As he opened his mouth to say something. Jiang Ya Lin turned to the side and noticed Paoxiao standing over there watching them. Feeling embarrassed, she faintly called out. "Xiao-ge..."
Seeing her granddaughter's lost look and hearing her faint whisper, both she and Cheung Fai Guang shifted their gaze. Seeing the handsome youth standing there, unsure of what to do, the Old Madam started to have thoughts. Those thoughts became even deeper once Cheung Fai Guang jumped from his seat, yelling at the newly arrived guest with an accusatory finger pointed in his direction.
"Grandmother, that's the shameless rouge that ran off with Ya Lin!"
Hearing that, Old Madam Jiang's heavy heart finally settled. When Cheung Yao Si, Fai Guang's father, had come to talk of marriage between his son and her granddaughter, she hadn't agreed. Although Ya Lin was an orphaned child that her third son had picked up from the battlefield, she didn't adore the girl any less. She wouldn't allow some lower rank family to snatch up her granddaughter in a bid to rise up in the ranks of power.
Especially one that was a whole three ranks lower. How could they treat her granddaughter well when they obviously were only doing this to get ahead in life?
Unwilling to tolerate the idea, Old Madam Jiang had searched around all the houses of equal rank, hoping to find a suitable partner for Ya Lin. Unfortunately, none of the houses would even entertain the idea. However, some were willing, though a bit reluctantly, if she could be brought over as a concubine. Old Madam Jiang's heart was pained, but she understood it.
Ya Lin didn't share blood ties with the Jiang family which made others feel uneasy. In their opinions, Jiang Ya Lin didn't have a stable foothold in the family and thus it was better not to take her in. When nobles married, it wasn't for love but connections. Even some of the families a rank lower were less than thrilled with the idea.
Old Madam Jiang had been at this for two years since the father-son pair came to propose marriage, that her hope had long withered. Although she wasn't too fond of Cheung Fai Guang, at least the boy would stop by periodically to keep her company and ask about Ya Lin.
Although she really didn't want to, for fear of her granddaughter being unable to marry, she began to talk to Ya Lin about the Cheung family heir. Yet she didn't expect for Ya Lin to have such large reaction about it and thus, since Old Madam Jiang first told her about it, they've been butting heads over the matter.
Now, after seeing the young man that claimed to want her granddaughter, the hope in her heart had once again been reignited. That youth had a slight, but strong build and the clothes that adorned his body were something only an upper-rank nobleman could afford. He looked both strong and wealthy, not to mention that his face was incredibly handsome.
Ignoring Fai Guang's clear indignation, Old Madam Jiang asked as she continued to look deeply at Paoxiao. "Young man, how old are you?" He didn't look as if he's had his coming of age ceremony yet, but if he had then she wondered if he'd be willing to wait for Ya Lin to have hers?
Thrown by the question and unsure of how to answer, Paoxiao murmured to Nastasia. "How old do I look?"
Paoxiao wasn't human. There was no way that he could blurt out his true age. So Nastasia murmured back how old she thought he looked. "Somewhere around, fifteen – seventeen..."
Since Paoxiao thought it was better to be older among humans, he chose the oldest option. "Seventeen, but why do-"
"Good, good." Old Madam Jiang said as her eyes became crescents in her happiness. Since this young man has yet to have his coming of age ceremony then it shouldn't be too difficult to have them wed after Ya Lin reaches fifteen. That is, should this work out and marriage talks between the families not fall through. "You're family name would be?"
Paoxiao did not like voicing his name. To give out ones true name was to give out power over himself to another. It was how he got into this predicament of being controlled by the Slave Binding Contract. Though it was self-inflicted, he felt sore about it and though he felt sore about it, he no longer had the intent to run from it.
Because he wanted to remain by Nastasia's side, to protect her.
Human's didn't have the ability to control another by their name and so they didn't have the reflexive worry that those of the Spirit Realm had. Even so, this wasn't the Spirit Realm and there were no demons nearby. The two wolves were the only spirit creatures in the vicinity, but they already knew his name.
As for his surname name... well... even he wasn't too sure of it. When he was too little to understand, there was an uprising. He and his sister had been hidden away in a small village in the eastern portion of the Spirit Realm by the elders.
The elders had always spoken of how his sister was a rare talent that was meant to take on their father's legacy. Although he didn't know what that legacy was, he always felt pride and joy to have such a sister. After his sister disappeared the elders turned their attention toward him as the one to inherit that legacy.
However, being that he could only focus on saving his sister, the elders refused to tell him anything regarding his birth and his father. Paoxiao was curious, but more than his curiosity was his desire to defeat that man to get his sister back. He refused to write her off as dead as the elders would have him do.
Thus, not knowing his family name, Paoxiao could only borrow one from another. "It's Li," he said as Li Yu Rong's surname was the first to come to mind, "Li Paoxiao."
Old Madam Jiang locked the name away in her memory so that she would be able to send someone to make inquiries at a later time. There were two families surnamed Li, one was written as "black" and the other was written as "plum tree." Either of the families would satisfy her just fine, but finding the latter would be a bit tricky.
The current Elemental Spirit Master's mother's paternal family had been surnamed Li. However, this family was like a ghost. No one had ever seen a single member in person, besides Consort Li herself.
Yet, the family certainly existed.
It had been said that whatever Consort Li needed they would deliver it before the former emperor could even get the chance. The high-level experts that had been given by her family were so astonishing that they could make intense moves without once being seen. It made those who would conspire against her to tread with lighter steps.
Although it would be really nice to be connected to such a family, it didn't really matter to Old Madam Jiang. Rather, she was just ecstatic to have another prospect for her granddaughter outside of Cheung Fai Guang. It was a good thing that she hadn't made any agreements to hand Ya Lin over.
Over the moon, Old Madam Jiang stood up with the help of a servant standing at the side that understood to do so from a glance. "Good name," she said as she used the servant to help her walk, "this old lady will now take her leave. You young ones don't have to worry about me, just talk and get to know one another better."
That said, she left. Entirely intent on making plans to switch out the Cheung family for the Li family. From beginning to end Old Madam Jiang never noticed the young woman in the mask or the young boy that stood to the side of her.