Altercation

The following morning, Ning'er woke up and felt truly refreshed after sleeping in her comfortable bed, which was a welcome change to her after weeks on the road.

With a small yawn she went into the room where she normally received her breakfast alongside her parents, though to her surprise it wasn't only them that sat at the table but also the grand elder Xiao Yi.

"Good morning, Ning'er. Please, have a seat." Her father, the current patriarch of the Xiao family, said while motioning for her to sit down.

"It hasn't gone unnoticed by various members of the family, your parents and myself included, that you were absent for two whole weeks from the manor, without telling anybody where you had disappeared to. Care to explain where you've been?" Her father asked, while his face was calm though his eyes had taken their usual stern expression whenever the man talked about or handled business concerning the family interest.

"I left Glory city, for two weeks, with a…friend." Ning'er responded, hesitating slightly at the end, which didn't go unnoticed by both her parents and the grand elder, which caused both parties to react differently.

"I see. And this 'friend' wouldn't happen to be the boy that left you at our manor's gates by any chance?" Her father continued to needle her, to which she nodded only in reply.

A heavy silence descended upon the room after that, with none of the parties saying a word or continuing with their breakfast.

"It seems to me that we have been a bit…inconsequential in your education, if that is how you decide to repay your family for all that we've done for you so far." Her father suddenly said, breaking the silence, while his words felt like a ball of pure ice had formed inside of Ning'er's stomach.

"Since you were small you've only received the best of educations from us, were regularly given only the best of medicines to make sure you would grow up healthy and able to achieve greatness in the future.

All we have asked for in return is your loyalty to the family and to do as you are asked to. Then why is it that you now spit on your duty to the family?!" Her father spoke and the man couldn't help but to slightly raise his voice the longer he spoke.

Of course, Ning'er understood his reasoning perfectly, and even saw the logic behind his words, but that didn't mean she wanted to do any of those things. Why was it that her family of all things demanded of her to sacrifice herself to the greater good of their family instead of working on improving their standing on their own and not through attaching themselves to another greater power in Glory city?!

Thus, after listening to her father's hollow words of 'loyalty and duty' for a little while longer, Ning'er finally had enough. For years she had to do as she was told, like a gilded bird in an equally golden cage, dancing to the tune of the elders simply because she was the 'genius' of the next generation. Not to mention that her cousins received just the same resources as she did and they had no such duties to her family!

"Loyalty to the family?! You speak of loyalty but instead of trying to better our standing through our own hard work and ability you attach our family members to the Sacred family like dogs on a leash, yipping at every tuck of the leash! And am I not a member of the Xiao family myself?! Where is the loyalty of you towards me?! Nothing you've done you've done out of well meaning or loyalty towards me, a member of your own family, but out of selfishness and desire to return to our old position amongst the top-ranking families!

And duty?! You speak of duty, yet you spit on your own duty to shield and protect members of our family by selling them out to the Sacred family like a brood mare! I've had enough of this! And I'm most certainly not going to marry that moron Shen Fei, let alone any of the other silk pants of the Sacred family!" Ning'er exploded, for the first time voicing the feelings she had kept buried deep inside of her since she had been ordered to marry Shen Fei out of duty towards the family, which resulted in a rather stunned silence inside of the room, until Ning'er's father snapped out of his silence and responded in kind.

"Xiao Ning'er! How dare you accuse me of acting against the family! How dare you spit on the goodwill we have shown you over the years! From now on, you will not leave this manor until you are told otherwise, and you most certainly WILL marry Shen Fei! This is my last word on the matter!" Her father yelled back, to which Ning'er trembled in rage, before she turned around left the room, smashing the doors closed behind her in fury.

No way was she going to stay in this damn manor, let alone marry that bastard Shen Fei. Her father and the rest of those damn elders could yell at her all they wanted, she no longer cared about their opinions on the matter.

Thus, it came as no surprise when Ning'er went into her room, grabbed the back she hadn't even unpacked once she returned yesterday, pushed some more clothes inside of it and the notes she had made on all the books she had read so far, and rushed out of her room.

The different halls passed by her in a blur, halls she had known since she was little, with their paintings and beautifully carved wooden sculptures, and yet she ignored them all.

From the halls over the walkways that lead through the picturesque gardens into the entrance plaza that lead into the manor of the Winged Dragon family she ran, until she saw the gate in the distance and passed through it, past two astonished guards, and soon left the place she had lived in for her whole life behind her, not once glancing backwards.

Obviously, her exit was noted by the two guards, but they weren't aware of what had come to pass inside the manor so they didn't act accordingly and let her pass. However, it wouldn't take long for Ning'er's disappearance to be made known and once that happened, all hell broke loose.

Ning'er meanwhile rushed through the bustling streets of Glory city, pushing past surprised civilians and nobles alike, some of which obviously recognized her and swiftly began to run their mouth's off at the newest juicy bit of gossip, though she cared not for it.

From the district of the noble families she dashed straight into the district that held the holy Orchid Institute and made a beeline for the only place she had in her mind right at that moment.

Her bag slung around her body, she ignored the yelps of some of her classmates and even the worried shout of her former friend, who obviously understood that something had happened to her and wanted to help, though she never got the chance as Ning'er was of a one-track mind at that moment and simply didn't hear her.

Leaving behind her classmates, panting heavily from the strain of running towards the Institute full tilt, Ning'er barrelled through the heavy doors leading into the library of the holy Orchid Institute and at once was assaulted by the heavy smell of old books and slightly dusty shelves, calming her ragged breathing somewhat.

Walking more slowly, now that she had reached the place she had had in mind on her way here, she took the usual route to the place where Hao normally sat and read, surrounded by shelves filled with hundreds of books with that calm smile of his on his face.

That image in her mind made her smile a little, pushing away the cloud of rage that had blinded her all this time since she had made the decision to just leave the Xiao family, causing her to finally think somewhat more clearly, which in turn finally made her experience the first bout of anxiousness at not having a clear idea on how to continue from here on out.

Rounding the last bookcase to the left Ning'er finally saw the familiar place she had been looking for, and yet, Hao wasn't there.

Slightly disappointed but rather unsurprised, Ning'er still stepped forwards and sat herself down at the table she had studied sometimes together with Hao, while her mind finally calmed down enough for her to come to terms with what she had done.

Strangely, she felt alright with her rather impulsive decision. Sure, there was that anxiousness of having to take care of herself from now on, but she wasn't all that worried about that as she had learned to hunt when she was outside of Glory city together with Hao.

What worried her the most was that she would be forcefully dragged back towards the manor to fulfil her 'duty' to her family, a scenario that had happened in the past in other families so she couldn't completely discard that possibility. She hoped Hao would help her in that case. She knew that he had said he wouldn't fight her battles for her but maybe he would take pity on her in such a situation. At least, she hoped he would. If she had learned one thing about Hao, it was that he could be very ruthless when he wanted to be. Hence her hope that he would direct that ruthlessness at her possible captors. But she would simply have to wait and see.

"Ning'er? Are you alright?" Ning'er though was ripped from her thoughts by a familiar voice that most certainly didn't belong to Hao but instead had a rather feminine tone of worry to it.

Turning around she came face to face with her former best friend Ye Ziyun, who looked concerned for her wellbeing it seemed.

'The day gets better and better it seems. I hope Hao gets back here soon. I really don't want to deal with this right now…' Ning'er thought to herself somewhat resigned and yet she replied to Ye Ziyun nonetheless, hopefully not too forcefully…