239: A Major Feng House Event

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Jiao snorted coldly.
“I think she did take care of the evidence on her end.
But if someone were to come looking, they’d find you to be a convenient scapegoat.

No one in Feng or Yi house will care for you once your reputation is ruined.
You secretly poisoned your cousin! The ones suffering will be our two houses.
Qui house will come up clean, really good at scheming that one.”

Yi Lin got the shivers after hearing her mother’s analysis of the situation.
She still didn’t want to admit she’d been used.
“No, no I have an agreement with Shui.
As long as I helped her with this, she would help me pursue Brother Bai.” Yi Lin excitedly said.

“Help you pursue Qui Bai? You really think that’s possible? Just think how the Qui sisters look down on you.
Dream on little girl.” The angrier Jiao got, the more she poked at Yi Lin’s forehead.

Yi Lin stepped back and covered her forehead with a hand.
“But she promised.
Qui house is such a big house, and she’s a main daughter.
How could she lie to me?”

“You still don’t believe it? Let me ask you.
You went to see Qui Shui just now right? Did she say when she would invite you over to see her brother?” Before Yi Lin could answer, Jiao answered for her.
“No, she didn’t.”

Yi Lin nodded a little sadly.
“She asked me out.
Then she asked me if Feng Wu had some kind of medicine for the situation.
She asked me if inadvertently had something to do with it.
She was so annoyed I didn’t have the heart to ask about visiting.”

“It’s obvious from the start she never intended to keep her promise; she only wanted to use you for her benefit.”

“What should I do then? Shui is too horrible! Mom we can’t let this go! She has to properly explain herself!” Yi Lin was in tears – she was so angry.
Why give her false hope like that?! She only wanted to marry a good man.

The more Yi Lin thought about it, the sadder she became.
She flung herself onto the table in tears.

“Don’t cry.
Mother won’t let her get away with it.
I will definitely make her pay.” A sharp light flashed in Jiao’s eyes.
“Regarding Qui Bai, don’t think about him anymore.
It doesn’t matter even if your uncle is head of Feng house.

Madam Qui harbors resentment towards Feng house.
As long as it has anything to do with Feng house, she’ll oppose it.
Given that family’s history with ours, it’s impossible for you – there’s no way you can marry Qui Bai.

Although Feng Ting is crazy about marrying Qui Bai and wants to marry into Qui house, she’ll ultimately fail.
She doesn’t know Madam Qui won’t let a daughter of Feng house in.”

Other people didn’t know about the resentment Madam Qui had over Feng house, but Jiao knew perfectly well.

Yi Lin was surprised because she had never heard gossip about Madam Qui having a grudge with Feng house.

“What happened? Why does Madam Qui resent Feng house?”

“It all started with your uncle’s marriage . . .” Jiao recounted how initially Xiang Zhongqui[notes] was the favored candidate for the daughter-in-law position in Feng house.
However Xiao Die[notes] stole her thunder, won Feng Hang’s[notes] heart and took the lead to become the madam of Feng house.
So Xiang Zhongqui married into the Qui family instead.

“Wow, so Madam Qui had this kind of grudge with Feng house!” This was the first Yi Lin heard about it.
If she’d known, she wouldn’t have worked with Qui Shui.
“Mom, why didn’t you tell before? I wouldn’t have helped Shui if I’d known all this,” complained Yi Lin.

“You dare complain? How was I to know you fell for the Qui boy?” Of course she would have told Yi Lin if she knew.
“Now that you know, make sure you stay away from the Qui family.
Don’t let people take advantage of you so easily.
It was a good thing nothing bad befell Feng Wu that day, otherwise your grandfather might have killed you.”

Grandfather Feng was a stubborn man who remembered every gratitude he had for someone and every grudge he held against a person.
He would make sure to clean house properly if it turned out Yi Lin was responsible for poisoning Feng Wu.

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Yi Lin was scared when she heard this.
A serious Grandfather Feng was one she feared the most! He would kill her if there was a smidgeon of doubt in his mind about her loyalties.

The more she thought about it, the more afraid she became.
She truly resented Shui.
She wouldn’t let Shui get away with it.
Luckily Shui only saw her as a fool, so she would wait and see . . .

