Phoenix's Requiem

Yun Ruoyan walked into the great hall to see her grandmother sitting at the front of the table, her father Yun Lan by her grandmother’s side, her second aunt Madam An by her father, and her three lovely sisters on either side. Yun Ruoyan had seen this sort of posturing countless times in her past life. However, without fail, she would be so anxious that she didn’t know what to do and would easily agree to everything that was brought up.

Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help but feel a complicated mix of emotions for her past self: anger for being useless, and sorrow for being hapless. 

She was a scion of both the Yun and Lin families, the sole wife-born daughter. With her beautiful mother, she could have lived her whole life being coddled and embraced by one and all.

Who had taken everything from her?! Yun Ruoyan’s gaze swept over her relatives. “Ruoyan greets her grandmother, father, and mother.” She walked slowly and calmly to the middle of the hall and bowed.

For a moment, there was silence. Yun Lan and Madam An were both a little shocked upon seeing Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan was wearing a pink gown, and her hairstyle was elegant yet simple. She walked forward, step by step, her head slightly lowered.

She looked just like a woman that neither of them dared to brought up, a woman that they wanted to forget but was imprinted in their minds.

Lin Yuemei, right, she’s actually Lin Yuemei’s daughter. She’s so ugly that one could easily forget her mother’s beauty, Madam An thought to herself, A mother whose charm led to her demise, and a deformed daughter…

Upon seeing the birthmark that was revealed when Yun Ruoyan raised his head, Yun Lan broke out of his reverie. His gaze turned cold, and his cool, impassive face showed no trace of his momentary stupor.

Yi Qianying, Yun Ruoyao, and Yun Ruoyu were simultaneously shocked that Yun Ruoyan hadn’t died, guilty about their role in her would-be demise, and perversely happy about her upcoming scolding.

All these emotions warred on their faces.

“Ruoyan, are you alright now?” Her grandmother broke the awkward silence, her gleaming amber eyes sweeping over Yun Ruoyan’s figure before returning to the agate ring on her thumb.

Yun Ruoyan bowed to her grandmother once more before saying, “Almost back to normal now, Grandmother. Thank you for your attention.”

“Since you’re mostly well now, tell us about what happened during the trial. According to your sisters, you ended up drifting apart from their group, and we were all so worried about you. None of us knew that you’d ended up in the Lin household instead.”

Madam An glanced at Yun Ruoyan, her tone somewhat strained. “If not for someone seeing you entering the Lin estate and telling us about it, would you have deigned to return at all?”

“Mother,” Yun Ruoyan said unhurriedly, “When I finally left the imperial territory, I had been somewhat injured. Because our family’s carriage had left without me, I followed my cousins to my grandparents’ estate instead. I’d planned on returning immediately, but because my grandfather was worried about my health, he kept me there for two days. I sincerely apologize for troubling everyone.”

After almost two weeks without seeing Yun Ruoyan, Madam An had forgotten about her glib tongue. Her response to her pointed question was such that she didn’t know how to find fault with it.

Instead, Madam An took a cup of her tea and forcibly smoothed out her features. “I heard you obtained a treasure, and all such treasures are to be handed over to the family. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

Yun Ruoyan raised her head and directed her bright eyes at Madam An. “Mother, who told you about this?”

Madam An was about to respond when Yun Lan slammed his teacup down on the table and turned toward Madam An. “We don’t have to be so indirect when talking to our children!” And then his dark eyes turned to Yun Ruoyan. “Yan’er, during this expedition, did you leave your three sisters behind to fend for themselves as you ran for your life?”

Hearing this ludicrous claim, Yun Ruoyan could only laugh coldly, mirthlessly. Her frosty gaze landed on Yun Ruoyao and her sisters, who all avoided her eyes. 

“No,” she answered resolutely. “I certainly wouldn’t do something as dishonorable as leaving my family to fend for themselves!

The three girls’ expressions warped.

“Do you mean that we’ve maligned you?” Yun Ruoyu couldn’t bear to be needled, and was the first to speak up.

“Haven’t you? Ask your conscience who truly left whom behind.” 

Against Yun Ruoyan’s direct retaliation, Yun Ruoyu wanted to respond, but she couldn’t bring herself to deny the allegations outright. Her face slowly turned red as she moved her mouth up and down, but no words came out.

“Sister Ruoyan, how can you distort the truth so!” Yi Qianying murmured quietly. “If not for Master Pei’s timely assistance, we would all have died to the saber-toothed tiger.”

She even clutched her chest and gasped.

“Oh, Young Master Pei, is it? Why do you address him so formally? During the expedition, didn’t you just intimately call him Brother Ziao, Brother Ziao all the time?” Yun Ruoyan’s face was disdainful. “I even thought the two of you had promised yourselves to each other!”

“You, you, don’t speak nonsense!” Yi Qianying’s petite face flushed red and white.

“Sister Ruoyan,” Yun Ruoyao spoke up next. “During the expedition, at the very beginning, you refused to travel with us. Then, when we encountered the saber-toothed tiger, not only did you not help us, you even ran off with your two cousins from the Lin family.”

