Xue Shi, Deng Ling Yao Yao's mother, hailed from a prominent aristocratic family in Xichuan. She had trained in martial arts from a young age and possessed a fiery, even volatile temper. She favored wearing red, which earned her the moniker Xue Hong Niang among martial artists.
"Yao Yao, who is she to you?" Xue Hong Niang's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she watched Deng Ling Yao Yao approach, holding Tang Yu Nu's hand so intimately.
Deng Ling Yao Yao had been away from the mountain for a while and couldn't have had a five or six-year-old child. However, if it were a child born out of wedlock, now grown, perhaps she would bring it back to Zhuying Mountain to raise?
This girl was always wild, and such a thing wasn't impossible. The more Xue Hong Niang thought about it, the more she felt something was amiss. The more she looked, the more Tang Yu Nu resembled Deng Ling Yao Yao...
"What are you talking about? Mother, what do you mean?" Deng Ling Yao Yao asked, startled by her mother's suspicious demeanor.
"I'm asking you, who is she to you?" Xue Hong Niang pointed at Tang Yu Nu again.
Tang Yu Nu, frightened, hid behind Deng Ling Yao Yao, peeking out and looking at Xue Hong Niang fearfully.
"Her surname is... Tang, her given name is Yu Nu. I rescued her from the brokers," Deng Ling Yao Yao quickly replied. "Mother, what are you thinking?"
"Oh, is that so?" The hot-tempered Xue Hong Niang still looked at Tang Yu Nu with half-belief.
"Auntie..." Tang Yu Nu called out sweetly to Xue Hong Niang, then timidly said, "Please don't be angry. My name is Yu Nu, and my sister saved me."
"Oh, hehe." Xue Hong Niang was finally at ease. Her anger instantly turned to joy. She couldn't help but pick up the well-behaved Tang Yu Nu and laughed, "So that's how it is. Child, don't be scared! So young, and you fell into the hands of brokers? Where are your parents?"
"Daddy, Mommy, they... they already..." Tang Yu Nu lowered her head sadly.
The death of Tang Yu Nu's parents was like a brand, deeply imprinted on her heart. As she grew, she understood some things. She understood that her parents were forced to die by the Yan army who had breached the city. Zhou Fugui and his White Tiger Battalion were the first to enter Guangling Prefecture. Therefore, Tang Yu Nu's parents' deaths were inseparable from Zhou Fugui. Yet, Tang Yu Nu was indeed saved by Zhou Fugui; otherwise, how could a little girl have survived amidst the chaos of the army?
So, should Tang Yu Nu hate Zhou Fugui or not? If she were to hate him, Tang Yu Nu couldn't bring herself to do so at this moment. The reason was that Zhou Fugui had indeed shown her great care and affection.
"Mother, Yu Nu's parents passed away during the battle of Guangling Prefecture," Deng Ling Yao Yao answered for Tang Yu Nu.
Zhou Fugui had forced Tang Yu Nu's parents to their deaths, yet saved Tang Yu Nu. Heavens! What kind of person was this? Deng Ling Yao Yao sighed in her heart.
Deng Ling Yao Yao also attributed the debt of Tang Yu Nu's parents' deaths to Zhou Fugui...
"Poor child..." Xue Hong Niang could now confirm that Tang Yu Nu was not her daughter's illegitimate child. Thus, she felt pity for her. Holding Tang Yu Nu, she said tenderly, "Little one, Auntie will take you inside. There's lots of delicious food and fun things."
Tang Yu Nu nodded.
"You come in too. Mother has a lot to say to you," Xue Hong Niang then said to Deng Ling Yao Yao.
"Oh, what do you want to say, Mother?" Deng Ling Yao Yao asked, walking alongside Xue Hong Niang.
"What do I want to say?" Xue Hong Niang glared at Deng Ling Yao Yao. "You're no longer young. It's time to find a husband. Running around outside all day, what does that look like?"
"Ah?" Deng Ling Yao Yao looked at Xue Hong Niang. "Daughter will not marry. Why should daughter get married? This life, daughter will stay by Father and Mother's side."
You were wilder than me when you were young, and now you're pressuring me? Deng Ling Yao Yao grumbled inwardly.
"Silly child..." Xue Hong Niang couldn't help but laugh. "When a man grows, he marries; when a woman grows, she weds. How can you stay with your parents forever? Yao Yao, Mother wanted to find a proper family for you, but given our situation... alas, let's choose from within the sect. Which of your senior brothers do you fancy? Mother will arrange it for you. Your eldest senior brother is quite good. He's handsome and skilled in martial arts. How about...?"
"What are you saying, Mother?" Deng Ling Yao Yao's face turned red. She pushed her mother and chided, "Daughter said she won't marry. You still... if people hear this, daughter will have no face to see anyone."
"Shy?" Xue Hong Niang laughed. "It's right to be shy. A daughter should have the demeanor of a daughter. Do you still like your eldest senior brother?"
"Mother..." Deng Ling Yao Yao was speechless. She wondered how she ended up with such a mother! Her intentions were clear: she didn't like anyone in the sect. But her formidable mother thought she was just shy?
So, Deng Ling Yao Yao stated clearly, "Mother, of the people in the sect, daughter likes no one."
"Likes no one? So many people, and you don't like any? Then you are..." Xue Hong Niang looked at Deng Ling Yao Yao, a look of confusion on her face. "Do you have someone outside? Whose child is it?"
