"Xueling, is your information true! Is Yi Fan really Qian Mian?"
"Of course, haven't you discovered that Yi Fan's living quarters is very close to Qian Mian's, and that those two have never appeared in the same place and at the same time before?"
"But it's a reach to say that they're the same person just because they've never been seen together before."
"Yi Fan injured Yi Bing into a waste in the secret dimension, so Yi Bing became a waste. Let me tell you! The day Qian Mian was exposed for cultivating both water and fire magic, Principal Lu Ming went to talk to Qian Mian. That day, it was clearly Qian Mian who entered the Principal's office, but the person who left was Yi Fan. Also, when Yi Fan left the Principal's office, he directly returned to his dormitory, and the one he returned to was Qian Mian's." A well-informed female student said smugly.
"No way, Xueling, how do you know that!"
"The college has magic light stones set up to monitor the whole school! I heard it from a staff member of the college's security department. Also, after Principal Lu Ming talked to Qian Mian and returned to Shenghuang college, he never mentioned Qian Mian again. I heard that when Yi Bing's mentor went looking for Principal Lu Ming, he was told seven words, that even an honest and upright official will have difficulty resolving a family dispute."
[T/n: It's seven words in Chinese.]
"If so, then it's possible that Qian Mian truly is Yi Fan."
"Our college is really full of talented individuals in hiding [1]! First it was Qi Shaorong, and now there's Yi Fan."
"If Yi Fan really is Qian Mian, then he's really powerful. As far as strength is concerned, he should have already surpassed Qi Shaorong. Between him and Zhuang Hao, I don't know who's better."
"It should be Zhuang Hao, Yi Fan only has two cultivation roots, and Zhuang Hao has seven."
"Mu Xuelan is really something, she gave up on the Second Prince in the past, and now she's giving up Yi Fan, I can't believe she's really willing to do that!"
"I don't think that she's actually willing, maybe this time, who knows if she's hiding somewhere regretting everything."
Mu Xuelan returned to her rented, temporary residence and couldn't help but close her eyes.
Mu Xuelan leaned against the bench and covered her eyes with her arms. It took a while for her to calm down.
Not long after Mu Xuelan settled down, there was a knock on the door. Mu Xuelan opened the door, and her face immediately sank, "Second Prince, what a rare visitor! Long time no see!"
"Xuelan, it's really been a long time. You're becoming even more and more beautiful. Are you not going to invite me inside to sit down?" Tang Tianfeng asked.
Mu Xuelan stared at Tang Tianfeng for quite some time before giving way.
"What's wrong with Xiang Lan?" Tang Tianfeng asked, looking at the dazed Xiang Lan in the room.
"She was given too much of a fright and was shocked stupid." Mu Xuelan said.
Tang Tianfeng looked at Mu Xuelan and said, "Your maid has been turned into an idiot? If you don't have anyone to attend to you, I can find two maids to serve you."
Mu Xuelan shook her head and said, "No need, I can take care of myself."
"Xuelan, you don't have to act so estranged with me." Tang Tianfeng said.
Mu Xuelan looked at Tang Tianfeng and said, "The Second Prince shouldn't have come here just to see me?"
"I came to see you, is that not okay?" Tang Tianfeng asked.
Mu Xuelan smiled and said nothing.
Tang Tianfeng looked at Xiang Lan and asked, "Was it Yi Fan who scared this maid and made her like his?"
Mu Xuelan nodded and said, "Yes! Yi Fan is Qian Mian, he can control the venomous snakes, and he gave Xiang Lan a fright. If you want to know about something, just ask, stop beating around the bush."
Tang Tianfeng looked at Mu Xuelan and said, "Xuelan, you've misunderstood."
Mu Xuelan closed her eyes and said, "If you're not going to ask, then I��ll just directly tell you what I know. Yi Fan harmed Yi Bing in the secret dimension, and framed Yi Huo for it. The poison that Yi Bing used to turn Yi Huo into a waste was indirectly given to him from Yi Fan. Yi Fan also had a huge falling out with Yi Xun, and I think their conflict would be difficult to reconcile."