She sounded so indignant and forceful that her words were almost believable. 

“We didn’t want to pursue this matter further, but even now, you’re refusing to admit your wrongdoing!” She turned toward Yun Lan. “Father, you have to punish Ruoyan severely, or she’ll be the downfall of the whole family!”

“That’s right.” Madam An, who had remained silent for a while after Yun Lan’s scolding, continued, “We Yuns have always been strict regarding our values. If you admit to being in the wrong and hand over the treasures you obtained from the expedition, we can let you off lightly.”

Yun Ruoyan frowned. “Mother, you keep talking about treasure, but what exactly are you talking about?”

“The core of the saber-toothed tiger, of course,” Madam An replied, somewhat angrily. “Are you still refusing to admit that you have it? You couldn’t have handed it over to the Lins, could you?” [1]

Although her sisters hadn’t seen Yun Ruoyan kill the saber-toothed tiger, they had seen the large canine that Zhuo Yifeng carried with him, so they concluded that their group must have killed the tiger and claimed the core for themselves.

And when Yun Ruoyan left the territory, she went straight to the Lin estate. Given the conflict between the Yun and Lin families these past years, no matter what had happened to the tiger’s core, as long as Yun Ruoyan couldn’t hand it over, they could blame it all on her.

Not handing over such a valuable treasure to the family was an important matter, one severe enough to be considered betraying the family, which could even lead to her expulsion from the household.

Having failed to get rid of her entirely, the three sisters’ goal was to at least force her away.

“Hng! You must have handed the core to the Lins! You’ve refused to work with us ever since entering the imperial realm, but rather sided with the Lin cousins instead!” Yun Ruoyu shouted. “Sister, have you forgotten that your surname is Yun? Do you think of yourself as a member of the Lins now?!”

This was a serious accusation, not to be treated lightly. Yun Ruoyan’s gaze swivelled to her little sister. “Ruoyu, do you have evidence for a claim like that? If not, that’s slander.”

Yun Ruoyu couldn’t help but shirk away a little at her gaze, but she stuck her neck out and insisted, “If you’re denying my accusation, then why don’t you present the core?” 

She seemed confident that Yun Ruoyan wouldn’t be able to do so.

“I can’t do that at the moment.”

“Ha!” Yun Ruoyu’s expression was triumphant as she turned toward Yun Lan and Madam An. “Father, mother, see? We haven’t maligned her!”

“Ruoyan.” Madam An’s face was cold, her lips mocking. “The Yuns feed you and house you, but you hand your treasures to some other family? Just like your mothe—”

“Enough!” Yun Lan stood up and interrupted Madam An, his cold, sharp gaze directed at Yun Ruoyan.

“Yan’er.” He walked to Yun Ruoyan’s front, calling her by her childhood nickname. Yun Ruoyan could barely remember the fleeting memories of when he’d done so with fatherly affection. But now, his tone had none of that affection, only a chilling conviction. “Do you remember the rules of our family?”

“Of course.” Yun Ruoyan lowered her head, refusing to meet his eyes.

“Recite them!”

“First, not to abandon your family. Second, to put the family’s needs above your own. Third, to—”

“That’s enough.” Yun Lan broke Yun Ruoyan off. In a stentorian voice, he pronounced, “If you disobey the family’s rules, you have to be punished. As the head of this household, I hereby expel you from the Yun family. Do you accept this punishment?”

Yun Ruoyan jerked up, her gaze equally sharp and piercing. “No, I don’t accept!” She enunciated each word forcefully, with weight.

Against Yun Ruoyan’s cold gaze and uncompromising tone, Yun Lan didn’t get angry. Instead, he raised his thick eyebrows. “Oh? Why not?”

Yun Ruoyan stood stock-still, her body exuding a stubborn unyieldingness that none of her family had ever seen from her. “First, I didn’t leave my family behind, and the truth of the matter can’t be determined by baseless accusations.” 

Yun Ruoyan’s eyes never left Yun Lan’s face. His forehead was prominent, and his dark, thick eyebrows cast shadows over his eyes. Each pupil looked like the mouth of a deep well, emanating an icy aura.

But Yun Ruoyan wasn’t afraid, and she met his gaze without flinching. “Secondly, while I did obtain the saber-toothed tiger’s inner core, why would I have handed it to the Lins?”

Yun Ruoyan continued with a flabbergasted tone, “I’m close to my grandfather because of my mother. I’m close to my two cousins because, just like them, we lost our parents’ affections at an early age. I’m older than they are, and I try to take care of them when I can. But I’ve never once forgotten that my surname’s Yun!”

Lost their parents’ affections at an early age? Was she complaining about him?! But Yun Ruoyan’s expression didn’t seem to contain any hint of complaint.

“But didn’t you say that you weren’t able to hand over the tiger’s core?” Yun Ruoyu pressed her again.

1. Yes, her father and grandmother know it’s illogical to claim that she ran away from the fight and somehow still ended up with the core. To them, this is a test as to whether or not Yun Ruoyan has the skills to fend for herself.