The surrounding area erupted into chaos. Everyone began talking at once. Even the man in ochre robes had not expected that, after such a high-stakes gamble, someone would still dare to come forward and challenge him.
What an arrogant, presumptuous young brat!
The astonishment in his eyes faded, replaced by a contemptuous smile. His face was alight with excitement, and he was just about to speak when his companion beside him pulled him back.
The fat man shook his head at him.
They had already won more than enough today, and attracted more than enough attention. Too much of anything was a bad thing, especially since they had also managed to offend members of the Ji family. It really would not be wise to cause any further trouble.
The man in ochre robes hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. Turning to Ye Huaiyao, he said, “Forget it. I don’t want to gamble anymore.”
The surrounding crowd let out disappointed boos.
Ye Huaiyao seemed not to have heard what he said. He first lifted the hem of his robe, then sat down steadily at the table before saying,
“Of course. Gambling is a matter of mutual consent. If you don’t want to gamble anymore, that’s perfectly fine. Since meeting one another is a matter of fate, I might as well tell you a secret.”
He smiled. “The IOU that Young Master Ji gave you earlier is a fake.”
Even though Ye Huaiyao had half his face covered, that appearance was already etched into Ji Lanying’s memory. The moment the other man spoke, he recognised him.
Ji Lanying had still been clinging to the faint hope that the Illustrious Sage would not hold this against him, and was just planning to slip away quietly when he was suddenly called out. He was immediately startled.
The man in ochre robes glanced at him and asked, “What do you mean?”
“He isn’t a member of the Ji family, so the IOU he gave you is naturally worthless.”
Ye Huaiyao said, “Brother, I’m taking the risk of offending someone by exposing this secret right to your face. If you gamble with me, whether you win or lose, I’ll repay those debts. If you don’t gamble, you’re not losing anything either, so just take that sword to settle the debt.”
The man in ochre robes sensed that Ye Huaiyao’s words seemed to carry another meaning. Startled, he looked at him, only to find the other man’s face filled with excitement, as though he genuinely only wanted to have a contest with him.
The surrounding people were all talking at once.
“Of course you should take the sword! There are so many gemstones on it. Even if you took it to a pawnshop, it would be worth more than all the spirit stones and silver put together.”
This was an obvious choice, but the man in ochre robes did not see it that way. He cast a hesitant glance at Ji Lanying, then no longer wished to hear whatever explanation he might offer. After pondering for a moment, he turned to Yuan Xian.
He asked, “You know this man, don’t you? May I ask, is he actually a member of the Ji family?”
Ji Lanying hurriedly winked at Yuan Xian. His expression suddenly reminded Yuan Xian of the time at the Chensu Sect when he had read Yan Jin’s memories. Ji Lanying had looked at him in exactly the same way, his face full of pleading.
He said to the man in ochre robes, “No.”
Yuan Xian paid him no further attention, and instead greeted Ye Huaiyao. “I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Ye Huaiyao smiled faintly. “Yes. If I’d known, I would have eaten somewhere else.”
Yuan Xian was silent for a moment, then said, “Don’t worry. I’ll break off the engagement. This matter was my fault. Once I return, I’ll explain everything to my father exactly as it happened.”
Ye Huaiyao said, “Mm. Thank you.”
With that, there was nothing more for the two of them to say. At that moment, their relationship seemed to have returned to those peaceful, uneventful years of the past. They would occasionally run into each other, exchange only a few words, and then part with indifference.
As if nothing had changed. Ye Huaiyao’s gaze was always this gentle, always carrying a smile, yet in truth it never stirred the slightest ripple.
But Yuan Xian knew that beneath the resistance on the surface, his own heart was already far from calm.
He was deeply troubled, yet unwilling to let anyone see his reluctance to part. With a slight cupping of his hands, he turned and walked away.
The man in ochre robes realised at this point that Ji Lanying really had made a fool of him. Both anxious and furious, he flung his sword to the ground and shoved the departing Ji Lanying back into the shop.
He roared, “Don’t you dare leave! You little bastard, you actually dared to play me for a fool? I’ll settle the score with you later!”
