Cultivation: Starting with Sterilizing My Own Father

After the Cui family finished eating, no one came to the side room. Cui Shuilan thought about it and decided to come over and find a side courtyard for her sister's family to stay in first.

The courtyard was in a secluded spot. The further one walked, the less the scent of ink remained, replaced by a strong medicinal fragrance. Cui Lanyin initially thought someone in the Cui family was ill. Cui Shuilan explained, "No one is sick. That's the manor's alchemy room. Father recently spent a fortune acquiring the 'Wenwu Fire,' also called the 'Six Ding Divine Fire,' specifically for refining pills for my three older brothers and eldest sister. Our generation of children either lack spiritual roots like me, or, like my eldest sister, have at best three spiritual roots. Father decided to use the Six Ding Divine Fire, along with various rare treasures, to try and transform my eldest sister into a single spiritual root. Be careful, don't get too close. This Six Ding Divine Fire is the fire from the Supreme Lord Laozi's alchemy furnace; it can burn even Nascent Soul stage cultivators to ashes. Father dotes on Aunt Wen, who is his concubine who sits beside him at meals. Although she's a concubine, he still calls her 'Aunt' in private. If Aunt Wen gets angry, no one can protect you."

The arranged accommodations were right next to the alchemy room. Grandma and Wei Youcai fell asleep immediately. Cui Lanyin straightened her clothes and said, "I'm going to pay my respects to my parents."

Cui Shuilan quickly stopped her: "Alright, Mother is used to taking a nap at this time. Father should be in the study dealing with things right now, and you don't even know where the study is..."

"I know."

Cui Shuilan was taken aback.

"I know. I was already five years old when I got lost. I've been smart since I was little. I know where the study is at home."

Cui Shuilan was completely bewildered, because according to what Wei Zhiying and Wei Lanyin said, Cui Lanyin should not remember anything. How come she remembered everything after going home? This is not amnesia: "Then... then you can do as you please. My husband and I will go back to the Su family first. After my father-in-law steps down, my husband will officially become the head of the Su family. I still need to manage various household affairs. If you need anything, you can ask the servants or other sisters. Qiaoqiao is also close to the New Year. Everyone in her family has gotten married and moved out. Her sisters have also come back and will stay here for two months. You can adjust first. I'll be leaving now."

She didn't actually call her "sister" out loud. After all, Cui Lanyin looked old enough to be her mother, and Cui Shuilan didn't want to stay at home any longer. After all, she was the one who started this whole thing; she was the one who told the family about Cui Lanyin yesterday. Judging from her father and mistress's attitude today, if she weren't the future matriarch of the Su family, she would probably be implicated. When Cui Shuilan reached the door, worried that her mother, who had been promoted to concubine, would be blamed, she quickly turned around and took her mother with her.

Cui Lanyin had arrived at her father's study according to her memory. She intended to have someone announce her arrival, but found no one around the room, so she went up and knocked on the door.

"Who? Didn't I say I wouldn't see anyone?"

Cui Lanyin felt her heart was about to jump out of her chest: "Father, it's me."

The door opened, and Cui Lanyin found her mother there as well: "Mother! Are you discussing here about me being recognized as a member of the family? There's no need for all that trouble. Doesn't the Cui family register a child after their one-month celebration? My name has always been on the family tree. Father and Mother, there's no need for you to go through all that trouble."

However, the two elderly people looked somewhat strange. The old lady asked, "You...you remember everything?"

Cui Lanyin nodded: "Yes, Mother, didn't you always praise me for being smart when I was little? I could memorize those poems after reading them only once, and I could recite the Four Books for Women by heart when I was three years old. Even though I've fallen behind over the years, I've never forgotten what I've memorized."

Upon hearing this, the expressions on the two old people's faces became even more interesting.

Cui Lanyin's smile vanished: "I sensed something was wrong the moment I stepped into the house. Some of my sisters don't even know I exist. Haven't you looked for me since I got lost? Don't you want me anymore?"

The head of the Cui family flung his sleeve in annoyance: "Enough! The Rules for Disciples say, 'In front of elders, one should speak softly.' You don't even know this most basic thing. You've wasted your education. If it weren't for the despicable things you did back then, the fact that I didn't blame you for disgracing the family is already out of consideration for our father-daughter relationship."

"What have I done? I've been missing for decades, and you haven't even told anyone. The outside world doesn't even know that the Cui family has a legitimate daughter like me, their only legitimate child!"

The old lady quickly stopped Cui Lanyin: "You have the air of a common woman. Apologize to your father right now and don't disturb him while he's handling his business. Come out!"

The old lady forcibly pulled her daughter away. Normally, Cui Lanyin would have a lot of energy from long hours of physical labor, but the old lady was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and Cui Lanyin hadn't eaten lunch, so she was easily pulled away.

The old lady took her daughter back to her residence, dismissed all the servants, and said with exasperation, "Why are you yelling about my situation with your father? You know perfectly well that I was injured when I gave birth to you and can never have another child. Your eldest and second brothers have been raised by me for decades. They were only brought to me when they were grown up and aren't close to me. Now that you've made such a scene, who am I supposed to rely on in the future?"

Cui Lanyin held her mother's hand to her chest: "Mother, you still have me!"

"you?"

