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Yu Ziyuan was absolutely infuriated to the point she was close to killing someone with her bare hands, or even qi deviating.
That bastard Jiang Fengmian! How dare he do this to her! All over a street rat who should’ve never been brought up in Lotus Pier to begin with! The nerve…!
Yu Ziyuan didn’t understand! Jiang Fengmian never talked back like this to her in the first place! He was always submissive to her whims and would always just bow down and accept defeat! Yu Ziyuan never knew that one day that man would grow a backbone and it would be directed to her!
She was the Violet Spider for fucks sake! A well renowned cultivator of her own, with zidian by her side no one dared to try and fight her! She was well respected and feared amongst almost everyone!
Now here she was being forced to pack her things and leave her home like she was…some..! UGH! Yu Ziyuan didn’t even want to think about it! She will not be like that brat! A street rat, a servant, a mistake, a NOBODY!
All of this was that brat’s fault! She should’ve searched for him herself and killed him! Everything would’ve been perfect! She wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for him!
One day, she swears she will get her revenge on Jiang Fengmian and Wei Ying! Let them rue the day they dared to mess with the Violet Spider!
Jinzhu and Yinzhu, her pearls, didn’t say anything to her. Not that Yu Ziyuan expected them too, but the girl’s looked somewhat,...disheveled, sad…?
Not that it mattered to Yu Ziyuan, they are just her servants and nothing more. Who cares what they have to say or think. Servants are just meant to exist to serve their masters and nothing more. Yu Ziyuan had spared enough mercy for Jinzhu and Yinzhu to request they don’t get punished by anyone else except for her.
The carriage of Yu Ziyuan and her servants were stopped. She had finally arrived at her destination.
Meishan
Her birth home.
For the very first time in her life, Yu Ziyuan gulped in anxiety. It had been a long time since she had been at Meishan, she barely talked to her family or visited her natal sect anymore.
Yinzhu had helped her out of the carriage and Jinzhu got her luggage. She headed forward.
***
Meishan was just as Yu Ziyuan remembered. It was bright, filled with Yu disciples training their cultivation and chattering with one another.
They noticed her presence and immediately bowed down while they moved out of the way as she walked forward inside the Yu building.
There her mother was. Sitting on her throne with a blank expression, her face smoothing out her delicate facial features. She wore beautiful blue and white robes that cascaded around her body that was embroidered with waves and glowed in the sunlight when being exposed. She wore a golden crown on her head similar to Yu Ziyuan as her hair was tied up into four buns with braids at the sides.
Yu Ziyuan couldn’t help but smile at her mother when she saw her but that smile wavered when she saw her mother’s blank expression turned into disgust at the sight of her daughter.
Yu Ziyuan gulped. This couldn’t be good.
She didn’t waver however, she knelt down and spoke, “A-Niang”
“So you’re back” her mother simply said, but Yu Ziyuan noticed venom lacing with her words. She tried not to wince but it was hard when it was coming from her mother.
“Yes A-Niang I have. You won’t believe it but that bastard Jiang Fengmian kicked me out of Lotus Pier and-” Yu Ziyuan was harshly cut off when she heard her mother slam her hand on the side of her throne.
She looked up and saw how furious her mother looked. She looked like she could kill Yu Ziyuan with that glare that was reserved for Yu Ziyuan from how intently her mother was staring at her!
“You insolent child!!” yelled Yu furèn. Yu Ziyuan was shocked when she heard her mother yell! She didn’t understand, why was her mother angry at her and not at that bastard?!
“A-Niang-”
“You still don’t get it do you Ziyuan?!” her mother hissed. “The whole reason why Fengmian kicked you out in the first place is because of your own fault!”
“B-But A-Niang-”
“Just how stupid can you be Ziyuan?? I thought you had enough brain cells to realize your own faults when you took things too far but it seems my teaching has failed you!!” Yu furèn was absolutely enraged. Yu Ziyuan was at a loss for words.
