Strategy to Capture Men

Two days later, Xinya called Patriarch Han's secretary to make another appointment, but was told that Patriarch Han was very busy nowadays.
Disappointed and anxious, she beseeched him to arrange something for her.

“I'm afraid I can't,” replied the secretary.
“It's because a celebration banquet is to be held for our Eldest Miss soon.”

Her heart stirring, Xinya asked, “I'm Yanyan's second cousin.
Could I attend the banquet?”

The secretary quickly pulled up the family genealogy and confirmed, “Are you Miss Lin Xinya, the granddaughter of the Fourth Old Master's great-aunt1?”

“Yes, that's me.”

This wasn't actually a member of the Han family.
But at this family gathering, there would certainly be many relatives just like her who had climbed the ladder through distant blood relations, and one more or less wouldn't matter much.
Anyhow, the secretary thought her voice sounded nice enough, so they agreed generously, “Alright then, I'll send an invitation.”

In her father's study, Han Yanyan went over the guest list with him.
These great patriarchs all liked keeping their heirs by their sides ever since youth, instilling their education by day and by night.

“How do you remember all these relatives?” Han Yanyan asked in admiration.
It had taken her twenty years just to remember a few.
She was completely dependent on her secretary.

“If I could remember them,” her father answered lightly, “What would I need a secretary for?”

Han Yanyan: “…” Alright then.

Turning a page, she glanced at it.
Sure enough, Lin Xinya's name was there.
When she had come that day, something had happened to Han Yanyan.
Since Xinya hadn't managed to accomplish her business, she was bound to come again.

She was silent for a moment before pointing out, “Who are these? I've never heard of them…
Well, this one looks familiar; Lin Xinya?”

Hearing this name, her father raised an eyebrow.
He took the guest list from Han Yanyan and glanced over it, his eyes narrowing a little as he pondered.

“Who is this?” Han Yanyan asked, knowing perfectly well who Lin Xinya and Tang Ke were and having successfully brought them to his attention.

“One of your cousins.
You met her when you were a child, but they haven't been in contact much in recent years.”

“Ah.
I don't remember them,” she replied in a lackluster manner.

But Patriarch Han remembered Lin Xinya very well.
His distant cousin had been a beautiful child, and even lovelier as an adult.
Haughty and aloof, she had chosen an ordinary man rather than be with him.
Although he couldn't marry her, he had promised to support her for life.

Now she was no longer young, but she was trying over and over again to see him.
She obviously wanted something.

Interesting.

Han Yanyan propped her cheek in one hand and raised her gaze to him.
In his eyes, she saw the light of the hunt.

She could only roll her eyes at the inherent bad habits of men.

“I'm done here,” she said, pushing away all those things in front of her.
“What a waste of time.
It's late, I'm heading to the training center.
See you.”

She left the study and made her way down the wide corridor.
Her feet made no sound on the carpeted floor.

Han Yanyan was thinking about Tang Ke.

The last time around, she had put him aside and given him a stable life.
He had lived a smooth and peaceful life, and neither mother nor son had returned to the Han family to trouble her.
The two had hardly met again.
But because she had had her people monitor him, she knew what he was like.

He had grown up to be a cheerful young man.
Filial to his mother, a hard worker, a professional mecha pilot, an optimistic soul.

She had seen him again today as that cute little boy from twenty years ago, baby fat still on his cheeks.
A little sensitive, a little precocious, with thoughts he shouldn't have instilled by his mother.

She couldn't help him.

From the moment he had been sent to Leo, he was doomed. Even without her, some other architect would have been there, Han Yanyan thought.

Thinking like this calmed her heart.

Because from Leo's autobiography, she had already found out what a wicked thing it was to wake the departed.

After death the physical body was lost, but the soul, one's source of spiritual power, could still exist outside of the body.
Therefore, there was a belief in Leo's world that humans were constantly evolving and would one day reach eternal life.
The soul was the medium that led to eternity.

This was why relatives would preserve a person's spiritual source after their deaths.

If the dead were awakened and their bodies were still there, then they would come back to life.
It was resurrection.
There were no losers in this scenario.

But when the departed were awakened, there was nothing awaiting them.
Once a closed spiritual source was reopened without anything tying it to the material world, it would eventually… turn to dust.

In other words, it was the scattering of the soul.