21 Legacy World 1.11 Back From A Date

Thanks to BaoBao's surveillance, Xinyi found out through the grapevine that MeiRuo got crippled because of the flogging and that her marriage was already being finalised. When she learnt about the rumours that MeiRuo's fiance was abusive, she guessed that it was ZiYao's and her mother's devious way of getting rid of MeiRuo.

For the following days, BaoBao behaved like the perfect assistant and nurse. He helped her to bathe and change, and he cooked and fed her.

Every three days, ZhangYong turned up at her courtyard with fresh new ingredients and games or books for Xinyi.

BaoBao grumbled the first time he arrived which happened to be at a time when BaoBao was putting on a fresh layer of salve after her bath. [Why's he here? Wasn't he told to come back after a week at earliest?]

ZhangYong had entered her room straight after knocking, then froze when he saw her with her clothes in disarray. With a bright red face, he spun around top face his back towards her within the next second.

Xinyi, on the other hand, remained perfectly calm. She knew that this day would eventually come with the lack of decorum they shared with each other.

ZhangYong cleared his throat then asked, "Do you need help with the medicine?"

"Leave." Xinyi was uninterested in playing the part of a good host or an appreciative patient.

ZhangYong's shoulders sagged slightly and he silently left the things he brought on her table before doing as she instructed.

During all his subsequent visits, he remembered to knock and wait for a long while before entering her room. He was, however, constantly sent away afterwards.

His persistent and sincere concern for Xinyi began to pacify BaoBao and BaoBao's complaints and grumbles about his visits lessened. It was also mitigated because of the things he brought for Xinyi which she used to play with BaoBao to pass time.

Xinyi would have immersed herself in cultivating or studying non stop but now that she was growing a soft spot for BaoBao, she never failed to set aside some time everyday to entertain him.

At the end of two weeks, most of Xinyi's wounds were completely healed. As predicted, injuries treated with the salve that was nourished the most recovered the fastest. The ones treated with the salve that was nourished the least still has fresh scabs.

When ZhangYong came by and found Xinyi working on her garden, he felt so elated that he happily asked her like an excited child, "Will you be fit enough to practice martial arts soon?"

Xinyi nodded in reply. "See you then."

Thinking that things would only get better from the next time he came, his spirits remained relatively high and he did not leave immediately. After his initial excitement died down, he noticed how she was wearing relatively thin clothes despite it being winter now.

"Do you not have thicker clothes?" ZhangYong asked with a slight frown.

When she refused to answer him, he made his way into her room and searched through her clothes. She did not have a lot of choices in general and the thicker ones looked worn out and uncomfortable to wear. /Is this the extent of neglect she's facing in her family?/

He looked at the stack of new clothes that he bought for her. It was still sitting on the table where he had left it days ago, completely untouched.

Before Xinyi even noticed that ZhangYong was back by her side, she felt herself wrapped in a warm and heavy robe. Her shoulders jumped and she tried to push it off in the next second but was met with resistance.

"You can choose to use my money to buy warmer clothes for yourself, wear the thicker clothes that I have already bought for you, or be wrapped up in my coat like this."

"... Thank you for your gift then." She said with a slack expression on her face. "Can you let me go now?"

ZhangYong wordlessly did as she asked and watched her make her way back to her room.

"Please leave." Xinyi told him once more before she closed the door behind her.

He clenched his jaw a little and mentally comforted himself that things between them would return to normal once they started practicing martial arts together again.

Although BaoBao has softened up towards him and even started to feel sorry for him, he remained wary so did not say anything about Xinyi's cold treatment.

Soon after ZhangYong left, a maid came to summon her to the main hall. Although it caused her to not have enough time to change into her new winter wear, Xinyi did not mind.

Right after the maid was done speaking, BaoBao informed her. [The third hurdle to cross is to avoid falling into the hands of your intended.]

/I guess ZiYao doesn't feel safe with me knowing her true nature./

Xinyi arrived at the main hall to find her parents and the main wife waiting for her.

After she greeted all of them properly with a curtsy, her mother, who was carrying EnLai in her arms, asked her sweetly, "Xinyi, are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, thank you for your concern." Xinyi replied politely.

BaoBao, however, felt triggered. [Ptooey! How fake! If she was really concerned about you, she would have checked on you at least once!]

With Xinyi's reply, the main wife spoke. "As a sincere apology to you, we have decided to marry you into an affluent family where you can live comfortably and get well taken care of."

"Thank you for your kind thought but your daughter is happy living in this household, you don't have to rush this." Xinyi rejected them respectfully.

"Xinyi, don't you know that it's rude to reject others' kind intentions." Her mother lightly chided.

When her mother heard who Xinyi's fiance would be, her eyes had glowed with greed from picturing the dowry they would receive for marrying Xinyi off.

