The next day when Su Li went downstairs for breakfast she saw Yu Jian and Yu Yan already sitting there with six other people who were standing a bit further away. She knew four of them but didn"t pay any attention to them for the time - being. All three of the Yu"s had a hearty breakfast and then Yu Jian cleared his throat which was an indication that he wanted to discuss something. Everyone present gave him all their attention."Yu Yue, after your eighteenth birthday you told me that you didn"t want to talk or think about a.s.sistants and helpers for the moment. It"s been years since then. You have already completed your college and you will continue with your masters here. I forbid you from leaving the country anytime soon and now, it"s high time you start taking up the duties of an heiress. You need to learn everything from the ground up so I will a.s.sign Xun Zixi and Mo Qing to you. They will give you earnest advice and you will give them a future leader worth following."
Su Li solemnly replied, "Yes, I will always strive to reach greater heights and be someone worth their trust and loyalty."
At her words the two people mentioned took a single step forward and gave a full complete bow to show their absolute deference and loyalty. This ceremonial bow also represented that she was their ultimate superior. They would only listen to her words from now onwards and the Yu patriarch won"t get to have a say if they were following her orders.
"These are Ling Xiao and Mu Lan. They are my second and third in command respectively. If you can"t handle something on your own, give them the orders. They"ll make sure to follow your words."
Again the people named step forward by a single step and gave her a half - bow that was accorded to her as the next generation master.
She replied, " Thank you for looking after Master Yu. I will diligently prove myself to get the same recognition and respect from you and your subordinates."
"These are Cao Yang and Xi Bin. They are Yu Yan"s trusted aides."
Those two also stepped forward and gave her complete bows. Their immediate superior was Yu Yan but she was the heir - apparent. Obviously, they would have to lower their backs and necks in front of her but she didn"t pay them mind and just gave a vague "mm".
This ceremony should have actually been done the next morning after her Coming of Age Ceremony but still she didn"t want to be too particular about the timming. She knew Yu Jian hadn"t deliberately neglected her but just the circ.u.mstances at that time were a bit out of the norm. Anyway, she will get what was her due and that was it. No need to nitpick about things right now.
Afterwards, she followed Yu Jian to the study. She knew he wanted to talk about Yu Corporation with her but she really wasn"t interested in hearing about it right now so she blocked his words by saying that today she just wanted them to spend time together as family members and wouldn"t allow any other talks.
Yu Jian felt helpless at his daughter"s words but inside his heart he truly felt happy. Happy that she had given him a second chance, happy that she didn"t chuck him out of her life but most of all grateful that she had forgiven him. They spent the rest of the day until lunch sequestered in the study. The staff pa.s.sing by the study could hear the noise of joyful laughter from time to time. Everyone seemed to be happy. But some people wouldn"t feel at ease if others were not in trouble.
Yu Yan hadn"t thought that she would be met with such a disgrace first thing in the morning. She hadn"t thought that Yu Yue would be introduced to the people closest to father in a formal ceremony after all these years. It was now that she regretted letting Zixi slip from her hands. If she had known earlier that father trusted him so much to even still give him the position of the second - in - command of the future master, she would have raised a hue and cry when he was dismissed from her service. She wouldn"t have paid mind to that fact that he was absent for more than half a month every month. But as they say there is no medicine for regret. Since the day Yu Yan had left, she hadn"t had any kind of interaction with him. At that time she had been happy to let go of such a lazy person but now it seemed he was someone to take notice of. Well, she will give him a chance to change his aleegiance. If he was stubborn, n.o.body would care if some charges were levelled upon an insignificant member of the staff since he hadn"t started his job and was driven off.
In the evening Yu Yan called Zixi and Mo Qing and talked to them. Now that she had decided to step into the arena, she wanted to first of all pull these people tighty to her side. She didn"t want to leave a slight margin of error from here onwards. She asked them some questions regarding their personal lives. The answers she recieved made her praise Yu Jian for his foresight. It wasn"t that she was glad about the fact that both the young men had no living family members and were by themselves. It was just that no matter how much a person was impartial or above selfishness, at some point of time if their loved ones were in any kind of danger, people wouldn"t hesitate to abandon all their morals and everything else with it. She understood that this was survival instinct and as they say " blood is thicker than water ".
Yu Jian had found and honed to shape two such people who wouldn"t be constrained by any ties of blood. Their ultimate loyalty would be to her and if nothing deviated from the norm they would be two sharp blades in her hands and would also work as s.h.i.+elds. It had already been disclosed to her that Xun Mei wasn"t Zixi"s sister by blood but due to some other circ.u.mstances the charade about twins had been made up and was still being continued. She thought it might be Yu Jian"s plan to make it seem as if Xun Mei was a c.h.i.n.k in armour for Zixi if somebody had designs to deflect Zixi from her side.
After dinner she asked Zixi to accompany her for a walk in the gardens. Not for any other reason except she wanted to have a complete understanding of the current circ.u.mstances in the city and enquire about the major happenings of the last few years.
Zixi was pleasantly surprised when Yueyue told him to accompany her for a walk after dinner. For a moment, he had really let his imagination run wild thinking about a sweet date in a beautiful garden in the serene night with the person who occupied his heart,mind and soul. But he had came back cras.h.i.+ng to the ground when he was also told to bring all information regarding the major incidents that had happened since she left the country. He had given himself a sardonic smile at his foolishness.
Yu Yan saw from her window as Yu Yue and Zixi walked in the garden talking softly to each other. She couldn"t hear thei soft whispers but she knew that they were talking about serious business as she had heard Yu Yue informing father at the dinner table. She watched them with slightly narrowed eyes while her heart was filled with hatred and bitterness when a thought struck her. For a moment she had thought that it might be her imagination but when she took a second closer look, she had been struck dumb by what she saw.
At the moment both of these people were not far away from where her room was located so she could clearly see their expressions. Yu Yue was walking two steps ahead of Zixi and Zixi followed her like a good little puppy. No matter if Yueyue"s speed of walking increased or decreased, he would match his speed perfectly with her"s without giving any outward sign of it. He always was two steps behind her but that wasn"t what was important. What was important was that the person she had thought was afflicted with facial paralysis was always smiling softly while attentively answering the princess"s questions. He was walking behind her and n.o.body was around them, so maybe he had dropped his guard because the look he was giving Yu Yue"s behind was one filled with love and doting. As if he would gladly walk through the gates of h.e.l.l for her. He must have said something amusing because she saw the other girl laughing and her tinkling laugh grated on her own ears. Suddenly Yu Yan turned to face him and he had schooled his expression to one that was appropriate to that of a subordinate.
It didn"t look like the future second - in - command following the next gen leader rather it depicted a beautiful scene of a young man helplessly following the girl of his dreams on her walk and the girl seemed to be oblivious to his feelings. Sadly, this wasn"t a novel where the girl would disregard everything from their social - cla.s.s difference to her father"s objection and be with him. Moreover, she will make sure to nip this budding romance before it had a chance to bloom.
It seemed she had found a secret. Well....well this was interesting. This would give her an advantage while dealing with him. If he wasn"t on her side then this gave her so many options - should she allow this secret to come to light in front of father or should she create some ambiguous atmosphere between the two for others to watch and create rumours or should she use it as a bait and eliminate him? Even more elaborate schemes could be played out. How would that stoic guy who had never put her in his eyes feel if he saw the object of his admiration falling head over heals for someone else? Would he be pained and break his silence or would be do the honourable thing and let the princess go who was obviously above his reach? Let"s spectate if he was as forthright and honourable as he appears to be. The game had suddenly gotten more interesting and entertaining.