Chapter 1915 — Motion Sickness, Part One
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Though the Xuandan Sect had kept growing stronger, to the point where it was quietly overshadowing the other ancient sects, it still lacked the power to wipe any of them out—so naturally it could not afford to be too arrogant.
"Has the business at home been settled...?" Along the way the other students chattered and laughed; only Wang Xinyan and Wei Zhao sat silent, and Wei Zhao, feeling the awkwardness, had tossed out a topic at random.
"Mm... more or less settled, I suppose..." Thinking of her own origins, Wang Xinyan could not help but sigh.
"And the engagement with the Kang family... is it still on?" Wei Zhao asked.
"Mm..." Wang Xinyan nodded. For some reason her heart felt restless and raw; she had never liked the engagement, but never before had she been this resistant to it. More and more, she did not want to marry Kang Jinglong.
"Not broken off yet?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback, but then reflected that the Xiao and Kang families were now in much the same straits; both had hidden clans backing them, yet both had lost several experts, so a union between them was in fact quite likely.
"No... it's all but settled... Now that I'm at university, and here in Donghai, I'm afraid Kang Jinglong will come calling before long..." Wang Xinyan smiled bitterly.
"You don't want to marry him?" Wei Zhao asked.
"Want to or not, what difference does it make? I'm nothing but a sacrifice to the family's interests..." Wang Xinyan shook her head. She had given up hope long ago—she had grown almost numb to it.
"If you don't want to marry, then don't." Wei Zhao felt a measure of sympathy for her. If she were marrying a decent man, he could wish her well; but she was marrying into the Kang family—and by his reckoning the Kang family would sooner or later be wiped out by his own hand. Would marrying in not simply make her a widow?
"Not marry... marry you, then?" Wang Xinyan gave a bitter smile, but somehow the joke slipped out before she could stop it. The instant the words left her mouth her face burned as though on fire; she was not one for jokes, yet she had said it, and now she felt thoroughly embarrassed.
"Sure," Wei Zhao said, smiling.
"I was only joking..." Hearing his answer, Wang Xinyan's face grew even redder, yet somewhere in her heart there was a small, startled delight. So Wei Zhao did not look down on her quite as completely as he seemed to. His coldness before had made her think she held no attraction for him whatsoever.
Some men, in courting a woman, did play at being aloof to draw her eye, but Wang Xinyan knew Wei Zhao was absolutely not that sort.
His indifference was genuine and effortless, as though he saw through everything and let it all slide off him.
"I'm joking too—I can't very well just kill Kang Jinglong, can I?" Wei Zhao said, laughing.
"You don't seem afraid of the Kang family? Of course... you're not." It suddenly struck Wang Xinyan that the man before her was truly no ordinary person. He had kicked the Xiao and Kang families straight out of the ranks of the great houses, and men like Pi Bo and Pi Yangyang had died either by his hand or by his henchmen's—yet Wei Zhao was alive and well, while the Kang and Xiao families, for all their powerful backers, had been reduced to sealing an alliance by marriage just to keep their fortunes afloat.
"You're not really hoping I'll kill Kang Jinglong, are you?" Wei Zhao asked, lowering his voice.
"Huh?" Wang Xinyan started, then shook her head. For an instant just now she truly had wanted to say, Go and kill Kang Jinglong—but the idea was simply too insane. Killing those guards was one thing; if Wei Zhao really did kill Kang Jinglong, would that not bring enormous trouble down on them?
At that thought, Wang Xinyan resolutely abandoned the idea: "Kill him, and I'd still have to marry Kang Jingming—and that one's even worse."
"Then I'll kill them both," Wei Zhao said.