Simply Trading 113 Triumphant Return 4

"What?! What are you talking about? Where have I said anything about Elder Ming? Or about Ming Qingsong?" Qin Feng half-gasped at her, even as he wondered what Lingxi was thinking. What sort of nonsense had been stuffed into her head, there in the Rear Gardens?

"Are you mad? Since when have I wanted to be married to Ming Qingsong? Or Xuan Mei for that matter? Are you crazy? Who wants an Elder for a father-in-law? I certainly don't!"

Lingxi's eyes went wide as soon as she heard that. "Are you mad? Who would refuse something like that? While I don't know about Ming Qingsong, since she hardly comes to visit, you cannot deny that Xuan Mei is very pretty. And she has a very decent disposition too. You have already met up with her several times, so you can judge for yourself.

"Why would you refuse someone like that?"

"If you like her so much, why don't you ..."

Qin Feng started growling back at her before he had the chance to straighten out his own thoughts. So it was no surprise that he had stopped before he finished his question. He was about to ask Lingxi why she didn't ask to marry Xuan Mei herself, given how jealous she was sounding. But that wasn't possible, was it? They were both women, weren't they?

Then ... why was she so upset?

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the woman reacted before he could organize his thoughts further. Lingxi was on her feet, and pointing a finger straight at his nose. "Are you quite mad, Qin Feng? She is the daughter of Elder Xuan! An Inner Circle Elder here in the Heaven Sword School! Just one step down from the Left Guardian! Why are you making such a mess of things? Don't you know what you'll stand to gain if you are married to her?"

Qin Feng was torn between sighing and cursing at the girl before him. This was a little too much! This was not the first time that she was reacting like this! Didn't she realize that there was no truth in any of these rumors? Why was she being so gullible?

"Then tell me what were the words that they used? What did the two Elders say, exactly? If you can repeat their conversation verbatim, and point out where they had mentioned that Elder Xuan was pledging his daughter to me, I will bow my head and acknowledge my fate. Can you do that?"

Lingxi gritted her teeth as soon as he said that, while she shook her head. "Are you mad? Who can do something like that? Besides, I was not there at the time. I only heard it from ..."

He interrupted her at once, before she could go further. "Exactly, you only heard it from someone else. And I am willing to bet that whoever heard this particular conversation between the two of them weren't even in their immediate vicinity. No one would dare to get within ten paces of the two Elders. Particularly if they were having a conversation like this.

"So how could anyone be certain as to what they were talking about? Does anyone even dare to tell me to my face that she heard the two of them say that Elder Xuan was going to pledge Xuan Mei to be my wife? Does anyone dare to claim that?"

Lingxi didn't answer at once, and her frown only appeared to deepen as she considered what he had just asked of her. Qin Feng merely sniffed again, as he sat himself back down at the worn old table again. This was getting tiresome!

"Bah! It's all your fault! You and those girls from the Rear Gardens! What is the matter with you lot? Don't you have enough to gossip about, that you had to drag me into this? I am not talking to you any longer! Who knows what other rumors you Rear Gardens girls are going to craft out of this meeting that we just had? They are probably spreading the news that we are doing the deed right here on my dining table!

"And we are behind closed doors too! That should be scandalous enough to draw every eye from your cronies, and prompt them to demand a story from you!"

Lingxi merely rolled her eyes at him, as if to remind him that she didn't have a pristine reputation to begin with. And that such gossip no longer bothered her. "Are you worried that being seen with me would hamper your pursuit of the Elders' daughters? You forget that Xuan Mei already has some idea of our relations.h.i.+p with one another," she teased, in a rather irritated voice.

Qin Feng rolled his eyes at the woman in front of him again. Why was she so fixated on Xuan Mei? Didn't he already made it clear that he was not interested in the Elder's daughter at all?

"Enough of this nonsense about Xuan Mei! Unless I can get word from Elder Ming Guanhe's mouth that Elder Xuan really said that he was going to pledge his daughter to me, I am going to ignore everything that you have just told me today. I am not involved with Ming Qingsong. And I am not involved with Xuan Mei.

"Anyone who tells you any different is lying and that is all that you need to know!"

He got up once more, and pushed the door of his little hut open quickly. He knew that he would lose his temper if he didn't get away from Lingxi. What was wrong with her? Couldn't she tell that all of this nonsense had no basis at all?

Besides, he was eager to pay a visit to the Elders' Court himself! He didn't doubt that he could get Elder Ming Guanhe to tell him more about his conversation with Elder Xuan! Especially when he had those two herbs that he had just picked in the Southern Woods for the scar-faced old man. That should be enough to loosen his tongue!

And he had already taken the pains to hide the same in his sleeves earlier, while Lingxi was busy lighting the oil lamp on the dining table!

"Wait! Where are you going now? It's already so late in the afternoon."

Qin Feng sniffed at her, barely turning his head around as he continued on his way along the path that led away from his medicine garden. "I am headed towards the Elders' Court, to see Elder Ming. Didn't I say so already? Are you forgetting that I've just returned from the Southern Woods on a Hunt? I have to to give him an accounting of what I had managed to retrieve."

And he glared at her after that, as though daring her to mention Ming Qingsong. But Lingxi seemed to have gotten the message, and held her tongue after her simple question.

However, he didn't doubt that the rest of the female disciples would make up a story about a romance between him and the young girl, once the news got out.

Why did they have to be such busybodies?

* * *