Chapter 145: An Unavenged Father's Vendetta

The afterglow of the setting sun filled the sky, and the clouds piled up like aging cotton wads along the western horizon. Yu Youwei accompanied Fourth Madam Yu to the newly built Lingyun Tower of the Yu family. From the outside, the tower resembled a towering stele, standing six stories high. Upon entering, stepping past the spirit wall painted with a scene of cold plums braising the snow, a white jade stele extending straight to the top of the tower came clearly into view.

Although it appeared to be a six-story building from the outside, it actually consisted of only a single open space. The white jade stele was densely engraved with countless names—all of them belonging to the fallen descendants of the Yu family.

After leading Yu Youwei in offering incense, Fourth Madam’s eyes grew red, and she said softly, "After the incident with Shuang'er, I felt so distraught that I went into seclusion and refused to see anyone. I only learned about what happened to the Yu family after you arrived at the Sword-Practicing Sect."

"The calamity of the Yu family is far from over, but it is not too late for you to know now. What else do you know about my father's death? Why did he have to die like a stray dog by the side of the road, when you, at least, are the daughter of the Sword-Practicing Sect Master?" Although she originally intended to be tactful, as she spoke, Yu Youwei could no longer help herself, her tone turning sharp and bitter.

"The Sword-Practicing Sect may still hold some standing within the Eastern Continent, but once you step outside, it is nothing at all!" Fourth Madam gave a bitter smile, bearing no grudge against Yu Youwei, and gently cautioned her, "Do not speak of your father's revenge so openly. Otherwise, even the Ning family will not be able to protect you. You and your sister only managed to grow up safely because you are daughters. Had either of you been born a boy, I fear you would have met with foul play long ago."

Narrowing her deep eyes, Yu Youwei asked, "Are you saying that my father's enemies are not in the Eastern Continent? Who on earth are they? And what role does the Qian Dynasty imperial family play in all this? Tell me everything you know so I can at least have some peace of mind."

She looks so much like Tianming! Fourth Madam gazed into Yu Youwei's eyes, stunned for a long moment, before speaking with a desolate sorrow, "I am not entirely clear either. He sent someone to deliver a letter to my father, stating that if you were born a boy and your cultivation reached the Nascent Soul stage, then and only then should the truth be told to you. Otherwise, never mention his revenge again. Your father never spoke to me about his affairs outside. Perhaps, if you ask Mu Qingxi, she might know more."

Sensing the jealousy hidden in Fourth Madam's tone, and wishing to prevent her from one day acting rashly and causing trouble for her mother, Yu Youwei explained earnestly, "If Father never told you, it is even less likely that he would have told her. To Father, she was merely a tool for continuing the family line. By that time, Father must have already sensed fatal danger and was desperate to leave behind a son. Unfortunately, I am only a daughter; I suppose he must have died feeling quite unsatisfied. As for Father's affairs, if anyone close to him still knows anything, it is far more likely that he would have confided in Ruoyun."

"Do you think Ruoyun is trustworthy?" Fourth Madam shifted the subject, her tone lacking its previous sourness, clearly having accepted Yu Youwei's explanation.

"If Elder Sister intends to use her, there should be no obstacle. She is quite methodical in her work." Yu Youwei paused for a moment before adding, "You could have Ruoyun gather all the people who used to serve Father, place them in the outer sect, or have them assist Second Brother. I imagine that after Father's death, his people must have harbored resentment toward the Yu family and likely dispersed. If you summon them in Elder Sister's name, they could still prove quite useful. With the Yu family facing such adversity right now, we have far too few capable people to rely on."

"They did harbor resentment toward the Yu family, but none of them left of their own accord. It was the Old Madam who dismissed them." Fourth Madam gave a bitter smile and said, "Your father is dead, and revenge is out of reach; my heart has died as well. I only wish to stay by your sister's side and live out each day as it comes, so I simply let the Old Madam send them away."

Since Fourth Madam had brought up the Old Madam of her own accord, Yu Youwei seized the opportunity to ask, "My father was not the Old Madam's biological son; who was his birth mother? Could my father's enemies be related to our grandmother?"

"You also know that your father was not the Old Madam's biological son?" Fourth Madam asked instead of answering.

