According to what Bai Yunfei knew, Xiao Nan and his wife had always lived in Tianhun Academy so they didn’t normally go out. Was there another guest here with him today?
It being impolite to use soulsense in the home of another, Bai Yunfei refrained.
A moment after Zhao Jie called out, Bai Yunfei heard a set of footsteps slowly walk towards the room.
When he saw just who it was, his face revealed some surprise, “It’s you?” He spoke subconsciously.
Bai Yunfei ‘knew’ this person. They met before actually—back in the Soothing Heart, he had a bit of a tiff with this person.
The son of the Left Minister, Xu Sihan!
Bai Yunfei had taught him a lesson the last time they met in the Soothing Heart. It was only because of Xiao Nan that an all out fight hadn’t happened. While Bai Yunfei knew Xu Sihan was Xiao Nan’s cousin from his wife’s side, what was Xu Sihan doing here still?
Was it a coincidence?
A flicker of hate and fear flashed across Xu Sihan’s eyes for a moment. He trawled a little hesitantly to Zhao Jie’s side to whisper, “Cousin, I….”
“What? Speak clearly, are you getting cold feet now?”
“I….”
As reluctant as he was, he looked like he was finally about to say something when Zhao Jie placed a hand onto his shoulder and pointed him to the seat next to Xiao Nan, “Go take a seat. Your family might’ve sent you over, but your cousin isn’t here to force you to do anything. If you want to leave, go, but I won’t stop them from punishing you if you do.”
“……”
A frown appeared on Xu Sihan’s face as he walked over to the chair next to Xiao Nan and sat down with his head bowed low.
What kind of showing was this??
Bai Yunfei felt suspicious, just what was Xu Sihan planning?
Zhao Jie spoke up apologetically to him next, “Yunfei, I’ve heard that little Han has offended you. I wanted to take the chance today to apologize on his behalf. Little Han has been spoiled by his family since he was small and his behavior isn’t always the best. I hope today you and he will be able to work things out.”
“Ehh???”
Bai Yunfei uttered in surprise—was Xu Sihan really trying to apologize?
With his cousin speaking on his behalf, Xu Sihan looked as though he had made up his mind. Biting his lips, he forced himself to look at Bai Yunfei with an earnest expression. “I unintentionally offended brother Bai the other day. Please excuse the slight I’ve made and forgive this one for it.”
As reluctant as he was to say those words, it didn’t feel like he didn’t mean his words either, so he really was trying to reconcile with Bai Yunfei.
“I….”
Bai Yunfei didn’t know how to respond. He had never expected Xu Sihan to apologize like this. He hadn’t even thought about Xu Sihan at all, in fact.
Ever since his conflict with the family of the Right Minister, the matter with Xu Sihan and the Left Minister had been completely overshadowed, and Bai Yunfei didn’t bother to think much about it.
What Bai Yunfei didn’t know was that there were others that took this event pretty seriously. The house of Xu. It wasn’t a major topic, though the higher-ups of the family had still managed to hear about it. As it so happened, they also heard about how Bai Yunfei also got into a conflict with Cheng Xin and then even the four sons of the other families that got along with the Cheng. When it ended with the five of them eating a loss, the Xu snickered to themselves and admitted that it was Xu Sihan that offended Bai Yunfei rather than the other way around, which is why the higher-ups didn’t care much for this.
The mess the Cheng was in now was all in due part with how their pampered son had angered Bai Yunfei, after all.
So the elders of the Xu sent out the order to have Xu Sihan not only cease his hostilities with Bai Yunfei, but to apologize!
Whether it was in personal status or strength, Bai Yunfei was racking up a great deal of value in the eyes of many other influential powers in the Capital. If this series of events with the Cheng was making them an enemy out of Bai Yunfei, then the Xu—who were fundamentally opposed to them—would definitely want to have Bai Yunfei’s support.
Or at the very least, not make an enemy out of him as well.
Xu Sihan had actually wanted to form a ‘feud’ with Bai Yunfei as well after he was hurt. But then when he heard about the conflict between Bai Yunfei and Cheng Xin, he grew a little cautious and decided to take the ‘wait and see’ approach. Things got even more unpredictable with Bai Yunfei dealing with the experts from the Li, Zeng, Zhu, and Peng ordered to ‘deal’ with him. Disbelieving almost at Bai Yunfei’s victory, Xu Sihan was starting to doubt the reasonability that was his grudge. At the same time, he was given a stern ‘talking’ to by his elders and was told to apologize to Bai Yunfei.
As hedonistic as he was, Xu Sihan was no simpleton. He could see how serious the elders were, and he didn’t dare go against their demands. Remembering that Bai Yunfei got along with his cousin and husband, Xu Sihan went reluctantly to them to see if his cousin would be able to help out or be ‘mediators’ at the very least. He felt quite embarrassed to be making the apologies, since he had never had to ‘apologize’ with him being the son of the Left Minister.
