"Son, why are you standing? Take a seat," Madam Xin said in a concerned voice, "You are still not fully healthy, standing for long will only harm you."
She didn't let Ye Tian Yun reply and dragged him to sit on a chair.
And then, glancing at Prime Minister Fang Yuan, she snarled, "How heartless are you! First, you didn't visit him, and now that he comes to you, you make him stand for so long!? If I didn't come here, god knows how long my child would have suffered!"
Prime Minister Fang Yuan replied without raising his head, "He's a young man. If he can't even stand in one place, how will he grow up as a powerful cultivator?"
Madam Xin narrowed her eyes, "How can a man not love his own son!? I understand Chen'er has made a few mistakes, but do you have to be so iron-hearted? Maybe he's like this because you have failed yourself as a father!"
Prime Minister Fang Yuan wasn't affected by these sharp words. He continued to reply without raising his head, "He can leave this room whenever he wants. I never told him to stay."
Hearing these words, Ye Tian Yun had a strong urge to roll their eyes.
Did Prime Minister Fang consider him a noob?
Ye Tian Yun's father was Emperor Ye.
As loving as he was, Emperor Ye was also the strictest.
And Ye Tian Yun had learned enough lessons, and he understood the 'language' of a 'father'.
"I bet you didn't even look at your son's face!" Madam Xin, however, was angered by Prime Minister Fang's indifferent attitude, "Are those pieces of paper worth more to you than your son and me?"
The Prime Minister frowned and put down the paper.
Raising his head, he stared at the woman and young man in front of him.
Without missing a beat, Prime Minister Fang said, "Yan'er, nothing in this world is worth more than you to me."
Madam Xin's expression didn't falter from the honeyed words, "What about your son? You still haven't looked at him!"
Prime Minister Fang Yuan shook his head, and looking into Ye Tian Yun's eyes; he said, "He lived a luxurious and carefree life in the Royal City. Even though his talent was worthless, I still sent him to the Gracious Sword Sect to become a cultivator. But he left the sect with an excuse of 'helping me'."
"Now, look at him. It's not me who needs his help. He needs his own help."
Madam Xin frowned, "You should be happy that your son at least had the guts to make this excuse. Look at scions of other clans. None of them had the guts to say this."
Prime Minister Fang smirked, "It's because they know what's happening, and Fang Chen is simply ignorant."
Madam Xin narrowed her eyes, "Do you think your son is omnipresent? He can only know if you tell him. All other scions got the information from their clans; only those sacrificial lambs are unaware of the truth. Don't you dare say that you're planning my son to become your sacrificial lamb!"
Prime Minister Fang lowered his gaze and didn't say anything, indirectly confirming Madam Xin's words.
"You bastard!" Madam Xin's anger exploded, "How could you do this!? What more do you need!? Hah! You have everything, and you can't even love your own son!? What kind of father sacrifices his son to get into the good graces of his King?"
"And have you forgotten that the King is also your brother-in-law and my elder brother!? How in the world did he even allow this to happen!?"
"I will go right now! I will visit my elder brother and have a nice chat with him. You two bastards, trying to kill my son! I will never forgive you!"
Turning her head at Ye Tian Yun, she said, "Come with me, son. Just think that you don't have a father, hmph!"
Prime Minister Fang clenched his teeth, and just as Madam Xin was about to get out of the room, he said, "Stop, Xin Xue Yan."
Madam Xin's footsteps halted, "What did you just call me?"
Prime Minister Fang Yuan ignored her words, "Xin Xue Yan, you will not go and talk about this matter to the King. There are a lot of other things you need to worry about. I could not contact the two guards I had sent with Fang Chen, so my message never reached Fang Chen."
"I didn't wish for him to come back to the Royal City. At least not till next year. But this stupid kid is now here, and there's no going back. The decision is also already made, and King Xin can't take it back just for Fang Chen's sake."
"Why can't he take it back?" Madam Xin frowned, "Did he forget that Fang Chen is his nephew?"
Fang Yuan let out a sigh, "No, he didn't forget. Ah, Yan'er, why don't you look at this situation from my perspective?"
Madam Xin narrowed her eyes, "Now you know what to call me, hmph! Tell me, what's your perspective on this? I really want to know what makes you think that sending your own son to the grim reaper is the right thing to do."
Prime Minister Fang gestured at the two of them and said, "First, take a seat; I will explain this to you once.
As both Ye Tian Yun and Madam Xin took two seats on the other side of the table, Prime Minister Fang began to explain.
"Let's be real here for a moment. Fang Chen's cultivation talent is pretty mediocre. But his nature is cunning, and his strategic thinking is his biggest trait. His nature is the reason why I want him to go to war. He won't be cannon fodder; instead, a strategist. He will have his own army in the war."
"If he wins that war, I won't have trouble in giving the Clan Head's seat to him."
As Ye Tian Yun heard these words, he got more and more confused.
'He wants his enemy's son, Fang Chen, to be the next Clan Head?'
'This… this is not according to the script….'