“What are you talking about?”
Bai Yunfei was storing away his Cataclysmic Seal back into his space ring when he saw Wu Yang and Wu Ping whispering to each other and grew curious on just what could be so secretive.
Wu Yang coughed, “It’s nothing….”
A strange look was given to him for a moment before Bai Yunfei nodded his head. “Well now that this matter is taken care of, we can go back and restart class.”
After bidding the blue-eyes wyrm to be more careful, Bai Yunfei and his students headed back for the academy.
……
A single figure stood high above the clouds to stare down at the direction of Bai Yunfei and the others. Unmoving, he stood there and watched them leave.
This person was Xiao Lan’s master, Long Zhen!
He had been here since the beginning of Xiao Lan’s battle with Cheng Xin and the others. When Bai Yunfei came to end the conflict, he saw it all.
He smiled when Bai Yunfei left. “What an admirable young man. He’s yet to failed expectations….”
……
After returning to top of the mountain, Bai Yunfei began to teach class again as if there hadn’t been anything wrong.
The class quickly went by before it came time for class to be dismissed for the evening. When that time drew close, Wu Ping came happily up to Bai Yunfei, “Instructor Bai, can I come play again next time?”
“Next time?” Bai Yunfei smiled after a moment, “Well….alright. I’ll have Xiao Qi accompany you the next time you come, Princess Ping’er.”
Wu Ping had actually looked quite bored half the day. The other half of the day was spent with her speaking with Xiao Qi, having clearly taken interest in a bird that could speak.
“Heehee, okay! I’ll come with fourth brother next time!” Wu Ping giggled, “Then...will I see your wife next time too?”
“Er….” Bai Yunfei blinked. “Wife? What wife?!”
“Your wife, instructor Bai! Fourth brother said so! He said I can’t admire you because your wife will get jealous….”
“I er….haha! Actually, instructor Bai, I was just curious. Why hasn’t she accompanied you to the Capital?” Wu Yang boomed with laughter, trying to save some face for his made-up excuse from earlier.
It was meant to be a simple line to save him some face, but then when Bai Yunfei’s face grew curiously suspicious, Wu Yang noticed something.
Was Bai Yunfei….looking a little embarrassed?
Could it be….?
Wu Yang’s eyebrows floated up on his face, “Do you really have a wife, instructor Bai?! Haha! Why haven’t we heard about her before?!”
“What? Instructor Bai’s wife? Instructor Bai has a family?!” Mo Chen’s ears perked up at the news and immediately came scampering over in excitement to hear more about it.
His loud voice attracted the attention of the others who immediately came around to surround Bai Yunfei. They were gossipy people by nature and wanted to know if this ‘great news’ was true or not.
None of them knew anything about Bai Yunfei’s personal life and were thus naturally very curious to hear more.
“Instructor Bai, where is your wife? Why haven’t we seen her before? Did she not come with you?” Fang Yong asked.
“I….” Bai Yunfei looked slightly embarrassed when he thought about Tang Xinyun. The others could already tell just what it was he was thinking about from his expression, so he couldn’t simply deny the question. “She’s...er, she’s in the Crafting School still.”
“So there is one!!”
Everyone’s eyes grew wide open. “I told you all!” Mo Chen crowed, “Instructor Bai is an amazing specimen of a man, how could he not have a wife? He’s been living by himself even in the Capital, so of course his wife has to be in the Crafting School.”
“Oh….no, actually we haven’t….”
“But instructor Bai, if you’re teaching in the academy, why hasn’t she come with you? You’re living in such a big home, it has to be lonely….”
“……”
“Ah, instructor Bai, what’s her name?”
“She’s….Tang Xinyun.”
“Oh, that’s…”
……
The torrent of gossip had been endless, and Bai Yunfei even found himself being asked if he had any children. With these questions, Bai Yunfei was starting to regret even mentioning Tang Xinyun’s name.
He felt guilty. Wasn’t it inappropriate to say to his students that Tang Xinyun was his wife?
On the other hand, he felt a little happy about the thought. It was a very happy one….
Unable to handle the questions of Mo Chen and the others anymore, Bai Yunfei finally ‘dismissed’ everyone.
He left the academy with Xiao Qi and headed for the Soothing Heart as per usual. Sipping on some Soul Consolidating Tea, Bai Yunfei returned home.
……
Late that night in Cheng manor.
“Don’t stop me, second uncle! I’ll kill that Bai Yunfei and take revenge for third brother!”
A furious voice boomed throughout the quiet building, shattering the fragile silence that had been there earlier. The voice had been so loud the room they were in shook a bit.
Within this room, Cheng Changlin could be seen holding one of his nephews back. “Little Hu, don’t be rash. I’ve told you before Bai Yunfei isn’t an easy person to deal with. Your victory isn’t certain if you go to him now.”
In front of him was a tall robust man around 1.9 meters tall. He was Cheng Xin’s second brother, Cheng Hu. Having been on the outside for some matters, Cheng Hu came back just tonight in time to see the ‘practically-crippled’ brother of his. Furious beyond belief, he immediately planned to go out and avenge his brother.
“I won’t win against him?!” Cheng Hu spoke out in surprise first before sneering, “So what?! I’ll bring a few people with me then. He won’t get away with this so easily!”
“Little Hu is correct! We shouldn’t let this matter go! So what if this Bai Yunfei has a special status?! He’s openly injured the son of a minister, that’s more than enough to go after him! Why should we grit our teeth and bear this humiliation, how will outsiders view our family?! Little Hu and I should go drag this Bai Yunfei out!”
Like Cheng Hu, Cheng Changshan was quick to anger and was absolutely furious with this situation.
“Third brother, don’t be rash. Why act in such a way towards someone from the younger generation?” Cheng Changlin furrowed his eyebrows, “This Bai Yunfei is from the Crafting School and is Zi Jin’s disciple. He’s now also the instructor of the crafting class where even the Royal Family regard it highly. His status is especially hard to act against.”
“And what of it?!” Cheng Changshan snapped, “Are we supposed to be cowered by that?! Bai Yunfei will pay the price, our house of Cheng will not be made a mockery!”
“Shut your mouths!!”
A loud voice called for silence as Cheng Chaochuan finally stood up from Cheng Xin’s bedside to reprimand the others.
Straight away, Cheng Changshan and Cheng Hu kept silent and said no more.
“Second uncle, how is little Xin?” Cheng Changlin asked in concern.
“Worry not, I’ve healed up most of his wounds for now. His broken bones have been reset, and his arms are saved.” Cheng Chaochuan spoke lowly, “But this time, the time of recuperation will take at least a hundred days. And his right arm will take at least a year to fully heal…..”
“It’s that serious?!”
Cheng hu cried out in anger, “How vicious! We should kill that Bai Yunfei!”
“I told you to shut your mouth!!” Cheng Chaochuan spoke again, “If you don’t wish to end up like your third brother, you should avoid angering that Bai Yunfei.”
It was with great reluctance that Cheng Hu backed down, unwilling to argue with his second grandfather. “Are….are we really going to let third brother’s injury stand like this without lifting a finger?!”
“Of course we won’t let this matter stand as it is. But this isn’t a matter you should bother with. I’ll speak with your father in a bit and see how we’ll handle this….
“How are the other families dealing with this?” He turned to Cheng Changlin.
“I’m not sure as of yet, but they were very quick to react. Plenty of people wanted to deal with Bai Yunfei, but after they found out who he was, they quieted down. With how the Li usually act, I’m sure someone from their household will soon do something though.”