"I..." Deng Ling Yao Yao was almost driven mad by her mother. Her face flushed red. "No one. Daughter has always presented herself as a man outside. How could there be anyone?"
"That's not necessarily true..." Xue Hong Niang shook her head. "Do you think your disguise skill is very good? Hmph, it's terrible. Perhaps someone has already seen through your disguise as a woman."
"Mother, can we not talk about this today?" Deng Ling Yao Yao pleaded, on the verge of going crazy from her mother's torment.
Did that person see through it?
Deng Ling Yao Yao had always been confident in her disguise skills. But after her mother's words, she felt a little uncertain, thinking to herself.
"What matter are we not discussing?" At that moment, a tall and dignified middle-aged man, looking at the mother and daughter, asked with a smile.
The middle-aged man had a square face and three long strands of beard. He was Deng Ling Yao Yao's father, Deng Ling Wei. He was not from Bashu.
"Father..." Deng Ling Yao Yao rushed over and called out, standing in front of Deng Ling Wei.
"Senior Brother..." Xue Hong Niang was still unwilling to give up. She walked up to Deng Ling Wei and said, "We were just discussing Yao Yao's marriage. She's no longer young and should find a husband. I suggested her marrying one of her senior brothers, but she refuses."
"Heh heh, Madam, let's discuss this another day," Deng Ling Wei said, stroking his beard and smiling.
"Why another day? You're her father, aren't you worried?" Xue Hong Niang crossed her arms and said angrily.
"Alas, Madam, Yao Yao has just returned. Why the rush? Let's discuss it in a few days," Deng Ling Wei said, seemingly fearing his wife, after bowing.
"Alright, you said so? If we don't talk about it in a few days, see how I deal with you?" Xue Hong Niang then pointed at Deng Ling Yao Yao and reprimanded, "And you, if you want to anger your mother to death, then be stubborn."
"Come, child, Auntie will take you to eat something delicious." Xue Hong Niang then hugged Tang Yu Nu and entered a room.
"Father, look at Mother..." Deng Ling Yao Yao said to Deng Ling Wei with a wry smile.
"Haha, that's just your mother's temper. Don't you know? She's doing it for your own good," Deng Ling Wei said with a smile. "Come in with me. I have something to ask you."
"Mmm..." Deng Ling Yao Yao nodded, cautiously following her father, Deng Ling Wei, step by step, as if afraid of making a wrong move.
There were many mechanisms in the doors leading to Deng Ling Wei's inner chambers. If one were not careful, they could fall victim to traps, some of which were fatal, like small rotating projectile traps.
Of course, with her father, Deng Ling Wei, leading the way, Deng Ling Yao Yao smoothly entered Deng Ling Wei's inner chambers. Inside, there was a large wooden window. Outside the window was a bamboo grove, where some flowers were planted. Birdsong could be heard, and the scent of flowers filled the air, a stark contrast to the dark, mechanism-filled doors.
On the wall in the center of the inner chamber hung a portrait. The figure in the portrait had phoenix-like eyes and silkworm-like eyebrows, but high cheekbones, disheveled beard, and sunken cheeks. Beside the figure was a line of text: "The myriad crafts are square with a ruler, and round with a compass."
"Come, Yao Yao, sit beside your father." Deng Ling Wei knelt in the center of the inner chamber, before an incense table with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. After sitting down, he said to Deng Ling Yao Yao.
"Mmm..." Deng Ling Yao Yao stepped forward lightly and knelt beside Deng Ling Wei, her face flushed, head bowed, like a shy young lady, a stark contrast to her fierce demeanor in battle.
"Yao Yao, tell me if anything is wrong," Deng Ling Wei said to Deng Ling Yao Yao with a smile.
"Father, there's nothing," Deng Ling Yao Yao replied.
"You've been down the mountain for so long, and there's nothing?" Deng Ling Wei shook his head.
"Oh, there is one thing..." Deng Ling Yao Yao finally remembered something and said, "In the Central Plains, the Lesser Vehicle Sect has suddenly stirred up trouble, deceiving many. Daughter has killed some of their people. Father, daughter was wrong."
During the Guangling Prefecture incident, the Lesser Vehicle Sect had tried to assassinate Zhou Fugui, and Deng Ling Yao Yao had intervened to save him. Now, she was unsure if it was right or wrong.
"Lesser Vehicle Sect?" Deng Ling Wei's smile vanished. He pondered, "Lesser Vehicle Sect, Lesser Vehicle Sect. After more than thirty years, they are causing trouble again?"
"Father knows the Lesser Vehicle Sect?" Deng Ling Yao Yao asked in surprise.
"Mmm..." Deng Ling Wei nodded. "The Lesser Vehicle Sect is the Greater Vehicle Sect, just with a different name."
"Greater Vehicle Sect?" Deng Ling Yao Yao asked.
"Mmm, it must be the remnants of the Greater Vehicle Sect causing trouble," Deng Ling Wei nodded. "In the third year of Xingyan, the Greater Vehicle Sect revolted, raising tens of thousands of troops, but they were annihilated by the Xiongnu's Huluya clan."
"The barbarians are cruel and merciless. It's understandable for the Greater Vehicle Sect to rebel," Deng Ling Yao Yao said.
"The barbarians are cruel, and the people have no choice but to rebel. This is indeed understandable," Deng Ling Wei shook his head. "But they used the name of Buddhism to commit acts of slaughter."