Chapter 4842 — Regret Comes Too Late
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Very well." Wei Zhao nodded at once. He had been worrying over what excuse might get him into the Academy so he could hurry and see Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao; Qing Xuanzi's suggestion suited him perfectly.
Chai Laoshi, seeing this, said nothing; after handing over all his remaining business to Cui Mingshan, he hurried to accompany Wei Zhao and Qing Xuanzi on their way.
The rest of the grand auction now had nothing to do with the Company. His most pressing task was to keep Wei Zhao good company, and at the same time to quickly build a good relationship with Qing Xuanzi, the future partner alchemist—after all, once Wei Zhao was gone, he would have to rely mainly on Qing Xuanzi to supply high-grade pills.
Under the watchful eyes of the surrounding onlookers, Qing Xuanzi personally led Wei Zhao to the Morning Star Academy. Having just taken Wei Zhao as his master, he was in a fever of excitement, bent on showing himself off before Wei Zhao and scheming up every means to curry favor with him.
Qing Xuanzi took a shortcut, and when they arrived at the Academy's main gate they happened to run head-on into Ling Yuanqing and his party, coming the other way.
Qing Xuanzi was startled for a moment and hastened to introduce the newcomers to Wei Zhao, thinking that Wei Zhao knew only Ling Yuanqing and was unaware that the other two were the Academy's two remaining titans.
As they listened to Qing Xuanzi's introductions, Ling Yuanqing and the others exchanged glances. Speak of the devil and he appears—they had been discussing Wei Zhao all the way here, and now they had run into him head-on. For the moment they were struck dumb, not knowing what to say.
Wei Zhao, for his part, had not heard a word of it; his gaze was fixed straight on the two young women behind the Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea. Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao were likewise gazing at him in overjoyed surprise, so happy that tears had come to their eyes.
By a cultivator's reckoning, the time Wei Zhao had been parted from them could hardly be called long—but longing is like a disease: the deeper the feeling, the deeper the affliction. In the case of Wei Zhao and these fair confidantes of his, one could only say the illness had reached the marrow, beyond all cure.
A thousand words were spoken in that one silent exchange of glances.
"Young hero Lin, we meet again." Ling Yuanqing spoke at last after a long silence. As the foremost man of the Morning Star Academy, there were few indeed whom he greeted in such a tone—least of all a youth of Wei Zhao's generation. Yet by his merits, Wei Zhao was wholly worthy of such special regard.
"Senior Ling, Senior Wei, Senior of the Eastern Sea—long time no see," Wei Zhao said with a nod and a smile.
At this, Huang Xiaotao's eyes stirred, and she could not help but want to come over and embrace Wei Zhao. Yet with Wang Xinyan standing right beside her, she could not help feeling embarrassed; after all, Wang Xinyan ranked before her, and as the younger sister she could hardly rush ahead of the elder. In this, Huang Xiaotao was a woman of firm traditional notions of seniority and propriety.
Wang Xinyan could not help but laugh and pinch her hand. Having kept each other's company day and night for so long, the two understood each other thoroughly; one glance from Huang Xiaotao and she knew what was on her mind—such was the wordless understanding between sisters.
Huang Xiaotao flushed with shy embarrassment. Under the gaze of so many, she dared not be too forward, and so she suppressed the surging feelings in her heart and stepped before Wei Zhao, her voice trembling as she said, "Senior Brother Lin."
At that single greeting from Huang Xiaotao, Qing Xuanzi was instantly struck dumb. (To be continued...)