Chapter 3
Overnight, Yu Sui transformed from a wild child in the mountains into a noble lady of the royal family of Qingyang Kingdom.
After Nangong Ming named her, Yu Sui rarely saw Lady Su again. The mute woman still accompanied her, but she had many more people caring for her than when she was on Mount Luo.
The red-walled, black-tiled mansion before her was much better than the little black room on Mount Luo. As the prince's designated heir, one of only two to inherit the Nangong surname, Yu Sui enjoyed the finest food, clothing, and necessities. Everyone in the manor treated her with utmost respect, even though she was just a child who couldn't speak properly.
The advantage of being an innocent child allowed her to learn many secrets.
The manor had three ladies, each with one son. Her three elder brothers were six, five, and four years old respectively.
Since they hadn't obtained the qualification to bear the Nangong surname, they all took their mothers' surnames.
Yu Sui only saw these three elder brothers on the first day. As for the three ladies, she could see them every few days. The ladies liked to come sit and chat leisurely at the little princess's place. They never came alone, always arriving as a group of three.
Nangong Ming also frequently came to see Yu Sui, even allowing her to play nearby while he handled political affairs.
Everyone was very relaxed around Yu Sui. She was only one and a half years old. What could she understand about politics? Moreover, she walked unsteadily, often falling down, and her pronunciation was unclear. In every way, she seemed to develop slower than normal children.
In others' eyes, the little princess could be described in four words: silly and foolish.
Silly and foolish children did tend to attract the favor of certain clever people.
Nangong Ming was one such clever person.
After finishing his political affairs, he got up and came to the wooden couch behind the screen, where the child was playing house with her dolls.
Nangong Ming asked: "Sui Sui, do you miss your mother?"
Yu Sui looked up: "Yes."
Nangong Ming smiled and bent down to pick her up: "Then let's go see your mother."
After several months, Yu Sui saw Lady Su again. She sat by the window, moonlight falling through it, making her figure seem lonely. When a maid came to report that the prince and princess had arrived, Lady Su showed no expression.
Nangong Ming walked forward: "Su Su."
Yu Sui stood on the ground, raising her smiling face, timidly calling: "Mother..."
Lady Su's eyes moved slightly, only then turning to look over.
Yu Sui had always wanted to get close to Lady Su. Even after nearly being strangled to death by Lady Su last time, she planned to ease the relationship between them first. After all, she was still too weak now.
When she swayed unsteadily toward Lady Su, Lady Su stood up and walked away.
Nangong Ming glanced at his daughter standing there bewildered and at a loss, smiled, reached out to pat Yu Sui's head, and placed her beside the table to let her play by herself.
"I thought you missed the child, so I brought her over," Nangong Ming said. "This child took away half of your Breath Soil. Does that make you so disgusted?"
Lady Su stood by the window with her back to both of them, saying nothing.
Nangong Ming spoke in a tone neither light nor heavy: "How strange. You stole the Breath Soil from me and hid away, yet I haven't blamed you, but you're throwing a tantrum first."
Yu Sui pricked up her ears.
What else was there between this resentful couple that she didn't know?
Lady Su said coldly: "That was rightfully mine. It was agreed before our cooperation that the Breath Soil would be mine once obtained."
"I did promise you, but you left too quickly," Nangong Ming walked to Yu Sui's side, wiping the fine sweat from her forehead, yet making Yu Sui's hair stand on end. "The child was about to be born, yet you still had to run, and you took Qing Kui too. How about it, should I bring Qing Kui back as well?"
Lady Su suddenly turned around, her eyes full of shock.
Yu Sui obediently played with her teacup, not daring to reveal the slightest surprise in her heart.
"Doctor Zhou, one of the three Medical School Saints, willing to help you was indeed somewhat unexpected. However, finding him wouldn't be very difficult if one had the heart," Nangong Ming sighed softly, looking up at Lady Su. "Would you like me to bring Qing Kui back?"
