Chapter 760: The Aged Appearance

The wind in the clan has changed.

It happened in just one short night.

If no one had done it deliberately, she would not believe it could happen so quickly.

Anyone wanting to do something dishonorable will inevitably leave clues, no matter how clever their methods are!

The two of them ignored it, finished their three-kilometer run, and returned to their room for a hot shower; just as they stepped out of the bathroom, someone came to pass on a message: "Miss Xuanxuan, the Clan Leader requests your presence; she has something very important to discuss with you."

Shi Youxuan found it strange; why was her aunt up so early today?

The Ji Family has a very strange rule: people's daily schedules are determined by their rank.

Those in low positions must rise early, but those in high positions must rise late!

Sleeping late and rising late is a symbol of status.

"Understood."

Shi Youxuan went to the Clan Leader's Bedchamber.

Ji Yingjie had just woken up and had not yet groomed herself.

The hair on her forehead was sparse and gray; the thick, dark, dense hair she usually had was fake, and her real hair was so sparse it was painful to look at, while the wrinkles on her face were as numerous as terraced fields!

It was also covered in age spots.

Her aunt was not even fifty years old, yet without makeup, she looked like she was seventy or eighty.

Shi Youxuan felt a sour, uncomfortable sensation in her heart; no wonder her aunt was always trying to arrange her affairs after she was gone—it turned out her physical condition had already deteriorated to this extent.

She pretended to be nonchalant: "Aunt, you wanted to see me."

"Yes, sit down. I have something to tell you."

Shi Youxuan sat on a chair, and Ji Yingjie had someone bring a mirror, then chased everyone else out of the Bedchamber.

She looked in the mirror and fiddled with the white hair on her forehead, as if talking to herself, though in reality, she was speaking for Shi Youxuan to hear: "I'm old. I'm nearing the end of my life. If I don't have a suitable Heir within my lifetime, I fear I won't be able to close my eyes even in death."

She had said this more than once.

But when she said it before, it did not have the powerful impact it now had on Shi Youxuan!

"How did you..."

Shi Youxuan wanted to ask, how did you become so old?

But she swallowed the rest of her words halfway through.

The women of the Ji Family are all resistant to aging, and the portraits of past Clan Leaders prove this; her aunt's current appearance was the sequela caused by the last incident.

She knew it in her heart but could not ask; that incident was viewed by Ji Yingjie as the greatest shame of her life!

She could not ask; asking would make her aunt lose face.

But even without Shi Youxuan asking, she knew it anyway.

Ji Yingjie sighed: "I know that even if you don't say it out loud, you all blame me in your hearts. You blame me for not keeping my word, for insisting on tossing and turning heaven and earth even after Nianyin had already been named the Heir, right?"

Yes.

That was indeed exactly what they were thinking.

Shi Youxuan remained silent, and Ji Yingjie continued: "Although I was saved by you all last time and the poison was neutralized, the side effects are very obvious because the poisoning lasted too long, as you can see—this is the ghost of a person I am now."

"In the past, even if my skin wasn't as good as yours, it wouldn't have been like this, wrinkled and shriveled like dry tree bark."

Two turbid tears flowed down her cheeks.

This was the first time Shi Youxuan had seen her aunt cry; a woman as strong as an iron warrior could actually cry?

All because she could not change her aged appearance.

"Please don't be sad. I will find a way now; there must be a way. A Ning knows the best plastic surgeon, and it won't be long before you return to your days as a beautiful young woman," Shi Youxuan comforted her.

Ji Yingjie gave a bitter smile: "Silly child, plastic surgery only changes the surface, but I am failing from the inside out. I am only holding on by sheer willpower now; I don't know when I might fall asleep and never wake up again..."

Shi Youxuan's throat felt as if it were stuffed with a ball of cotton.

It was stuck in her throat, neither going up nor down, feeling particularly uncomfortable.

"That won't happen, there is a way, there must be a way..."

Ji Yingjie wiped away her tears and suddenly changed the subject: "Alright, now tell me, are you willing to take over the Ji Family?"

Shi Youxuan:...

She was not willing.

If it were any other time, she would have refused decisively.

But now, while her heart was refusing, she could not bring herself to say the words of refusal.

"If I don't agree, are you prepared to let Han Yao take over? Is this also your reason for driving Nianyin away?" Shi Youxuan asked.

Her aunt was someone who valued bloodlines very much; if she and Wan'er hadn't both vehemently refused at the time, her aunt would never have recognized Nianyin as her foster daughter to be the future Heir of the Ji Family.

At the time, she was grateful for Nianyin saving her life, but later she went back on her word.

"Yes, if you don't agree, I will let Han Yao take over. I suspect she is also the daughter your mother lost among the common people; it's not certain that your mother only gave birth to three."

"That's impossible, there were only two. She is a fake," Shi Youxuan said firmly.

Ji Yingjie: "How can you be so sure?"

Shi Youxuan felt that it would be very easy to clarify this matter; whether there was a blood relationship could be determined by a paternity test.

Although their mother was no longer here, it could still be detected whether they were biological sisters connected by blood.

She had just started the thought when it suddenly occurred to her—such a simple logic, her aunt couldn't have failed to think of it!

Intense arguing came from the Clan Leader's Bedchamber, along with the sound of porcelain and glass shattering.

People outside didn't even dare to breathe loudly; although they couldn't hear clearly what was being argued about inside, one thing was certain: it must be because of Han Yao!

Ji Yingjie's voice was very loud, and from time to time, words like "dreaming," "you are too selfish," and "don't even think about it" drifted out from inside.

Shi Youxuan was also shouting: "Whatever," "You must be senile," "Fine, I'll leave!"

"Bang!"

The main gate was pushed open from the inside, and Shi Youxuan stormed out in a rage.

As she walked, she kept complaining under her breath: "Crazy, do you think I care about being this Clan Leader? Crazy, coming all this way just to get insulted, I must have had nothing better to do..."

Shi Youxuan grumbled all the way back to her room and said to her husband: "Let's go, pack your things and leave immediately; I can't stay in this dump for another minute."

Sheng Hanyu tried to persuade her with a few words.

Not only did Shi Youxuan not listen, but she also nearly got into an argument with her husband!

Finally, she threw down an ultimatum: "Are you coming or not? If you aren't, I'm leaving on my own."

Sheng Hanyu compromised, and the couple left the Ji Family together.

When they left, they abandoned the few old, weak, sick, and disabled people, taking only the few able-bodied bodyguards with them, on the grounds that they didn't want them to be a burden.

The Ji Family members all assumed these people were just porters hired by Shi Youxuan and her husband along the way, insignificant characters who could naturally be discarded at will.

Since Shi Youxuan didn't want them and the Ji Family didn't want them either, the old, weak, sick, and disabled people cried and begged the Guards: "Please, let us stay, just give us a bite to eat."

"We won't survive if we go outside; we can work, we can do the dirty and tiring jobs."

Just as the few people were begging the Guards, Ji Yingjie happened to come out and overheard them.

Normally, she wouldn't bother with such a trivial matter.

But Han Yao, who was by her side, wanting to show off her own "kindness," said softly: "Clan Leader, let these people stay. The clan isn't short of a few bites of food for them, and it would also be a good way for the commoners to know that you are a very benevolent person."

"Fine, I'll listen to you; just let them stay."

Ji Yingjie went along with the suggestion and ordered them to do the dirtiest work in the clan.