Those words cut rather deep. It was hard to tell whether they were praise or criticism, but there was no denying that a little natural "fondness" did color the relationship between the two.
Whether that came from the Dao Lineage, from Jiang Yang's face alone, or from both was unclear.
Since Yun Zhen looked like a little girl barely into her teens, small, sweet, and endearing, her appearance certainly made it easy to misjudge her.
But Jiang Yang did not quite agree. He had not thought too much about it; after all, apart from chatting with him, she had never actually done anything to get in his way.
"You can't tar everyone with the same brush."
After a moment's thought, Jiang Yang shook his head in disagreement.
"I admittedly don't know her all that well, but I can't start suspecting her of things she hasn't done just because she has a certain idea... and then judge the whole by one part."
A different light flickered in Yuan Jun's golden eyes at his words, and the corners of her lips lifted almost imperceptibly.
"Hmph. I never imagined you would defend that little girl so staunchly. Now it makes me look like the one at fault."
Jiang Yang tilted his head. Was she trying to sow discord...? Not quite. Complaining...? That didn't seem right either. On closer consideration, if he looked past her cold expression, there was something almost coquettish about her.
With a faint smile, Jiang Yang looked straight at her and said:
"Why put it that way? If we really wanted to split hairs, how is what you're doing now any different from what she's doing?"
Yuan Jun's heart tightened, and she fell silent, yet something quite different also began to spread through her.
His words seemed to excuse Yun