Ye Huaiyao smiled. “Brother, there’s really no need to be so angry. If your gambling skills truly are so extraordinary, then why not accept my terms? Or perhaps…”
He tapped a finger against his temple, deliberately assuming a thoughtful expression. “Actually, you only won just now because you were cheating. So when you came across a true master like me, you didn’t dare accept the challenge?”
The man in ochre robes snapped angrily, “You’re obviously trying to provoke me!”
Ye Huaiyao smiled broadly. “That’s right, I’m provoking you. If you’re willing, take the bait. Come on?”
Having gone this far, if he still refused to step up, he really would look like a coward. The man in ochre robes gave a cold snort and shouted, “Damn it, let’s gamble!”
He dragged the chair opposite Ye Huaiyao out, slammed it heavily onto the floor, and sat down.
One man smiled, the other was furious, and between them sat a solitary dice cup.
The man in ochre robes glanced sideways at Ye Huaiyao, then once again poured out all the spirit stones and silver, along with Ji Lanying’s IOU, from his qiankun pouch.
He pointed at Ji Lanying’s IOU. “This, you said you’d honour.”
Ye Huaiyao did not waste words. He immediately settled the spirit stones and silver stated on the IOU.
Only then did the angry expression that had remained on the man in ochre robes’ face since earlier ease somewhat. He said to Ye Huaiyao, “I have no interest in those petty little stakes. If we’re going to gamble, we’ll put all of this on the line. Do you dare?”
Ye Huaiyao placed the things Rong Wang had given him on the table. “Fine.”
The spirit stones on his side were each crystal-clear and brilliantly radiant, with light flowing through them. They were clearly extremely rare high-grade stones. Together with a stack of banknotes, their value was roughly three or four times that of the man in ochre robes’ stake.
The entire table was covered in dazzling jewels and treasures, so brilliant that they nearly blinded the onlookers. No one had expected to witness such a colossal gamble in such a small place. Everyone was flushed with excitement, practically more thrilled than the people actually sitting at the table.
The man in ochre robes had not expected Ye Huaiyao to be so lavish either, and could not help looking him over a few more times.
The young man was slender and refined, his hair tied up with a silver crown. A jade-boned folding fan was tucked diagonally into the jewelled belt around his waist. His whole person exuded the dissipated air of a pampered young master from a prestigious family, and he looked nothing like a martial artist.
The man estimated that this young fellow’s background was either wealthy or noble. He did not even understand how vast the heavens and earth were, and with his naïveté, impulsiveness and reckless spending, he was exactly the sort of fat sheep one could hope to find.
The man in ochre robes glanced at the pile of valuables and snorted. “Then let’s begin.”
As before, the shop assistant shook the dice cup. He could not afford to offend either of these two gentlemen, so he carried out this simple task with trembling hands, shaking the dice cup like a rabid wild dog for fear that either side might find fault with him.
Ye Huaiyao leaned back in his chair, watching him with an amused smile. In the end, the man in ochre robes grew impatient and frowned. “Is that enough? Are you planning to keep shaking it until tomorrow morning?”
The shop assistant hurriedly placed the dice cup upside down on the table.
Ye Huaiyao had already listened carefully to the sound of the dice being shaken for quite some time. There were three dice in the cup, each with six sides. Each side had a different number of pips carved into it, and therefore a different weight.
This difference meant that when the dice landed, different numbers facing upwards would produce slightly different sounds when they struck against one another.
Of course, these differences were exceedingly subtle. With all three dice making sounds at the same time, distinguishing each one individually was extremely difficult.
From the way the shop assistant had placed the cup down, Ye Huaiyao could hear that the total should be seven, a small. He turned to the man in ochre robes. “For this first round, you may choose first.”
The man in ochre robes scoffed, apparently unwilling even to accept this favour from him. “Whether I choose first or last makes no difference to me.”
Despite saying this, he still chose “small”.
The dice cup was lifted. Sure enough, it was small. At once, part of the silver notes and spirit stones in front of Ye Huaiyao became the other man’s property.
This result was also within everyone’s expectations. After all, whether playing cards or throwing dice, the man in ochre robes had won every single round just now. If Ye Huaiyao had managed to guess correctly on his very first attempt, that would have been when everyone else started suspecting something was amiss.
