Xiao Hong followed Wen Xin all the way, hesitating to speak.
Back at their residence, after going upstairs to the room and closing the door, she finally could not hold it in. “Miss, it is A-Qing. Why not go over and say hello?”
She only learned about many things from back then after the fact.
Wen Xin kept her usual expression, walked to the table, smoothed her skirt behind her hips with both hands, and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. She said slowly, “He is using an alias. He does not want people to know his identity. There is no need to disturb him, otherwise it might cause trouble for both him and us.”
Xiao Hong was slightly stunned, then immediately understood. There was no one named “A Shiheng” or “Niu Youqing” among the lottery participants. Therefore, A-Qing must have used an alias, and using an alias naturally meant he did not want people to know his true identity.
Then she realised something else and gasped, “A-Qing participated in the Chaoyang Assembly under an alias. He is one of the hundred people in the finals, which means he has already defeated many people before. A-Qing is so formidable! Miss, you were forced into a helpless situation back then. How could the Wen family withstand the suppression of those powerful figures? The trouble was brought by him. Please explain it to him.”
Wen Xin lightly touched the edge of the water bowl on the table with one index finger, gazed at it, and said, “I betrayed him back then. After all these years, the fact that he does not blame us is already a sign of his magnanimity. He is a man who does great things, and we are not on the same path. Everyone has their own lives now. What is the point of explaining again? The matter is in the past. There is no need for any further entanglement, otherwise it will be bad for everyone. Do you understand?”
She had continued to pay attention to some situations afterwards. She knew that Yu Qing and the others had found Xiaoyunjian, and she also knew that her betrayal of Yu Qing had caused him immeasurable negative consequences. Not only was he captured, but he also seemed to have nearly lost his life, and the immortal mansion he had obtained was handed over to someone else.
She had originally thought Yu Qing would come to call her to account, but he did not. Perhaps he was simply disgusted by her.
Later, she heard that he was living in seclusion in Youjiaobu, running a shop, and it seemed his business was not going very well.
Of course, she also heard about the romantic affair between Yu Qing and Tie Miaoqing.
Seeing that the young miss had already made her decision, Xiao Hong sighed lightly.
There were some things only she knew best. When cleaning the young miss’s study, she discovered someone’s calligraphy and paintings secretly kept by the young miss. She had carefully observed the traces, and the young miss probably took them out to look at them frequently in private…
In a small building in the garden, inside a room with tightly closed doors and windows, a figure in a white dress paced back and forth. The veil had been removed, and the expression on her face was unpredictable.
Anyone who knew her would recognise her as Zhong Ruochen, the personal disciple of the commander of the Sinan Mansion. She came here not for the competition ranking, nor for those rewards, but only because she had not been on the path of cultivation for long, yet her cultivation had been rapidly filled by powerful cultivation resources. There was a suspicion of pulling up seedlings to help them grow, so she came to make up for the deficiencies.
She had originally come with a calm mind, just to gain some experience. However, some people and some things ultimately made her resentment hard to dispel.
She never dreamed she would meet the man who gave her a beautiful dream and then shattered it in such an occasion.
Brilliant and the number one talent in the world. She had initially harboured infinite sweetness and beauty in her heart, just waiting for a dreamlike beautiful time. Who would have thought that what awaited her was a nightmare? That man had abandoned her so recklessly, making her the biggest joke.
Those brilliantly written articles and those talented poetic lines had once made her look up to him infinitely. Who knew that in the blink of an eye, they would become like looks of contempt, looking down on her!
Those widely praised phrases seemed to be constantly telling her, “You are not worthy!”
No matter where she went, she felt that others were looking at her with strange eyes. Perhaps they were all laughing at her behind her back.
Even after all these years, she could not walk out of that immense humiliation.
However, when the man who had brought her such immense humiliation finally appeared before her eyes, standing in front of her at an unprecedentedly close distance, at the moment their eyes met, she uncontrollably and flusteredly avoided his gaze, not daring to look him straight in the eye.
After returning, she repeatedly thought of that pathetic scene and felt extremely annoyed. She almost cried out of anger at herself.
Suddenly, she turned her head sharply towards the door.
A figure darted upstairs like a rabbit and pushed the door open directly. It was the woman in the yellow dress, her younger sister, Wen Ruowei.
Wen Ruowei rushed in, quickly closed the door behind her, and then tore off the veil on her face. Back in her private space, she naturally did not need to keep her face covered.
“Sister, I have found out, I have found out. I have already figured out brother-in-law’s background here. Do you want to know? Do you want to know?”
Wen Ruowei bounced around, swaying left and right with her limbs spread out like a standing toad. In private, she completely disregarded her image as a young woman wearing a dress.
Zhong Ruochen’s face instantly turned cold. “I told you, you do not have a brother-in-law. You are not allowed to call him that anymore.”
“Oh, I am just used to calling him that. For so many years, I have always called him that. I cannot change my tune all of a sudden. Just pretend you did not hear it.”
“You…”
“Alright, alright, do not be angry. I was wrong, I was wrong.” Wen Ruowei quickly hugged her arm, shaking it and acting coquettishly. Then she pulled her to the door, opened it halfway, and pointed to a green mountain diagonally opposite. “There, he lives there, in that house halfway up the mountain. It turns out we can see where brother-in-law lives from here.”
Annoyed by her, Zhong Ruochen pushed her away.
Wen Ruowei closed the door and clung to her sister like a shadow. “Sister, I personally went out to find out about brother-in-law’s situation for you. Do you not want to hear about it?”
Zhong Ruochen plopped down onto a chair and turned her head away. “I do not want to hear it.”
