Chapter 4751 — A Request
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"You've come." Ning Shanghe was in her study attending to some matters. Seeing Wei Zhao and Ning Xuefei enter, she merely glanced up and gestured for them to find seats—by the look of it, she no longer treated Wei Zhao, her prospective son-in-law, as an outsider.
Wei Zhao did not speak at once. He exchanged a glance with Ning Xuefei and sat down, waiting until Ning Shanghe finished the business at hand. Only then did he clear his throat and say, "Island Master."
"Call me Aunt Ning for now. We're all one family from here on—'Island Master' is far too stiff." Ning Shanghe smiled faintly. Of course, once the two of them were married, he would have to change his address again, to mother-in-law.
"Very well, Aunt Ning." Wei Zhao did not fuss or hesitate; he changed his address on the spot.
Ning Shanghe smiled warmly. That Wei Zhao had in the end won the trial, emerging unscathed from peril, gladdened not only Ning Xuefei but her mother as well, who rejoiced for her daughter from the bottom of her heart.
"Aunt Ning, there is a matter I would ask of you, and I hope you will grant it," Wei Zhao said after weighing his words.
"Oh? Speak freely," said Ning Shanghe.
"You said just now that by West Island's rules, Feifei and I are to be sent to the East Continent Academy for further study?" Wei Zhao said.
"That is so. I was just about to speak with the two of you on this very matter. Apart from a very few academies with extremely rigid rules, you may choose any of the East Continent academies. Do you have something in mind?" Ning Shanghe asked.
"Aunt Ning, the truth is that for the time being I am not much inclined to go to the East Continent for study. Given my present circumstances, the time is not right. Going to the East Continent Academy would in fact very likely restrict my development. What I need most now is to temper myself through trials in all quarters, not to find some place for safe and steady study. I hope you can understand this, Aunt Ning," Wei Zhao said earnestly.
"Oh?" Ning Shanghe's gaze narrowed slightly, and she looked Wei Zhao up and down afresh. She saw that the aura about him was concentrated and undispersed, wholly lacking the superficiality of other young prodigy disciples—he had already formed a style of his own. Only then did she nod in approval. "You speak truly. Given your present circumstances, to be bound within the East Continent Academy would indeed yield little effect and waste your time."
The East Continent Academy was said to harbor crouching tigers and hidden dragons, its competition fierce—but in Ning Shanghe's view, such so-called competition might not bring Wei Zhao much pressure of substance. When an environment grows too comfortable, even the sharpest young man will gradually slacken and in the end be lost among the common crowd.
"Precisely so," Wei Zhao said with a nod.
"Very well, then. Since that is the case, we shall set aside the matter of your going to the East Continent Academy for now. But I have one condition: you must first escort Feifei to the East Continent—at least in appearance, you go as her companion. After that, where you go is yours to decide. How does that suit you?" Ning Shanghe mused a moment, then proposed.
Ning Xuefei was different from Wei Zhao. In her disinclination to cultivate, she was a match for Shangguan Lan'er—her strength was still only at the Golden Core stage. As the future successor to West Island, that was plainly far from enough.
Ning Shanghe had long wished to send her to the East Continent Academy for study, only to have her put it off time and again with one excuse or another. But this time Ning Xuefei certainly could not escape. Wei Zhao might cultivate on his own, but she must dutifully remain at the East Continent Academy. There was no room for negotiation.