Chapter 14

## Chapter 14. Why a New Marriage

"......I didn't plan to send you."

After the match, I sat across from my father at the table.

The spectators had all left, and we were the only two in the vast White Martial Hall.

Father, with his arms crossed, glared at the teacup in front of him and said, "I knew what would happen if you went. I was going to try to stop you, even if it meant breaking your limbs."

"Even if I insisted on going to the end?"

"......I would have pretended to follow you."

In fact, I knew.

I had seen him secretly pack his bags a few days ago.

Sure enough, he's a man who is weak for his son.

I sipped my tea calmly and said, "Since I won, you can't stop me or follow me anymore."

"......Can't I follow you?"

"No, you can't."

I shook my head firmly.

Personally, I am grateful to him.

But from now on, for my sake and for his future, it's better if I move on my own.

"I'll make a lot of money and come back successful. Until then, take good care of the White Martial Hall."

"Brat."

Father pouted his lips in a way that didn't suit his age.

If the widows in this village saw him, they might have swooned, but not in front of me.

"When you go to the Azure Dragon Academy......"

Father hesitated for a moment, then sighed deeply and said, "Your maternal grandfather will be there."

"Really?"

By "maternal grandfather," he meant my mother's father, my maternal grandfather.

It was the first time I had heard this story.

Thinking about it, I had hardly ever heard anything about my maternal side.

Father continued hesitantly, "He......is the student supervisor at the Azure Dragon Academy."

"Really?"

"Your maternal grandfather."

"......Why are you telling me this now?"

When I asked him with a bewildered expression, Father averted his gaze and said, "Didn't I say I didn't plan to send you? I didn't think you'd really beat me. Honestly, if you had just used your inner strength, I would have won easily......"

"Don't make excuses now. If you had such connections, you should have told me earlier. Then the entrance exam would have been easier......"

I stopped speaking excitedly when I saw Father's expression souring.

You don't think?

"......You don't get along with your father-in-law?"

"Not just me, but Yuebaing and her father have been estranged for a while."

Mei Yuebaing.

My mother's name. I asked with a sense of unease, "Why? How long?"

"......Ever since Yuebaing and I got married?"

"Oh, about 30 years, then. You mean 'a while.' At this point, you should just call him a stranger, why do you call him father-in-law?"

Father seemed to pretend not to hear me.

"I don't know how your father-in-law will treat you. He might like you because you resemble Yuebaing...... or."

"Or?"

"He might try to kill you because you resemble me."

"......"

Father frowned and muttered, "He's a very picky man, but he wouldn't really kill you."

I rubbed my aching forehead and sighed.

"Be careful anyway. If you meet a man with the surname Mei and the characters 'Ji' or 'Lian,' run a hundred paces away......"

"I'll only listen up to that point."

Worrying in advance won't help at all.

It's better to go and face it directly.

......He wouldn't really try to kill me, right?

"Should I go with you? If we go together, he'll try to kill me first. You should run......"

"How much does your father-in-law hate you?!"

Sighing deeply, I got up from my seat.

The longer the farewell, the more reluctant I would become.

It's better to leave when it's just right.

If I dawdle any longer, it might get dark.

"Father, I'm leaving now. Take care until I come back successful."

"Don't bow so formally. Just go quickly."

I bowed deeply to Father, then stood up, bowed once more, and turned around.

"......"

I slung my pack over my shoulder and looked around.

I took one last look at the White Martial Hall.

The training ground where I had spent months, the old buildings, the faded signboard, the toys and balls left by the children on one side of the training ground.

The dormitory and buildings where I lived during my time as a Blood Sect instructor were much larger and grander, but I preferred the earthy smell of this training ground.

Perhaps because this was the first place I ever called 'home.'

'I have to come back.'

It might take a few years or even longer, but I vowed to return here someday.

This place is now my hometown.

"Write to me once a month! If I don't hear from you, I'll come after you, you brat!"

"Yes, yes."

Leaving Father's voice behind, I stepped over the gate of the White Martial Hall.

And took a step toward the Azure Dragon Academy.

* * *

"......"

Bai Wuxun watched his son's shrinking back without end.

He stood still, not moving an inch, until his son became a small dot and disappeared.

"......What a heartless brat. He didn't even look back once."

Although his son had changed beyond recognition after coming back from the dead, he was still worried.

He only knew how to yearn for the martial world, but he knew nothing about its ruthlessness.

"Especially, he needs to be careful with women......"

Although his son resembled him more, his straight nose and long eyelashes were a perfect match for his late wife.

When he goes to the Azure Dragon Academy, there will be chaos just because of his face.

He had been the same in the past.

Bai Wuxun recalled the moment he first met his wife at the Azure Dragon Academy.

- Are you the Jade-Faced Scholar? Hmm...... You don't look that handsome.

- What about you? Why are you interrupting my pleasant drinking to criticize my features?

- Since we've met, will you buy me a drink?

- What......?

Their first meeting was not a pleasant one.

She looked so frail that she could break at a touch, yet she boldly raised her eyes and asked for a drink.

But somehow, he found himself in love with that fragile woman.

- Yuebaing, will you marry me? I will reform my ways and look only at you for the rest of my life!

- ...I might not live long because of my frail health. Do you still want to?

- It doesn't matter!

- ...So you're just planning to remarry after I die?

- W, what! I have no such intention!

The two of them pledged their marriage by a lake under the moonlight.

But they faced opposition from her doting father.

- You thief's son! How dare you ask for permission to court someone?

- Father-in-law......

- Who is your father-in-law! I will kill you with a single strike!

- Stop it, Father! If you kill this person, I will die too!

- Y, you! How can you!

Thinking of the father-in-law at that time, Bai Wuxun shuddered.

"......It's amazing we survived."

In the end, the father-in-law declared that he would disown his daughter, and the two of them fled the Azure Dragon Academy like outcasts.

- Yuebaing! I will make you happy! I will find a way to cure your illness!

- Stop making empty promises and enjoy traveling the martial world. I always wanted to do that with the man I love.

Bai Wuxun traveled the martial world with his wife.

It was a difficult time, but the happiest of his life.

A few years later,

A child was born to the two of them.

- Cry, cry, cry!

- Yuebaing! Yuebaing! Pull yourself together!

- ...Is it a boy? A girl?

- A boy! A boy who looks just like you!

"Yuebaing. That baby has grown so much."

Bai Shulong's figure had long since disappeared from sight.

But Bai Wuxun continued to stare in the direction his son had gone.

"I wanted to keep him close for the rest of my life...... But he said he didn't need it anymore. So I let him go."

It seemed as if he could hear his wife's voice from somewhere.

- He'll break a lot of women's hearts, just like you.

"Haha. That's probably true."

Bai Wuxun's smile slowly turned into a serious expression.

"......Should I go after him now?"

His wife's only gift left behind.

A child who resembled her so much that he could be held in his eyes without pain, who was bold and often caused trouble...... but if he could cure his illness, he would give his own life for him.

"Even if I follow secretly and watch from a distance......"

- Give it up. What are you doing to embarrass yourself? You lost the match.

Bai Wuxun chuckled awkwardly at his wife's words.

"Haha. You're right."

He laughed. His wife was right.

Who would protect whom after losing the match?

Although he didn't use his inner strength and didn't give his full effort in that match, he still lost.

"I lost to that child. Haha...... Hahaha."

It was strange. He was laughing happily, but tears were welling up in his eyes.

His laughter slowly turned into s