To Love You Again

Xiong Wuyue has purple marks on her face. There were a lot of scratches in her body. Some were red and it looked like it going to bleed. Xiong Wuyue's enemy was merciless. By the look of those injuries, it seems that the enemy targeted those places multiple times. 

Linfeng couldn't believe that the only person that could be Xiong Wuyue's enemy was his aloof and sweet Young Miss.

A tug on his shirt caught his attention.

It was Xiong Zhi who had a disapproval expression on her face.

"You are staring too much."

'Ugh.' Linfeng suddenly remembered that he was looking straight at XiongWuyue's exposed purple body.

"Linfeng..." Xiong Wuyue called out to him. Not wanting to lose on Xiong Zhi.

Linfeng felt a headache was coming in. Maybe he shouldn't have come here. Since it seems like his young miss would not going to lose he should have turned a blind eye and left.

'Ugh. This would be a headache.'

Two Xiong's got severely injured in Zhou Mansion.

This would really scare the elders.

But most importantly, how was he going to fix this problem?

******

It was late morning.

The elders decided to have late breakfast with the guests.

But they were too shocked to even sip on their coffee.

The two beautiful miss of yesterday became 'severely injured' in just one night.

Xiong Wuyue has a bandage over her head. There were also some patches on her cheeks too. And some more bandages on her body. If one looked closely, they were able to see some purple marks and nail marks on her skin that was exposed.

Xiong Zhi had bandages all over her body too. But not that severe like Xiong Wuyue.

The two girls were silently eating. They were a bit sleepy but they were also hungry. Throwing things at each other took a lot of their energy so they were quiet today.

The three elders finally, slowly looked at Linfeng.

Their eyes were all asking 'What the heck happened'.

Linfeng avoided their eyes and sipped on his tea. He was not there. He doesn't know what happened too. He would just play innocent and act like he did not see anything.

Let these two misses fix what trouble they have cooked up.

Yesterday night, he was trying to ask the two about what happened, but these two were just glaring at one another. 

It was Xiong Zhi who said that she would explain tomorrow with the elders.

Xiong Wuyue just insisted that everything that happened was Xiong Zhi''s fault.

He managed to fix their wounds and transferred them to another guest room. That time, he give them one room each. 

It was good that after their wound got cleaned, they went to sleep quickly. The two were tired.

But the most tired was Linfeng.

Linfeng's Grand-uncle could not hold it in and asked the two while looking at Linfeng.

"What happened?"

Xiong Wuyue raced to speak first.

"It happened suddenly. Young Miss suddenly attacked me while I was sleeping. I don't know if I offend the young miss. If I have offended you, young miss, please forgive me." Xiong Wuyue started crying.

Xiong Zhi expected this. She swallowed the bread first in her mouth. Then she covered her face with her hands. Her sad voice that full of sorrow reached their ears.

"It's my fault. I often have nightmares. That's why I asked Linfeng to stay with me. Because only he knew of my situation." The five people looked shocked at her.

Even the man that supposed to know her situation looked shocked as well.

He was shocked by the story that these two were brewing.

The three oldies looked at Linfeng. Their eyes were wide and seemed to be asking if he knew of this situation long ago.

Linfeng dazedly nod.

"Y-yeah. That's why I told you that young miss had trouble sleeping."

The three oldies let out a shocked gasp.

That seems to be the case.

Their Young miss was truly pitiful.

However, Xiong Zhi was not yet done.

"I taught cousin knew of my situation. That''s why I was thankful to her that she wants to stay with me. But-" Xiong Zhi's voice shook.

She was thinking of what would be Xiong Wuyue's expression to the words she was about to say.

"But..when I realized that I was attacking her I stopped. But she pushed me back and beat me up even after I plead." Xiong Zhi then peeked between fingers. 

She could see the three oldies jaw dropped. Linfeng stared speechless at her. And lastly, Xiong Wuyu was pale with a horrified expression.

"That's a lie! You attacked me first!" Xiong Wuyue stand up and shouted.

This bitch shifted the story to her side!

Xiong Zhi put down her hands. This what she wanted. To made Xiong Wuyue lost control and made a fool of herself in front of these people.

Xiong Zhi's face was cold.

"I know I'm at fault. But I'm not aware of that time. How come you, a sane person attacked me instead? Is this what really the second branch felt towards the first branch?" Xiong Zhi made use of the story that Xiong Wuyue brewed.

