A Woman’s Heart is Like a Needle at the Bottom of the Sea

It was around eight or nine in the evening.

Yan Long arrived at Su Muyu’s residence, his face etched with a troubled expression.

“Xiao Qi, are you there? May I come in?” he called out after a moment of hesitation.

Su Muyu, who had been meditating, immediately opened her eyes upon hearing his voice.

She cast a glance at Yan Long outside the room, and inexplicably, let out a soft sigh.

“Oh! This is your home; you can enter whenever you wish. How could I possibly stop you?”

Su Muyu’s voice emanated from within the room.

Receiving Su Muyu’s permission, Yan Long then stepped inside, entering the pavilion.

Upon entering, he saw Su Muyu seated in meditation on the bed within her room.

“Eh? Yun’er isn’t staying with you, then?” Yan Long looked around, realizing he didn’t see any trace of Yan Yun.

Su Muyu responded with a hint of displeasure.

“With a wife, one forgets their mother. She must be with Yao’er.”

Indeed, Yan Yun was currently with Jiang Yao, and the two were enjoying a lovers’ bath.

That couple, it seemed, was far more interesting than their own.

“Enough of this rambling. Are you here for me, or for your son?” Su Muyu’s tone shifted.

Meeting Su Muyu’s gaze, Yan Long found himself at a loss for words, unsure how to begin.

“I, naturally, came for you. That girl seems to have a great many opinions about me, her father, and I honestly don’t know how to communicate with her,” Yan Long offered an awkward smile.

Su Muyu sighed helplessly.

“As her father, you barely interacted with her when she was growing up. When I asked her to come here today, she complained incessantly.

She said you didn’t act like a father, never speaking a word when you met. Yet, I could sense that the child truly yearns for your acknowledgment, even a single word of affirmation would suffice. I believe if you could just utter it, her perception of you would change significantly.

I am not saying this to blame you. She was born an ordinary person, and the family treated her as such, which wasn’t inherently wrong. The family didn’t wait for us, mother and son, but people are, after all, emotional beings.

Certain feelings are perfectly normal. Take me, for example; I also have many complaints about you,” Su Muyu stated directly.

She felt it was necessary to address certain matters openly. As for what Yan Long truly thought, she couldn’t control it. She simply believed that if she didn’t speak now, it might become impossible to voice her feelings later.

“Oh, I! I truly don’t know how to begin. I always feel that anything I say would be insincere, something I wouldn’t even believe myself,” Yan Long’s face was etched with helplessness.

Indeed, he had never spoken more than a few words to Yan Yun, so suddenly asking him to display paternal affection felt rather difficult.

“What about me, then?” Su Muyu suddenly inquired.

These three words caused Yan Long to freeze instantly.

“You? Our status as husband and wife will certainly never change.”

Yan Long instinctively replied.

Ever since Su Muyu became Yunshuang’s disciple, the Yan family had elevated her status from concubine to equal wife, acknowledging her as Yan Hui’s mother.

“Heh! Do you know, Yun’er told me today that if I have no feelings for you, I should sever this karma and seek my own true destiny,” Su Muyu remarked coolly.

This statement struck Yan Long dumbfounded.

“This? That boy actually uttered such rebellious words?”

Su Muyu watched Yan Long’s expression and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You don’t understand her. Her personality has been unique since childhood, but to be honest, I also think she has a point.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Long instinctively clenched his fists for a moment.

However, his grip loosened almost immediately.

“Ah! If you truly believe that the bond between us should be severed, then I will grant you your freedom,” Yan Long said with resignation.

Primarily, he felt he had no reason to persuade Su Muyu to stay.

Yet, his words instantly ignited Su Muyu’s temper.

“Yan Long, are you even a man? To dare to do something, yet not take responsibility! After years of neglect, after holding it in for so long, is this all you have to say? If this is your attitude, then please go back and write a divorce decree. Once the Yan family matters are settled, you and I will have no further connection!” Su Muyu declared, suddenly furious.

Yan Long had not anticipated Su Muyu’s sudden outburst of anger.

“I, Xiao Qi, I didn’t mean it that way!” Yan Long quickly stepped forward to console and explain.

“Then what *do* you mean? It’s been ten years! Forced to come to your Yan family, to marry a man nearly my age, who knows the grievances in my heart? I waited all this time just for a sentence like that from you?

