The break hadn't ended, but the mayor came back, and most practitioners of the Han family were still in the office, but he strolled towards Gale as the decision-makers of the Han Family were still out.
Under the gaze of everyone present, the mayor crept towards the direction where Gale and the others were discussing. Unbothered by their displeased look, the mayor addressed Gale. "Walk with me?"
Gale tilted his head at the mayor, shooting a confused look, but the mayor was already on his way out, completely expecting Gale to follow him.
Gale turned towards Sun Ziang who shrugged.
"He's probably going to tempt you with something good to make you agree," Grandma Wang said.
"That means I should go and listen to him," Gale said as he stood up. He scurried after the Mayor at his pace and found the mayor waiting outside with his contemplating ugly face.
Seriously, this bloke must have screwed something big. One simply can't have this much disconcerting feature without pulling some serious shit. He was so ugly that it led Gale to wonder if he was some prince who got on the wrong side of some fairy or witch, and they made him like this.
Alas! Only true love could revert his gorgeous princely look back.
Unfortunately, life wasn't a fairytale, no princess would come to kiss this ugly roasted potato.
Anyway, both of them crept out of the office without exchanging any words. The mayor's great mansion and the office were just side by side, tied together by the long lawn. The mayor led him into the lawn, under the naked sun and happy clouds. He didn't seem to be in haste to get the conversion going.
Gale was ready to take the initiation, but he halted finding a familiar figure. No, it wasn't Han Shitian or his black sheep son, but an exquisite figure, picking flowers from the garden.
She noticed the presence coming in her direction and turned with wide eyes. The girl was a knockout, having the right curves at the right places, the white robes hugging her body, highlighting the alluring shape. She was too young to get the hourglass figure that Wang Li has, though some work could change that easily.
As Gale scrutinised the girl, his mind whirled urgently, ringing with the same phrase: 'Don't be his wife. Don't be his wife. Don't be his wife. Don't make the fairytale true, even if this ugly duck is a prince in disguise.'
The girl was too gorgeous to be the better half of the ugly duck. Thankfully, the girls' greeting guided him out of his misinterpretation.
"Father," the girl known as Qing'e said, bowing slightly to the mayor.
Gale blinked. He blinked multiple times, hardly understanding the incredulity of what she indicated. He turned his head back and forth between the literal fairy and the ugly duck in a comical way.
The sheer probability of Qing'e being the mayor's daughter. . . Gale was bad at numbers, but he was sure the numbers were in the negative, even if probability could never go negative.
'Yeah, definitely, adopted.'
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom Luo Qing'e greeted him too, bowing her head like a woodpecker. "Senior Gale."
Gale returned the bow still with that incredulous expression.
"You two know each other?" the mayor asked, a frown intensifying on his brows.
"I ran into Senior Gale at the tailor shop in the morning," his daughter enlightened him.
"Ahh, then you two probably know nothing about each other, save for the names," the mayor said, but his daughter blushed in embarrassment, remembering how Gale saw through her with just a look of her aura.
The mayor missed the redness in her neck and cheek, as he started to boast about his daughter.
"Mr Carpenter, meet my lifeblood, my soul, my one and only daughter, Luo Qing'e. She will be coming of age in about a month, yet already close to breaking into Silver rank. Truth be told, she already would be in the silver rank, if I hadn't stopped her."
"I could see that already," Gale commented, but he was startled nonetheless. Of course, it was from learning Luo Qing'e was the mayor's biological daughter. She wouldn't be some changeling, would she? How in the world would he explain this?
Moreover, she wasn't an adult yet, where his disciple was about half a year older than her. They certainly didn't look that way. Xiaolin had a baby face full of innocence, while Qing'e had the potential to evoke the desires of men with her exquisite figure.
"Ha ha, she makes people speechless like this," the mayor continued with his boasting.
"Must be tough for you being her father," Gale said with some implication.
But the mayor missed that implication completely. He was completely blind when it came to his daughter, it seemed.
