Book 1 Chapter 64: Green Willow School
In a small hall which was simply furnished but had an air of elegance and comfort about it,
Bai Yunfei and Qiu Luliu were sitting opposite each other on the left and the right respectively. Bai Yunfei was holding a teacup in his hand, carefully listening to her introduction to the Green Willow School and the situation in the entire Cuiliu City.
“Right, Luliu, do you know if there are forces subordinate to the Glacial School in this Cuiliu City?” Bai Yunfei suddenly thought of one thing and asked.
“Oh? Why do you ask this question?” Qiu Luliu was stupefied for a short while then immediately reacted, “Are you worried that… Zhang Zhenshan will employ the Glacial School’s forces to search for you?”
Bai Yunfei nodded.
“Ha ha, you need not worry about this.” Qiu Luliu laughed softly, “If this was a different place, I wouldn’t dare to guarantee anything, but in this Cuiliu City, the Glacial School definitely won’t dare to run wild. This place is the location of my Green Willow School’s headquarters, how can my school let them cause trouble?”
Bai Yunfei pondered with his head lowered for a while then continued to ask: “For the last two days I’ve always felt that there seems to be something wrong, but I haven’t detected anything. That Glacial School… If they already know that I’m here, but they don’t dare to cause trouble in the city, then I’m afraid when I leave Cuiliu City, I’ll be ambushed by them. Only, I’m not sure if they have found me by now or not…”
“I see…” Qiu Luliu’s face showed a trace of solemnity. After thinking for a bit, she said, “According to my knowledge, there’s no forces of the Glacial School in the city. But there seems to be some connection between that Long family and the Glacial School…”
“What? The Long family?!” Bai Yunfei asked in surprise, his expression changing.
“Oh? Could it be you know about that Long family?” Qiu Luliu asked doubtfully, having not expected such a reaction from him.
“The day before yesterday I had a conflict with the two young masters of the Long family. They…” Bai Yunfei casually said a few words but then he stopped all of a sudden. Seeming to remember something, he frowned slightly and began to ponder with his head lowered.
Seeing him like that, Qiu Luliu did not disturb him again. She sat quietly on one side sipping her tea.
“Master, brother Yunfei is inside…” Chu Yuhe’s lovely voice came in from outside. She had gone to invite her master to come here earlier. Now they should be arriving together.
Sure enough, when her voice had just faded away, two people appeared at the door. One of them was a middle-aged woman with an elegant posture and at the same time an air of majesty about her. She walked into the room accompanied by Chu Yuhe.
Actually it was somewhat inappropriate to refer to her as a middle-aged woman because even though she had a plump, mature figure, she appeared to be very young. Judging from her appearance alone, she definitely could not be older than thirty years of age — this was none other than the Green Willow School’s headmaster, Mu Wanqing.
“Master.” Seeing the visitors, Qiu Luliu stood up and saluted at once.
The moment Chu Yuhe’s voice rang out, Bai Yunfei woke up from his contemplation. Now he also stool up. Although he was a little surprised because the person called ‘master’ by Qiu Luliu was so young, this lasted only for a moment. He also saluted, saying: “I am Bai Yunfei. It is an honor to meet you, senior.”
Mu Wanqing smiled at the two of them then said to Bai Yunfei: “There’s no need to stand on ceremony, young hero Bai. Let’s all sit down. Don’t be too formal.”
After everybody sat down, Mu Wanqing observed Bai Yunfei carefully for a good few seconds then said with smiling eyes: “Young hero Bai, I really wanted to thank you in person for having saved Yuhe in the past, therefore this time I took the liberty of inviting you to my school as a guest. I hope you don’t take offense at this.”
The fact that she, a school’s headmaster and a Soul Ancestor, had such a polite attitude towards himself made Bai Yunfei feel somewhat uncomfortable. He shook his hand gently, saying: “Please don’t stand on ceremony, headmaster. I’m not worthy of it. There was already a feud between Zhang Yang and me so at the time I merely saved Yuhe by accident. You don’t need to thank me anymore…”
“Oh, since young hero Bai is so modest, I won’t mention this again either.” Mu Wanqing paused for a bit then continued: “As for the Glacial School, you don’t have to be worried about it when you’re in this Cuiliu City. If they dare to cause trouble in the city, my Green Willow School won’t sit by and watch.”
Bai Yunfei was happy inside because she had said clearly that she would help him. Although he did not know why she was so enthusiastic, having a ‘backer’ was always a good thing.
“Oh, thank you very much for your help, headmaster. I plan to leave this Qingyun Province tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. When I have arrived in Beiyan Province, as long as I’m careful with my actions, I think the Glacial School won’t be able to do anything to me.”
“Oh? You’re about to leave so soon? Um… Young people aspire to travel far and make their mark. Young hero Bai was lucky to be taught by a senior from the Fate School so you indeed shouldn’t limit yourself to such a small place as Qingyun Province. You should go out and try to make a name for yourself.”
Her sudden mention of the Fate School slightly stupefied Bai Yunfei. He cast a look at Qiu Luliu on one side then said modestly: “You flatter me, senior. I just want to go experience the outside world a bit. As for me being taught by senior Ge Yiyun from the Fate School, this was indeed a piece of luck.”
Hearing the words ‘Ge Yiyun’ from Bai Yunfei, Mu Wanqing slightly raised her beautiful eyebrows, but they immediately returned to normal. She took a look at Chu Yuhe on one side, seeming to think of something, and said: “Right, young hero Bai, what do you think about this little girl Yuhe?”
