Chapter 094: Blue Moonlight (Twenty-three)
The old butler coughed lightly, and when Chen Yunli and Luo Qifang looked over, he bowed and said, "Young Master, the head of the family is already waiting for you in the study."
"Yes." Luo Qifang nodded coldly. "How do I get to the study?"
After these words were spoken, not only the attendants headed by Old Xu, but even Chen Yunli raised his eyebrows in surprise and wonder.
Ten years away from home, for ordinary people, it seems like a lot of changes have happened, but for practitioners, it is just a blink of an eye, so they will not forget even the layout of their home completely.
Is he deliberately doing this to separate himself from the Luo family?
After a brief moment of surprise, Old Xu regained his composure. "The Luo residence has undergone several renovations, so it's normal for the young master to be unfamiliar with the route. I will take him to the study. Everyone else, please disperse. I'll leave two of you to entertain this young master."
"Take him to my yard."
"……yes."
Two attendants approached Chen Yunli and gestured "please." Chen Yunli looked at Luo Qifang and, seeing him nod, set out in the opposite direction.
Luo Qifang exhaled lightly: "Let's go."
The road leading to the study was very long because the Luo residence was so huge, but Luo Qifang had something on her mind, so she didn't mind and even thought it was too short.
There were still five steps in front of the study, but they looked more mottled than before he left. The moss was dark green, making the emerald green bamboos beside it look old.
Luo Qifang stepped over the threshold and saw her father's back.
The current head of the Luo family, Luo Pingjing, has a very scholarly temperament, and his figure and appearance are both weak and delicate, so that people who are familiar with him often forget that he is also a cultivator who has passed the second tribulation in the Three Tribulations Realm.
He stood in front of a display stand on which hung a life-length scroll. The woman in the painting was gentle and quiet, and her eyes met his.
Luo Qifang's gaze lingered on the painting for a long time before she was brought back to her senses by the sound of a bird chirping outside the window. She straightened her clothes and bowed solemnly to the person in front of her: "Father."
"I thought you were only concerned with cultivation, but I didn't expect you to come home to attend your brother's wedding." Luo Pingjing slowly turned around, his light gray eyes deep and peaceful. "I remember that you weren't close to anyone in your family."
Luo Qifang straightened up. "That's true. But we're blood relatives after all, and as the elder brother, I should come. But if someone doesn't welcome me, I can just turn around and leave."
"You are blaming me." Luo Pingjing said.
These four words sound simple, but behind them lies a huge gap between father and son.
"Father, I don't blame you." Luo Qifang shook his head. He stared at the woman in the painting for a long time. Their eyebrows and eyes were very similar. "I just love mother more."
Luo Pingjing sighed: "Forget it. How long will you stay this time when you return home?"
"I'll leave after the wedding." Luo Qifang said, "I don't like staying at home. Besides, traveling abroad will be more beneficial to my cultivation."
"I understand." Luo Pingjing nodded, not trying to keep him for a few more days. After all, he knew in his heart that the success rate of this matter was very slim. "It's a rare opportunity for you to go home, and you're coming back for a place to stay. Go meet him. He has always... admired you as his brother."
"Yes. I'll take my leave."
Luo Qifang bowed and retreated, without staying for a second. She turned around and strode out of the kitchen. Before leaving, she only took a last look at her mother's portrait.
He really did not blame his father for remarrying, and he even respected his gentle yet decisive stepmother very much. However, he could not forgive the fact that his father remarried before his mother was 49 days old, claiming family needs, and concealed his mother's existence.
A father who is unkind to his son will also be unkind to his father. This is the law of cause and effect.
Luo Qifang turned around the corridor and saw the garden in front of her. Her younger brother Luo Qingsu, whom she hadn't seen for ten years, was sitting among the flowers. She was not surprised to see him.
"Brother." Luo Qingsu waved at him, "We brothers haven't seen each other for a long time. Brother, please sit down and have a cup of tea I made."
Luo Qifang suppressed the past memories that suddenly came to her mind, walked over and sat down with a smile.
He took the teacup handed to him by Luo Qingsu: "The wedding is coming soon, are all the preparations ready?"
