Qin Feng scratched his head, and shrugged at her. There was an obvious answer but it was a rather weak one. But it was too late to think up a better answer, so he just threw it out at the girl. Besides, any sort of excuse should work in a situation like this. Shouldn"t it?"Curiosity, I suppose. I want to know why she would dump me for the other man. I mean, I didn"t treat her badly, and I had sent her small tokens of my esteem from time to time. And received a few from her hand. Even her father seemed appreciative of my efforts.
"The only thing that I could think of that might have been a little depressing would be my lower cultivation, compared to the other disciples. But I was getting there. I had almost pa.s.sed the qualifying examinations when it was my turn."
Xu Yanzhi pounced on that at once, just as he expected her to.
"Aha! You said "almost"! So you failed, didn"t you? You failed!"
Qin Feng snapped back at once. He had expected her to be so gleeful once she heard it. And had the perfect repartee:
"You don"t have to sound so gleeful about it! And I blame Xuan Mei for that failure! Imagine if you tell someone that your arranged marriage with him is off, just two months before his qualifying examinations. Do you think that he would have any mood to keep on practicing? That he would be able put in his full effort, in pa.s.sing those tests?
"That is one of the reasons why I wish to meet with her, so that I can ask her what she was trying to do, when she dumped that basin of cold water on me. And at such a time!"
That was enough to have Xu Yanzhi putting her hands to her mouth again. Which was enough to show that she was shocked to hear what he had just said. But her eyes were little crescents, which was sufficient to tell Qin Feng that she was also immensely amused.
"In that case, Elder Ling ... No, Aunt Ling! Aunt Ling! You should grant him leave to visit our Snow Swallow Palace! At least, the Outer Osmanthus Court! I would dearly love to hear what Xuan Mei would say to him, when the time comes!"
From the way that she was skipping about, Qin Feng could guess at her motives for doing something like that, helping him to beg the Elder for a favor. This was all so that she could watch a good show, wasn"t it?
Well, he would show her a great show, when the time came! He promised himself that.
But Elder Ling Liyun was not convinced. At least, not altogether convinced. If Qin Feng was not mistaken, she would like nothing better than to return to Snow Swallow Mountain Palace, and to question Xuan Mei about the whole matter first, before making a decision.
Too bad he was not going to give her that option.
"Ah! Forget it! It is not that important to me, anyway. While I am a little curious, and a little heartbroken over the whole thing, she is already someone from my past. So what is the point of dwelling on the whole thing?
"To be honest, I thought that she had fallen for somebody else. But clearly, that doesn"t seem to be the case. Otherwise, why would she choose to go to the Snow Swallow Palace? After all, most of your disciples stay in the Sect until they are old and grey, and hardly ever marry. Maybe the other fellow broke her heart as well? That makes the whole thing rather fair."
And that bit of a sting at the end was enough to cause the Elder to erupt:
"How can that be? The other fellow broke her heart? That didn"t happen, did it? You don"t know for sure!" she shouted at him then, no longer caring if anyone heard her.
"You are just jealous, aren"t you? Since you can"t eat the grapes you are claiming that the grapes are sour! I"ll have you know that my Little Mei is not depressed or broken-hearted now! She"s living happily back in our Snow Swallow Palace!"
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Then her mood dropped, as though she had just remembered something. Something that Xu Yanzhi was quick to remind her about, even as she was shooting Qin Feng a gaze that warned him to keep his mouth shut, and to leave it to her:
"Are you sure about that Aunt Ling? I mean, I saw her moping about sometimes, in the gardens. As though she was missing someone, you know? I didn"t think that she was heart-broken back then, and only thinking about her father and all, but ... This puts the whole matter in a different light, doesn"t it?
"Could it be that she broke off with Brother Qin Feng here, and ran off to be with her lover? Only to be caught by Uncle Xuan and dragged off to our Snow Swallow Mountain? And just the name of our Sect is enough to make all the young handsome men quiver in their shoes. So it is unlikely that he would dare to storm our Palace Gates!"
The last bit made the Elder turn her head to look at the younger woman. But even Qin Feng could see that Xu Yanzhi had gone off on a tangent, and was now caught up in a world of her own imagining! Which made him roll his eyes at her again! She had signaled him to keep quiet, for something like this?
"Oh! Or what if he had rejected her? That he thought she wasn"t good enough? Or if he wasn"t good enough? Could that have happened? It should be possible, since it always happens in all those books that I have read. Isn"t it?
"What if he regretted rejecting her, and committed suicide? Or became a monk? Or threw himself into other women and wasted his life and his martial arts, just because he could not get her? Oh! What will Xuan Mei think then?"
"Enough! Enough."
Ling Liyun shook her head then, as if she had been thoroughly confused by the young woman at her side. Then she pulled out a black metal plaque the size of her palm from her sleeve, and pushed it towards Qin Feng with a low growl.
"Take it. Take it. You shall be granted entry into our Snow Swallow Palace. Just show that at the Front Gate, and there will be someone to lead you and your party inside. No more than three of you. And only to our Osmanthus Court.
"I will arrange for Xuan Mei to meet with you then, and talk over what had happened, back at the Heaven Sword School."
Xu Yanzhi was the one who s.n.a.t.c.hed the metal badge away, before either the middle-aged woman or Qin Feng could react, and skipped happily over to the latter"s side. And stuff it into his hands.
"There you are. Now, you must remember to alert me when you show up, so that I can have a good seat when it takes place, this romantic reunion of yours. Remember to drag it out a bit, so it"ll make a better show.
"I"ll even bring my dried grapes and other snacks, so that I can properly enjoy it!"
* * *