Three days later both Wu Ling and Su Xiang had dressed up in their new finery and climbed into a carriage with Su Yao and her parents for the long ride around the Outer Wards to reach their destination. Su Yao's father, Su Jixin, carried the refined dignity one would expect of a Novice Scholar with a neatly trimmed mustache and a short beard that complimented his sharp, angular features.
Her mother, Zou Suyin, sitting on the opposite side of Su Yao from her husband, resembled her daughter enough to pass for her older sister rather than her mother. She wore her long dark hair in elaborate braids and carried herself with the refined poise that the Pure Virtue Musician's Hall instilled in the older Aesthete many years before either Wu Ling or her daughter had enrolled there. Only her eyes, midnight black rather than the signature Su family sapphire distinguished set her apart from being an older looking mirror image of her daughter.
Both parents regarded Wu Ling skeptically when he took his seat opposite them beside Su Xiang. After several awkward moments, Zou Suyin was the first to break the silence.
"So, I suppose I shouldn't call you Junior Sister Wu anymore should I?" she finally asked with a raised eyebrow. She'd talked extensively with Wu Ling when he'd visited their home to paint Su Yao's portrait and at the time she'd believed that Wu Ling was an exceptional and refined young lady who would make a good role model and Senior Sister for her precious daughter.
Now, however, looking at the handsome young man across from her, she was much less certain that it would be good to encourage her daughter to spend additional time in his company. While Su Xiang had explained that Wu Ling had adopted a false identity to hide from his family's enemies, to Zou Suyin and her husband, there was a difference between hiding behind a false name and hiding as a man in an academy that was exclusive to women. One could be easily forgiven, even for the most ardently honest members of the Su family. The other could only be described as dubious at best.
"As much as it would delight me for Madame Zou to call me 'Junior Brother' instead, and as much as it pains me to refer to such a young and radiant beauty as 'Madame' rather than Senior Sister," Wu Ling replied lightly. "I think it would be best to avoid anything that implies such a close relationship. Given my current sect affiliation, it might create misunderstandings that would reflect poorly on Madame Zou."
"Are you really a disciple of the Bamboo Silk House like Cousin Xiang says?" Su Yao interrupted to ask. While her parents had misgivings about Wu Ling's motives, to Su Yao, the whole thing sounded like a drama come to life. She had no idea that her Senior Sister held such secrets and now that he'd revealed himself as her Senior Brother, she was eager to hear more of the story that she was certain was even more interesting than the dramas she read with her classmates.
"I am," Wu Ling admitted easily. "It's my mother's home sect and it's where I grew up after my father's death forced us to leave the Shining Blade Hall. Still, given the restrictions placed on men in my sect, I would ask that you not spread my affiliation widely. It might create trouble that I'd prefer to avoid," he cautioned.
As much as he might wish to attend this banquet with the identity of a Sect Elder's son in order to hold his ground with the other puffed up young masters likely to be in attendance, few members of the younger generation would know to fear the Bamboo Silk House the way people more accustomed to working in the shadows of power would. Rather than cloaking him in an air of strength and power, it would make him look like an incompetent dandy who traded on his appearance to earn the favors of women.
Worse, announcing himself as a disciple of the sect would be as good as proclaiming himself a eunuch! Not only would it ruin his reputation before a number of women, but it would give the young masters and young lords present at the banquet the impression that he was a weak and easily bullied target for ridicule, something he keenly wished to avoid.
"Hmpf," Su Jixin snorted. "I hope you realize that those restrictions are the only reason that Suyin and I haven't exposed your little charade to the Pure Virtue Musician's Hall and anyone who might feel the need to retaliate for your deception," he said with a pointed glare at Wu Ling.
As far as Su Jixin was concerned, this would be the last time Su Yao spent any time in the company of this young scoundrel. However, since he had contributed to creating this opportunity for his darling daughter to meet with the target of her affection, he felt that he couldn't deny her request to bring him to the banquet. His wife might be more forgiving of the impropriety of it but Su Jixin intensely disliked being misled.
"Father! Brother Wu has never been inappropriate with anyone and Cousin Xiang explained that he'd been forced into hiding for years before he came to our school," Su Yao protested. From the way her father was scowling at Wu Ling, Su Yao was beginning to suspect that he might not approve of her continuing their friendship and that would be a disaster. Not only would she hate to lose Wu Ling as a good friend, doing so would put greater distance between herself and her cousin Xiang!
"Enough," Su Xiang interjected before this could turn into a spat between her cousin and her uncle. "Brother Ling is my sworn brother who's stood on the battlefield with me and I'd have died without his help," she said fiercely.
"I know not every branch of the family values the Martial Path and its traditions but I'd ask that you remember them for my sake." While she might not have the cultivation to match up against a second-stage Scholar like her uncle, the fact that she had followed in her parents' footsteps to join a second-rank sect gave her enough status within the family to match up against her more senior uncle and press further discussions of Wu Ling's past aside, at least for the moment.
"Why don't we talk about something else," Wu Ling suggested, looking at Su Yao with a warm smile. "You never told me how you encountered young lord Fang Lin. What made you set your sights on him so directly?"