Admitting Fault
“What’s wrong with hitting you?”
Yu Shuwan’s hand gripped his wrist like a vise.
“If I weren’t injured right now, do you think this would be over?
Yu Jingzhou, if I call you a fool, you’d probably still argue with me. But if I don’t curse you, I’d feel I’m letting myself down.
So easily manipulated into being someone else’s weapon, coming here to attack me with all guns blazing…
We’re siblings from the same mother, after all. It’s downright embarrassing!”
“Yu Shuwan!”
Yu Jingzhou roared, “Stop trying to sow discord here! A vicious woman like you should have died in the countryside, rotting in the mud!”
“What impressive authority the eldest young master displays! That a daughter of the Yu family could be bullied like this!”
A stern voice rang out. Yu Shuwan’s heart tightened as she immediately turned toward the sound. There, standing at the doorway, supported by a maid, was Grandmother Yu, draped in a cloak embroidered with cranes and pines symbolizing longevity.
Her face was as cold as ice. “Today you drive away your own blood sister. Tomorrow, will this useless old woman be driven out too?”
“Grandmother, I would never dare think such a thing!”
Yu Jingzhou panicked, quickly clasping his hands in apology. “It’s just that Yu Shuwan is truly detestable! She even dared to lay hands on her elder brother! In the heat of the moment, I spoke recklessly!”
“Spoke recklessly?”
Grandmother Yu sneered. “I’ve never seen you speak recklessly to me. So, it seems speaking recklessly depends on the person’s status?”
“Grandmother, I know I was wrong, but all of this was provoked by Yu Shuwan deliberately!”
Yu Jingzhou gritted his teeth and pointed at Yu Shuwan. “Before you entered, she wasn’t pretending at all!
Right now, Guiwan is still lying in bed. Even if there was a mix-up at birth, it wasn’t Guiwan’s fault. How could Yu Shuwan treat Guiwan like this?”
Yu Jingzhou’s face flushed red. “Grandmother may dote on her, but you can’t be completely biased!”
“This old woman is biased?”
Grandmother Yu laughed in anger.
“Why don’t you look at how your own mother treats your blood sister? Tonight, I’ll forgive you this once, considering you acted out of anxiety. Now hurry back!”
Yu Shuwan had released her grip before Grandmother Yu entered, but the slap mark on Yu Jingzhou’s face was glaringly obvious. Grandmother Yu was clearly shielding her.
Only, she hadn’t expected the late hour and heavy dew would draw Grandmother Yu over.
“Grandmother, the night wind is chilly. Why have you come?”
“If I hadn’t come, he would have been cursing you to be reborn.”
Grandmother Yu scoffed. “The tutor who taught you to read was a renowned master from Baihe Academy. To speak such malice toward your own sister—have all those books been fed to the dogs?”
Yu Jingzhou’s fate had nothing to do with Yu Shuwan, but seeing Grandmother Yu’s face flushed red, it was clear she was furious.
Yu Shuwan frowned and stepped forward. “Grandmother, please don’t be angry.”
Yet these words ignited all the suppressed emotions Yu Jingzhou had held back from exploding.
Fuming with rage, he once again directed his fury at Yu Shuwan. “All of this is because of you!
If you can’t tolerate Guiwan like this, constantly scheming against her, the one who will leave will only be you! We will never send Guiwan away!”
The slight guilt he felt earlier vanished completely, replaced now by nothing but utter disgust.
“Even with Grandmother here, I’ll make my stance clear: Guiwan will always be my sister!”
Yu Jingzhou practically roared, “I will never have any other sister besides her!”
Slap!
“Calm now?”
Yu Shuwan’s face was icy cold, even tinged with disgust. “Who do you think you’re yelling at? Yu Jingzhou, if you’re still not calm, shall I give you a few more slaps?”
In her heart, Grandmother Yu was her bottom line.
What right did this Yu Jingzhou have to shout and scream at Grandmother Yu?
“Someone!”
Grandmother Yu’s voice was as cold as ice, carrying an unquestionable authority and fury.
“Take the eldest young master to the ancestral hall and make him kneel properly. If he cannot understand where he went wrong, he shall kneel there without getting up!”
At her command, several elderly maids immediately filed in from the doorway and stood beside Yu Jingzhou.
Yu Jingzhou’s pupils dilated abruptly, still reeling from the sudden shock. “Grandmother would punish me for such a black-hearted creature?”
“This old woman will say it one last time: Shuwan is your own sister. No matter what, you should not speak of her like that.”
Grandmother Yu’s face was stern. “Are my words no longer of any use? Take him away at once!”
“No need!”
Yu Jingzhou said loudly, “I have done nothing wrong today. Even if Grandmother is biased, I will not admit fault! So it’s the ancestral hall—I’ll go kneel there!”
With that, his gaze was like fire, his words like blades—sharp and resolute.
“Grandmother may be deceived for a moment, but not forever! I warn you, as long as I am here, you will not harm Guiwan in the slightest!”
Only after Yu Jingzhou stormed off did Grandmother Yu turn her gaze to the young girl standing there in silence.
Yu Shuwan lowered her eyes. “Making Grandmother stand up for me so late at night shows my incompetence.”
“Don’t play coy here.”
Grandmother Yu’s eyes were filled with authority. “Have you completely forgotten what this old woman told you today?”
Yu Shuwan replied, “I have not forgotten. Grandmother said we must not let outsiders see a joke and must always remember the dignity of the Houfu. But I do not regret it. Scheming against Yu Guiwan was merely repaying her in kind. If I do not fight for this breath of air for myself, I fear the days ahead will be even harder. Today, making me lose face was just testing my limits; tomorrow, who knows what other tricks she might pull. I deliberately scared Yu Guiwan with the cat, and I am willing to accept punishment. But from now on, if Yu Guiwan schemes against me even once, I will repay her a hundredfold, a thousandfold!”
“You truly hold grudges over the smallest matters.”
“It is not about holding grudges over small matters—I only want justice.”
Yu Shuwan clenched her lips tightly, raising her eyes filled with hatred. “Because of her birth mother’s greed, I was separated from my family for years and endured so much.