Chapter 153: Machinations and Conspiracies

Without answering directly, Yu Youwei curled her lips in a cold, mocking sneer. "After Brother Yang and a mentally disabled hero like you fight with all your might, you want him to be torn to shreds by that wolf and swallowed whole?"

Stung to the liver by Yu Youwei's remark about a "mentally disabled hero," Baili Feiyan asked unconvinced, "You're the one suffering from that rare illness where vegetarian dishes grow out of your lower body."

Ning Mofei, having listened for a while without understanding a word, blankly chimed in, "What vegetarian dishes?"

Baili Feiyan burst out laughing. "Such an innocent child. Why do I get the feeling you're completely corrupting a tender young sapling?"

"Speak normal human language!" Yu Youwei shot the unhinged woman a resentful glare before turning to Ning Mofei with a smile. "Pay no attention to her raving."

"She's insulting you, I know," Ning Mofei frowned, looking quite displeased.

With a warm smile, Yu Youwei patiently comforted him, "We won't stoop to the level of such an uncivilized barbarian."

"Tsk tsk, such a tender voice, this little sister's goosebumps are falling all over the floor. Just think back to when a certain young lady stood in Huifang Pavilion, radiating murderous intent at some lecherous man, saying, 'You have two ways to die: the first is a thousand cuts, the second is to have your little brother chopped off and let you bleed to death.' She scared that fellow into fainting on the spot, didn't she!"

"Only you would use such vulgar language."

"What you said was 'castrate,' it's just different phrasing, the meaning is identical. You can't deny that fellow was scared unconscious, can you?"

"Can you deny that you've gone off-topic again?"

"Awoooo, back to the main point!" Baili Feiyan straightened her posture and assumed an expression of rapt attention.

Spinning her teacup, Yu Youwei said leisurely, "Please use your brain and think. Once Brother Yang's strength improves, he will win the respect of the elders in the Baili family. Could those old fogies possibly afford to ignore him?"

"Are you just going to hand over power like that? Everything he manages used to be under Brother Yang's control."

"What power? He was nothing more than an errand boy running around your father!"

Baili Feiyan retorted indignantly, "He is no mere errand boy. In the main headquarters of our Hundred-曉 Tower, he holds the tenth chair."

"This isn't a bandit's lair, what with the tenth chair!" Yu Youwei laughed helplessly. "Your father hasn't abdicated yet, has he? Once he steps down, he just needs to support Brother Yang in taking the position. Why rush and fight over this momentary impulse?"

All her pent-up frustration instantly vanished, and Baili Feiyan smiled brightly. "That's true, too! We only need to vie for that position and win the ultimate victory, rather than bickering over these petty gains right now. Let that vicious wolf swagger for a little longer; the day will come when he weeps."

When she first met this woman, she was already twenty-nine, an old maid closing in on thirty. More than three years later, her temper was still as erratic as when they first met. Not only had she failed to marry herself off, but she hadn't grown an ounce either. Shaking her head, Yu Youwei said with an air of profound seniority, "Mm, thinking like that is spot on!"

Her expression shifting instantly, Baili Feiyan grumbled, "And yet I'm still furious! The moment I get angry, I start growing wrinkles."

Black lines instantly formed across Yu Youwei's forehead, and she taunted, "Why don't you make a voodoo doll and curse him." This woman was entirely capable of pulling off such a boring stunt; at least she had witnessed it more than once.

Feigning ignorance of the mockery, Baili Feiyan nodded with utmost solemnity. "Mhm, I'll make a voodoo doll and curse his firing speed to exceed the speed of light."

Having never encountered a woman of Baili Feiyan's caliber, Ning Mofei's thirst for knowledge involuntarily surged. "What kind of firing speed exceeds the speed of light? And what demonic beast is the speed of light? How do you make a voodoo doll?"

"Can't you speak some normal human words? Don't corrupt my husband." Glaring at Baili Feiyan, Yu Youwei hurriedly told Ning Mofei, "Don't listen to such nonsense."

