Li Luo gave the Yun guard a hard slap. He had no cultivation to speak of and was knocked directly onto the ground, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. “Are you crazy? This is the consort of the Slaughtering King, the second miss of the Yun family! Daring to point at the consort herself—you must not value your life.”

“What? Consort of the Slaughtering King… Second Miss… I—I’ll report it immediately!” the guard scrambled within the manor.

“When did the Yun manor employ such incompetent guards?” Li Luo wondered.

She had secretly come to the Yun manor with Yun Moxiao in the past, but this wasn’t a guard she recalled seeing.

“Let’s enter,” Yun Ruoyan said, frowning. As they walked to her cottage, Yun Ruoyan noted that none of the servants around seemed at all familiar to her. As more and more doubts crept into her mind, she heard a familiar voice.

“Sister Ruoyan, you’re back!”

Yun Ruoyan turned around to see Yun Ruoyu heading her way, followed by a few servants she didn’t recognize. The guard from before was right by her side, his face a ghostly white.

“Sister, when did you return? I didn’t receive any news at all!” Yun Ruoyu smiled in an endearing fashion, but Yun Ruoyan felt a worsening dissonance. In the past, Yun Ruoyu had been a bossy and domineering child, easily manipulated by Madam An and Yun Ruoyao. Afterwards, with her mother’s teachings, she had gradually become more restrained. After the death of Qin Jianmei, she had retreated into seclusion, and Yun Ruoyan had been too busy to worry overmuch about her afterwards.

However, the Yun Ruoyu before her was draped in bright, flowery clothing, with a smile as fetching as the spring wind. If not for the fact that her countenance hadn’t changed, Yun Ruoyan didn’t think she would be able to recognize her.

“I’ve just returned, and I was almost barred at the gate. It’s been three years—has something happened within the manor? Why don’t I see any of the older servants around?”

“Sister, three years might not be a long time, but it’s not a short period, either. The servants you’re familiar with have all left the manor,” Yun Ruoyu replied. “These servants have all been working here for at least two years, and it’s not quite appropriate to call them newcomers.”

“Oh? Shouldn’t they be considered newcomers if they don’t even recognize the young misses of the Yun family?” Li Luo stared straight at the guard, who tried to hide behind a few of the other servants. “In that case, Third Miss, who exactly do you consider newcomers? Shouldn’t the Yun manor, of all places, possess well-trained servants?”

Li Luo was unusually incensed by Yun Ruoyan’s treatment by the front doors of the Yun manor. To be barred outside her own home—Yun Ruoyan would be the laughingstock of the capital if word of this incident spread!

“Miss Li Luo,” Yun Ruoyu began. “This is my Yun manor, not your Slaughtering King’s manor. It isn’t your place to critique me on familial matters. And even if you marry my elder brother, given your status, you’d be nothing more than a concubine.”

Li Luo wasn’t particularly skilled at wordplay, and she had no retort to Yun Ruoyu’s words.

“And do I have the qualifications to rebuke you?”

Yun Ruoyu hesitated a little. “Sister Ruoyan, the servants were indeed impolite to you, but they didn’t recognize your appearance, so please don’t think too badly of them. What’s more, you’ve already married out of the Yun family, so please don’t worry about Yun family matters.”

Yun Ruoyan stepped forward, unwilling to waste her breath bickering with Yun Ruoyu any longer. She pointed at the guard behind Yun Ruoyu. “You, get out of this manor.” Her voice was infused with spiritual energy, and her shout was enough to cause the servants to cower and tremble. The guard dropped to his knees.

Yun Ruoyu was astounded by the growth in her sister’s cultivation in the intervening three years. “Sister, it’s just a servant. Please don’t get angry and hurt your child,” she quickly added. Then, she turned around to the kneeling guard. “Leave the Yun manor immediately.”

Finally, she announced loudly to all the servants behind her, “This is my second sister, a young miss of the Yun family. When you see her, be polite, or you’ll be forced to leave the Yun family!” She turned back to Yun Ruoyan. “Sister, do you feel better now?”

Yun Ruoyan nodded coolly. “Is Father here? Let me pay my respects to him.”

“Father’s here, but he’s in closed cultivation at present. Sister, I’m afraid you won’t be able to speak with him today.”

Yun Ruoyan relaxed. Paying her respects to Yun Lan was merely a formality, one she was all too happy to neglect.

“In that case, let me pay my respects to Grandmother instead.”

“Of course, Sister. Allow me to accompany you there. She’s been feeling quite unwell lately, and the physician has emphasized her need for rest. We’d best not linger too long.”