"Haha, you got that right," the mayor said, "I used to get dozens of young men on the doorstep every day, coming to ask for her hand. Even after I sod them off, they couldn't stop talking about Qing'e"
"Father, stop overpraising me," Luo Qing'e said, getting flustered easily, her aura control hadn't become any better in the few hours, still flashing all the embarrassment like a bonfire. "Senior Gale's disciple is beautiful too. . ."
Her voice trailed off right there as her mind came to recognise why Senior Gale was here. Luo Qing'e wasn't completely aware of the stuff that happened that led her father to come back to the town, but she knew it was regarding the Han family offending someone.
As all things came together she finally understood why there was a thin infringement between her father and Senior Gale.
"Father, is Senior Gale the one who. . ." Luo Qing'e let her voice trail off as the implication behind them was enough for her father to understand.
"Unfortunately yes," the mayor said with a sigh as slowly anger formed in his expression. "That fool boy, I thought age and a completely new place would do him some good in maturing, but he never ceased being the flippant boy I detest the most, offending people left and right, throwing the weight of his father and clan."
Luo Qing'e narrowed her eyes, her aura suggested some conflict in nature, though she expressed nothing in front of the outsider.
"You simply cannot expect people to grow in time and place," Gale said, shaking his head in disapproval. "It's mostly about upbringing. Look at my mate, Sun Ziang, a scion of the Sun Clan, yet you'll hear no bad things about his character, much less hearing about him throwing the monumental weight of his family around.
"It's upbringing, Mr Mayor. I'm afraid your sister failed there in epic proportion."
"It's the problem of their clan," Luo Qing'e said and was about to continue elaborating on the topic, however, a look from her father stopped her.
"Daughter," the mayor said, "why don't you go inside? I and Mr. Carpenter still have some things left to discuss."
Luo Qing'e nodded her head and bowed to her father and Gale before creeping towards the mansion. Gale couldn't help but watch her go, but remembering her father was standing next to him, he stopped himself from leering at her swaying hips.
"I may boast too much about my daughter, but she truly is a jewel in the rough," the mayor said.
Gale nodded in agreement.
"After her mother's death, she's the only one I left," the mayor continued. "I would always want the best for her no matter how much of a hypocrite it turns me into."
"I might be prying into your family business," Gale couldn't help but say, "but you better look for what she wants, not what's best for her."
The mayor didn't show any anger or indignation at his comment. "Oh she won't tell me, but the girl is terrible at her aura control," the mayor continued. "Of course, you have noticed that. I know exactly what she wants, and I'll do my best to let her have it."
They talked back and forth in irrelevant topics to the duel until the mayor's aura turned stern again, as he reverted to their main issue.
"Mr Carpenter, I know my nephew had wronged your disciple, thinking he'd get away with anything," the mayor said. "Unfortunately, I don't have the power to do anything about it. I'm afraid you have to do it on your own if you want fairness for your disciple."
"The duel."
"The duel," the mayor repeated. "Honesty, I don't see your disciple winning in any way, however, that's not my place to look into it. You're a capable practitioner, I'm sure you'll cook up something."
"Unless I don't give consent to the duel," Gale said, returning to the main point.
"That's why we are talking here," the mayor said. "You asked for a year, you get it. However, you'll not see Han Shitian bend much further, the same is true for the real Han Clan. A friendly piece of advice there, don't try to rile up Shitian too much. Even if he's banished, he's a true heir, and the Han Family can take things personally if push comes to shove."
Gale narrowed his eyes. "Your threat is convincing enough, but I am not the one to bend, either."
The mayor clicked his tongue. "What will tempt you to agree to this duel?"
'Your daughter,' the words almost got out of Gale's lips, but he swallowed it down, considering he couldn't just sell his disciple. Not to mention, it was really inappropriate to the father and more to the daughter.
Most of all, listening to his dick never went well for him.
"I'm afraid you have nothing that could really tempt me," Gale said at last.
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