Contrary to what Nalan Yanran had expected, the moment her words left her lips, the boy before her began to tremble violently. He lifted his head slowly, and that youthful, clear-cut face was now twisted into something fierce enough to be almost terrifying.
For three years he had endured the taunts of all who knew him, yet deep in Xiao Yan's heart there had always been a line he would not cross. Nalan Yanran's lofty, alms-like manner had just stamped hard upon that last shred of dignity he had kept hidden within himself.
"Ah—" Startled by the boy's monstrous expression, the maiden took a quick step back. The handsome young man at her side drew his longsword in a flash, his gaze turning cold as it fixed on Xiao Yan.
"I… could really kill you right now!" The words leaked out between his chattering teeth, steeped in killing intent. Xiao Yan clenched his fists, his dark pupils blazing with a storm of burning fury.
"Yan'er—show some respect!" From the head of the hall, Xiao Zhan was himself startled by the boy's manner, and called out in haste. The Xiao Clan of today could ill afford to offend the Yun Lan Sect.
Xiao Yan clenched his fists hard, dropping his head for a moment. Then, gently, he lifted it again—only the fierce ugliness of moments before had already given way to calm.
Three years of contempt and mockery had, in their own cruel way, forged in Xiao Yan a forbearance far beyond that of ordinary men.
Nalan Yanran before him was the darling of the Yun Lan Sect. If he truly did something to her now, it would drag endless trouble down upon his father's head. So he had no choice but to endure.
Watching the boy who could fold away his inner turmoil almost in an instant, both Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran felt a sudden chill crawl up their spines.
*This lad—if he stays a good-for-nothing all his days, so be it. But if he were ever given real power, he would be a truly dangerous man,* Ge Ye thought to himself, gravely.
"Xiao Yan, I don't know why my actions have angered you so. But… please, dissolve the engagement." Letting out a soft breath, Nalan Yanran settled herself from the fright of a moment ago, her small face growing sombre.
"Bear in mind: my coming to the Xiao Clan today was personally sanctioned by my teacher, the Sect Master of the Yun Lan Sect." She pressed her lips together, tilting her head slightly, and went on with a touch of helplessness: "You may take this as a threat if you like. But you should also understand that this is how the world is. Nothing is ever truly fair. Though I would rather not say it outright, you know very well the distance between you and me. We…"
"…have essentially no future together."
At the maiden's godlike judgment, a cold sneer spilled from the corner of Xiao Yan's mouth. "Lady Nalan… you should know that on the Dou Qi continent, when a woman repudiates a betrothal, it puts the other party in the worst possible light. Hah, I have a thick enough skin; it matters little to me. But my father! He is the head of a clan. If he grants your request today, how is he ever to govern the Xiao Clan again? How is he to hold up his head in Wutan City?"
Gazing at the boy whose face burned with fury, Nalan Yanran's slender brows knitted lightly. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Xiao Zhan at the head of the hall, a man who seemed to have aged a lifetime in the span of a heartbeat, and a sliver of remorse stirred in her breast. She bit her rosy lower lip, mulled it over for a time, and let her clever eyes turn—then spoke softly at last: "Today's affair was, indeed, a little rash of me. I can withdraw my demand to dissolve the engagement for the time being. But I need you to agree to one bargain."
"What bargain?" Xiao Yan asked, frowning.
"I will delay today's demand by three years. Three years from now, come to the Yun Lan Sect and challenge me. If you lose, I will dissolve the engagement in public. And by then, you will have undergone your family's coming-of-age ritual, so even in defeat, Uncle Xiao's face will not suffer too much. Do you dare accept?"
*Hmph. Losing then would no longer cost my father his reputation—but I would carry the shame of a defeat on my back for the rest of my life. This woman… is truly ruthless.* A bitter laugh rose in Xiao Yan's heart, yet his face wore nothing but sarcasm.