Then came the second round. It was Ye Huaiyao’s turn to guess first. He heard it clearly: thirteen, a big. So he chose big.
If the dice were revealed to be exactly thirteen, it would mean the man in ochre robes had lost. From the probing he had done in the previous round, Ye Huaiyao suspected that the man was also skilled at listening to the wind and discerning the points on the dice, and was using this ability to tamper with them deliberately.
Therefore, after making his choice, he concentrated on observing his opponent’s movements.
The man in ochre robes did not move at all. His only physical contact was with the chair beneath him, and he did not even spare the dice cup another glance. There was not the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy in the surroundings.
Yet at the very instant the shop assistant was about to lift the lid of the dice cup, Ye Huaiyao suddenly heard an exceedingly faint “click”. He immediately realised that one of the dice showing six had been flipped over, becoming a one facing upwards.
With that change, the total of the three upward-facing numbers went from thirteen, a big, to eight, a small. When the shop assistant lifted the dice cup, naturally, Ye Huaiyao had guessed wrong.
During the flipping of the dice, they had not been affected by any external force. The man in ochre robes and his fat companion, one standing and one sitting, had not moved at all.
Yet at that instant when the dice turned over, Ye Huaiyao suddenly felt an inexplicable impulse and longing, clamouring, “I want to win!” “I must win!”
This desire did not originate from the thoughts in his own heart. Rather, it was something he had sensed when he had spread out his spiritual power moments earlier and concentrated fully on monitoring the dice cup.
—Could this be… the power of aspiration?
By this point, the shop assistant had already opened the dice cup, and once again the winner was the man in ochre robes.
This result was already within the expectations of everyone around them, but precisely because of that, it left them disappointed.
When they had watched Ye Huaiyao step forward to challenge the man earlier, he had seemed so confident and spirited that they had assumed he possessed some special ability. As it turned out, he was nothing special after all.
Ye Huaiyao, however, was perfectly capable of accepting defeat. Seeing the result, he smiled and pushed the spirit stones and banknotes remaining in front of him straight across the table. “I lost again.”
Some people booed, while others stared fixedly at the enormous pile of wealth, their eyes almost blinded by its glitter.
Such wealth was enough to allow half the city’s inhabitants to live in comfort for the rest of their lives. Whoever obtained it could rise to prominence in the blink of an eye and completely change their destiny.
When in their lives had they ever witnessed such a lavish gamble?
At this moment, regardless of whether the man in ochre robes was righteous or evil, regardless of how sinister, eccentric and unpleasant he might be, he had become an object of everyone’s envy and admiration.
The man in ochre robes picked up a spirit stone and idly turned it over in his hand. The silver was one thing, but spirit stones without the slightest impurity were, for cultivators like them, absolutely the best tools for aiding the advancement of their cultivation.
Having won two rounds in succession, he not only had no intention of stopping while he was ahead, but instead found his heart warmed by the prospect of such enormous returns. He glanced at the scant remaining wealth in front of Ye Huaiyao and said with interest, “Continue gambling?”
Ye Huaiyao blinked and smiled. “Then I’ll have to write an IOU.”
The man in ochre robes folded his arms across his chest and studied Ye Huaiyao for a moment. “That won’t be necessary. This time, my stake is your face.”
The moment he said this, the surrounding crowd erupted in an uproar.
This high-stakes gamble was already a spectacle rarely seen in a hundred years. Now that the game had reached this point, one person was completely penniless yet unwilling to stop, while the other was refusing rare treasures and insisting instead on the other’s face. It was something no one had ever heard of.
Ye Huaiyao also laughed in surprise. “Well… if you think my face is worth so much, brother, I’m truly honoured. But if you happen to win, how am I supposed to pay you this stake?”
The man in ochre robes gave an evil grin. “What’s so difficult about that? Just peel your face off, that’s all.”
He said it so casually that Ye Huaiyao replied even more naturally, “Then if I’m ugly, you can’t go back on your word.”
“No problem.”
At this point, the man in ochre robes finally revealed a little of the bold, forthright air of a man of the jianghu*.
(*TN: martial arts world.)
He waved his hand cheerfully. “When the time comes, you’ll take off your mask, and whatever your face actually looks like, isn’t that a gamble for me too? That’ll be interesting.”
