Elder Yu Yan seemed to have anticipated her little sister’s response, and she broke into a delighted laugh.
“I knew it. Little Qing really likes Little Yan Zhen too, doesn’t she?”
“I do not!” Dean Yu Qing huffed proudly. “It’s just convenient, that’s all. Keeps those nagging old ladies off my back about marriage—Xuan’er~”
Her expression shifted in an instant, turning fawning and sweet.
“Lend me that rascal to fend off the clan elders, pretty please?”
Mentor Yu Xuan stared at her in speechless disbelief, tinged with disdain.
“As if I could say no.”
“Xuan’er~~~” Dean Yu Qing sidled over and looped her arm through her niece’s. “I swear, I’ll only borrow him now and then. I won’t get in the way of your relationship for real.”
“Little Aunt, you’re anything but honest. Nobody’s falling for that nonsense.”
“It’s true, Xuan’er… You already said yes to Big Sis. Say yes to me too. Or does this mean you’re not close to Little Aunt anymore—just Big Aunt?”
“That’s not what this is about,” Mentor Yu Xuan retorted with a pout. “I’m staying out of it. Go ask Yan Zhen yourself.”
Dean Yu Qing’s face froze. She sneaked a glance at Yan Zhen, who was sitting quietly nearby, then whined shamelessly.
“If that’s how you put it, then I’m taking that as a yes. Who cares what the little rascal thinks anyway? He’s a philandering scumbag—scumbags don’t get a vote!”
Yan Zhen was floored.
Under normal circumstances, Mentor Yu Xuan would have jumped to his defense. But she was still fuming. She shot Yan Zhen a glance, saw that he wasn’t protesting, and promptly ignored the whole matter.
Elder Yu Yan chuckled merrily.
“Well then, that makes Little Qing and me Little Yan Zhen’s concubines. Will just the two of us do? What about Little Bailan—want to join in?”
“I—” Shui Bailan was on the verge of summoning her courage to say yes when her sister-in-law fixed her with a chilly stare. She deflated instantly. “I’ll pass.”
“Doesn’t Little Bailan like Little Yan Zhen?”
“Well…”
“She loves him,” Dean Yu Qing said with a smirk, pursing her lips. “Last time, she sneaked a kiss on him right in front of me.”
The bombshell left Family Head Yu Lu and her daughter, Mentor Yu Xuan, staring with wide eyes.
Mentor Yu Xuan felt utterly numb. She had come home for the holidays, only to get backstabbed again and again by the people closest to her.
First her own mother, then Big Aunt, and now Little Aunt. She’d thought her aunt was the rational one, above such betrayal. But they were all birds of a feather.
Family Head Yu Lu fixed Shui Bailan with an accusing stare.
“Bailan, don’t tell me you—”
Elder Yu Yan, ever eager to fan the flames, chimed in.
“Oh my, who knew Bailan had it in her? So bold, making the first move.”
Shui Bailan was mortified beyond words. Her usually composed, intellectual features were flushed crimson, as if she’d had too much to drink.
“L-Listen to me explain. It’s not what you all think… Yu Qing, d-don’t spread lies!”
“Who’s lying? You did it and now you won’t own up? What a chicken.”
Dean Yu Qing figured she’d already endured one social death. It was only fair to drag her best friend down with her.
Shui Bailan, both mortified and furious at the smug look on her face, shot back.
“You’re one to talk! You sneaked a kiss on Yan Zhen’s chest while he was drunk—and you even drew a little turtle there with your tongue!”
Yan Zhen: ???
This time, it was Dean Yu Qing’s turn to reel in shock. The haughty spark in her eyes gave way to pure embarrassment. She fired back at once.
“Y-You’re making that up! I did no such thing! What kind of ridiculous lie is that? Nobody’s buying it! Big Sis, Second Sis, Xuan’er—don’t believe a word Bailan says! She’s just lashing out, making stuff up, slandering an innocent woman—”
Shui Bailan replied coolly.
“I recorded it with the Reflecting Light Mirror.”
Silence fell like a stone.
