Sunset Clouds

27.

"I wanted to apologise."

"Your apology is not needed. Now leave."

The tall girl was staring down Wei Ling with hawk-like eyes, pinning him with all the judgement of the world. He gulped, but persisted nonetheless.

"Miss Xu, I want to apologis-"

"Beat it. Now scram."

The short and curt response brought heart eyes to most of the female cultivators present at the scene. Ah, their dajie was really awesome!!

Fight, dajie!!! Don't let this scoundrel get close to Fengyin xiaojie!!

Somehow, Kun Luomu felt that the girls from the Xu sect were all glaring at him and Wei Ling.... Gah, why does his friend has to be like this????

Not far away from them, Lei Jiajia and
Chen Xueyang stood together, watching them with judgemental eyes and were acting as if they didn't know them.

Traitors! Kun Luomu wailed in his heart. They were the one who wanted to tag along with them, and now they were the ones who were acting high and mighty? Shameless!

He wanted to go over and stand with them, pretending to not know Wei Ling, but... he was loyal, okay. With a resigned sigh, he just stared with dead fish eyes at the two people in front of him.

"Please?"

"No."

"Pweaseee?"

"Persist on doing that, and I'll throw you off this peak. How did you even know that we- I was in this peak, anyways?"

Slip of the tongue..

"Some of your juniors told me!" Wei Ling beamed. Fuck, this idiot of an extrovert, Kun Luomu thought.

Xu Longyue twitched. She opened her mouth, presumably to tell Wei Ling to fuck off for the nth time, but a female disciple intercepted her. The female disciple went up to her and whispered some things, all the while glancing warily at them. Kun Luomu was on edge at first sight.

"... Thank you for the information, Mianmian. Tell him to stay-"

A bustling commotion of colourful robes interrupted her. Chattering and tittering girls were surrounding someone, who was walking towards them.

"--- Nevermind." Xu Longyue sighed. She set her eagle-eyed glare at them once again. "How many times do I need to tell you to leave, for you to finally listen? It's almost as if you people don't have ears."

"Young master, are you alright?"

"Do you feel dizzy? Exhausted?"

"Do you need some tea-"

The sudden onslaught of worried questions dazed them for a minute, before they were dazed again by a dazzling smile.

2-hit combo!

"I'm fine, everyone. Look, my sister's here - I'll be with her the whole day so don't get too worried." Dazzling Smile Man reassured the girls, and they all left in groups reluctantly, after dumping some sweet and savoury dumplings, some tanghulus and other odd snacks into his arms.

Dazzling Smile Man's face lit up when he saw Xu Longyue. "Longyue! Who are these - ah."

His exclamation turned flat towards the end. Kun Luomu could already see the sky falling down and killing them all.

"Hello," That greeting was as dry as any of Chen Xueyang's jokes. "If you don't mind, I'll be taking my sister away."

"I haven't apologised yet!" Wei Ling blurted out. Kun Luomu resisted the urge to murder his friend and bury him in the mud. Why.

"Scram," Xu Longyue repeated, hands dangerously close to the sheathe of her sword. With that ominous sight, Kun Luomu did the intelligent thing - grab Wei Ling and run the fuck out of there before Xu Longyue decides to make them into minced meat for their breakfast meatbuns.

That left the twins, Chen Xueyang, and Lei Jiajia. All the other inhabitants of the peak had already gone away when Fengyin came.

"Uhm."

"What are you two here for?" Xu Longyue questioned them, her brows furrowing. She crossed her arms in front of her, her lips tugging down into a frown.

It was Chen Xueyang who answered with the cutting honesty. "We wanted to see Kun Luomu and Wei Ling embarass themselves."

Everyone paused.

How can anyone react to this...

Unexpectedly, Fengyin let out a short laugh. "How cruel of you, young master Chen."

The aforementioned person inclined his head. "I was merely speaking the truth, young master Xu."

Beside them, Lei Jiajia was scrutinizing them with a sharp eye. Longyue felt a short jolt in her heart, but quickly smothered it as soon as it came. She proceeded to try to calm her beating heart, by interceding between Chen Xueyang and her brother's 'small talk'.

Xu Longyue sneered, her features twisting into something you would see out of a visual novel's villainess - or a tsundere love interest. "Well then, you've seen them embarrassed. Now leave."

"Longyue," Fengyin admonished mildly, looking as if he was chastising her, yet not at the same time. "Please don't be rude to them. Brother said to be cordial to all the guests."

"Brother isn't here right now," Longyue retorted, putting both her hands on her hips. "Besides, he will understand. It's about you, after all." She waved off his concerns, but what she said just made Fengyin even more confused.

It's about him...? Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this. That same feeling told him not to question it, or else he'll lose his mind.

He decided to trust that feeling. For now.

"Great, the whole family is a bro-con...."

Whose family is a bro-con? Excuse you!!!

Wait. Wait what.

Bro-con???????

He searched for the one who was making the comments, and found himself looking into Lei Jiajia's eyes.

In a hesitating motion, he brought one of his hands up... and flipped her off.

Without breaking eye-contact (and probably making others feel weirded out by their display), she also... flipped him off.

Comrade!!!

Unexpectedly, he found a comrade!!!

Fengyin really wanted to cry tears of joy. Finally, after some long years,he found a comrade!!!

Breaking the somewhat intense eye contact she had with him, Lei Jiajia nudged Chen Xueyang and spoke to him. "I'm hungry. Let's go to town to find something to eat."

Underneathe her breath, she added, in english. "Meet me by the wisteria tree near the town outskirts."

Good!!! She really was a comrade!!!

"Uh, Ah'yin?" Longyue held her brother's hands, shaking him a little. "Are you alright? You look..."

"-I'm alright!" he cut her off, feeling excited and jittery all at once. "Let - let's go, brother is waiting for us. I forgot to tell you this earlier, but brother sent me a message saying we should meet up in the ancestral hall!"

He didn't actually receive one. But the mention of their eldest brother got Longyue resdy to move.

"Alright then, let's go...."

_____

re; edit.

original: 4/12/18
revamped: 4/3/19