At this moment.
In Shuiyun Jian.
Bai Youan sat with a darkened face in the uppermost private room.
However, he was not surrounded by "singing and dancing girls" as usual. Instead, a somewhat benevolent-looking old man sat opposite him.
But if one truly considered him a mere old man, they would be underestimating him greatly.
It was only after his rebirth that Bai Youan realized that this man, whom he had called "Father Ya" for over ten years, had made so many "efforts" to push him into the eye of the storm.
And when he "lived up to expectations" and successfully ascended, Father Ya monopolized power, becoming an unquestioned local tyrant in places Bai Youan could not see. What's more, after he discovered this, Father Ya actually raised an army in an attempt to pull him from the throne.
Now, reborn, Bai Youan's entire focus was on Song Qingchao and Song Qingmu.
He held resentment towards Father Ya, but not hatred.
After all, he remembered the kindness of his upbringing for many years.
It was just that he didn't understand why.
But he also didn't want to think about it, so he had been avoiding meeting Father Ya, letting his subordinates contact him and keeping a close watch on him.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have known that Father Ya's intentions had surfaced so early.
Every single matter had Father Ya's hand in it.
It was just that he hadn't expected Father Ya to be involved in the Song family's affairs...
For a moment, he didn't know how to face Song Qingchao.
Let alone in his past life, he had personally witnessed the suffering Song Qingchao had endured in the past few months.
Guilt.
The only emotions he could feel were heartache and endless self-blame.
Bai Youan sighed, his lowered head refusing to lift.
His originally gentle voice had now become hoarse, "Father Ya, why?"
Father Ya's expression remained unchanged, "I thought you would come to find me."
He calmly took a sip of tea, "You are truly muddle-headed."
"Am I muddle-headed, or are you, Father Ya?"
Bai Youan raised his head, revealing his bloodshot eyes, "Aren't we living very well like this now?"
"Well!?" Father Ya slammed the teacup onto the table, "Where is it well? Have I protected you too well these past few years, making you forget your original intention?"
His every word was like a sharp blade, tearing away his former benevolence without a trace.
"Have you forgotten how your father was slandered and framed? Or have you forgotten the tens of thousands of Bai family soldiers buried here, covered by snow year after year! I think you have no conscience!"
Bai Youan's hand, gripping the table, slowly tightened, the veins on his hand revealing his suppressed emotions.
"How could I not?"
He also had no intention of backing down.
"Eighty percent of the officials involved back then have fallen, receiving their due retribution. Only Prime Minister Wang cannot be acted against for the time being! But the evidence of his deeds has already been collected, waiting for the day to drag him into the abyss. Only then can the grievance of such framing be avenged. What more do you want?"
Father Ya merely chuckled, "So it is avenged?"
He widened his eyes, spread his arms, and placed them on the table in front of Bai Youan with a "snap."
The old man and the young man stared at each other, neither willing to yield.
"What about the Bai family? Have you forgotten?"
His face flushed red, as if his own family had been framed.
"I shouldn't have saved you back then!"
Bai Youan's expression was no better, "I am indeed grateful for your upbringing, but this is not a reason for you to frame loyal officials."
Father Ya began to laugh as if driven mad.
Bai Youan stood up and directly signaled for someone to escort Father Ya away.
The people outside came in to take Father Ya away, but he struggled a couple of times, "I don't feel it's worth it for my dead son!"
Bai Youan closed his eyes and turned away, unwilling to look further.
"Take good care of Father Ya."
When the room finally quieted down, Bai Youan still couldn't escape his emotions.
He ambled to the window and pushed it open a crack.
His window was pushed upwards from the bottom, so he couldn't see the full view outside.
He only saw that Xiyun Pavilion, which had been brightly lit, suddenly went dark.
"Master, Father Ya has already been secretly sent to Jiangnan. You don't need to worry."
Bai Youan, holding his folding fan, simply nodded in acknowledgment.
How could he forget what Father Ya had said?
He had indeed almost died.
He was an unborn child, and without his master, he wouldn't even have had the chance to be born.
His master had delivered him from his mother's womb, and to save him, to save the last bloodline of the Bai family, he had entrusted him to his father's personal attendant, who was Father Ya.
But at that time, people had already tracked them there. When they were forced to hand over the posthumous child of the Bai family, Father Ya substituted his own child.
Father Ya had watched with his own eyes as the soldiers smashed his own flesh and blood to death on the ground.
Later, Father Ya and his master went to Nanyi to live in seclusion.
He was still in swaddling clothes at the time and had no memory of this.
However, he firmly believed what his master had said, and thus, for so many years, he had always indulged Father Ya.
Even when he made many mistakes, Bai Youan tolerated it.
It was just that he hadn't expected Father Ya to do so much for revenge.
In his ignorance, how many loyal officials had been removed or sent to distant posts because they stood in Father Ya's way?
Of course, he had not forgotten what his own family had experienced.
However, the current era was still peaceful, and he did not need to involve innocent civilians for his personal vendetta.
Moreover, according to what he learned from his father—
The war would only break out five years later.
As long as he intervened and stopped the source of all the accidents, perhaps the chaos would not come.
Da Yuan would still be a prosperous and peaceful era.
He had sat in that position long enough.
Moreover, it was only after he ascended to that position that he understood what responsibility and the welfare of the common people meant.
The common people simply yearned for a better life.
They didn't care about the name of the emperor sitting above, only whether there would be millet in their pots tomorrow and whether they could survive the winter this year.
To drag the entire empire into war for one's own personal vendetta would not be the act of a gentleman and was the most unforgivable.
Bai Youan couldn't understand why Father Ya harbored such deep-seated obsession.
If it was about hatred, it should be directed at him.
If he had handed him over back then, Father Ya's own child would have lived.
Bai Youan's head ached terribly from thinking.
He placed his hand on his temples and rubbed them vigorously, "Is Master's condition any better now?"
"No, his condition has worsened."
"Does he take his medicine on time daily?"
"Yes, Master, please rest assured. Those below are very thorough in their work, and Father Ya also takes care of him."
Bai Youan's gaze sharpened, "Father Ya takes care of him?"
"Yes, Father Ya visits Elder Yuan weekly to play a few games of chess."
Bai Youan never knew quite how to describe the relationship between Father Ya and his master.
In his previous life, his master had first gone mad, then became senile, and finally jumped from the city wall on the day he launched his rebellion.
Had his master known some secret in the previous life, which led to...
Bai Youan dared not dwell on it for long and quickly arranged for his former master to be brought to Mobei.
"Remember, absolutely do not alert Father Ya."
"Master, there is one more thing. This is a letter from Miss Song."