Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 39: Song Zining, The Almost-Conned
Most of the items in the room had already been destroyed by the two, but the window was still intact. Additionally, there weren’t any trees outside even if the window was broken. So how did this thing get here?
Zhao Yuying shot Qianye a glance; her eyes were shockingly bright.
Without the slightest bit of brotherly spirit, Qianye shrugged to show that it had nothing to do with him. In truth, he was somewhat enraged. A moment ago, he was under great pressure while fighting against Zhao Yuying and thus hadn’t been able to observe the surroundings. But now that the atmosphere had more or less relaxed, it did vaguely feel as though they were being watched.
Apparently, this leaf was like an eye, and it was likely that someone had been observing the fight between him and Zhao Yuying. As for who had secretly stretched his domain inside, was there even a need to ask?
Song Zining usually wasn’t so careless—he was probably shaken after witnessing the scene of their battle or perhaps the energy scattered from the two had jolted his domain and caused a couple of leaves to fall out.
Zhao Yuying suddenly sneered, “You dare play these mysterious tricks before your mother?”
She lifted her long, exquisite, yet powerful hand and threw out a slap. Her target was still that floating autumn leaf.
However, a “pow” rang out as Zhao Yuying’s slap landed on the leaf. It had actually produced the crisp sound of flesh. This astonished Qianye almost immediately.
It was clearly a leaf that had been struck, so why did it sound as though the strike had landed on someone’s face? As if to answer Qianye’s question, a cry of pain rang out from outside the door, and it sounded as though the person had been slapped.
Zhao Yuying let out a cold laugh. She swung her hand again and said to the leaf, “Pretend! Continue pretending!”
A cry of alarm was heard from outside just as the slap was about to be delivered. Song Zining flashed into the room and said hurriedly, “Beautiful lady, please have mercy!”
Zhao Yuying glanced askance at Song Zining and asked, “What did you call me just now?”
Song Zining adjusted his clothes, flicked the expensive fan in his hand, and said in an unflinching manner, “You’re an outstanding beauty. Both your figure and grace are, without exception, the best of the best. Additionally, you are so capable! From the inside out, there’s not one place about you that isn’t beautiful. Although the words 'beautiful lady' is somewhat cliche, it’s the closest one can get to describe this young lady.”
Qianye was dumbfounded and suddenly wanted to pretend he didn’t know this fellow. This was actually the first time he had personally witnessed Song Zining trying to court a lady. Qianye could hardly find any words to express his present mood.
But soon afterward, he noticed a sudden change on half of Song Zining’s face. A palm print had emerged therein with five clear marks resembling fingers. Judging from the size of this palm, it evidently belonged to Zhao Yuying.
The slap just now was thrown onto the falling leaf, but had, in fact, landed on Song Zining’s face. He must’ve noticed that the second slap was imminent, and thus, walked out on his own, lest a calamity befall the other side of his face.
Zhao Yuying was startled after hearing Song Zining’s explicit, corny, and shameless words. Afterward, she asked, “Am I really that wonderful?”
“Of course! When has this insignificant one ever lied?” Song Zining said with due seriousness as if he were dissatisfied with Zhao Yuying’s doubt. He flipped the fan in his hand over to reveal the drawing of another great master and said in a clear voice, “If this young lady isn’t a beauty, then who else can be considered such?”
Qianye’s vision grew dark—his exhausted body hadn’t yet recovered and was already swaying unsteadily. But, hearing Zhao Yuying’s reaction almost made him fall down.
Zhao Yuying was beaming with delight and even somewhat embarrassed. She reached out to grab the leaf and fiddled around with it subconsciously before asking, “You really mean what you said?”
“Of course!” Song Zining replied vehemently.
Qianye felt that his horizons had been broadened. It turned out that wooing a lady could be such an utterly shameless business, and such frank flattery almost bordering on crudeness was actually effective! Facing this man and woman, Qianye was at a loss who among them he should be admiring.
Song Zining secretly peeked at Zhao Yuying’s reaction and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he had fortunately made it through this problem. This woman’s methods were extremely powerful and could actually restrain his domain. This was quite rare even though the other party was a rank-eleven champion.
It was at this time that Zhao Yuying’s eyes lit up and sneered, “Damn you! These tricks used to fool little girls, you actually dare use it on me? What hasn’t this mother here ever seen? You think I’ll believe your nonsense?”
She put in some force and rubbed the unlucky leaf in the palm of her hand. With her strength, not to mention an ordinary leaf, even a golden leaf would be rolled into a ball.
Qianye couldn’t understand why Zhao Yuying was being so violent with the leaf. However, he vaguely understood some things after recalling the slap to the leaf which had actually landed on Song Zining’s face.
He glanced back at Song Zining and, just as expected, found the fellow wearing a wonderful expression—he clearly wanted to cry out but couldn’t. Who knew which part of Song Zining’s body was being affected by the leaf pinched tightly in Zhao Yuying’s hand. In any case, his demeanor made it clear that he wasn’t having an easy time.
Qianye was suddenly enlightened, and a deep azure emerged within his eyes. Just as expected, numerous origin power lines began to appear before him.
He was quite familiar with Song Zining’s origin power aura. He first identified a patch of faintly discernible blue-green light in the form of a net. At a glance, it looked like the veins on a bodhi leaf overall—this should be Song Zining’s domain.
At this moment, this origin power net was contracting toward a point in the air, and most of it had already escaped. There was only one place where it had been clamped down tightly by a dark purple mass of daybreak origin power and couldn’t break free. Meanwhile, that dark purple radiance would oscillate from time to time, and with each fluctuation, a surging tide would travel along the lines of the origin-power-net and pound against the air.