The atmosphere in Feng house was lively because Grandfather Feng had a major announcement.
Xing[notes] was hired by Xingguang Holy academy to be a teacher.
Then to reward her dedication for the twenty years she guarded Blood Moon forest, the school allowed Yanran to enroll as a student without taking the entrance examination.

People of Feng house were congratulating Xing and Yanran.
In two days the mother daughter pair would be leaving.
The whole thing made Feng Ting uncomfortable.

As a young lady of an aristocratic house, she didn’t have to go to Xingguang Holy academy to learn like some other people.
There were better opportunities for her to learn advanced sword skills by staying home.

It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it was just that Yanran was going to Xingguang Holy academy.
The issue was her use of the exemption reservation.
The reservation was a tremendous honor given to those houses who made outstanding contributions to the human world.

Those with a reservation were assigned a teacher to personally guide them through their academic studies and training.
Another benefit was priority when selecting inheritances in the virtual world.

With so many advantages, it was practically guaranteed Yanran would make a name for herself and become a powerful sword master or amazing magical/arts warrior.

The reservation represented future guarantees; how could Feng Ting not be jealous? She would have to work harder and return to the virtual world to find an inheritance for herself.
The Feng inheritance would be passed onto Tian[notes] so if she wanted to get stronger, she would have to find a way to do it herself.

“Ting Ting, what’s wrong? Why are you in a bad mood?” Yi Tian[notes] asked as he poured her a cup of tea.

The two of them were sitting in a box watching a musical together, but Feng Ting had been distracted.
Yi Tian could see she was in a bad mood.

240: The Secret From Thirty Years Ago (1)

note: Keeping Grandfather Feng titled this way even though this part is talking about the second generation, so Grandfather Feng is Papa Feng ’s father.
end note

“It’s nothing.
I was just sad because Cousin Yanran will be leaving for Xingguang Holy academy in two days.” Feng Ting couldn’t say the real reason for her dissatisfaction so she used a random excuse.

Yi Tian believed her easily.
He had always seen her as a good daughter and a kind-hearted girl.
He looked a little embarrassed as he furrowed his brows and frowned at her words.

“Ting Ting, in the future, don’t get too close to Yanran.
Or Aunt Xing either.
It won’t be good for you to have too much contact with that mother daughter pair.”

“Why would you say that? Yi Lin told me the same thing the other day.
Brother Yi Tian, what are you hiding from me?” Feng Ting looked suspiciously at Yi Tian.

“This . . .” Yi Tian scratched his head self-consciously.
He had promised his mother he would not say anything, but at the same time he didn’t want to keep it a secret from Feng Ting.
Would it really be a good idea to keep her in the dark?

“Brother Yi Tian, if you know something, please tell me.
I promise not to tell anyone else.” Feng Ting had felt uncomfortable that the day Yi Lin gave her the warning, but she hadn’t been able to figure out what was wrong.

She had forgotten about it, until Yi Tian mentioned it again just now.
Did Aunt Jiao know some big secret? It had to be something big if so many of the children were instructed not to divulge it.

She would use the foolish Yi Tian to find out what the big secret was.

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Yi Tian was hesitant about sharing.
He couldn ’t ignore the plea in Feng Ting ’s eyes.
He really liked her . . .

“Ting Ting, what I tell you today, you can’t share with anyone else.
It won’t be good for you otherwise.
Both your father and grandfather will be angry with you.”

He decided to tell her the truth, but for the sake of her future, he prefaced it with a reminder.
Yi Tian was impulsive and wasn’t as clever as his brother, but he was good to the people he liked.
He’d always kept Feng Ting in his thoughts, but unfortunately, she had other plans and had no interest in marrying someone from the Yi house.
Her eyes were on a bigger prize.

“Speak, I promise to keep it a secret.” Now Feng Ting was really curious.
She never expected it to involve both her father and grandfather.

“It began when my mother was a child . . .”

Feng Ting learned the secret from thirty years ago as she listened to Yi Tian’s narration.

