Shun Tao unwittingly heaved a sigh of relief. So seeing him again had not made her go crazy again. Well, not crazy over him, at least. She was still just as crazily in love as she had been in the Nine Heavens, just that the victim of her adoration was another man now.
Having realized this, Shun Tao sat down and gave her a smile. "Congratulations! It sounds like you're really happy."
"I am very happy. You have no idea how great my senior martial brother Liu Cheng is. Should I tell a few things about him?"
Shun Tao's lips twitched. He really had no idea how things had suddenly turned out like this. "Uh … I don't think that's necessary. I wouldn't want to take up that much of your time either. I'm sure you have many important things to do."
Hearing that, Hong Bao's eyes suddenly went wide. "You're right! Actually, our Master instructed me to bring a letter to another sect. It seems to be super important so maybe I should hurry up."
Hong Ai and Shen An De exchanged a glance, seeing a bit of worry in each other's eyes. They had originally asked Qiu Ling to bring Shun Tao here in the hope that Hong Bao would get over Liu Cheng and stay away from the Chun Feng Sect. But now, she had seen him and not had any unusual reaction so it seemed that their plan had failed spectacularly. Now, they would need another approach to make sure that she didn't spend any time in the Chun Feng Sect before all of this was over. After things had been cleared up and there wouldn't be any fights anymore, it didn't matter to them much but Hong Ai just didn't want her little sister to be in danger.
Qiu Ling noticed the gaze that the two of them exchanged and then lazily glanced at Hong Bao. Well, he could probably be a little nice. "Uh, after you're done with delivering that important letter, you should come back here. There's something I want to talk to you about."
Hong Bao turned around to him, her attention already recaptured. "What could that be?"
Qiu Ling just raised his brows. "Didn't you have some letter to deliver? Why don't you go and do that first? You can still come back afterward and then I'll tell you all about it. I really wouldn't want to hold you back here."
Hong Bao pursed her lips, not quite happy with this. She really wanted to know what was going on. But whether it was Qiu Ling, Jing Yi, or even her own sister and brother-in-law, they didn't seem to have any thoughts of telling her about it. In the end, she could only turn to look at Shun Tao, hoping that this man would answer this pressing question for her.
Shun Tao went rigid and smiled with a tensed expression. "I don't know what it's about. Anyway, you'll probably be very fast with delivering that letter, right? Isn't it just flying there and handing it over to somebody?"
Hong Bao perked up when she heard that and nodded hurriedly. "You're right! Thanks for reminding me. Actually, looking at you that way, you might actually get the eighth position."
"Uh … Thank you?" Shun Tao really didn't know what else to say.
Hong Bao smiled at him brightly and then turned around, hurrying out of the palace and going on her so-called important mission.
The other five people stayed back, lapsing into a short silence.
In the end, it was Shun Tao who heaved a sigh of relief before he turned to Qiu Ling, his expression grave. "Longjun, since you were the one who called me here, I would've expected you to actually be here when I arrived. This situation just now should've never happened."
Qiu Ling just blinked his eyes as if he had no idea what was going on. "Why? Didn't everything go really well? I have no idea what your problem is."
Shun Tao furrowed his brows and wanted to continue arguing but then remembered just how shameless this person could be. He probably wouldn't be able to make him admit his mistake anyway. He should just focus on the issue at hand and make sure that he got over with it. "Anyway, why did you want me to come here?"
Qiu Ling glanced at him and gave a hum. Actually, he had never thought about how to explain this to the Fate's Scribe. Well, a little lie should be alright. "It's because of her." He motioned at Hong Ai.
Shun Tao looked over, wondering what this might be about. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
Qiu Ling sighed as if it was really troublesome for him to have to explain everything. "You remember what that Hong Bao just said about the Chun Feng Sect?"
"Of course. But what about it?"
"They also captured one of our people. As the dragon king, it is naturally my duty to get the person out of there. Unfortunately, I need that Hong Ai's sword for it. But she just won't give it to me. She's making useless demands. I told her that I definitely couldn't do this but she insisted. Well, since this is about a life, I figured that I might as well give in and thus, asked you to come here."
Shun Tao didn't understand any better after this explanation but he wasn't sure if asking again would help with that. He turned to Hong Ai but she only tensed up and looked away, refusing to speak. In the end, he turned back to the other side.
Qiu Ling sighed. "Isn't that all because you seduced her sister and had her thrown out of the Nine Heavens? Naturally, as her only family, she could never accept that! You have a lot of questions to answer there, Fate's Scribe!" He got up and furrowed his brows, fixing Shun Tao with a dark look. Before anybody else could say something, he reached over the table, grabbed Hong Ai's sword, then leaned back and took Jing Yi's hand. "Anyway, you should clear those things up among yourselves. My beloved and I have better things to do."
With that, Qiu Ling and Jing Yi left the courtyard, leaving the three totally stunned people behind.