Chapter 326: Each Other’s Sunshine (1/2)
[Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach]
As expected, Zhang Zixing’s voice kept echoing in quick succession.
“A respectful welcome to the eldest young miss of the Marquis of Citysun.”
“Greetings to the fifth young miss of the Marquis of Order Foundation.”
One airship after another landed in quick succession. Qianye had quietly retreated to the edge of the airship port and was continuously distancing himself from this troublesome area.
He secretly counted and found that there were two adopted daughters of dukes, ten lineal daughters of marquis, and three lineal daughters of counts. And this was excluding the main family ladies within the enormous groups of followers. This group of noble ladies had come for Wei Potian and was precisely this so-called “trouble” the Wei clan heir had been mincing words about.
At this time, Qianye suddenly thought of something. It seemed Blackflow City would be extremely “safe” in the period to follow.
A total of fifteen prominent noble ladies had arrived along with their guard units, each comprised of well over a hundred warriors. Blackflow City had gained a powerful thousand-man squad in the blink of an eye! There wasn’t much cooperation to speak of among them, but their levels were high and their equipment, excellent. They, alone, could easily defeat an imperial regular army corps of the same size.
Besides, the expeditionary higher-ups were undoubtedly aware of the fact that a group of noble ladies and an imperial fleet had come over to Blackflow City. They certainly wouldn’t choose such a time to act even if they had certain plans in mind.
Qianye was thus afforded with another buffer period. Meanwhile, his control over the reorganized Dark Flame and Blackflow City would only increase over time.
From this perspective, the problem Wei Potian had invited over wasn’t all that bad.
But the sudden influx of so many people made Blackflow City’s poverty even more obvious. There weren’t enough jeeps in the city to carry everyone not even if they ran back and forth several times. In the end, only the noble ladies and their female companions were offered a comfortable ride, while their followers and guards along with Zhang Zixing’s subordinates had to share the troop carrier trucks on the bumpy ride into the city.
Qianye hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with Wei Potian in private since the moment Nangong Ling alighted from the airship. Presently, he had been surrounded by ten-odd noble ladies—how could he have the time for Qianye amidst the constant buzz of feminine chatter. Meanwhile, Qianye had no intention to help him break this siege at all. He absolutely wouldn’t court trouble for himself by approaching these noble ladies.
Qianye called for Song Hu, Duan Hao, and the others immediately upon arriving back at the division headquarters. Together, they began to recruit the rich and powerful gentry of Blackflow City to accommodate these heaven’s proud daughters. It was just that the standards of the Blackflow City upper-class were a ways off from that of imperial nobility. Although the local gentry were delighted to ingratiate themselves to these noble ladies, the process wasn’t exactly a smooth sail.
Settling thousands of people in was a complicated business, and these aristocratic fellows were exceptionally demanding. Additionally, the nobles of the upper continent were inherently disdainful of the civilians of the abandoned land, their language and behavior a constant display of their arrogant sense of superiority.
Arranging for accommodations alone took up the entire afternoon. To speak nothing of the other Dark Flame members, even Qianye himself heard words like “as expected of a rural area”, “why isn’t this place cleaner?” and “can you bear the crime if our young miss gets sick?” multiple times.
The actual noble ladies were all mild-mannered and refined. They absolutely weren’t lacking in manners, at least in front of Wei Potian.
But those followers were much more difficult to deal with. Their attitudes were usually much more arrogant than the noble ladies, and it almost seemed as if their eyes were growing atop their heads. Perhaps one could discern the noble ladies’ true manners from their respective maids.
Fortunately, there weren’t any problems with the imperial army corps led by Zhang Zixing. They quickly settled themselves in after the seventh division emptied half a barracks for them. Even the accompanying champions who had to share a room in twos or threes didn’t raise any special demands.
It was already night time by the time all these uninvited guests of astonishing identities had been arranged for.
Only then did Qianye find an opportunity to grab Wei Potian and drag him into the dark. He lifted the man by the collar and said angrily, “What the hell is going on?!”
Qianye could be considered slender and thin among his peers. Wei Potian was taller than him by almost half a head, and his build was stouter than the former by a significant margin. But now, he had been lifted up by this relatively delicate Qianye with no ability to retaliate.
Wei Potian let out some awkward laughter—it seemed there was no way to fool Qianye. “I’ll speak, I’ll speak! Qianye, can you please let me down first?”
Qianye let out a cold snort and released his hand, whereupon, like a huge rock, Wei Potian fell to the floor with a loud bang.
Wei Potian glanced at Qianye fearfully while rubbing his somewhat painful neck. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Even the arachne viscounts I’ve battled before aren’t as strong as you are. Are you still a human or not?”
“I’ve told you before that I’m not,” Qianye was starting to get impatient, “now speak! Stop rambling about other things!”
Wei Potian sensed a rather familiar killing intent and immediately shrunk his neck while letting out a dry cough. “Hehe… that… wasn’t my birthday just a while ago?”
This so-called “just a while ago” was six months prior—it was Wei Potian’s important twentieth birthday. At first, Qianye had intended to visit the Far East Province after the matters regarding Dark Flame had settled down, but plans fell through when war erupted on Evernight Continent.
“So, what of it?
It turned out that half of the upper continent defensive regions had battled against the dark races in the period preceding the war on Evernight. The Broken-Winged Angels where Wei Potian had been at the time was also called into battle. Under the circumstances, his birthday banquet was canceled and, that very same day, Wei Potian was gravely injured after single-handedly holding back two dark race viscounts on the battlefield.
Wei Potian’s face flushed red as he said sheepishly, “Erm, while I was recuperating, my family suddenly told me that it was time for me to start a family since my birthday has passed.”
Qianye stared fixedly at Wei Potian and observed him from every angle. The Wei Potian who usually acted like a local ruffian was actually wearing such a bashful expression.
Qianye suddenly became spirited and said with a laugh, “That’s not wrong. What then?”
Wei Potian’s face turned even redder and was now like a well-cooked lobster. “Naturally, all types of matchmakers began to appear at the doors! As it turned out, my family had already spread news of my marriage arrangements.”
Qianye found Wei Potian’s reaction quite odd. Wasn’t this normal?
Marriage was one of the most important events for the aristocracy and signified an alliance with other powers. Wei Potian had long since been designated as the heir and had revealed outstanding talents. His future was extremely promising and was the perfect marriage partner. Daughters of dukes and marquis all flocked to him the moment this news was released.