Chapter 207: Everywhere

Wanqi Jue had never been a master at controlling his expressions. Compared to the meager fare that Chinese girls were, he much preferred the young foreign girls with bigger busts and butts. More importantly, he had always felt that he was someone who put more emphasis on what was on the inside. Otherwise, why would he like Fu Xuejun?

However at this second, he felt that he had been wrong about himself all this while.

There really were such beautiful people in the world who could let you forget to breathe.

But those cold, clear pairs of sparkling eyes, peach-colored lips, and flawless skin that had not a single trace of makeup on it, it was a kind of radiance that was indescribable.

More importantly, she looked a bit familiar.

“Great god, you’ve already been playing this for nearly an hour.” He saw her pull out a phone, handing it to the kid next to her.

Hua Youlin’s eyes widened when he saw the time on Gu Xiqiao’s phone, and he blinked before pointing to Wanqi Jue who stood beside him. “Sister Gu, I only played for two minutes. The rest of the time, he was playing!”

Those eyes turned to him, a cold glint flashing in them.

Wanqi Jue immediately pushed away those crazy thoughts in his mind, and also ignored Hua Youlin’s nonsense. He straightened up, displaying his most graceful attitude as he stretched out his left hand. “Hello, I’m Wanqi Jue.”

“Hello.” Gu Xiqiao nodded her head, and finally said, “Thank you.”

Then she took Hua Youlin out of the place. “Your Sister Xu has been waiting for you at the restaurant.”

“Wait, Sister Gu! Teach me how to clear that stage first!” Hua Youlin grabbed Gu Xiqiao’s sleeves, looking back at the game console with reluctance in his eyes. This was the first time he had entered an arcade, and everything inside was a novelty to him.

Gu Xiqiao rubbed his head gently, a warm smile on her face. “Don’t dream about it darling, you won’t be able to learn it even if you tried.” Being a klutz was something that you were born with after all.

Hua Youlin: “…” You will lose me if you continue to be like this.

Wanqi Jue watched the two people leave, and lowered his hand. He didn’t feel the least bit annoyed or ignored. The ‘thank you’ that she said kept echoing in his mind, and he couldn’t help but think. Was she thanking him for accompanying the kid? Or something else?

He somehow felt that she was not thanking him for the former, then he recalled the group of teenagers when he first came in. Was it because of that then?

But that was impossible, how could she have known? Wanqi Jue shook his head, walking out of the arcade with long strides and into his car.

He didn’t ask for their names, and just brushed it off as a chance meeting.

The first impression that China left on him was that it was beautiful.

After this incident, his irritable mood instantly became sunny.

***

Xu Jing took Gu Xiqiao to roam the shopping mall just now, and because Hua Youlin didn’t want to go shopping with them, he quietly went downstairs to the arcade city to wait for them. When he arrived at the restaurant and saw the big piles of bags on the chair, he felt that he had made a very wise decision.

The three of them had their meal while chatting excitedly. As they came out of the restaurant, they bumped into a group of people who were coming up, with Fu Xuejun in the lead.

After Fu Xuejun had followed Fu Wei, she had learned quite a bit of people skills from him. In the afternoon, she had gathered a few people from class to have a meal, and also presented them with a few VIP cards. In just a single day, she had won over quite a few people.

At night, she had brought them to the famous Royal Hotel on this side of China, and also reserved a large private room. She was spending money like running water.

“Miss Fu, what does your family do?” These people have changed the way they called her from ‘Student Fu’ to ‘Miss Fu’. They naturally had an inexplicable fear for the rich and powerful after all.

Fu Xuejun smiled lightly. “Our family business is in England, but we will move the main base back to the capital soon.”

“An aristocrat of England!” Someone exclaimed immediately.

“Not really, it’s just a small business.” The more she said that, the more humble her classmates felt she was. Judging from her mannerisms and speech, she wasn’t just anybody ordinary. She was most likely from a long line of influential families.

“Do you know what Luo Wenlang does outside?” Fu Xuejun asked suddenly. “I invited him out this afternoon, but he said he was busy. It can’t be that he’s attending classes, right?”

“Actually, we don’t really know. Our Student God is always missing in action. Even the dean has a hard time contacting him.” A male student scratched his head. “But since he took a large number of high-achieving students from our department, he should be starting a business.”

Fu Xuejun nodded her head thoughtfully, that made sense.

From what she had managed to inquire, she knew that Luo Wenlang was an orphan. He was leading a business now, and it should be difficult at this age, right? Fu Xuejun thought about Fu Wei who was moving the main business to the Imperial Capital, and the fact that he would be short on talents. If they could draw Luo Wenlang over to the Fu family, it would achieve the results of hitting a few birds with one stone.

