A beautiful maid beside Zhao Yang hurriedly bent down to gather the shattered porcelain, only for him to raise his foot and viciously grind it onto the back of her hand.
"Ah!"
The maid cried out in pain, then forcibly swallowed the sound.
Porcelain shards pierced her palm, and blood dripped from her trembling fingertips onto the cold blue-brick floor.
Zhao Yang ground his foot down a few more times. Seeing her bite her lip and endure the pain, he instead found it dull.
"A thing that doesn't even dare scream—get lost!"
Several young masters who usually kept company with Zhao Yang saw this and knew full well that the legitimate son of the Zhao Clan's second branch was temperamental and unpredictable. They all found excuses to take their leave.
For a moment, Zhao Yang was the only one left nearby.
"Why is Brother Yang so angry?"
A gentle voice sounded at just the right moment.
Zhao Yang looked up and saw Xie Renfeng in a moon-white brocade robe. His handsome features and every gesture radiated the bearing of a gentleman.
Behind Xie Renfeng followed a maid who looked to be in her twenties. She wore a dark-green dress of precious gauze that outlined her tall, graceful figure.
An exquisite silver hairpin adorned her head, while her hands were properly folded at her waist.
It was Gan Zhi. Compared to years ago, her complexion held several more traces of weariness.
"Cousin Renfeng," Zhao Yang snorted coldly, "tell me—how is it that Xie Guan can still appear at the Gathering of Beauties Banquet alive and kicking?"
"Now he has won the favor of Third Sir and Chancellor Su. He is riding high in the limelight."
As the second legitimate son of the Zhao Clan, Zhao Yang had always been arrogant before