Difa Qing let out a light snort. “I imagine you know who Bei Kun of the Bei clan is, yes? He’s already made it known that he hopes you will not rely on your status to force yourself on elder sister Jiang. He’s also requested that you have a small meeting with him at the Clearwind in two days.”
Li Luo chuckled. “I’m familiar with him, yes. In the past, he always liked to fawn over me.”
When his parents were still around, House Luolan’s words held almost as much weight as that of the governor of Tianshu Province. Bei Kun had often paid visits to Li Luo and professed his undying friends.h.i.+p. Who would’ve thought that a few scant years later, House Luolan’s situation would’ve completely changed and this former friend of his would now come and cause him trouble?
In the past, Bei Kun’s favorite pastime was to put on banquets at the Clearwind hotel, and he often would issue warm invitations to Li Luo. Now, he was proposing a hostile rendezvous? The man was straightforward enough.
Difa Qing said, “Li Luo, there’s no need for you to mock him. This is how the world is. When your clan is powerful, many will toady up to you. Now that House Luolan has weakened, why should others give you any face? Even in the past, the ones they were giving face to were your parents, not you.”
Li Luo nodded in agreement. “I quite agree with what you said.” During the course of the past two years, Li Luo had quickly come to learn just how fickle fortune and friends.h.i.+p could be. Thus, he said nothing else and instead sped up as he departed the Academy.
However, Difa Qing followed after him. She was seemingly unwilling to just let this rest, and continued yammering nonstop. Every single thing she said was aimed at one thing – that Li Luo should be willing to give Jiang Qing’e her freedom.
By now, Li Luo knew that the best way to deal with this type of person was to completely ignore her, and so he didn’t pay attention to a single word she said. Finally, after pa.s.sing through a series of hallways, he exited the Academy.
As he did so, he suddenly noticed that the ambient noise level seemed to have dropped dramatically. Even the mosquito-like buzzing of Difa Qing seemed to have come to a halt, as though she had a frog in her throat.
Li Luo turned to glance at her, only to see that her face was bright red. A look of excitement was in her eyes as she stared at the stone stairway outside the Academy.
Suspecting what was going on, Li Luo followed her gaze, only to see that a carriage was parked before the stairway. The carriage had an antique, n.o.ble design and was quite s.p.a.cious. It had four pure red wheels, and was pulled by a muscular lionhorse. At the front of the carriage was a very familiar insignia – the House Luolan insignia.
As for the reason why Difa Qing’s face was crimson, and all the nearby students had looks of excitement on their faces? It naturally wasn’t just because of the House Luolan carriage itself – rather, it was the young woman standing in front of the carriage.
The young woman had her hair in a casual ponytail, and her features were both exquisite while graceful. Her skin shone beneath the rays of the setting sun. She was dressed in a short blue cape, held a thin whip, and wore a short war-skirt. Beneath the war-skirt was a pair of mouth-watering slim white legs… but most eye-catching of all was her pure, l.u.s.trous golden-pupiled eyes that shone like the sun.
It was Jiang Qing’e!
A series of murmurs began to arise from outside the Academy. Countless students were staring at her slender figure. They never would’ve imagined that on this day, they would have the chance to see in person this legendary graduate of the Southwind Academy.
Li Luo pa.s.sed through the murmuring, excited crowd as he walked down the steps, then moved next to Jiang Qing’e. Rather surprised, he said, “Sister Qing’e, when did you return to Southwind City?” Although House Luolan had arisen in Southwind, after becoming one of the four great Houses of the Xia Kingdom, it had already s.h.i.+fted its headquarters to the capital of the Xia Kingdom, the city of Xia.
After Jiang Qing’e had been admitted into the Astral Sage College, the most supreme college of the Xia Kingdom, she too had moved to Xia City. Over the past two years, she had also been consumed with affairs regarding the management of House Luolan, and so it was quite rare for her to return to Southwind. It had been quite some time since even Li Luo had seen her.
Jiang Qing’e glanced at him, then said in a calm voice, “Tomorrow is your seventeenth birthday. In addition, House Luolan has some important business to be discussed here. I just arrived at Southwind today, so I thought I’d come pick you up and take you home.” Her voice was extremely pleasing to hear – it was both crisp and calm, like water from a deep mountain spring that was falling upon jade.
Li Luo nodded. The att.i.tude that Jiang Qing’e was displaying didn’t surprise him in the slightest. He had known her for ages now; this was just how her personality was.
“Let’s go, then,” he said. Jiang Qing’e was simply too popular here at Southwind Academy. Just by standing here, she had become the focal attention of the entire area. He himself felt as though everyone was staring daggers at him.
Jiang Qing’e nodded slightly, but she didn’t immediately turn back. Instead, she looked at the excited Difa Qing, who was standing right behind Li Luo. “Your name is Difa Qing, yes?”
Difa Qing nodded repeatedly, her face ruddy from excitement. “You actually still remember me, elder sister Jiang?”
Jiang Qing’e said quietly, “I hope you won’t bother Li Luo any more. Otherwise… I will probably have to take extremely good care of your elder brother at the Astral Sage College.”
The look of excitement on Difa Qing’s face instantly froze. A long moment later, transfixed by Jiang Qing’e’s golden gaze, she nervously nodded. She no longer displayed any of the earlier confidence and arrogance that she had shown before Li Luo.
After speaking, Jiang Qing’e turned and entered the carriage alongside Li Luo, her blue cape flapping slightly. Moments later, the lionhorse let out a long bellow before it carried them away through the mist.
As for Difa Qing, she just stood there and watched the carriage depart. A long while later, she finally rubbed her eyes, an intoxicated look on her face.
“Elder sister Jiang… she’s SO COOL! I absolutely ADOOOORE her!”