Lin Ruhai is about to play the pig to eat the tiger.

Upon catching sight of Lin Ruhai, Lin Daiyu threw herself into his arms and burst into bitter tears, as if she wanted to weep away all the grievances she had suffered along the journey. Especially when she recalled Yang Xin's self-righteous "I am doing this for your own good" expression as he devised every possible means to force her into spiritual cultivation, she cried even more heart-breakingly.

Lin Ruhai, who was bedridden, initially held her in his arms and gently comforted her. But as she wept on, he began to feel that something was amiss. His daughter had always been physically delicate; such intense crying in the past would have long since caused her to faint. Yet now, after crying for so long, her voice remained so robust and full of vitality that it left him somewhat at a loss as to how to respond.

"That is enough. There will be plenty of time for crying later. Right now, attending to your uncle's illness takes precedence," Yang Xin said.

Hearing Yang Xin's devilish voice, Lin Daiyu subconsciously shuddered, her tears stopped instantly, and she stood obediently to one side.

Only then did Lin Ruhai have the opportunity to carefully observe his daughter, only to find that she had grown much sturdier. Her former sickly and delicate frailty had vanished, replaced by a striking and heroic aura, and her personality had also become much more cheerful. However, it seemed that his daughter obeyed Yang Xin's every word without the slightest hesitation...

When Lin Ruhai turned his gaze to Yang Xin, his original impression of him was instantly overturned. Looking at Yang Xin, who was dressed in white and possessed an ethereal, immortal grace, ten large characters flashed directly through his mind: "A man like jade upon the path, a young lord peerless in this world!"

With a single glance, Yang Xin perceived Lin Ruhai's condition. "Lord Lin, this is not an illness at all; you have been poisoned."

"What? Poisoned!" Lin Daiyu exclaimed in shock.

Lin Ruhai, however, could only offer a bitter, continuous smile. He knew his own situation best. Amidst the struggle between the reigning Emperor and the Retired Emperor, he was a thorn in the Retired Emperor's side and a sharp blade in his eye. That he had managed to remain in this position for so long was a testament to his own considerable competence and his way of fulfilling his duty to the present Emperor within the palace.

Yang Xin strode over to Lin Ruhai's side and gently placed a hand on his back. Lin Ruhai immediately felt a surge of warm current flow through his entire body, followed by a heave that expelled a large mouthful of pitch-black stagnant blood. Instantly, he felt an unprecedented sense of lightness.

"Many thanks to my worthy nephew for saving my life," Lin Ruhai said, cupping his hands in salute. Thanks to Yang Xin's treatment, he was actually able to get out of bed. Just as he attempted to rise, however, Yang Xin stopped him.

"Uncle, it would be best for now if you maintain the appearance of being bedridden and on the verge of death," Yang Xin said pointedly.

Lin Ruhai understood immediately and hurriedly lay back down, feigning a dying state.

"Uncle, I can save you for a time, but I cannot save you for a lifetime. If you wish to be truly saved, you must save yourself." With that, Yang Xin pressed the Mount Hua Sect's supreme martial arts manual, the *Purple Mist Divine Skill*, directly into Lin Ruhai's hands, and then glanced at Lin Daiyu. "The usual rule."

"What usual rule?" Lin Ruhai asked, momentarily stunned.

"The usual rule my cousin mentioned is that one must generate the sensation of vital energy within a single night," Lin Daiyu quickly explained to her father.

"And what if your father fails to generate this vital energy?" As a traditional scholar, Lin Ruhai was by no means a bookworm lacking physical capability; he actually possessed some foundational martial arts skills. However, the martial arts of this world were mostly combat techniques suited for the battlefield. As he roughly flipped through the manual, encountering this internal meridian cultivation system for the very first time, he could not help but feel a lingering sense of apprehension.

"Well... such a lovely girl like my cousin would cry for a very long time if she were punched..." Yang Xin remarked, glancing at Lin Daiyu.

"Ha-ha!" Far from being angered, Lin Ruhai burst into hearty laughter. He could clearly sense that this was merely playful bantering between cousins and took no offense.

"In my impression, my worthy nephew was not one of such disposition," Lin Ruhai said with a faint smile.

"I had no choice. I inherited a peerage, and it made me somewhat inflated," Yang Xin replied nonchalantly.

"Where did such a martial arts manual come from?" Lin Ruhai asked with a smiling gaze, yet with utmost seriousness.

This was the first time anyone had directly probed into the essence of the matter. A drastic change in personality could be brushed off under the pretext of happy events—after all, profound joy or sorrow could indeed alter a person's temperament. But the emergence of something like the *Purple Mist Divine Skill*, which had never before existed in this realm, inevitably aroused Lin Ruhai's curiosity.

"I have already inherited the peerage; a Duke's mansion naturally holds foundational secrets that must be passed down to the eldest legitimate son," Yang Xin answered ambiguously, implying that this was a hereditary asset of the Duke's estate, and a mere marquis of the fifth generation was not yet qualified to know its origins.