"There's even more boring nonsense—do you want to hear it? It's insider gossip that could quickly turn you into a cast-aside wife, and the source is completely reliable," Baili Feiyan said abruptly, taking a gloating pleasure in her misfortune.

"You're the one who spread it, right?"

"I certainly had plans to spread something so you wouldn't be able to stay in the Ning family, but before I could act, your cousin beat me to it."

"Cousin?" Yu Youwei asked in surprise. Seeing that Baili Feiyan was not joking, her deep pupils narrowed into slits, and three words slipped past her cherry lips: "Mu Yulin?"

Snapping her fingers, Baili Feiyan praised, "Talking to a smart person sure saves effort. Tell me, how is it that I had no idea you and your cousin had secretly pledged your lives to each other? Had I known, even if I had to throw a tantrum and roll around in front of my old man, I would have made him step in and talk to the Yu family so they wouldn't do something as mood-spoiling as tearing apart mandarin ducks."

Without needing to dig any deeper, Yu Youwei already grasped the general situation, and her face chilled. This muddy water was splashed so thickly that even saying "the pure are self-cleaning" would sound like a forced excuse. In such verbal squabbles, women always drew the short straw. Were certain people in the Ning family about to seize the opportunity to stir up trouble? She conjured up the faces of those in the second branch, along with the hypocritical fake smile of her eldest sister-in-law, Lady Liu.

"Mu Yulin escaped from the Mu family estate and is now serving in the Ninth Prince's mansion. He has a maternal aunt who is highly favored by the Ninth Prince. Some members of the Yu family clashed with him on the street a few days ago, and the Ninth Prince's personal guards rescued him. Now, the capital is buzzing with flying rumors about your illicit romance." Up to this point, Baili Feiyan had maintained a serious demeanor, but next her eyes lit up with wicked amusement as she giggled, "Word has it that you had an affair with Yu Shiyu, and even after marrying into the Ning family you couldn't keep your hands to yourself—that your brothers-in-law, both older and younger, are all your regular paramours."

As her expression grew increasingly icy, a surging intent to kill welled up in Yu Youwei's heart.

Ning Mofei turned pale with fright, biting his lip with an expression that suggested he was on the verge of tears.

"Tell me, in your past life you reveled freely with countless celebrities and made no secret of writing poems about your glamorous affairs. Even if you've turned over a new leaf in this lifetime, there's no need to react this strongly, is it?" Eager to push Yu Youwei's buttons a bit further, Baili Feiyan rocked her head and chanted: "How many nights of pleasant rendezvous in the Qin Pavilion, who knew the immortal youth would take his leave; waking from sleep, ask not where the clouds have gone, a single flickering lamp while wild moths fly."

"Baili Feiyan!" Four ice-block words were forced through clenched teeth, cutting off Baili Feiyan's impending banter. Taking a deep breath, Yu Youwei wore a smile that didn't reach her eyes as she said, "Surely you didn't travel all the way to the imperial capital just to watch a joke?"

"Me? Naturally, I was banished by my old man to this godforsaken place, and I just happened to catch this joke in time. In this realm of cultivating immortals, devoid of electricity and internet and entirely cut off from information, such amusing spectacles don't happen often." Seeing the ominous signs of a meltdown brewing in Yu Youwei, Baili Feiyan finally dropped the joking tone and said earnestly, "This must be the imperial family fueling the flames; otherwise, even if Mu Yulin had escaped into the Ninth Prince's mansion, he would have hidden his identity. How could he possibly expose himself?"

Offering a noncommittal, frigid chuckle, Yu Youwei said, "Inside the Ninth Prince's mansion, it shouldn't be a problem for you to assign a few people to keep an eye on him, right? Investigate everyone Mu Yulin has been in contact with."

"No problem at all. I guarantee I'll even find out how many women he sleeps with every night," Baili Feiyan teased maliciously.