Mulling over this plan in her head, she looked up to see a familiar face.

She smiled and greeted Gu XIqiao, and the other nodded back. Since the two weren’t close to begin with, they didn’t talk much.

Gu Xiqiao left the place first.

“Miss Fu, so you know Beauty Gu too!” A girl beside her exclaimed, her eyes shining. “So it’s true that influential people will know each other!”

The topic then shifted from her to Gu Xiqiao in an instant, and Fu Xuejun frowned on the inside, not wanting to talk about the other. “Miss Gu also lives in the neighborhood near the university. I bumped into her this morning.”

She didn’t know how expensive the school district in the Imperial Capital was, but no matter the price, it should be something that Gu Xiqiao couldn’t afford at this time.

Especially that small community that they lived in. The people who lived there were either rich or extremely influential, so the only explanation was the house was not hers.

Just this morning she had passed Gu Xiqiao off as someone who was insignificant and not affecting her, in just a short span of time, she discovered that the other probably had abilities that were far beyond her own.

Or it was likely that the other had come to the Imperial Capital in order to return to their family.

Thinking about it, Fu Xuejun’s eyes darkened. She needed to consider this matter a bit more deeply.

***

A University wasn’t far from where they were, and they only walked for a few minutes before they reached the gates of the university.

“Beauty Gu, just send me off here is enough.” Xu Jing passed a few bags that she was holding to Gu Xiqiao. She had already seen the tall figure not far away, and she covered her mouth, hiding a wide smile. “I’m rushing to deal with two press releases after this.”

Gu Xiqiao watched Xu Jing disappear from her sight, and then turned around to find her hands feeling lighter, as a few bags had been taken by Jiang Shuxuan.

“Is your phone out of power?” Jiang Shuxuan asked.

“Don’t know, it’s with Little Huazi.” Gu Xiqiao turned around to glance at Hua Youlin, who was a few steps behind them, and he was still playing a game on her phone. “Did you call me?”

Jiang Shuxuan pursed his lips as he gave Hua Youlin a glance. “Aunt Tang called you, but you didn’t pick up.”

Tang Yanling? It’s been quite a while since she last saw her, and since she had met a few unpleasant people, when he mentioned Tang Yanling, Gu Xiqiao’s face brightened up. “Mama Tang is back?”

Her eyes were sparkling like the stars in the night sky, and his dejected mood of being ignored the whole day was instantly washed away. Jiang Suxuan gave her a small smile, his cold expression immediately warming up as he replied in a low voice, “Aunt is meeting a friend now, she’ll be over at night.”

It was fortunate that he had prepared several more rooms when he was preparing their accommodation, it seems that Tang Yanling would be staying for a while.

Although he was resentful that there would be one more person to take her attention away from him, it was rare to see her so happy. When he had first received the call from Tang Yanling, he was still thinking about whether he should assign something for the Tang family to do, so that Tang Yanling and Yin Shaoyuan would have to stay a few more days in the ancient martial arts world. ‘Ah, forget it then,’ Jiang Shuxuan thought to himself.

***

At the same time, in a coffee shop.

“Mom, why haven’t I heard that you have friends in the capital before?” Yin Shaoyuan narrowed his eyes as he drank his cup of coffee. He leaned back on the chair, not bothered about his image at the moment.

Tang Yanling gave him a disapproving look. “Then have you heard that I was still part of the Tang family?”

Yin Shaoyuan: “…” You are right. “Qiao Qiao’s not coming, and since I don’t know your friends, can I go find mine? I’m talking about Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen!”

Thinking of Wu Hongwen’s refusal to enter the ancient martial arts world, Yin Shaoyuan still didn’t understand the other. He looked at the address that Wu Hongwen had sent to him, and he couldn’t restrain his curiosity.

He always felt that Gu Xiqiao was planning something big, and with Wu Hongwen’s character, he would never deny him.

“Go on then.” Tang Yanling never expected Yin Shaoyuan to follow her obediently all the time, and waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t lose the gift that I bought for Qiao Qiao!”

“I know!” Yin Shaoyuan thought about the car that was filled to the brim with gifts. There were clothes that Tang Yanling had picked out herself, a pile of medicinal materials that she had collected from various places, each one of them was carefully prepared. Compared to Gu Xiqiao, he felt like he was the child that had been picked up from the streets.

Tang Yanling waited in the same place for another five minutes, before the person she was waiting for finally turned up.

