"Your Highness, the carriage is ready."
A voice rang out from outside of the Jian Palace.
It was a guard.
Butler Liu turned towards Ling Qing'er, who had just returned from her room and was chatting with Ye Tian Yun, "Miss Ling, it's time."
Ling Hao was about to ask something but stopped midway upon hearing Butler Liu's words.
"Let's go! Second Sis, it's finally time to take you home! Yay!" He cheered.
Ling Qing'er smiled, "Yes, let's go." And then, turning towards Ye Tian Yun, she asked, "Crown Prince, thank you for everything."
Ye Tian Yun smiled, "It wasn't much. Let's go."
With that, the four of them headed out of the palace with Ye Tian Yun in the lead.
A huge Six Golden Ferghana Horse carriage was outside the Jian Palace with the Imperial Seal embedded on it.
Below the seal was a small crown, signifying that this carriage belonged to the Crown Prince.
Ye Tian Yun lightly frowned at this but didn't mind much.
'Why do they need to use an official carriage?'
As if reading his mind, Butler Liu answered, "Crown Prince, this is your first time visiting your in-laws. We have to make it count."
Ye Tian Yun lightly nodded.
But remembering his previous life, he couldn't recall any fanfare like this. The whole event was pretty discreet, and only the people who needed to know about this knew about this.
"Let's go!" Ling Hao laughed and hopped towards the carriage.
Ye Tian Yun gestured at Ling Qing'er to move first, and then he too followed behind.
Soon, the four of them were on the carriage as it began to move.
"It will take some time to reach the Ling Clan." Butler Liu said.
"Oh?" Ling Qing'er couldn't help but ask, "Why? Are we going to stop somewhere in between?"
Butler Liu thought for a moment and replied, "Something like that. Well, everyone in the Imperial City will know that this is the Crown Prince's carriage and would most likely stop whatever they are doing just to get a look of his face."
"Oh?" Ling Qing'er was surprised.
Butler Liu couldn't help but laugh at this, "You should get used to this if you are going to be friends with the Crown Prince."
"Yeah, I figured. Brother-in-law sure is famous." Ling Qing'er smiled.
Just then, someone called out.
"Crown Prince."
It was Ling Hao.
The other three in the carriage turned their heads towards him.
"What is it, little brother Hao?" Ye Tian Yun asked.
"Um…" Ling Hao thought for a moment before asking, "Ca-can… I… also call you Brother-in-law?"
His childish and innocent voice rang through the carriage, making the other three smile.
Ye Tian Yun couldn't say no, so he nodded, "Sure, call me as you like."
"Thank you! Brother-in-law!" Ling Hao laughed.
He felt a sense of achievement.
Ling Qing'er said, "Aiyo, Third Brother, you don't need to ask something like this; you could simply call him Brother-in-law just like I do."
Ye Tian Yun rolled his eyes at her words.
Ling Hao simply smiled at this, "Hehe, Second Sister, I know, but I felt I should ask first."
Ling Qing'er simply shrugged at this.
For some reason, she felt very comfortable talking to Ye Tian Yun, so calling him Brother-in-law didn't create hesitation for her.
However, Ling Hao's case was a bit different. He had spent all his life in the Middle Heavens, and for him, Ye Tian Yun was like a celebrity. Thus he didn't wish to offend him.
As the three of them continued to chat with a line or two in between from Butler Liu, too, they finally reached the Ling Clan Manor.
This was not where the main Ling Clan lived; rather, it was one of their manors in the Imperial City.
None of the Great Clans or super sects were headquartered in the Imperial City.
They only had a base here.
The Ling Clan had a whole province under them, called the Ling Province in the north-western part of the Middle Heavens.
However, this didn't mean the manor in the Imperial City wasn't important.
Rather, it was the place where the Ling Clan Head, Heavenly King Ling Guang, lived with his wife and daughter and a few servants.
The remaining clan members lived and managed the Ling Province.
This was similar to how the other clans managed things.
