Yun Ziyao narrowed her eyes and looked down.
Yun Zexuan got up from the ground, his face livid. He stared at Yun Ziyao in shock and fury, as if looking at a madwoman.
“Three years of punishment in the Laundry Bureau clearly taught you nothing. You’ve become so rude, so completely unreasonable—”
Yun Ziyao’s voice was lazy and indifferent.
“Compared to you, I’m still far behind.”
This idiot, Yun Zexuan, was not Yun Ziyao’s biological brother. He was the eldest son born to a concubine of the Yun family. His birth mother had died early, and he had been raised under the name of the legal wife, so his status was practically no different from that of the legitimate eldest son.
After Yun Zijun was brought back to the family, it was as if he had suddenly gone blind. He defended Yun Zijun at every turn, never bothering to distinguish right from wrong, and unilaterally treated Yun Ziyao as an imaginary enemy.
Even after Yun Ziyao returned from the Laundry Bureau covered in injuries, he felt no sympathy for her. Yet a single frown or tear from Yun Zijun could make him leap to her defense. Without asking any questions, he would place all the blame on Yun Ziyao.
What an unbelievably stupid fool.
“Yun Zexuan, as the eldest son of the Yun family, you’re so stupid it’s almost pitiful.” Yun Ziyao looked at him coldly, a trace of disdain in her eyes. “You’ve been played like a puppet by a clown. Have all those years of studying and eating gone straight into a dog’s stomach?”
“What did you say?” Yun Zexuan’s expression darkened. “Yun Ziyao, how dare you speak to me like that? Are you trying to rebel?”
Yun Ziyao sneered.
“So what if I am?”
“Insolence!”
Furious, Yun Zexuan raised his hand and swung it toward her face.
“As your elder brother, I should properly teach you a lesson!”
Yun Ziyao caught his wrist midair and slapped him across the face.
Smack!
The crisp sound echoed through the room.
Five distinct finger marks instantly appeared on Yun Zexuan’s fair face.
Clutching his cheek, he stared at her in disbelief.
“You dared to hit me?”
Yun Ziyao flexed her injured wrist. Her tone was cold, as though she were speaking to a stranger.
“For everything the Yun family has done to Yun Ziyao, even dying a hundred times wouldn’t be enough to atone for it.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Yun Zexuan’s face darkened with anger, unable to hide the disgust and disappointment in his eyes. “The Yun family raised you for seventeen years—”
“Fourteen.”
Yun Ziyao narrowed her eyes and corrected him coldly.
“Are you about to tell me that because I enjoyed fourteen years of wealth and privilege in the Yun family, I should be endlessly grateful and repay that kindness tenfold? Then let me tell you this: Yun Ziyao is already dead. She died during those thousand-plus days of torment in the Laundry Bureau. She died in the endless despair of each passing day. She died in that place that devoured people whole. If that’s the case, shouldn’t those fourteen years of upbringing be considered repaid in full?”
Grinding his teeth, Yun Zexuan glared at her, fury blazing in his eyes.
She was utterly impossible to reason with.
He had clearly never expected Yun Ziyao to become so difficult, like a madwoman who had grown a rebellious streak.
“And one more thing.”
The corner of Yun Ziyao’s lips lifted slightly as she kindly reminded him of a fact.
“The Yun family may have raised me for fourteen years, but the ones who fed and housed me were Chancellor Yun and his wife—not you. You’re just the lowly son of a concubine. What right do you have to stand here barking at me?”
Yun Zexuan’s face flushed red. Humiliated and enraged, he shouted:
“I am your elder brother! An elder brother is like a father—”
“That saying only applies when the father is already dead.”
Yun Ziyao sneered.
“Are you cursing your own father?”
Yun Zexuan’s expression changed. Just as he was about to respond, a hesitant voice sounded from outside the door at the worst possible moment.
“Sister… did I come at a bad time?”
Yun Zexuan turned around.
The moment he saw the woman standing at the doorway, his expression changed faster than turning the pages of a book. He hurried over to her, his voice instantly becoming gentle.
“Jun’er, why are you here?”
“Big Brother, Sister didn’t push me.”
Dressed in a pink gown, Yun Zijun stepped gracefully into the room. Tugging on Yun Zexuan’s sleeve, she frowned slightly.
“Don’t blame Sister. It was my own carelessness.”
“You don’t need to defend her.”
Yun Zexuan shot Yun Ziyao a cold look.
“What an ungrateful wretch! Even when Jun’er is so considerate of you, you’ll never learn gratitude.”
Expressionless, Yun Ziyao looked at the true culprit who had just entered.
The so-called real daughter of the Yun family.
A master at pretending to be weak and innocent. With just a few carefully chosen words, she could pin fabricated accusations on Yun Ziyao, making everyone pity her and despise Yun Ziyao.
The plot of this novel was absurdly melodramatic, and the developments later on were enough to make one’s blood boil.
Although the novel was titled “My Entire Family Kneels and Begs for My Forgiveness.”
After returning from the Laundry Bureau, Yun Ziyao’s injuries earned her very little sympathy from the Yun family. Whenever Madam Yun showed even the slightest bit of concern for her, Yun Zijun would find some new fault to exploit, turning Yun Ziyao into the target of everyone’s criticism.
Yun Ziyao was like a soft bun with no backbone, bullied until she lost all sense of resistance. Even her originally arranged marriage was stolen by Yun Zijun.
Mo Jinglin married Yun Zijun, and after ascending the throne, she became Empress.
Coveting Yun Ziyao’s beauty, Mo Jinglin later brought her into the palace as a concubine. For a time, the Chancellor’s Manor basked in unmatched glory and prestige.
However, because the two sisters served the same emperor and one of them was already the Empress, Yun Ziyao could not be granted too high a rank.
Thus, she remained only a concubine.
Empress and Concubine.
The difference in status was obvious.
Under the pretext of sisterly affection, Yun Zijun often kept Yun Ziyao behind in Phoenix Palace after the morning and evening greetings. With any random excuse, she could force Yun Ziyao to kneel for two full hours.
Every time, just when Yun Ziyao was on the verge of collapse, Mo Jinglin would arrive “just in time,” pleading with the Empress to let her go.
Only near the very end of the story did Madam Yun discover the truth.
Yun Zijun was not her biological daughter at all.
She was the daughter of the Chancellor’s mistress.
Yun Ziyao had always been Madam Yun’s real daughter.
Which meant that the fourteen years of wealth and privilege Yun Ziyao had enjoyed rightfully belonged to her. The real impostor, the one occupying another’s place, had always been Yun Zijun.
And Mo Jinglin had known the truth from the very beginning.
Because Yun Zijun’s mother possessed a special background, and the forces behind her were exactly what the Crown Prince needed. He had helped Chancellor Yun deceive everyone and conceal the truth about Madam Yun’s daughter in order to secure support from both Chancellor Yun and Yun Zijun’s mother’s faction.
Yet when Yun Ziyao was dying, Mo Jinglin still had the nerve to wear a pained, remorseful expression.
He claimed everything was his fault.
He claimed the only person he had ever loved was Ziyao.
He said being with Yun Zijun had been beyond his control, merely an act for appearances. He begged Yun Ziyao to forgive him. He begged her not to die.
What a shameless scumbag.
Thinking of this, Yun Ziyao raised her head slightly and looked at the woman before her, who resembled a pure and innocent white lotus.
A cold, mocking smile curved her lips.
“Yun Zijun, you said I pushed you into the river. I’d like to ask you something.”
“Which river was it that you fell into?”