Her mother didn’t stop there though, “What’s even worse is that you couldn’t even uphold the proper title of your new sect. Instead of “Jiang furèn” you chose “Yu furèn”. Seriously Ziyuan, how disrespectful can you be that you decide to use your natal sect’s name instead of your new one?!”
Yu Ziyuan tried to open her mouth to speak but it was useless, her mother was full on ranting at this point, “And don’t even try to pin all of this on a dead woman Ziyuan this time I won’t allow you run away from your faults! If you had controlled your temper in the first place and let go of some petty grudge against a kid and his dead parents you wouldn’t be in this pitiful situation to begin with!”
“Be grateful that I still have the heart to call you my daughter otherwise, you would be kicked out of here! You hear me?!”
Yu Ziyuan couldn’t feel herself mustering up the courage to talk back to her mother. Somehow, she knew it would just worsen the situation she was in, even if she did have some things to say she could lower her pride down just this once and listen, “Yes A-Niang”
Yu furèn huffed, “Good. It seems you still have some brain cells to listen to reason, I will give you that.” Yu Ziyuan felt that at this point her mother was insulting her just for fun now. It wasn’t about her failing being a wife and madam anymore.
Her mother then said, “But that doesn’t mean you are off the hook. For starters you aren’t given any high class treatment. Not after what has happened with you and Fengmian you are clearly to arrogant and prideful for your own good Ziyuan and as your mother it’s my job to discipline you when you get out of line, regardless of age”
No high-class treatment?? Don’t tell her…! Was her mother really gonna force Yu Ziyuan to live life as a poor servant?!
Yu Ziyuan watched as her mother got up from her throne and slowly walked towards her before grabbing her hand, easily sliding zidian off of her finger and sliding it on her’s!
She gasped, “A-Niang! What are you doing??”
Her mother glared at her, “Ziyuan I have seen how you use zidian and how much you abuse its power! I’ve come to realize that you are unfit to be its wielder. Seriously, you’ve wasted so much potential by inflicting it on that poor boy.”
Poor boy?? Her mother was talking about Wei Ying!! That brat! He was far from gaining sympathy!
“A-Niang!” she began but felt a huge slap across her face, causing her to fall on her back with a loud THUMP!
No way…her mother had slapped her!
“Quiet Ziyuan! You are in no place to talk back!” snapped Yu furèn. Yu Ziyuan shakily got up and kept her mouth shut from now on. Her head was reeling, how could this be happening to her?? She had hoped that her mother would be on her side but now she was against her too!!
She looked down and fixed her sleeves, “From now on, Jinzhu and Yinzhu will no longer be your servants. They will be servants for your eldest sister, Yu Daiyu”
“What?!” Yu Ziyuan couldn’t take it anymore! She gets stripped of her status, her weapon, and now her servants?! This was a nightmare it had to be!
Yu Ziyuan watched as her former servants bowed and left Yu Ziyuan’s side. Those traitors! Neither of them even spared a glance back at her!
“You brought this on yourself Ziyuan. So quit your whining!” spat Yu furèn. “Get up, these two will take you to your room and I advise you to behave until further notice. Do I make myself clear Ziyuan??”
Yu Ziyuan watched as two servants, one male and one female came up to her and bowed. Yu Ziyuan could tell they were new, she remembered every disciple’s name from her time in Meishan.
She let out a sigh, “Yes A-Niang”
With that Yu Ziyuan followed the servants and showed her the room she will be staying in. It was small, it had a bed, a light, and a large closet. Yu Ziyuan hated it, it was nothing like her old room that was filled with beautiful rare flowers on her bedside with a large queen sized bed that had beautiful floral design on the sheets. Her pillows would always be fluffed up. The room itself was wide with a beautiful view from her window where she would watch her sister’s train with one another.
Truly, Yu Ziyuan fell bottomless
***
Yu Ziyuan laid in her bed and tried to process what had just happened.
