Chapter 153

The team traveled along the official road for about two hours. By then, the sun had fully risen.

The morning mist had dispersed, and the wheat stubble in the fields beside the road glimmered with a pale golden light. When the wind swept through the distant woods, the treetops rose and fell like waves.

Dai Yaoheng slowed from the front of the group and naturally moved to Xue Lingyun's side.

His pace was unhurried, and his face bore the perfectly measured smile typical of heirs deliberately cultivated by great families—not warm enough to make people uncomfortable, nor cold enough to seem distant.

"Lingyun classmate," he said, "I heard things have been rather unpleasant between you and my younger brother?"

Xue Lingyun glanced at him and gave a brief acknowledgment.

Dai Yaoheng was not embarrassed by his indifference. His tone was so sincere that it was nearly impossible to find fault with it. "Although I don't know exactly how you two fell out, Huabin was probably in the wrong. He has been talented since childhood, and the family spoiled him, which made him arrogant. As his elder brother, I apologize to you on his behalf. I have already reprimanded him and even slapped him. Come to think of it, that was the first time I ever hit him."

Xue Lingyun did not respond.

Dai Yaoheng did not mind. The subject naturally shifted from apology to recruitment. "Let the past stay in the past. We are both cultivating at Shrek, and now that you have become a member of the Inspectorate, we will be brothers-in-arms from now on. I hope you will not hold any resentment in your heart. If you ever need help, just say so. Whatever Huabin owes you this time, I will repay it for him later."

Xue Lingyun