Chapter 6 - He Family Pays a Visit
Time went by quickly, and in a flash, one month had pa.s.sed.
This day, as Lin Haoxue was finished practicing and was about to go out, Cui Lan came running inside.
"Second Miss, bad news!"
"What happened, why are you so fl.u.s.tered?"
"Someone from the He family has come."
"He family?" The expression within Lin Haoxue"s eyes turned cold. They had really come quickly.
"Not only has the He family arrived, but the family heads of the three big families of Taixing town are also accompanying them as well."
Cui Lan looked at Lin Haoxue"s nervous expression and her voice gradually became lower and lower while she said to herself, "Second Miss is really pitiful. She just recently managed to separate her name from the tarnish of being rubbish. The He family has come, and not only them, but they also brought others! Second Miss is getting bullied again."
The atmosphere within the room was stifling.
Lin Geng was sitting at the family head"s position, and his right hand was holding a slightly chilled teacup. He lightly pursed his lips but his expression remained tranquil.
However, those who looked carefully would notice that his hand which was holding the teacup was trembling slightly, therefore it could clearly be seen that he wasn"t at all as calm as he looked on the surface.
There were ten guest seats, six of which belonged to the Taixing town"s great families. The family heads of the Wu family, Wu Haiping, the Zheng family, Zheng Shiling, and the w.a.n.g family, w.a.n.g Xunyuan, as well as their head housekeepers were present. Well, actually, these housekeepers were in charge of gathering intelligence.
Around them sat four strangers. Three of these people were under twenty years old, and all of them wore black clothes. Their appearance were all better than average, and they looked quite similar. These three resembled each other and had the same chilly temperament.
When looking at these three people, it was clear that they were all brothers. Finally, there was the last person who was a middle-aged man wearing a gray robe. His eyes were quite small, but they seemed to twinkle with joy. He was always smiling beamingly and kept touching his white beard with his fingers giving him a friendly aura.
All these people were from the biggest family of the imperial capital, the He family. They were the housekeeper He Yuan, and the three brothers: He Long, He Hu, and He Bao. They were all intentionally sent here by the Second Master, He Guanxiong. These three brothers were all innately talented and the most important thing was that they had a great mutual understanding with each other that made it possible for them to jump ranks when fighting.
The He family"s Second Master, He Guanxiong, was lecherous by nature. At home, he already had forty-seven concubines but he still wasn"t satisfied, and he had his sight on all the beautiful women in his surroundings.
The Lin family"s women were famous throughout the whole Wuhuan Empire, but at the time of their departure from the imperial capital, Lin Haoxue and her sister were just children.
It had already been so many years, but he had always kept them in mind. As a matter of fact, Lin Ruoxue had just barely turned fifteen yet he was already bringing people here to visit.
"Lin family head, I am sure that you know our purpose in coming here right?" He Yuan smiled beamingly.
"I"m afraid I don"t. I request Mr. He state his purpose," Lin Geng"s mirrored the words of the housekeeper. Right now he had no other option than to act stupid.
He Yuan"s smile turned slightly rigid, "Hehe, since you don"t know, then I"ll tell you. Your family"s Miss Ruoxue turned fifteen years old this year, and according to the laws and regulations of Wuhuan, a woman of fifteen is able to marry."
"So housekeeper came to be a matchmaker? You really are too kind. Which one of the He family"s talented youngsters will it be then?" Lin Geng was secretly practicing Tai Chi1 as if he wasn"t worried about anything while he was actually anxious.
"How could those youngsters possibly match the outstanding beauty of a young Lin lady? This time I came to ask for her hand in marriage for our Second Master."
"Second Master, He Guangxiang, isn"t he turning fifty this year?"
"You know the status my He family has. Lin family head, I know you are a smart person, you ought to know as long as our two families marry just how great the benefits for the Lin family will be."
Was this considered a threat?
Within Lin Geng"s heart fury started to rise. Everything they said sounded pleasant to the ear, but would anyone willingly marry their daughter to this lecher?
However, he couldn"t say such a thing in this kind of situation. The Lin family were at an absolutely disadvantageous position, so if he shed all pretense of cordiality, the tense situation might change for the worse.
He Yuan merely looked at him without saying anything, and the atmosphere within the hall became even heavier.
Taixing town"s other three great families simply sat there and enjoyed themselves as if watching a show, and none of them had anything to say.
"If we don"t agree, what will the He family do?" A sharp, clear voice suddenly sounded, and everyone turned around to see where this voice came from.
They looked at the doorway where a young girl was standing. She was eleven or twelve years old. Her long black hair was tied up, and she was wearing a snow-white skirt. Her eyes were black like ink, and her skin was as white as snow. Her red lips were slightly pursed, and her bearing was truly remarkable.
Although she was young, her refined temperament was already something most women would never have. This girl gave off a good feeling, and although she was young, what shocked everyone was that her imposing manner was in no way inferior to the people present, even though these people were all of high status.
