Chapter 8#

Hua Qianjue’s patience was gradually running out. He frowned at the boy who was standing there in a daze, showing dissatisfaction, and said coldly: “Or do you have other dissatisfactions?” Hua Jinian looked at him blankly, nodded, then shook his head. After a long time, he said: “You…” He had too many complaints in his heart, but none of these trivial matters were worth bringing to the table.

Even that night… this person knew nothing about it. If he knew the truth, his disgust and nausea would probably be no less than his own. Thinking of this, he felt even more embarrassed, not knowing whether to laugh a few times and forget about that muddled account, or remember it for a lifetime.

Hua Qianjue watched the boy’s face turn white then red, red then white, quite a spectacle. He sneered a few times: “It seems you don’t have any dissatisfaction.” Hua Jinian turned his head and hummed reluctantly. A trace of evil smile appeared at the corner of Hua Qianjue’s mouth again. He held Hua Jinian’s chin and turned him back, patted his shoulder and said: “That settles it. Now everyone laughs at me for not teaching my son well. Next time at the banquet, you strive to do better, let’s see who dares to gossip.”

Hua Jinian was young after all. Feeling that hand land on his shoulder, his thin body felt as if struck by lightning. Startled, he couldn’t say any words of refusal. Looking at Hua Qianjue’s deep and sharp pupils, he said yes in a trance. Hua Qianjue laughed loudly: “Why don’t you call me quickly?”

Hua Jinian froze there, a thin layer of red on his face, fine beads of sweat on his forehead, sticking with a few broken leaves. It took him a long time to stammer: “Fa…” Hua Qianjue still smiled. After smiling, he looked at him thoughtfully, his eyes seemingly angry but not angry, just faintly reminding: “Since you have no dissatisfaction and have recognized me, don’t cry and act coy in front of me, lest others don’t know whether I am raising a son or a daughter. Show me the appearance of the Young Master of Futu Fortress, remember?”

Hua Jinian’s face stiffened, seeming a little dissatisfied, and his eyes looked a little hurt. But seeing Hua Qianjue’s instantly sharp eyes, he finally whispered: “Remembered.”

Hua Qianjue nodded then, smiling faintly: “You have to know, you can hate outsiders as much as you want. But… between father and son, where does overnight hatred come from?” As he spoke, he straightened his clothes and hat, walked out of the small woods, and said in a low voice: “Old Hall Master Luo has resigned and returned to the fields. Starting tomorrow, I will teach you martial arts personally.”

Hua Jinian knelt on the ground, his hem stained with oily green broken leaves. Hearing this sentence from Hua Qianjue, he couldn’t recover for a long time. Until Hua Qianjue had gone far, he remembered to stand up. The jade crown on his head was crooked. He groped to straighten it, but the fallen bangs were still swaying on his forehead, covering his eyes.

In the uninhabited woods, he touched the shoulder that his father had patted, feeling that half of his body was bruised and painful, while the other half felt like soaking in warm water, soft and weak. Unknowingly, the boy’s face turned slightly red, and his breathing became somewhat rapid. He cursed in a low voice: “He just took the initiative to find you once, and you were bought by him? These are what he should have done! You forgot, he treated you…”

Speaking of this, Hua Jinian seemed to suddenly think of something. The blood on his face faded completely, and he muttered to himself: “I… what am I thinking.” He reached out and pulled off the jade crown for binding hair again, letting his black hair down, pulling his hair in distress, his face flickering. The golden sunlight passed through the dappled tree shadows, leaving dots of light. Hua Jinian stroked the tree trunk covered with green moss beside him, looked up at the dust dancing in the light column, and frowned tightly.

He thought he had forgotten. But that person just patted him, and he felt his heart beating like a drum. After all, it was a boy’s nature. In his childhood, when the maids held him sitting on the soft couch, they couldn’t help but say a few words: sometimes it was the peerless grace of sweeping thousands of mountains with a sword, sometimes it was his chiseled profile squatting by the stream washing his hands after killing someone, sometimes it was him carrying a precious sword to go to a sword fight under the moon, and sometimes it was his deep features leaning against a tree for a light sleep. Others always say it’s better not to meet than to meet. Perhaps this saying is not false.

“My father…” He repeated in a low voice. The boy’s handsome face pretended to have a disdainful and contemptuous smile. He patted the grass clippings on his hem, picked up the precious sword and jade crown with one hand, and tore at his elbow-length black hair with the other. His eyes with slightly upturned corners flickered uncertainly among the fallen bangs. He walked a few steps, then stopped, looking at his feet wrapped in satin shoes. His delicate features became soft at some point.

The next day, when the morning light just appeared, Hua Jinian carried the precious sword diagonally on his back and walked into the small woods early to wait. It was the time when the branches were full of sparrows singing.

Hua Qianjue didn’t come late, but definitely not early either. His black hair was unpinned, scattered wildly on his shoulders. He just wore a loose and spacious outer robe, tied casually around his waist with a belt, attached with the Futu Token. He narrowed his sharp eyes and looked down at Hua Jinian. The boy looked at his father, then subconsciously compared his own proper clothes and hat, almost having the urge to flick his sleeves and leave.

Hua Qianjue had a look of laziness after indulgence, letting the boy turn his face away awkwardly when he saw the intense hickey on his chest. He leaned against the towering giant tree behind him, seeming so sleepy that he couldn’t open his eyes, and smiled evilly: “This is the earliest I have gotten up in nine years.” Hua Jinian endured for a long time, but still couldn’t help mocking: “Jinian wants to advise Father a few words. In any case, matters of the bed should be somewhat restrained.”

Hua Qianjue laughed low and said: “If I weren’t romantic, where would you come from?” Hua Jinian frowned tightly and gritted his teeth: “But I don’t need brothers and sisters now!”

Hearing this, Hua Qianjue laughed low: “That’s easy too. If anyone gets pregnant, you just kill her with one sword strike.” After he finished speaking, seeing the boy stiffen there, he smiled evilly and added: “Dare not?”

Hua Jinian’s face turned green then white. After taking a few deep breaths, he calmed down a little and whispered: “Aren’t you going to teach me martial arts? Why not start yet?”

Hua Qianjue looked at him and smiled again. He reached out to take the long sword from the boy’s back and slowly drew the sword out of its sheath. The precious sword was as bright as a pool of autumn water. He smiled: “Good, I’ll teach. But I want to ask a few questions first. Why do you practice martial arts?”