Chapter 636: The news breaks out
Chapter 636: The news breaks out Original and most updated translations are from volare. If read elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.
Torn clothes?
Tang Li had dressed in such a hurry that he didn’t even bother checking his clothes. Now he looked down and saw that they were an absolute mess. Han Yunxi’s lively eyes only regarded him with amusement. Plagued with a guilty conscience, Tang Li tugged on his clothes and murmured, “I’m tired, I’m going to rest first.”
“Tang Li, someone tore your clothes, right?” Han Yunxi questioned. He had been on the run for a day and a night. What kind of trouble had he run into to leave his clothes in tatters?
“I…. I….” Tang Li could usually lie with a straight face, but this time he was tongue-tied. “I, I….aiya, no need to bring it up. The Tang Clan captured me and wouldn’t let me go. I almost lost all my clothes to them! Fortunately, I escaped in time.”
“Oh…” Han Yunxi trailed off meaningfully.
Tang Li knew she didn’t believe him, but he was too lazy to argue. He was about to flee when Long Feiye asked coldly, “Where are your shoes?”
Urk…
Tang Li was so busy worrying about running away that he didn’t notice his bare feet, either.
“I….I…..” Faced with Long Feiye, he was even more tongue-tied than before.
“What happened?!” Long Feiye demanded like a stern older brother. Tang Li would rather die than tell him the truth. It was a complete blow to his dignity as a man! And his image! How was he supposed to get a wife after any of this?!
Despite his resentment, he suddenly realized he didn’t know why he’d run away without killing the woman instead.
“Look now, I’ve—I’ve left my shoes with them instead!” Tang Li stammered. Afraid that Long Feiye would notice something off with him, he pretended to gasp for breath before changing the topic. “Big bro…this time my father was serious. You have…you have to save me!”
Long Feiye knew he was lying, but he was too lazy to ask for particulars, either. Instead he said, “Do you know who your fiancée was?”
“Whoever she is, I’m not—”
“Cang Qiuzi’s daughter, Cang Xiaoying,” Long Feiye interrupted coldly.
Tang Li was stunned!
Although Celestial Mountain didn’t know of the relationship between the Tang Clan and Long Feiye, he had already gone up the peak multiple times as a trusted agent to ask about its news. He knew of both Cang Qiuzi and Cang Xiaoying.
“Did my father go insane?” Tang Li suddenly grew serious.
Neither Long Feiye nor Han Yunxi would expose Tang Zijin’s true motives to Tang Li, who was too surprised to think straight. He only assumed his father was trying to cause Long Feiye trouble on purpose. One Duanmu Yao from Celestial Mountain was already an inconvenience. If the Tang Clan went to provoke them too, then it’d be nothing short of chaos. A man like Cang Qiuzi was someone who haggled over every penny. He was even shrewder than most merchants, so he definitely had his own motives for joining with the Tang Clan in a marriage alliance. Even if they broke off the engagement, he’d still find ways to gain some advantages from the clan or else cause them a huge row.
“No wonder the ambush forces were so strong when I was escaping!” Tang Li muttered to himself.
“Cang Qiuzi’s been pressuring them intensely. Be careful these days so your father doesn’t catch you,” Long Feiye said seriously.
“I know!” Tang Li took his words to heart. But only five days later, a fresh bit of news shocked all of Cloud Realm Continent and pushed Tang Li to the forefront of attention, making it impossible for him to hide.
Apparently, the Cloud Realm Trade Consortium’s President Ouyang Ning Jing had been sullied by the eldest young master of the Tang Clan. Now the trade consortium had sent a massive regiment of men to blockade the Tang Clan so they could give up Tang Li.
Either Tang Li was to marry into the Ouyang Clan, or face death!
