Granting Their Wish

The Liu Family sent people out to make inquiries, but the only thing they learned was that Bao Gang had bought a piece of white cloth from a shop before leaving the city.

As for where he had gone, the heavy snow yesterday had kept almost everyone indoors. No one knew where he had ended up.

After lunch at the Liu Family's home, Xu Yang and Wu Yongfeng hurried to Wei Yuan Hall.

Snow drifted down. From a distance, Xu Yang spotted a woman standing outside Wei Yuan Hall in a fur coat. She was lovely, and a maid beside her held an umbrella over her.

The disciples coming and going from Wei Yuan Hall couldn't help glancing at her as they passed, then went inside.

"Such a beautiful young lady. I wonder who could be so heartless as to make a beauty like her wait in the snow." Wu Yongfeng sighed.

"Don't talk nonsense. Maybe she's a relative of one of the senior brothers in the Inner Courtyard."

Xu Yang smiled and strode toward Wei Yuan Hall with Wu Yongfeng.

But when the two drew near, the woman's gaze suddenly fell on Xu Yang. "Are you Xu Yang?"

Wu Yongfeng: ...

The heartless person he'd been talking about was Xu Yang, standing right beside him? That guy had even pretended otherwise.

Xu Yang was also taken aback. He hadn't expected the woman to be waiting specifically for him.

He immediately cupped his hands. "I am Xu Yang. May I ask—"

Before he could finish, the woman cut him off.

She raised her voice. "Xu Yang, stop reaching for the moon! I would never marry you. I, Huang Ling'er, would never settle for someone like you."

Xu Yang: ...

Xu Yang was stunned. What the hell was this madwoman? He didn't even know her.

"Huang Ling'er?"

He looked up again, but the woman who had called herself Huang Ling'er had already strode away.

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

Huang Ling'er walked even faster.

"Miss, Xu Yang clearly refused the marriage proposal. If you do this, won't you damage the relationship between him and the Huang Family?" the maid holding the umbrella beside her asked anxiously.

Huang Ling'er snorted. "I'm saving the Huang Family's reputation. I don't know what Father and the others were thinking, trying to marry me off to someone like him.

"He's a peasant who only managed to claw his way out of the mud because the Huang Family took him in, yet he dared to reject me twice. I don't even like him, of course—that was Father and the others' arrangement.

"But if anyone was going to refuse, it should have been me. Who does he think he is? He doesn't even have a fur coat in this snow."

As she spoke, she climbed into a carriage by the roadside, then quickly drove away.

"Junior Brother Xu, who was that girl? How did you pester her so badly 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 said.

But no one believed him.

Wu Yongfeng didn't believe him, and neither did the Wei Yuan Hall disciples around them.

If he didn't know her, why would she come all the way to Wei Yuan Hall to reject him and tell him to stop pestering her?

From the woman's clothes, it was obvious she was a young lady from a wealthy family. Xu Yang must have tried to marry above his station and failed, so she had come to humiliate him.

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

Now even fewer people believed him. He had been raised by the Huang Family and brought into Wei Yuan Hall. How could he not know the Second Master of the Huang Family's daughter?

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

Xu Yang pondered for a moment, then quickly realized that Huang Ling'er must have been the woman the Huang Family had planned to marry him.

He had clearly refused the night before. He didn't know what had gone wrong to make her think he wanted to marry her, but now she had come here to humiliate him.

It was also possible that his twice rejecting the proposal had enraged the young lady.

In any case, he couldn't explain. The Huang Family had done him a favor, and he had rejected their proposal twice. If he stood up to explain, he would be slapping the Huang Family in the face, and his uncle would be put in a difficult position.

Besides, he didn't care. Whether he rejected Huang Ling'er or she rejected him made no difference. If the Huang Family thought this could restore some of their dignity, he was happy to grant them their wish.

But Xu Yang soon realized he had underestimated Huang Ling'er. He had thought she was simply turning his refusal of the marriage proposal into her refusal of him, so she could save face.

It was far more than that.

Huang Ling'er had arranged for people inside Wei Yuan Hall long before this.

Not long after she left, rumors about her and Xu Yang began spreading through Wei Yuan Hall.

They said that after Lu Ren left the Huang Family, Xu Yang thought the family needed him again. So he had asked his uncle, Zhou Shunchang, to approach the Huang Family on his behalf, demanding that they marry Huang Ling'er to him. In return, he would leave the Liu Family and serve the Huang Family as an Attendant. But Huang Ling'er had looked down on him, so she had come to Wei Yuan Hall specifically to reject him.

All at once, many people in the Inner Courtyard began looking at him differently.

Some thought he was disloyal, making such an outrageous demand just as Lu Ren betrayed the Huang Family.

Others thought he was delusional. With nothing but a Grade C Inferior Bone Structure, he had the nerve to make such demands of the Huang Family.

"He finally learned his lesson after banging his head against the wall, but it's too late."

Jiang Ping believed Xu Yang had realized how important it was to have a powerful faction backing him. He regretted not marrying into the Liu Family back then, so he had set his sights on the Huang Family after they lost Lu Ren, only to be rejected.

"He thought the Huang Family would take a liking to him now that they didn't have me? How naïve." Lu Ren laughed.

The Huang Family liked to wager little for the chance to gain much. Even if Xu Yang had some talent, they would never spend a fortune to cultivate him.

"That's the least I can do to repay the Huang Family."

Xu Yang had no intention of explaining. He would let the Huang Family keep its good name.

He didn't care about this sort of reputation. Whether the Huang Family had approached him and been rejected, or he had approached them about marrying into the family and been rejected, it made no difference to him.

Reputation didn't matter, but he couldn't let Huang Ling'er humiliate him for nothing. He could keep quiet and preserve the Huang Family's good name, but he would count this matter as repayment for the Huang Family's kindness. From then on, he would have nothing more to do with them.

"Just look at his face. He's disgusting. He has the nerve to show off after forgetting the people who helped him? Senior Brother Xu wanting to get ahead is only natural." Qiu Wenjie glared at Lu Ren, indignant.

Xu Yang: ...

Even Qiu Wenjie thought he had approached the Huang Family. If so, even if Xu Yang explained, few people would believe that the Huang Family had approached him about marriage twice.

Zhang Yong frowned. "How could the Gu Family take someone like Lu Ren? Aren't they afraid he'll betray them one day too?"

He still couldn't understand.

Lu Ren was talented, but someone who knew nothing of gratitude would betray them sooner or later, no matter how gifted he was.

Zhang Hong said, "I heard it's for the Martial Exam Dragon Ascent. The Gu Family's eldest young master is determined to place, so he's been spending heavily to befriend talented people at various martial halls. Otherwise, why would Senior Sister Gu Fang, a young lady of her standing, come to Wei Yuan Hall to study?"

Wu Yongfeng nodded. "That's it. If it's for the Martial Exam Dragon Ascent, then it makes sense. The Gu Family doesn't need Lu Ren to be loyal to them for life. With his talent, he'll leave Qingyuan sooner or later. There's no way he'll serve the Gu Family forever."

Qiu Wenjie still didn't understand. "Is the title of Martial Scholar really that important?"