Chapter 275.3. The Art of Negotiating

The room wasn’t that big, so Zhang Lexuan immediately saw Bei Bei lying on the bed when she walked in, as well as Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er beside him.

She was aware of Huo Yuhao’s circumstances, but her face immediately changed when she saw Bei Bei lying down on the bed. She walked up concernedly and said, “What happened to you, Bei Bei?”

Huo Yuhao, Xu Sanshi, and Wang Dong’er were slightly taken aback as they watched the worry and anxiety in their eldest senior sister’s eyes. Huo Yuhao and Xu Sanshi exchanged a look, and they immediately felt the peculiarity in each other’s eyes. The concern that their eldest senior sister displayed towards their eldest senior brother seemed a little out of the ordinary.

Bei Bei forced a smile and said, “Calm down, eldest senior sister. I’m alright.”

Zhang Lexuan seemed to realize that she had lost her composure. She withdrew her emotions a little as she pinched Bei Bei’s wrist to check his injuries.

Wang Qiu’er walked in together with Zhang Lexuan. However, she walked up next to Huo Yuhao, and glanced down at him before her eyes turned away very naturally, as if she were looking at a stranger.

Wang Dong’er looked on steadily, and sighed to herself. The colder Wang Qiu’er was to Huo Yuhao, the more Wang Dong’er could tell that Huo Yuhao was still very important to Wang Qiu’er. Qiu’er, Qiu’er... why do you do this to yourself?

Wang Dong’er had thought long and hard when Huo Yuhao disappeared without a trace back then. She was ready and willing to share Huo Yuhao’s love with Wang Qiu’er if she had to, and it was because of this thought that she was a lot less hostile towards her now. This was especially so after she felt the entirety of Huo Yuhao’s love for her. All she felt toward Wang Qiu’er now was sympathy, and not a single hint of envy or jealousy. At this moment, she was being very generous by standing on Huo Yuhao’s other side.

“How have you been, Qiu’er?” Wang Qiu’er didn’t bother greeting him, but Huo Yuhao had to greet her, as she had saved his life more than once. Furthermore, he had long sensed the feelings that she had for him, and he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about them, as he couldn’t help but feel as if he owed her something.

“I’ve been very well,” Wang Qiu’er answered coldly. It didn’t seem like she had been “very well” from the way she responded...

“Oh.” Huo Yuhao didn’t know what else to say, and he gave her a simple response.

Zhang Lexuan concluded her scrutiny of Bei Bei’s body with a solemn look on her face.

“Your organs are almost in different positions, and you’ve been hit with an intense and strange soul power. It’s dark, evil, and eerie. Did you encounter evil soul masters?”

Everyone couldn’t help but be impressed as they listened to her words. Zhang Lexuan’s analysis was concise, accurate, and to the point. She lived up to her name as the inner courtyard’s eldest senior sister.

Bei Bei nodded as he lowered his voice and said, “I was just about to look for you guys. This matter has to be reported to the academy as quickly as possible, so that the academy can make the necessary preparations. That Holy Ghost Church has appeared…” He recounted the events from the previous day in detail, and he pointed out the Scorpion Tiger Douluo’s existence. However, the Tang Sect members were a little surprised that Bei Bei didn’t mention Tang Ya, and he only talked about how he sensed something was wrong about a soul master that he had run into, and how the other person had managed to ambush and catch him off guard, and how he had thus been injured.

“This is very important. We have to report it to the academy immediately. You are severely injured, should I send you back to the academy?” Zhang Lexuan spoke with a very concerned look on her face.

Bei Bei forced a laugh and shook his head. “You’re the academy’s representative team leader, so how can you walk away? Furthermore, my condition has stabilized, so I might as well rest and recover here. Don’t worry, there’s no way I can participate in the competition. I’ve passed command over to Huo Yuhao.”

Zhang Lexuan stared at Bei Bei before she glanced at Huo Yuhao on his wheelchair. She couldn’t help but feel a little helpless and exasperated. “You guys! What can I say about the two of you? Bei Bei, you’re not a typically careless person, why did you…?”

Bei Bei gave her a look, and Zhang Lexuan was momentarily stunned before she recognized that she seemed to have said too much this time. She stood up and said, “Please rest well. I will report this matter back to the academy at once. Let’s go, Qiu’er.”

Wang Qiu’er said nothing, and she didn’t even greet the other Tang Sect members as she followed behind Zhang Lexuan and departed the room.

The room descended into silence once Zhang Lexuan and Wang Qiu’er left, while Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao, and Wang Dong’er all stared at Bei Bei.

Bei Bei felt goosebumps break out over his body from their stares. He cleared his throat and said, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Xu Sanshi looked up at the ceiling and heaved a long sigh. “I initially believed that girls would only crush on a person like me – incredibly handsome, romantic and elegant, natural and unrestrained. I never thought that you, Bei Bei, you who has a small nose and tiny eyes, had a secret like this. If you hadn’t been injured such that our eldest senior sister revealed her true feelings as a result, I wouldn’t have been able to tell. I didn’t know that you and our eldest senior sister had a complicated relationship.”

An awkward look flashed across Bei Bei’s face. “Bullshit. Don’t spout nonsense and taint eldest senior sister’s clean name and reputation.”

