Fulfillment

The Liu Family sent out men to search everywhere, but they only managed to discover that Bao Gang had purchased a piece of white cloth at a shop before leaving the city.

As for where he went, because the snow was so heavy yesterday and very few people ventured out, no one knew his final destination.

After finishing lunch at the Liu residence, Xu Yang and Wu Yongfeng hurried toward Wei Yuan Hall.

Snow was falling heavily. From a distance, Xu Yang spotted a woman in a fur coat standing before Wei Yuan Hall; she was quite beautiful, with a maid standing by her side holding an umbrella.

The many disciples of Wei Yuan Hall entering and exiting couldn't help but steal a glance at her as they passed by before heading inside.

"What a beautiful young lady. I wonder who could be so heartless as to leave such a beauty waiting in the wind and snow," Wu Yongfeng sighed.

"Don't talk nonsense. Perhaps she's here looking for one of the senior brothers from the Inner Courtyard."

Xu Yang laughed, striding toward Wei Yuan Hall with Wu Yongfeng.

To their surprise, as they approached the woman, her gaze suddenly locked onto Xu Yang: "Are you Xu Yang?"

Wu Yongfeng: ...

The heartless person she spoke of was actually the man right beside him? This guy was actually playing dumb with him.

Xu Yang was also stunned; he hadn't expected this woman to be waiting specifically for him.

He immediately cupped his hands and said, "I am indeed Xu Yang. May I ask..."

Before he could finish, the woman interrupted him.

She shouted loudly, "Xu Yang, stop trying to eat swan meat when you're just a toad! It is impossible for this young lady to marry you. I, Huang Ling'er, have no interest in someone like you."

Xu Yang: ...

Xu Yang was momentarily bewildered. Damn it, where did this lunatic come from? I don't even know her.

"Huang Ling'er?"

He looked up again, only to see the woman who called herself Huang Ling'er striding away after finishing her declaration.

"Miss, please explain yourself before you leave!" Xu Yang called out.

Huang Ling'er walked even faster.

"Miss, Xu Yang clearly didn't agree to the marriage. By doing this, won't you ruin the friendship between him and the Huang Family?" the maid holding the umbrella asked worriedly.

Huang Ling'er scoffed, "I am salvaging the Huang Family's reputation. I truly don't know what Father and the others are thinking, wanting to marry me off to someone like this.

A mud-legged peasant who only crawled out of the gutter because of the Huang Family's patronage, yet he dared to reject me twice. Even though I don't want him either, it was Father's arrangement.

But if there is to be a rejection, it must come from me. Who does he think he is? It's snowing, and he doesn't even have a fur coat."

With that, she ducked into a carriage by the roadside and sped away.

"Junior Brother Xu, who is that girl? Why were you pestering her to the point that she came all the way to Wei Yuan Hall to make a scene?" Wu Yongfeng asked curiously.

"I don't even know her!" Xu Yang replied.

But no one believed him.

Wu Yongfeng didn't believe him, and the surrounding disciples of Wei Yuan Hall didn't believe him either.

If you didn't know her, how could she possibly run to Wei Yuan Hall just to reject you and tell you to stop pestering her?

The woman's attire clearly marked her as a young lady from a wealthy family. It must be that Xu Yang had failed in his attempt to climb the social ladder, and she had come specifically to humiliate him.

"Senior Brother Xu, Huang Ling'er is the daughter of Second Master Huang, Huang Ping," someone nearby reminded Xu Yang.

Now, even fewer people believed him. You were trained by the Huang Family to enter Wei Yuan Hall; how could you possibly not know the daughter of the Second Master?

"Second Master Huang's daughter, Huang Ling'er?"

Xu Yang pondered for a moment and quickly realized that this Huang Ling'er was likely the woman the Huang Family intended to marry him off to.

He had clearly refused last night, but he didn't know what had gone wrong in the process to make her think he wanted to marry her, leading her to come here and humiliate him.

It was also possible that his two rejections had simply infuriated this young miss.

In any case, it was difficult to explain. After all, he had received favors from the Huang Family and had rejected them twice; if he stood up to explain, it would be a slap in the face to the Huang Family, and it would put his uncle in a difficult position.

Besides, he didn't care about these things. Whether he rejected Huang Ling'er or she rejected him made no difference. If the Huang Family felt this could save some face, he was happy to oblige.

However, Xu Yang soon realized he had underestimated Huang Ling'er. He had thought she was merely turning his rejection into her own to balance her ego.

The matter was far from that simple.

Huang Ling'er had long since arranged people within Wei Yuan Hall.

Not long after she left, rumors began to circulate about him and Huang Ling'er.

They said that after Lu Ren left the Huang Family, Xu Yang thought the Huang Family needed him again, so he sent word through his uncle, Zhou Shunchang, that if they married Huang Ling'er to him, he would leave the Liu Family to become a retainer for the Huang Family. They claimed Huang Ling'er had no interest in him at all, which was why she came to Wei Yuan Hall to reject him.

Suddenly, the way many people in the Inner Courtyard looked at him changed.

Some felt he was disloyal for making such an outrageous demand just as Lu Ren was betraying the Huang Family.

Others felt he was overestimating his own worth, thinking that someone with only a low-grade aptitude had the nerve to propose such conditions to the Huang Family.

"Bashing your head until it bleeds, you've finally wised up, but it's too late."

Jiang Ping believed that Xu Yang had realized the importance of being backed by a powerful faction and regretted not marrying into the Liu Family, which was why he had set his sights on the Huang Family after they lost Lu Ren, only to be rejected.

"To think that just because the Huang Family lost me, they would settle for him—how naive," Lu Ren laughed.

The Huang Family preferred high-stakes gambles; even if Xu Yang possessed some talent, they would never spend a vast amount of resources to cultivate him.

"This shall be my repayment to the Huang Family."

Xu Yang had no intention of explaining the situation; he planned to let the Huang Family keep their reputation.

He did not care about such rumors. Whether the Huang Family had approached him and been rejected, or he had sought a marriage alliance with them and been turned away, it made no difference to him.

He could disregard his reputation, but he would not suffer Huang Ling'er's humiliation for nothing. He might not explain himself, allowing Huang Ling'er and the Huang Family to save face, but he would consider this matter as settling his debt of gratitude to them. From this day forward, he and the Huang Family would have no ties.

"Looking at his face makes me sick. To be so ungrateful and still show off—it's only natural for Senior Brother Xu to want to get ahead," Qiu Wenjie said, watching Lu Ren's expression with indignation.

Xu Yang: ...

If even Qiu Wenjie believed he had been the one to approach the Huang Family, then even if he explained, few would believe that it was the Huang Family who had twice initiated marriage proposals to him.

Zhang Yong frowned and said, "With a man like Lu Ren, how could the Gu Family dare to take him in? Are they not afraid of being betrayed one day?"

He remained somewhat puzzled.

Lu Ren had talent, but a man who understood no gratitude or loyalty, no matter how gifted, would eventually betray them again.

Zhang Hong replied, "It is said to be for the Martial Exam Dragon Ascent. The eldest young master of the Gu Family is determined to place high, which is why they are sparing no expense to befriend geniuses at various martial arts halls. Otherwise, how could a young lady of Gu Fang's status come to apprentice at Wei Yuan Hall?"

Wu Yongfeng nodded. "That's it. If it is for the Martial Exam Dragon Ascent, then it makes sense. The Gu Family doesn't need Lu Ren's lifelong loyalty; given his talent, he will eventually leave Qingyuan and could never serve the Gu Family forever."

Qiu Wenjie remained unconvinced, asking, "Is the title of Martial Scholar really that important?"