Hidden Dragon Enters the Abyss

(All characters in this book are over 18 years old.)

Study, "Brother Sakayanagi, what brings you to call me today?"

Yun Shen, the current head of the Yun Family, felt quite strange receiving a call from this old friend he hadn't seen in years. Usually, he was far too busy with the affairs of that Advanced Nurturing University of his to have time for a chat.

"It's like this: I was thinking your child is about to start high school, and I was wondering if my humble temple might be graced by the presence of your son, that great Buddha?"

"Brother Sakayanagi, you're joking. I can't make that decision for him; it really depends on the child's own wishes. How about this? I'll ask him for you in a moment."

Yun Shen exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up the phone.

Yun Lan was the apple of the family's eye, showered with endless affection. No one could force him to do anything, not even his father, Yun Shen.

This level of doting wasn't just because Yun Lan was a once-in-a-century genius; it was also because he had successfully completed the family's trials, earning the full recognition of the clansmen as their young patriarch.

If he dared to demand that Yun Lan attend Advanced Nurturing High School just to give his Uncle Sakayanagi some face, he would be met with a harsh reality.

That very night, the elders and his own wife, Xia Yue, would be waiting with rattan canes to test his mettle.

Yun Shen took a light sip of the steaming tea on his desk, pondered for a moment, and then had an idea. He stood up and left the study.

"Master."

The old butler, who had been waiting outside the door, immediately bowed with one hand over his chest as he saw Yun Shen emerge.

"Has the Madam returned?" Yun Shen asked calmly, looking at the scenery outside the window.

"Master, the Madam has just returned."

"Ask her to come over; tell her I have something important to discuss with her."

Xia Yue had just returned from shopping and hadn't even had a chance to rest when she heard the old butler say her husband was looking for her.

Xia Yue walked into the study and, seeing her husband leisurely sipping hot tea, felt a surge of irritation.

"You'd better have a serious reason for calling me, or I won't mind letting you sleep on the sofa tonight."

Yun Shen chuckled, hurriedly trying to appease his wife.

"Wife, I recall you arranged a fiancée for Lan'er years ago, didn't you?"

"That did happen, but why do you ask? Yukinoshita Yukikiyo helped me a lot back when I was traveling and didn't know anyone."

Xia Yue replied with a sigh.

Yun Shen continued, "It's like this: Brother Sakayanagi wants Lan'er to attend his high school. And since Yukikiyo's husband passed away a few years ago, their family is in a very difficult position. I was thinking that while Lan'er is in Japan for school, he could help them out."

Xia Yue thought about it and agreed, "That works. It's a good chance for Lan'er to handle the romantic debts he left behind in Japan. I don't mind having a few more daughters-in-law, as long as Lan'er has the ability to handle it."

"What romantic debts? How come I don't know about this?" Yun Shen asked curiously.

"One of them was when Lan'er was young, maybe 10 years old. Didn't I take him to Japan for a trip? When he went to buy water, he saw a little girl with pink hair about his age stealing a hair clip. Lan'er didn't expose her; he just helped her buy it and gave it to her. He gently counseled her, and that little girl even added Lan'er's contact information."

"Since you agree, I'll call the boy over and ask for his opinion," Yun Shen said, taking a sip of tea.

"I'll go talk to Yukikiyo first." Xia Yue then went out to make a call.

Yun Lan was a transmigrator. After the system finished loading the peak template of Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, it had fallen into a deep sleep. Over the past decade, he had been refining the template, and now, it was finally complete.

Yun Lan was summoned to his father's study by the old butler.

"Young Master, the Master is inside." The old butler pushed open the door and respectfully stepped aside.

"Lan'er, have you decided which university you're going to?"

"I'm fine with anything; it doesn't really matter which one I attend."

With the Kiyotaka Ayanokoji template, it didn't matter to Yun Lan whether he went to school or not.

"Then... how about Advanced Nurturing High School? Your Uncle Sakayanagi wants you to go there."

Yun Shen got straight to the point.

"Is that Uncle Sakayanagi's wish? Very well, I agree. I'd like to experience what this school, rumored to have a 100% employment rate after graduation, is actually like."

