"...And so, that's how I got to Attribution Form these past few weeks."
Lan Xiang told Xie Jian and Ren Weiwei the story of how he met an old man in the shopping district and bought his cultivation technique there.
Of course, he left out the detail that this book was originally trash tier, and that he had a system to raise its level.
Xie Jian smiled. She was really happy now that he was strong.
Dusk soon approached. As Ren Weiwei had already met with Xie Jian, she left, glancing at Lan Xiang as she walked away.
The pair went back to Lan Xiang's house.
On the way, Xie Jian looked anxious, which worried Lan Xiang.
As both of them settled down, Xie Jian finally spoke up.
"Xiang, I have something to tell you too."
"What is it?"
"Actually, these days, my father has been in talks with the Ning family... for me to get engaged with Ning Luoxue." A rather blatant look of disgust flashed across Xie Jian's face.
"Eh? But what about our engagement?" Lan Xiang was both surprised and displeased.
"Because of your, ahem, bad reputation, the Ning family has been coercing your father to break the engagement."
"So, did he agree?"
"I don't know, why don't you ask? He's your father, after all."
"I don't really talk to him that much..."
A moment of silence ensued. Xie Jian very much didn't want this engagement to disappear.
She recalled her first meeting with Lan Xiang. She could summarize that day in one word: unpleasant.
They were both 7 year olds, but while Xie Jian had matured fast due to her stressful environment, Lan Xiang was rowdy and rambunctious, full of a child's energy.
Xie Jian didn't like a single second of her day with her future fiancée. Their days passed by, with Lan Xiang never maturing and Xie Jian acting like his older sister, scolding him every time.
All of a sudden, at 11 years old, she received news that the wife of the head of the Lan family had died. In other words, Lan Xiang's mother was gone, taken from him at such a young age.
When she visited him next, he was still an energetic boy, just one with an air of melancholy surrounding him. Xie Jian started to comfort him with simple words.
Then, at 12 years old, the Lan family found out that Lan Xiang had a constitution that wasn't fit for cultivation. That was fine, of course, if he had good grades and could still make the Lan family proud.
At 13 years old, he had been held back one year, due to his bad grades. It was at that point that Lan Xiang's cheerful facade started to break. He showed constant bouts of sudden anger and irritation, but only to Xie Jian who he considered his best friend. In the view of the outsiders, he was still that playful and irresponsible boy.
It was around this point that Lan Xiang fell in love with Xie Jian and decided to seriously pursue her.
Finally, at 16 years old, the Lan family decided to throw him out of the main house, into an obscure city somewhere in the countryside.
Xie Jian declared to her family that she would be living with Lan Xiang, but they only gave her a year. In that year, the two consummated their relationship.
Xie Jian wryly smiled as she recalled those memories.
At the same time, she saw hope that their engagement would not be broken. After all, the main reason of his bad reputation was because of his weakness. Since he had overcome this weakness, shouldn't her family be able to accept them?
In the end, Lan Xiang was persuaded by Xie Jian to call his father, whom he hadn't talked to properly in a long, long time.
.....
Lan Feiluo rubbed his forehead as he read a letter laid out on his desk. It was written in parchment paper. "Seems like that old man's still as old-fashioned as he was back then."
It was a letter from the Xie family head, Xie Dali.
The more Lan Feiluo read further into the letter, the more his eyebrows creased. As he read the last word, he grabbed the paper and was about to tear it into two when his phone rang.
"...My son? Calling me?"
Lan Feiluo had three children, two older sons, Lan Yang and Lan Xiang, and the youngest, a daughter, Lan Hailu.
When the three's mother died, they all reacted in different ways. Lan Yang became dark and brooding all the time, although he's fine now; Lan Xiang was still cheerful, but it felt forced instead of natural; and Lan Hailu just cried a lot as she didn't understand the implications at the time.
However, there was one thing in common among all of them, and it was that they distanced themselves from Lan Feiluo, their father. In one way or another, the siblings had agreed that it was their father to blame for their mother's death.
Never did Lan Feiluo try to correct their assumptions, for he had a secret of his own. Nevertheless, he still felt sad that his children had come to dislike him.
Lan Feiluo gently smiled as he picked up the phone and answered.
"...Father." Lan Xiang's tone was flat.
"What is it, my son?"
"Is it true that my engagement with Jian'er is going to be broken?"
Even with no change in tone, Lan Feiluo could tell that his son was nervous for his answer.
"...Do you want it to be broken?"
"No, of course not!" Lan Xiang's monotonous voice broke, becoming more passionate.
"Then it won't be." Lan Feiluo grinned. This is the only thing I can do for you, son.
.....
Lan Xiang's call with his father ended. He slowly lowered his phone from his ear.
Xie Jian strode nervously in circles across the room. "What did he say?"
"I don't really know." Lan Xiang was unsure on what to think of what happened just now.
.....
An old man walked out of the airlines, two assistants suited in black on both his sides.
"So you're telling me my granddaughter has run off to this remote place?" Xie Gang pulled his sunglasses partially, glancing at an assistant.
"This is the information we gathered from her maid who overheard her mumblings last night. She mentioned going to her fiancé's home."
"Her fiancé, huh?" Xie Gang recalled the image of a little kid cheerfully running across a garden.
"I wonder if he grew up wonderfully."
Ring, ring! Ring, ring!
In his pocket was a vibrating phone, which he begrudgingly grabbed and answered.
"F, father? Where are you?" Xie Dali sounded exasperated.
"Am I obligated to tell you that?"
"B- but today's the day of your treatment!"
"Bah, what bullcrap treatment! My condition isn't getting any better from this quack physician's methods!"
"Father! He's the best physician in the country, he's not a quack..."
"If I say he's a quack then he is one!"
"...Please just tell me where you are, I will send someone to pick you up ASAP."
"I ain't gonna tell you where I am, kiddo! I'm not going back!"
"Wait, fa-"
Beep. Beep.
Xie Gang smashed the phone on the ground and lightly tapped it with his wooden cane.
Crack. The phone instantly broke into a million small pieces, turning into water drops.