The person was wearing a purple cheongsam, and a coat with a similar color to match. The years didn’t seem to leave a single mark on her flawless face, and it remained bright and youthful.

Tang Yanling stood up, looking at her steadily. “Wenxi.”

“I never expected to see you again.” Baili Wenxi looked at Tang Yanling in surprise. It had been twenty years. “You’re still the same.”

There weren’t any wrinkles on Tang Yanling’s face, and there was a healthy flush on her cheeks. She didn’t look like a woman who was almost fifty years old.

The two chatted for a while, the estrangement from not meeting for a long time slowly fading away.

“You too. Have a seat.” Tang Yanling stirred her coffee with a spoon, and suddenly said, “I heard you have a daughter, why didn’t you bring her along?”

Baili Wenxi paused in picking up her coffee at Tang Yanling’s words. “She’s having dinner with her classmates. She should be done about now, I’ll ask her to drop by on her way back.”

“That’s nice, I can meet her.”

Though her mouth said this, Tang Yanling was sending a WeChat message to Gu Xiqiao: Yu Shiguang Cafe, come and pick me up in twenty minutes! Shaoyuan has driven the car away!

She had also used exclamation marks to emphasize the point, thinking that Gu Xiqiao wouldn’t ignore it.

Then, recalling that she couldn’t connect to Gu Xiqiao’s phone previously, she sent the exact same message to Jiang Shuxuan. After ensuring that that was done, she lifted her head to speak, “Wenxi, do you remember N City?”

“N City? Of course I do. When you got married in N City, I sneaked out of the ancient martial arts world.” A flash of nostalgia appeared on Baili Wenxi’s face as she recalled the memories.

The look really wasn’t the Baili Wenxi that Tang Yanling knew, and her heart sank. She really had forgotten. Tang Yanling didn’t know exactly what had happened that year, only that something had happened in the Baili family. At that time, she was also butting heads with the Tang family.

Neither of them had the time to care for the other.

It was only a few days ago when Jiang Shuxuan revealed the truth to her that she finally knew.

She couldn’t believe it initially, she had thought that Gu Xiqiao was just coincidentally similar in appearance to Baili Wenxi, but now it didn’t seem like it was a coincidence after all.

But Baili Wenxi had forgotten, how could she forget such an important matter?

Tang Yanling lowered her eyes, her mood plummeting at the thought.

The two continued to chat for twenty minutes before Baili Wenxi’s phone rang, and a smile appeared on her face. “My daughter is here.”

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“I’ve been looking forward to this.” Tang Yanling placed the cup in her hand down, and followed her out.

Fu Xuejun looked like she had rushed over and had called her mother, and Baili Wenxi had asked her to wait at the intersection.

There was nothing to it in the beginning, but then she caught sight of Gu Xiqiao!

Why did this person pop up everywhere? Fu Xuejun couldn’t help but wonder if the other party deliberately wanted to show up in front of her mommy? Thinking about it, she felt sick to her gut, like she had swallowed a fly.

“Miss Gu, why are you here?” She stepped forward in her high heels and stood in front of Gu Xiqiao, though even with her heels she was only as tall as the latter. After scanning the surroundings with and not seeing the chilling figure, Fu Xuejun felt her heart calm a lot.

Gu Xiqiao put away her phone, and was slightly startled at the appearance of the other girl. She stared at Fu Xuejun, thinking to herself, it couldn’t be that she thought Gu Xiqiao was following her, right?

“Looking for somebody,” She replied, and then she leaned back against the streetlight to play her games, acting as though there was nobody in front of her.

Looking for somebody?

Fu Xuejun immediately thought of her mother, but she couldn’t say anything about her guess, and could only hold back the words as she walked forward a few steps. Just then, Baili Wenxi appeared with another woman beside her.

“Mommy!”

Seeing Fu Xuejun, a warm smile spread on Baili Wenxi’s face. “Jun’er, this is your Aunt Tang, hurry and greet her.”

Baili Wenxi rarely spoke to her in such a serious tone, and although she was rarely in China, it was natural that she knew about the three major families in the ancient martial arts world, namely Jiang, Tang and Murong. The person in front of her held the surname Tang, so Fu Xuejun recognized that she wasn’t any commoner and was more respectful, “Hello, Aunt Tang.”

Compared to the Tang family, the Baili and Fu family really were nothing.

She didn’t expect her mother to know such a person, and she was a little dazed at the revelation.

The three major families in the ancient martial arts world, internationally speaking, they were all ranked at the top.

