Chapter 257 - Stand-still

Linfeng's thoughts started to shake, causing his confidence to go downhill.

He abruptly shook his head. 

'Enough! Why am I suddenly so pessimistic? Zhi is not that kind of person.'

Even if he had known Xiong Zhi for less than a year, he had felt like he had known her for a longer time. Her usually indifferent eyes always looked at him with warmth, yearning, and various tangle of emotions.

He was not totally unfeeling. Although he knew he should not entangle more with what was behind those pair of eyes, but faced with that familiar intense look from her, he still could not help but dive deeper into it depths, and get caught by its snare. 

He wanted to know why she always looked at him that way. That curiosity within his heart ate him, it was the trap that made him fall for her.

Once fallen, he could no longer stand up and break free from her charm and gentle township. 

Linfeng was a rational man. But like how feelings normally confuse a person's mind, he, too, was affected. His feelings for Xiong Zhi made him unable to tolerate any possibility that could lose her. 

He could not help but be afraid that Xiong Zhi would suddenly disappear, leaving him in the chasm he had fallen in alone.

His throat knot rolled. He thought, what if... What if Xiong Zhi gave up on him? 

Linfeng clenched his hand, preparing himself for the worst... but also hoping that his Zhi'er would persist. 

Or at least be unwilling about it. Just rejecting even once was fine. 

He would handle the rest.

Linfeng's heart beat fast as he waited for Xiong Zhi's answer.

A few seconds felt like a whole millennium to him.

Xiong Zhi's eyes were cold as he studied the elderly for a while.

After a moment, she finally opened her lips. 

"So being an heir means you have to abandon your heart, and live like a heartless machine, devoid of humanity?" she slowly uttered in an ironic tone. "Grandfather, have you been happy living your seventy years of life?" Xiong Zhi met his grandfather's eyes and asked this impolite question.

"Zhi'er, don't waste my patience," Old Xion's chilling voice matched Xiong Zhi's.

However, his granddaughter was not fazed even one bit.

"Grandfather, don't waste my life, nor Linfeng's, nor Gaiyu's."

The two exchanged words like they were swords.

"..." The elders looked at them nervously. 

It was impolite for the younger generation to argue with their elders. But they could not interject in their verbal battle, since the two were both their masters. 

It was a fight between two Xiongs. One was the Master and the other was the future Master. They do not want to be in the bad side of any of the two.

Old Xiong stood up.

"If you keep acting like this, I will have no choice but to strip from you the title of the official heir of the Xiong family," Old Xiong finally threatened her status. 

The elders collectively gasped. Even Zhou Min and Linfeng looked unbelievably at Old Xiong. 

The title of the official heir was not something that can be given then taken away casually. 

They were talking about the future of the Xiong Empire here, which was no casual matter! 

Zhou Min knew that Old Xiong personally chose Xiong Zhi as his heir, thus, taking away this title from her was not something Old Xiong would want to do. 

Linfeng knew it, too. He was aware that Xiong Zhi's life would change for the better as the official heir. 

She might have some enemies on the way, but he was confident that with Young Miss's ability and his assistance, she would be able to overcome them and in the end reign over the Xiong Empire.

This was an important matter for his Young Miss.

His heart clenched. This farce was about his disobedience, yet they ended up talking of a bigger matter than his marriage. His Young Miss could no longer get caught up in this mess! 

Linfeng was about to open his mouth and direct back the attention to himself, but Xiong Zhi's sudden mocking laugh made them all look at her in alarm.

"Haha. Fine, strip me of that damned title. After all, it is your gift which you could take away anytime as you wish," she sarcastically said, her black irises glinting with an ominous light. 

She never cared for that title. For her, it was just a bonus, something she could use anytime for her convenience. She had never planned to depend on it in the first place. It was an unexpected surprise given to her, but she knew it could be taken away from her as well. 

It was a good thing that she did not take the official heir title in her heart. Her agreement with her grandfather never involved that piece anyway. 

Right now, it was a mere shackle that she would rather throw away.

Before, she was thankful and was a bit glad when her grandfather gave it to her. It showed that her grandfather trusted her. 

A sense of familial love that she had lost since long ago had started to sprout again in her heart. But now that she saw how her grandfather tried to use the gift to threaten her into becoming a puppet on string against her will, that tiny bit of familial love disappeared alongside the happiness she had felt when it was first given to her.

Screw it all. She had her own strength she had built up with her own hands.

However, even as she spoke the ironic words, she still felt bitter. She was disappointed at herself. She was disappointed at the Xiong Zhi who actually still hoped for a familial love that she never got in her previous life. 

"You can take away the title. But you can't take away my rights as the first in line of Xiong family right? I'm still the Zhou's master, and I still have a say in this matter. Unless, you have proof that I am not your biological granddaughter, because if you say so, I might even believe it," she said harshly. Faintly though, her eyes seemed a bit red.

So this was it. Her grandfather was still the old man who had condemned her to her doomed fate in her previous life, after all.

In this life, even though the old man had made a deal with her, gifted her treasures, and acted like a grandfather in the past few months, he was still the same calculating old man who chose that beast, the same old man fated to die in less than twenty four months.

Xiong Zhi should not have let her hopes high, thinking she would finally feel her grandfather's love and care. She was given crumbs of it in this life, and she craved for it like a starving ghost. 

Now, the reality was waving at her, that such things would never happen. Those crumbs she had unconsciously collected were ruthlessly stamped on by her grandfather's heavy foot. 

'Ha.' Such foolish thoughts.

Xiong Zhi looked away from Old Xiong, looking at him any longer would just infuriate her.