"Lady Nalan, you are perfectly well aware of Yan'er's condition. What will you have him challenge you with? Is this mockery of yours any fun at all?" Xiao Zhan slammed a palm onto the table and rose in fury.
"Uncle Xiao, with repudiation, someone has to bear the responsibility. Were it not to preserve your good name, Yanran would have forced the dissolution this very moment—and announced it to the world!" Frustrated at being blocked yet again, Nalan Yanran grew impatient, and turned to snap at the silent Xiao Yan: "Since you are unwilling to see Uncle Xiao's face ruined, then accept the bargain! Three years from now, or right this moment—which will you choose?"
"Nalan Yanran, there is no need for you to strike so arrogant a pose. You wish to annul the engagement for one reason alone: you believe I, Xiao Yan, a wastrel, am unworthy of a heaven-blessed maiden such as yourself. To say it bluntly—apart from your beauty, there is not one thing about you that this young master regards even half-seriously! The Yun Lan Sect is indeed strong, but I am still young; I still have time. I became a Dou Warrior at twelve—and you, Nalan Yanran, what stage of Dou Qi were you at when you were twelve? Yes, I am a wastrel now. But if I could work a miracle three years ago, what makes you believe I cannot turn my fortunes around in the years to come?" Faced with the girl's oppressive pressure, the long-silent Xiao Yan finally erupted like a volcano. His young face cold and grave, he poured out the words in one torrent—stunning every person in the hall. Who would have thought that the quiet, taciturn boy they all knew could be so formidable?
Nalan Yanran's lips moved wordlessly. Though Xiao Yan's appraisal turned her face a livid green with rage, she could find no way to dispute it. What he said was simple truth. No matter how much of a wastrel he might be now, his becoming a Dou Warrior at twelve was real and undeniable—whereas Nalan Yanran, at twelve, had been at merely the eighth stage of Dou Qi.
"Lady Nalan, out of respect for the old master Nalan, Xiao Yan would offer you a few words of advice. Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west—never mock the poverty of a youth!" Xiao Yan's words rang out cold and iron, and Nalan Yanran's slender frame trembled slightly.
"Well said—well said indeed, never mock the poverty of a youth! This is the mettle of my son, Xiao Zhan!" At the head of the hall, Xiao Zhan's eyes lit up, and he slammed both palms onto the table, splashing tea across its surface.
Gritting her teeth at the coldly smiling boy before her, a girl who had been pampered her whole life and never once lectured by a peer of her own age, Nalan Yanran all but saw red. Her voice, still tinged with its girlish quality, turned shrill: "What right have you to lecture me? Even if your talent once had no equal, right now, you are a wastrel! Fine. This Nalan Yanran will wait for the very day you surpass me again. I will say nothing more of dissolving the engagement today—but three years from now, I will wait for you at the Yun Lan Sect. Have the nerve, then, to show me how high you can climb! And if you can defeat me, then I, Nalan Yanran, will be yours to command, in servitude or in bondage, for the rest of my life!"
"Of course—if three years from now you remain as great a wastrel as you are today, hand me that contract dissolving the engagement, and hand it over willingly!"
Watching the girl's livid face, Xiao Yan laughed out loud in mockery. "There is no need to wait three years. You—I have not the faintest interest in you at all!" With that, he paid no further mind to the ice-faced Nalan Yanran. He turned abruptly, strode quickly to the table, and set to writing at a furious pace.
When the brush fell, the ink was done.
Xiao Yan's right hand suddenly snatched up the short sword that lay upon the table. The keen, glittering blade, in one stroke, slashed a gash across the palm of his left hand.
His blood-soaked palm pressed down over the white paper, leaving a livid, searing impression of blood upon it.
Gently he lifted the contract between his fingers and let out a cold laugh. As he passed before Nalan Yanran, he slapped the paper down hard upon the table.
"Don't imagine this Xiao Yan cares a single wit about his genius bride. This contract is not an agreement to dissolve the engagement—it is my writ of repudiation, casting you out of the Xiao Clan! From this moment on, you, Nalan Yanran, have not the faintest connection to my clan!"