"Who is she?" All the guests sitting down were all inwardly pondering.
"Haoxue why are you here? Who told you to come?" Lin Geng looked at Lin Haoxue who had just appeared, and in his heart, he started to worry causing his tone to be very severe. Today these people originally came using her as just an excuse.
Now that she has appeared within this hall, how was it possible to make the He family let her off?
Lin Haoxue didn"t even bother to look at He Yuan, who was startled, nor did she care about all the others" surprised expressions.
Rather, she walked unhurriedly towards Lin Geng"s side where there was a chair and then sat down. She gave her grandfather a sweet smile to pacify him and said, "Grandfather, don"t worry."
"Sigh, you..." Lin Geng sighed with a helpless tone but said no more.
Since Haoxue had already appeared there was no sense in blaming her again and looking at her smile, it seemed as if she had an idea.
"Sigh, this is the Second Young Lady of the Lin family?" He Yuan inquired, already back to normal again as he tried to cover up his astonishment with a sigh. Doing so, he found that everyone else also let loose a breath of air then he continued speaking, "Don"t tell me that you don"t know that within this world, some people simply do not have the ability to say no?"
"Housekeeper He, are you threatening me now?" Lin Haoxue smirked and thought, "Threatening, could it be the customary tricks these big families use?"
"Young lady Lin can think of it as such," He Yuan seemed not the least bit ashamed. Originally this world was exactly one where the weak had no authority to speak, moreover, he had also heard that this Lin Haoxue, up until now, had still not awakened her profound veins. So not only in name, she was literally a piece of trash. Naturally, he held such a person in contempt.
But it didn"t matter really, after all, it wasn"t her strength that caught the Second Master"s fancy.
"You ought to have heard that my sister is currently studying at the Profound Pract.i.tioner Academy. This academy is a branch belonging to the Saint Emperor, and forgive me for my ignorance and inexperience, but I did not expect that the He family was so daring as to challenge the Saint Emperor Academy?" Lin Haoxue was not scared, instead, she lightly brought up the subject about the might of the Saint Emperor Academy.
Wanting to compare strength? In the entire Wuhuan Empire, no family was stronger than the Saint Emperor Academy.
He Yuan was provoked by her words making his face turn red and that also made him speechless. This young girl was really able to invert black into white. Could Taixing town"s Profound Pract.i.tioner Academy compare to Saint Emperor Academy? Of course not, but he couldn"t deny that those talented people in the Profound Pract.i.tioner Academy were mostly exported from the Saint Emperor Academy.
The Saint Emperor Academy was the most sacred region in the Wuhuan Empire, it was the place that contained the most talented Profound Pract.i.tioners in the whole of the Wuhuan Empire.
Every year a large number of geniuses emerged from this academy, and not only the Wuhuan Empire but also the other regions rushed forth to fight over these geniuses. Those who graduated from the Saint Emperor Academy would definitely support the school if needed which was what made the Saint Emperor Academy"s position so stable.
The Saint Emperor Academy was an independent ent.i.ty that didn"t belong to the Wuhuan Empire"s royal family.
The Saint Emperor Academy was like a big tree that towered over the Wuhuan Empire. The branches were in harmony with the empire, but its roots extended much further out.
Even the Wuhuan Empire"s royal family didn"t dare commit an offense towards the Saint Emperor Academy, let alone the He family with their small backing.
"Since the oldest young lady of the Lin family belonged to a branch of the Saint Emperor Academy, then we would naturally not dare touch her, but the Lin family has more than one woman. Second Young Miss, you"re not studying at the Profound Pract.i.tioner Academy as well, right?" In the silence that had settled, the second brother of the three He brothers, He Hu, suddenly opened his mouth saying this.
Although he himself was not very fond of the way the Second Master handled things.
However, he belonged to the He family, so regardless, he had to side with his family.
"True. Is the Second Young Lady of the Lin family also a Profound Pract.i.tioner?" Housekeeper, He Guanxiong, quickly seized the opportunity to change the subject and cover up his embarra.s.sment.
With such a big change, she really had set herself as the target, causing Lin Haoxue"s heart to turn dark.
However was she actually afraid? No matter Wu family or He family, if they wanted to come cause problems then they ought to be prepared to pay the price.
On the other side, Wu, Zheng, and w.a.n.g the three big family heads, were all putting on an act of drinking tea. Their taunting which they didn"t even bother hiding p.i.s.sed Lin Haoxue off.
Right now they didn"t bother to help out the He family, not because they were unwilling to do so, but because they felt that there was no need to do so. The He family"s decisions couldn"t be questioned, and they had only appeared here to show some basic respect.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Haoxue slowly raised her head. Her face shining coldly before she opened her mouth, "As I remember, it should be Xiao Lingyun who has an engagement with me. The nephew of your Second Master!"
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1. No idea if this means he is moving around doing Tai Chi or just a breathing technique