Rejection

At that moment, Huang Rui felt heaven and earth spinning around him. The light shrank away, plunging the world into darkness, leaving only Huang Tian's faintly smiling face looming larger, larger, and yet larger before his eyes! Time seemed to freeze. He parted his lips, wanting to say something, but only wisps of air escaped his windpipe, producing faint, raspy wheezes as though someone held a death grip on his throat. It felt as if ages had passed when, in a sudden split second, Huang Rui subconsciously took a step back. The world shattered like a mirror, dissolving into silver-white specks of light, and everything swiftly snapped back to normal. Colors of light poured into his eyes once more. Except that smiling face, which filled him with both disgust and dread, remained unchanged. Swallowing hard twice, Huang Rui spoke in a raspy, uncertain voice. "You... you entered the ranks?" "As you can see." "When?" "This morning." The simple answer caused Huang Rui's heart to plunge like a stone into the sea. He hesitated, intending to say more, but Huang Tian had already finished his meal. Standing up with a faint smile, he said, "I hope you enjoy your meal." With that, he brushed past him and walked away at an unhurried pace, leaving Huang Rui standing dumbfounded on the spot. At some point, Huang Rui snapped his head around to watch Huang Tian's receding back. A complicated tangle of emotions welled in his heart—trepidation, dread, worry... a myriad of bitter flavors. With a stiff face, like a marionette, he collected his meal and medicinal soup. But his depressed state left him with virtually no appetite. After forcing down a bowl of medicinal soup, he couldn't swallow another bite, and he returned to Section Jia of the Upper Quarters somewhat crestfallen. As soon as he stepped inside, he noticed that Room Twenty-Five by the bamboo grove, previously unoccupied, now had a small stone tablet hanging before its door—a sign that someone had moved in. *That's Huang Tian's room...* The realization dawned on him instantly. His feet froze in place, and he sank into deep contemplation. After a long while, as if bearing a boulder weighing hundreds of jin upon his back, he trudged heavily toward the door of Room Twenty-Five, step by difficult step. Taking several deep breaths, his hand rose and fell in agonized hesitation. Finally, he lifted his hand and lightly tapped on the door. The instant the knock sounded, he almost hid his face and fled, yet an inexplicable emotion kept his legs rooted firmly to the spot, unable to budge. Fortunately, this torment did not last long. Soon, the door opened. Huang Tian's handsome face appeared from behind it. Looking at this extraordinarily familiar face, Huang Rui fell silent, at a loss for words. A few breaths later, Huang Tian spoke. "If you have no purpose here, please see yourself out. I was just about to practice stances, so forgive me for not entertaining guests." Only then did Huang Rui stammer in embarrassment, "Can... can we make peace?" As he uttered those words, he wished he could die of shame and indignation. Only a few days ago, he had told an anxious Huang Jian not to fantasize about reconciliation, that it was impossible. Yet barely a few days later, he had taken the initiative to come knocking on the door to beg for peace. It gave him the stinging mortification of slapping his own face. Hearing Huang Rui's words, Huang Tian asked in slight surprise, "What do you think?" "Why not? Back home, the most I did was bully you a few times, beat and scold you a few times. The worst was only injuring you enough that you had to lie in bed and recuperate for a few months... Um..." As he spoke, even he realized how egregious that sounded. Lacking the face to go on, he swiftly changed the subject: "We are brothers after all, bound by flesh and blood. What do a few squabbles from our youth amount to? There's no need to take them to heart. What matters is looking to the future—brothers united to revitalize the family!" Brothers? They were brothers now? Even Huang Tian was astonished by Huang Rui's sheer brazenness. He hadn't expected the barely twenty-something Huang Rui to be so adaptable and utterly shameless. In a way, he could be considered quite a character—truly living up to the shrewdness implied by his name. "If I agree to reconcile, would you believe that I won't settle scores later?" "I would!" Huang Rui answered without hesitation. He felt that ever since the day Huang Jian was beaten, Huang Tian had become a completely different person—shifting from cowardly to decisive, from cowering to resolute, and from unremarkable to easygoing and composed. Such a person would surely keep his word and honor his promises, so he genuinely believed it. Mm, it was definitely not because Huang Tian had broken through to the ninth rank that he had no choice but to believe. "Unfortunately, I have no intention of making peace. Please leave," Huang Tian said calmly, moving to shut the door. "You refuse?!" Had Huang Tian rejected his plea for reconciliation with fury, Huang Rui might not have been particularly angry. Yet Huang Tian dismissed it with such breezy indifference, as though he didn't care about him in the least, instantly infuriating the already humiliated young man. "Huang Tian! If you don't reconcile, do you have any idea what will happen?" Without giving him time to answer, Huang Rui rushed on, "Father won't shield you! Eldest Brother will suppress you! I'll detest you too! What's more, tomorrow on the drill ground, I'll request a sparring match with you from Head Instructor Liu, give you a ruthless thrashing, and beat you until you're on your knees begging for mercy, stripped of every shred of dignity!" He had thought his threats would frighten Huang Tian, or at least sow some worry, yet he failed to see even a sliver of fear in Huang Tian's eyes. There was only the same tranquil calm as ever. "Are you finished? Then I'm shutting the door." With a slam, the door of Room Twenty-Five was firmly shut. Standing before the cold, rigid wooden door in the chilling breeze, Huang Rui was left in a daze. It took him a long while to recover. Glaring at the door, he ground his teeth. "How dare you? How dare you be so arrogant!" He let out a heavy, cold snort and flung his sleeves, storming off. In his heart, he made up his mind that tomorrow he would teach Huang Tian a proper lesson and make him remember the dread of being dominated under his fists and kicks... Early the next morning, as the first glimmer of dawn broke and a belly-white pale light tinged the horizon, Huang Tian rose early and went through a routine of the Spirit Tiger Demon Crane Stance to stimulate his blood-qi. After a quick wash, he walked leisurely to the dining hall for breakfast. By the time he arrived, seven or eight martial students were already seated inside. Seeing him enter, several martial students wore strange expressions. They were all well aware of the strained relationship between Huang Tian and Huang Rui by now, and with both of them sharing the same drill ground, quite a scene was bound to erupt. "Brother Luo, we're in for a good show today," a dark-skinned young man remarked, glancing toward Huang Tian with a wink and a low chuckle. Luo Chan replied speechlessly, "It's nothing more than sordid, petty squabbles in filthy clans. What's there to see?" The dark-skinned youth shook his head. "It's precisely those sordid affairs that are fun to watch! Those pampered young masters were born into privilege and grew up showered in flattery. How could they understand what it's like for people like us, clawing our way up through the mud with sheer grit? I love watching them tear into each other. Whenever I see them flushed with fury, ripping off their masks and making fools of themselves, I just want to laugh out loud!"