Qianye grasped certain outlines from this and gained a deeper understanding regarding origin power materialization.
At this time, the fallen leaf could no longer bear the humiliation and transformed back into origin power with a flicker, returning to where it came. Meanwhile, the two wisps of wrestling origin powers were also extinguished in Qianye’s True Sight.
Song Zining appeared as though he had just been granted amnesty. He took a step back and glanced at Zhao Yuying as though he were looking at a venomous snake. Qianye had great eyesight and noticed that his fingers were trembling ever so slightly.
Song Zining finally withdrew his romantic and profligate attitude. He wore a serious expression as he glanced at Qianye and asked, “Qianye, are you alright? Is this… your friend?”
The roomed looked as if a tornado had just swept through—almost all of the furniture and utensils had been shattered, and the floor was a complete mess. It almost seemed as though a great battle had taken place here.
Zhao Yuying laughed in an exaggerated manner and said, “What? Do you plan to seek revenge? That’s fine with me! You seem quite capable, so I’ll give you the opportunity and wait for you to come and find me. Group brawl or one-on-one, take your pick! Your mother here is called Zhao Yuying of the Swallow Cloud Zhao Clan!”
“Zhao Yuying?” Song Zining couldn’t help but become dazed after hearing this name, and soon afterward, his expression became incomparably brilliant.
“What? Have you heard of my famous name?”
Song Zining suddenly clenched his teeth and said, “Zhao Junhong! I’ll settle this score with you!”
This time, it was Zhao Yuying’s turn to be puzzled. “What does this have to do with old two?”
“Nothing. I’ll be taking my leave first.” Song Zining bowed slightly toward Zhao Yuying after recovering his composure and then turned around to leave. Just as he was about to leave through the door, Song Zining suddenly turned back and said with due seriousness, “Young Miss of Duke You, speaking honestly, the two words beautiful lady are extremely appropriate to describe you.”
Zhao Yuying was startled, but just as she was wondering how to react, Song Zining had already gone far away.
“Who is that pretty boy? Why does he hate Zhao Junhong so much?” Zhao Yuying asked.
Qianye did know a little bit about why Song Zining was reacting this way. Zhao Junhong had tossed out a marriage offer back then, and Song Zining had told Qianye about it later on. He had also revealed some of his own opinions.
Song Zining wasn’t against such a marriage. With his awkward situation in the Song clan, finding a powerful in-law family and striving for independence could be considered a way out. The Zhao clan’s strength far surpassed that of individual nobles and, compared to the other ladies in the clan, the young miss of the Duke You lineage possessed a higher status and value. It was said that her strength wasn’t bad at all, and that she wasn’t just a pretty face.
It was just that Song Zining didn’t want to officially leave the Song clan just yet. That was why he hadn’t agreed to it back then, but he still considered the option seriously.
But only after seeing Zhao Yuying today did Song Zining understand what a natural nemesis was. It was someone he had to take a detour around. It was precisely because of this that he was resentful of Zhao Second and couldn’t shake off the lingering fear. If he had agreed to the marriage immediately back then, this seventh young master’s life would’ve fallen into a bottomless pit.
Qianye naturally wouldn’t disclose such a matter to Zhao Yuying and only gave a simple explanation. “He’s called Song Zining, seventh young master of the Song clan and my brother.”
Zhao Yuying had apparently heard of his name before and raised her eyebrows. “Oh, so that’s who he is. Let it be that you don’t want to recognize Little Four as a brother, but you’ve actually taken such a weak chicken as one. Are you not afraid Little Four will dismantle him into thin sheets?”
Presently, Qianye had gained the ability to listen only to the important points in his conversation with Zhao Yuying and ignore all the vulgarities. Why did this Zhao clan daughter feel more like a street thug than the Wei clan heir? However, Zhao Yuying still understood Zhao Jundu quite well. The Zhao fourth young master did have such an intention.
Since Song Zining had already run away, Qianye didn’t want to drag him back into the waters. He collected his thoughts and asked, “You said Zhao Jundu offended a lot of people. What exactly is going on?”
Zhao Yuying replied, “You’re that little bastard who was snatched away from my uncle's house, right?”
Qianye’s expression changed ever so slightly.
Zhao Yuying glanced oddly at Qianye. “You didn’t know? Or was there a problem back then?”
Qianye drew in a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and asked, “What did you hear about the matter back then?”
Zhao Yuying’s knowledge of this matter was fairly limited. Reportedly, there was once an illegitimate child in Zhao Weihuang’s family, and that he was about a year older than Zhao Ruoxi. More than ten years ago, an assassin had charged into the inner courtyard and kidnapped the young boy. Thereafter, his fate was never known.
Qianye had never expected there would actually be such a story.
The most serious thing that had happened to him was origin theft, and Zhao Jundu should be familiar with the details. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have checked the wound as soon as he approached. Although Zhao Yuying was a core descendant of the Zhao clan and even Duke You’s granddaughter, she seemed to have no knowledge of this matter.
Qianye felt somewhat frustrated, but he also knew that it was useless to continue asking Zhao Yuying who knew little of this matter. As such, he returned to the previous issue and asked, “What exactly is going on with Zhao Jundu?”
“Not long ago, Little Four announced that he would recognize a brother, add him to the family records, and join his auxiliary residence.” Zhao Yuying saw Qianye’s doubtful expression and realized that he wasn’t clear what Zhao Jundu’s actions signified.