4176 Going Against the Grain
Compared to her, Mu Rouhuan, standing before her, was worse than a roadside beggar.
Gazing at the elegant, wealthy, and calm Mu Qingya, a sense of shame instantly washed over Mu Rouhuan.
Her mother, pure and noble like the white clouds in the sky, seemed close yet was actually thousands of miles away.
Too distant, too ethereal to ever truly touch.
"Rouhuan." Mu Qingya looked at her dirty and disheveled appearance, her gaze suddenly falling on her left cheek.
"What happened to your face?"
Mu Rouhuan raised a hand to touch her face.
It had long since scabbed over, leaving an ugly, centipede-like scar.
"I ruined it myself," Mu Rouhuan said faintly.
"Why?" Mu Qingya raised an eyebrow, as if suddenly taking some interest in this daughter, sizing her up.
"Don't you understand, Mother? What would be the fate of a beautiful woman, whose cultivation was ruined and hands broken, if she were sent to the branch family?"
"People wouldn't respect me just because I was once the eldest daughter from the main family."
"On the contrary, because of my former noble status, they would go to great lengths to humiliate me even more."
"Only by ruining this face could I continue to live with dignity." If she hadn't acted decisively then and ruined her own face, perhaps... she would have long since become a plaything for those young masters in the branch family.
"Mother didn't expect you to be such a chaste woman," Mu Qingya said indifferently, but her eyes revealed a hint of disagreement.
"Actually, for one's life, what do external things matter? Reputation is an external thing! Rouhuan, you've disappointed Mother greatly."
"For a woman, her body can be a highly destructive weapon!" Mu Qingya said with a faint gaze. "You can use your beauty, your body, to do many things."
"If you had gone to the branch family and were willing to humble yourself before powerful young masters, you wouldn't be in such a sorry state now. Disfigured, broken hands, utterly useless."
Mu Qingya frowned, criticizing mercilessly, "Although your father broke your hands and cast you out, the injuries on your hands, if carefully nursed and treated with medicine, wouldn't be like this now..."
"Your hand is completely ruined. What will you be able to do in the future?"
Mu Rouhuan's eyes suddenly widened, an incredulous expression on her face, as she stared blankly at her mother.
At this moment, she felt her heart shatter into pieces, ruthlessly trampled underfoot, ground into dust.
This was her mother, the mother who bore and raised her.
Constantly telling her how a woman should use her body to get what she wants.
Was this truly the mother she had always deeply respected?
Her generous and magnanimous mother, who was always gentle and kind to everyone, like a spring breeze and nurturing rain?
Mu Rouhuan felt that the woman before her was too unfamiliar, too terrifying.
"So, you actually used your body to gain your current status and glory in Tianyun?" Mu Rouhuan felt a sharp sting of irony and couldn't help but let out a cynical laugh.
Mu Qingya's gaze was cold as she looked at her daughter.
The yellow-clad woman beside her instantly changed her expression, shouting angrily, "Presumptuous! How dare you be so disrespectful to the Hall Master?"
Mu Qingya raised her palm, stopping her reprimand.