"You're turning 17 very soon. It's about time for you to get married before you get left on the shelf. Fulfill your duty as a daughter of this family." Her father spoke up.

[As if any of you fulfilled the role of her parent! How can some people be so thick skinned?! Giving nothing but asking for everything in return.] BaoBao retorted indignantly.

Knowing that there was no way out of this marriage, she gracefully accepted the "offer" with thanks then returned to her courtyard. /BaoBao, it's high time we left the estate./

For the next two days before Zhang Yong came again, she studied geography and maps intensely. She also made plans to read up about the history of wars and conflicts of this country.

When Zhang Yong arrived in the late afternoon on the third day, he felt her presence in her room.

He knocked on her door as usual. Just as he was prepared to wait in silence before entering her room, Xinyi let him know that it was alright for him to enter. His eyes brightened and his spirits soared to receive his first response from her after days of knocking on her door.

/Doesn't she normally read at the plum blossom tree?/ He wondered to himself when he saw her reading at her table until he remembered how the previous ploy was made possible because of that. Remembering what happened brought him back down to earth and he felt a little gloomy again.

Xinyi closed her book after finishing the portion she was in the midst of reading. "GongZi is early. I thought that GongZi would only arrive when the sun is setting."

"It's out of habit..." ZhangYong was glad that she was finally speaking to him but at the same time he felt weird. She never spoke to him this politely before. However, ZhangYong could understand if she was doing it intentionally to distance herself from him.

Xinyi thought for a while. "GongZi, do you mind imparting your knowledge about all of the conflicts this country has to this small woman?"

/What got her interested in war and politics?/ It was rare and surprising to find a woman interested in such things. "Sure, but why?"

"I'm afraid I cannot disclose that. It's alright if GongZi cannot teach me because of this."

"No, no. Forget that I asked." Not wanting to lose the chance to interact with her, ZhangYong hastily retracted his question.

"Is it also okay for me to request to increase the intensity of our training?"

"But you just recovered..."

"It is fine."

"... If you say so then." Feeling like he owed her something, he felt like giving her whatever she wanted.

Unfortunately for ZhangYong, he realised overtime that things were not going back to the way it was like he hoped it would.

Like in the past, ZhangYong began coming by in the afternoon three times a week. The afternoons which he used to spend on building something at the back of her courtyard were now spent on educating Xinyi. Afterwards, they would immediately begin their martial arts practice but this time with the use of weapons that ZhangYong provided.

It was from this point on that it became blatantly clear to ZhangYong that Xinyi's attitude remained as cold as ever. After she formally thanked him for his instructions and teachings, she would proceed on with her life as if he was not there to lend her a hand.

When he told her to bathe, Xinyi cooked. She would also ignore the water that has already been boiled for her bath to draw more water, which she boiled while she ate. During the entire time, she would not respond to anything he said if it has nothing to do with her education.

What touched his heart was her principled and gentle nature behind that ice cold facade. No matter how much she ignored his existence, she never made him go hungry even though he was the one who insisted on staying on. She would always have a portion cooked for him to eat and use the water he boiled for his drink or food.

ZhangYong's heart ached to feel the distance between them that seemed impossible to close. Reluctant to give up like that, he could only be thick skinned and take advantage of her kindness.

Just like that, 2 months flew by in a blink of an eye and Xinyi suddenly said something out of the ordinary.

"I'd like to request for GongZi to avoid coming here on the day after tomorrow. This small woman would not be free to receive you."

ZhangYong was about to ask her what she was busy with but the fear that she would tell him to stop coming caused him to swallow his words back down. Instead, he responded with a simple nod.

Unbeknownst to her, ZhangYong actually had other plans in mind.

On the day that Xinyi said she would be busy, ZhangYong came in the late afternoon and made sure that the courtyard was empty before he entered it.

He was going to take advantage of her absence to cook up a feast for her.

Understanding that she was not the type of person to waste anything, he was sure that he would not be ignored this time round. He knew that this was a despicable move but it was all he could think of at the moment.

It was long after sundown when Xinyi finally returned back to her courtyard.

While Xinyi did not look very surprised to find him in her courtyard, ZhangYong felt his breath get taken away the moment his gaze landed on her. He stared at her blankly, mouth agape, and rose from his seat slowly.

Xinyi was all dressed up. Her makeup was properly done. Her black hair was elaborately and elegantly styled with silver ornaments that sparkled like the stars in the night sky. The light pastel pink garment with silver embroidery seemed to have an effect of softening her aura.

ZhangYong could think of many people who looked more amazing and beautiful than Xinyi but not one of them made him feel the way he felt now, including HuiShan. He gulped noisily. He was so used to seeing her refreshing look that her look now really astounded him.

He only caught himself staring when she reached the stone table where he was at and greeted him formally.

He quickly closed his mouth, cleared his throat lightly, then asked, "You... look wonderful tonight. Did you attend some event?"

