Ye Changqing turned to look and saw an indescribable bitterness appear on Vice Principal Cheng's savage face, as though someone had struck upon what weighed on his heart.
"So... that really was how it was?"
Xiang Kuangren exclaimed in surprise, "Old Cheng, you...?"
Vice Principal Cheng slowly sat down, his expression utterly ashen, and murmured, "Back when Xiu'er... was born, she was like carved jade dusted with rouge, with the finest aptitude under heaven... And back then, I named the child Cheng Fengxiu. I still remember that Minister Nan happened to be there at the time and came over for a cup of celebratory wine."
"And while Minister Nan was drinking, he happened to call Marshal Dongfang about something. He mentioned it in passing, and Marshal Dongfang sent a gift through him."
"Later, after Marshal Dongfang learned Xiu'er's full name, he had Minister Nan tell me that the name Cheng Fengxiu was too grand, that the little girl might not be able to bear it, and suggested changing it..."
"I could only blame myself for being so overjoyed that I never took Marshal Dongfang's words of gold and jade to heart. To my mind, it was perfectly normal to give a girl a name like Xiu'er, Feng'er, Juan'er, Li'er, or Bing'er. What did bearing it or not bearing it have to do with anything?"
"As the child grew year by year, I completely forgot that advice given over wine. Even today, if student Zuo Xiaoduo hadn't brought it up, I would never have remembered... Ah."
"When Xiu'er turned eighteen, she entered Hidden Dragon High Martial without a hitch and stood head and shoulders above all the other students, hailed as the greatest genius... Afterward, she took her sword to the Upper Capital and challenged both Ancestral Dragon and Cloud End