"Senior Huang Liyue. To be honest, I do not know for sure. I only made educated guesses. You see, he stopped his little operation right after the massacre of the Cao family. This is why I asked Ye Zhiyun to secretly find all he could on the Cao family, and on Hall Master Fang personally."
Hearing her young mistress, Huang Liyue was not very convinced by the answer. Deep down, she felt like she knew more than she was letting on. This young girl was too good at lying and withholding information. Even a middle Spirit Warrior like her could not see through her facade. But as a bodyguard, she knew when to respect the privacy of the people she had to protect. And she also knew that it was useless to probe Huang Cixi for information if she was not willing to give it.
"I am sorry, but I still have a problem with the situation..."
With a smile Huang Cixi knew exactly what her bodyguard was going to say. After all, Huang Liyue was loyal to Matriarch Huang Yufeng foremost.
"Hall Master Fang stole from our very family. We cannot trust him. Moreover, he has to pay for what he did."
"Senior, you are too rigid. No matter how much he stole, he is going to repay us tenfold in the long run."
Still unconvinced, Huang Liyue slightly changed the discussion.
"Only the matriarch can make such a judgment. And... you're not the matriarch... yet." After hesitating, Huang Liyue had added this 'yet'. In fact, compared with Huang Si, this young girl seemed to be as apt at ruling their family, if not more. In a matter of days, she had mostly convinced Huang Liyue of her competence. However, she still remained loyal to the current matriarch and could not take sides in the competition. Even though she had been the bodyguard of Huang Yi, she had always been the most trustworthy servant of Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Yes, Huang Cixi had intrigued her, but it didn't mean that she was her favorite to replace the current matriarch.
"I knew that you would want to report everything to Matriarch Huang Yufeng. In fact, I suspect that you already reported quite a lot about my grandfather, my senior sisters Huang Lü and Huang Si, and even me. But I will ask something of you." The atmosphere changed as Huang Cixi became more serious and resolute than ever. "Do not say anything to Matriarch Huang Yufeng about this matter until my duel with Gui Bei. By then, I am sure that even you would agree that I am the best choice to replace Matriarch Huang Yufeng."
"What?!"
Huang Liyue could not even imagine lying to the matriarch. Merely suggesting that was akin to treason in her eyes. And yet, she was in doubt.
"This is only one month. How much do you think it will hurt our family? Hall Master Fang has been stealing from us for two decades now. What is one more month? Then, if the matriarch wants to punish him further, or even punish me for that matter, I will have no problem completely submitting to her. I am not asking you to betray Matriarch Huang Yufeng, I just want you to give me enough time to prove myself over everyone else. In a sense, if you report everything right now, you will interfere with our competition. Besides, you would have to disturb the matriarch's seclusion."
The mere fact that Huang Liyue was hesitating gave enough proof to Huang Cixi that she was seriously considering her for the role of matriarch. Full of doubts, Huang Liyue softly caressed the scar on her right eye. Several memories crossed her mind and it took her a while to make a decision. But once she had, it was impossible to change her mind.
"Fine... I will give you one month. Once you beat Gui Bei, either you tell the matriarch yourself or I will. Then we'll abide by her judgment." Such a decision had a huge impact on Huang Liyue. For Huang Cixi, it was a clear sign that she trusted her. What Huang Liyue did not add was that she was also ready to accept any punishment for the delay in the report. But it was obvious from her gaze.
"Thank you, Senior. However, there is more." A fierce glint lit up Huang Liyue's eyes as she feared that her young mistress had more revelations. "I have to visit someone. And you will probably hear things that you don't like. Can you promise me that you will also wait this one month before saying anything?"
Now that Huang Liyue had agreed to compromise once, it would be easier to make her do so even more.
"Young Mistress, I cannot make such a promise. Moreover, what would you think of me as a bodyguard if I was so quick in betraying my allegiance? But I can promise you that if I do not think that this is a direct threat to our family, I will consider withholding it from Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Only for one month, not a single day more. Do not ask me for anything else!"