"That's all I know, you can go now." Mu Xuelan said.
Tang Tianfeng looked at Mu Xuelan and said, "Do you know about the relationship between Yi Fan and Allure Cosmetics?"
Mu Xuelan looked at Tang Tianfeng with some puzzlement and said, "What relationship does Yi Fan have with Allure Cosmetics?"
Tang Tianfeng looked at Mu Xuelan's confused expression and said, "It's nothing."
Tang Tianfeng exchanged a few more words with Mu Xuelan, before leaving.
Mu Xuelan sat on the bench, her heart feeling empty. Mu Xuelan closed her eyes, and suddenly realized: She had always thought too highly of herself. She had thought that the Second Prince would regret leaving her, but in actuality, he married someone who was also one of the three beauties of the Imperial Capital like she was, Chen Manwu, and he was perfectly happy. She had thought that marrying Yi Fan was her marrying down, but Yi Fan actually despised her very much. The truth is, she was nothing.
Mu Xuelan stayed inside the room, and after a while, there was another knock on the door again.
Mu Xuelan frowned, a bitter smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. She thought to herself: Her visitors used to be few and far between, and sometimes she'd even spend an entire month without seeing anyone come visit her. Yet today, the people knocking on her door are coming one after the other.
Mu Xuelan opened the door, and when she saw who it was, some frostiness rose in her heart, "Father, why are you here?"
"I came to see you! I heard that Qian Mian is Yi Fan, that Yi Fan is a mage who's dual-cultivating both water and fire magic, and his strength has already reached the seventh level. Among all the young talents of the Imperial Capital, his strength is only second to Zhuang Hao." Mu Jianan said.
Mu Xuelan nodded and said, "Yi Fan, he is indeed very powerful."
"If he's so powerful, why did you divorce him? I heard that previously for the Hundred Schools Competition, Qi Shaorong bet and won more than 30 million gold coins, and split millions of his winnings with Yi Fan." Mu Jianan asked.
"Yi Fan doesn't like me." Mu Xuelan said.
"What's the matter with you! You couldn't win over the Second Prince, and you now can't even keep Yi Fan, what use are you?" Mu Jianan said coldly.
Mu Xuelan couldn't help clenching her fists, "Father, you're right, I really am useless!"
"You! You've always thought too highly of yourself! Back then, the Second Prince wanted to marry you as his concubine, so why couldn't you just go be his concubine! Would you feel wronged being the Second Prince's concubine? For a man to have three wives and four concubines is a common thing! Then in your rage, you got married to Yi Fan, okay great! You got married, and Yi Fan doesn't get together, but you didn't even bother trying to get close to him, and after all these years, you never discovered Yi Fan's talent, not even a little bit?" Mu Jianan asked.
Mu Xuelan closed her eyes and said, "Father, just what are you doing here?"
"You and Yi Fan were married for so many years, more or less, there should still be some feelings between the two of you. I heard that you were also the one who proposed to get divorced, you go admit your fault to Yi Fan, and resume this marriage…"
"Yi Fan already has someone he likes, he only married me because he wanted to leave the Yi Family. Now, the person he likes has come to the Imperial Capital, so he's only eager to be divorced, he'd never agree…" Mu Xuelan shook her head.
Mu Jianan looked at Mu Xuelan and said, "You, what use do you have?"
"I'm useless. After Father has gone through the trouble of coming here for a visit, I've disappointed you." Mu Xuelan said.
Mu Jianan gave Mu Xuelan a scolding and left. Mu Xuelan took a deep breath, lowered her head, and hugged herself.
The Second Prince's residence.
"Second Prince, you're back!" Chen Manwu asked.
"En [2]! Manwu! Lately, there have been big happenings in the Imperial Capital [3]! Good drama keeps on occurring, one after the other." Tang Tianfeng lamented.
"I never would've expected that a single Mu Tingxuan would actually reveal the true identity of Qian Mian. I figured, Yi Bing's accident didn't seem to be Yi Huo's doing, Yi Huo doesn't have the ability, so it turned out to be Yi Fan."