Ye Huaiyao threw his head back and laughed, utterly unconcerned, as though the other man had not just said he intended to peel off his face, but had merely told him a joke to amuse him.
He praised him with a smile. “Well said! Come on.”
After exchanging those two sentences with Ye Huaiyao, Yuan Xian went and sat down some distance away.
He was an extremely proud man who cared deeply about his dignity. Otherwise, he would never have reduced a perfectly good marriage, one that everyone had envied, to this state.
Although he had now broken with Ji Lanying, he had been the one to resist Ye Huaiyao in every possible way before. Yuan Xian therefore could not possibly humiliate himself by turning around and meekly trying to curry favour with him.
Once something had been done, it was done. Whatever the outcome, he absolutely would not allow himself to regret it.
Yuan Xian had already decided that, as soon as he returned to Guiyuan Manor this time, even if his father beat him half to death, he would break off the engagement.
But breaking off the engagement was one thing. Now, seeing that Ye Huaiyao genuinely intended to carry this absurd gamble through to the end, Yuan Xian could no longer stand by and watch.
There was definitely something strange about this man in ochre robes. Ye Huaiyao had just lost two rounds in succession, which had already made the problem abundantly clear.
Unlike the other man, Yuan Xian’s personality might appear carefree and unrestrained on the surface, but in reality he was exceedingly suspicious, cautious, and far-sighted in his calculations. From childhood, his elders had repeatedly warned him that, as the future heir of Guiyuan Manor, he must exercise restraint and caution at all times, and must never put himself in danger.
Later, after reluctantly becoming the Illustrious Sage’s Dao companion, he became even more unwilling to make the slightest misstep, fearing that if he were careless, people would gossip and say that he was unworthy of Lord Yunqi.
Later, when something happened to Ye Huaiyao, Yuan Xian publicly declared that his heart belonged to another. That was probably the most unconventional choice he had ever made in his life. Of course, his courage did not bring him any good outcome.
This temperament made Yuan Xian completely unable to understand Ye Huaiyao’s current behaviour of deliberately seeking trouble for himself. Thus, he walked over, intending to stop him.
He had only taken a single step when someone suddenly came over from the side and blocked his path.
This person was a full head shorter than him. Yuan Xian looked down and realised that it was the young man who had been following Ye Huaiyao in the Ghost Wind Forest. His name was vaguely something like… A-Nan.
However, A-Nan seemed rather different from before. Standing in front of Yuan Xian, he no longer wore that timid, childlike expression of admiration.
His two eyes were dark and sombre, his face expressionless as he stared at Yuan Xian and asked, “What are you going to do?”
In that instant, Yuan Xian felt as though what stood before him was some kind of wild beast, hunched over with its teeth bared, poised to spring at any moment and bite through his throat.
Although the other was being rude, Yuan Xian was hardly going to quarrel with a child over it. He frowned and said, “I’m going over to stop him. Otherwise, if he loses the gamble, is he really going to peel his own face off?”
Rong Wang gave a laugh and said softly, “Stop him? You’re not worthy.”
The words contained genuine, completely undisguised hostility. His voice was not loud, but it entered Yuan Xian’s ears clearly, making him pause in surprise.
Rong Wang knew that his actions might cause some minor trouble, but when facing Yuan Xian, he made no attempt to conceal the disgust in his heart. Even less was he willing to force himself to put on a weak and submissive appearance before him.
At Yuan Xian’s waist hung a jade pendant, flawless as white jade, with the character “Yuan” engraved upon it. It was the emblem of Guiyuan Manor, a great orthodox sect. The light reflected from it made Rong Wang’s eyes grow even colder.
The two stood facing one another, as though separated by an invisible barrier. One side was pure white, the other pitch black, their boundaries sharply defined.
Both Yuan Xian and Ye Huaiyao had been born dazzling. The moment either of their names was spoken, they were naturally worthy of admiration and trust. Their lives were filled with splendour, riding fine horses in fresh clothes, shining brilliantly wherever they went.
Unlike himself.
Born a monster bearing a curse, stripped of all ties of kinship and covered in blood, he had to be sinister and ruthless, calculating every human heart, in order to survive each difficult step and firmly protect the things he wished to protect.