Clearly, Huang Liyue had reached her limit. Huang Cixi was well aware that she couldn't push her too far too fast. In fact, Huang Cixi admired her loyalty to Matriarch Huang Yufeng. If she wasn't that adamant about her loyalty, indeed, Huang Cixi would have no respect for her. As a bodyguard, Huang Liyue should keep her mistress' secrets. But as a servant of the Huang family, she couldn't hide anything from the matriarch. Such a situation was tough to manage.
"Senior. I can assure you that everything I do, I do it for the sake of my family, and the overall kingdom. When you learn what I'm talking about, I am sure that you'll agree with me about not revealing it immediately."
Almost immediately, Huang Cixi prepared to leave her chambers. After tidying up her desk, leaving the rest of the room to the care of Bao Zhong, she went to show respect to the memorial tablets of her family.
Then, she left the now clean room and went toward the chambers of Huang Lü. After Hall Master Fang's visit, it was already late into the night and all the corridors were pitch black. The faint light from the moon was however enough for cultivators to see as well as in broad daylight. Moreover, most of them did not need to sleep. So, even though, the residence appeared quiet, most of the members of the Huang family were active in their chambers. Nighttime was a good moment to cultivate for many people who were busy during the day. Only the servants were truly resting at night.
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Huang Lü was alone in her room. This was almost the same exact room as the one Huang Cixi lived in. Right now, Huang Lü had a lot of influence among the elders and although she came from a side branch just like Huang Cixi, and had no connection within the main branch, she was treated extremely well. The only candidate to become matriarch who was from the main branch was Huang Si. In fact, she directly was related to the matriarch through several generations of women. This explained why the True Fiery Fenghuang blood in her veins was very pure. Both Huang Cixi and Huang Lü were born lucky with their own blood, considering they had women from outside of the family in their family tree.
As she was worried because of Huang Cixi, Huang Lü wanted to be alone to think properly. Sadly, she had to admit that she wasn't very good at politics. It had been quite easy for Huang Cixi to bait her into siding with Gui Bei. Lucky for her, she had known when to stop and hadn't endorsed him fully. If she had, even the elders who supported her would have been embarrassed.
With many documents pertaining to the side branch of Huang Cixi on her desk, she was trying to find an edge she could use against her. While she was lost in her thoughts, a knocking on her door woke her up. After several knocks, no one went to open the door and Huang Lü became annoyed.
"Cai Ying!"
As soon as she called for her servant, Huang Lü remembered that she had sent everyone away for the time being. Hearing that the knocks didn't stop, she cursed the persistence of her visitor and went to open the door herself.
The moment she did, she saw the face that was annoying her the most, Huang Cixi's.
"Senior Sister, I hope that I am not disturbing you."
The smile on Huang Cixi's face was clearly fake without any attempt to conceal it. Before Huang Lü could even stop her, she entered her room and closed the door behind her.
"Junior Cixi, where the hell do you think you are?!"
"Do not get angry, Senior Sister. When you hear what I am here to tell, you'll want it to be as quiet as possible." Disregarding Huang Lü's anger, Huang Cixi examined the room and saw the same kind of study she had in her own chambers. "I imagine that this study is protected from spiritual senses... Let's talk there."
"You...!" However, Huang Lü did not try to stop her. There were indeed things best said in secret.
Of course, even though the study was protected through the use of Void Nurtured Platinum, this couldn't completely erased all sounds. With Huang Liyue just outside of the study, unseen by all, she would probably still hear most if not all the conversation.
Huang cixi was perfectly calm and took a seat while her rival exhibited clear signs of anger and annoyance.
"Are you comfortable?! Do you maybe want me to brew you some tea while we're at it?!"
"No, thank you, this is a bit too late for that..."
Every tranquil answer from Huang Cixi could only enrage Huang Lü more. She decided not to quarrel with this girl and to go straight to the point.