“Your daughter is very good, completely unlike that unruly boy of mine.” Tang Yanling said, taking out a gift as she spoke. She had already prepared a gift for Fu Xuejun early on, a customized diamond.

Baili Wenxi smiled. “A moon eye stone. Jun’er, hurry and thank your Aunt Tang. This is a priceless treasure in the market.”

Seeing Tang Yanling’s indifferent expression in the beginning, Fu Xuejun couldn’t tell if the other liked her much, and she was a little doubtful.

But hearing Baili Wenxi’s words, Fu Xuejun’s eyes lit up.

If those were priceless diamonds in the market, then she must hold some significance in Tang Yanling’s heart.

And it wasn’t a small place either, and her lips curved up slightly.

If only she knew, the gift that Tang Yanling gave her was among one of the things that the older woman had prepared for Gu Xiqiao. Yin Shaoyuan had felt that the diamond didn’t match Gu Xiqiao’s temperament in the end, and so Tang Yanling removed it from the pile of gifts for Gu Xiqiao. She added a few pieces of jade in it instead. Since she happened to meet Fu Xuejun tonight, she gave the gift to her since she had it on hand.

Completely just an afterthought.

“It just happens that my daughter is also here.” Tang Yanling saw the girl leaning against the street lamp not far from here, and her face brightened up with joy as she called out, “Qiao Qiao, come here!”

The figure seemed to be startled for a moment, before making her way over obediently.

Her figure was calm and unobtrusive, the surroundings around her seem to melt away underneath the street light.

Tang Yanling loved this aspect of hers.

Having not seen her for a while, she embraced Gu Xiqiao with enthusiasm, going on about how she must have lost weight again. After a moment, she realized that she was still in public, and so she swallowed the other words that she wanted to say. She straightened up, adopting her usual noble persona and gently touched Gu Xiqiao’s head. “Wenxi, this is my daughter. Qiao Qiao, greet your Aunt Baili.”

The latter part of her sentence was naturally aimed at Gu Xiqiao.

Baili Wenxi wanted to ask Tang Yanling didn’t she just have a son, how come a daughter came out of nowhere suddenly?

Until she caught sight of Gu Xiqiao’s face, and she was stunned once again, forgetting what she wanted to say.

Ever since she met Gu Xiqiao in the morning, she had been in a trance the entire day. She didn’t expect to meet her again so soon.

Seeing the polite expression on the child’s face, and a demure greeting, “Aunt Baili.” She didn’t know why her heart melted suddenly. Baili Wenxi couldn’t explain the feelings inside, and she resisted the urge to reach out to rub the top of the child’s head too.

Just looking at the obvious distance in her eyes, Baili Wenxi felt a stab of pain go through her heart. She kept her hands down determinedly.

Raising her head properly, a calm and still expression was on her face as she next spoke, “Yanling, this is?” She obviously didn’t believe the nonsense that Tang Yanling had spoken.

The girl in front her definitely wasn’t Tang Yanling’s daughter.

This was what her intuition was telling her.

“This is my goddaughter that my son found for me.” Tan Yanling’s face held a flash of triumph as she boasted. “Although he usually doesn’t have much tact, he finally managed to do something that fully satisfies me!”

“Your name is Qiao Qiao, right?” Baili Wenxi finally brought herself to look at Gu Xiqiao’s eyes, and from the corner of her own eyes, she caught sight of a transparent-like jade bangle on her wrist, and her expression froze.

She was well aware that that jade bracelet belonged to the Tang family, and it was one of the treasures in the ancient martial arts world.

Tang Yanling had given it to her, just like that?

Even for Baili Wenxi, this was an extremely shocking matter.

Facing an older person, as well as being Tang Yanling’s friend, Gu Xiqiao was very polite, but distant at the same time. “Yes, Aunt Baili.”

Feeling Gu Xiqiao’s alienated attitude and indifferent face, Tan Yanling realized that she probably didn’t like the two in front of her. So she said, “Wenxi, let’s continue our talk another day. I will take Qiao Qiao back first, this girl isn’t wearing much, and her hands are cold.”

As she said that, she squeezed Gu Xiqiao’s hands, feeling the chill creeping into them.

Anyway, she had achieved what she wanted to today.

Whether you were Baili Wenxi or Fu Xuejun, you could tell how obvious Tang Yanling liked Gu Xiqiao.

Fu Xuejun watched the two walk away. They didn’t walk for long before a black car drove up to them, and through the glass window, she could see a familiar face.

The tall man got out of the car to open the door for both of them.

