Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

The Liu Family sent people to investigate and ultimately only managed to find out that Bao Gang had bought a piece of white cloth from a shop before leaving the city.

As for his destination, no one knew. Due to the heavy snow the day before, very few people were out and about.

After lunch at the Liu Family residence, Xu Yang and Wu Yongfeng headed for Weiyuan Hall.

Snowflakes drifted down. In the distance, Xu Yang saw a woman in a fur coat standing before Weiyuan Hall. She had a lovely face, and a handmaid stood beside her, holding an umbrella.

The Weiyuan Hall disciples coming and going couldn’t help but glance at her as they passed before entering the hall.

"What a beautiful young lady. I wonder who could be so heartless as to make a beauty like her wait in this wind and snow," Wu Yongfeng sighed.

"Don’t be ridiculous. She’s probably a family member of one of the senior brothers from the Inner Courtyard."

Xu Yang smiled and strode toward Weiyuan Hall with Wu Yongfeng.

But as the two of them approached the woman, her gaze suddenly fell upon Xu Yang. "You’re Xu Yang?"

Wu Yongfeng: ...

’So the heartless person he was talking about was Xu Yang right next to him? And the bastard was playing dumb with me the whole time.’

Xu Yang was stunned as well; he never imagined this woman was waiting here specifically for him.

He immediately cupped his fist in his palm. "I am Xu Yang. May I ask...?"

But before he could finish, the woman cut him off.

The woman declared loudly, "Xu Yang, don’t be a toad lusting after a swan! There is no way this lady would ever marry down to you. I, Huang Ling’er, wouldn’t give someone like you a second glance."

Xu Yang: ...

Xu Yang was completely baffled. ’What the hell? Where did this lunatic come from? I don’t even know her.’

"Huang Ling’er?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He looked up again, only to see that the woman calling herself Huang Ling’er had already strode off after saying her piece.

"Young lady, please explain yourself before you leave!" Xu Yang called out.

Huang Ling’er only walked away faster.

"My lady, Xu Yang clearly disagreed with the marriage. By doing this, aren’t you ruining the relationship between him and the Huang Family?" the handmaid holding the umbrella said with concern.

Huang Ling’er snorted coldly. "I’m saving the Huang Family’s honor. I have no idea what Father and the others were thinking, wanting to use me to form a marriage alliance with someone like him."

"He’s just a low-born nobody who only crawled out of the muck because my Huang Family gave him a leg up. And he dared to refuse me twice! It’s not that I think highly of him—this was all Father’s arrangement."

"But if anyone’s doing the rejecting, it should be me! Who does he think he is? On a snowy day like this, he doesn’t even own a single fur coat."

With that, she ducked into a carriage by the side of the road and quickly departed.

...

"Junior Brother Xu, who was that girl? How did you get her so worked up that she’d come cause a scene at Weiyuan Hall?" Wu Yongfeng asked, full of curiosity.

"I don’t even know her!" Xu Yang said.

But no one believed him.

Wu Yongfeng didn’t believe him, and neither did the surrounding Weiyuan Hall disciples.

’If you don’t know her, why would she come all the way to Weiyuan Hall just to reject you and tell you to stop pestering her?’

’Judging by her clothes, she was obviously the young lady of a prominent family. Xu Yang must have tried to climb the social ladder and failed, so she came here specifically to humiliate him.’

"Brother Xu, Huang Ling’er is the daughter of the Huang Family’s Second Master, Huang Ping," someone reminded him from the side.

Now, even more people disbelieved him. ’You were sponsored by the Huang Family to get into Weiyuan Hall, how could you possibly not know the daughter of one of their masters?’

"The daughter of the Huang Family’s Second Master, Huang Ling’er?"

Xu Yang thought for a moment and quickly realized that this Huang Ling’er must be the woman the Huang Family intended for him to marry.

’I clearly refused last night. I have no idea what went wrong to make this woman think I want to marry her, and then run all the way here to humiliate me.’

’Or perhaps my two rejections sent this young miss into a rage out of pure embarrassment.’

