Phoniex Requiem
Chapter 3: Those Who Utilize Me

Chapter 3: Those Who Utilize Me

The young ladies and masters had all gathered in the grand hall. The meeting was led by their grandmother, who sat upright at the head of the room, with severe mien.

Yun Ruoyan was wearing a white moon dress. As he entered and bowed, he retreated to the side respectfully. Beside him was his eldest brother, Yun Ruoyao, his third brother, Yun Ruoyu, and his cousin, Yi Qianying. [1]

Seeing everyone present, her grandmother glanced at Madame An, the first concubine of Yun Ruoyan's father. Lady An stepped forward and announced, “A few days before, the empress dowager bequeathed a rare gift to your grandmother, a jade ornament with a pearl inlay, but now it is gone! If any of you are the culprit, reveal yourself now and there will be clemency, or else!

Yun Ruoyan stood still as she glanced at Yi Qianying from the corner of her eyes. At this point, Yi Qianying was only fourteen years old, and Yun Ruoyan thought that she could see a hint of panic and anxiety in her slender body.

What she did not expect was that Yi Qianying would raise her head up high, the level of her expression. Her slightly trembling lips were the only sign of her uneasiness, as if she was forcefully trying to remain calm.

No wonder everyone in the Yun family liked her; she was skilled in deception even as a child.

What Yun Ruoyan did not know was, as she secretly examined Yi Qianying, Madam An looked at her. Madam An understood Yun Ruoyan's personality well: whenever something big appeared, she would always lower her head and crouch down like a frightened bird. Under ordinary circumstances, Yun Ruoyan would tremble in fear, but today, she stood up straight as if she was a completely different person.

Noticing Madam An's gaze, Yun Ruoyan tilted her head towards him, revealing a frightening birthmark at the corner of her eyes. It was so shocking and so typical that Madame An extinguished her thoughts, averted her gaze — what was she thinking? How could this be anyone other than the ugly and useless idiot of the Yun household!

Madam An's gaze swept over the gathered audience. “Anyone who knows something but does not report it will be subject to the same penalty!”

And as soon as he finished speaking, someone took a breath from within the silent hall. Madam An's sharp gaze quickly landed at the source. "Qianying, do you want to say something?"

Hearing this, everyone's gaze was fixed on Yi Qianying; even Matriarch Yun at the head of the table opened her eyes slightly, waiting for Yi Qianying's next move.

Yi Qianying looked panicked as she suddenly knelt on the floor. “Grandma, aunty... I, I dare not say anything!”

Clearly, Yi Qianying knew something. How could Madam An give up such an opportunity to establish her authority and lift her position in the eyes of the matriarch? He immediately raised his voice. “Do not worry, I will protect you from any impact. Tell us the truth!”

Even the outspoken Yun Ruoyu spoke for him. “Really, Qianying! With Grandma and everyone here, you don't have to worry!

"I, I really don't dare." Yi Qianying's entire body kowtowed on the floor, her words filled with grievances. He did not forget to look towards Yun Ruoyan for a moment as he spoke.

Everyone knows what this means.

Madam An looked at Yun Ruoyan once more and was surprised to realize that, not only did the girl seem to be unafraid of this accusation, but she even stood up with a higher attitude than before.

Matriarch Yun looked at Yi Qianying on the floor, frowned, and turned towards Yun Ruoyan as well. Only when he saw the calm expression on Yun Ruoyan's face did his own expression turn a little softer.

The whole hall was silent. No one spoke, as if a trap had been set up and they were all waiting for the prey to jump of its own volition — and, in fact, this is what happened before.

Yi Qianying was smart and eloquent, and Madam An pressed her tightly at every turn. How could Yun Ruoyan in the past be their match? Naturally, he had become the scapegoat of this entire affair.

But this time, he would definitely not let the same tragedy happen again!

“Why are you all staring at me? Why did you stop, sister? Please, go on.” Smiles danced around Yun Ruoyan's lips.

The development of the affair seemed to be beyond Yi Qianying's expectations. He looked at Yun Ruoyan skeptically, his eyes filled with shock: Yun Ruoyan's confidence was something he had never seen before. All he could do was forge and exclaim, "I saw my sister, Yun Ruoyan, [2] steal the jade ornaments!"

These words shook the room.

Madam An immediately called, “Yun Ruoyan! As the second princess in the household, how could you do something like this?! The jade ornament was given to your grandmother by the empress dowager herself!”

Looking at his sister's actions, Yun Ruoyao also added, “Kak, I know you are usually not given a lot of ornaments, either gold or jade or the others, but we sisters can definitely give you some of our own. Why bother stealing something, especially something so valuable?”

Madam An gave a look of agreement to Yun Ruoyao as she sighed and turned towards Yun Ruoyan, urging her earnestly, “How can you do something like this? Quickly, apologize to your grandmother and return the jade ornament, and we'll pretend this never happened.”

Yun Ruoyan grinned inwardly, but she covered her mouth.

After a while, Madam An became very upset with Yun Ruoyan's inaction. He had long been a thorn in his eyes, but he had never disobeyed and ignored his orders openly before! How dare he! Madam An raised her hand and voice as she ordered, “Yun Ruoyan, did you hear me ?! Return the jade ornament; it is not something you can take!”

Yun Ruoyan raised her head and looked at Madam An's gaze before slowly opening her mouth. "I can't return the ornament."

"What?! Did you sell it?!” Madam An raised her eyebrows as her tone turned even more severe. “How can the Yun family have an unfilial daughter like you!”

Yun Ruoyan raised her voice. “Mother, [3] how do you expect me to return something I haven't taken?”

The old Matriarch, who had frowned and closed her eyes during this entire exchange, opened her eyes a second time, her gaze once again on Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan walked towards the center of the room. “Mrs An, I never admitted to picking up jade ornaments. How can you conclude that I committed this theft on the words of my own cousin?”

"If not you, then who ..." Madam An stuttered as she met Yun Ruoyan's sharp gaze, and quickly handed the responsibility to Yi Qianying. “Qianying! Tell us, when did you see him steal the jade ornaments? Tell us everything!”

Yi Qianying's gaze flashed. She had thought Yun Ruoyan would dig a deeper and deeper hole for herself, but she ended up being dragged back into the affair at a critical moment.

He could only grit his teeth and continue forward. “Yes, Lady An. As I was walking around last night, I saw a shadow coming out of our grandmother's room. That person was in such a hurry that he bumped into me, and only then did I see that it was my sister, Yun Ruoyan, with a jade decoration on her lap!”

Yun Ruoyan smiled coldly. In fact, it was Yi Qianying who bumped into Yun Ruoyan as she tried to sneak away with the ornament, and she had swapped their identities in her memory to blame Yun Ruoyan.

...****************...

More precisely, half-brother. Yun Ruoyao and Yun Ruoyu were both born as concubines, and the only parents with them were their fathers. 

Yun Ruoyan is Yi Qianying's biological cousin, but “sister” is commonly used as an affectionate term, even for people who have no biological connection. The same goes for "brothers". 

In noble families, where the head of the household generally had a wife and many concubines, all children were expected to call his father's wife a "mother", even though she was not his biological mother. In that case, Yun Ruoyan's mother was actually dead, so the title "mother" was given to the most senior concubine, Madam An.