“Ji Lan, are you unhappy?” Yu Zhengyang took one of Ji Lan’s hands, speaking with deep affection. “I am truly, genuinely sincere about wanting to be your disciple.”
“Young Master Yu!” With a clever burst of force, Mo Chenxiao pulled Ji Lan away from Yu Zhengyang’s grip. “Didn’t you see? My Master is unwilling!”
“What yours and mine,” Yu Zhengyang shook his head. “Senior Brother, Master belongs to all of us.”
Yu Zhengyang had truly thrown away all semblance of shame!
“You… you are…”
Suddenly, a delicate voice rang out. It was Xiao Yuntang.
Behind her followed a dark-faced Xiao Yuwei, alongside Xiao’s father and mother, whose expressions looked thoroughly unsightly.
“Uncle and Aunt, have you finished discussing?” Ji Lan looked at Xiao Yuntang’s strange expression, somewhat puzzled. “What is wrong with Palace Master Xiao?”
However, Xiao Yuntang was staring fixedly at Yu Zhengyang, her lips trembling. “It’s you…”
Yu Zhengyang looked slightly baffled. “Master, what is wrong with this Xiao girl?”
After asking this, Yu Zhengyang finally noticed that there were several other people present, and couldn’t help praising, “There are actually two Xiao maidens? Master, with two of them, can you even handle it?”
“Shut your mouth!” Ji Lan felt that this man truly lacked any sense of shame, daring to utter whatever popped into his head. “Yu Zhengyang, apologize!”
“Many thanks, Real Person Conglian, but an apology isn’t necessary.” Xiao Yuntang quickly snapped back to her senses, looking calmly at Yu Zhengyang as she asked, “Do you not remember me?”
What was with this accountability-seeking heartbreaker act from Xiao Yuntang?
“What relation do you have with this Xiao girl?” Yu Zhengyang rubbed his chin. “I generally don’t remember people who look worse than me.”
Xiao Yuntang took a few deep breaths, barely managing to suppress her rising fury. “What on earth is your relationship with Chenxiao? Was it you, or was it Chenxiao, who exchanged tokens of affection with me that day?”
Everyone present was startled by this sudden twist.
Ji Lan looked at Xiao Yuntang in astonishment. Could it be that she still couldn’t tell Mo Chenxiao and Yu Zhengyang apart?
These two men were obviously completely different!
“That day, I was blind and unable to see. A young lad saved me; he didn’t tell me his name, but he told me to remember his aura.” Xiao Yuntang felt a sudden chill and hugged her arms. “I always thought that person was Chenxiao, but seeing you now, I am no longer certain.”
“Xiao Yuntang, what kind of stories are you making up for yourself!” Xiao Yuwei finally snapped. “Could it be that because Mo Chenxiao didn’t want you, you’ve now set your sights on Yu Zhengyang?”
“Yuwei, you!” Xiao Gongyu was furious. Glancing at his eldest daughter, he ultimately refrained from delivering another slap. “Yuwei, things have reached this point, so we must tell you something, even though Yuntang has always begged me not to!”
Xiao Gongyu flicked his sleeve. “Do you know that your elder sister blinded both her eyes precisely to save you? You’ve always hated us for sending your sister away to the Shattered Jade Palace while sending you into the Sword Pavilion, but do you know that without the Shattered Jade Palace, your sister would have died!”
“I know! How could I not know!” To everyone’s surprise, Xiao Yuwei grew even angrier. “Just because she lost a pair of eyes, you lot went and dug out our younger brother’s eyes?!”
Xiao Yuwei burst into tears right then and there. “I didn’t want her to save me. If I had died, I would have died, but our younger brother was innocent…”
This time, Xiao Gongyu did not fly into a rage. Instead, he let out a long sigh. “At that time, Xiao Huo didn’t have long to live past twelve years old. He gave his eyes to Yuntang of his own free will…”
“Of his own free will?” Xiao Yuwei sniffled. “Father, do you actually believe the words coming out of your mouth? He could have lived, but you lot were unwilling to save him, and Ji Lan was unwilling to save him either. What choice did he have? What choice did I have?”
