Chapter 048
Chapter 48: Your Father is Here: Come Out and Kneel!
“Mm, I understand,” Yun Zheng replied lightly, as if the matter were nothing at all.
The calmer he looked, the more Lu Wu’s curiosity itched. He wanted to know how the patriarch had guessed those young masters would start trouble, and how he even foresaw the young marquis from Marquis Chang Le’s manor appearing as well. Most of all, the patriarch had ordered him in advance to stop any conflict before it began. Last time, the patriarch had predicted an ambush at Red Willow Slope. Now he could read the small movements of a few idle youths. Since when had the master become such a diviner? Lu Wu’s doubt showed plainly on his face, yet Yun Zheng ignored it, flicking his hand to dismiss him before returning to his chambers.
In the bedroom, candlelight washed the room in warm gold.
Madam Yun leaned beside the bed, cradling a small hand, and the little owner of that hand still slept without stirring.
“Madam, rest for a while: let me watch over Little Fourth,” Yun Zheng coaxed softly.
“I am not sleepy. I want to stay with her. Husband, you go sleep,” Madam Yun refused, shaking her head.
He sighed and drew her up, his tone gentle but firm as he said: “You are not a physician, and waiting here will not help. Little Fourth should be fine. You need rest and strength, so you can care for her when she wakes.”
He lowered his voice and let a rare sternness edge his words: “Be obedient, or your husband will have to be forceful.”
She seldom heard him speak so strictly, and at last yielded. She slipped off her shoes and climbed onto the bed, edging to the inner side and drawing Yun Wan Ning close, leaving room beside them.
“You must attend court at dawn tomorrow. Come and sleep as well,” she said, voice low.
“Very well,” Yun Zheng answered. He removed his outer robe, lay down, and drew a long arm around mother and child, holding them both with steady warmth as he said: “Madam, sleep at ease. I am here to guard Little Fourth.”
…
Night faded to pale morning, and noon soon followed.
Yun Wan Ning finally woke.
The instant her lashes fluttered, she found Madam Yun gazing at her with fierce worry. Seeing her daughter’s eyes at last, Madam Yun’s joy burst out: “Ah, Little Fourth is awake! If you had not woken soon, your mother would have died from worry.”
Seeing the redness around her mother’s eyes, Yun Wan Ning felt a sting of guilt. She knew how frightened her mother must have been when both she and Yun Wan Ye had fainted. [I am sorry, Mother. I had no choice. Making you worry for a while is better than letting Second Brother be hurt and making you grieve for a lifetime.]
Her head throbbed, her limbs ached, and her belly was hollow and tight. She drooped like a wilted sprout, even her inner voice thin and weak. After whispering apology in her heart, hunger took over at once: [I feel awful. I am so hungry.]
Madam Yun froze at the faint complaint, then moved quickly as she said: “Little Fourth must be starving after so long without milk. Mother will feed you now.”
After eating, Yun Wan Ning closed her eyes again. She lay weak and quiet, her thoughts unusually still, as if her strength had been drained dry. Watching this, Madam Yun’s heart ached so much she wished she could bear the child’s discomfort for her.
By afternoon, Yun Zhan, Yun Wan Chen, and Yun Wan Yao came to see her. Seeing her so listless, they did not linger, fearing to disturb her rest. They left quietly and went to look in on Yun Wan Ye.
He had also woken, and he looked just the same as she had—limp as frost-burned eggplant. He cracked his lids open, lips pale and dry like a thirsty flower. Yun Wan Yao crossed her arms with smug delight and said with a grin: “Heh.”
Yun Wan Chen raised a brow, the gentle restraint he wore near his little sister gone. He asked, voice cool with curiosity: “Since you are awake, tell us exactly how you felt before you fainted. I am very curious about this spiritual power.”
Yun Wan Ye went quiet. Did his brother not see his state? What kind of big brother was this?
Though Yun Zhan had been dining with Yin Shuang when the incident happened, the way both niece and nephew fell at once had shocked him. He had already pulled Yun Wan Chen aside to ask for details, and now his interest flared. He had traveled far and seen much. This was the first time he had heard of a force that could strike from a distance, without even a trace of visible energy.
Yun Wan Ye forced a weak answer out of respect for his Seventh Uncle’s rank: “My head hurts. I am hungry, spent, sore everywhere. I do not want to talk.”
“So that is truly the aftereffect,” Yun Wan Chen murmured, eyes bright. “No wounds on the body, yet all spirit drained. No wonder it is called spiritual power. What do you want to eat? I will have it made for you.”
“Congee. I am hungry, but I have no appetite.”
“Mm, understood,” Yun Wan Chen said simply.
…
Four days passed before both Yun Wan Ye and Yun Wan Ning fully recovered. Under the combined questioning of Yun Zheng, Yun Zhan, Yun Wan Chen, and Yun Wan Yao, Yun Wan Ye carefully described the moment of attack: “It felt like an invisible force locked onto my whole body and held me still. Then a sharp pain stabbed my head, and my mind fell into darkness. You know how I felt after waking, so there is no need to repeat it.”
They fell into deep thought. The more they turned it over, the more mysterious it seemed. Its only drawback appeared to be the attacker’s own heavy backlash.
