madam An cackled.

As Madam An spoke to Yun Ruoyao, the curtains suddenly lifted and Hong Yu peeked into the room. “Madam, the old master has sent for your presence at the great hall.”

“Has he mentioned why?” Yun Ruoyao asked.

Hong Yu shook her head. “No, but it looked to be rather urgent.”

“I’ll be right over once I tidy up,” Madam An responded.

“Mother, it’s so late at night. What could be the matter?”

“If we’re discussing it at the great hall, it surely isn’t a private affair,” Madam An replied as Yun Ruoyao helped her dress. “An urgent matter, in need of arbitration?”

Yun Ruoyao’s hands stilled. “Could it be that Cousin Moyuan was detected spying on Yun Ruoyan?”

“That would be good news indeed,” Madam An laughed. It was well past time for the family to fixate on another person’s failures. As the female head of the household, how could she have been forced to kneel in the ancestral hall, then to copy down scriptures by hand, and finally to be reprimanded by Yun Lan in front of the entire family?

Her repeated travails had caused her to contract an illness, and yet none of her family came to visit her.

Yun Lan’s fourth brother had taken up an official post far from the capital; it was natural that he wouldn’t have an opportunity to pay her a visit. But what of his second brother, his third brother? None of them had even bothered to send her well wishes!

Really, what did her authority in this household amount to?

“I’m quite curious as to whom the master will favor: an ugly lass born to that woman, or his brother’s prized golden child?”

“Mother, let me come with you.” When Yun Ruoyao heard that there would be an exciting show, she too was interested.

Madam An nodded. As they left her rooms, she reminded her daughter, “We’re just there to see the show, so don’t speak out of turn.”

“I understand, Mother.”

In the great hall, Yun Ruoyan and Yun Moxiao stood in the center of the hall. Kneeling on the ground was another figure: Madam An easily recognized him as Yun Moyuan.

Yun Lan was coolly glancing down at the scene from the seat of honor. Madam An didn’t see the Yun matriarch present; likely, she was asleep and the master had decided not to bother her.

Madam An greeted Yun Lan as she entered. Although his face was still icy cold, he motioned her to a seat right next to him.

Madam An hesitated for a moment before sitting on that seat, whereas Yun Ruoyao stood right behind her. If the Yun matriarch were present, this seat would have gone to her; her usual spot was the rather uncomfortable wooden chair on the other side of Yun Lan, positioned slightly below the seat that she currently occupied.

Although the Yun matriarch had long since stopped managing the household, she was still a mainstay when it came to matters that affected the entire household. Even if she rarely expressed an opinion, she was still given the honor of the position right by the family head.

The reason she received such respect was not only because she was the most senior member of the family, but also because of her high cultivation. A peak eighth-rank blademaster was far beyond what most men of the household could ever dream of being in their lifetimes.

On the Chenyuan continent, women of sufficient cultivation could easily ascend to the same, or even greater, heights. Matters would be different if their cultivations were low or substandard, as was the case with Madam An. She was only a fourth-rank blademaster, and even that cultivation was built up through precious herbs back when she was still a child. In terms of martial ability, Madam An was far below average for a fourth-rank blademaster.

As a result, although Madam An was supposedly the female head of household, she wasn’t afforded the entirety of the respect usually associated with her position. Now that she was finally on equal footing with Yun Lan, she could finally hold her head high and look down on the other members of the Yun family.

Yun Ruoyao stood by her mother’s side, feeling as pleased as she was. Her position was usually designated for the wife-born children of the household. She stood primly, looking down at Yun Ruoyan and Yun Moxiao, feeling as if their positions had been reversed.

“Housekeeper Wu, where are my brothers?” Yun Lan asked somewhat impatiently.

“Master, I’ve already sent servants for them, and they should be here shortly.”

“Brother, why are you rousing us so late at night?” Just then, a loud male voice boomed from the entrance of the hall, revealing a man in his mid-thirties with a tall, sturdy physique. This was none other than Yun Lan’s third brother, Yun Sen, a forgemaster in charge of the Yun family’s two forges.