Lady Su's eyes trembled, wanting to speak but stopping. Her aura had already weakened.
She seemed to release her breath, lowering her head: "Spare Kui'er."
"What are you saying? Qing Kui is also my daughter. I couldn't possibly kill her," Nangong Ming said matter-of-factly. "I also want Qing Kui to grow up freely and safely. It's just that it'll be hard on Sui Sui. Now the entire Nine Schools world knows that the Breath Soil is in Sui Sui's body, having nothing to do with you."
Yu Sui pushed two cups together, making a crisp collision sound.
"Though it's only half, who would know?" Nangong Ming walked to Lady Su's side, taking her hand and walking toward Yu Sui. "You must keep hiding this well and continue our cooperation. Don't throw tantrums or disappear at the drop of a hat. There are many people who want to kill my children, and you can't stop them all."
"Now those people will only notice Sui Sui. No one will pay attention to Qing Kui. She'll be very safe."
Lady Su's expression was slightly dazed. When Yu Sui looked over, she quickly averted her eyes.
Nangong Ming pulled Lady Su to sit beside Yu Sui. To outsiders, this looked like a happy family of three.
"Su Su, for Qing Kui's sake, continue using any means necessary to help me find a way to break the oath."
Nangong Ming had grasped Lady Su's weakness. She could no longer resist, continuing to compromise and cooperate with Nangong Ming for her daughter Qing Kui's sake.
……
Yu Sui had a further understanding of her situation.
Her parents, for their mutual benefit, pushed her out to attract attention, making the outside world think the Breath Soil was entirely in her body rather than just half, hiding Lady Su's involvement so she could work for Nangong Ming more conveniently.
Only she was the great victim sacrificing her own happiness for the whole family.
Nangong Ming's meaning was that he wanted to cultivate her to serve the family in the future.
The more attention she attracted, the more careful Yu Sui had to be about exposing her World Destroyer identity. If it were discovered that she possessed Strange Fire, being an existence that the entire continent should eliminate, she would have reached the end of her life.
From the conversations of the three ladies who frequently visited, Yu Sui learned that the three princes of the manor were all excellent, learning things quickly. The eldest prince, at six years old, was about to enter the National Academy for study.
The National Academy was a place that uniformly taught the children of nobles and aristocrats knowledge, etiquette, and magical arts.
Students entered the academy at six and finished their education at sixteen.
Yu Sui still had to endure a long infancy, but it wasn't boring. She could hear many strange and unusual news every day.
After Lady Su compromised to Nangong Ming, she visited Yu Sui more often. At Nangong Ming's direction, Lady Su would represent the manor's mistress, attending many banquets outside, occasionally bringing Yu Sui along.
The news that Yu Sui was the future heir to the princely title had spread throughout the imperial capital's circles. Even if people looked down on Lady Su for being a concubine, they dared not slight the manor's princess.
In the third year of the little princess's life, Yu Sui accompanied Lady Su to the palace for the empress's birthday celebration. At the birthday banquet, she was called upon by the empress but couldn't answer any questions, only staring blankly at the empress. This caused roars of laughter, everyone laughing at her, and she foolishly laughed along with everyone else.
The Qingyang Emperor and Nangong Ming spoke in low voices with smiles, seemingly also discussing his little daughter.
The world around Yu Sui's ears was very lively, with some distant conversations also reaching her ears:
"This is the little sister who stole the throne from you three brothers? Ha ha ha, she looks so dumb. Having your throne stolen by her, you three must feel pretty frustrated, ha ha!"
From the corner of her eye, Yu Sui saw the eight-year-old eldest prince maintaining dignified composure, frowning silently. The seven-year-old second prince covered his forehead as if feeling embarrassed, while the six-year-old third prince's eyes were full of disdain.
From that day forward, Lady Su no longer let Yu Sui grow wild. She began arranging various learning courses for her, from music, chess, calligraphy, and painting to horseback riding and archery. She needed the future Princess Nangong to be elegant and beautiful, but also able to wield weapons.