This could not be happening to her. Her mother yelled at her, and took away Zidian and her servants. She even slapped Yu Ziyuan! This was a mutiny!
How could her mother do this to her?? Was her mother really that heartless that she would strip Yu Ziyuan for everything she had strived for??
No, no! Yu Ziyuan won’t give up so easily! So what if zidian was taken away from her, she still has her sword! She can still be the fearsome Violet Spider like everyone knew she was! She will somehow find a way to gather some decent respect and reputation! Because no doubt everyone knew she was kicked out of Lotus Pier by Jiang Fengmian and is now back at Meishan.
Fine! Let them gossip, Yu Ziyuan never let them hurt her pride! Especially when it came to that street rat and his damned parents! She will be respected and feared again!
KNOCK KNOCK!
Yu Ziyuan snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone knocking on her door.
“Who is it??” she snapped. Soon the door flung open and her second elder sister Yu Zichen came in with a cheeky smile on her face.
Yu Ziyuan gritted. She and Yu Zichen never got along, the women would always remind Yu Ziyuan of her incompetence when it came to finding a suitable husband for her to marry due to her temper. She would humiliate Yu Ziyuan whenever she got the chance to when sparring.
“Why are you here??” growled Yu Ziyuan
“How rude! Is that anyway to greet your jiejie, meimei!” she chirped, but it had a warning to it.
Losing her patience (one she never had to begin with) Yu Ziyuan yelled, “Just tell me why you’re here and be gone already!”
Yu Zichen glowered, “Ha! See meimei! This is exactly why your ex husband kicked you out! Even after the lecture A-Niang gave you, you still haven’t obtained any humility!”
Yu Ziyuan could feel anger bubbling through her as she retorted, “Oh! So now you’re here to lecture me too?!”
Yu Zichen simply hummed, “I would but it would be pointless wasting my breath on a hard headed dumbass such as yourself!”
Yu Ziyuan’s expression was livid as she angrily asked, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!”
Yu Zichen sighed, unfazed by her meimei’s anger, “Exactly what I meant. A dumbass”
Lunging forward Yu Ziyuan screams , “HOW DARE YOU!!”
SLAP!
Yu Ziyuan falls onto the ground again as she feels the same cheek where her mother hit her feeling that familiar sting from earlier.
Yu Ziyuan glared at her jiejie and saw that she had lost all the playful attitude that was now cold and unforgivable.
“You’re the same as ever Ziyuan. I can see why Fengmian divorced you, you will never change and I have long accepted that. I thought he could change you into a better person but it seems I had my hopes too high for you.” Yu Zichen spoke coldly, leaving goosebumps all over Yu Ziyuan’s skin.
With that, Yu Zichen turns around and leaves, leaving Yu Ziyuan all alone to gather herself.
***
Yu Ziyuan wakes up to the sound of someone banging her door! It better have not been that damned Yu Zichen!!
“WAKE UP ZIYUAN!” It was her mother!
She quickly got up and answered back, “Yes A-Niang!!”
Yu furèn comes in and glances at her daughter, “Get dressed, I have a task for you to do.”
Yu Ziyuan was confused, “For what A-Niang?”
Yu Furèn gave Yu Ziyuan a look of displeasure, “Have you forgotten about what I said yesterday? You’re not here for vacation Ziyuan, I have told you that you will make up for your past misdeeds and I intend to act on my word. For starters, you will go and help the teachers teach the new Yu disciples.”
Yu Ziyuan wanted to protest but her mother must’ve predicted that because she glared at Yu Ziyuan harder until she resigned and said, “Yes A-Niang.”
Yu Furèn nodded, “Good. Be quick!”
With that she left. Yu Ziyuan let out a silent scream and started to get ready for her already bad day.
***
Yu Ziyuan quickly ate her breakfast and came outside and saw the Yu disciples training. She saw two men standing next to each other having a conversation and spotted Yu Ziyuan and gave her their undivided attention.