"The relationship between Mu Tingxuan and Yi Fan doesn't seem to be simple." Tang Tianfeng said.
One of the reasons why Mu Tingxuan was caught by the mercenary group was because of Tang Tianfeng. Originally, Tang Tianfeng had only wanted to test the boss of Allure Cosmetics' bottom line, but he didn't think that he'd also end up revealing the perpetrator of the two Yi Brothers' accidents.
"Not only that, Yi Fan has always been lowkey and quietly biding his time in the Imperial Capital for many years. After Qi Shaorong was exposed, he still hid himself well, but a single Mu Tingxuan got him greatly agitated and all worked up. Since ancient times, even heroes have a weakness for the charms of a beauty, but Yi Fan's taste is really strange. I heard that Mu Tingxuan is indeed disfigured." Chen Manwu said, with a smile yet not a smile, her hand resting on Tang Tianfeng's shoulder.
Some ridicule flashed through Chen Manwu's heart. In the past, Mu Xuelan chose to marry Yi Fan because she bore a grudge against Tang Tianfeng, but the person that she chose was actually really good! It's a shame that Yi Fan that guy's too incomprehensible, he didn't like a beautiful woman like Mu Xuelan, and instead liked Mu Tingxuan. However, Yi Fan's not a fool, if he liked Mu Tingxuan, then there must be something extraordinary about him.
"Yi Fan and Qi Shaorong have a good relationship. The boss of Allure Cosmetics should be one of the two." Tang Tianfeng said.
"The big boss of Allure Cosmetics is very likely Qi Shaorong, Yi Fan is at most just an assistant." Chen Manwu paused and said, "Qi Shaorong that guy isn't easy to deal with! Zhuang Hao is currently pursuing Qi Shaorong, and there's also a contract that was unexpectedly created between them. I think that their relationship formed from the previous engagement between the two won't be easy to break off."
Tang Tianfeng nodded and said, "I think so too."
Tang Tianfeng has had his eye on the Allure Cosmetics stores for many years already. As a prince, Tang Tianfeng couldn't be considered poor, but there were also many things on which he needed to spend money. Tang Tianfeng had thought that if the boss of Allure Cosmetics wasn't very powerful, then he could put the Allure Cosmetics stores under his own name, but the boss of Allure Cosmetics was very likely to be Qi Shaorong.
If it really was Qi Shaorong, then that made things a little more complicated, "I've never seen Zhuang Hao like a person so much before. For Qi Shaorong, Zhuang Hao seems to be really displeased with Chen Yuan!" Tang Tianfeng said.
"Chen Yuan that boy also deserves it." Chen Manwu said.
Tang Tianfeng smiled and said, "If I were Zhuang Hao, I'd also be displeased with Chen Yuan. A perfectly fine marriage arrangement was disturbed by him, but then again, it's fortunate that your little brother did go and break off the engagement."
"If Chen Yuan hadn't gone and cancelled the engagement, perhaps Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao would already be together by now. If Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao's engagement still existed, the Qi Family wouldn't have easily expelled Qi Shaorong from the family. If the Qi Family and Zhuang Family's two geniuses were to unite their family's through marriage, then I'm afraid that Emperor Father wouldn't be able to sleep soundly at night anymore."
Chen Manwu nodded and said, "That's true! Now that Qi Shaorong and the Qi Family are fully opposed against each other, even if Zhuang Hao marries Qi Shaorong, it won't have much to do with the Qi Family anymore."
Footnotes:
Talented individuals in hiding: Hidden dragon, crouching tiger.
En: (Also can be spelled as "n" or "ng"). If you've read other Chinese novels you might've heard it be used before, it's basically a sound/grunt of approval or agreement, like "m-hm" or "uh-huh". Let me know if it sounds weird and I can change it to something different later on.
Big happenings: Winds rising and clouds scuddingー(of political movement, social reform, etc.); to surge like a gathering storm (idiom).