"Is it truly acceptable to impart this to an outsider?" Lin Ruhai tapped the manual in his hand.

"Is my uncle an outsider?"

"Ha-ha, the Lin family accepts your great favor!"

"Then this nephew shall take his leave. My cousin has sought an audience with you for over a year, and no doubt they have many private matters to discuss. I shall withdraw." With these words, Yang Xin offered a graceful, uninhibited salute and departed.

"This young man does not seem to belong to the mortal realm..." Lin Ruhai could not help but be won over by Yang Xin's free and easy demeanor. Turning his gaze toward his daughter, he sighed inwardly, "What a pity he already has a wife; a daughter of my direct lineage cannot become a concubine."

After leaving, Yang Xin strolled around the Lin residence. Naturally, this was not a mere idle walk; his original intention was to weed out anyone in the household harboring ulterior motives. But reflecting that this was the Lin estate, such actions might risk overstepping his bounds and interfering in another's domain. Furthermore, people's hearts are fickle and hard to fathom, so he simply used the neuralyzer from the Men in Black universe to wipe away all the information they ought not to possess.

Early the next morning, Yang Xin was invited to visit Lin Ruhai once again. True to its origins as a divine art modified by the Scripture Distribution System, the *Purple Mist Divine Skill* boasted a wide range of adaptability and extreme ease of mastery. Within a single night, Lin Ruhai had already crossed the threshold, generating a wisp of internal energy.

Sticking to the usual routine, Yang Xin had him swallow a Blood Bodhi pill, and then handed him another manual, the *Nourishing the Will Sword Technique*, for his cultivation. Lin Ruhai already possessed a foundation in martial arts, sparing him the need to start from basic swordsmanship, and the Nourishing the Will technique was exceptionally well-suited for a scholar imbued with a noble, upright spirit.

"Uncle, presumably my cousin has already recounted all the affairs of the Rongguo Mansion to you. Do you still intend to entrust her to their care?" Yang Xin cut straight to the point.

"Yes," Lin Ruhai answered with complete composure.

"Why?" Yang Xin frowned. He had not expected that even after Lin Daiyu had laid bare everything concerning the Rongguo Mansion, Lin Ruhai would still choose to send her to live there as a dependent.

"Because of you."

"Does my uncle trust me to that extent?" Yang Xin found Lin Ruhai rather intriguing.

"By observing his words and examining his deeds, I can see that my worthy nephew possesses vast ambition and a strategic mind; you will certainly be able to protect my little girl," Lin Ruhai stated with conviction.

"Very well," Yang Xin replied indifferently. Having the reincarnation of the Crimson Pearl Fairy from the banks of the Western River of Spirits placed right before his eyes would actually facilitate his subsequent plans.

"When does Uncle plan to return to the capital?" Yang Xin asked again.

"Alas..." Lin Ruhai let out a long sigh, glanced in the direction of the capital, opened his mouth, but ultimately uttered not a single word.

"Is uncle going to say that as officials, we are adrift in the pugilistic world and unable to act of our own free will? Uncle need not be so pessimistic. From my perspective, it will take at most three years before you return to the capital."

"Oh? Why is that?" Lin Ruhai raised an eyebrow, curious to hear Yang Xin's assessment of the political situation.

"The Retired Emperor is aging. Three years is more than enough for the reigning Emperor to firmly consolidate his position," Yang Xin said calmly.

Lin Ruhai broke into a wry chuckle. It was truly a case of those involved being lost in the fog while onlookers saw clearly. The Retired Emperor was indeed growing old, and the current Emperor possessed formidable capability and wrist-work to have ascended the throne. When the former Prince Yizhong had held such an overwhelming advantage and still suffered defeat at his hands, the Emperor's methods could well be imagined. Three years were indeed sufficient for the Emperor to secure the dragon throne and stabilize the realm. As the Emperor's trusted confidant, returning to the capital for Lin Ruhai would be nothing more than a matter of a single command.

"Since Uncle has entrusted my cousin to me, and since Uncle wishes to play the game of acting like a pig to eat the tiger, then my cousin's affairs are my affairs. First, let us speak of her dowry; I have no wish to see it swallowed up by greedy and insatiable vultures."

"Nephw need not worry," Lin Ruhai said, handing three letters to Yang Xin. "This first letter is a mandate entrusting the Jia family's senior branch to manage the Lin family estate until Daiyu's marriage. These other two are letters of guarantee penned respectively by my teacher, Elder Shen, head of the Ganquan Academy in Yangzhou, and Vice Minister Cheng of the Ministry of Revenue."

Yang Xin glanced through them roughly, his mind clearing. These were essentially the notary documents of the Dream of the Red Chamber world. Moreover, these two letters of guarantee carried a subtle subtext: they served as signals released by Lin Ruhai to both Yangzhou and the capital, announcing that his days were numbered, making it plain that he intended to carry his "playing the pig to eat the tiger" strategy through to the very end—with Lin Daiyu's dowry serving as the bait...