Book 1 Chapter 73: What should be said, has been said
Liu Meng looked astonished. It seemed she still wanted to say something, but when she met his vaguely smiling eyes, she fell silent all of a sudden then slowly walked back to the side of the table and sat down. Looking at Bai Yunfei with a complicated expression, she said softly: “You… When did you find out?”
“Is this really important?” The corners of Bai Yunfei’s mouth twitched. He shook his head gently then said slowly, seeming to talk to himself but also to give Liu Meng an explanation.
“In fact, it was an abnormal development right from the beginning, wasn’t it? A young lady from a wealthy family, and even a soul cultivator at that, how could she have such an attitude towards an ordinary guy who had helped her for the first time…?
“But I still believed you. Was it because of that hidden tinge of appreciation or adoration in my heart at the time? I don’t know the answer either. It’s also possible that your ‘excuses’ made me ignore the doubts I had in the beginning…
“When you were taken ill that time, it was definitely real. The only difference was that it wasn’t accidental. Instead, you used a certain method capable of causing this illness to act up. So, the encounter in the beginning was flawless. The next day, what you told me on Mt. Qingquan was also half-truths, right? This kind of lying is capable of fooling people the most…
“I had no doubts at all about what happened during those two days. You let Long Tao and his brother come to trouble me for the second time for initial inspection of me, right? At the same time, it was also to foreshadow what would happen later. Just two days of strolling about made that tiny seed in my heart sprout and grow up. My heart was slowly filled with your image… Ha ha, wasn’t my affection very cheap?
“According to your plan, it should have slowly developed, right? At least it would have gone on for ten days to half a month to let the ‘affection’ between us build up slowly and develop as ‘naturally’ as possible. Only then would you be able to fool me into giving you the information you want.
“But something you hadn’t expected happened on the second day, that is, I accidentally ran into Qiu Luliu of the Green Willow School again! In the morning that day, actually you had arrived, right? You saw that she and I were talking with each other so you didn’t show yourself. Only after she left did you appear…
“In the morning of the third day, you suddenly come to look for me. It was because you wanted to check up on my situation, wasn’t it? But you unexpectedly discover that bracelet of mine. You said you liked it, so I gave it to you even though it’s related to my secret… After that, when you heard Qiu Luliu would arrive in a while, your attitude changed suddenly. You left right away. At the time I thought you were ‘jealous’, but in fact you were afraid she would recognize you if you ran into her. After all, given your identity, it’s very possible that the two of you had met each other earlier…
“After I went to the Green Willow School, you discovered that it might not be possible to ‘do it slowly’ according to your original plan. So, you carried out that ‘kidnap’ event ahead of schedule, letting the Long family’s men show up again. You took a step further in testing me and at the same time ‘deepened’ the affection between us. Ha ha, rescue romance, such a good scene to elevate the affection between two people!
But it was only because of this staged event that I noticed abnormal things and started to be suspicious!” Bai Yunfei raised his head to give Liu Meng a look then continued with a chuckle: “Do you remember the first line Long Taogu said when seeing me? He said ‘are you that Bai Yunfei mentioned by this girl?’ He knew my name. You said you told him my name…
“But when did I ever tell you that my surname is Bai?” Bai Yunfei’s gentle question made Liu Meng’s doubtful expression change into one of astonishment then of disappointment.
Not caring about the changes in her expression, he continued to say: “Speaking of which, this was all because when we met for the first time, to develop a close relationship between us, you told me to call you so intimately ‘Meng’er’ directly, so when you asked for my name, I told you to just call me Yunfei. Later on, I seemed to never mention that Yunfei is just my given name, and my surname is Bai, right?
“Of course, perhaps you’ll say that in fact you only told them I’m called Yunfei, but somehow they knew my surname and there’s something fishy about the Long family’s men. Actually when I came up with this idea, I consoled myself like that too. But it’s still unreasonable… In the beginning, we became enemies with Long Tao [the younger brother] because he lust for your beauty, but on the day you were kidnapped you were completely unharmed even though it took me two hours to arrive… At the time I only felt that you were lucky, but when thinking about this later, I found it so illogical. Plus, when Long Taogu and two others fought me, they unexpectedly didn’t use weapons! This was because they were afraid that they’d accidentally kill or seriously injured me when surrounding and attacking me, making it look obviously unnatural to ‘let me go’ in the end, right?
“Later, your attitude towards me changed considerably as well. I should have felt happy about this, but as soon as I thought of the illogical things, I just couldn’t calm myself down. So using tiredness as the reason, I returned to my room and pondered hard for an entire night. I was unwilling to believe my own guess. I was unwilling to believe that everything was fake…
“However, a discovery during that incident at noon today shattered my desperate hope completely!