Yu Sui learned very slowly, so slowly that her tutors had to patiently repeat explanations over and over again.
People around said she had mediocre aptitude, not like the prince's child. Even Lady Su occasionally wondered why her elder daughter Qing Kui was clever and quick-witted, while her younger daughter Yu Sui was so ordinary.
At age six, Nangong Ming brought a Yin-Yang School practitioner to examine Yu Sui's talent.
Everyone on the Xuangu Continent could cultivate and choose a path. Those without talent who learned the Way were ordinary practitioners. Those with talent who learned the Way were practitioners of the Nine Schools.
The distinction between the two was clear:
Ordinary practitioners could only master theoretical knowledge.
Nine Schools practitioners mastered strange arts and supernatural abilities.
Nangong Ming came from the School of Names and had good relations with Yin-Yang School forces within Qingyang Kingdom. Therefore, he wanted his daughter to enter the Yin-Yang School. His daughter naturally couldn't be an ordinary practitioner; she had to be a Nine Schools practitioner.
A person's "talent" was the important link connecting them to the magical arts. Those without talent couldn't enter the Way.
Yu Sui stood in the moonlight, night wind blowing her clothes and hair in disarray. The old practitioner standing not far away unrolled a scroll in his hands and threw it into the air. His hands quickly formed seals, and the ink from the scroll connected into lines and leaped out from the paper.
The pitch-black ink lines broke apart and scattered, falling respectively on Yu Sui's forehead center, nose tip, both cheeks, both shoulders, and other meridian points. Yu Sui only felt the places touched by the ink lines were cool and cold. After a brief stay, they flew back to the suspended scroll.
The old practitioner caught the scroll. The ink color on the paper remained the same, and the human figure that appeared had no bright spots whatsoever.
Yu Sui could tell from his expression that the results weren't good.
The old practitioner rolled up the scroll and faced Nangong Ming, who was waiting nearby, saying in a deep voice: "Your Highness, the princess has mediocre aptitude and no talent whatsoever. She has no affinity with the Yin-Yang Way."
Nangong Ming glanced at Yu Sui standing in the moonlight, waved his hand to dismiss the old practitioner, and walked to Yu Sui's side. He didn't bend down but looked down from his lofty position. Though smiling, he gave Yu Sui plenty of pressure.
"Are you afraid?"
Yu Sui lowered her head, looking dejected.
Nangong Ming continued: "The Nangong clan has never had an ordinary practitioner. You cannot be the first."
Yu Sui thought for a moment and said: "What if I am?"
Nangong Ming was somewhat surprised she would ask such a question. In his impression, this daughter rarely spoke. Most of the time, she was either crying or laughing. If you didn't ask her, she basically wouldn't speak up on her own.
The little girl before him looked up with eyes that followed her mother's, dark and clear pupils, pure and clean.
Nangong Ming looked down at her and smiled: "You cannot be."
Yu Sui asked again: "If I am, would you drive me out?"
Nangong Ming: "..."
The girl's characteristic childish voice made Nangong Ming pause. Seeing Yu Sui show a troubled expression, she timidly continued asking: "If Father wants to drive me out of the manor, could you let me finish dinner first before I leave? I haven't eaten dinner tonight; you called me here."
Nangong Ming thought to himself, the world said he was deep in schemes and machinations, his ancestors were all resourceful figures, the child's mother was talented enough to reach the Thirteenth Realm, and his three sons were all clever and quick-witted. How could he have such a foolish daughter?
After a moment, Nangong Ming took his foolish daughter to eat dinner.
……
The six-year-old little princess also had to begin studying at the National Academy.
Yu Sui went to the National Academy with her brothers every day and returned to the manor together after sunset.
From their previous lack of communication to now politely calling each other "Elder Brother" or "Princess" when they met, these three brothers didn't call her by name or call her little sister, but addressed her as Princess.
