Chapter 49: Severing All Ties of Affection and Righteousness

[Imperial Edict Arrives——]

A solemn and majestic baritone voice, reminiscent of a major national news broadcast finale, resounded without warning in Ye Qingyan's mind.

The commotion almost made her think her brain had been kicked by a donkey.

[Rebellious subject! You old sly fox! You finally did something decent!]

[You finally managed to toss away that utterly useless womanly benevolence!]

[You're starting to look a bit like an emperor now, huh!]

[His Majesty's heart is deeply gratified! I must give your Moments post the very first like!]

Ye Qingyan: "..."

Aside from that cheap and breezy system of hers that popped out of nowhere, there was no one else with this familiar tone.

[To reward your sudden profound enlightenment today, His Majesty has decided to grant you a supreme treasure!]

The system's voice suddenly pitched up by an octet, as excited as if it had struck gold.

[Bestowed Divine Skill——「Severing All Emotion and Righteousness」!]

[Take it! Don't be polite! Use it to thoroughly crush every single roadblock in your life!]

The moment the words fell, an intangible yet mighty force instantly surged into Ye Qingyan's mind.

No pain.

In fact, it even felt a little good.

It was just like a computer that had been lagging for a decade, suddenly outfitted with a top-tier CPU and an RTX 4090 graphics card, with its network speed instantly boosted to full 5G.

The entire world in front of her eyes instantly transformed.

pavilions and kiosks, flowers, plants, trees, and even the dust floating in the air, were all disassembled, analyzed, and finally converted into rows of cold data and logical chains.

She blinked.

"Oh my god, this cheat is a bit outrageous."

She slowly turned her head, her gaze landing not far away on Ye Chengzong, who was so furious his beard and hair were bristling due to her "defiance."

In a split second, a translucent data panel hovered precisely above Ye Chengzong's head.

[Character: Ye Chengzong]

[Relationship: Biological Father (negligible)]

[Weaknesses: Pompous, vain, extremely selfish, intellectual wasteland]

[Current Goal: Attach himself to Prince Duan, achieve class mobility, and ascend to the heavens with the whole family (currently dreaming, please do not disturb)]

[Exploitable Point: That thicker-than-city-walls face of his, his self-righteous reputation (though utterly worthless)]

[Threat Level: Complete trash]

Ye Qingyan's gaze did not fluctuate in the slightest.

Father?

No.

The person before her was merely a data aggregate composed of countless weaknesses and desires, easily manipulated and destroyed.

She suddenly understood.

The skill 「Severing All Emotion and Righteousness」 bestowed by the system was not meant to turn her into an emotionless wooden puppet.

On the contrary.

It transformed the hatred burning within her to ashes, that endless grief over her mother's passing, converting and compressing them all into a blade of ultimate, ruthless rationality.

Emotion became the fuel powering her super brain.

The deeper the hatred, the faster the CPU spun.

The heavier the grief, the stronger the logical analysis capability.

She could see right through everyone's disguises, perceiving the truest desires and motives beneath their masks, precisely grasping the interest chains and fatal weak points of every single person.

"Previously, it was I who hated," she muttered to herself.

"Now, it is my CPU that hates."

She withdrew her gaze, expressionless, and turned to leave.

Ye Chengzong roared behind her.

"Rebellious wretch! Stop right there! Where do you think you're going!"

Ye Qingyan did not break her stride.

Where?

To dig a prime geomantic resting place for you.

As she walked down the path back to her courtyard, a guard happened to be walking towards her from the opposite direction, lowering his head to bow.

[Ding——]

Another data panel popped up in her field of vision.

[Unit: Guard A]

[Loyalty: 70% (just passing the passing line, loyal but not entirely loyal)]

[Current Status: Extremely anxious.]

[Reason for Anxiety: Two taels of silver short for his son's tuition fees, his wife continuously failing at Pinduoduo slash-to-cut-prices, his mindset on the verge of collapse.]

[Breakthrough Point: Money.]

[Operation Suggestion: Give three taels of silver to gain 100% loyalty and unlock the hidden attribute "Fight to the death for you."]

Ye Qingyan paused for a moment.

She reached into her sleeve, fished out five taels of silver, and tossed them into the guard's arms.

"The money for your son's schooling, I'll cover it."

"The rest is for your wife to buy some things."

Clutching that ingot of silver, the guard was dumbfounded on the spot, followed immediately by wild elation and gratitude as he dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Eldest Miss! This humble servant will never forget your immense kindness!"

Ye Qingyan merely gave a faint "Mhm" and continued walking forward.

The surrounding servants witnessed this scene and all felt that today's Eldest Miss was somewhat different.

Yet they couldn't quite put their finger on where the difference lay.

Clearly, it was still that same face, still that same set of clothes.

The way she looked at people no longer held the past gentleness or sorrow.

That gaze was as calm as a deep pool.

Yet as sharp as a scalpel, as if it could see straight through one's internal organs.

"Hiss... Do you guys feel like the Eldest Miss's aura is two meters eight today?"

"Don't talk nonsense, it's our own presence that has shrunk."

"I have a total feeling... the Eldest Miss is about to do something major."

...

Returning to her room, Ye Qingyan shut the door.

She did not light the lamp, simply sitting quietly before the desk.

Paper and pen were completely unnecessary.

Within her mind, a program had already begun running automatically.

A complete, intricate, interlocking blueprint for revenge was clearly generated in her mind in the form of a flowchart.

It was no longer that impulsive, naive thought of wanting to stab the other party to death with a single sword from the past.

Assassination?

That's something elementary school students do.

An adult's revenge is about breaking the heart and mind.

What she wanted was a comprehensive, precise, dimensional reduction strike against Ye Chengzong.

Step One: Commercial strike.

Sever all financial routes of the Ye family, reducing him from a wealthy landowner to a penniless pauper.

Step Two: Reputational destruction.

Tear his most cherished reputation as a "Confucian merchant" to shreds, making him a target of public condemnation wherever he goes.

Step Three: Network dissolution.

Cause all his proud backers and relationship networks to defect, turning him into a truly isolated loner.

Step Four: Donate all the wealth the Ye family accumulated through dirty means over the years to the national treasury! This neatly solves the problem of the empty national treasury while fulfilling the mission given to me by His Majesty.

She wanted to watch him witness with his own eyes everything he pursued throughout his life—power, wealth, prestige—turn into bubbles.

And then, at his most desperate and painful moment, kneel down to beg her.

Beg her to show mercy.

A cold smile finally surfaced on Ye Qingyan's face.

She walked to the window, pushed it open, and looked out in the direction of the capital.

The night was deep, the starlight dim.

"Ye Chengzong, you want to go to the capital to climb up the social ladder and become a person above others?"

"Very well."

"I will crowdfund a fine-quality golden-nanmu coffin for you, with free shipping included."

The first and most crucial step of revenge was to establish a commercial empire capable of contending with those powerful nobles in the capital.

Without money, one cannot move an inch.

She turned around and dragged a heavy wooden box out from under the bed.

Opening the box.

Inside were all her savings accumulated over the years, along with the bottom-of-the-box property deeds, land deeds, and jewelry left behind by her mother.

This was her startup capital.

The moonlight shone through the lattice window onto the phoenix hairpin in her hand, casting brilliant, shifting colors.

A brand-new, calm, and formidable goddess of revenge was about to step into the massive vanity fair that was the capital.

"Ye Chengzong, Prince Duan, everyone who has harmed me and my mother."

"The game has begun."

Suddenly, footsteps echoed from outside the door...