Chapter 4653 — Seeking a Son-in-Law
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Friends from the five great Heaven-Tier Islands, on behalf of all of West Island I thank you once again for coming. Taking this rare opportunity, I wish to announce an important matter to you all." Ning Shanghe's gaze swept slowly across the hall. Seeing that everyone was waiting with bated breath, she continued: "As you all know, today is not only my daughter's eighteenth birthday, but also her coming-of-age ceremony. According to the customs of West Island, I am to choose a husband for her."
At these words, an uproar instantly swept the hall. Wei Zhao and his companions had never heard of such a custom and were each taken aback—though some present were clearly prepared for it, making plain that this was already a tradition of long standing on West Island.
For some reason, Wei Zhao suddenly felt a sense of loss in his heart. Strictly speaking, his relationship with Ning Xuefei went no further than good friends, far short of anything romantic—yet now, hearing all at once that she was to be married, that hollow, empty feeling in his chest was unmistakably real.
Wei Zhao gave his head a fierce shake. Ning Xuefei's marriage was only a matter of time; after all, she was the heir to West Island, and her choice of husband bore directly on the overall situation and stability of the entire island. Such a thing inevitably had to be placed on the agenda early—he simply hadn't expected it to come so suddenly.
Just then, as though she understood the troubles weighing on Wei Zhao's heart, Han Jingyi suddenly tightened her grip on his hand. Her big, glistening eyes fluttered as she said softly, "Brother Wei Zhao, Jingjing and Feifei are the best of friends. We don't want to be separated."
"Right, me neither," Shangguan Lan'er blurted out beside her. But no sooner had she spoken than her pretty face flushed red, and feeling something amiss, she hastily added, "I... I mean, we have to go back to North Island, and we hardly get any chance to see each other as it is. If Feifei gets married, there'll be even fewer. But if only she married our little junior brother, then everything would be fine—that way, even as a princess of West Island, she could still come to North Island often to play with us!"
"This..." Wei Zhao was speechless for a moment. Shangguan Lan'er had been even more blunt than Han Jingyi—simply because they wanted more chances to be together, they were egging him on to court Ning Xuefei. The logic of these two girls was truly simple, straightforward, and endearing.
But the two of them were being far too naive. Ning Xuefei was a princess of West Island, a figure destined one day to take command of the whole of it. Even if he truly harbored such a notion, it would absolutely be no easy matter.
However much Ning Shanghe doted on Ning Xuefei, in a matter such as this the first thing she must consider was inevitably the interests of all West Island! Without question, this was no time for Ning Xuefei to pursue happiness—it was purely a marriage of alliance. Whoever would become the princess's husband must either possess a status to match hers or wield absolutely overwhelming strength; one of the two was indispensable.
And as for Wei Zhao now, by strength he was merely at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage; by status, nothing more than the second senior brother and inner sect steward of the Azure Cloud Pavilion!
Such qualifications were already beyond the reach of the vast majority of ordinary cultivators—but to presume upon them to grasp at the high branch of a West Island princess would, if not a fool's dream, be a feat of exceedingly great difficulty.
Suddenly, Wei Zhao understood what Ning Shanghe had meant by those words to him earlier. It could be seen as an expression of expectation—and more than that, as a way of making Wei Zhao face squarely his present strength and standing!