Chapter 13: Granting Their Wish
“If you truly love her, then you should be able to accept her in any form, right?”
Upon hearing Ying Tong’s words, Li Fan felt an ominous sense of dread, but because of what he had just said, he stubbornly replied, “Of course.”
Seeing this, Ying Tong nodded and then looked at Ying Rou. “I won’t pursue the resources the Ying family has wasted on you over the years. I doubt you could repay them anyway. Let’s just say we raised white-eyed wolf. But I will abolish your cultivation, and at the same time, take back the family name. From now on, you can be Zhao Rou, Li Rou, Sun Rou, or Qian Rou—anything but Ying Rou.”
“You want to run away with him? I’ll grant your wish.”
Hearing that Ying Tong intended to strip her of her cultivation and surname, Ying Rou immediately became agitated.
“Why?! You have no right to do this! My cultivation is the result of years of hard work. What right do you have to take it away? And my name—I am Ying Rou. I was in the past, I am now, and I always will be!”
In Ying Rou’s eyes, she could leave the Ying family of her own accord, but she would not tolerate being cast out, and certainly not losing her cultivation.
She glared at Ying Tong with eyes full of hatred. How could this person decide to strip away her hard-earned cultivation so easily? The Ying family may have provided resources, but she was the one who cultivated diligently.
Ying Tong frowned slightly, and a golden light shot from her fingertips, landing directly on Ying Rou’s eyes.
In the next moment, Ying Rou clutched her eyes, rolling on the ground, screaming in agony.
“Ah! My eyes! My eyes, they hurt so much!!”
As Ying Rou’s screams filled the air, Ying Tong looked at her own fingers and spoke slowly, “This is just a minor lesson. If there’s a next time…”
At that moment, the disciples of the Ying family, as well as Li Fan, were all terrified by Ying Tong’s actions.
Especially Li Fan—his face was filled with fear as he stared at Ying Tong, while a foul smell spread through the air.
He was just a poor scholar who had come to take the imperial exams and happened to meet Ying Rou by chance.
When he found out that she was the daughter of the Prime Minister’s household, he began to scheme.
At first, Li Fan thought winning over Ying Rou’s heart would take some effort, but to his surprise, she was unusually easy to please. A cheap wooden hairpin bought from the street and half a chicken leg were enough to make her completely devoted to him.
Originally, Li Fan believed that as long as he had Ying Rou under his control, the Prime Minister, her father, would eventually relent, even if he initially disapproved. He thought, over time, no father would truly allow his daughter to suffer hardship outside the family.
However, he hadn’t anticipated that Ying Rou was not the Prime Minister’s biological daughter, nor that the Prime Minister cared far less for her than people had assumed.
As Ying Tong looked at Li Fan, her face showed obvious disdain. She then glanced at Ying Rou once again, thinking how poor her judgment was, having chosen someone like him. Luckily, Ying Rou wasn’t actually of the Ying family’s bloodline, or Ying Tong would have been enraged.
Just then, a dark-gold bird flew in from outside, landing in front of Ying Tong, and spoke in a human voice, “Venerable Yunhuang, His Majesty of the Great Zhou requests your presence.”
“I understand,” Ying Tong nodded slightly, then turned to the Prime Minister. “You can handle the rest yourself.”
The Prime Minister nodded.
After Ying Tong left, the Prime Minister looked at Ying Rou, who was lying on the ground in agony, and spoke to her for the first time that day.
“Take her away. Abolish Wang Rou’s cultivation and remove everything on her that belongs to the Ying family.”
Wang Rou—that was Ying Rou’s original surname.
Back then, after the Prime Minister took Wang Rou in, she had asked to change her surname as a gesture of gratitude.
Hearing this familiar yet foreign name, Wang Rou was momentarily stunned.
Although Ying Tong’s earlier strike hadn’t caused any permanent damage, it temporarily blinded Wang Rou.
Feeling someone approaching her, Wang Rou disregarded the pain in her eyes and crawled toward the direction of the Prime Minister.
“Father, Father, Rou’er knows she was wrong. Please, Father, don’t abandon me! I will be obedient; I’m willing to enter the palace as a concubine. Please don’t take away my cultivation,” she pleaded.
Looking at the current pathetic state of Wang Rou, no one in the room felt any sympathy for her. She was merely a white-eyed wolf, unworthy of anyone’s compassion.
“It’s too late. You deliberately caused such a ruckus today, truly believing that the Emperor would still want you? Besides, how could you have been wrong? You were only pursuing true love, and even the Venerable Yunhuang acknowledged that there was nothing wrong with pursuing true love.”
It was just that you were unworthy; as a pawn, you did not deserve to have thoughts of your own.
“In that case, I have no objections to helping fulfill your wishes. There’s no better time than now, so let’s see the love you speak of,” the Prime Minister said.
“Li Fan, don’t you want to marry her? If you nod your head now, I will immediately arrange the wedding ceremony for you both.”
Li Fan stood frozen in place, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at the Prime Minister.
Why? Why had things developed differently from what he had imagined?
Even if Ying Rou was not the Prime Minister’s biological daughter, after being raised for so many years, did they not share any feelings at all?
Why could these people be so cold-hearted?
Li Fan could not understand.
For a family like the Ying clan, which had a lineage spanning thousands of years, bloodline was undoubtedly important, but loyalty was equally vital.
Wang Rou, who had neither bloodline nor loyalty, was merely a white-eyed wolf, and it was necessary to cut losses in a timely manner.
Faced with the powerful Ying Prime Minister, an ordinary person like Li Fan naturally dared not refuse.
Thus, Wang Rou, who had just been stripped of all her cultivation, was promptly captured, adorned in a red wedding gown, and forced to complete the wedding ceremony with Li Fan. Shortly after, they were both driven out of the Prime Minister’s residence, and the entire process did not even take a quarter of an hour.
…
Meanwhile, Ying Tong leisurely arrived at the palace of the Great Zhou.
The current Emperor of Great Zhou was the former Ninth Prince.
From an overlooked prince who had received little favor, he had unexpectedly risen to become the Crown Prince and was now the ruler of a nation, demonstrating that his schemes ran deep.
However, when this scheming emperor saw Ying Tong, he revealed a remarkably simple and genuine smile.
“I have met the Venerable Yunhuang.”
Observing the person who saluted her, Ying Tong raised an eyebrow; after all, she did not receive such treatment before the old emperor.
Because she was younger, some of the old-timers always tried to assert their authority in front of her, attempting to keep her under their thumb.
“There’s no need for the Emperor of Zhou to be so formal,” she replied politely.
The Emperor’s gaze was clear, his smile unwavering, as he said, “The Venerable Yunhuang need not be humble; without the Venerable Yunhuang, there would be no today for me. Thus, this bow is what you deserve.”
Hearing this, a hint of barely perceptible surprise flashed in Ying Tong’s eyes.
What did he mean by saying that without her, there would be no today for him?
She couldn’t recall having any interaction with the person standing before her.
**TN
White-eyed Wolf – Ungrateful person