Wen Ruowei bent over, bringing her pretty face very close to her sister in a distorted manner. “You do not know until you investigate, and once you do, you get a shock. In the previous promotion matches, brother-in-law was very formidable. None of us can compare to him. Even if we add ourselves together, we are not as good as him. Do you really not want to know?”
Hearing this, Zhong Ruochen was obviously stunned for a moment, and her eyes shifted uneasily twice. But as soon as she saw her sister’s expression, she immediately said decisively, “I have nothing to do with him. I do not want to hear a single word.”
Wen Ruowei shook her head and said, “Do not be like that. You can hate him, but one thing is one thing and another is another. This is the Chaoyang Assembly. You must know yourself and your enemy to win every battle. Sister, just think about it. If you two meet later and you are defeated by him in a fight, damn, that would be too embarrassing.”
Zhong Ruochen’s expression hesitated noticeably again, as if she was already imagining that unacceptable scene.
Wen Ruowei immediately turned around, dragged a chair over from the side with a scraping sound, and sat directly opposite her sister at close range. With a serious face, she said, “I have asked around. Yes, the alias brother-in-law is using now is Zhang Zhichen. He advanced all the way from the Dingyin District. Do you know how he advanced? It is simply inconceivable…”
Zhong Ruochen, who had turned her head away, was instantly attracted by these words and showed an expression of listening intently.
Wen Ruowei’s serious demeanour only lasted for those few sentences. In an instant, she crossed one leg over the other and began to gesture wildly with both hands. “In the district matches, he advanced almost entirely by drawing lots. He drew a blank token three times, advancing without taking the test three times, and it was three consecutive blank tokens. I heard the process was very interesting. Because brother-in-law’s luck was too good, the Kunling Mountain feared people would accuse them of cheating, so they changed the drawing rules twice in a row…”
She chattered excitedly about the process, speaking with such excitement and such animated expressions, as if she had been there at the time.
Could drawing lots actually result in such a thing? It was simply unheard of, and Zhong Ruochen listened with rapt attention.
“Later, in order to suppress brother-in-law, Kunling Mountain simply did not let him draw lots and directly stuffed a token into his hand. Guess what happened? A heavily injured guy drew brother-in-law, went on stage, found he could not hold up, and voluntarily admitted defeat. Just imagine that scene, it was absolutely hilarious. Later, in the Ding District matches, in the very first round, the guy facing brother-in-law directly admitted defeat again…”
Out of eight matches, he drew a blank token four times, his opponents voluntarily admitted defeat twice, and he won easily twice more because his opponents were injured. Wen Ruowei marvelled at it herself, wildly praising her brother-in-law’s good luck.
Hearing this to the end, Zhong Ruochen finally understood. She had thought their combined strength as sisters was inferior to his. Having already been looked down upon and dumped by him, if her cultivation strength was also inferior, how could she bear it? It turned out after all this time that she was just saying their combined luck as sisters was inferior to his.
Knowing she had been teased by her sister again, she snorted, “Boring.”
Wen Ruowei leaned back in her chair and shook her leg. “How is it boring? How can an ordinary person encounter such luck? Only someone like brother-in-law deserves it. Brother-in-law is too interesting. Sigh, sister, I really do not know what you are thinking. Why let go of a good thing? A good thing must definitely be kept for yourself. He is clearly your man. If you should snatch him back, you must snatch him back. Why give him to someone else? Anyway, I am not reconciled to it.
Just think about it. With our current status and background in the cultivation world, whether in the cultivation world or in the secular world, how many men can match you? Would you even look at an ordinary man? Brother-in-law, that number one talent in the world, is different. The glory of the ‘number one talent in the world’ can transcend certain things. You and brother-in-law are the true match, the true match made in heaven, the true talented man and beautiful woman.
Then again, what did brother-in-law do wrong back then? Brother-in-law is the ‘number one talent in the world’. He has his pride. Do you really want brother-in-law to fawn over and flatter his superiors day after day like those vulgar people? Sister, would you be willing to see such a servile brother-in-law? Would that not waste all his talent?
He did not want to do it himself. What is wrong with him wanting to abandon literature for martial arts? Is it a mistake? Originally, even if he abandoned literature for martial arts, he could still have been with you just fine. But everyone was unwilling and wanted to force him, so he had no choice but to run away. Now it is fine. Now we have the conditions. Whether he wants to pursue literature or martial arts, it is all acceptable.”
Hearing this, Zhong Ruochen’s gaze, which had been fixed motionlessly to the side, wavered slightly.
“Actually, Master’s meaning is also very obvious. Master also thinks it is more suitable for you and brother-in-law to reconcile. Sister, brother-in-law is your original spouse. It is always better for a husband and wife to be the original pair. If you find someone else, even if they do not say it on the surface, there will definitely be a knot in their heart. If you do not get brother-in-law back into your hands, you cannot swallow this anger, can you?
Just think about it. If you and brother-in-law reconcile, he will have to apologise to you. Then let him write some poems to praise you properly, just like he wrote that ‘World is Good’ to praise that restaurant. Let everyone know about it. He must write you as unparalleled in heaven and earth. He must write those enduring poems to praise you, so that future generations will be envious when they see them. Just thinking about it is beautiful. There is nothing more suitable for an apology than this. A twist between you and brother-in-law will instead become a beautiful story later.”
Saying this, she finally leaned forward, attempting to reveal her true intention. “Sister, in case you meet brother-in-law in the competition arena, you will not strike a fatal blow, will you?”
She was afraid her sister would bear a grudge and strike a fatal blow against that brother-in-law, which was why she had babbled a bunch of good words on his behalf.
Zhong Ruochen swept a cold glance at her, seeming to see through her attempt, and said word by word, “Killing him would be too easy for him. I will beat him until he kneels on the ground and begs for mercy in public!”