Miss Qin rolled her eyes inwardly, but since there were no other Guest Elders, she could only explain patiently:

"Brother Zhou, the civil war is over, the Sect Alliance is already a thing of the past; this confrontational way of thinking of yours really should change. Lord Han King is giving everyone in the Sects a chance to integrate into Dayan’s system."

As she spoke, Miss Qin shifted the topic and reminded them:

"The vast majority of people from the noble Sects in the world still think in terms of confrontation, and have no idea that this decree is a colossal opportunity. Brother Zhou, Brother Min, if your clan has direct-line juniors, you should send them to the Heavenly Craft Mansion through the channels I just mentioned as soon as possible. In the future this opening will inevitably tighten..."

"..."

"..."

Listening to the conversation at the table next door, Xu Yuan couldn’t help feeling a bit amused.

Ever since arriving in Jiangnan, he had heard plenty of people cursing him, but there really weren’t many as clever as this Miss Qin.

Just as she said, the thinking of the vast majority of Sects and noble families was still stuck in the old days when the Imperial Court and the Sect Alliance stood side by side in opposition. From the bottom of their hearts they rejected this decree, still thinking that if they just guarded their old little patch of land, they could last forever.

Yet in the current tidal wave of history, to cling to such notions was undoubtedly to sit and wait for death. Those with deep foundations might endure for a generation or two; those with thinner family resources would likely decline in a mere decade or so.

Xu Yuan smiled lightly, drained the tea in his cup, glanced at Miss Qin, and roughly etched her features into his memory.

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, she might even be qualified to seek an audience with him.

But Xu Yuan did not give her any more attention. Talents across the realm were as numerous as carp crossing a river; people like her were by no means scarce in the Capital.

In a good mood, Xu Yuan turned back to look at Su Jinxuan, swept a glance beyond the window lattice, and said with a quiet smile:

"How did you find this place? The setting’s quite nice—tea, scenery, misty rain over Jiangnan."

As he spoke, out of the corner of his eye he suddenly caught a scented breeze pass by his side and a brocade handkerchief fall.

Xu Yuan instinctively reached out, caught it, and handed it back, but to his surprise the owner didn’t take it. Instead, she stopped, turned her head, and looked at him:

"Thank you, sir."

"..."

Su Jinxuan narrowed her eyes slightly.

Xu Yuan, somewhat puzzled, glanced at the newcomer.

She was a young girl of about seventeen or eighteen, her skin lustrous and white like jade, with a delicate straight nose, lips pale as cherry petals, brows and eyes as limpid as if soaked in spring water. Her brows arched lightly without harshness, and in the shifting of her gaze a gentle grace was revealed.

Don’t know her...

Then... does she recognize me?

The girl’s gentle air carried a certain confidence.

Smiling charmingly, when she reached out to take the brocade handkerchief, her fingertips lightly brushed across the back of his hand.

But at the instant her gaze met his, she couldn’t help freezing on the spot; the words of invitation she’d prepared in her heart seemed to lodge in her throat, not a syllable could come out.

A sense of near-death swept through her entire body in an instant.

The doubtful scrutiny in those eyes was like a peep from the abyss, shattering the pride she had always drawn from her family background, talent, and looks.

But the next moment,

the suffocating lock on her vanished suddenly.

Was... was that just an illusion?

As she wavered in confusion,

the girl saw this unfamiliar gentleman curve his long, narrow eyes, a smile surfacing in his brows and gaze, making her heart—which had been stalled by fear—unconsciously beat faster.

Xu Yuan rubbed the bridge of his nose.

He had thought the Jiangnan Family was up to some new move again, but it turned out to be nothing more than a flirtatious approach.

What he used to sense in an instant now actually took such a long detour for him to realize.

It seemed the customs here in Jiangnan were indeed more open than over in Di’an.

At his age, he was still being chatted up by young girls, but thinking about it, that wasn’t so strange.

Perhaps it was hard to change one’s nature. Ever since the end of the chaos, with the great boulder in his heart lifted, Xu Yuan had stopped cosplaying as that old man—no longer wearing a face perpetually twisted with bitter hatred—and his manner toward people had gradually returned to what it once had been.

His looks and bearing were almost the same as in those years; it was only natural women would fall for him.

Looking at this unfamiliar lass, Xu Yuan tapped his slender knuckles lightly against the table and asked with a soft, amused tone:

"Miss, this is rather rude of you, you know. Can’t you see I already have a lady in my company?"

As he spoke, he pointed at Su Jinxuan opposite him.

"Uh..."