The stunned look on Bai Yunfei’s face gave Xiao Nan the impression that Bai Yunfei wasn’t quite ready to forgive Xu Sihan, so he decided to speak up. “Yunfei, I was there at the time and know that Xu Sihan’s behavior wasn’t right. However, I’ve already punished him several times after that and so I’ll hope you’ll spare me some face and forgive him.”
Xiao Nan didn’t really like Xu Sihan in truth, but he was still related to him through his wife, and the two of them were on good terms with one another. Zhao Jie herself had asked Xiao Nan if an apology could be arranged on Xu Sihan’s behalf so that the hatchet could be buried between him and Bai Yunfei.
Blinking oddly at the sight, Bai Yunfei waved his hand, “Big brother Xiao, you are far too serious with your words. I...haven’t even thought about the events that day, let alone think about forgiving or not.”
Since Bai Yunfei had already taught Xu Sihan a lesson, he never really thought about the matter. He wasn’t one to split hairs over everything and form long-lasting grudges with people.
If only Cheng Xin himself were to come and do the same thing.
Xu Sihan sighed to himself inwardly. He had been worried that Bai Yunfei would turn the nose and try to humiliate him. To have this matter resolved so easy had done wonders for his mind.
“Then…thank you for your magnanimity, brother Bai. This is just a small gift of my thanks, please accept it on my behalf.” Xu Sihan took out a white stone from his space ring and sent it over to Bai Yunfei in a bubble of elemental energy.
He was giving a gift too?!
Bai Yunfei was doubly alarmed. Planning to refuse the gift at first, Bai Yunfei opened his mouth to do so when he saw the object floating over to him. Eyes sparkling when he recognized what it was, Bai Yunfei accepted the item and took it straight into his space ring. “Then this one will thank you for your kindness, lord Xu. Let us consider this matter settled then.”
Unique Equipment
Equipment Grade: Low Heaven
Elemental Affinity: None
Special Effect 1: Increase the chance of success when upgrading by 1000%. Effect cannot be stacked with the effect of another item.
Special Effect 2: Increase the chance of success when crafting by 700%. Effect cannot be stacked with the effect of another item.
Cannot be upgraded.
The object Xu Sihan gave him was an upgrade stone! One that was a Low Heaven in grade!
Bai Yunfei held an undoubted interest in upgrade stones and thus wouldn’t refuse one offered to him.
But there was no way the Xu would give him such a ‘precious’ item as an apology present. They were clearly also trying to enter Bai Yunfei’s good graces as well.
Since he wasn’t enemies with the Xu, Bai Yunfei didn’t have to worry about losing any face by accepting this gift. It wasn’t a bad thing either to make friends with the Xu and the Left Minister, so Bai Yunfei took the gift without much of a fuss.
All of the worry evaporated from within Xu Sihan as soon as he saw Bai Yunfei take the gift. By accepting the gift, Bai Yunfei would most likely not treat him bad in the future. He was a little fearful of Bai Yunfei and didn’t want to end up a half-cripple almost like Cheng Xin and his group….
……
Zhao Jie went off back to the kitchens to prepare some food while Bai Yunfei, Xiao Nan, and even Xu Sihan began to talk to one another in the drawing room.
It was a rather harmonious lunch the four had with one another. Xu Sihan had dropped the hedonistic air he normally had and wasn’t quite the disgusting person Bai Yunfei first pegged him to be, causing Bai Yunfei to have a new perspective on him.
Of course, he still didn’t care much, and neither was he really looking to make friends with Xu Sihan either.
With the meal wrapping up, Bai Yunfei found it time to take his leave and bid everyone farewell before he left with Xu Sihan.
They walked together through the academy, though Xu Sihan still looked slightly embarrassed as he followed behind Bai Yunfei. Hesitating here and there, Xu Sihan finally managed to speak aloud after some time, “Brother Bai, there’s….something I feel I need to tell you about….”
“Oh?” Bai Yunfei quirked an eyebrow, “What is it?”
“You better be careful for now, brother Bai. There might be some people who’ll try to do you harm….”
“Oh? What makes you say that, lord Xu? Who would do that?”
“Cheng….Cheng Xin and his friends. I know what I’m saying might make you suspicious of me trying to instigate some disharmony, but I truly am speaking honestly here. Cheng Xin came to me a few days before and wanted to know if I had a grudge with you, brother Bai. He wanted to see if I’d be interested in taking revenge, but I refused. I think he and his friends haven’t given up yet, so I wanted to inform you of the potential, brother Bai.”
“This again?” Bai Yunfei narrowed his eye. “I’ll take that in mind, thank you for your warning, lord Xu.” He cupped his hands to Xu Sihan.
After bidding farewell to Xu Sihan, Bai Yunfei headed straight home, though he shook his mind at the words spoken to him by Xu Sihan.
“What a bunch of restless second generationals. You’d all better not be too much, or else I won’t just leave you all as half-cripples next time….”