Early the next morning, Yu Nianqing was getting ready to head to the academy for class when Yu Yarou looked at her with pity. “Sister, you’d better stay home.”
Yu Nianqing had no idea what she meant until she was stopped at the front gate when she tried to leave. Only then did she realize that Yu Tiancheng had confined her to the house.
No wonder Yu Yarou had worn that expression when she left.
Dressed in an expensive nightgown, Feng Yue leaned lazily against the spiral staircase, looking down at Yu Nianqing from above.
“Nianqing, dear, don’t blame your father. He’s only doing this for your own good.”
Yu Nianqing sat down on the sofa, watching Feng Yue from a distance as she put on airs like the lady of the house.
Yu Tiancheng was upstairs. As long as Yu Nianqing started arguing with her, he would be able to hear them. This incident would surely leave Yu Nianqing resentful toward him. Thinking of this, Feng Yue felt less angry, even when she noticed the disdain in Yu Nianqing’s eyes.
Yu Nianqing merely let out a soft sigh. “Aunt Feng, how could I blame my father? No matter what, he’s still my father. Please don’t say things like that again, or Dad might misunderstand me.”
As she spoke, Yu Nianqing pouted, looking rather upset.
Feng Yue’s smile froze. Why did Yu Nianqing seem like a completely different person? Unwilling to give up, she asked, “You really don’t blame your father?”
“Aunt Feng, he’s still my father, after all. I’ve already lost my mother. Aside from my brothers, Dad is the only family I have left!” Yu Nianqing burst into tears, then asked between sobs,
“Do you really want me to blame Dad that badly?”
Yu Tiancheng came downstairs and saw Yu Nianqing stubbornly wiping away her tears. His heart softened a little. No matter how willful she might be, Yu Nianqing was still his daughter. She had lost her mother at a young age, so it was only natural for her to be a little spoiled.
“Do you know what you did wrong?” Yu Tiancheng asked, his tone softening slightly.
Yu Nianqing had no idea what he was talking about, but she continued crying as she said, “Is it because Yu Yarou came back that you don’t love me anymore, Dad?”
“You were the one who went after your younger sister at the academy. You’re sisters by blood.”
So that was what this was about. With red-rimmed eyes, Yu Nianqing asked, “Dad, did you even ask me what happened? You just believed Yu Yarou!”
Yu Tiancheng frowned. Feng Yue quickly put on a sorrowful expression. “Tiancheng, don’t blame Nianqing. She’s still young.”
“She’s still young? She’s already capable of going after her own younger sister!”
Feng Yue merely looked at Yu Nianqing with tear-filled eyes and said, “Nianqing, Xiao Rou came home yesterday in a terrible state of mind. She couldn’t even sleep properly. Please don’t treat her like that again. Consider it a plea from your aunt.”
So that was it! Now she understood why she had been confined to the house first thing in the morning. It was all because of this!
Yu Yarou really played dirty. She had even gone home to tattle. Only children resorted to such tricks!
Yu Nianqing had seen this tactic back in the twenty-first century. She couldn’t exactly say she was an expert at countering every move, but she certainly knew how to handle herself. As one of the few female astronomers of the twenty-first century, she had both the brains and the social skills.
“Dad, you don’t believe me?” Yu Nianqing asked in return, her voice filled with sorrow.
Yu Tiancheng had examined Yu Yarou’s body, and there had indeed been fluctuations in her mental state. Besides, Yu Yarou had claimed that an upperclassman could testify to what happened, so Yu Tiancheng had naturally believed her. “The facts are right in front of you, yet you still refuse to admit your mistakes?”
An inexplicable fury spread through Yu Nianqing. This father of hers truly didn’t believe her at all. Although she had never placed any hopes in him, this body still wasn’t originally hers.
Yu Nianqing knew that if she merely competed with the white lotus mother and daughter by playing the victim, at best she could only draw with them. She had to gain the upper hand.
