Chapter 2983 — Bingtang's Heart
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
As for herself... hmph, she was not worried about her at all—she was only worried about the people around her!
"Aunt Qing, go yourself. If the Dark Night Palace people come looking for trouble with Wei Zhao again over some pretext, shield him from it." Bingtang hesitated a moment, then said, "And if the Dark Night Palace people ask, say that Vice Palace Master Feng ordered you to come. Wei Zhao is her beloved, so it doesn't really violate the ancient rules."
"Ah?" Aunt Qing was taken aback. She had not expected Bingtang, always so aloof and free of desire, to take the initiative in such a matter, and it struck her as rather inconceivable.
"I don't want Wei Zhao's affairs to affect Xiaoxiao's cultivation. Besides, I can't very well ignore how Mother and Tang Zhi would feel, can I?" Seeing Aunt Qing's astonishment, Bingtang explained with a faintly unnatural expression, "It has nothing to do with me. I don't want to be anybody's little-little-little-little wife—it'd be better if he just died!"
"Ah?" Aunt Qing had begun to understand from the first half of Bingtang's words, but that added remark only bewildered her further. This did not sound like Bingtang at all! And why had she gone out of her way to explain about being a little-little-little-little wife? What did that mean?
In truth, even Bingtang herself did not understand her own heart. She had grown up in the Ice Palace, where every day was nothing but cultivation, cultivation, and more cultivation. Then, suddenly, she had begun to pay attention to a certain person, though she could not say when it had started. Bingtang might look at this person through a jaundiced lens, but she had to admit that from then on he had entered her life and become the sole novelty in the dull, monotonous existence of the Ice Palace.
Whether this person prospered or fell on hard times, Bingtang would always hear a word or two of Aunt Qing's chatter. If he prospered, Bingtang would feel a little nervous, worrying whether she might end up as his little-little-little-little wife; if he fell on hard times, she would gloat and think, with skill like that, how could he ever deserve to marry me? I was worrying over nothing.
But... hard times or not, if Wei Zhao were to die, Bingtang did not want him to truly die. Otherwise, with no more news of him to hear in the future, she felt her life would be unhappy—and that was why she had sent Aunt Qing to make a round.
These contradictory and tangled feelings Bingtang herself never noticed, and so she blamed them entirely on Feng Xiaoxiao, Tang Zhi, and Wang Yujie.
Still, this tsundere temperament was quite similar to that of the eldest young miss. If the Tang Zhi of before had not been the real Tang Zhi, and the present Bingtang was the true Tang Zhi, then she and Feng Xiaoxiao together were truly a replica of the eldest young miss and Xiaoshu.
"Aunt Qing, actually, I'm still waiting for him to refine pills for me. I've been stuck at the peak of the late Heaven rank for far too long, and I want to advance to the Way of Heaven as well, so I'm waiting for Wei Zhao's Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill!" Bingtang added by way of explanation.
"Oh... yes, Palace Master!" Aunt Qing was utterly fogged; even now she had not grasped the true reason Bingtang wanted her to intervene. But she did not care to ask further, and simply nodded, making ready to descend the mountain.
It had to be said that Yu Bing and Zhao Qiwu, as stewards of the outer gate, still had some connections and relationships. The upper routes were impassable, but the lower routes went quite smoothly indeed!
There were no men in the Ice Palace's inner gate—only women. But among the low-ranking disciples who served others—that is, the servants—these people would eventually have to marry when they grew older, and even when they married they had no way to leave the Ice Palace. So their only choice was the male disciples of the outer gate.