“You must be Yu Ziyuan, correct?” One of the men asked. He bowed down and continued, “I am Yu Ming. A pleasure to meet you Yu-nushi”
“And I am Yu Chang!” the other male introduced and bowed down. Yu Ziyuan nodded, ‘Good. These two are actually showing respect for me!’ she thought
It didn’t take long for the two men to explain the drills to Yu Ziyuan but the entire time she was silently cursing at them. Have they forgotten who she was?? This was her birth home! She knows exactly how the drills worked! She didn’t need their explanation!
Soon the men started to explain to the children their training exercises and she frowned, ‘This wasn’t how Meishan taught back then! Do these idiots know what they are doing?!’
With that she got angry and yelled at them telling them they were doing it all wrong! And the men had the audacity to fight back claiming to Yu Ziyuan that they knew what they were doing!
If Yu Ziyuan had zidian with her she would’ve whipped the insolence from these men already! Who did they think they were?!
Yu Ziyuan didn’t let up and continued to yell at the boys until they conceded and let Yu Ziyuan take control of the lesson!
The disciples seemed afraid of Yu Ziyuan seeing how rude she was to their teachers. They knew that the woman wasn’t a nice person and were too scared to talk to her!
This made Yu Ziyuan infuriated as she demanded one of the disciples to come forward! Neither of them moved, “MOVE ALREADY!”
One young girl came forward and was shaking all over from the pressure and fear. Yu Ziyuan scoffed, “Pathetic! You’ve barely done anything and you’re already shaking??”
“Yu-nushi. Don’t be rude to the girl!” scolded Yu Chang. Yu Ziyuan glared at the man and retorted, “Shut up! I’m the boss here, not you!”
“I am the third daughter of Meishan Yu so you will stay in your place and listen to me!” she stated.
She raises her arms and swings at the girl, the girl flinches and moves quickly but almost dealt a blow to her head!
“YU-NUSHI! WHAT WAS THAT?! DO YOU REALIZE HOW CLOSE YOU WERE TO DEALING WITH A FATAL BLOW TO HER HEAD?!” Yu Ming screeches
“Stop your pointless concern! She’s fine! I wasn’t using my full power anyways!” snaps Yu Ziyuan. The disciples have now run away and the little girl is close to crying!
“YU-NUSHI! ENOUGH! OR I WILL CALL YU-FURÈN RIGHT NOW!” Yu Chang threatened.
Yu Ziyuan felt high rage burning in her bones as she looked at the girl, but instead of the girl, she saw that wretched Wei Wing instead! THAT BOY!
THIS…THIS WAS ALL THAT FUCKING WEI YINGS FAULT!! SHE WILL KILL HIM!!!!!!!!
Suddenly Yu Ziyuan lets out a blood curdling scream and starts to swing at the girl with the wooden sword causing the girl to let out one herself as Yu Ziyuan starts to physically assault her! She distantly heard Yu Ming calling for her mother and Yu Chang holding her back telling Yu Ziyuan to control herself until Yu Ziyuan felt a sharp pain through her neck and everything went black afterwards!
***
“YOU UNRULY GIRL!!” roared Yu Furèn as she was slapping Yu Ziyuan’s face repeatedly. The assault could hardly let Yu Ziyuan think as she felt her face growing numb. Her mother wasn’t using her full strength yet she could feel herself succumbing to the pain.
Finally her mother stopped slapping but was glaring so hard that veins were popping all over her face.
“DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH COLLATERAL DAMAGE YOU CAUSED?! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!” Yu Furèn continued to roar. However, she came to realize that she could qi deviate from her unadulterated rage and stopped yelling to calm herself. She looked relatively calmer from before but her anger was still simmering deep down.
“A-niang-I didn’t-I-” stuttered Yu Ziyuan. What was happening to her?? It’s like all the words had disappeared!