In any case, he couldn’t very well explain the situation. After all, he had received the Huang Family’s favor, yet he had also rejected them twice. If he were to step up and explain, it would be a slap in the face to the Huang Family, which would put his uncle in a difficult position with them.

Besides, he didn’t care about such things. Whether he rejected Huang Ling’er or she rejected him, it didn’t matter. If the Huang Family felt this would allow them to save some face, he was happy to oblige.

But Xu Yang soon discovered he had underestimated this Huang Ling’er. He had assumed she was simply flipping the narrative—making it her rejection instead of his—just to make herself feel better.

But it was much more than that.

Huang Ling’er had already planted people in Weiyuan Hall.

Not long after Huang Ling’er’s departure, rumors about her and Xu Yang began to spread through Weiyuan Hall.

The story went that after Lu Ren left the Huang Family, Xu Yang thought the family needed him again. He supposedly sent word to the Huang Family through his uncle, Zhou Shunchang, saying that if they married Huang Ling’er to him, he would leave the Liu Family and serve the Huangs as a Tributor. But Huang Ling’er supposedly couldn’t stand him and had come to Weiyuan Hall specifically to reject him.

All at once, the way many people in the Inner Courtyard looked at him changed.

Some thought he was dishonorable, taking advantage of Lu Ren’s betrayal of the Huang Family to make such an outrageous demand.

Others felt he was overestimating himself; with a mere Lower C-class Root Bone, how could he have the nerve to make such a demand of the Huang Family?

"After bashing his head against a wall, he’s finally wised up. But it’s too late."

Jiang Ping believed that Xu Yang had finally learned the importance of having a powerful family’s backing. Regretting not marrying into the Liu Family, he had set his sights on the Huang Family after they lost Lu Ren, only to be rejected.

"To think the Huang Family would take an interest in him just because I’m gone... utterly naive," Lu Ren said with a laugh.

The Huang Family liked to gamble for big returns on small investments. Even if Xu Yang had some talent, they would never spend a fortune to cultivate him.

’I’ll consider this my repayment to the Huang Family.’

Xu Yang didn’t intend to explain. He decided to let the Huang Family preserve their reputation.

He didn’t care about his reputation in this matter. Whether the truth was that the Huang Family sought him out and he refused, or that he sought a marriage alliance and was refused, it was all the same to him.

He could ignore his reputation, but he wouldn’t let himself be humiliated by Huang Ling’er for nothing. He could choose not to explain, preserving her and the Huang Family’s honor, but he would consider this incident as repayment for the Huang Family’s past kindness. From this day forward, he and the Huang Family would have nothing more to do with each other.

"Look at that smug look on his face, it’s disgusting. Shamelessly flaunting his own ingratitude... It’s only natural for Brother Xu to want to get ahead in life," Qiu Wenjie said indignantly, glaring at Lu Ren.

Xu Yang: ...

’Even Qiu Wenjie thinks I was the one who approached the Huang Family. I’m afraid that even if I explained, few would believe the Huang Family approached me for a marriage alliance twice.’

Zhang Yong frowned. "How could the Gu Family dare to take in someone like Lu Ren? Aren’t they afraid he’ll betray them one day, too?"

He still didn’t quite understand.

Lu Ren was talented, yes, but a man who understood nothing of gratitude or honor—no matter how talented—was bound to betray again sooner or later.

Zhang Hong said, "I heard it’s for the Martial Arts Ascension Dragon. The Gu Family’s eldest young master is determined to achieve a high rank, so they’re sparing no expense to recruit geniuses from all the Martial Arts Halls. Otherwise, why would a young lady of Senior Sister Gu Fang’s status ever come to Weiyuan Hall to study under a master?"

Wu Yongfeng nodded. "Ah, if it’s for the Martial Arts Ascension Dragon, then that explains it. The Gu Family doesn’t need Lu Ren to be loyal for life. With his talent, he’s bound to leave Qingyuan sooner or later; there’s no way he’d serve the Gu Family forever."

Qiu Wenjie was still puzzled. "But is the title of Martial Scholar really that important?"