After he asked the question, he started to wonder if the people at the event had the ability to appreciate the unassuming beauty that Xinyi has.

"It's nothing worth GongZi's notice. May I know the reason for GongZi's visit today?"

"I haven't gotten to properly apologise to you yet. So… I came over today and prepared a feast for you as an apology. Will you… Accept it?" ZhangYong asked somewhat timidly.

At the back of his mind, he knew that such a behaviour was unbecoming of someone about to take up the role of a commander, but he really wanted to make it up to Xinyi and was afraid that she would reject him.

Xinyi looked at him for a good long while.

Unbeknownst to him, BaoBao had long been bought over by him and this move of his destroyed every last bit of wariness that BaoBao had towards him.

Xinyi sighed inwardly and a hint of resignation entered her eyes. "I'll have to thank you for the food then."

ZhangYong caught the slight change in the way she talked to him and his eyes rounded in surprise again. Boundless joy filled his eyes within seconds and a bright smile spread across his face. He then bounded off like a happy dog and brought the food that was being kept warm on the stove to the stone table.

Xinyi, however, has already steeled her heart in preparation for things like that. She remained unaffected and obligingly sat down at the stone table.

During their meal, ZhangYong tried to ask her about her day again, "Today... Was there an event that you had to attend?"

"I was meeting my fiance for the first time." Xinyi replied.

ZhangYong's eyes shot towards her and the food between his chopsticks dropped onto the table.

The shock felt so great that he might as well be shocked by lightning itself. Xinyi replying to his question was one thing. He had not heard a thing about her marriage from HuiShan or anyone. /Was the news not significant enough for servants and maids to gossip about?/

When he finally noticed Xinyi looking pointedly at something on the table, he broke out of his daze and followed her gaze to the food he dropped. "Oh. Sorry."

When he wanted to pick it up, Xinyi grabbed his wrist. "What were you about to do? I'm not that horrible a person that I'd make you eat dirtied food, am I?"

ZhangYong laughed sheepishly. "You're right."

Because he was still recovering from the shock, he did not think well and his hand moved by itself.

After eating in silence for a while, ZhangYong finally breached the topic that bothered him greatly. "Where did you meet him today?"

"I followed my father and Mother Chen to meet my fiance and his parents at a restaurant." Xinyi replied blandly without missing a beat.

"How was he?"

"He looks like any other rich young master. He seemed to be quite pleased with me since he took me for a stroll in a garden for the rest of the day without our parents."

"Oh…"

After another long pause with them eating in silence, he asked in a soft voice, "So... Who is this man who's fortunate enough to get someone like you?"

"Ou SiLiang. But I'd like to correct you that he's not that fortunate." Xinyi said that in all honesty because only she knew of her plan to make him end up as a ditched groom.

ZhangYong frowned at her words then said in a very serious tone, "How's he not fortunate? Your beauty's charming. Your character's precious. The tenacity, drive, and discipline you show in trying to break through your boundaries is invaluable and awe inspiring."

The way he spewed out such words in such a serious tone made it hard for even Xinyi to brush off. It felt so different from the way the smooth talker sounded in the afternoon.

No longer able to continue eating nonchalantly, she cast her eyes down and paused in her eating to regain her composure. "Please don't say such things again."

His brows drew together even more and formed a deeper frown. "Why not? It's the t-"

"I get it. I get it. I just don't need to hear it again. Thank you." Xinyi hastily cut him off with her head still hanging low.

ZhangYong noticed her red ears and observed the way she rubbed the tip of her nose. He then stopped frowning and revealed a little grin before he resumed eating in silence.

Meanwhile, BaoBao was grumbling and whining unhappily in her head. [If I haven't already learnt my lesson, I would have said that he was surely in love with you. Why are human emotions so difficult to learn…? Why is human behaviour so difficult to read…?]

Later that night, after ZhangYong returned back to the camp close to the border, he found that sleep evaded him. His mind kept drifting back to Xinyi's engagement. In the end, he reasoned with himself that he must be worried if that man was good enough for her. /Ou SiLiang… I'll ascertain for myself if you're capable of taking good care of her./

Meanwhile on Xinyi's end, she was discussing her plans with BaoBao while they sat side by side on her bed. "SiLiang said that the dowry will be ready and sent over by the end of the next month. I have to be gone by then."

"We've only managed to sneak out of the house a few times in the past two months... We haven't even gone beyond the capital yet." BaoBao felt a bit worried.

Xinyi looked at her hands. "And I'm still at mid level Sky realm." She said with a sigh.

"I can feel that I'm at a bottleneck though…"

She clenched her hands then looked at BaoBao. "We'll go as far as we can from now on and we'll sneak out more often. Get ready for more action."

BaoBao's eyes burned with enthusiasm and he nodded resolutely. "Mm!"