On Yu Sui's first day at the National Academy, she couldn't recognize everyone in the classroom. But because of the joke she had made at the empress's birthday banquet years ago when she couldn't answer any questions, she was quite famous. Several children would actively come over to greet her, saying: "You're the little princess of Prince Nangong's manor, Nangong Sui, right!"
She sat in her seat, gazing longingly at the unfamiliar children.
The delicately carved girl before her laughed heartily at her cute and confused appearance: "You really are silly. Everyone says you have no talent and are the only ordinary practitioner in the Nangong family."
Yu Sui folded her hands and collapsed on the desk, yawning drowsily.
"Why aren't you paying attention to me?" Princess Shangyang unhappily pushed her. "This princess being willing to talk to a fool like you is your good fortune."
They were all just children, speaking childishly and amusingly. Yu Sui hummed twice: "Thank you, Your Highness Princess."
Princess Shangyang was amused by her again.
Yu Sui did everything a beat slower, sometimes seeming not to understand what everyone was saying, standing there dazed with a blank expression.
Princess Shangyang and her little companions laughed at Yu Sui for several days. After the novelty wore off, they went to find other entertainment.
The princess was the daughter of the current Qingyang Emperor and empress. With this background, she could walk sideways through the National Academy. While others studied diligently, she could make loud noise, and no one dared discipline her.
Those who could study at the National Academy were all children with power and influence. Usually pampered at home with others obeying their every whim, the Academy's teachers treated this group of children with even more care and protection.
The teachers taught normally. Whether the children listened was their own business.
Yu Sui sat next to Princess Shangyang. With this troublesome little princess around, every day at the Academy was chaotic for her. Princess Shangyang would poke her from time to time, calling her a fool.
She didn't mind, sleeping at the Academy every day.
This resulted in Yu Sui basically not hearing what the teachers taught. She couldn't keep up with her studies, lagged behind others, and her written exams came back with zeros across the board, ranking last in grades.
When Lady Su saw this after returning to the manor, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed tightly, her cold eyes staring at her for a long time.
The final result was Yu Sui being punished to kneel outside the door, holding books and sleepily flipping through them.
It wasn't really her fault for always sleeping at the Academy. It was just that when it was time to sleep, the Strange Fire in the depths of her consciousness became extremely active, making her so hot that she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Yu Sui had studied this for a long time, her consciousness wrestling with the Strange Fire, trying to see what was wrong.
She didn't discover any problems, but her mental energy was mostly consumed, leaving her completely unable to summon energy during the day.
At this moment, with the cool evening breeze, Yu Sui's knees hurt from kneeling. She kept shifting her body and stealthily glanced at Lady Su in the room, drawing out her voice: "Mother... can I recite it tomorrow instead?"
Lady Su didn't look up, saying flatly: "How many tomorrows have you already wasted?"
Yu Sui had no choice but to lower her head and read.
Lady Su didn't fall for her acting cute at all.
For several consecutive days when Yu Sui returned to the manor, she had to kneel in front of the door reciting books.
Nangong Ming came by once and saw this, raising his eyebrows with a smile: "Your studying method is quite unique."
Behind him followed a boy about Yu Sui's age.
The boy wore a black coat in the cold spring night, covering his thin frame. He was barefoot, his feet stained with mud, his hair tips wet, water still dripping from where it stuck to his cheeks and neck. The boy kept his head down. When Yu Sui looked up, she caught the hostility in his eyes.
Nangong Ming brought the boy inside to see Lady Su.
Yu Sui was shut outside the door.
After a good while, Nangong Ming came out to see her.
Yu Sui was still kneeling on the ground. Nangong Ming didn't tell her to get up but squatted down, smiling as he asked: "Can't recite even one piece?"
"I can already recite five pieces." Yu Sui held up her hand to show the number.
Nangong Ming shook his head: "I don't know whether I should praise you for being clever."
Yu Sui's gaze moved past him toward inside the room: "Who is that person?"
"Him?" Nangong Ming reached out to pat Yu Sui's head, still smiling warmly. "He's someone you'll have to protect with your life in the future."