To Love You Again

There was a shocking silence inside the hall. 

They have heard of the rumors about the ambiguous relationship between this master and servant pair. However, some might believe them but there were still people who did not believe it until they saw it with their own eyes.

Old Xiong trembled in anger at the sight of his granddaughter holding hands with a butler.

Zhou Min finally stepped into the hall. He arrived just in time to witness such a scene.

The first thing he saw was his son and the Young Miss holding hands together, facing the Old Xiong with determined faces…

His vision suddenly went blank.

After a long frozen silence, Old Xiong started to speak.

"Leave." 

Everyone's eyes were diverted from the young pair holding hands towards the elder whose back was trembling in anger.

"Zhou Min, escort everybody out of this room. No one saw what transpired today. Forget everything."

"Master?" He wanted to cover this up…?

Everyone felt even more shocked.

Some of them, like Xiong Wuyue and Xiong De, appeared unwilling to leave and seemed to have a lot of things they wanted to say, but under Old Xiong's austere face, they had no choice but to swallow it all.

Butler Zhou Min, although confused, obediently opened the door widely. He badly wanted to know what was happening. Why did his son suddenly announce to everyone this grave secret, this kind of relationship that was deemed as corrupt and immoral in the society? With an uneasy heart, he politely asked everyone to leave the hall.

The Zhou elders fretfully left, looking back with shocked and worried gazes in every three steps.

Finally, the door closed heavily, leaving the three alone.

The young pair stood firmly under the angry gaze of the elder who held the greatest power and authority to set them apart.

Old Xiong turned to Xiong Zhi. "Do you know what you are doing?! You are ruining your reputation and our Xiong family's prestige! Now, what will people would say about you? A vixen? A harlot? The Xiong's chosen heiress was such a temptress that she even seduced her own butler?!"

Old Xiong knew that the words were hurtful, but what the people would say about her would be a hundred times worse than that. He was utterly disappointed and angered at her lack of care for her reputation.

Linfeng did not like the words of Old Xiong. 

He was taken aback that his Young Miss did this move of proclaiming their feelings in front of Old Xiong, the second masters, and the elders.

That moment, Linfeng knew that Xiong Zhi was indirectly telling him to not care about her reputation and to do what he came here for.

"Master Xiong, none of it is Xiong Zhi's fault."

"So you're saying it's yours?"

Linfeng did not answer but stared at him, silently agreeing. 

"Maybe you are right. Maybe you are the one who seduced her instead. But will people care about that? What you two have done today, holding hands in front of everyone, was not a proclamation of your so-called love! It was an act of foolishness! Did you even think about your reputation for a moment there, Zhi'er!" Old Xiong thundered. 

Xiong Zhi did not back down nor was she frightened by his shouts. Her stoic face remained unchanged.

"They are not the ones falling in love. This has nothing to do with them."

"Their mouths will talk! You have no idea how harsh and unforgiving the world was. Their thoughtless words, their ridicules, eventually they will snowball and destroy your name."

"I don't care about what they say. Grandfather, it is not the reputation that makes those people respect us. It is power and money. Even if a person is the most evil and wicked out there, if they are powerful enough to crush others, no one will dare to go against them. You, as the headmaster of Xiong, should know that." 

Xiong Zhi did not care about reputation at all.

If one could do as he or she wishes to do, so what if other people look strangely at him or her? On the contrary, if one could not do as he or she pleases, living unhappily like a puppet doll controlled by other people's expectations, what was the use of repute, name, or standing?

In the past, although she did not care about reputation and lived with indifference, but she had experienced living like a puppet doll, a prim and proper princess. What good did it bring her? 

Her past self did not even care one bit about it, what more now? Especially if it concerned her relationship with Linfeng. 

Those people might talk badly about her behind her back. But once they faced her, they would never have the courage to say those insulting words to her. They would be like a careful flatterer and fawn over her, afraid of the might of the Xiong family.

Old Xiong fell silent, as if his fire was taken out. Then he took a deep breath and looked at her with seriousness.

"If people say you are a harlot, a vixen, a woman with no self-respect, will you be able to take it?"

Xiong Zhi looked at him calmly. "Those words are indeed bad. But I will make sure to not listen to them, because I know myself well, and the people close to me know just what kind of person I am." 

Not to mention, reputation could be controlled by public relations. In short, with power and money, there was no need to fear for a black reputation. She could control the media and white-wash if ever it got bigger.

"And I will make sure to not let anyone say it around her. If someone has the courage to speak vulgar words about my young miss, I won't be polite to them and make sure they would regret saying those words." Linfeng said seriously. Just imagining people would talk bad about his young miss was enough to raise his ire.

"Besides, didn't you just make sure that none of what had transpired today will come out of the Xiong Mansion?" Linfeng added.