Cui Lanyin would never forget that look in her eyes; it was the kind of look that said, "What kind of filthy thing is talking so arrogantly?"

"Look at you, you're so thin you're practically skin and bones. You can't even manage your husband and son, and you expect to manage me? Even if I could count on you, what level of cultivation do you possess? The position of head of this family has always been passed down to sons, not daughters, and you've been a constant worry since I was little. 'A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent,' but instead of diligently studying your 'virtues and precepts for women,' you're engrossed in the Four Books and Five Classics. You naively claim that laws can govern aristocratic families, that inheritance should be equal among children, but go out and look at the clan elders—which one agrees to that? Besides inheriting a small portion of my dowry, what else can you inherit? Even if I stuff the dowry into your hands, you wouldn't be able to keep it!"

Cui Lanyin had long since stopped crying; her eyes were filled with terror and disbelief at the prospect of being abandoned: "Mother! Mother!"

Upon hearing this form of address, the old lady frowned slightly.

"Mother, you can't do this! What's the difference between this and discarding a donkey after it has served its purpose? I remember everything that happened back then perfectly. You were able to raise my eldest and second brothers because I lost them, right? I did it all for you, Mother!" Cui Lanyin grabbed her mother's clothes and tugged at them. "Ever since I can remember, you've been sighing and complaining in front of me, saying how Aunt Wen bullied you, how she trampled on you. When you saw that Aunt Wen had three sons and a daughter, you kept sighing in front of me. When you saw that my eldest sister was only seven years old and my father was already arranging marriages for her with a prestigious family, you told me that if my favored eldest sister wasn't there, Aunt Wen wouldn't dare to be so arrogant anymore, and you could raise your sons! That's why I took my eldest sister out during the New Year!"

"Shut up!" The old lady quickly looked around, using her divine sense to check if anyone was nearby, and then slapped Cui Lanyin hard across the face. The strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator's slap was far beyond that of an ordinary person. Blood trickled from the corner of Cui Lanyin's mouth. She coughed a few times, and a bloody tooth fell to the ground: "You hit me..."

The old lady pointed at her daughter on the ground: "That's why I hit you! If you weren't so stupid and clumsy, dressed so luxuriously, and hadn't run off with that wretched girl, how could that kidnapper have even glanced at your older sister before turning around and kidnapping you!"

"You've been the one who bought all my clothes since I was little, and my eldest sister was wearing a pale yellow coarse cloth dress back then, so it must have been her..."

"Shut up!" the old lady snapped. "Useless thing! You could have just left, but decades later you come back! And then you tell us you have a top-grade water spirit root? Why didn't you say so sooner? Did you just want to see us regret it?"

"I didn't want to either. According to the family rules, girls must be well-versed in the virtues and precepts of women before the clan can arrange for them to be tested in advance. The spiritual root test must be done at least when they are ten years old. I was only five years old that year, and I didn't even know that I had a spiritual root. If you had tested my spiritual root at birth like you did for the other brothers, I wouldn't have had no opportunity to cultivate since I was a child."

"I gave birth to you and raised you, and you still blame me!"

"Whose fault is it if not yours!" Cui Lanyin retorted angrily, "You're the one who made me do those things! You're the one who made me sell my older sister to human traffickers!"

"If I tell you to go, you go; if I tell you to die, why don't you die? If I tell you to eat swill, why don't you eat swill?" Before Cui Lanyin could finish speaking, the old lady interrupted her: "You have no ability to distinguish right from wrong. You do whatever others tell you to do, regardless of who you're dealing with. If you ask me, you deserve to be in this state!"

After speaking, the old lady wiped away her tears and recounted the grievances she had suffered over the years: "Do you think I've had a good life? It was only because you couldn't come back that your father agreed to let me raise Aunt Wen's two children. Otherwise, how could your father be so heartless! When you were kidnapped, that wretched girl came back and said you wanted to sell her. Originally, your Aunt Wen was quite respectful to me, coming to pay her respects morning and night. But as soon as she found out you were going to sell her daughter and raise her two sons with me, she became arrogant and domineering, no longer coming to pay her respects. She went directly to the storeroom to ask for her monthly allowance. If there was even the slightest defect or imperfection, she would hurl insults and curses. She even managed to get your father to give her the position of a secondary wife, and she's always putting me down!"

Cui Lanyin was stunned: "What did you say..." Cui Lanyin even doubted that she had misheard: "Didn't you say that Aunt Wen was always like this to you? How could she only become like this after I was kidnapped? Did Aunt Wen used to respect you a lot?"

"Pah! That bitch respects me? If she respected me, she should let me raise all her sons, then obediently drink the safflower tea, saying things like 'a mother and child are connected' and 'I don't want to be separated,' and 'safflower is harmful to the body, I shouldn't drink it right after giving birth.' Pah! It's all an excuse!"

The old lady turned and went straight back into the house: "Behave yourself. Tomorrow I'll give you some dowry. Take it and go back where you belong. Don't come back. Your eldest and second brothers are already unhappy today, so don't make things worse for them!"

The door slammed shut, and Cui Lanyin, lost and disoriented, walked away. She didn't return to her current residence, but instead went back to the former Qing Shui Xuan, once the most luxurious residence in Cui's household, now the residence of Aunt Wen's eldest daughter, Cui Qinglan.