People on the streets were rushing by, and Fu Xuejun still held the moon eye diamond in her hand, her breathing a little unstable. She had initially thought that she was receiving some special treatment from Tang Yanling, but she didn’t expect to be overjoyed for only a second before being thrown down to the ground.

How was Gu Xiqiao so close to Tang Yanling?

She recalled the indifferent expression that Gu Xiqiao had on her face as Fu Xuejun watched her leave.

This completely overturned all the knowledge that she had of Gu Xiqiao.

She was obviously an orphan from the countryside, how did she suddenly become Tang Yanling’s goddaughter?

Fu Xuejun had thought that Gu Xiqiao was just another clown on the road, and wasn’t concerned about her in the least. But just a day after meeting her, the other had utterly crushed her confidence.

Recalling the information that Wanqi Jue had sent her, Fu Xuejun’s face darkened in anger. She finally understood, the information had been deliberately hidden!

Once again, it felt like she was the butt of a joke!

She kept putting herself at a higher position, and unexpectedly, the other was looking at her like she was a jester instead!

This made Fu Xuejun feel extremely uncomfortable. She was the apple of her parents’ eyes in England, and also a celebrity in university. The nobles of England also treated her politely.

After returning to China, she couldn’t bear the difference in the statuses she held.

Especially Baili Wenxi’s reaction, which made her panic inexplicably inside.

“That person,” Baili Wenxi said, her memory coming back to her as she looked at the man who had returned to the driver’s seat of the car. “It’s Jiang Shuxuan!”

Fu Xuejun repeated the name under her breath, feeling like it was somewhat familiar. She suddenly raised her head in shock, only seeing the back of the car as it left.

The name ‘Jiang Shuxuan’ was not only well known in the ancient martial arts world, even in England it wasn’t that strange to hear his name. Although she didn’t pay much attention to the ancient martial arts world, Fu Xuejun had naturally heard of his name. She didn’t expect that man to be Jiang Shuxuan!

***

Tang Yanling returned to the community area with Gu Xiqiao, and sent a message to Baili Bin—Thank you. By the way, be careful of the Shi family.

Baili Bin was slightly astonished to receive the message from Tang Yanling, not the front part, it was the latter part that surprised him. He looked at the message for a while before lifting his head to call for Uncle Tai. “Has there been anything going on in the Shi family?”

Uncle Tai hadn’t expected the young master to bring up the matter of the Shi family, and looking at Baili Bin’s unwavering face, he calmed himself. “Don’t worry, Young Master. The Shi family isn’t a big threat to the Baili family.”

“That’s to say, there is something happening?” Baili Bin replied, looking at him.

The intricacies of the forces in the ancient martial arts world were no less complicated than those in the secular world. They were respected due to the strength they wielded, but a family couldn’t survive purely on force alone. They also needed wealth and powerful resources to support a family.

The Shi family and the Gu family had been suppressing the Baili family without a trace in the past, and that was why the Baili family had been deteriorating with each passing year.

But now that the Baili family had garnered fame in the ancient martial arts world, the trace of oppression from the Shi and Gu family were slowly getting obvious. They still knew how to hold back previously, but now it seemed that they didn’t bother to hide their ruthless side.

With two families joining hands to press down on the Baili family, the Fu family who was related to them by marriage hadn’t made any statements regarding this for a long time. They were probably still weighing whether it was beneficial for them to help the Baili family or not.

Fortunately, though it was difficult to support the Baili family, it was not impossible.

Uncle Tai was well aware of these things, but he didn’t want Baili Bin to worry about it. He wanted the young master to focus on recovering his body, and so he brought out a bowl of Chinese medicine. “Young Master, it’s time for your medication.”

As expected, after seeing the bowl of medicine, Baili Bin didn’t mention the Shi family anymore.

***

In the building next door, Fu Xuejun had used Baili Wenxi’s account to log into The Forum. After browsing through and obtaining some useful information, she contacted the Fu family.

As the most outstanding person in the Fu family in the century, she had a great say in the family matters.

The fact of the Fu family not giving any help nor cooperating with the Baili family was entirely due to her say.

It didn’t matter that Baili Bin didn’t care for her now, she would wait. Wait until the Baili family couldn’t take it anymore, only then would she make her move.

What she could give the Fu family far outshined what Gu Xiqiao could offer them.

Although Gu XIqiao was favored by Tang Yanling, she was still just a goddaughter in the end. She wouldn’t be able to interfere in the ancient martial arts world either.

After all, in the ancient martial arts world, the strength you held was the more important thing.

Fu Xuejun’s eyes shone brightly under the light as she mulled over her grand ambitions and schemes.