The Attack of the Wastrel

“Linglong, how can you say that to your elder sister?” Lin Yue-er pretended to reprimand her with just a single sentence, while she continued to let Gu Linglong sneer at Gu Lingzhi.

Gu Lingzhi bit her lip and then suddenly laughed out loud. That delighted expression caused Gu Linglong to feel lost for a moment. She stuttered, “What… what are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing at you.”

“Laughing at me?” Gu Linglong could not understand her.

“Yes, I’m laughing at yo,.” Gu Lingzhi nodded her head. Under Gu Linglong’s and Lin Yue-er’s suspicious gazes, she spoke slowly but clearly, “You were dumped by the man you love so you can only derive pleasure from bullying others. How pitiful.”

Gu Lingzhi then ignored the mother and daughter pair and headed for her room in the backyard.

Not long later, Gu Linglong’s sharp and furious voice sounded out.

“Gu Lingzhi, what are you smug about? Let me tell you, even if the Third Prince doesn’t like me, he definitely would not look at you!”

“Who cares about getting the Third Prince’s attention?” Gu Lingzhi rolled her eyes and took out the Pill Furnace to practice Alchemy. Now that she had resumed the identity of Gu Lingzhi, she had to slow down her progress in Weapon Forging.

On the other hand, Rong Yuan, who had been shamed by Gu Lingzhi, returned to the inn with a face full of smiles only to discover that Gu Lingzhi had never returned to the inn at all. The air around him turned intensely cold, almost freezing Yuan Zheng, who was standing nearby.

“Your… Your Highness…” Yuan Zheng organized his thoughts so that he would not invoke the anger of Rong Yuan.

“Perhaps Lady Black Thorn went out for a walk and will be coming back in a bit.”

“She will not come back.” Rong Yuan calmed himself down and shook his head, “Check out of the inn. Let’s return to the Palace.”

Return… to the Palace?

Yuan Zheng was stunned.

Just how upset was Rong Yuan?

With his ability, even if the Black Thorn had deceived him and left quietly, it was not hard to find her again. Why did His Highness give up so easily? Could it be that he had misunderstood the feelings His Highness had towards the Black Thorn? Perhaps His Highness had not liked the Black Thorn as much as he thought.

With harboured suspicions, Yuan Zheng could only listen to his command and check out of the inn.

Rong Yuan, who was still standing in the same position, regained his cool-headedness. A playful smirk hung on his face again, “She’s trying to get rid of me? I’m afraid it won’t be that easy.”

If he did not know the Black Thorn’s true identity, perhaps he would have really gone crazy. However, he already knew that Gu Lingzhi was the Black Thorn.

Now that Gu Lingzhi had left just like that, he had to play along, otherwise it would be wasting her effort in trying to hide her identity from him. He was curious. Just what would Gu Lingzhi’s expression be the next time she saw him?

After a few days, it was the first day of classes at the Royal School. As an existing student of the Royal school, Gu Lingzhi had to report to school.

The Gu Clan’s residence made her feel stifled and she was happy to return to the Royal School. In the two-storey dormitory, Ye Fei had already arrived early on. She revealed a big smile upon seeing Gu Lingzhi.

“Lingzhi, I just knew that you would arrive earlier than Tianfeng Jin. I heard that you encountered some bandits and almost didn’t manage to return. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just some minor injuries. They healed long ago,” Gu Lingzhi smiled and comforted Ye Fei, aware that she was referring to the incident outside, not in the capital.

“Since when did minor injuries take more than a month to recover? I heard that your injuries weren’t even fully healed yet when you finally returned to the capital.” Ye Fei did not believe her at all and wanted to check the injuries, but she was stopped by Gu Lingzhi.

“I’m really fine. I left that scar behind on purpose in order to deceive others.”

After Ye Fei heard that, she instantly realized that Gu Lingzhi was fine. Since she knew that Gu Lingzhi’s injury was not an issue, she did not bother to ask any further. Instead, she smiled and asked, “Shall we have a bet? Let’s guess when Tianfeng Jin will arrive.”

The school allocated two days for existing students to report back. After that, it would be the entrance examination for new students. Today was the first day to report. Gu Lingzhi considered Tianfeng Jin’s character and laughed, “Tomorrow night.”

“Why?” Ye Fei stared at her with wide eyes, “Why are you guessing that Xiao Jin won’t return to school until the very last moment?”

Gu Lingzhi chuckled, “What do you think?”

She already knew that Tianfeng Jin had arrived at the capital several days ago. Being a battle maniac, the first thing that she did was to enter the Town of the Brave. Based on Gu Lingzhi’s experience, to complete all three battles, she typically had to wait around all day till night. Given her character, even if her luck was good and Tianfeng Jin managed to finish her three matches early, she would still stay behind to watch other battles until the very end.

She wondered who would win if she battled Tianfeng Jin now. 

The time passed quickly. In a blink of an eye, it was already the last few hours to report back to school. Gu Lingzhi and Ye Fei did not stay in the dormitory to wait for Tianfeng Jin. Instead, she waited for Qin Xinran. Upon seeing Gu Lingzhi, the big-eyed, innocent looking Qin Xinran immediately followed her like a shadow. It became a normal occurrence in the Royal School.

They waited for Tianfeng Jin to return and the four of them reunited for a short while before retiring to their own rooms to rest. Over the next few days, they would have to go through the messy procedures of having their credits wiped clean and being reassigned to new classes.

Three days later, Gu Lingzhi and the others left the dormitory early and headed towards the main entrance of the Royal School.

Today was the anniversary of the Royal School. Almost all of the young talents who had managed to become a Level Six Martial Student by the age of fifteen would turn up to take the entrance examination. It was a common mentality that entering the Royal school to study meant a straight path to becoming a strong Martial Artist.

Among the sea of people, Gu Lingzhi saw Gu Rong, Lin Yue-er and Gu Linglong and sighed before heading towards them.

Qin Xinran still had on that harmless smile of hers as she followed behind Gu Lingzhi, while Ye Fei and Tianfeng Jin walked along beside her. It looked as though Gu Lingzhi was being protected by the three of them.

Truthfully, they were protecting her. Having met and interacted with Gu Lingzhi’s family before, they were wary of them, afraid that Gu Lingzhi would once again suffer any grievances. Furthermore, it could be implied that Gu Lingzhi had almost lost her life just because she did not want to return home.

“Father, Mother.” Gu Lingzhi greeted Gu Rong and Lin Yue-er then quietly stood by the side.

She had come today because she had received Gu Rong’s request for her to help take care of Gu Linglong during the examination in case she felt scared or shy.

“Lingzhi, how come there are so many people in the queue? Aren’t you quite famous in the Royal School? How about you go and talk to the teacher in-charge and request him to let Linglong take the examination first?”

Ye Fei snorted when she heard Lin Yue-er’s words, “Madam Gu, you must be kidding. Queuing up is part of the rules and regulations of the Royal School. Even the Royal Family has to queue up if they wish to enter the school. Furthermore, Lingzhi is not the principal of the Royal School, how will she have the power to let people skip through the queue?”

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