Xu Sanshi laughed coldly and said, “Do you think I’m as clueless as the others who don’t know you as well as I do? It’s obvious that the look in her eyes wasn’t right the instant she walked in and realized that you had been injured. When has eldest senior sister ever looked at someone else from the inner courtyard like that? The look in your eyes in that moment seemed like everything that was happening was right and within expectations. This proves that you had already predicted this response from the moment you saw her. Is that not enough to prove the secret relationship between the two of you? Wow, Bei Bei, you’ve hidden something like this from your best brothers! Even I had no clue about this, that you’ve done something to even our eldest senior sister. Tell us everything, right now! If not, I won’t show you any mercy even though you’re hurt.”

Bei Bei stared at the falsely indignant look on Xu Sanshi’s face, and turned towards Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er, who were also staring at him with a strange looks in their eyes. “Oh, my reputation! Eldest senior sister messed up because she’s too concerned.”

Xu Sanshi leaned in by the bedside with a gossipy look on his face. “Quick, tell us. What’s going on between you and our eldest senior sister? You have always been so dejected and concerned about Xiao Ya, so when did eldest senior sister enter the picture?”

Bei Bei could tell that he couldn’t hide this secret any longer. He adjusted the expression on his face and said, “I’ll tell you since you guys have already realized something is going on. However, you guys have to keep my secret, as this concerns our eldest senior sister’s name and reputation. Whoever leaks this out will no longer be my brother.”

“Okay.” Wang Dong’er was the first to agree, and without any hesitation at all.

The corner of Bei Bei’s mouth twitched as he said, “It’s the same even for my sisters!”

Wang Dong’er giggled and said, “Eldest senior brother, we should always enjoy blessings and endure misfortunes together. Why don’t I call everyone here? Do you think third senior brother can hide something like this from fourth senior sister?”

“I… I have chosen terrible friends!” Bei Bei exclaimed in defeat.

He Caitou, Jiang Nanna, and Xiao Xiao were quickly gathered. Na Na, Ji Juechen, and Jing Ziyan were ultimately not as close to them.

Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao’s beautiful eyes sparkled when they heard that there was some secret between Bei Bei and their eldest senior sister that they had to know about. This was the classic gossipy and nosy look, and even the typically simple and straightforward He Caitou was full of surprise.

“You can’t tell anyone else!” Bei Bei exclaimed painfully.

“Really, nobody else can know about this.”

“Why don’t we just let this go? You guys can just pretend you don’t know anything at all.”

“……”

“Alright, alright. I’ll say it.” Everyone’s eyes seemed like they were about to erupt with fire. Bei Bei felt all the pressure, and he had no choice but to tell them about his story with Zhang Lexuan.

“Actually, eldest senior sister was arranged to marry me…” The six other pairs of eyes in the room widened with this one sentence. The apple that Xu Sanshi was holding in his hands dropped and hit He Caitou, who was beside him, on the face. He Caitou clenched his fingers in shock, and his enormous strength left a row of grooves on the bedframe.

Huo Yuhao felt his body quiver, and he almost slid out of his wheelchair. Wang Dong’er covered her mouth with her hands to keep from exclaiming out loud.

Jiang Nannan screamed and gasped in astonishment, while Xiao Xiao grabbed He Caitou’s arm as tightly as she could. It was clear that she was as astounded as everybody else.

“Arranged marriage?!” Xu Sanshi’s mouth was open so wide that a goose egg could be stuffed into it.

Who dared to think that the Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard’s chief disciple, the person that everyone referred to respectfully as “eldest senior sister”, the person that joined the Sea God’s Pavilion at the age of thirty to become one of the council members, Zhang Le Xuan, was actually arranged to marry Bei Bei. This could no longer be described as unbelievable, this was simply something that could only exist in fantasies!

Bei Bei pulled a long face. “Yes, all of you heard that right, and I didn’t say anything wrong. Eldest senior sister was arranged to marry me. It’s a long story, and I’ll have to start from twenty years ago.”

Xu Sanshi pulled over a chair and sat down beside his bed. “That’s alright, we’re not rushing things. You can take your time.”

Huo Yuhao stared at Bei Bei with his eyes wide open and his jaw hanging slack. What he was feeling inside was similar to the awe and astonishment that Princess Jiujiu felt when she discovered that his Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon could be operated by normal soldiers.

Bei Bei shot a glare at Xu Sanshi and said, “My mother passed away on the day I was born due to a difficult birth. My father was too depressed, and he took a nearly impossible task from the Shrek Guardians against Ancestor Xuan’s wishes and departed. He hasn’t returned since, and I became an orphan.

“My family only had a single son, and my ancestors have ruled that all sons will follow their mother’s surname. My parents’ death adversely affected Ancestor Xuan, and he treated me like his own son during that period of time, as if I were the most important thing in the world.

“Eldest senior sister was actually brought back by one of the academy’s teachers, and Ancestor Xuan ran into them by accident. Eldest senior sister had a blank look in her eyes back then, as if she had lost her soul and her spirit. She is from one of the Heavenly Soul Empire’s aristocratic families, but they were ambushed and attacked by another aristocratic family, and her entire family was annihilated. She had been underneath her bed, as she was playing hide-and-seek with her mother when disaster struck, so she managed to avoid certain death. Her mother crashed onto the ground beside the bed, and even used her own body to cover the bed as she was drawing her last breaths, even placing her hand behind her to cover her daughter’s mouth.

“Ancestor Xuan checked her body after hearing about her circumstances, and he discovered that eldest senior sister had great talent in terms of her martial soul. She had congenitally full soul power, something that was rarely seen, and she also possessed a hundred year soul ring, while she had already broken through to Rank 20. He guessed that our eldest senior sister was the future of her family, and the person that her family wanted to do everything they could to nurture.”