He smiled, paused, then added, “If I were to feign some seniority--I watched her grow up, so she is a little like my daughter. The place we stayed in when we were younger is not somewhere meant for humans to live in. I was a child too, and stumbled many times over the course of raising her. I burnt her mouth the first time I fed her congee--for A-Xiang to survive until now, it wasn’t easy on me, but in truth...it wasn’t easy on her too.”

Vaguely understanding what Wen Kexing was getting at, Cao Weining said with a serious expression, “Rest assured, Wen-xiong. In this lifetime of mine, from now until the moment I die, every single day and every one moment included, there will not be even a single instance where I do something that will fail A-Xiang.”

Wen Kexing glanced at him, and said with the ghost of a smile, “Don’t make such promises.”

Cao Weining raised a hand, and made an oath to the sky, “The heavens and earth are my witnesses.”

As though he feared that Wen Kexing did not believe him, Famous Scholar Cao uttered in desperation the only sentence in his life that--even though it was, as expected, wrong--a listener could not bring himself to laugh at. He said, “Even the eternal sky and earth will fade one day, but this love is everlasting.[5]”

Wen Kexing looked at him with a strange expression, and asked, “Even if she might not be who you think she is? Even if...you will realise that you don’t know her, after all?”

Cao Weining said, “Be rest assured, of course I know her.”

Wen Kexing smiled, and picked up a pebble. He threw it at Zhang Chengling, calling out, “Little tyke, what are you daydreaming about? Don’t be distracted!”

Be rest assured, of course I know her--A-Xiang, you’ve worried unnecessarily.

Chapter 65: Alarmed

Two twined together on the warm and scented sheets, the room charged with a carnal atmosphere. The Scorpion was seated to one side, watching on in complete stillness like a shadow.

The two people on the bed seemed to be getting into it, their moans growing louder. If one took a closer look, the people he had chosen this time were in fact two youths; a long while later, they finally recovered from the last vestiges of ardour. Exchanging looks, they draped their clothes over themselves, and came to kneel on one knee before the Scorpion, bodies half-covered.

Pickily, the Scorpion set down his wine cup. His gaze swept over the still-flushed faces and bodies of the two youths.

At this moment, the door opened. A gust of wind curled in, and one of the youths kneeling on the floor shivered. A large man was standing at the door, his face masked.