Xiao Huo had been all the light Xiao Yuwei had during her first sixteen years. No one else cared about her, and only her younger brother had stayed by her side through it all.
Yet these people claimed that if it weren’t for saving her, Xiao Yuntang wouldn’t have gone blind, and Xiao Huo wouldn’t have died!
Heh, how utterly laughable.
Having unexpectedly eavesdropped on a family secret that was somehow tied to his own identity, Ji Lan’s expression wasn’t looking particularly great.
Ah Zhen, what does this plotline have to do with the main storyline? Ji Lan felt a headache coming on. Do I need to keep watching this drama?
Zhen’er was actually online and replied exceptionally fast. Naturally, it has to do with it. This is about your grand wedding cancellation after all! As the primary early-stage villain, you certainly still need to maintain your dignity.
Ji Lan didn’t understand what this had to do with his engagement cancellation. No matter how much further he questioned, Ah Zhen refused to reply, acting as cold and unfeeling as a piece of data corrupted by a virus.
“Yuwei, don’t be sad,” Ji Lan thought for a moment before offering some comfort to his fiancée. “Let bygones be bygones.”
However, Yu Zhengyang refused to drop it. “What does all this family business you’re talking about have to do with us?”
Blindness, saving people, running out of time… Yu Zhengyang felt his ears hurting just from listening.
“They always say family scandals shouldn’t be aired outside,” Yu Zhengyang tutted with a shake of his head. “Yet look at you lot, you practically want to use sound transmission to broadcast it to the entire immortal realm!”
That statement sounded rather harsh, but the logic was undeniably spot-on.
Before Xiao Gongyu had even managed to recover his composure, he was hit by Yu Zhengyang’s reckless accusations. His lips trembled, his face turned pale, and he pointed a shaking finger at Yu Zhengyang for a long moment without uttering a single word before collapsing unconscious right on the spot.
“Gongyu!” Liu Xiaoxiao panicked and started running in circles, but Ji Lan was quick-witted enough to catch the man and rapidly transport him into an inner room.
Another bout of utter chaos ensued.
By this time, the Xiao family members no longer had the spare energy to point fingers at Yu Zhengyang.
Ji Lan only felt a dull ache in his temples. Why was this Yu Zhengyang just as capable of stirring up trouble as Shangguan Ran?
And with this fellow constantly calling him Master, it was only dragging his already lackluster reputation further through the mud.
Ji Lan concluded that Yu Zhengyang’s existence was solely meant to highlight just how wonderful Mo Chenxiao truly was.
As his disciple, Mo Chenxiao was mature, steady, spoke little, worked hard, and even salvaged his master’s face!
Whenever he had to borrow items from the sect’s senior and junior brothers, he usually had to rely on his disciple’s reputation to pull it off!
Ji Lan felt a deep sense of despair.
“Yu Zhengyang, I never took you on as a disciple,” Ji Lan said, feeling utterly exhausted. “I cannot bear this responsibility. Go find someone else to play with.”
“That won’t do,” Yu Zhengyang hummed in dissatisfaction. “The Pavilion Master agreed to it. Master, you couldn’t possibly not know that the Sword Pavilion’s Pavilion Master has the authority to assign disciples, right?”
Ji Lan did know, but such a thing had never had a precedent before!
Historically, it had always been masters forcibly claiming disciples; when had a disciple ever forcefully imposed themselves?
What on earth had this Yu Zhengyang promised the Pavilion Master to secure such a deal?
“Yu Zhengyang,” Mo Chenxiao suddenly spoke up. “Why did you intentionally provoke Manor Lord Xiao just now and prevent Palace Master Xiao from continuing?”
Mo Chenxiao’s face was dark with gloom. “Before Qingya Mountain, I had never laid eyes on the Elder of the Xiao family. Why is she so firmly convinced that we exchanged a token of affection? And why did she suddenly confuse the two of us just now?”
Following this string of rapid-fire questions from Mo Chenxiao, Yu Zhengyang’s expression didn’t flicker in the slightest as he replied with an innocent look, “Senior Brother, what are you talking about? I don’t understand a single word.”
Hearing this, Ji Lan immediately sensed that something was amiss.