“I’ve had it with your petty excuses Ziyuan!! Yu Chang and Yu Ming have told me what you’ve done and how you refused to listen to them! Who made you boss huh?!” snarled Yu furèn.
“A-Niang, I promise I’ll listen, really!” begged Yu Ziyuan. Yup, the once feared Violet Spider was now begging at the hands of her mother. Truly pitiful.
“Shut up! You almost qi deviated because of your horrible temper!” spat Yu Furèn.
Yu Ziyuan was shocked, “What?? Does that mean I won’t be able to practice my cultivation??”
“Hmph! Not entirely! If it weren’t for me you would’ve been in a permanent state of damage! But now you won’t be doing anything else! Seriously I can’t even trust you to do one simple thing without you throwing a temper tantrum, Ziyuan you aren’t a child so stop acting like it! I shouldn't even have to scold you like this, it’s embarrassing as a mother that I have to treat you like you are 5 years old!” reeled Yu furèn. Yu Ziyuan didn’t know what to say, she really really didn’t know what to say anymore.
“Also, you will apologize to that poor girl whom you gravely injured! You nearly killed her Ziyuan!!” hissed Yu Furèn, and she left in a flurry leaving Yu Ziyuan to gather her thoughts.
***
Rumors were flying everywhere
“I just heard that the Violet Spider tried to kill an innocent girl who was a Yu disciple!”
“Just what is wrong with that woman?!”
“I truly pity Yu Furèn for having a child like the Violet Spider! She’s just too much!”
“If I had a child like her I would disown her by now!”
“I even heard that the Violet Spider nearly qi deviated too! If you ask me, it would do Meishan good!”
“I don’t get why the Yu clan even put up with her! They should just disown her already!”
“No one wants to marry her because of her temper! I don’t blame them, neither would I!”
“I heard she’s in seclusion now!”
“I hope she stays in seclusion forever!”
The rumors reached Yunmeng all the way to Lotus Pier with the Jiang family; they didn’t take this information very well.
“Could A-Niang really do something like this A-Die??” questioned Jiang Cheng. The poor boy was sweating all over, his expression panicking.
Jiang Fengmian sighed, “I don’t know myself A-Cheng. You mother she…is too much. But I don’t want to believe she would deliberately do something like this”
Wei Wuxian didn’t say anything. He had never been on good terms with Yu Ziyuan in the first place so he can’t say he’s happy hearing this information but after remembering the abuse she inflicted on him he knew that this was karma. So he just listened. His family seemed to understand since they didn’t ask for his opinion.
“I-I can’t believe it. They e-even said that s-she almost qi deviated too…” whimpered Jiang Yanli. Out of all of them she seemed to be the most affected by the rumors.
“Don’t cry Shijie, it'll be alright!” comforted Wei Wuxian as he went over to hug the shorted women who instantly started sobbing.
“They are just rumors but; they could be true!” claimed Jiang Cheng, “Right A-Die??”
Jiang Fengmian felt pity for the boy and he raised his hand to pat him.
“Don’t worry about your mother A-Cheng. She brought this on herself, whatever happens to her will be Meishan’s responsibility.” he said
“She’s still my mother though! Of course I’m going to be worried about her, even if she wasn’t the best mother!” huffed Jiang Cheng. Jiang Fengmian couldn’t help but be taken back by his son’s words. He smiled, his son truly has matured a lot hasn’t he?
“You’re right, A-Cheng. If you like, you can visit your mother if you’d like.” He paused and glanced at the other two.
“You too A-Xian and A-Li”
All three kids looked at him surprised. “Are you sure A-Die…??” asked Jiang Yanli
Jiang Fengman nodded, “You can. I will send two Jiang servants for you and they will accompany you in a carriage to Meishan.”
The three kids looked at each other and nodded, “Thank you A-Die/Jiang-shushu!”
Just like that the kids ran out his office leaving Jiang Fengmian happy and content with his new life.