It was obvious that Ouyang Ning Jing had tracked down his needle to Tang Li himself. Anyone who fought with weapons like that while looking like some sort of white-robed immortal could only be the eldest young master of the Tang Clan. Han Yunxi instantly remembered Tang Li’s unkempt look when he returned that day and felt cold sweat break out on her back. She had a feeling the accusation was 80 to 90 percent true.
Tang Li was perfectly fine, so why did he….get mixed up with such trouble?! No matter how easy and carefree he is, or how lustful he felt, he couldn’t move against Ouyang Ning Jing of all people!
She was from the Di Clan and Ning Cheng’s own little sister! Tang Li’s mess was no less disastrous than his father’s schemes! Han Yunxi immediately headed for Tang Li’s courtyard, only to see that Long Feiye had beat her there to interrogate the man.
“Are you telling me or not?” he asked coldly.
Tang Li remained silent.
“Fine, you can take care of this yourself. Get back to the Tang Clan this instant!” Long Feiye lost his temper.
Neither the Ning Clan nor Celestial Mountain knew the true nature of Long Feiye’s relationship with the Tang Clan. They only understood that Tang Li and Long Feiye were friends. For now, the events wouldn’t affect the latter directly. But how could a big brother like him simply stand by and let this happen?
Tang Li stole a pitiful peek at Long Feiye as he tried to speak, then stop. When he saw Han Yunxi come over, he only lowered his head and remained silent.
“Still not talking!” Long Feiye roared. He wasn’t patient enough to wait and took out his whip, preparing to lash some sense into him. Han Yunxi quickly grabbed the weapon from him, earning a new impression of their third observer, Chu Xifeng. He thought there was nobody in the world who dared to steal Long Feiye’s weapons, whip or sword.
Han Yunxi, you won another record.
“Enough, enough! It’s not as if it’s a big deal,” Han Yunxi pressed down on the whip as she tried to coax him.
“Not a big deal?” The two brothers both looked at her, Long Feiye glaring hard enough to kill. Han Yunxi hastened to explain herself.
“What I mean is, the Cloud Realm Trade Consortium will go find the Tang Clan, so let them. Cang Qiuzi will stop finding trouble for the clan in turn. Go back and tell Tang Zijin to have those two fight over it instead. Whoever wins can take Tang Li for themselves.” Han Yunxi’s words were clearly meant to be a joke, but Long Feiye took it seriously.
“It might not be a bad idea.”
Tang Li could only ask pathetically, “Big bro, what do you want to do?”
“Just what happened?” Long Feiye’s icy voice already froze Tang Li whole. He hesitated a while longer before finally revealing what had happened. Both Long Feiye and Han Yunxi’s faces blanched at the story.
“Just how useless are you?!” Long Feiye’s rage dashed to the skies, while Han Yunxi couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Tang Li, I don’t think you’re losing out by this. I’ve heard that Ouyang Ning Jing is a beautiful woman. You had good fortune in finding a match for love affairs!” She thought of the stereotypical image of a domineering CEO, though Ouyang Ning Jing didn’t seem the type to drug someone just to have a child. She had to have bigger goals in mind.
Tang Li had no idea how to respond to that comment, but Han Yunxi was already adding, “I’ve long heard that this president of the Cloud Realm Trade Consortium wouldn’t marry into another family, only take a husband into hers. Did she take a fancy to you to trick you into marrying her?”
The fact that Ouyang Ning Jing had committed such a deed and spread rumors that Tang Li had bullied her instead obviously meant that she was keeping up appearances for Tang Li and the Tang Clan instead of laying things bare. This woman was not only ruthless, but absolutely shameless.
No wonder she was able to control the consortium in such a short amount of time after Ouyang Ning Nuo stepped down. She even got an audience with Northern Li’s emperor. Han Yunxi still looked down on Tang Li for committing the deed, but she knew how powerful aphrodisiacs could completely strip a man of his willpower and reason. Tang Li couldn’t be completely blamed for being careless.
A thought came to her head before she said, “Since it’s like this, why don’t we make it reality?”
