She did it on purpose — she absolutely did it on purpose!

Feng Qingyin’s expression grew colder and colder, her grip tightening more and more.

Suddenly, she strode over and seized Feng Jiu’er by the wrist.

The hatred in the depths of her eyes contorted her delicately made-up face into something twisted and vicious.

“Feng Jiu’er, do you truly not remember what happened last night?”

Jiu’er was being squeezed painfully, and her little face scrunched up. “Qingyin elder sister, what’s wrong with you? You’re hurting me.”

Yanu hurried over and pushed Feng Qingyin’s hand away, carefully blowing on Jiu’er’s reddened wrist.

No matter how hard Feng Qingyin looked, she could find nothing off about Feng Jiu’er — she was exactly the same as always, no different from before at all.

How could this be? Could it be that those words just now were truly unintentional?

She… was still that fool, wasn’t she?

A fool babbling nonsense — that could be forgiven, perhaps. But words like those were truly deadly!

Feng Qingyin let out a breath and smiled gently. “It’s nothing. I just wanted to see whether Jiu’er little sister was really hurt.”

She had restored her usual gentle demeanor, pressing down the hatred that had flared in her eyes.

“Oh, and Jiu’er little sister — Father said that all of us sisters may attend the Imperial Academy. You have a spot as well…”

“Qingyin elder sister, whose father are you calling yours? Aren’t you just the bastard born from Yuniang sleeping around with some man? Do bastards get to have fathers?”

“Feng Jiu’er!”

“What’s wrong? Everyone says that. Did I… say something wrong?” Feng Jiu’er ducked behind Yanu’s back, seemingly frightened by Feng Qingyin’s fury.

Yanu remained expressionless as always. His face was ruined, his voice gone — in most situations he was nothing more than a decoration.

And a somewhat eyesore of a decoration, at that.

Feng Qingyin’s chest heaved with rage, her desire to kill growing more and more intense.

But in the end, she still held herself back.

“Jiu’er, Father… your father has already accepted me as his goddaughter. I am now a young miss of the Feng Family as well.”

Smiling with her lips but not her eyes, she continued in a coaxing tone. “Jiu’er, Father said you are still too young, and he fears that if you go to the Imperial Academy, you will be bullied by people there…”

“Are all the people in the Imperial Academy bad?” Feng Jiu’er asked with a look of utter innocence.

“Of course!” Feng Qingyin, seeing that she had taken the bait, pressed on immediately. “They are all bad people — they bully girls, beat them, and even kill them. It is very frightening.”

Feng Jiu’er shrank back further behind Yanu. At the sight, Feng Qingyin’s heart leapt with delight.

“Jiu’er, I am afraid you will go there and be harmed by those people. Why don’t you say that your health is poor and that you cannot attend the Imperial Academy to study — and let elder sister go in your place?”

So this was the true purpose behind Feng Qingyin’s “endurance of humiliation” in coming to find her tonight.

Because she was a goddaughter — although ranked as Eighth Miss, her position was not legitimate — and so there was simply no spot allocated to her for enrollment.

Feng Jiu’er laughed inwardly. Go in her place to the Imperial Academy? Dream on!

“The Imperial Academy sounds so frightening — no, I’m scared. I’m going to tell Grandfather!”

Feng Jiu’er jumped down from her chair and headed straight for the door.

Feng Qingyin was startled and rushed after her in a panic. “Jiu’er, what are you going to Grandfather for?”

“You said the people at the Imperial Academy are all bad and that they even kill people. I’m going to tell Grandfather so he can tell His Majesty to have all the bad people arrested.”

“Jiu’er, you cannot go.” Feng Qingyin was terrified and scrambled frantically to stop her. “Jiu’er, elder sister… elder sister was just joking with you — don’t go.”

If Feng Jiu’er spread those words around, would she not end up offending an enormous number of people?

And once she offended them, how was she supposed to live well in the capital in the future?