Chapter 212 - 212: Two Hundred and Eight: Angry
Since the three had agreed to go to Red Cloud Mountain tomorrow for an outing, Tang Luo dragged Xu off, much to the annoyance of the very honorable young master.
“What’s going on, didn’t we agree to hang out with old Bai today, why are you dragging me off!?”
“Brother, considering your infamous reputation in Xiling, if you linger around Old Bai’s stall too long, it might get overturned, you know?”
They had been there for just a short while, and already quite a number of passersby were casting puzzled and fearful looks in their direction. In today’s Xiling, fewer people recognize him than the prodigal son of a respected household.
After all, recognizing such a striking figure with those mysteries peach blossom eyes is an easy task, especially when these characteristics are found together in one person.
“Let them dare!” Xu indignantly answered, “I’ll go back now, let’s see who dares to lay a hand.”
Tang Luo grabbed him again, saying helplessly, “Don’t cause more trouble. You may be able to protect him momentarily, but can you watch over his stall forever?”
“Why not! I’ll station a martial artist there!” said Xu stubbornly.
“Then would he even be able to do business?” Tang Luo looked at him, “Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘Friendship of gentlemen is as light as water’?” “No!” Xu looked like it was only natural that he wouldn’t know.
“Forget it, let’s go to the Asura Martial Arts Hall.” Tang Luo didn’t want to continue arguing about this.
Xu was confused and asked, “What are we doing there? Isn’t today a rest day?”
“Shouldn’t I help write out your challenge letter when I’m free?”
Xu sneered and turned to leave, “Brother, with your handwriting, there’s no need for you to embarrass yourself. I’ll go and ask Old Bai to write it!”
Heh! The boy knows nothing! What a hothead I am.
Tang Luo raised his eyebrows, “The most important thing about a challenge letter is the content. Do you understand the content? If you don’t need it, find someone more capable!”
That’s right!
It took a while for Xu to realize and he chased after Tang Luo with a flattering look on his face, “Don’t be mad, People who are not tall usually have a big temper-”
Attempting to ease the tense atmosphere, he used his sense of humor to tease Tang Luo. He forgot who said it, but humor is the best medicine to alleviate a situation.
But, they forgot to tell him that humor is intended for others’ amusement, not one’s self.
Just like how Xu didn’t realize he was poking Tang Luo’s sore spot. At fifteen years old, the young man had only grown an inch in a year. At 5’5″, he wasn’t exactly short. But, everyone around him was well over 6 feet tall.
Even his mother, Xu Shuhui, is a head taller than him. Being directly mocked for his height… if not for the fact that they were relatives, Tang Luo would have punched him already.
Tang Luo, with an ashen face, said coldly, “Goodbye!”
He turned around, ignoring the imbecile behind him, and walked directly towards Tang Mansion.
“What happened, bro? Why are you so angry?” Xu, confused, followed Tang Luo, asking all the way.
Still sulky, Tang Luo didn’t reply, simply leading the way in silence and not looking back.
When they were about to reach the main entrance of Tang Mansion, his footsteps finally slowed down a little, his anger subsided somewhat.
“Don’t be mad, I wasn’t considerate. Regarding the challenge letter, I need to rely on you, cousin!” Seeing Tang Luo’s slowing steps, Xu once again tried to butter him up.
Since he had calmed down, Tang Luo didn’t plan to make it hard for him any further, and turned his head to say, “When I return home later, I’ll write a draft copy and give it to you. Also, I’m not short at all. I’m just not fully grown. I will grow taller!”
“Oh ” Xu realized suddenly, he finally understood what had pissed his
cousin off, “Right, right, right. That’s exactly it. You see, I always forget about your age. You will certainly grow taller, at least as tall as your aunt… no, as tall as me! Yes, as tall as me!”
” Good to know!” Tang Luo tossed his head proudly, hands on his waist as he walked into Tang Mansion.
Seeing the two of them, the door guards promptly greeted, “Welcome, Young Master! Dear Young Master!”
“Good job, both of you.” Tang greeted them and continued walking into the mansion.
As soon as he entered the mansion, Tang Luo knitted his brows; the atmosphere seemed different from usual.
“Where did everyone go?” Tang Luo asked, puzzled, looking at the empty courtyard.
Although there are only a few young masters in the mansion, there are many servants and maids. Usually, there would be several maids in the front yard. But today, there wasn’t a single person around. It was quite strange.
“They are all in the side hall-” Xu said in a timely manner. Because he has an acute sense of hearing, he could hear the movements from the side hall. Representative of those movements, came from his aunt Xu Shuhui, along with the breathing sounds of many other people. His other cousin, Tang Xing, was also there.
Tang Luo furrowed his eyebrows; he had a sudden feeling of unease, “Let’s go and see.”
In the side hall,
Heaps of servants are kneeling on the ground, men and women alike. In the center was a young girl of about twelve or thirteen, kneeling with her face up looking at the mistress and a few stewards. Her lips were bitten, and her face showed absolute despair.
The housekeeper in charge of the female servants, Madam Liu, was also kneeling by the side of the young girl, shivering uncontrollably.
Xu Shuhui sat on the upper seat with a stern face, the housekeepers and Manager Xu stood one on either side, their gazes cold.
The young boy, Tang Xing, sat silently next to his mother with his head down, hands resting on his knees. He had never seen his affectionate mother with such a stern expression. It left him at a loss for what to do.
Xu Shuhui had a reason to be angry. After all, her precious child was deflowered by some wench. For her, it was like a bolt from the blue.
For a martial artist at the Mortal Realm, two absolute taboos must never be violated.
The first taboo is not to use any secret techniques related to essence and blood, as that could severely harm a martial artist’s foundation. Especially at the Mortal Realm’s significant foundational stage, where a single use of such a technique would take three years to heal.
The second one is not to consort with women too early. Adolescent martial artists at the Mortal Realm are at a critical point of refining their essence and transforming it into Spiritual Energy. Besides absorbing Spiritual Energy from the world, a substantial part comes from their own Innate Qi. This is the key to why adolescents find Foundation Building relatively easy.
Of these two taboos, large families give more weight to the latter. Because using secret techniques is often done out of desperation. Even when faced with a life or death crisis, if one knows that using a secret technique would harm their essence and blood, they would still have to use it.
But being sexually active too early is different. It is purely for pleasure. When the young masters of large families indulge in sexual desire, it is mostly because they mature early. But more importantly, each family has a large number of maids. These girls, who grew up in a large household, mostly dream of becoming a mistress of some young master. Even a bastard son would suffice.
Marrying off is their only chance to change their fate. To seize this opportunity, they would stop at nothing.
A lot of maids from grand households would have mastered all sorts of enticing tricks. Usually, they take the role of attendant maids. They would bare their chests while scrubbing your face in the morning, or reveal alluring curves while cleaning the rooms and showing off their buttocks.
Almost all the maids know these tricks. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a thing such as maid attendants. But Tang Mansion was different from others..