Yun Shen let out a long sigh of relief, then contacted Sakayanagi to prepare for his son's enrollment.

------Divider------

Chiba Prefecture, Yukinoshita Residence.

Yukinoshita Yukikiyo called her eldest daughter, Yukinoshita Yukino, over.

"You actually have a fiancé, and he is coming to Japan soon to attend high school. You should go and cultivate a relationship with him. He is the young patriarch of the Yun Family in China. His mother and I have a friendship, which is why this engagement exists."

Mother Yukinoshita said calmly.

"The Yun Family? Is that the family that controls 50% of the global economy?"

Yukino asked in surprise.

"If you truly cannot make yourself like him," her mother's voice sounded again, steady and clear, as if she were reading an asset evaluation report, "I will consider letting Yukino try instead."

Yukinoshita Yukinoshita held her back straight, the impeccable mask of a smile—the one belonging to the eldest daughter of the Yukinoshita family—already firmly in place. Only she knew that her palms, hidden at her sides, had been dug into by her fingernails, leaving crescent-shaped marks that she slowly smoothed out by forcing herself to relax. Over and over again. Clenching was instinct; letting go was upbringing.

"You understand the situation our family is in," Mother Yukinoshita said, setting down her celadon teacup with a faint, crisp sound that felt like a final verdict.

Mother had brought up Yukino. Her younger sister, who was as quiet as moonlight and as fragile as the first snow of winter. Let Yukino "give it a try"? Yukinoshita could almost picture Yukino lowering her gaze, her long eyelashes trembling, before finally giving a soft nod. She would be obedient, then tuck all her confusion and sorrow into some corner of her heart, slowly freezing herself into an even more silent version of herself.

This thought caused Yukinoshita a sharper, more piercing pain than if she had been the one forced to accept the arrangement.

And so, she smiled. The smile bloomed across her exquisite face, bright, radiant, and even carrying that habitual, carefree air of mockery. Only deep within her eyes did a flicker of light quietly extinguish, sinking into a deep pool.

"Mother, how you put it," Yukinoshita's voice was light and airy, without a hint of hesitation, "it sounds as if I'm being unreasonable, throwing a tantrum. Mr. Yun is a talented young man from a prominent family; there are so many who would beg for such an opportunity. I just... need a little time to adjust."

She took two steps forward, her posture flawless, and personally refilled her mother's cooling tea. Steam rose up, briefly obscuring the line of sight between them.

"As for Yukino," Yukinoshita raised her eyes, her smile unchanged, though her voice was wrapped in a layer of soft velvet, hiding an unquestionable hardness beneath, "she is timid, and she is in a critical school year. Let's not disturb her with these matters. Regarding the situation of the Yun Family, as the eldest daughter, it is only natural that I should be the one to 'understand'."

She enunciated the word "understand" with a lightness that carried immense weight.

Mother Yukinoshita watched her, her gaze like an ancient well, bottomless and deep. There was no approval, nor was there opposition; she seemed to be merely evaluating the quality and the cost of this "sensibility." After a long while, she gave a barely audible "hmm" and picked up a document from the side.

Yukinoshita maintained her perfect smile and bowed to excuse herself. The moment she turned, the radiance on her face receded like a tide, leaving behind only a calm, bottomless pallor. She knew that she had just personally closed that door, the one that perhaps never existed, called "self."

The corridor was long and covered with thick carpet, swallowing all sound of her footsteps. She walked step by step, her silhouette like a stalk of bamboo bent by wind and snow, yet stubbornly pointing toward the sky.

Some burdens are destined to be carried by someone. Since she was Yukinoshita Yukinoshita, then the one to carry them had to be her. It could only be her.

At the same time, in the principal's office of Advanced Nurturing High School.

Only after receiving the reply from Yun Shen did Sakayanagi let out a long sigh, looking quietly at a file on his desk. The supreme masterpiece of the White Room?

"I went to great lengths for this school, inviting someone here just to keep you in check." A gust of wind blew the file onto the floor.

Written on the file was—Ayanokoji Kiyona.