“Fine, I admit I was wrong! I was wrong to deny that I hurt Yu Yarou, and I was wrong to defend myself, because Dad doesn’t believe a word I say. You only believe the two of them, mother and daughter!”
Yu Tiancheng was about to fly into a rage when Yu Nianqing walked up to him and brought up all the test data Ivy had given her on the screen before his eyes.
“You say I hurt Yu Yarou, but my mental power is only at E-rank now.”
The data bore the research laboratory’s official seal, proving that it was authentic. Yu Nianqing’s mental power was only E-rank, while Yu Yarou had already reached A-rank. There was no way Yu Nianqing could have used her mental power to harm Yu Yarou.
Yu Tiancheng knitted his brows. “What happened?”
By now, Yu Nianqing had calmed down considerably. Her tone was flat as she explained, “On the day you married Aunt Feng, I was sent into a treatment pod to recover after an explosion. When I woke up, I was like this.”
Although her tone was calm, every word pierced Yu Tiancheng’s heart.
In this era, E-rank mental power was practically equivalent to that of an ordinary person, and ordinary people in interstellar society could only take the lowest-level jobs.
“So, when your own daughter’s mental power has suffered a severe blow, you, as her father, still make her admit fault and apologize to someone else over something that never even happened?”
“Tell me, how exactly do you expect me to apologize?”
“You think I’m willful because I refuse to come home. Then tell me, is this still my home?”
Yu Nianqing’s words left Yu Tiancheng speechless. Without looking at either of them, she returned to her room in tears. Only after locking the door did she wipe her face dry.
Unless absolutely necessary, she had no desire to compete with that mother and daughter over who had suffered more. It was exhausting and a waste of time. While her nose was still slightly red, she contacted Yu Ningyan through her smart terminal.
Yu Ningyan was reviewing a military parade at the Military Research Institute when he saw Yu Nianqing with red-rimmed eyes. His heart tightened, but he kept his voice relatively steady. “What’s wrong?”
“Eldest Brother, please don’t make me come back here again!” Yu Nianqing started crying all over again as she spoke. She told him everything that had happened.
On the other end, the more Yu Ningyan heard, the angrier he became. When he learned that Yu Nianqing’s mental power was only E-rank, he fell silent for a long time. After taking a moment to compose himself, he finally spoke.
“It’s okay even if your mental power is only E-rank. With your brothers here, no one will ever be able to bully you.”
Only after hanging up did Yu Nianqing stop crying. “With three amazing older brothers, why would I need to fight my own battles?”
Meanwhile, Yu Ningyan immediately contacted Yu Ninghuai. “Did you know about the explosion that sent our little sister into a treatment pod?”
“An explosion? She never told me about that.” Yu Ninghuai was astonished. The next second, he saw the dark look on his eldest brother’s face and realized something was wrong.
Yu Ningyan’s voice turned cold. “I asked you to look after our little sister, and this is how you’ve been taking care of her?”
“I… Eldest Brother, just let me explain.”
“The explosion left Nianqing with only E-rank mental power. If you have time to explain yourself to me, you’d better think about how you’re going to explain this to Mother.” Yu Ningyan ended the call, his heart aching even as anger consumed him.
He blamed Yu Ninghuai for failing to look after Yu Nianqing, but wasn’t he also blaming himself?
After thinking it over, Yu Nianqing decided that staying here was far too suffocating. Only then did she remember that she still had a husband in name, at least.
Bo Chen was meeting diplomatic envoys from the Ninth Star to discuss an exchange program between the two sides’ highest institutions of learning.
His smart terminal vibrated. Bo Chen lowered his eyes and glanced at the message.
“Bo Chen, I don’t have a starship. If I can’t get to the academy, I won’t be able to help you with your research.”
Bo Chen knew perfectly well that Yu Nianqing had no intention of helping him with his research.
So he sent Butler Lin to pick her up.