Chapter 2537 — Yu Ning's Suitor

The future of the Yu family was destined to belong to Yu Bing; Yu Shan was merely a stepping stone for Yu Bing's rise. The only reason he had been allowed to attend this banquet at all was that the Yu family's direct-line younger generation was far too thin—at present only Yu Shan and Yu Ning were in residence, while the rest were the children and disciples of the elders, not true direct descendants of the Yu family, and thus ineligible for this family dinner.

Naturally, Old Master Yu had not attended the banquet. There was no need for him to give face to a junior like Zhao Qibing; having Yu Xiaochen show up was already tantamount to honoring the Hidden Zhao family.

Only, the moment Zhao Qibing laid eyes on Yu Ning, he was thunderstruck—a woman of heavenly beauty! In all his years he had never seen a girl so fresh and refined, so utterly unearthly—a fairy out of a fairy tale, untouched by the smoke and fire of the mortal world!

Tang Yun was beautiful too, and Zhao Qibing had once cast covetous eyes her way, but only in the spirit of a bit of fun. For an ordinary girl like Tang Yun, with neither family standing nor background, Zhao Qibing had never spared her a second thought. Yu Ning was different—she was the little princess of the Hidden Yu family!

Zhao Qibing knew perfectly well what Zhao Qitan had in mind, and he knew of the ties between Zhao Qitan and Wei Zhao. In this Xuan Dan Sect trial, it would be best if Zhao Qitan died—but what if he did not? Wei Zhao was the greatest wild card of all; who could say what a Xuan Dan Sect trial with him in the mix would turn into?

So Zhao Qibing had to start drumming up allies for himself. His father had risen to power thanks to Yu Xiaojin, and Zhao Qibing, succeeding to his father's legacy, was playing the same card of marital connections. He himself had little ability to speak of, so if he could secure the backing of the Hidden Yu family, it would be as good as latching onto a mighty patron.

And most important of all, Yu Ning was simply too beautiful—her bare face like still water, without a trace of makeup, quiet and demure. On her head of soft, water-like hair, the sole ornament was a single hair clip.

The clip was a little rustic, like the sort of handmade trinket worn by the natives of some primitive tribe, yet on Yu Ning's hair it was not rustic at all—instead it lent her a faint air of spirituality. Zhao Qibing felt a powerful urge to make her his own!

Too beautiful, too lovely, too thrilling... Zhao Qibing drew a deep breath. Determined not to let his piggish expression ruin the impression he had made on the Hidden Yu family, he smiled faintly and looked at Yu Ning. "This must be Cousin Yu Ning? I have long heard of your great name. My aunt often says little Sister Xiaoning is a peerless beauty of this world—but it seems she was wrong!"

"?" Yu Ning knitted her brows slightly. Who on earth talked like that? How could anyone be so ill-mannered?

Yu Xiaochen's face darkened as well. What was the matter with this Zhao Qibing—did he know how to talk at all?

But then they heard Zhao Qibing go on: "Peerless beauty of this world—why, that is an insult to little Sister Xiaoning! Little Sister Xiaoning is a top-tier, invincible beauty of the universe..."

Yu Xiaochen let out a breath of relief, and a smile returned to his face. He thought to himself that the boy was not so bad after all. His words were a bit cloying, but flattery never goes amiss, and to hear his own daughter praised as beautiful made Yu Xiaochen thoroughly happy.

"Top-tier, invincible beauty of the universe?" Yu Ning's face showed no pleasure at all when she heard it; she merely said lightly, "Brother Qibing, have you been watching too many TV dramas? You are even quoting their lines?"

"This..." Zhao Qibing's expression froze for a moment. It was true—he had seen it in a TV drama, quite an old one called *The Heroine Battles the Heavens*, which contained exactly that line about being top-tier and invincible in the universe. He had assumed no one else had seen it and meant to pass it off as his own to win a smile from the beauty—who would have thought Yu Ning had seen the show?

"Let's eat, haha." Yu Ning did not want to embarrass Zhao Qibing too badly; she only wanted to put an end to his urge to keep showing off.

"Oh..." Zhao Qibing gave an awkward laugh and picked up his chopsticks.

Yu Shan watched all of this coldly. He said nothing, but his eyes were filled with unwillingness and fury. On what grounds? Even if his father was not the family head, that did not change the fact that he was a direct descendant of the Yu family. On what grounds should the family head's son receive preferential treatment while he, the son of a non-head, could not?

They were both Grandfather's grandsons—why? Why? He was not reconciled to it, and especially after being injured and reduced to a cripple, Yu Shan's mind had grown infinitely distorted. He hated Yu Bing, he hated Yu Xiaochen, and he had even come to hate Yu Ning!

Seeing the hatred in his son's eyes, Yu Xiaozhong, Yu Xiaochen's second brother, heaved a deep sigh, furious at his own failure to make something of himself. Had he been more forceful, more formidable, would his son have come to such a pass? Yet neither father nor son cared to think it through: if Yu Shan had not parted ways with Yu Bing the moment he entered the Ice Palace trial and set himself against Wei Zhao, would he have met such an end?

True, in the trial there was no lack of test-takers bullied by Zhang Naipao and Feng Nitian; but if one did not resist, one could still keep one's head down and protect oneself. Why, then, was it Yu Shan in particular who was crippled?

But angry men seldom consider such things. The petty and the unprincipled always shift the blame onto others—such is the way of the world.

Zhao Qibing seems to have taken a liking to Yu Ning, Yu Shan thought, quietly turning it over in his mind. Could this be a condition he might put to use? If he played it right, he could stir up real hatred between Zhao Qibing and the Hidden Yu family. It would do Yu Shan no good, but a crippled Yu Shan had long since given up hope of becoming the young family head—it was impossible for him now—so all he wanted was revenge, to make Yu Xiaochen's life miserable.

Because of Yu Ning's coldness, Zhao Qibing said nothing else out of place. After all, he had come to ask for martial techniques; if he truly made Yu Xiaochen dislike him, the loss would outweigh the gain. So Zhao Qibing decided to bide his time and, once he got back, have his grandfather's side come up with a plan.

After dinner, Yu Xiaochen called Zhao Qibing into a private room and gave him two martial-arts manuals. "I searched high and low," he said, "and these two metal-attribute techniques are all the Hidden Yu family has. They are yours."

"Ah? Only two..." Zhao Qibing was instantly somewhat disappointed. He had assumed there would be a whole pile of techniques for him to pick from at will!

"You know as well as I do that our Hidden Yu family are all water- and fire-attribute cultivators, and we have very few metal-attribute techniques. My father and my grandfather did once discover an ancient ruin in their youth, but even that ruin did not hold much in the way of stock," Yu Xiaochen said.

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