Chapter 778: Too Cruel

"Take it; this isn't for you alone."

Ji Yingjie gestured for her niece to sit down and said sternly, "Xuanxuan, remember this: I am handing the treasure to you, but I am not giving it to you. You are merely the manager of the Ji Family Treasure. This money does not belong to you personally; it belongs to the entire Ji Family."

"I cannot rest easy handing this money to anyone else; only by handing it to you can I be at ease."

Since it had come to this, Shi Youxuan had no choice but to accept it.

Where there is joy, there is sorrow; where there are rewards, there are punishments.

Those who were unaware of the truth at the time and were incited by Shi Yuke to follow her were now all receiving very severe punishments.

For a time, the Ji Family was filled with wailing and cries of despair!

Shi Youxuan felt the punishments were too severe. She had always been a person who clearly distinguished between gratitude and grudges; she was not blindly kind, but she still felt the punishments were too harsh.

Breaking hands and feet, gouging out eyes.

She had not expected that things which only happened in ancient novels and on television would also occur in the twenty-first century.

Although Shi Youxuan had suffered much unfair treatment since childhood, those things were always done underhandedly; they were never brought out into the open to be used for blatant persecution.

She could not accept this, so she protested strongly.

Ji Yingjie argued forcefully, "Aren't you unwilling to be the Clan Leader of the Ji Family? Then what right do you have to manage our Ji Family's affairs?"

What she said made sense, but Shi Youxuan still wanted to intervene; she could not bear to watch.

Under her strong interference, Ji Yingjie still gave her niece some face; those who had made mistakes were granted leniency, avoiding cruel punishments.

But for Han Yao—that is, Shi Yuke—the punishment could not be light.

Shi Youxuan was still too naive, thinking that starving Shi Yuke for a few days until her face was haggard would make her aunt soften her heart and change her mind.

However, that was not the case.

Ji Yingjie picked an auspicious day and had people tie Shi Yuke to a bronze pillar in the Square to be executed by slow slicing!

This method of execution was not an original invention of the Ji Family, but the Ji Family had popularized it; everyone who coveted the position of Clan Leader and attempted to usurp power but failed had to receive this punishment.

Other than that, no one else was qualified!

The Clan Leader's Bedchamber.

Ji Yingjie was picking out clothes in front of the wardrobe, trying them on one by one; people are always in high spirits when they encounter happy events.

With Zhu Yiwen dead by her blade, the thorn in her side was finally removed, and those minor aches and pains naturally vanished, making her appear much younger and more energetic.

Of course, it would be even better if she didn't have this nagging niece by her side.

"Aunt, you cannot kill Shi Yuke. She is my sister, after all, and the only bloodline of my foster father. Don't you always say that one should be grateful for kindness? If my foster father hadn't adopted me back then, I might have starved to death."

Ji Yingjie said with disdain, "Hmph! If he hadn't been so meddlesome, you might have been adopted by good people, received a proper education, and wouldn't have lived such a miserable life as a child."

"You're so silly, still thinking he was a good person? If you hadn't been supporting him all these years, he would have been reincarnated several times over by now."

Shi Youxuan:...

A sharp tongue seemed to be a trait of the Ji Family; they were all very eloquent, and Shi Youxuan could not persuade her aunt with such reasoning.

Out of options, she changed tactics.

"Shi Yuke is just a puppet; her level is not at all equal to yours. If you lower yourself to her level, it will be beneath your dignity. Why not just let her go?"

Ji Yingjie glanced at her niece with utter disdain: "Is there a hole in your brain? I've discovered that your intelligence is very unstable. Returning evil with kindness is not the character of our Ji Family; don't disgrace the Ji Family."

"Right, after you go back, change your surname. And have Ranran change her surname to Ji as well. A perfectly good girl of the Ji Family with the surname Shi? What a lousy surname."

This matter of changing her surname was not the first time her aunt had mentioned it to her.

