22 Ploy

The round sun is hanging high in the sky, sending warm rays of light into the room.

I didn't have the chance to sleep last night, and as assumed, I won't have the opportunity in the morning either; after all, a very anticipated face was in front of my eyes.

Nan was sitting in the bed as I laid down on the corner.

While we were speaking, my stomach made some embarrassing noises, notifying my sister of my starving predicament.

"Oh, seems like you're hungry," she happily uttered.

I nodded my head as a response; however, I glanced back at my girly dress, making a face of ultimate abash, hinting to my sister without using any words.

And like expected, nothing trespass her sharp gaze, "hehe, Well let's get you changed up first, I already made preparation and brought you some of the best quality robes available in the sect,"

"Thank you, Nan," I innocently answered.

Grimacing, she sneered, "Nan? How cold! Call me Big sister from now on."

"Y-yes"

"Big sister" I announced.

Next, I got my clothes changed to a black robe, stitched with white threads, and embossed by golden feathers.

Finishing tidying up, Nan took me to the same hall; the party was hosted in, but this time the lights were dimmer, and space was almost completely empty.

Noticing our arrival, the shocked maids horrified to prepare food and seats, wondering why would their young miss come this early.

We then sat down and had our breakfast; the family usually have three meals together. It was a tradition started with my great-great-grandfather, but today Nan disregarded such an old habit; she even brought a bastard to the family meals gathering.

Knowing that such a girl will not make mistakes this easily, I confusedly pondered upon this fact; perhaps, my laws already bent some of her decision making abilities?

While Nan forcefully fed me, guests started to enter the hall one after another, and it wasn't short till a quasi-familiar scene unraveled under my curious golden eyes.

I mean, How could I forget my brothers faces?

The three brothers proudly strolled down deeper into the hall, heads high, and posters as straight as a stick, Radiating an air of powerfully cultivated loftiness;

Nevertheless, they spotted Nan sitting beside a handsome little boy.

Each one of them had a different facial expression; the older one Mo Li was elegantly smiling, contrary to his second brother Mo Yung's frowning face, and lastly, the youngest son Mo Dan was bearing an expressionless visage.

However, all of them fastened their steps toward their well respected sister Mo Nan.

The first one to talk was Mo Yung, chiming, "Hello, Older sister,"

He couldn't help but stare at the boy wolfing the food by his dear sister side, quickly adding before any of the other brothers utter any words, "By the way who is that child?"

Nobody in the sect knew about me; I was like a secret hidden in deeply sealed Treasury.

His tone was still respectful, a kid who his goddess of a sister escorted and fed with her own hands, how could he be ordinary?

But they soon got their outlooks lowered to the ground by a single sentence.

"Oh, this is our brother, "Mo Chou." Nan introduced.

"Brother?" They all wore perplexed looks; the thing worth mentioning is that they probably never even had to remember the countless other sisters and brothers' names or even meet them; none of them had the qualification to stand side by side with the real descendants of the family.

The void was injustice. This rule was known and even approved by every dao seeker, especially for the ones from a prominent sect-like the heavenly sword sect.

Instantly the air totally shifted directions, realizing that the kid in front of them was a lowly bastard totally disgusted them. The only one who kept his composer was the older one, hypocritically speaking, "Ah, well hello friend,"

I answered with a "Hello," not daring to complete the "big brother" part according to Nan's advice at the party.

As a reaction of my casual greeting, his face twitched, but he kept an unmistakable smile toward the whole confrontation, yet, the other two brothers' revulsion showed at once, "How could a bastard sit in this hall" Yung yelled.

His question wasn't directed at his sister like it's supposed to, considering that I am only a child with no real decision-making ability, instead it was all directed at me.

'Another ignorant punk?' Looking at his wrathful eyes, I didn't know from where the enormous amount of resentment was coming from.

Before glancing at Nan to save me, she already spoke in a calm tone, "He's my special guest today; so don't even think of bothering him," hugging my body while smirking in front of the boys.

Her nonchalant words made the two younger boys' faces uglier than dead water.

'What is she doing now?.' I contemplated.

Seeing how she acted and taking into consideration her extreme intelligence, I formed a hypothesis based on the previous facts.

'First, she had the guts to plot and bring me to the inner circle after almost getting killed by my mother; at the first place, I won't be surprised if she had anything to do with Yu cultivation problem, even if it's doubtful; secondly, she let me meet my hateful sister, that was "randomly" sitting in her room in such a late hour at perfect timing with my arrival, and lastly, she brought me here knowing that I would meet my communists, brothers, putting me in their malicious radar.'

The first assumption, let's say, was purely driven by interest. Similarly, the second one was just a coincidence, and the current one was unintentional, but why wouldn't she consider their nasty faces? Of course, the first answer that came to mind is another question, "Is she blind?" but she clearly wasn't;

Then she only gave them more reasons to hate me after her soft threats.

Questions start flapping on my head like book pages.

All this just a random incident? There's no way such successive well-planned incidence be nonpurposive.

Could she be not as I assumed, the girl that was tired of being a tool for her family but a cunning wolf in pitful clothing?

Wasn't she a victim like me?

Disturbing thoughts prowled my mind sitting beside the girl that I don't know anymore, finishing it off with another stream of question marks, "Why is she doing this? And What are her motives?"

A sudden explanation came from the system.

<She wants you to fall into a deep hole, that even Yu won't be able to do anything>

"Why?" I immediately pursued.

<Depandance is the appropriate response in this case; she wants you to strongly depend on her and only her, just like a dog depends on its owner, slowly but steadily seeing her as the only Savior and light in your life, her scheme is already taking place and the favorability stats of the three boys are getting lowered>

Even the system quiet down for a second like it's taking a deep breath before resounding again inside of my head.

<She's very aware of the fact that you only have her at the moment. Indeed, her ploys are vicious; we probably have little to no chance of getting any external help or at least altering the future events for the time being >

The only word that came to my mouth was a dismal "Damn!"