"Of course." Luo Qingsu looked like his father, not nearly as handsome as Luo Qifang, but more approachable. "Mother takes care of everything. I, the groom, am just like the bride-to-be. All I have to do is wait for the wedding."
Speaking of this, Luo Qifang suddenly asked seriously, "Qingsu, is your marriage with Miss Xu a matter of mutual consent and affection... or is it due to family needs?"
The Xu family is an emerging family in Meiye City. There are several talented children in the family, and Miss Xu’s brother is one of them.
Originally, the Xu family was far from being able to match the Luo family in terms of status, but Miss Xu's brother was so famous as the number one genius in Meiye City that Luo Qifang heard all about his experiences from the gossip of people on the streets as soon as she came back.
At the age of nineteen, he was at the Third Tribulation Realm, and his cultivation speed was comparable to Luo Qifang.
"Both." Luo Qingsu's fingers slowly stroked the teacup in his palm. "Miss Xu has a naive personality and is simple-minded, but very smart. Mother likes her very much, and I don't dislike her either. Her brother will surely be a great talent in the future. If we can form an in-law relationship, it will also be a good thing for the Luo family."
"That means you don't like each other."
Luo Qifang took a sip of tea, feeling somewhat suffocated. She didn't know why, so she spoke in a rather aggressive tone, "Have you ever considered that if you marry Miss Xu today and meet someone you truly love in the future, what will you do? Divorce her? Divorce her? Or take a concubine?"
"Brother, that day won't come. I won't let myself be tempted by anyone." Luo Qingsu shook his head. His expression was one of resignation, a calmness that every obedient son of aristocratic family would have. "If such a person really appears... don't worry, there will be plenty of people to wake me up."
"I'm not..." means this.
Luo Qifang was making preparations for Luo Qingsu, Miss Xu, and the lovers they might meet in the future, but Luo Qingsu was still thinking about his family and how to control his emotions. He was like a thinking, docile puppet.
He felt a chill in his heart, but at the same time, he was inexplicably glad that he had left home early and was not influenced by his father to this extent.
He couldn't imagine himself selling out his marriage for the sake of his family's honor. The only thing he could think of that could affect his family's honor was his own strength. As long as he was strong enough, he could roam freely around the world and allow the Luo family to develop.
It was not until Luo Qifang remembered that there was only one person with his talent in the Luo family that she instantly understood her brother and felt a deeper sorrow.
Luo Qingsu met his brother's slightly painful gaze and suddenly smiled. A bit of human flesh and blood suddenly emerged from the puppet that obeyed the family's arrangements. He asked him gently, "Brother, do you have a Taoist partner?"
Luo Qifang was stunned.
He said slowly, "As far as I know, only those who have a happy relationship of their own would be particularly concerned about the emotional problems of others. At least you already have a lover, right?"
Luo Qifang was dumbfounded for a moment, and soon became at a loss, as if someone had hit the nail on the head.
But in fact, he was just shocked and embarrassed, because when Luo Qingsu mentioned the word "sweetheart", the figure of Chen Yunli flashed through his mind at the first time.
"I..." He tried to deny it, but was speechless.
Seeing this, Luo Qingsu sighed slightly, with a hint of envy in his eyes: "Brother, I have no choice, but you don't have to be trapped in the Luo family, you can do whatever you want. If you really meet someone you like..."
He reached out and patted Luo Qifang on the shoulder: "I hope you get what you want."
Luo Qifang blinked, confused and upset at the same time. Luo Qingsu's pat seemed to hand him the clue to the solution.
Reason told him that it would be better not to fool himself on this issue.
…
Chen Yunli walked around Luo Qifang's yard. It was a beautiful but boring yard, with the exquisite dullness unique to aristocratic families, which was completely inconsistent with Luo Qifang's temperament.
If we put him in there upright when he was living in Donghai, it would be as abrupt as putting a cyberpunk bionic man into an ancient world.
From this point, we can vaguely see why Luo Qifang dislikes the Luo family.
He felt completely out of place here, and others seemed to be from a different world from him.