“Oh?” Bai Yunfei was stupefied, somewhat unable to keep up with her sudden change of topics. Only after being stunned for a long time did he say somewhat doubtfully: “Yuhe… is very good. I heard from Luliu that she’s well-behaved and sensible and got quite a lot of talent for cultivation…”
“Then… are you willing to accept her as your sworn younger sister, young hero Bai?” Mu Wanqing nodded smilingly then said a line that astounded the other three people at the scene.
Bai Yunfei felt that his thinking really could not keep up with this senior’s thought speed. Temporarily he was stupefied and had no reaction. Mu Wanqing frowned slightly: “What’s wrong, young hero Bai? Could it be you think that Yuhe doesn’t deserve to become your younger sister?”
“Ah? No, no, that’s not what I mean. Miss Yuhe is smart and lovely. How can I…”
“Oh, so this means you agree to this?” Mu Wanqing narrowed her eyes slightly, showing a smiling expression, “Then that settles it. From now on the two of you will be brother and younger sister. This way Yuhe won’t feel guilty all the time about being unable to repay you for saving her life.”
“Yuhe, are you willing to accept young hero Bai as your brother?” Mu Wanqing turned to Chu Yuhe and asked kindly.
In the beginning, when Chu Yuhe heard Mu Wanqing mention her, she had a somewhat confused expression. Then, when she heard her master ask Bai Yunfei about his view on her, her face slightly reddened. Afterwards, when she heard her master tell Bai Yunfei to accept her as a sworn younger sister, her face was full of amazement, but she did not dare to cut in. Now, hearing Mu Wanqing’s question, she was slightly stupefied then said in a low voice: “Of course, of course I’m willing. I’m also very happy to have brother Yunfei as my sworn brother.”
“Oh, that’s good. From now on, young hero Bai is your brother. You have to respect your sworn brother, do you understand?” Mu Wanqing nodded in a satisfied manner and said smilingly.
“Yes, I will remember this…”
……
Just like that, Bai Yunfei got a nominal younger sister in a puzzling manner.
Looking at Chu Yuhe, who now had slightly red cheeks and a happy expression, Mu Wanqing secretly let out a sigh of relief.
It had to be said that it actually took Mu Wanqing a lot of effort to come up with this ‘sudden’ suggestion. Right after knowing that Bai Yunfei had saved Chu Yuhe, she had already noticed that Chu Yuhe had a vague love for him. Only, the little girl had seemed to still be ignorant of it. Therefore, Mu Wanqing took this opportunity to turn her just-budding love into an admiration for a brother. All it took was a couple of advices for Chu Yuhe. Mu Wanqing had achieved her goal. Now the little girl had already listened to her master’s words, regarding Bai Yunfei as an older brother…
Mu Wanqing wanted to facilitate a love between the two of them as well, especially when knowing just now that there was some connection between Bai Yunfei and Ge Yiyun. At the time she could not restrain her heart from palpitating with eagerness because a junior highly regarded by Ge Yiyun would definitely have outstanding achievements in the future, and if she could build a good relationship with him, this would absolutely benefit the Green Willow School. However, she could also tell that Bai Yunfei did not have that kind of feeling towards Chu Yuhe, therefore, in order to spare her little disciple future grief, she had no choice but to manipulate them into becoming sworn brother and younger sister in such a puzzling way.
Seeing that the other three people present were still somewhat bewildered, looking thoughtful, Mu Wanqing laughed softly and said said to Bai Yunfei: “Right, young hero Bai, in this Cuiliu City you…”
“Headmaster, a guest has come to pay a visit!” Before she could finish what she was saying, a reporting voice coming in from outside the door interrupted her.
Mu Wanqing frowned slightly and looked outside the door at that reporting disciple, asking: “Who is that? Take them into the side hall on the west wing first. I’ll come over in a while.”
“Headmaster, this is senior You Qingfeng from the Wood School.” The disciple outside the door hesitated for a while then still said again in warning.
After Mu Wanqing heard these words, her originally indifferent face suddenly froze for a moment then showed a happy expression. Although it was suppressed by her immediately, that fleeing hint of a girlish smile still captivated Bai Yunfei for a bit when he saw it.
“Young hero Bai, you should have a chat with Qiu Luliu and Chu Yuhe. I think the three of you must have many things to talk about. After that you can let them take you on a stroll in my school…” Mu Wanqing stood up said to Bai Yunfei with a smile.
He nodded: “Oh, that’s fine. Please feel free to go and receive your guest. There’s no need to care about me.”
Only after Mu Wanqing had left did Bai Yunfei ask Qiu Luliu somewhat doubtfully: “Who is this person called You Qingfeng…?”
“Senior You Qingfeng is an outstanding disciple of the Wood School in the Five Elements Schools. As a late Soul Ancestor, he’s even more formidable than my master!” Qiu Luliu explained then looked outside the door quietly, seeming to confirm that her master had really gone far away. Afterwards, she said in a lowered voice, “He’s my master’s cousin! If not for my master’s inability to let go of the Green Willow School, she would’ve probably gone with him to the Wood School. They…”
At this point, seeming to suddenly react to something, she immediately sat upright and said with a straight face: “As juniors, we can’t discuss our seniors’ affairs.”
But that expression was obviously telling Bai Yunfei that: “You get the picture…”