As for the sects and schools, things were a bit different.
Click!
The gates of the carriage were opened, and Ye Tian Yun stepped out.
As soon as he stood out of the carriage, the whole area suddenly went silent.
It was as if there was an explosion as the whole area burst with cheers in the next moment.
'So many people….'
There were just too many people covering the whole area, standing at the gates of the Ling Manor, waiting to catch a glimpse of the legendary Crown Prince.
"Crown Prince!"
"Crown Prince!"
"Crown Prince!"
The whole area suddenly got blasted with cheers.
Ye Tian Yun's left eye twitched upon hearing this.
'Ling Clan… what are you people playing at?'
He decided to confront Heavenly King Ling Guang about this later.
For now, he stepped aside as the next person to step out was Ling Qing'er.
As soon as she stepped out on the ground, the area was silenced once again.
Within a few seconds, the crowd began to recover from their trance and cheered once again.
They knew Ling Qing'er was soon going to be a heaven-defying beauty.
Soon, Ling Hao and Butler Liu had also stepped outside of the carriage.
"Let's head inside," Ye Tian Yun said, gesturing Ling Qing'er to walk ahead of them, "It's your moment. Enjoy it."
Ling Qing'er slightly nodded and headed inside.
The crowd slowly parted, revealing the full entrance of the Ling Clan Manor.
However, the first thing that they laid eyes on was the people at the other end of the path.
It was the Ling Family.
The Clan Head Ling is also called the Heavenly King Ling Guang.
On his right was his wife, Madam Ling, Ling Mingyu.
And on his left was his eldest daughter, Ling Feng's.
"You're finally here." Only three words came out of Heavenly King Ling's mouth.
His daughter was finally home.
Tears welled up in Ling Qing'er's eyes as she immediately went in for a hug.
Clan Head Ling Guang spread his arms wide and took his daughter in his arms.
Even though he was one of the most powerful people in the whole Middle Heavens, both in terms of cultivation and prestige, Ling Guang right now was just a father.
In the last two months, he had already met his daughter twice, but seeing her stepping inside the home for the first time, he lost his composure and couldn't suppress his emotions.
He clearly remembered how he had to put a stone on his heart and hide her daughter at his friend Heavenly King Wang's place.
He had no other choice at that time, but now things calmed down and his daughter could finally be home.
Besides him, his wife had an even bigger reaction.
She had lost her composure as soon as her eyes laid on Ling Qing'er.
She had spent almost all of her past two months in the Jian Palace, but just like her husband, she couldn't hold back her tears.
This was truly an emotional moment, not only for the Ling Family but for everyone witnessing the scene.
Though there was one exception.
Ye Tian Yun.
His left eye was twitching, and a thousand questions were popping in his heart.
But because he didn't wish to be a party-pooper, he didn't say anything and decided to wait for the right moment.
What made the calm Ye Tian Yun have so many questions?
Well, it was the favourability on the Ling Family's head.
[Ling Guang. -3 Stars Favourability. He doesn't like you because of your Father and mainly hates you because he has no other choice but to marry his daughter to you.]
[Ling Mingyu. -3 Star Favourability. She feels helpless and disappointed in herself as a mother because she can't even help her own daughter. She puts the whole blame on the Great Ye Clan for this.]
This wasn't surprising.
In his previous life, too, Ye Tian Yun had felt something was off from their attitude towards him.
Though slowly, they accepted him.
But what distracted him most right now was Ling Feng'er.
She didn't react like a star-struck girl who fell in love at first sight.
In fact, she didn't even look at ye Tian Yun.
She was instead focused on her younger sister, who had just come home for the first time in fourteen years.
'Something's off….'
This was the second time Ye Tian Yun felt as if things weren't going as scripted when it came to Ling Feng'er.
The biggest red flag was the prompt on her head.
There was no prompt.
...
A/n: This week will have irregular updates ranging from 1ch/d to 4ch/d. My laptop will be repaired by next tuesday.