After being rejected, the girl seemed a little at a loss, but after glancing over she still mustered her courage and stammered:

".Uh... I... I’ve never seen you in Lin’an Prefecture, sir, so you must not be local. Since you are a guest from afar, wh-why not share a drink together?"

Seeing the blush that had spread from her earlobes, Xu Yuan instinctively recalled a certain disgraceful Little Enchantress when they first met.

That same gentle confidence.

That same forced, stubborn composure.

So he simply kept pointing at Su Jinxuan, signaling the girl to ask her.

Hearing this, the girl turned her head back, subconsciously glancing at that rather plain-looking woman.

In her understanding, a man with such looks and bearing would at most be friends with such an ordinary woman.

But when her gaze fell upon the latter, the girl in the brocade dress felt as though the whole world had been reduced to that one person’s existence.

It was an attraction beyond compare.

They met each other’s eyes in a daze, as threads of light and falling sakura drifted down.

The plain features of the woman before her suddenly shifted—her brows like distant mountains brushed with dark jade, peach-blossom eyes as light as a startled swan, and beneath them a single teardrop mole that siphoned all heaven and earth’s gaze; jade nose, coral lips, flawless in every detail.

In the moment of stunned blankness,

"Snap..."

A flick of fingers pulled her back to reality.

The woman across the desk was still the same, dull as before; aside from those eyes bright as the stars, she was smiling, yet the young girl already sensed a danger she could not name.

Flustered, she heard Xu Yuan’s voice again:

"Seems she doesn’t much welcome you, miss. My apologies."

"...Oh. Oh."

The girl in the brocade dress blinked. Though unwilling, she knew the two were anything but ordinary; after a slight bow, she left in lonely dejection.

Watching the girl’s figure recede, Xu Yuan shot the Enchanting Demon a look:

"Bullying a little girl—find that interesting?"

Su Jinxuan cut him a sideways glance, grievance and teasing jealousy overflowing from her eyes:

"Eh, so now you’re shielding outsiders~ Looking at our Lord Han King’s manner just now, you seem to have a fancy for her?"

Xu Yuan arched a brow, rubbing his chin, muttering:

"Oh? Was I that obvious?"

"Hmph." Su Jinxuan turned her face away.

"That girl just now reminded me of someone."

"Who." Su Jinxuan looked back.

Xu Yuan fixed his gaze on her eyes and asked in return:

"You really don’t see it?"

Su Jinxuan looked slightly puzzled; she gazed in the direction the girl had left, pondered for a long while, then hesitantly said:

"...Like me?"

"Not entirely stupid, then."

"...."

Su Jinxuan lowered her lashes, her voice a low hum:

"What use is that, anyway. You’re clearly about to be married, and still out here flirting with little girls, hmph~"

Hearing that line soaked in jealousy, Xu Yuan froze for a moment, suddenly unsure how to respond, and could only murmur:

"I understand. Next time I go out, I’ll cover my face."

Su Jinxuan did not answer.

Xu Yuan sighed inwardly.

He knew it all.

No matter how seductive and ensnaring this Little Enchantress had become over the past years, no matter how ruthless she was within the Black Scale Guards, it was all change she had forced upon herself. In her bones, she was still that gentle girl from the watery towns of Jiangnan.

He knew what she wanted as well.

Not much.

Nothing more than the phoenix crown and red robes, the ten miles of bridal procession every common woman dreams of.

But,

He was destined never to give it to her.

He could not give her the status of a proper, openly wedded wife, because from the perspective of balancing all sides, taking Su Jinxuan as his bride would meet with great resistance.

Of course,

Xu Yuan knew even better that this was nothing more than a high-sounding excuse, one to deceive her—and to deceive himself.

With the power he held now, if Xu Yuan so wished, under heaven no one would dare gossip; all idle talk and all resistance would have to twist into stories of romance and heartfelt blessings.

He simply did not choose to.

Because Su Jinxuan, in the depths of his heart, could not compare to them.

He would not let them be hurt on her account.

There were no more words between them.

Unbroken drizzles of misty rain veiled Jiangnan, like a thin fog laid between the two of them; they could see each other’s figures, yet that veil was always there.

Xu Yuan was preparing to depart back for the Capital.

Su Jinxuan did not return with him; she kept smiling, saying she had to stay and keep an eye on the Jiangnan Family forces for him, but Xu Yuan could see she was already on the verge of tears.

And just before he left,

Su Jinxuan finally asked him that question.

The point of divergence that would decide the nature of their relationship.

Xu Yuan listened, but did not answer; he merely smiled and walked away.

They both knew what that answer was,

But time was destined never to turn back.