She hadn't paid attention before, but now a thought struck her: "Aunt, if I change my surname, could you let that woman go?"

Her aunt glared at her fiercely: "We'll see."

"No, 'we'll see' won't do. You have to promise me to let her go, and then I will change my surname."

If she could trade a surname for Shi Yuke's life, it would be worth it.

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll let her go, you change your surname!" her aunt promised.

"Mm-hmm, Aunt is the best." Shi Youxuan buttered up Ji Yingjie, helping her pick out clothes and choosing how to coordinate them to look even more beautiful.

Shi Yuke was spared the death penalty, but she could not escape a living one.

Ji Yingjie had people break her kneecaps and installed artificial ones; on the surface, they looked no different from a normal person's. However, because the knees were not installed properly, Shi Yuke had to use a very strange posture to walk without pain.

If she wanted to walk with the graceful posture she once had, the position of her knees would feel as painful as being pricked by thousands of steel needles.

By the time Shi Youxuan found out, this had already become a fait accompli, and objecting was useless!

At that time, she had already returned to Jiangzhou and was with her family; Nianyin had told her about this in secret.

Nianyin also told her that the Clan Leader had driven Shi Yuke out!

Jiangzhou.

The Sheng Family.

After Nianyin returned to the Ji Family, Lao Qi had been like a man who had lost his soul every day, doing things in a scatterbrained way and unable to muster any spirit for anything.

Shi Youxuan and Sheng Hanyu saw it in their eyes and were anxious in their hearts, but there was nothing they could do about their anxiety.

It was impossible for Lao Qi to go to the Ji Family to be a live-in son-in-law; Lao Qi could not endure any of the Ji Family's rules, which were so harsh toward men that they were almost perverted!

It was also impossible for Nianyin to settle in Jiangzhou; this time, Nianyin becoming the Clan Leader was a certainty and would not change again.

Ji Yingjie was preparing to hold the Abdication Ceremony in the near future to pass the position of Clan Leader to Nianyin, so that from then on she could enjoy her old age and no longer manage the heavy affairs of the Ji Family.

By then, Nianyin would surely be incredibly busy; I'm afraid that not to mention settling down, she wouldn't even have the time to visit Jiangzhou.

The carousel is indeed the cruelest game in the world; chasing each other yet maintaining an eternal distance.

Their lament had not yet ended when Nianyin arrived.

"Nianyin?" The housekeeper saw her appearing at the door and rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Zhang Ma, it's me, no mistake. Where is Lao Qi?"

She stuck out her tongue playfully, and for the first time since arriving here, she didn't ask if Shi Youxuan was home, but instead asked directly if Lao Qi was there.

"I'm here, I'm here!"

It was as if there was Telepathy between the two; Lao Qi appeared at the doorway, barefoot, his hair a messy bird's nest, his face covered in stubble.

He widened his eyes, his hands held in a posture of wanting to embrace her, yet he dared not step forward.

He only murmured foolishly in a low voice: "I'm not dreaming, am I? Nianyin, is that you?"

Nianyin took the initiative to walk forward, hugged Lao Qi, and whispered softly in his ear: "It's me, are you happy to see me?"

He didn't speak, only nodded desperately.

Happy was an understatement; he was so happy he felt like he was about to fly.

Lao Qi and Nianyin hugged each other tightly, with a crowd of onlookers nearby.

"Tsk tsk, is the wedding date drawing near?"

"I think so, where will Lao Qi live after he gets married?"

"Are you stupid? Does that even need asking? Of course it's in Jiangzhou; his parents live far away, we'll have time to help tidy up the bridal chamber..."

Wang Yinghao was a warm-hearted person.

With her organizing, everyone else chimed in, all eager and ready to help.

In a short amount of time, they had even planned out where the two should go to buy wedding supplies.

Shi Youxuan felt that everyone was planning a bit too early; Nianyin had only just returned, and how things would turn out was not yet certain.