Everyone turned to stare at Dean Yu Qing with strange looks. Her face turned the color of a boiled crab, and she desperately wished the ground would swallow her whole.
Elder Yu Yan smiled slyly.
“Can we play it right here?”
Shui Bailan kept her expression neutral.
“Naturally. The Reflecting Light Mirror’s in my storage ring. I’ll fetch it now.”
“Wait!” Dean Yu Qing lunged to stop her. “I was just joking before. Bailan didn’t actually sneak-kiss that little bad egg—Bailan’s joking too, right?”
Shui Bailan snapped irritably.
“I’m not joking.”
With that, she produced the Reflecting Light Mirror from her storage ring and channeled a thread of mystic power into it, activating the device.
Dean Yu Qing panicked for real now. Seeing she couldn’t stop it, she shot up out of the water.
“I-I just remembered, I have something urgent. I’m heading out!”
She had barely taken a step when a powerful Mystic Ancestor Aura pinned her in place. She froze, not daring to move.
Family Head Yu Lu’s voice was ice-cold.
“It’s not time yet. You’re not leaving.”
Tears welled in Dean Yu Qing’s eyes. She sank back into the water, burying her scarlet face in her hands and hanging her head in silence.
The Reflecting Light Mirror projected a shimmering light screen. On it played a recording: Yan Zhen, on his first visit to the Yu Family, passed out drunk in the guest room.
In the brightly lit chamber, the young man lay peacefully on the bed. Sprawled across his chest was a stunning mature woman in a deep blue formal gown. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glazed with desire. Her lips parted, revealing a vivid pink tongue that she used to teasingly lick at his muscled chest. Every so often, she’d plant a kiss, leaving faint red marks behind.
It was the textbook scene of a lusty temptress pouncing on an innocent youth!
“…”
Yan Zhen was utterly baffled. What the hell? There’s more to that night? Was I… defiled?
Talk about a true knight’s valor!
Mentor Yu Xuan watched with growing discomfort. She never imagined her Little Aunt would stoop so low—assaulting Yan Zhen while he was too drunk to fight back.
Family Head Yu Lu shot her sister a frigid glare, as if condemning her for the shameful display.
Only Elder Yu Yan watched with keen interest, even offering praise.
“Little Qing’s got some real talent there. She even knows all these tricks. Look at Little Yan Zhen—he seems so comfy, letting out those cute little hums.”
At her words, the women’s attention shifted to Yan Zhen. Though he was asleep in the recording, every flick of that tongue against his chest drew soft, involuntary hums from him.
Yan Zhen: “…”
Dean Yu Qing’s social death was complete. Now it was Yan Zhen’s turn.
Under the weight of those subtle stares from his mentor wife and Family Head mother-in-law, Yan Zhen squirmed in mortification. His toes curled so hard he thought they might cramp. He desperately wanted to sink underwater and pretend he didn’t exist.
Innocent Bystander Gets Dragged In.jpg
Once the footage ended, Elder Yu Yan nodded as realization dawned.
“Now I remember. Bailan was massaging Little Yan Zhen’s chest to wipe away the marks Little Qing left behind.”
Mentor Yu Xuan blinked in surprise.
“Were you there too, Aunt?”
Shui Bailan’s heart clenched with a sense of foreboding.
Sure enough, Elder Yu Yan hummed in confirmation.
“Little Lu and I stopped by to check on Little Yan Zhen, and there was Little Bailan in the room. Little Qing had already slipped out by then, and Little Bailan was secretly rubbing his chest… Though Little Qing didn’t leave any marks down at Little Yan Zhen’s treasure. So why was Little Bailan touching there?”
Shui Bailan faltered, her breath catching. She had no answer.
Before she could cobble together an excuse, her sister-in-law spoke up for her.
“She must have mistaken Son-in-Law Yan Zhen’s Dragon Mark for Little Qing’s doodle.”
Treasure? Dragon Mark? Mentor Yu Xuan latched onto the key words. A nauseating image flashed in her mind, stirring a pang of jealousy.
Her one-and-only lover, it turned out, had been pawed over by all these elders—one after another, more intimately familiar with his body than she was!