“What do you mean by that?” Long Feiye asked.
“Have Tang Li express his goodwill to Ouyang Ning Jing and slip into Cloud Realm Trade Consortium that way. We’ll be able to keep tabs on the trade consortium and the Ning Clan’s movements that way. Moreover, we can use their strength to deal with Cang Qiuzi and watch the two tigers fight. And what’s more…” Han Yunxi grinned. “Tang Li has to take his revenge somehow, right!”
Long Feiye looked towards Tang Li, who was nodding in earnest as he gave Han Yunxi a thumbs up. “Sister-in-law is wise and brilliant. I, Tang Li, will definitely get my revenge!”
“The Tang Clan will still be an attractive asset to Ning Cheng,” Long Feiye said coldly. In the end, it’d be up to Tang Zijin to work things out. After all, Tang Li had accompanied them to rescue Gu Beiyue last time, so Ning Cheng wouldn’t trust the man himself. If Tang Zijin stood out instead, it would be much easier. Ning Cheng would never expect the entire Tang Clan to be under Long Feiye’s command.
That very same day, Long Feiye wrote a letter to Tang Zijin to tell him the truth. The man was infuriated and nearly ran straight to Yaoshui to kill Tang Li himself! The Tang Clan had utterly lost face, all because of that rascal!
But after reading through Long Feiye’s plan, he held himself back and immediately took Aunt Ru into conference. “If we can infilitrate the inner ranks of the Di Clan, it’s much better than gaining Cang Qiuzi’s strength on our side,” Tang Zijin said seriously.
“Does Li’er agree?” Aunt Ru asked hastily,
“Would he dare to disagree?” Tang Zijin huffed, still irked.
“Calm down. As if Li’er could really lose out by a match like this? If there’s anyone to blame, it’s that cheap slut Ouyang Ning Jing for being so shameless. Li’er will be enduring humiliation to carry out an important mission this time. How is he supposed to get his revenge at all, once he’s married into the Cloud Realm Trade Consortium?” As Aunt Ru spoke, she added, “Clan Head, we haven’t made any progress with the Shadow Clan affairs since last time. Han Yunxi is still a snake in the grass. If she really ends up being a West Qin descendent, will she join hands with the Di Clan to hurt Feiye instead?!”
Tang Zijin rolled his eyes at her. It was obvious that jealousy had made her suspect too deeply. “We’ll deal with Li’er’s matters first,” he said decisively.
The very next day, Tang Zijin used his status as Tang Clan head to spread news that Tang Li would take responsibility for Ouyang Ning Jing until the end. But instead of him marrying into her clan, it would be a normal wedding. Additionally, he revealed the marriage agreement between Tang Li and Cang Xiaoying and expressed his apologies to the Cang Clan while formally breaking off the engagement. His lack of instruction was to blame for Tang Li’s actions, so he was willing to pay off the Cang Clan for all their losses.
Once again, Cloud Realm Continent fell into an uproar at the news. Ning Cheng had been losing his temper over Ning Jing’s own actions, but this revelation caught him by surprise. He never thought that the Tang Clan was planning to marry into Celestial Mountain. After half a day’s worth of deliberations, he told Ouyang Ning Jing, “There’s no need to dispute with Cang Qiuzi over this issue. We still haven’t resolved things with Duanmu Yao yet, so stop causing me more trouble!”
Ouyang Ning Jing gave a cold snort. “How could your own sister’s virginity and marriage be something unimportant?”
Ning Cheng arched a brow at her. “Ning Jing, the world might think that Tang Li took advantage of you. But your lordship does not!”
This damned girl had even sent men to surround the Tang Clan and spread the news before coming to tell him she’d been bullied. From what he knew of her methods, she was the one who trapped Tang Li instead!
“Big brother, it doesn’t matter what you believe. I already belong to Tang Li. You don’t want to provoke Cang Qiuzi, but I refuse to let the Cang Clan take my husband, either!”