He Lan wants to persuade

Xiao Su sat up in bed and groggily rubbed her eyes. She didn't panic that she was in bed or that the room was clean, she only frowned slightly when she realized her clothes were gone. "Even though I keep telling her to leave the clothes" she mumbled dispassionately while reaching out for the prepared clean set next to the bed.

She ran out the house after dressing, as she was leaving a maid called out to her, but she was completely focused on her thoughts and didn't notice. She arrived at her personal training room a while later. Originally this was meant to be a house distributed to her by the clan, but she preferred staying with her mother and never used it, so when her problem came up, she had it remodeled into a training room. Incidentally, there was a training area at the mother's house, but it wasn't private.

She listlessly walked into the room and sat down in contemplation… actually, it was more of a dull stare into nothing. Coming here to find methods to fix her cultivation was a part of her daily routine, but today she couldn't think of anything but the events of last night. Ren, how should she face him from now on? Can their friendship still be salvaged? Questions like that ran around her head.

"How unlike you to waste time with such a vacant stare" A cold voice said in an admonishing tone. Xiao Su slowly turned her head to see a cute cool looking maid and stared at her vacantly. "If you're looking for an apology, it'd be a better use of your time to keep your clothes clean in the first place." The maid said frostily

She said it coldly, but Xiao Su knew she said it because she had a guilty conscience after stripping her, despite promising not to, and wanted to apologize, which is why, "He Lan you really are the best to me!" She yelled that loudly and pounced at her.

"Disgusting." He Lan immediately rejected as she spun out of Xiao Su's trajectory.

"Why!?" Xiao Su questioned loudly as she hit the ground.

"I have no intentions of taking the rebounded emotions from that guy" She stated flatly.

"Geh!" Xiao Su said and looked away, like a child who'd done bad. "I wasn't doing that" she said defensively, though it also sounded guilty because she just realized she was.

"What happened" She asked tersely

Xiao Su looked unwilling for a while then hesitant, and finally teary eyed.

He Lan sighed and kneeled to eye-level with the sitting Xiao Su and once again asked "What happened?" but in a gentler tone.

Xiao Su finally broke down and told her everything Xiao Ren said last night.

He Lan comforted her as she whined, cursed and cried, though she couldn't help but throw in some remarks like "I told you he was no good," and "You need to show better judgement," or "That hypocrite," plus the ever important "You should listen to me more."

"Lan-Lan, what should I do" She asked after calming down.

"Tell him go to hell and forget about it" He Lan advised bluntly

"If I could do that would I be worrying about it!" Xiao Su immediately retorted.

"Then, ignoring all outcomes, what do you want to do most?" She asked flatly

Xiao Su hesitated for a bit in thought. In the end she said, "I'm not fully sure what I want to do, but, at the very least, I want to know why this happened."

"If it's just that much, I can answer it now" He Lan stated.

"Really!" Xiao Su looked at her in surprise.

"It's not that difficult to figure out, the news is traveling around fast" He Lan said nonchalantly.

"Tell me!" Xiao Su asked excitedly.

"I don't mind. But, knowing won't change the core issue." He Lan said with certainty.

The excitement in Xiao Su died instantly as she clenched her fist and looked down in sorrow. "Of course I noticed." She said bitterly. As someone who'd been scorned by many she'd learned to pick up the differences in emotion. "Those words came from the heart, no matter the reason for the outburst, he most likely hates me and has for a while." She finished miserably.

"Yes, that's the case." He Lan nodded with a sigh. She looked up at Xiao Su's depressed face and asked, "Knowing this, do you still wish to know the reason?"

Xiao Su stayed silent for a while before giving a feeble nod. If it was common news she was likely to find out anyway.

"Very well" He Lan said grudgingly. "The reason is rather simple, there's been a change in the rules for the upcoming annual competition."

"Eh?" Xiao Su gasped before quizzically asking "How does a change of rules effect Xiao Ren?" Xiao Ren's talent was honestly not very good, no matter what changes occurred it wouldn't affect his placing much.

"The change is more a change to the rules of the clan rather than a change to the actual competition." He Lan explained. "According to the new rules, branch members who don't place well will be sent back to their homes. He must realize he has no chance and his despair brought out his bottled-up emotions."

"What!" Xiao SU exclaimed.

"The competition begins in a month, it'd be best if you decided what you want before it's time to say goodbye." He Lan continued, ignoring her outburst.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, I can't process all this at once. You're saying Ren is going to be forced to leave in a month?"

"That would summarize the key points, yes." He Lan confirmed.

"I have to do something!" Xiao Su shouted while leaping up, all the memories of her and Xiao Ren running through her mind.

"There's nothing you can do." He Lan said as she grabbed Xiao Su and forced her to sit back down. "this was a decision made by the bigshots of the clan and it doesn't only affect him. You're not in a good position yourself Su, you can't make it worse by asking for special permission for someone, someone who doesn't think well of you I might add. Unless you can bring him up to a suitable level in the next month, rather than harboring any crazy ideas of helping him, you should think about how you want your separation to go and how to fix your own problems." He Lan explained in a calm tone while Still kneeling and looking into Xiao Su's eyes, but there was a powerful drive, an insistence in her voice and intense emotion in her eyes that wasn't there before. "Su, please don't do anything that will make things worse for yourself."

"Lan-Lan…" Xiao Su whispered as she stared into He Lan's cold face. "Ok, I won't do anything to endanger myself, I promise" She relented.

He Lan relaxed and stood up. "Good, then next is deciding what you want. It might sound cold, but I don't think you should prolong this decision, you still need to focus on your own cultivation as well." She said, holding out a hand.

"Don't worry, there's no need to prolong it." Xiao Su said, grabbing her hand. "Because I've already decided, I'm going to help him." She said with determination while pulling herself up. He Lan let go of her hand part-way, causing her to fall on her butt.

"I'm really getting tossed around this morning." Xiao Su pouted but He Lan was having none of it.

"Didn't you just promise me that you won't endanger yourself" He Lan said with a cold fury in her voice.

"I have a way!" Xiao Su declared with confidence while shooting upright. "A way to help Xiao Ren and not endanger myself in anyway, though, I will need a little help."

He Lan looked stunned, then skeptical. "You of all people should be aware of his talent, even if you spend the entire month drilling him rigidly it's unlikely to help much."

"I'm well aware of that, I also understand that even if that wasn't the case I have to think about my own situation as well." Xiao Su admitted. "Rather, since it's a matter of his talent, I'll just change his talent and then let nature take its course." She finished simply.

Well, this time, He Lan was well and truly stunned speechless.