"Being kind in front of us but hiding dagger at our backs? Now I know, what truly the second branch felt towards us,"

All the people in the table paled except Linfeng.

Linfeng looked at Xiong Zhi with deep thoughts.

Those words that Xiong Zhi enunciated carried a heavy meaning and consequences.

A first-line descendant saying that the second branch's objective was impure. And it was said in front of the Zhou family.

It looked unintentional and might have been said by the whims of present emotions.

But Linfeng felt it wasn't like that.

If he was right that this was planned out by Xiong Zhi, then Xiong Zhi was actually scarier than Xiong Wuyue who lied outright.

Linfeng was right.

Ever since Xiong Wuyue made up this story to Linfeng last night, Xiong Zhi saw it as a chance.

A chance to sow a seed of doubt between the first line and the second line.

Xiong Zhi doesn't know that this seed of doubt she planted would actually save someone's life.

***

As the oldies said, there were eyes and ears everywhere in the Mansion.

Xiong De was preparing for the afternoon meeting when his butler whispered something to him.

"What?! How come the Young Miss is in the Zhou Mansion? Why did you just report it today?!" The butler apologized for his incompetence. He was shocked by the report.

"Tell me the details," Xiong De calmed down. Maybe they could still fix this and coax the young miss.

However, as he listened he got paler.

"They spend a night together?!" Xiong De was shocked. It was okay if her daughter was in the right mind and sufficient control, then that would be an opportunity to be closer to the first branch. But his daughter went there to calmed down. Now seeing the person her daughter hated the most and spending a night with that person peacefully would be a miracle.

"Yes. But..when the day comes the two young miss appeared 'severely injured'. That's when young miss Zhi said that the second branch had impure thoughts towards the first branch."

Xiong De paled.

He did not need to ask what really happened, with his daughter's behavior, he could guess of what happened.

They were doomed. 

"Prepare the car. We would go to Xiong Mansion." If Xiong De got this news, then it means that Old Xiong already heard of this news.

He needs to coax that old man immediately. 

His plans were not yet complete. They were just starting. Now with a simple mistake from his side, everything could go wrong. He could not afford that.

*********

Old Master Xiong was listening to Butler Zhou Min's reports.

"What are your thoughts, Butler Zhou?" Old Xiong asked as he sipped on his tea.

"Young Miss is probably right. We don't know what was the real reason why Xiong De send his daughter to the Mansion. But it may be just the children's dispute over something." Butler Zhou spoke his thoughts honestly.

"What things could make the two young miss of Xiong have a dispute on?" Old Xiong asked.

Butler Zhou was stunned. That was not on the reports. But he had an idea what the cause of dispute would be.

And he was sure that his master knew what the cause was.

"The second branch had been moving in the north. Mr. Xiong De is taking some jobs in underworld." Butler Zhou Min said this instead.

Old Xiong glanced at him. He then let it pass on. For now, he would take a blind over these two.

"Keep watch. Don't alert them. "

"Yes, Master."

Butler Zhou Min nodded. He was about to leave when Old Xiong called out to him.

"Zhou Min." 

Butler Zhou turned around.

"Yes, Master."

"The Zhou family had been loyal to the Xiong family for more than three hundred years."

Thumped.

Butler Zhou Min's heart skipped a beat. But his face was absolutely calm.

"Yes, Master. And we still continue to be loyal to the Xiong family." He answered calmly.

Old Xiong looked at him.

"Are you?"

Thumped.

Butler Zhou Min bowed.

"The moment the Zhou family betrayed the Xiong family, I will utter an oath to be stripped of my status and my surname Zhou."

This was a heavy oath.

Old Xiong was silent for a while.

"I don't need an oath like that. But do what you seem fit. The Xiong family was tigers who would fight back once bitten."

Thumped.

Butler Zhou Min just bowed. He left the Master's room.

He started to walk away as his heart was beating wildly.

Does Old Xiong somehow find out? 

'Linfeng, my son, what have you done this time?'

As Butler Zhou had these thoughts, another butler ran to him and reported.

"Butler Zhou, Mr. Xiong De is outside the gates."

Butler Zhou Min pushed up his glasses.

There was still a matter at hand that he needed to focus on.