Proof!

A year later, the White Tiger Duke returned with his troops through the north gate of Star Luo City.

People crowded the streets to watch the spectacle, and the Duke's Mansion had been bustling since early morning.

The servants began sweeping the courtyards and preparing a welcome feast. The Duchess herself stood at the gate with her legitimate son, Dai Huabin, to greet him.

Ye Tianming stood with Dai Yutong at the entrance to Cloud Creek Garden, looking toward the front courtyard from afar.

Dai Yutong tugged at Ye Tianming's hand and asked nervously.

"Brother Tianming, will Fa... Father leave again soon after he comes back?"

Ye Tianming tightened his grip on her hand.

"Not that soon. The war's over. He'll stay at the mansion for a while, at least."

What he did not say was that Dai Hao had something he needed to settle this time: the confrontation in the main hall. He owed them an answer.

The Duchess had pulled a few petty tricks over the past year, but none had caused any real harm.

When the Duchess had tried to send Huo Yun'er and her daughter to the countryside, Ye Tianming had stood his ground. But unless Dai Hao took a position, it was only a matter of time before it happened again.

He was only an eight-year-old adopted son. He could stop it once, but he could not stop it forever.

If he wanted the Duchess to leave them alone, Dai Hao had to settle the matter himself.

The welcome feast was held in the flower hall of the front courtyard. Ye Tianming and Dai Yutong attended as children of the household.

Dai Hao sat in the seat of honor. He had just taken off his armor, and he still smelled of sweat. His gaze swept across the gathering before settling on Dai Yutong.

It was the first time he had looked closely at this daughter of his.

On his previous visits, he had only seen her in passing. Huo Yun'er and her daughter lived in the Side Courtyard, and he rarely went there.

"Your name is Dai Yutong?"

Dai Yutong stiffened. Instinctively, she shrank behind Ye Tianming, then gathered her courage and answered softly.

"Y-yes, Father."

Dai Hao watched her in silence for several seconds. At last, he nodded and said nothing more.

Throughout the feast, the Duchess kept putting food on Dai Hao's plate and telling him about household matters.

Dai Hao gave distracted replies, but his gaze kept drifting toward Dai Yutong and Ye Tianming.

Three days after the welcome feast, Dai Hao summoned Ye Tianming to his study.

They were alone. Seated in his chair, Dai Hao watched his adopted son standing before him. After a long silence, he spoke slowly.

"I heard about what happened in the main hall. You were only seven then, weren't you? Confronting the mistress of the house in front of everyone. You've got nerve."

Ye Tianming did not defend himself. He merely bowed.

"Adoptive Father, I only did what I had to do."

"What you had to do?"

"Do you realize that what you did was as good as grinding her dignity into the dirt?"

"She is the mistress of this house. How is she supposed to run it after that?"

Ye Tianming raised his head and met Dai Hao's eyes.

"Adoptive Father, the people she tried to drive out were your daughter and her mother."

"If even your daughter can be thrown out on a whim, then something is wrong with this house's rules. I wasn't trampling on the mistress's dignity. I was trampling on rules this house should never have had."

Dai Hao was at a loss for words. He stared at Ye Tianming for a long moment, then suddenly laughed, though the laugh carried a touch of helplessness.

"That tongue of yours could outtalk the strategists under my command."

Dai Hao rose, walked over to Ye Tianming, and patted him on the shoulder.

"But you're right. As a father and a husband, I've failed them both."

"Even you, my adopted son, couldn't stand by and watch, while I, her own father, have been hiding from it for years."

Dai Hao slowly turned around and looked out the window, his voice low.

"I've spent all these years away, leaving the household to its mistress. I was negligent."

"Yun'er... and Yutong. I've wronged them."

"Adoptive Father, it's not too late to make it right!"

Dai Hao looked back at Ye Tianming and nodded.

The next day, something momentous happened at the Duke's Mansion.

Before the entire household, Dai Hao announced three decisions.

First, Huo Yun'er would be raised from servant to concubine and entered into the family register.

Second, Dai Yutong would formally be recognized as a member of the family and named the White Tiger Duke's Mansion's Third Young Lady. She would receive the same allowances and treatment as a daughter born to the principal wife.

Third, the Side Courtyard would be renovated and expanded. It would no longer be called the Side Courtyard, but Cloud Creek Garden.

When he finished, he glanced at the Duchess standing at the back of the crowd and spoke in a calm voice that allowed no argument.

"From now on, anyone in this household who disrespects the people of Cloud Creek Garden, withholds their allowances, or plots against them in secret will be expelled from the mansion."

"The mistress works hard managing the household, but she must handle what needs handling and must not tolerate what should not be tolerated."

The Duchess's face shifted from pale to livid, but she did not dare say a word in protest.

Everyone in the mansion kept their heads down, hardly daring to breathe.

Dai Yutong stood beside Ye Tianming, dazed by what she was hearing. She opened her mouth to speak, but her tears came faster than her words.

For the first time in her life, someone had acknowledged before the entire household that she was a young lady of this family and that her mother belonged here too.

Dai Yutong turned to Ye Tianming, her eyes brimming with tears and her voice trembling.

"Brother Tianming... I'm... I'm not a bastard anymore, am I?"

Ye Tianming's heart ached despite himself. So the way she had been treated since childhood had lodged like a thorn in her heart after all.

Ye Tianming wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said softly.

"You never were. Not before, and certainly not now."

Dai Yutong nodded hard, but her tears only fell faster.

Huo Yun'er cried too. In Cloud Creek Garden, she gazed for a long, long time at the concubine's clothes and the copy of the family register Dai Hao had sent over.

Then she turned toward Ye Tianming and dropped to her knees.

Startled, Ye Tianming hurried over to help her up.

"Auntie, what are you doing?"

Huo Yun'er looked up, her eyes swollen from crying.

"Tianming, I've never asked for much in this life."

"I'm asking just one thing of you. Wherever you go from now on, can you take Yutong with you?"

"She has had a hard life, but she trusts you, and you protect her. With you, she'll have someone to rely on."

Ye Tianming sighed deeply, then answered with solemn resolve.

"Don't worry, Auntie. I won't forget what I promised."

Another two months passed, and Huo Yun'er's illness was completely cured.

The physician from the Herbal Hall came to take her pulse one last time. Stroking his white beard, he said with a smile.

"Your pulse is steady and your vitality has returned. The illness is gone."

"As long as you don't overwork yourself and take care of your health, you'll be no different from anyone else."

After seeing the physician out, Huo Yun'er returned to her room. Looking at the clean room and everything around her, she felt as if she were dreaming.

A year ago, she had lain on that broken bed, certain she would not survive the winter.

Now she was a concubine of the Duke's Mansion, and her daughter was its rightful Third Young Lady. They had food, clothes, and medicine.

Dai Hao had also been visiting Cloud Creek Garden often lately.

(Sorry, this last chapter came a little late. I was trying to work out the best way to write it. The protagonist is about to absorb his First Soul Ring, and he's nearly ready to leave the starting village. Next come Tian Meng and the Shrek arc.)

(By the way, would you all like to see a female version of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm? I just feel it might not work so well otherwise.)