It was not that he did not yearn for the light, but the light had always been so very far away from him.
Rong Wang looked down on Yuan Xian. The man’s indecisiveness and divided heart filled him with contempt, yet at the same time, he was almost madly jealous of his status, jealous that he could stand openly and legitimately at Ye Huaiyao’s side.
—Ye Huaiyao’s Dao companion, hah. What right did he have?
Rong Wang was grateful to Yuan Xian for failing to cherish him, yet he also hated him for that very same failure.
If Yuan Xian had been the sort of mild-tempered person who could be pushed around by anyone, then back then he would never have become so distant from Ye Huaiyao, who had done absolutely nothing to wrong him, simply because of the reason that “other people mocked him for marrying above his station by being with Ye Huaiyao”.
The other was merely an unknown young man of humble status, someone who normally would not even have been worthy of speaking to him. Yet now he was being so insolent. After his initial astonishment, Yuan Xian’s expression turned cold and sombre.
He said sternly, “Lil’ brother, I treat you courteously because I regard you as Ye Huaiyao’s friend. A young man who does not know how to restrain himself will suffer greatly in the future!”
The rebuke did not seem to frighten the other man at all.
Yuan Xian’s thoughts shifted, and he found it extremely strange. Rong Wang’s behaviour now was clearly different from his manner in front of Ye Huaiyao. This boy was far too good at pretending. He had actually managed to deceive even Yuan Xian at the beginning.
Then why was he no longer pretending now? Had Ye Huaiyao already seen his true nature? What scheme was he pursuing?
As Yuan Xian’s thoughts raced, he stepped forward and reached back with his hand to seize Rong Wang’s shoulder.
At this point, most people’s attention was concentrated on Ye Huaiyao and the man in ochre robes. Yuan Xian’s movements were not large, and almost no one noticed.
A sharp gust of wind accompanied his grappling move. He had used his full strength.
This was not Yuan Xian taking advantage of the situation to bully a child. Rather, he had already concluded that Rong Wang’s disguise concealed some ulterior motive, and wanted to use this opportunity to force him to reveal his true nature.
The moment Rong Wang saw Yuan Xian suddenly make his move, his eyelashes lifted, and he instantly understood what the other man intended.
He gave a contemptuous scoff. With a slight shift of his feet and a change in his figure, he effortlessly avoided the attack.
Yuan Xian had not expected his move to miss at such close quarters. He raised his head sharply.
Rong Wang had already stopped some distance away, both hands clasped behind his back. He gave his assessment. “Mm. Not bad.”
The expression and tone with which he said this carried a kind of lofty arrogance.
It was praise bestowed almost as charity. Far from bringing any pleasure, it seemed to scrape painfully across one’s face.
Yuan Xian had originally wanted to observe Rong Wang’s movement techniques and use them to identify his origins, but the other man was simply too crafty. That dodge seemed almost like an instinctive reaction to danger, appearing simple while actually being profound, making it impossible to determine anything from it.
He was utterly astonished. “How can you possess such skill?”
Rong Wang sneered. “Guess.”
As he spoke, Yuan Xian had already launched another palm strike. Rong Wang remained completely unhurried, dodging backwards, and this time he directly slipped behind Ji Lanying, who was standing not far away.
The exchanges between Yuan Xian and Rong Wang were not particularly conspicuous, and they were positioned in a corner. Most of the people in the shop were focused on Ye Huaiyao, and only Ji Lanying noticed what was happening.
For some reason, the moment Ji Lanying saw this A-Nan, he felt an extreme fear rise spontaneously from the very depths of his bones.
Ji Lanying’s sixth sense had always been accurate. Beneath Rong Wang’s innocent, youthful exterior, he could sense a thick aura of bloodshed and ferocity.
Although he was already on guard, when the other man suddenly appeared behind him, he still had no chance whatsoever to refuse. Before he could dodge, he felt a tremendous force strike him in the middle of his back, and Rong Wang had already shoved him forwards.
Unable to control himself, he crashed towards Yuan Xian, who was also pursuing them from this direction. Then he discovered in horror that, by an extraordinary coincidence, the Tanzhong acupoint on his chest was directly aligned with the hilt of Yuan Xian’s sword!
