Ke Xin Ya was shocked by Guan Xi Lin's sudden appearance before her.
Everyone had said that he was dead and she had thought he had died. Hence, when he had appeared so suddenly before her, what she felt at that moment was not joy, but shock.
"You….. You are not dead?" Her face was pale, and her voice trembled as she looked at him.
Guan Xi Lin was looking straight at her, his gaze a mix of emotions. He did not know why he had come here. It might have been because his heart had felt it was unfair to him, as he had always thought of her as his lady.
Little Jiu had asked him whether he loved Ke Xin Ya. And he had told her it couldn't really be called love, but it was just that there had always that little bit of liking in his heart. Afterall, having always thought that she would grow up to be his bride since young, they way he gazed at her and the way he treated her all that time had always been different from how he treated others.
But this woman whom he had always thought would become his lady, was now about to marry someone else, and it was even to his cousin. This change, somehow made him feel rather uncomfortable in his heart.
But now, he really wanted to know, whether she was doing it on her own accord.
Having heard the news, when Father Ke and Mother Ke who had hurried over saw the towering figure in their daughter's courtyard, their hearts jumped and their faces changed.
"Xi Lin?"
Guan Xi Lin turned his head around, and saw the two seniors of the Ke Family. He then said: "I came here just seeking one word." Upon saying that, he turned away from them, and looked straight at Ke Xin Ya before him once more.
Seeing her daughter's face turned pale, her gaze shifty not daring to look at Guan Xi Lin, Mother Ke's heart winced and she went forward to hold her daughter in her arms, while she stared at Guan Xi Lin with displeasure in her eyes.
"What do you think you are doing here? Your engagement with our Little Ya has been dissolved. What does it matter to you who our Little Ya marries?"
"Oh, Xi Lin! The engagement was only dissolved after the two Guan and Ke families discussed it together. And as for the marriage between Little Ya and your cousin, it was also decided only after the seniors from both the Guan and Ke families agreed to it as well." Father Ke said with a sigh in his heart as he looked at Guan Xi Lin.
Although he came from good stock, but a pity, he was an orphan and in terms of status and position, Guan Xi Lin could not compare to his cousin in any way.
"And you agreed to it as well?" He was still looking at Ke Xin Ya, persistently asking for an answer.
However, seeing that Guan Xi Lin was forcing her daughter to give him an answer, Mother Ke got angry.
"So what if Little Ya agreed to it? Would being with Guan Xi Ruan be worse than being with you? Why don't you look at yourself and see what you have to offer? Your don't even have both your parents, so how could your status in the Guan Family be comparable to Guan Xi Ruan in any way?"
Mother Ke's words were sharp and tinged with sarcasm as she continued to say: "There's no harm telling you anyway, just to let you give it up completely. The seniors of the Guan Family have told us this. In the selections for the Young Chief from among the members of the Guan Family to be held three months later, Guan Xi Ruan will definitely win to become the Young Chief. That means, that our Little Ya here, will soon become the Lady of the Young Chief, and when Xi Ruan finally takes over as the Head of the Family in future, she will then become the Lady of the Guan Family's Head. If she marries you, what is she going to get?"
Hearing Mother Ke's words, Guan Xi Lin did not say anything. He merely stared solemnly at Ke Xin Ya who was being shielded behind her mother for a while, before he suddenly turned and lifted his foot to walk out without another word.
Father Ke saw his arm hanging limply down the side of his body and he said in shock: "Why does his right arm look as if it has been crippled?"
Mother Ke replied in an unaffected tone: "Why do you bother with what happens to him? Our Little Ya does not have anything to do with him from now anyway."
"I'll go back to my room first."
Ke Xin Ya immediately returned to her room after saying that and after closing the doors behind her, she walked over to the dressing table and sat down. She stared at the wooden hairpin in her jewellery box a moment and she suddenly picked it up to throw it in a basket in the corner of the room.
"I made the right choice. I will not regret this. I will definitely not regret it!"
She discarded the slight tinge of discomfort tugging at her heart and her eyes grew determined. She knew very well no matter how well Guan Xi Lin treated her, he would still not be able to give her what she wanted.