"...I beg your pardon?" Luo Ming blurted out in shock. "What do you mean there is nothing you can do?"
"Just as I said." First Elder Qisi replied tonelessly.
Meng Lin frowned heavily, taking a menacing step forward. "My son has been proven innocent and everything points to that whorish maid being the culprit. Yet you sit here saying you can do nothing? Is your status as High Elders just for show?"
"Meng Lin." Second High Elder Yan said in a cold tone, his black eyes flashing with crimson light. "I am afraid you are gravely mistaken. Here, you are no longer the daughter of the Silver Throne. Here, Meng Lin, you are the Second Madam of the Luo Clan, and you shall respect us, the High Elders. Or do you need me to remind you of the punishments for disrespect?"
Meng Lin scoffed openly, unimpressed. "I respect those who deserve respect. And you three clearly do not. So what will you do, Old Yan? Kill me? Best me? I dare you."
"YOU—!"
"Enough." First High Elder Qisi cut into the angry voice of the Second Elder with a stern look.
The Second High Elder’s spiritual presence lowered, but did not vanish completely.
First High Elder Qisi then turned her veiled head toward Meng Lin.
The woman was unbothered, looking at them as if daring them to touch her.
Behind them, Wei Ting and Wei Bing were beginning to regret coming. It was never wise to witness the internal struggles of a clan as an outsider.
Never.
Luo Ming, meanwhile, was lost in thought, still dazed.
"You must understand this better than us, Meng Lin." First High Elder explained. "Now that Shen Rou is the Heir’s maid, touching her means touching the Heir himself. That would create more tension in this house than necessary."
"So what? My Ming’er is also an heir of this clan. Do you look down on my son, High Elder Qisi?"
"It is precisely because of his status that you are in our presence and we are involving ourselves in this incident at all." Her voice grew colder, slowly losing patience with Meng Lin. "His proven innocence means no punishment will befall him and his reputation will be cleansed. Know that this is the wisest choice. As High Elders, our duty is to keep this Clan stable."
"Then know that you are gloriously failing that duty." Meng Lin said instantly. "Or perhaps you are simply afraid of the First Madam and..."
She looked at the fourth empty throne, and smiled coldly.
"...and her grandfather, Fourth High Elder Tan?"
At her words, heavy presences swelled within the room, making it hard for anyone to breathe properly.
The Second and Third High Elders were staring at Meng Lin with open anger.
They had never liked her arrogant, overbearing nature. But because of her background, and the well-known fact that the Silver King adored her, they had always let it slide.
However, they were clearly reaching the limit of their tolerance. They would never accept a junior from their grandchildren’s generation spitting on them openly, and in front of youngsters, no less.
Their Qi churned within them, intensifying the dreadful pressure bearing down on the room.
Meng Lin scoffed loudly and channelled her own Qi, causing a blue light to burst forth from her body and cloak her son protectively.
She didn’t care about Wei Ting and Wei Bing struggling to stand.
"If you want to attack, then you—!"
"It’s alright, mother." Luo Ming gently interrupted, making her fall silent. She turned her head toward him and noticed the smile on his face.
It was a bitter smile, yet at the same time, a smile of understanding.
’Even after proving my innocence, even after telling the truth, nothing has truly changed.’ Luo Ming thought, walking slowly forward, closer to the High Elders. ’So in the end...is truth useless?’
No. It was not.
It was not that truth was useless, but that he simply lacked the power to impose it in a world of lies and deception.
It had been the same back on Earth.
People lied all the time, even the lawyers and judges who were supposed to be just and honest. Everyone lied. And they kept escaping difficult situations because they had power.
The pattern was identical in this new world.
Whoever had framed him had enough power to make all of this possible.
And because he was weak — and his mother, even with her background, was clearly not well received in this house — they were being suppressed with ease.
As those thoughts swirled in his head, Luo Ming stood in front of his mother, lifted his head to stare at the High Elders, and sighed inwardly.
’This only confirms my goal. I want to build a family where lies like this cannot happen. Where harmony exists, and people tolerate each other despite their differences. I need power for that. And I know that having power does not only mean one’s own strength.’
Connections were important.
And whether he liked it or not, Luo Ming knew he possessed a powerful tool for making those connections.
The only risk was that tool would attract people that would be dangerous; but so was living in this world without connections and strength.
And so, organising and clearing his thoughts, Luo Ming opened his mouth.
"I understand." He said. "But there is still something I do not quite grasp. Didn’t Elder Brother Wan already have a maid?"
"He did. But she was killed by a spirit beast outside the city."
Everyone suppressed a roll of their eyes at that. Even the High Elders knew how oddly convenient all these excuses were. But they said nothing.
"So his maid was killed, and just in time Shen Rou was ’raped’ by me and so found refuge with him?" Luo Ming nodded with mock understanding. "Well, what can I say? Strange coincidences do happen now and then."
"The Heavens must surely be in a joking mood." Meng Lin added with a humourless smile.
The High Elders remained expressionless, uncaring about their thoughts.
"Alright." Luo Ming continued. "I will neither complain nor throw a useless tantrum about how unjust this is. However, respected High Elders, it remains a fact that the reputations of my mother and I have been tarnished for no reason."
"Where are you going with this?" High Elder Qisi asked.
"I am saying we at least deserve compensation for it." He said, then turned toward the Wei sisters. "We have already shown an ugly side of ourselves to the Wei Clan with our little performance. We should at least show them one good thing about us. So..."
He smiled, his face so achingly beautiful it was no wonder people whispered he would be better off as a gigolo.
"...will we receive our compensation for our emotional damages?"
Meng Lin looked at her son with quiet pride. She was angry and frustrated about the incident, but she couldn’t deny how much she liked her new son.
At last, she was seeing in him the qualities of someone who would survive long in this cruel world.
Wei Ting was equally shocked, wondering where the zither-playing Luo Ming had gone.
Wei Bing, for her part, was watching Luo Ming more intently as time passed. The more she looked at him and listened to his voice and words, the more she wanted to know him better.
Not only because he was oddly intriguing and pleasant to be around, but also because of one important question she needed answered.
’How is he still alive?’
Luo Ming was supposed to die the day he was framed for rape, according to what she remembered.
So why was he still here?
’Did I cause a butterfly effect through my regression? How? That technique was supposed to be flawless!’
All these thoughts swirled in her mind, but she sealed them away for now and focused on the present situation.
"What do you wish as compensation?" High Elder Qisi asked calmly. ’It seems the incident opened his eyes. Good.’
’Now that is a good question.’ Luo Ming thought. ’How am I supposed to know, when my knowledge of cultivation is so limited because of my predecessor?’
He could ask his mother, but he felt there was a better option: simply to not name anything specific.
"I want many things, High Elders. As you know, I am quite behind in my cultivation due to my former lack of interest in it. That is no longer the case. So I would like to visit the Clan’s treasury and choose for myself." He said. "Not the ordinary treasury, I should specify. The Main one. As a son of the Patriarch myself, it should be possible, shouldn’t it?"
The Second and Third High Elders were fuming at the demand, but High Elder Qisi remained oddly serene.
She kept silent for a while, looking into Luo Ming’s stunning silver eyes, and seeing her own reflection in them.
They were like mirrors. Exceedingly beautiful, framed with long black eyelashes.
It took her only a fraction of a second to refocus on the present, and she answered.
"We accept." She said. "And I will be your guide."
—End of Chapter 8—