Given his disciple’s thoroughly romance-repellant temperament, how could he have accidentally seduced an imperial-sister type without even realizing it?
A woman of Xiao Yuntang’s type was definitely not someone the current Mo Chenxiao could attract.
Yu Zhengyang, on the other hand, was entirely capable of it.
Although this fellow was young, his personality was already fully formed, and young maidens raised in inner courtyards who rarely interacted with men were the easiest targets to be seduced by a man putting on such a superficially devoted facade.
Ji Lan was merely puzzled: if Yu Zhengyang had seduced her, he seduced her, why pin the blame on Mo Chenxiao?
And why give Xiao Yuntang all of Mo Chenxiao’s background information?
A terrifying thought suddenly struck Ji Lan. Yu Zhengyang’s previous desire to marry him, and his current insistence on becoming his disciple, were all ploys to get closer to Mo Chenxiao!
Yu Zhengyang must have known Mo Chenxiao from long ago, and they undoubtedly shared a deep-seated grievance!
Just as Ji Lan finally managed to puzzle it out and experienced an epiphany, he snapped back to reality only to find that the two of them had stopped arguing and were instead staring straight at him.
Feeling like prey targeted by two beasts, Ji Lan swallowed hard. “What is it?”
“Master, Palace Master Xiao and I have never had any sort of relationship,” Mo Chenxiao stated with rigid seriousness. “It was Young Master Yu who previously bored himself with Young Master Shangguan and played tricks on people from the Shattered Jade Palace. Heaven knows why Palace Master Xiao mistook me for Young Master Yu.”
Yu Zhengyang looked even more aggrieved. “Master, please forgive me! I was young back then and didn’t mean it. That Xiao girl is a few years older than me anyway, I certainly don’t like her.”
Could the truth really be this simple?
Ji Lan felt certain there was fishy business afoot!
However, there was no chance these two had colluded to trick him, considering how thoroughly they despised each other’s guts.
Still, pranks were fun for a moment, but how was he supposed to clean up this mess?
Ji Lan massaged the bridge of his nose. No matter what, this Yu Zhengyang was determined to latch onto him, and with that kind of personality, he would undoubtedly stir up even greater trouble down the line!
“Master, let me tell you a secret,” Yu Zhengyang sneaked closer to whisper right into Ji Lan’s ear, completely ignoring Mo Chenxiao’s presence. “I saw Xiao Huo over at the Shattered Jade Palace. That Xiao girl’s younger brother shouldn’t be dead.”
Not dead?
Ji Lan widened his eyes. Since he wasn’t dead and was actually at the Shattered Jade Palace, why hadn’t Xiao Yuntang told Xiao Yuwei?
Furthermore, did Xiao Gongyu and the others know about this?
Ji Lan felt the Xiao family members were truly terrifying.
Especially since these Xiao family members were the ones who would hand the knife to the male lead in the future. Without the Xiao family’s assistance, the male lead would probably have required an extra ten thousand words of plotting just to kill him.
Yet in the end, he had died within three thousand words.
Ji Lan felt deeply depressed.
“This matter must be kept strictly confidential,” Ji Lan sighed internally. “Young Master Yu, it is getting late, you should head back first.”
Yu Zhengyang had thought this piece of news would win him favor with Ji Lan, but it had yielded zero benefit and only left Ji Lan feeling even more anxious.
Moreover…
“Master, the two of us are about to become master and disciple, why are you still acting so distant?” Yu Zhengyang expressed his dissatisfaction with the term Young Master. “Won’t you call me Ah Yang?”
“No!” Mo Chenxiao said icily. “Young Master Yu, if you have too much idle time on your hands, why don’t you go properly discuss marriage arrangements with Palace Master Xiao? She is the master of a palace after all, so marrying you would still be considered marrying beneath her station, no matter how you look at it.”
“Gladly,” Yu Zhengyang said with a cold look in his eyes. “I can marry Xiao Yuntang, but since Senior Brother Mo and I hit it off instantly, I’d love for us to become even closer through marriage. Why don’t you marry Xiao Yuwei instead?”
Ji Lan: Why are you trying to saddle me with a cuckold’s green hat?!