“Speaking of which, I still need to thank that unruly guy from the Beast Taming School. Previously I thought it was also staged by you, but this was not the case. It was none other than his arrogant attacks that allowed me to see your flaws!
“Do you remember the first attack from that huge wolf? Because I had never encountered this kind of situation before, I was pretty flustered at the time. Faced with it’s first attack, I chose to dodge, forgetting that you were still behind me. Fortunately, you dodged too, avoiding the wolf’s claw at the last moment. That moment, I felt extremely happy for you… But I also noticed that you had made a dash using a soul technique! Faced with a sudden danger, you subconsciously used a body-maneuvering soul technique! And that technique was exactly the same as the one used by Zhang Zhenshan when fighting me!
“What does this imply? It implies that you’re related to the Glacial School! But this is totally inconsistent with the identity you told me earlier! You said earlier that you had been taught by an expert and had been focusing on cultivation ever since so you were almost unable to fight and hadn’t learned any soul techniques… This point alone is enough to prove that you’ve basically been lying!!
“Afterwards, you suggested that I go to see your father… Ha ha, wasn’t this development too sudden? But you still told it to me, wanting to carry out the last investigation and experiment…
“I knew it, but I still came here. Though everything that happened today was so unnatural, I still hoped unreasonably that they were just my illusions… But after I arrived, I found that this place was still full of contrivances, sudden dialogs, sudden topics of conversation…
“In fact, you have also guessed that I already started to be suspicious, right? But you still did this. Were you taking a gamble? A gamble that my affection for you was deep enough, a gamble that I was silly enough, a gamble that my affection for you would be able to cloud my vision??
“In your eyes, since the beginning I’ve been just a fool who was entranced by you to the point I could no longer handle myself, right?”
Bai Yunfei had talked so much continuously, almost giving her no chance to interrupt him. Now he seemed to be finished and also to be tired from talking. He raised his head to look at Liu Meng, whose face had been filled with astonishment all along in front of him, chuckled in self-derision for a bit and shook his head. Then he looked at ‘Liu Yan’ on one side, who appeared to be somewhat at a loss, and showed a hint of disdain on the corners of his mouth: “This man is just someone you found in a hurry to help you with the acting…
“As for your identity, the engagement between you and Zhang Yang should have been real, and Zhang Yang was the son of an elder in the Glacial School. You once said that this school still has another elder called Liu Cheng… Then, you should be his daughter, right?”
After saying so, he turned around to look at the door’s room, which had been closed all the time, saying: “Should I thank you for waiting patiently until I have finished talking so much instead of interrupting me ahead of schedule… ‘Uncle Liu’?”
There was silence outside the door for some time. Then the door was pushed open and a middle-aged man with a solemn expression and two subordinates walked in. There seemed to be even many more people guarding outside.
This man was naturally Liu Cheng. After entering the room, he stood at the door and looked at Bai Yunfei, saying in a cold voice: “Humph! You’ve got some brains, but so what? Since you were stupid enough to come here alone, could it be you still think you can run away?”
“Oh, because your scheme has failed so you’ve finally decided to use force, right, elder Liu? You’ve exhausted all your efforts only because of the Glacial Piercer Zhang Zhenshan brought back, right? You guys think if you capture me, you’ll be able to know its secret?” Bai Yunfei slightly squinted, seeming to be totally unfazed by the current situation.
His unhurried attitude made Liu Cheng frown slightly. In the current situation, even though his scheme had been defeated, he was still at an obvious advantage, but why was the opponent so unperturbed?
Liu Cheng cast a look at Liu Meng, saying: “Meng’er, just get out of here. You’ve already done what you should have done. From now on, you don’t need to care about this anymore.”
“Father, you said…”
The expression on Liu Meng’s face seemed rather complicated. Disappointed? Guilty? Dumbfounded? The corners of his mouth twitching, Bai Yunfei shook his head gently.
“I know how far I should go. You leave first!” Liu Cheng berated, his expression turning cold.
Liu Meng’s whole body trembled slightly. Without saying a word, she stood up, took another look at Bai Yunfei, gave an almost inaudible sigh then walked out slowly.
Bai Yunfei watched her leave with an indifferent look in his eyes, but his heart was in agony. The moment she walked out of the door, her image gradually walked out of his heart as well, carrying with it that budding, naïve love…
Withdrawing his eyes, he took a breath softly and exhaled slowly. The expression in his eyes became resolute and ice-cold. Casting a glance at Liu Cheng and the two men beside him, he reached out his right hand. The Fire-tipped Spear appeared in his hand. He channeled his soulforce and a heat wave filled the room instantly.
“What should be said, has been said. Now…
“Let’s fight!!”