Is this the attitude of a responsible person?” Su Muyu grew increasingly agitated, venting all the accumulated resentment of the past decade in one breath.

Her emotions were clearly on the verge of collapsing.

Her parents’ family had betrayed her, and she had endured loneliness for over ten years. The warmth she craved could only be given by her son, yet the warmth her son provided ultimately couldn’t fill the void in her heart.

Hearing Su Muyu’s words, Yan Long’s guilt intensified.

He finally stopped holding back, quickly stepping forward and embracing Su Muyu tightly.

“Xiao Qi, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things. It’s all my fault. I know any explanation from me is meaningless. Just give me another chance, and I will do my best to make it up to both you and Yun’er.”

Yan Long, though typically a man of unyielding resolve, was often constrained by various rules and regulations, preventing him from always acting solely on his own will.

****

Meanwhile, on the other side, Jiang Yao leaned into Yan Yun’s embrace, the two of them also discussing the matters of Su Muyu and Yan Long.

“Wifey, tell me, do my unemotional father and my mother truly have feelings for each other? Help me analyze this,” Yan Yun asked.

Upon hearing Yan Yun’s question, Jiang Yao immediately rolled her eyes at her.

“Are you an idiot? You need to ask me this? Whether they have feelings, I don’t know, but there is definitely an unbreakable bond between them, and this bond can indeed foster affection.”

The bond Jiang Yao referred to was, of course, Yan Yun herself; she was, after all, the child of Yan Long and Su Muyu.

A child might not always be the fruit of love, but they are undeniably the tie that binds a family.

As long as that tie remains, a special kind of emotion is bound to exist.

“Sigh! I just feel like my mother is very lonely. Haven’t you noticed?” Yan Yun sighed.

“That’s another piece of nonsense from you. This world isn’t like ours. Women in this world have an extremely strong sense of belonging to their first man. It’s utterly impossible for them to casually divorce or kick them out, unlike in our world. From what I understand of my mother, she may appear very strong, but she is actually a very fragile woman who needs someone to cherish her. However, you, as her child, cannot provide that type of care,” Jiang Yao analyzed the situation from a woman’s perspective.

Upon hearing Jiang Yao’s entire discourse, Yan Yun suddenly experienced a moment of enlightenment.

“Is that so? Indeed, women truly understand women, huh!” Jiang Yao listened to this, caught between laughter and tears.

“Aren’t you a woman now too? You just haven’t fully embraced this identity yet; you’re always fantasizing about being a man. Alright, stop overthinking. Let’s go to bed and rest. I’m waiting for you to serve me tonight,” Jiang Yao teased playfully.

Upon hearing this, Yan Yun was invigorated, sweeping Jiang Yao up from the water into her arms.

“Good! Tonight, I shall serve my Queen well, ensuring you can’t get out of bed tomorrow!”

****

At the same time, Qifeng City was a nexus of converging powers, with undercurrents surging as unknown powerhouses continuously arrived in the vicinity of Qifeng City.

A confrontation between these two factions was now inevitable.

Meanwhile, back at the Yan family, Yan Long and Su Muyu—perhaps due to Su Muyu’s prolonged loneliness—had quickly capitulated under the weight of Yan Long’s heartfelt outpouring.

As Jiang Yao had said, the emotional void in Su Muyu’s heart could only be filled by Yan Long.

Su Muyu’s heart yearned for this kind of affection, or rather, she had been waiting for this long-lost emotion all along.

There was no hatred between this family of three; the so-called resentment stemmed from a lack of familial and emotional connection.

Once the emotional issues were resolved, the resentment naturally dissipated.

Of course, the words Yan Yun spoke to Su Muyu today were crucial; without them, Su Muyu might have found it much harder to confront her relationship with Yan Long.

She lacked love more than Yan Yun did. Yan Yun had Jiang Yao, but if Su Muyu truly chose to separate from Yan Long, what would she have left? To focus solely on cultivation? She likely couldn’t bring herself to do it.

One must not forget that Su Muyu was still quite young, not yet thirty.

Soon, the night passed, and a brand new day dawned.

The experts invited by the Lin family had also arrived in Qifeng City, ready to take action at any moment.