The Tanzhong acupoint was a vital point, to say nothing of the fact that Ji Lanying was already injured. If he struck it properly, it could very well kill him on the spot!
The accident occurred in the space between flashes of lightning. The entire sequence could only be described as bizarre.
Ji Lanying had no time to do anything. In that instant, the only words that flashed through his mind were, “I’m going to die,” along with the upturned smile he glimpsed at the corner of Rong Wang’s lips.
—He had done it deliberately!
Yuan Xian had not expected such a change either. Although he had already exhausted the last of his feelings for Ji Lanying, that did not mean he was willing to let someone else manipulate him into killing the man.
Fortunately, Yuan Xian was also a first-rate expert of his generation, and his reactions were extremely fast. In his haste, he changed his grasp into a pressing motion, planted his hand on Ji Lanying’s shoulder, and pulled him bodily to one side.
At the instant their figures crossed and overlapped, a strange smile appeared on Rong Wang’s face. With a casual sweep of his hand, he knocked the teapot from the empty table beside them onto the floor.
The crisp crash attracted the attention of quite a few people. Even Ye Huaiyao glanced over and saw Ji Lanying leaning against Yuan Xian.
Yuan Xian: “…”
Almost instinctively, he released his grip and shoved Ji Lanying away. Ji Lanying staggered backwards and dropped heavily onto the floor, aggravating the sword wound Yan Chen had inflicted earlier. The pain was so severe that, for a moment, he could barely speak.
But the man in ochre robes began speaking again. Ye Huaiyao merely glanced over before turning his attention back.
Rong Wang laughed aloud. “If you still have feelings for each other, then go and roll off somewhere together. Don’t stand here getting in the way.”
His act of framing and shifting the blame had been accomplished in one seamless stroke, almost absurdly skilful.
Yuan Xian had wanted to test his techniques, so Rong Wang had pushed Ji Lanying out to block the attack, trapping the other man in the split second between killing and saving.
Then, when Yuan Xian withdrew his attack, Rong Wang adapted instantly, smashing the teapot and drawing Ye Huaiyao’s attention over, ensuring that he saw the two of them in an apparently “embracing” posture.
Rong Wang had not intended to use this scene to prove anything to Ye Huaiyao. He simply harboured an intense disgust and believed that Yuan Xian’s break with Ji Lanying must have been an act performed in front of Ye Huaiyao, so he had deliberately caused trouble.
Every movement in this sequence had been precise and ruthless, his changes of tactic extraordinarily swift. His intentions could hardly have been more malicious.
Yuan Xian’s feeling at this moment was as though he had spotted a little white rabbit by the roadside, reached out to stroke it, and only then discovered that the creature had grown a mouthful of tiger fangs.
The shock in his heart was even greater than his anger and confusion. He asked again in a low voice, “Who exactly are you? What purpose have you come here for?!”
A smile that was neither quite a smile nor quite a sneer curved Rong Wang’s lips. His dark eyes shimmered beneath the light with a faintly sinister gleam. He gave an evil smile. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
This man’s moods were as unpredictable as his temperament, which was even more elusive and difficult to fathom. Dealing with him was practically a form of torture.
The atmosphere between the three of them was tense and strange, yet beneath the same roof, the scene around Ye Huaiyao was positively ablaze.
The surrounding people had already been dazzled by the wealth glittering across the table. Now that even their faces had become the stakes, those who feared nothing so much as peace and quiet began clapping their hands and loudly cheering them on.
Like Yuan Xian, quite a few people felt that Ye Huaiyao had simply been bewitched.
The man in ochre robes had gambled from pai jiu* to dice and had continued all the way to this point without losing even once. Even Ye Huaiyao himself had already fallen to him in the previous rounds.
(*TN: Pai Jiu (牌九) is a traditional Chinese gambling game played with a set of 32 Chinese dominoes (also called tiles). The name literally means “make nine”.)
Now, in the eyes of the crowd, he was practically the God of Gambling. No one believed Ye Huaiyao could turn the situation around. They all thought he was merely young and hot-blooded, blinded by gambling fever and unwilling to admit defeat.