"You—you dare cast me out?" Staring at the blood-soaked contract upon the table, Nalan Yanran's beautiful eyes flew wide, her disbelief plain. That with her beauty, her talent, and her background, she should be cast out by the wastrel of a small clan? It was too outlandish to feel real.
Watching her stunned expression through cold, flat eyes, Xiao Yan turned, knelt before Xiao Zhan, and kowtowed with real force, biting his lip and clenching his jaw, stubbornly silent.
Although, within the family, it was nominally he who had cast Nalan Yanran out of the clan, once word got out, others would not see it that way. Unaware of the true course of events, they would only conclude that Nalan Yanran, backed by her formidable connections, had forced the Xiao Clan to break the engagement. For with a talent, a beauty, and a background to match, Nalan Yanran was far more than a match for the wastrel young master of the Xiao family; no one would ever believe that Xiao Yan had the nerve to repudiate the future helmsman of the Yun Lan Sect. And thus, as Xiao Yan's father, Xiao Zhan would surely be drenched in ridicule.
Gazing at the kneeling Xiao Yan, and understanding full well the guilt that churned within him, Xiao Zhan smiled serenely. "I believe my son will not be a wastrel all his life. A little idle gossip is nothing—before the reality that is to come, it will disprove itself."
"Father. Three years from now, Yan'er will go to the Yun Lan Sect and wash away today's humiliation for you." His eyes grew a little moist. Xiao Yan kowtowed once more, then rose and walked straight out of the hall, without an instant's hesitation.
Passing Nalan Yanran, he paused in his step, and his pale, youthful voice drifted out, cold and flat.
"Three years from now, I will come for you."
The boy's silhouette, stretched long beneath the sunlight, looked lonely and forlorn.
Nalan Yanran's lips parted slightly. She stared blankly at that figure disappearing into the distance, and the contract in her hand suddenly weighed a thousand pounds.
"Good sirs, since your purpose has been served, you may return." Watching the boy leave, Xiao Zhan's face remained expressionless, yet the fist hidden within his sleeve was clenched until his fingers turned white.
"Uncle Xiao, Yanran apologizes to you for what happened today. If ever you have the leisure, please do come and visit the Nalan household." Bowing once to the unfeeling Xiao Zhan, Nalan Yanran had no wish to remain. She rose and walked toward the hall's exit, with Ge Ye and that handsome young man hurrying after her.
"Take the Ju Qi San with you too." With a sweep of his hand, Xiao Zhan sent the jade box on the table spinning through the air.
Ge Ye's hand reached back, catching the box steadily. He smiled wryly and tucked it into the ring on his finger.
"Young miss of the Nalan family, I hope you will not come to regret this lady-ling tantrum of today. And do not imagine that with the backing of the Yun Lan Sect you may run wild with impunity. The Dou Qi continent is vast beyond measure, and there are not a few who stand stronger than Yun Yun…" Just as the three were about to step through the doorway, the girl's light, clear voice, laced with a casual chill, suddenly drifted through the hall.
The three halted dead in their tracks, their expressions flickering, and turned their gazes toward the corner—toward the girl in the purple dress who sat turning the pages of a book with unhurried grace.
Sunlight spilled in through the gaps in the doors and windows, wrapping her entirely within its glow. From afar, she looked like a purple lotus blooming amid the mortal world—pure, exquisite, untainted by any dust.
As if sensing the three gazes upon her, the girl raised her exquisite little face from the timeworn pages, and in those autumn-water eyes, there suddenly welled a wisp of fine golden flame.
At the sight of that slender golden flame in her eyes, Ge Ye's whole body trembled violently. A look of terror flooded his aged, wrinkled face in an instant. His withered hand snatched hastily at the bewildered Nalan Yanran and the young man, and then he fled the hall as though his life depended on it.
Watching Ge Ye flee, everyone in the hall—save a mere handful—could only stare in complete bewilderment.