Hua Xianle

Chapter 23:

Walking up the steps to Cloud Recesses, both Hua Ying and Gu Zi could see Jiang Wanyin in the midst of an argument with the Lan Disciples. Hua Ying couldn’t help but feel somewhat relieved when he saw his Lan Zhan standing at the gate, staring down the Jiang Heir with one of his mask-like expressions. While anyone else who saw him would think he was beyond emotion, Hua Ying knew him well enough to recognize that he was seconds from completely snapping.

“Come on, Zi-gege,” he insisted, picking up the pace ever so slightly. “I think Lan Zhan might hit Jiang Wanyin with the hilt of his sword if I don't step up now.”

Gu Zi just nodded, trusting his cousin’s judgment. As they closed the distance between them and the gate, they could make out Jiang Wanyin screaming at the Lans.

“You can’t be serious! The sun is already setting and you expect us to go all the way back to Caiyi Town to find some stupid invitation?! YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE LAN WANGJI! SO LET US IN ALREADY!! OR GET YOUR BROTHER TO CONFIRM OUR IDENTITIES IF YOU’RE STILL NOT CONVINCED!! WE ARE NOT GOING BACK TO CAIYI TOWN!!”

Lan Zhan stood firm, unphased by the angry grape screaming in his face. “No invitation, no entry.” His tone indicated this was far from the first time he had repeated that line.

“YOU-!”

“Lan Zhan!” Hua Ying called out, waving happily as everyone’s attention fell on him.

While his favorite Lan’s face seemed to soften at his arrival, the entirety of the Jiang contingent was left completely stunned. Jiang Yanli ended up doing a double take as if she couldn’t wrap her mind around what she was seeing. When it finally registered what she was seeing, her jaw practically hit the dirt, her eyes wide and her face pale.

Wanyin, on the other hand, seemed to catch on around the same time as his sister, but his shock faded pretty quickly. In its place were rage, indignation, and several other shades of anger that colored his face a rather interesting puce color. Seeing him like that, Hua Ying couldn’t help but think how much he resembled Madame Yu.

“A-Ying?” Yanli gasped, finally managing to find her voice.

Looking at his former martial siblings, Hua Ying was surprised to find that he felt nothing, not even for Yanli. Perhaps once he would have sought comfort in her arms, let her ply him with her Lotus Root and pork rib soup, but now he knew better. He knew what he was worth, and that her honeyed words had just been a ploy to make him fall in line. An insignificant balm against the malicious abuse of the rest of her family. Abuse she allowed. Abuse she actively tried to defend.

No. He felt nothing towards her. She and the Jiangs were not worthy of his time and attention. They were not worthy of being treated like equals. They were beneath him, just as he had once been to them. Oh, how the tables had turned.

“Who are you to address me so familiarly, Jiang-guniang?” he said coldly, looking down his nose at her. He didn’t even bother trying to hide his disdain behind a smile.

Wanyin found his voice not long after that, storming right over to Hua Ying and getting in his face. Aside from tightening his grip on his cousin, the prince didn’t react as the Sect Heir began screaming.

“Wei Ying?! You… YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD!! EIGHT YEARS YOU RAN AND HID FROM YOUR SECT, ONLY TO SHOW UP HERE?! HOW DARE YOU-!!”

“My name,” Hua Ying interjected, taking great pleasure in doing so, “is Hua Xianle. Only my friends can call me by my birth name, and you have never been my friend.”

“I AM THE HEIR TO YOUR SECT! YOU WILL RESPECT-!”

“I have not been a member of the Jiang Sect in eight years, and if we’re being honest, I never belonged there. All I ever was to you was a convenient scapegoat, a shield for you to abuse whenever you felt inclined. And you call me ungrateful? What am I to be grateful for?”