Xue Shengjing said, "How about this? Go back first, brother, and give me some time to think this over."
Hu Xiaotian inwardly cursed his bad luck. Xue Shengjing was plainly preparing to welch on his promise. He looked at him and said, "You're not going back on your word, are you, Big Brother?"
"Going back on my word?" Xue Shengjing laughed heartily. "A gentleman's word is like a whip laid to a swift horse-there's no taking it back. When have I, Xue Shengjing, ever broken a promise? Still, for something like this, I ought to ask Huo Xiaoru herself first. Why don't I go and speak to her?"
Hu Xiaotian said, "I'll go with you."
Xue Shengjing smiled. "You really are impatient, brother. You've waited all these days. What's another little while?"
Xue Shengjing went to the Cloud-Reliant Tower. Naturally, he would never mistreat his own daughter, and for the past two days he had treated her to the finest food and drink. Though Huo Xiaoru had never called him Father, she had already accepted the truth in her heart.
Xue Shengjing placed the Coiling Dragon Gold Plaque on the table before her and said quietly, "Hu Xiaotian really did ask His Majesty for this favor. I'm going to let you leave."
Joy stirred in Huo Xiaoru's heart. Yet when she raised her head and saw the reluctance in Xue Shengjing's eyes, she could not help feeling a pang of sympathy. It seemed he could not bear to part with her. All these years, she had believed him to be an enemy with whom she could never share the same sky, never imagining that she was his own flesh and blood. She bit her cherry-red lip and asked softly, "You're really willing to let me go?"
Xue Shengjing sighed. "Though