Thirty years ago Grandfather Feng’s wife, Li Ruo, was the madam of Feng house.
She looked like an ordinary middle-class daughter from an ordinary middle-class family, but in reality, she was an astrologer with the ability to predict her future and those of her family members by reading the stars.
It was an impressive ability even if it was only for family.

She was a smart woman.
She kept her ability a secret and pretended to be an ordinary noble lady.
Even after she married Grandfather Feng, she kept her abilities hidden and didn’t use it to profit the family.

No one in Feng house knew because she had been so careful.
Things changed when the three kids grew up.

The three Feng kids were still young thirty years ago.
Hang[notes] was fifteen, Jiao[notes] was twelve, and Xing[notes] was ten.

It was probably a combination of Xing not being favored by Madam Li Ruo and her having a similar personality to Grandfather Feng, that Grandfather Feng and Hang liked her more than Jiao.
Grandfather Feng felt bad his wife didn’t appear to like their youngest daughter at all.

For whatever reason, between her two daughters, Madam Li Ruo liked Jiao the most.
She pampered Jiao, which led to Jiao being strong-willed and spoiled.

The family didn’t understand why Madam Li Ruo liked Jiao so much.
Most families would like their baby girl more than the eldest daughter.
No one knew the answer.

The madam’s body deteriorated as the children grew up.
All astrologers had short lives because they had to use their life force to predict the future.

Grandfather Feng didn’t know this.
He only knew that his wife had always had a strong body, but having three kids seemed to have severely weakened her.

In order to save her life, he took Hang to a secret realm to find a life-restoring fruit.

The two men left, leaving the ladies in the compound.
Madam Li Ruo had always spoiled Jiao, so naturally Jiao had strong affections for her.
She had been guarding her mother diligently since her mother’s collapse.

On the other hand, Xing was never favored by her mother, so she didn’t visit other than to pay her daily respects.
She wouldn’t visit without reason only to be rebuffed.

Three days after the men left, a meteor shower sparked across the starry sky.

It made Madam Li Ruo uneasy.
It was the kind of unease that appeared when the family’s future was in danger.

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She made a divination secretly while Jiao wasn’t around.
The results led her to an unexpected decision.

Jiao was awakened by the heavy rain falling that night.
Uneasy, she ran to her mother’s room, but her mother wasn’t there.
It was so late and her body was so weak, where could she have gone?

Jiao was now really worried.
While searching for her mother, she heard some noise inside Xing’s room.
She walked inside, intending to ask her sister if she knew their mother’s whereabouts.

The scene inside shocked her.
Her mother held a dagger in one hand while chasing Xing, the killing intent was firm and clear in her eyes.
A mother wanting to kill her own daughter?!

Originally Madam Li Ruo was stronger than Xing, but her body had weakened to such a severe state, she didn’t have the physical ability to kill Xing anymore.

Xing escaped their mother by shoving her away and rushing out into the heavy rain.
Jiao finally came to her senses.
She rushed to help her mother up.
Being shoved so hard had worsened Madam Li Ruo’s condition and her life was fading fast.

“Mom! What’s going on? Why are you doing this?!” Jiao didn’t understand.
Her mother was a kind person.
Why would she try to kill her own daughter? Even if it was one she never liked?

The twelve-year-old Jiao supported her mother while weeping hard.

241: The Secret From Thirty Years Ago (2)

Her mother had to be delirious from illness.
Otherwise how could she try to kill someone, never mind her own daughter? Jiao was unwilling to believe the scene she just witnessed so she made excuses for her mother.

“It’s too late! -cough cough- This is god’s will.
Jiao’er -cough- promise mother.
Promise to kill your sister.
You must kill her or she will destroy the entire Feng house with her own hands -cough-.
She is a calamitous star.
She will bring disaster to Feng house.
-Cough- kill her, only this way can we save Feng house.”

Madam Li Ruo held Jiao’s hand tightly.
Her body was so weak, she was barely breathing.

Jiao shook her head desperately.
Her tears flowed down in a continuous stream.
“Mom! What are you talking about? I don’t understand!”

“Jiao’er, Jiao’er.
-Cough- remember Mother’s words.
Do not forget.
Mother is an astrologer.
When you kids were born, I divined the future for you three.”