This sort of mentality was all too common in gambling houses. Otherwise, there would not be so many people who gambled away their entire fortunes, ending up destitute and separated from their wives and children. An elderly man who could no longer bear to watch advised him, “Young man, a little gambling may be entertaining, but excessive gambling harms the body. Wealth is only something external. If it’s gone, then it’s gone. You mustn’t stake even yourself on this!”
Ye Huaiyao smiled. “Thank you, old sir. What you say is quite right. Unfortunately, the gentleman opposite me doesn’t understand. I’m simply doing a good deed today and teaching him how to conduct himself.”
The moment he said this, the surrounding people burst into laughter. They all thought the young fellow had become so desperate after losing that he had gone completely mad, and was beyond saving.
The old man shook his head and sighed repeatedly. The man in ochre robes said impatiently, “Stop beating around the bush and wasting time. Well? Are you still gambling or not?”
Ye Huaiyao rolled a die between his fingers, idly playing with it. Hearing the other’s impatient urging, he could not help sighing and said with the air of someone lamenting the ways of the world, “Who can tell the winner from a single throw, when a whole board of dice cannot make a pair? Foolish, deluded.”
He casually tossed the die back, gave a light laugh, and said with effortless elegance, “Continue.”
Author’s Note:
Note: 1. Song Dynasty, Shi Duanyu, “Ten Eulogies on Ancient Sayings, No. 1”
——————
Actually, in a certain sense, both Yuan Xian and Rong Wang are people who are particularly good at making things difficult for themselves.
Yuan Xian was unknowingly more or less “sold” to Xuantian Tower by his father, with something of the air of a child bride about it. Having also been subjected to gossip from childhood, he was naturally bound to have a temper.
Moreover, his personality was extremely proud. He knew perfectly well that as long as he obediently went along with things, he could effortlessly obtain many things that countless people in the world could only dream of. But Yuan Xian simply could not bring himself to do that.
He had to rebel. He had to prove to Ye Huaiyao, “You look down on me? Well, I look down on you too.” He had to prove to his father, “You think that because you arranged my engagement behind my back, I’ll simply obey? Impossible. Things will not go as you wish.” And he had to prove to the whole world, “Everyone thinks I’m unworthy of the Illustrious Sage? Well, I don’t care for it either.”
So, at least at this stage, while there are certain truths he does not know, it is impossible for him to allow himself to cling desperately to the relationship. Even if he has already regretted it, you could beat him to death and he still would not admit it. Even if his heart aches until it bleeds, he still has to smile sweetly and say, “Break off the engagement! Break off the engagement! I’ve been looking forward to it!”
As for Wang-boy, his other side is actually rather sinister, obsessive and arrogant. He hates everyone in the world; he loves only Ye Huaiyao.
But because of certain experiences in his past, he is both insecure and conflicted. He desperately wants to obtain love, yet at the same time feels that he would sully something so beautiful.
What’s more, there are many hidden circumstances and real-world obstacles between the two of them, which is why Wang-boy is so often lost in a hundred twists and turns of thought, his moods so changeable and unpredictable.
As the story develops, and their disguises and secrets are gradually exposed, more of these aspects of their personalities will emerge. Of course, the main focus is on Wang-boy. He’s about to be exposed, while Yuan Xian won’t appear very much, so don’t worry, everyone.
I hope all the characters can feel three-dimensional. When developing their settings and writing them, I repeatedly think things through and revise them.
These recent chapters were actually drafted a long time ago, but I’ve kept deleting and rewriting them. I was still adding and cutting things right up until now, which is why my writing speed has been particularly slow and they’ve taken an enormous amount of time. Otherwise, I really would love to update more each day.
I’ve been writing stories for several years now, so I have a rough idea of what my dear readers like and dislike, and I’ve been doing my best to balance the plot, the characters and all the various developments, hoping to make you happy with the story.
But, after all, my ability and insight are limited. I can only improve things little by little. All I can do is work harder, and then harder still.
I’m truly grateful that you’re willing to accompany me as I grow. Sometimes, when I think about it, I feel that you’re all simply wonderful. You never scold me, and you encourage me every single day. Thank you, thank you so much.
