Returning to the Yun estate felt like returning to a sanctuary, albeit a fractured one. She reported her findings and her terrifying hypothesis to Yun Ming. He listened in silence, his face growing graver with each word.
"Jin Long," he murmured when she finished. "I knew of him, of course. A force of nature. But a connection to Lijuan… it makes a tragic kind of sense. She was always drawn to strength." He looked at Ye Xia. "This changes everything. If you are Jin Long's daughter, you are not just a Yun heiress. You are a potential heir to two of the most powerful empires in Asia. And a threat to Jin Lei's sole inheritance."
" I have no interest in Jin Long's empire," Ye Xia stated firmly.
"It may not matter what you are interested in," Yun Ming countered. "Jin Lei will see you as a threat. And Jin Long… a man like that does not leave loose ends. He will either seek to control you, eliminate you, or claim you."
The options were all dire. "What do you suggest?"
Yun Ming was silent for a long time, staring out at the winter-bare garden. "We must be proactive. We cannot wait for them to make a move. We need an alliance that can counterbalance the Jin family's power."
"There is only one family with that kind of strength," Ye Xia said, knowing where this was leading.
"The Mo family," Yun Ming confirmed. "But an alliance with the Mo, through the Matriarch, would mean submitting to her terms. It would mean… distancing yourself from Mo himself and accepting the de Winter girl."
The thought was a physical pain. It meant sacrificing the fragile, real connection she had with Mo for a cold, political arrangement.
"There might be another way," Yun Ming said softly. "What if the alliance is not with the Matriarch, but against her?"
Ye Xia stared at him. "You're suggesting I ally with Mo to overthrow his own grandmother?"
"I am suggesting that you and Mo want the same thing: freedom from the constraints of your families. Your goals are aligned. Together, you would be a formidable force. You have the Yun resources and your… unique talents. He has the Mo intelligence network and his own system. It is a dangerous gamble, but the potential reward is a partnership built on choice, not coercion."
It was a radical, seductive idea. A partnership of equals, not a merger of dynasties. But it meant declaring war on the Mo Matriarch, a woman who had already proven her ruthlessness.
The choice was before her: a safe but soul-crushing alliance with the enemy, or a dangerous war for a chance at a real future with Mo.