When Yun Ruoyan stepped into her grandmother’s cottage, the Yun matriarch was currently resting in bed. The moment she saw Yun Ruoyan, her eyes widened. She sat up and reached out for Yun Ruoyan’s hands, her mouth opening but unable to produce any sound.

“What’s wrong with Grandmother?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

Xiao Lan replied, “She had a stroke about a year ago, and she’s no longer able to speak.”

“What? A stroke? Hasn’t Grandmother always been in the best of health?” After all, her grandmother had once been an eighth-rank cultivator, so even at eighty, she should have been at the peak of health. What could have happened?

“We don’t know,” Xiao Lan replied. “She came down with a stroke all of a sudden, and if she hadn’t been in such good health, she might not have survived.”

“All sorts of ails arise with age. Sister, don’t be too upset,” Yun Ruoyu consoled, then turned to Xiao Lan. “You’ve been with Grandmother for so long now, and she needs you more than ever. Make sure you take good care of her.”

“Naturally, Third Miss.” Xiao Lan bowed to Yun Ruoyu.

The Yun matriarch had always been kind to Yun Ruoyan, and it hurt her to see her grandmother in such a pitiful state. She wanted to talk to her grandmother some more, but she had already fallen asleep.

“Ruoyu, with Father in closed cultivation, Brother out quelling the rebellion, and Grandmother sick, who’s in charge of the household?” Yun Ruoyan asked, after they had both left their grandmother’s cottage.

“Sister, I’m shouldering that responsibility for the moment.”

Yun Ruoyan glanced askance at Yun Ruoyu. Now that she was married, she certainly couldn’t take care of the Yun family, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to jump in unless Yun Ruoyu had made a serious blunder. It felt to her as if her visit to the Yun manor had revealed a number of strange incongruities, but she couldn’t precisely identify what they were.

Afterwards, she returned to her own cottage, where Yun Ruoyu finally stopped following her around. Her main goal for returning was to bring her two trusted servants with her. She had returned to the Kongming Academy directly after marrying Li Mo, and her two servants were temporarily retained by the Yun manor.

When she went into her old cottage, however, she found it barren and unkempt, without a single servant tending to the place.

“Where are Xi Lan and Peony?” In the end, Yun Ruoyan had to find Yun Ruoyu again.

“They’ve gotten married, of course. Sister, you’ve been gone for three years, and your maids have grown into women. Since they had suitors within the manor, I took the initiative to marry them off.”

“Where are they now?” Yun Ruoyan felt as though there had to be more to it than what Yun Ruoyu was revealing to her.

“I’ve sent for them, Sister. Please wait a little.”

Yun Ruoyan didn’t have to wait for long before Xi Lan and Peony were led into the cottage, each with a child following behind them.

“Miss!” When they saw Yun Ruoyan, they hurriedly kowtowed to her.

“Rise, rise.” Yun Ruoyan helped them up. She glanced at the boy and girl following behind them, each barely more than a year old. Could they be…?

“Bao’er, Qiao’er, quick, kowtow to Miss Yun!” Peony quickly helped them into a kneeling position.

“Are they…”

“Oh, this boy’s mine,” Peony began. “Qiao’er’s Xi Lan’s daughter.”

“You both have children now, and they’re already this large!” Yun Ruoyan smiled. “I can’t believe it’s only been three years.”

“Three years isn’t a short period of time, Sister.” Yun Ruoyao smiled from the side.

Bao’er and Qiao’er both seemed to shiver upon seeing Yun Ruoyao smile.

“Sister, I’d like to speak with my maids privately, please.”

“Of course.” Yun Ruoyu left.

Yun Ruoyan was almost certain that her two maids had suffered unduly while she wasn’t present. After Yun Ruoyu left, she asked about this directly, only to have them insist that they were treated well, that Yun Ruoyan didn’t have to worry about them.

“I’ve returned to bring you to the Slaughtering King’s manor,” she finally said. “Although I’ll have to leave again soon, Li Luo will certainly take care of you there.”

“Miss, if we were still alone, we’d surely follow you,” Peony began, a conflicted expression on her face. “However, both Xi Lan and I have families now, with our own children and husbands. I think it’s best if we remain in the Yun manor and wait on you whenever you return.”

Xi Lan had been standing by the side of the room. She used to be talkative, but now seemed unusually reticent.

“Xi Lan, what about you?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

“Miss, I, I agree with Peony,” Xi Lan replied.

When Yun Ruoyan finally returned to the Slaughtering King’s manor, she couldn’t shake off the sensation that something had happened within the Yun manor, something to which Yun Ruoyu was directly connected.

When Li Mo left, he assigned two guards to Yun Ruoyan. Now, she instructed those guards to infiltrate the Yun manor to determine what exactly was amiss.