Jiao hadn’t calmed the emotions in her heart when she was stunned by this new revelation.
She never thought her gentle mother was an astrologer.

Astrologers were a special profession and were considered a national treasure on the mainland for their ability to predict the future by reading celestial events.

If Li Ruo had not concealed her identity as an astrologer, she would have even been able to marry a prince, her background as a minor noble notwithstanding.
There would be no issues.

Knowing her mother’s true identity was a shocker to Jiao.

“Xing, Xing’s future is the most unclear of all you children.
The only thing Mother could see was a sea of blood.
Nothing else but blood.
All these years Mother has always had an ominous feeling about Xing . . .
even if she is my own daughter.

Tonight, because of the meteor shower, I divined the future again.
I . . .
I -cough- finally found out.
Xing is a calamitous star.
Everyone in Feng house will die.
-Cough- No one will live.

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Remember you must kill Xing.
Kill her.
She will destroy Feng house with her calamity star.” Madam Li Ruo couldn’t hang on any further.
Her hand dropped and her breathing stopped.

“Mom!” Jiao shouted frantically.
Her shout was drowned out by the storm.
It was like the heavy rain isolated them from the world outside.

After crying herself out, Jiao knew she had to fulfill her mother’s dying wish.
She would kill Xing.

Unfortunately, Jiao didn’t get a chance to kill her sister before Grandfather Feng and Hang returned.
When Grandfather Feng left, he had carried with him Madam Li Ruo’s life stone.
They had hurried back home when the stone’s light nearly extinguished.

The two men were met by the scene of the two sisters battling.
Both girls were injured, but Xing was much more so than Jiao.

The men stopped Jiao from killing Xing, so she immediately told them what Madam Li Ruo said just before dying, but neither men believed her.
Instead they blamed her for Madam Li Ruo’s death.
Madam Li Ruo would have been disappointed in this daughter she loved so dearly.

Xing didn’t understand what was happening.
She only knew her mother had tried to kill her, and now her sister was trying to do the same, so the relationship between the two sisters turned frigid.
Father and son protected the baby of the house fiercely.
In the process Jiao became estranged from the rest of the family.

Just because she was alienated by everyone, didn’t mean Jiao was going to give up, instead she became even more aggressive.
Her mother had been her favorite person in the entire world.
In order to fulfill her mother’s dying wish, Jiao tried to kill Xing[notes] several times.

She was beaten close to death several times when her father found out.
After her wounds healed, she continued trying to kill Xing again.
This was when Xing took the initiative to flee to Blood Moon forest under the pretext of guarding the boundaries.

Both father and son felt sorry for Xing so their relationship with Jiao suffered even more.
Things turned especially cold after Jiao insisted on marrying the son of a minor house.
Her relationship with the rest of the family was barely holding up.

Any exchange they had over the years was simply a face-saving measure.
This was why both father and son loved Yanran so much, yet had no affection for the Yi children.

When Yi Tian initially heard the story from his mom, he had needed some time to reconcile it in his mind.
In the eyes of the public, she was unreliable, but as her son, he knew better.
She was not as simple as she appeared.

His mother didn’t regret marrying his father, in fact they had a convivial marriage.
The public didn’t believe it and thought she was quite bitter and was just putting up a front while in public.

His mother didn’t bother to correct public perception.
Even within Feng house his mother deliberately took advantage of her bad reputation to take advantage of his aunt and uncle.
She seemed to do it deliberately just to make trouble for them.

Feng Ting didn’t know what to believe.
Apparently her grandmother had been an astrologer? And she had foreseen Aunt Xing would take Yanran and kill everyone in Feng house?

It was just too terrible a thing to think about.
Could the relationship between the two aunts be so bad that Aunt Jiao would make up something like this to destroy Aunt Xing’s reputation?

But it wasn’t possible.
She was sure how Yi Tian felt about her.
If it wasn’t true, there was no way he would tell it to her.

If things were really as Aunt Jiao said, would Feng house really be destroyed by Aunt Xing?

Feng Ting couldn’t come up with any ideas even after leaving the theater.
It had been thirty years since that day.
Aunt Jiao and Aunt Xing were the only ones still alive who knew the real story.
There was no one she could go to in order to check the story.

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