"Oh, I just thought of something funny. You guys carry on, don't mind me."
Gu Changqing quickly waved his hand, signaling Xiao Yan and the others to go on. He produced a watermelon from somewhere, cut it in half, and handed a piece to Xiao Xun'er. The two of them sat together to watch the show.
Seeing the look in Gu Changqing's eyes, as if he were watching a monkey show, anger surged in Xiao Yan's heart, but he couldn't very well direct his fury at Gu Changqing.
He had no choice but to turn his gaze toward Nalan Yanran, saying darkly:
"Miss Nalan, what do you think?"
"You—"
Nalan Yanran was not someone skilled in debate. Or rather, she was bad at sophistry, and even worse at twisting concepts and arguing for the sake of it.
With no other options left and panic rising in her heart, she stamped her foot, glared with disgust at the young man before her, and demanded: "Just what will it take for you to agree to annul this engagement? Do you think the compensation is too little? Fine, I can have my teacher give you three more Gathering Qi Pills. Furthermore, if you are willing, I can even let you enter the Misty Cloud Sect to study advanced Douqi cultivation techniques. Is that enough, then?"
Nalan Yanran was not an unreasonable or willful person; she had simply been thrown off balance by Xiao Yan's twisted logic and deliberate misrepresentations.
Yet the sensitive Xiao Yan seemed to have been touched right where it hurt the most.
His features, which had been fairly handsome, twisted into a terrifying and hideous mask. His entire body trembled like a zombie, looking every bit like an avenging ghost.
"Ah—!"
Xiao Yan abruptly tilted his head back and let out a sharp, ear-piercing scream that startled everyone in the main hall.
"I really want to slaughter you!"
Staring viciously at Nalan Yanran, Xiao Yan spat out the chilling words.
Nalan Yanran had never witnessed such a scene in her life. Scared out of her wits, her delicate body stumbled backward twice, her lovely face draining of all color and turning pale as paper.
"Tsk tsk..."
Gu Changqing clicked his tongue and shook his head speechlessly.
What should have been a matter easily resolved peacefully had turned into such a disaster, all because of Xiao Yan's fragile and sensitive ego.
The girl had shown every courtesy, arrived with gifts, reasoned with him politely, and even left the initiative of annulling the engagement in his hands.
Yet the moment he opened his mouth, he twisted logic, argued absurdities, claimed she was forcing the annulment upon him, and blamed her for everything. Truly outrageous.
"Xiao Yan, though I don't know why my actions made you so furious, can't you just agree to call off the engagement?"
Look at him—his raving mad act had completely bewildered Nalan Yanran.
Didn't she merely come to reason with him and call off a marriage? Even if he was unhappy, there was no need to go completely berserk.
Anyone would think she had murdered his birth mother.
"Please remember, my coming to the Xiao Family this time was authorized by my teacher, the Sect Master of the Misty Cloud Sect. You may view this as coercion, but you should also understand that reality is simply like this—there is no such thing as absolute fairness. Though I have no wish to rub it in, you must realize the gap between us. We really have virtually no hope..."
Fearing that Xiao Yan might actually charge forward and bite her in his frenzy, Nalan Yanran had no choice but to drop Yun Yun's name to hold her ground.
Still, she wanted to try reasoning with Xiao Yan.
Yet reasoning with Xiao Yan was simply impossible.
"Miss Nalan, you must know how humiliating it is on the Douqi Continent for a woman to break off an engagement, leaving the man the laughingstock. Heh, as for me, I have thick skin, so it doesn't bother me—but my father! He is the head of the clan! If he truly agreed to your demand today, how is he supposed to lead the Xiao Family in the future? How can he maintain a foothold in Wutan City?"
Xiao Yan launched into another lengthy speech.
*Pfft!*
Gu Changqing truly couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing once more.
Immediately realizing himself, he hurriedly straightened up, met the gazes turned toward him by the crowd, and smiled. "You guys carry on, please carry on."
"Brother Qing, what are you laughing at?" Xiao Xun'er quietly shifted her little bottom closer to Gu Changqing and asked in a low voice.
Gu Changqing glanced at Xiao Xun'er and said teasingly:
"Sister Xun'er, do you think Xiao Yan is doing this for himself, or for his father?"
Xiao Xun'er blinked, looking rather adorable and naive as she asked:
"Is there a difference?"
Gu Changqing smiled.
"Uncle Xiao secured the position of clan head through his own ability, not because his son pushed him into it. Whether he can firmly maintain that position depends on his own capability, not on whether his son gets dumped."
"If a son getting his engagement broken is enough to strip a father of his position as clan head, then why does he even bother cultivating? What's the point of having any capability at all?"
"All this nonsense about how he can't let the engagement be broken because his old man needs to stand tall—it's utterly laughable."
"If a trivial matter like this could affect the position of clan head, then given his lack of character and bullying behavior three years ago, plus the fact that he's been a pure waste of space for the last three years, his father would have been deposed a thousand times over by now."
"I'm just laughing at someone who twists logic, makes absurd arguments, puts on a lofty air, and is utterly hypocritical!"
Gu Changqing shook his head, looking speechless at the "righteous" figure standing in the middle of the room.
"So that's how it is."
In an instant, Xiao Xun'er understood, and the gaze she cast toward Xiao Yan held undisguised disgust.
If he couldn't accept it, he should have just owned up to it like a real man.
Dragging his own father into it to wave the banner—it was the height of hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, after the back-and-forth between Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran, Xiao Yan dropped yet another startling remark.
"Nalan Yanran, you don't need to put on such an overbearing posture. Your desire to break the engagement stems simply from your belief that I, Xiao Yan, a useless good-for-nothing, am unworthy of a proud daughter of heaven like you. To be blunt, apart from your pretty face, this young master doesn't think a single thing of you!"
"The Misty Cloud Sect is indeed powerful, but I am still young, and I still have time. At twelve years old, I had already become a Dou Zhe. And you, Nalan Yanran—when you were twelve, what level of Qi Power were you at?"
"That's right, I am indeed a trash now. But since I could create a miracle three years ago, what makes you think I won't be able to turn my fortunes around in the years to come?"
"Miss Nalan, for the sake of Elder Nalan, Xiao Yan offers you a few words of advice: Do not bully a young man for being poor!"
When Xiao Yan spoke, he certainly knew how to string a good argument together.
That final line even drew repeated praise from Xiao Zhan himself.
Afterward, Xiao Yan wrote out a letter of severance, setting a three-year appointment with Nalan Yanran.
Finally, he dropped to his knees, kowtowed heavily to Xiao Zhan, and cried out with eyes full of hot tears:
"Father! Three years from now, Yan will go to the Misty Cloud Sect to wash away today's humiliation for you with my own hands!"
With that, he stood up and strode toward the exit.
"Hold on!"
At that very moment, a calm voice rang out across the hall.
Following it, a slender, upright, and graceful figure slowly rose from the front of the hall.
"Uh, I couldn't help myself. Strictly speaking, it's not my place to meddle in today's affairs, but whenever I encounter something that rubs me the wrong way, I always foolishly want to stick my neck out. Uncle Xiao, esteemed elders, you don't mind if I stand up and say a few words, do you?"
Gu Changqing smiled as he looked toward Xiao Zhan and the First Elder, asking politely.