33 The Second Ploy (1/2)
Yu Yan had already spoken upto here, the rest was upto the other person. Afterwards, she showed him to the door to think about things on his own. She wanted him to come over to her side of his own accord and not force him. Forcing someone would always lead to betrayal in the long term but if he joined her of his own violation, then they would be akin to ants on the same rope and he wouldn't dare betray her or have second thoughts.
It had been two days since her talk with Xun Zixi. She had thought he would come to her on his own, even if not for himself then atleast for his twin. Since the time limit she had gave him was long over, she didn't want to wait for something that wasn't happening anytime soon. She went down to the receiving hall and called all the household staff for a meeting and everyone had presented themselves promptly.
She looked at all these people and knew that everyone of them would work under her in the near future.
”I have called you all here to tell you that no matter how trusted or favoured you are within these walls, at the end of the day don't try to over - reach your station.”
”Miss, what do you mean?” One of the celever ones asked, leading the talk down the path she wanted.
”You have amongst you people who have forgotten that they are serving the Yu family.”
Everyone showed confused faces and looked at each other suspiciously, trying to save their own skin.
”My Elder sister was kidnapped a few days ago and I had someone investigate it. I thought who had such guts to entangle themselves with the Yu family but the culprits seemed to be near at hand.”
Zixi knew that she must have prepared something for him and Xun Mei but he couldn't be bothered to tear apart the facade. Today was the day he had lost his family all those years ago so, he didn't really have the heart to start a blame game with anyone. If she did something, he'll just let it go. He had made a promise to himself that he would never fight or quarrel with someone on this day and he hadn't broken it til date. This girl wouldn't push him to break it as she wasn't someone important enough to make him break his oath. If he was asked to leave, he'll simply leave.
Everyone knew that this was Miss Yu Yan taking up the fight to the eldest miss's doorsteps of her own accord. She had decided to throw away any semblance of family ties and loyalty out the door and would make it difficult for Miss Yu Yue. They just had to make sure that none of the sparks that would start flying between the two wouldn't land on themselves.
Yu Yan was delighted at heart when she saw everyone with their heads bowed infront of her. This was what she wanted, she wanted to have enough power to trample upon the exalted assistance of Yu Yue. She carried on, ”Elder sister has two close aides, one of whom lives in the main residence compound. He has the complete information regarding her schedule daily and generally, she doesn't leave the house without gurads. So, how could it be that the only time she went without guards was the time that something happened? Was it just a happenstance? Obviously, we could think so but there are no mere coincidents in life. That day Xun Zixi wasn't with her and he had called the head of security at home to enquire about the eldest miss's whereabouts”
She turned towards the head of security and asked, ”Tell everyone about the talk you had with Zixi that day.”
”He asked me if Eldest Miss was home, when I said no, he asked whom she had taken along with herself. I told him that she wanted to go out on her own incognito and afterwards he asked me to inform him when she returned. That's all.” He had been working at the Yu residence for so long and didn't want to take any sides so he just reported the things as they were so that no matter the outcome later on, he would have a retreat route for himself.
Before anybody could say anything, the doors to the recieving hall opened. There was a beautiful girl holding a charming guy's arm and laughing happily at whatever he had said. The guy seemed to be delighted by her laughter. Nobody had thought that the drama currently unfolding would change its genre from a suspense thriller to romance in under a minute. Moreover, the main characters also seemed to have changed. The people standing at the door were Eldest Miss and the guy most probably was Second Young Master of the Li family because noone except him had ever been able to make the young mistress laugh like that or to lower her guard to not notice her surroundings. Everyone shivered at the thought. Not because the eldest miss was here but because the other person with her was devil's own reincarnate. He seemed to be a happy - go - lucky person infront of miss, someone who wouldn't harm even a single fly but behind her back he more than made up for it. All the old servants remembered how he had beaten up kids and servants alike who would even look at Miss Yu Yue with a wrong look. It seemed Miss Yu Yan would have to eat a loss and loose a layer or two of her skin today.
Many of them had thought that Miss Yu Yue was uninformed about the happenings but now looking at the person standing with her, it was them who turned out to be the fools. That young master would do anything for Miss and she herself wouldn't have to say or do anything. It seemed the legitimate daughter was more cunning and therefore more dangerous between the two sisters.
Zixi watched as Yueyue and Li Rong stood there one of them laughing without any constraints and the other indulging her in her laughter. Today he didn't even have the heart to be sarcastic or even spare any thoughts to Li Rong. He just turned his head away to not spike his own blood pressure.
Su Li already knew what would happen and that was why she brought Li Rong home. One needed to have a back - up if one wanted to duel with another person. She had already explained the ins and outs of everything to Li Rong and he had unhesitatingly agreed to help her. She was insecure in her own heart about all of this and she knew that if today Zixi was asked to leave the Yu residence, both him and herself would be done for. She didn't want him to leave and she didn't want to disappoint Yu Jian about loosing and not sheltering a close aide. The only person she could ask help from was Li Rong. Though, Su Li herself didn't know him, only had the information of his time spent together with the original, nevertheless, she felt a strange kind of inborn trust towards this person. As if no matter what, he would help her -her own self Su Li and not because she was Yu Yue. Also, she had the intention to get close to him and understand why she got this kind of feeling from him. Luckily he had agreed without a question and she felt at ease in her heart.