Chen Yunli sat at the stone table in front of the courtyard, one hand supporting his chin, the other hand pressing a teacup and rolling it back and forth, muttering, "When will Luo Qifang come back? I'm so bored..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard the gate behind him open. He turned around quickly and saw Luo Qifang walking in with empty eyes, as if sleepwalking.
"Luo..."
Chen Yunli was about to call him, but he passed by him as if he didn't notice Chen Yunli at all. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he floated past like a ghost.
“……?”
No, did he go to see his father or go to the underworld? How could a good person become like this?
Chen Yunli stood in front of Luo Qifang, pressed down on his shoulders and shook him hard: "Luo Qifang! What happened?"
Luo Qifang staggered and shuddered all over, as if she was not awakened by him, but was struck by lightning.
Chen Yunli even saw fear in his eyes - so what exactly did his father do to him?
Chen Yunli became increasingly worried: "Luo Qifang, are you okay? Is your soul still in your body?"
“…”
Luo Qifang let out a long breath and looked at him, hesitant to speak. As the silence prolonged, a blush quietly appeared behind her ears, climbing up her cheeks and crawling towards her neck.
Seeing him blushing inexplicably, Chen Yunli, who appeared to have rich emotional experience on paper, realized something. She retracted her hand on his shoulder, opened her mouth, and didn't know how to react for a moment.
"Uh...you...I..."
Luo Qifang was stunned by Chen Yunli's efforts to organize his words, and blurted out, "You figured it out, didn't you?"
"……ah?"
Chen Yunli thought he had gotten used to this man's unconventional ways of playing cards, but he didn't expect that he would still be defeated by his more advanced and unique ideas.
Of course he could hear the implication of "seeing it", but if Luo Qifang didn't say it, how should he answer?
Chen Yunli was helpless. He took a few steps back and stood on the steps, his hands on his shoulders and his face stern. "What did you see?"
He felt like the principal who was catching young couples on campus, because Luo Qifang's reaction of shrinking her neck was exactly like that of a young couple being caught.
Fortunately, he didn't need to give her much guidance. Luo Qifang quickly got rid of her naive state, scratched her temples, sighed first, and then smiled.
"You must have noticed." Luo Qifang narrowed her eyes, her already beautiful face becoming even more dazzling. "Even before I realized it, you really liked me, didn't you?"
Chen Yunli: “…”
"No, I didn't." Chen Yunli's expression became even more serious. "If I knew, why would I have no reaction? Don't slander my innocence out of thin air."
...In fact, he did notice some clues, but Luo Qifang was always confused and he couldn't confirm it, so he could only pretend not to know.
But he didn't want to admit it.
Hearing this, Luo Qifang didn't feel uncomfortable at all. She walked forward with a smile and forced Chen Yunli to retreat again until they reached the door.
Luo Qifang's heart is as clear as a mirror. He is not stupid and does not like to be shy. The dazed look he showed as he walked all the way from the garden was because he was thinking - thinking about the meaning of sweetheart, thinking about his feelings for Chen Yunli, and thinking about the different reactions to love and not love in many things.
He is a very open and free person, and is nice to everyone. Therefore, he often blurs the boundaries of emotions and rarely thinks about whether his care for someone is due to more special reasons.
If Luo Qingsu had not pointed it out today, he would have been blinded by it for a long time. Perhaps he would have to wait until Chen Yunli fell in love with someone else and the situation became irreversible before he would have come to his senses. But by then it would have been too late.
As soon as he understood his feelings, he, with his strong associative ability, immediately recalled the look in Chen Yunli's eyes at certain times when he looked at him. The surprise, suspicion, and understanding all pointed to one guess, that is, Chen Yunli had once thought about whether he liked him because he was so nice to him.
But because Luo Qifang herself was completely unaware, he didn't ask and just kept confusing himself.
Luo Qifang thought about it and looked into Chen Yunli's eyes. He turned his eyes away as if nothing had happened, looking at the sky and the earth but not at her.
So he stopped asking this really meaningless question and said with a smile, "What do you think of me?"
"Hmm?" Chen Yunli tilted his head in confusion.
Luo Qifang leaned closer, a pure and bright light in her eyes: "Am I qualified to be your Taoist partner?"
"...Luo Qifang, could you be a little more tactful?"
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