"What is it you want to talk about in the middle of the night? What is it that couldn't wait? I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I am not amused at all."
"I only wanted to talk about Elder Huang Jian. But if you are so opposed to the idea, I can do so later. I am sure that my grandfather would be delighted to have this conversation with us."
After hearing this name, Huang Lü's anger turned into fear. In fact, she even froze for an instant. Many thoughts assaulted her mind and her next words weren't very assured.
"I... I do not know what I would have to say about Elder Huang Jian. But I'll humor you. What is it that you want to talk about?"
"I'll get to my point, do not worry. But, first, I'd like to tell you a little story. Twenty-eight years ago, Elder Huang Jian had just become an elder. To protect the stability of the family, he had vowed to stay celibate and to never have any child. And just after being promoted as the youngest elder at the time, he was sent to visit several side branches of the family. Do you happen to know which side branch family he visited first?"
"How could I recall every detail of Elder Huang Jian's life?" Huang Lü was more and more worried as she knew where Huang Cixi was going with it.
"That is strange... After all, it was your family he visited first. He only stayed a couple of months. And less than a year after he had first arrived in your family, you were born, right?"
"What are you trying to insinuate?"
"Sister Lü, do you really need me to say it out loud? Elder Huang Jian is your real father, isn't he?"
"Sister! I listened to your nonsense for far too long! You slander my mother and you insult an elder! Unless you have proof of your absurdity, leave my room immediately or I'll condemn you in public."
Under this outrage of Huang Lü, Huang Cixi stayed absolutely calm. In fact, she even got more comfortable into her seat.
"Sister, you didn't think that if you had found out about him, no one else could, right? As soon as I saw you two in Governor Leng's residence, I knew right away. And once I knew, it wasn't hard to find enough evidence. Despite his many visits to side branch families, yours was the only one he tried to actively avoid. In fact, the more he tried to distance himself, to more proofs he created."
Huang Cixi let out a huge sigh while slowly shaking her head.
"You misunderstand me, Sister Lü. I am not here as an enemy. I am here to help you out. If I discovered about it, do think Senior Sister Huang Si is oblivious about it? Why do you think she didn't confront you directly yet? She took take of every other rival but you. Do you sincerely think you are a real threat to her?"
Suddenly, Huang Lü felt light-headed. In truth, she had asked herself those questions. Sadly she had to admit that she wasn't very good at politics. The only reason she had the support of many elders was thanks to Elder Huang Jian's influence behind the scene.
Everything Huang Cixi had said was true. Elder Huang Jian knew about this daughter of his of course. But he didn't know that she knew. After breaking his vow of celibate, he had decided to try and distance himself from the woman he had fallen for. And in doing so, he had also distanced himself from his only daughter. Along the years, he had tried to help her in secret though. Huang Lü's mother was not feeling less guilty than he was. And one day, she had confessed everything to her daughter. That was the moment when Huang Lü decided to become matriarch.
At first, she wanted to get revenge on her biological father. But the more she learned about him, the more convinced she was that he wasn't a bad man. However, she had a hard time channeling her past anger.
"What do you want from me?"
"That's easy. Announce publicly that you will not pursue the role of matriarch anymore. If you don't, Huang Si will use your father against you at some point. What do you think will happen to Elder Huang Jian when the truth gets out? And what do you think will happen to your mother? And to your... 'father'? Do you think that Huang Si wouldn't use that against you?"
"Huang Si? And not you?"
Huang Cixi acted as though she had been accused of an heinous crime.
"Sister, what do you say? I would never do such a thing! After all, I don't need to... because we both know that you dropping out of the competition is for the best. Let's be honest here, Sister." Finally, Huang Cixi stood up and looked her rival right in the eyes. Two sparks shined in her pupils, showing her two True Fiery Drops. "Do you sincerely believe that you have what it takes to become the next matriarch?"