"That wasn't difficult to guess," Yu Youwei replied calmly, careful not to drag her own mother into the conversation and provoke any unfavorable thoughts in Fourth Madam.

Fourth Madam did not dwell on the matter either, sighing, "I have seen a portrait of your grandmother—she was breathtakingly beautiful. It used to hang in your father's study. You take after your father more, while your sister resembles your grandmother. I heard your father mention once that your grandmother was not from the Eastern Continent, but he refused to say anything more. When either you or your sister reaches the Nascent Soul stage, I will have my father hand that letter over to you. Perhaps you will know everything then."

Contemplating how to obtain the letter left behind by her father from Sect Master Ying, Yu Youwei asked, "Surely Grandfather couldn't have been entirely unaware of Grandmother's origins, could he?"

Intending to mend fences with Yu Youwei, Fourth Madam answered every question put to her: "It was said that your father's biological father was the family head's brother, who left home to travel when he was young and spent many years without sending any news. Back then, the family head received a message from his brother, went out for two months, and returned with your grandmother. Four and a half months later, your father was born. The Old Madam made a huge scene over this, claiming that the family head had fabricated the letter from his brother and had actually gone to rendezvous with a lover. After I heard these rumors, I asked your father about it, but he didn't give me a direct answer; he only told me not to meddle."

Yu Youwei chuckled bitterly and said, "My father truly was an extreme character, keeping everything hidden and guarded. It’s fortunate you have such a good temperament; anyone else would have flown into a rage with him long ago."

Hearing this brought a sense of comfort, and Fourth Madam nodded repeatedly. "Indeed! His favorite phrase when speaking to me was always: 'Don't worry about it, don't ask, it's nothing, you're overthinking things.'"

This made Yu Youwei feel a pang of injustice on behalf of her legal mother. "It sounds like my father was nothing more than a block of wood. It's a wonder you were able to tolerate him for so long."

"He just spoke a little less; he wasn't entirely a block of wood..." Fourth Madam stopped abruptly, blushing slightly, and she and Yu Youwei exchanged a knowing smile. Then, realizing that laughing and chatting inside the Lingyun Tower showed disrespect to the deceased, the two of them turned with one accord and walked out.

Just as they stepped out of the Lingyun Tower, the family head sent someone to invite them to the front reception hall, saying that visitors from the Ning family had arrived.

"I was just thinking of sending you off to the Ning family in a couple of days, and now they've come to fetch you," Fourth Madam said with a smile. She was still dressed exclusively in black and white, or colors falling somewhere in between, wearing the same dark jade hairpin carved in the shape of a phoenix. Beautiful as she was, her attire was so austere and simple that it wrung one's heart.

"Even mourning only lasts for three years; you must treat yourself better." The words slipped out before Yu Youwei could stop herself, and only then did she realize how inappropriate it was for a concubine-born daughter to speak thus to her legal mother.

A tear shimmered in Fourth Madam's clear, autumn-water eyes, and she forced a smile. "Those are words you should be saying to Mu Qingxi."

Yu Youwei awkwardly replied, "I tell her that all the time—to hurry up and marry someone else, give birth to a son to support her in her old age, and not hang herself from the dead tree that was my father."

Fourth Madam widened her eyes in astonishment. "Did you really say that to her?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Yu Youwei said indignantly on behalf of her mother. "Am I supposed to teach her to recite, 'My heart for you is like the water of the West River; flowing east day and night without a moment's rest'? She wasn't even considered a proper concubine; why on earth should she preserve her chastity for my father?"

"My heart for you is like the water of the West River; flowing east day and night without a moment's rest," Fourth Madam recited slowly, two lines of clear tears streaming down her cheeks. "There are more than just these two lines to this poem, aren't there?"

In her past life, she had loved with an excessive foolishness, only to encounter a heartless man, leaving her to entrust all her infatuation to poetry. Yet the Fourth Madam before her had encountered someone whose life was cut short, leaving her profound affection with nowhere to rest. With a soft sigh, Yu Youwei recited the poem she had written in her previous life: "The first two lines are: A thousand branches and ten thousand branches of maple leaves, half-hidden by the river bridge, the evening sails are slow."