“And Moyuan, what’re you doing, kneeling on the floor?”

Yun Moyuan continued lowering his head, not saying a word.

“Third Uncle, I injured this presumptuous brat’s leg, and now he can’t stand up,” Yun Moxiao admitted.

Yun Sen was about to continue asking for more details when Yun Lan interrupted, “Third Brother, we’ll talk more about this once Second Brother’s here as well.”

Not long later, Yun Feng arrived. Seeing Yun Moyuan’s figure from afar, he hastily walked into the hall. Rather than asking about what Yun Moyuan was doing in the center of the hall, he apologized for his tardiness. There had been a mishap at one of the stores in the capital that required his attention urgently, and Yun Feng had only been able to rush here after dealing with that situation.

“Brother, did you summon all of us here because of Moyuan?” Yun Feng asked.

Everyone’s gaze landed on Yun Lan as they waited for him to speak.

Yun Ruoyan was regretting her rash decision now: Yun Moxiao had intended to beat him up so severely that he would be bed-ridden for the rest of the year. The best-case scenario would be if all his teeth were to fall out, so he couldn’t say a single word.

By the time he was able to get out of bed, Yun Ruoyan would have long since left for Kongming Academy and no longer have anything to do with him.

But Yun Ruoyan was afraid that that would cause unnecessary trouble for Yun Moxiao. After all, her brother was to be the successor to the Yun household, and establishing a feud with his brothers would damage his future relationships.

As a result, Yun Ruoyan decided to nip the matter in the bud. Her original intention was to find the Yun matriarch and get her to stop Yun Moyuan’s foolish behavior, but as the siblings headed for their grandmother’s quarters with Yun Moyuan in tow, they encountered Yun Lan heading in the opposite direction.

Yun Ruoyan wasn’t sure why Yun Lan had gathered everyone here; after all, this wasn’t some noble affair. Although everyone present was a member of the household, dealing with such a matter publicly would cause Yun Feng to lose face. Yun Feng had always been respectful to his elder brother, and it really didn’t make sense for Yun Lan to target him.

“Second Brother, this matter indeed concerns Moyuan,” Yun Lan began.

“I’ve pampered Moyuan from birth, so he’s a little spoilt. What’s gotten you so mad, Young Master?”

Yun Feng was a shrewd, astute man, and he could clearly tell that Yun Moyuan’s wounds were caused by Yun Moxiao. Although he cherished his only child, he knew that Yun Moxiao wouldn’t have attacked Yun Moyuan unless his son had done something to deserve it.

As a result, it was quite likely that the problem lay with Yun Moyuan. The only thing that could anger Yun Moxiao so would be his sister, Yun Ruoyan; four years ago, Yun Moyuan had suffered a similar beating at his hands because of her, and he expected that this incident would likely be a close parallel.

Yun Feng glanced at Yun Ruoyan. In the six months since he’d last seen her, she had changed so much as to be almost unrecognizable. Indeed, during the Yun matriarch’s birthday celebration, Yun Feng could hardly have believed his eyes when he realized that the figure in front of him was none other than Yun Ruoyan.

She stood there by the corner of the room in silence, with such calm composure that Yun Feng couldn’t help being reminded of his sister-in-law, Lin Yuemei.

“I found Yun Moyuan creeping around my sister’s quarters in the dark of night. As for what he was doing there, I think I’ll let him speak for himself.”

Yun Feng turned to Yun Moyuan, connecting his current circumstance to his sudden question about his birth.

He’d been planning to reveal that Yun Moyuan was adopted when he turned eighteen, but he hadn’t expected Yun Moyuan to have found out about the matter beforehand. Yun Feng had imagined that his son would be upset, but he actually left with a radiant smile and a spring in his step.

Yun Feng could more or less guess what had happened now.

“Father,” Yun Moyuan suddenly raised his head and exclaimed, “you’ve promised to allow me to return to my birth family, haven’t you? Rather than being a descendant to the Yun family, I’d rather be a husband of the family!”