None of them knew that Little Fourth’s backlash came only because she was too young. Her new life’s cultivation had barely begun, and her spiritual power was very small. She had spent every last drop to bring down one grown man. If one day her cultivation deepened and her spiritual power rose high, the backlash would vanish, and her strength would be beyond imagining.
“Father, did you send word to Wei Chao Hui and the others at Drunken Fragrance Pavilion? Did trouble come for them?” Yun Wan Ye asked, remembering his sister’s warning.
“I sent Lu Wu to deliver the message and watch in secret,” Yun Zheng said. “That Zhu boy did grow aggressive when he saw the boy from Marquis Chang Le’s house, but Lu Wu stopped him from the shadows. They are safe. They avoided the disaster.”
Yun Wan Ye let out a long breath: “Good, that is good.”
“That day played out just as Little Fourth said it would,” Yun Zheng said, hands behind his back, chin lifted as he looked sternly at his handsome son. “If not for your sister, you and your friends would have been ruined. Tell me, boy, what have you learned?”
Fear still clung to Yun Wan Ye’s heart, and gratitude swelled even more. He thanked the heavens for giving him this little sister. She was his lucky star, born to pull him from calamity. “Father, I was wrong,” he said earnestly. “From now on, I will drink less, think more, and never act rashly.”
“Good,” Yun Zheng said, his voice steady and heavy with care. “Remember this lesson. Do not be young and arrogant, hot and reckless. Right and wrong often turn on a single thought. One thought leads to heaven, another to hell. If you act on impulse, you may fall from grace to ruin. If you make a mistake that cannot be mended, regret will come too late.”
He spoke with patience, hoping his son would take in at least half. He had been young once and knew how stubborn youth could be. Without restraint and a clear view of consequence, one wrong step could break a life.
After his father’s lecture, Yun Wan Ye went straight to Peace Keeping Courtyard to visit a now lively Yun Wan Ning. On the beauty couch by the window, the maid Little Tao dangled a paper kite to tease her like a one-month-old babe, and Yun Wan Ning could only stare, speechless. [Elder Sister Little Tao amuses me with childish toys every day, I feel so helpless. These things do not interest me at all. Sigh.]
[Being a baby is so uncomfortable. I am bored. Wait, I just realized something important. When others transmigrate, they get a system or a spatial ability. Why do I have nothing? I was reborn straight into a baby. I cannot speak or walk. I only have my internet access. I need a system more than anyone. Why do I not have one? This makes no sense. Should I call one out and see? Let us try it, I have decided.]
[System, your daddy is here, come out and kneel!]
[…]
Silence filled the air. Yun Wan Ning stared at the ceiling. [Where is my system? Do I truly not have one? Ah, I want a system. I want to browse the internet, play games, scroll short videos, watch movies, binge dramas. Best of all, I want to livestream so everyone can admire my elder brother and elder sister’s gorgeous faces.]
[…]
Standing at the door, Yun Wan Ye heard all of it and felt utterly lost. What was a “system”? What was a “spatial ability”? And why was his little sister calling herself “daddy” and ordering some system to kneel?
Why did his little sister have so many strange thoughts each day?
He coughed and stamped his foot on purpose as he entered, waving Little Tao away. [Oh, Second Brother is here? How has he been these days? Does his head still hurt?]
This was their first meeting since the day they both fainted. With the crisis averted, Yun Wan Ning found him much more pleasing to the eye. Her dark eyes sparkled the moment she saw him.
His mouth curved at once; his mood rose like the tide. Ah, his little sister was concerned about him. How moving. Since she was born, this might be the first time she was truly happy to see him. It had not been easy.
“Little Sister, it has been days since we met,” he said with a light laugh as he drew close: “Did you miss your second brother?”
[To be honest, yes, I did these past two days, but it was because I worried I had not controlled my spiritual power and turned you into an idiot by mistake. That would be a great sin. Now that I see you, I can rest easy. Good, you are not an idiot. Your future was miserable enough even without that. I cannot imagine how you would live if you were an idiot as well.]
Yun Wan Ye stiffened. There had been such a risk? Why had she not said so earlier? If he had known even a small chance of becoming an idiot existed, he would have pretended to faint by himself long ago and let her wonder why the plot changed. He quietly let out a breath of relief and tested the waters: “Little Sister, that day I was fine, then my head suddenly hurt and I passed out. I wonder what that was. Is there something wrong with my health? But now I feel normal.”
[Do not worry, Second Brother. You were about to get into trouble, so I had to act with a touch of spiritual power to stop you. You might feel uncomfortable for a day or two after waking, but rest a little and you will be fine. It is nothing. Wait, wait, I am a baby. I cannot speak or understand human words. Why are you telling me all this? Did you run out of people to talk to?]
She rolled her eyes in her heart. He always wanted to chat with her, and she could not quite say what felt off about it.
He kept his face mild and baited her again: “That day, I sensed a mysterious force lock onto me. It was not like inner power at all.”
As he expected, with no idea her inner voice had long been overheard, she bit like a curious little fish. [Oh, his perception is not bad. He actually felt spiritual power. Of course it is different from inner power. Inner power cultivates the dantian, while spiritual power cultivates the sea of consciousness. It is a working of the mind. When spiritual power grows strong, it can seize souls, command beasts, move objects with thought, even shift mountains and fill seas. It far surpasses inner power. Inner power is martial arts, while spiritual power is like a superpower, true cultivation.]