There is the briefest flicker of surprise across Jin Guangyao's features, before he quickly gets his expression under control. Still, his confusion remains.
Thrown out? What reason would his father ever have to throw out the only demonic cultivator worth his salt left in the jianghu after Wei Wuxian's ignominious end in the Burial Mounds? Had Xue Yang failed to make substantial progress with the remains of the stygian tiger amulet? Surely if that were the case, it would have made far more sense simply to have Xue Yang executed and be done with the Lanling Jin's unsuccessful foray into demonic cultivation altogether. Such an action would have done much to satisfy Nie Mingjue's desire to see justice done and repair relations between Lanling and Qinghe--but Jin Guangyao's father has always been an ambitious man (among other things) rather than a shrewd one.
These are not the thoughts of a dutiful, filial son. He closes his eyes, takes a breath, and smiles pleasantly.
"I am not surprised to hear that you have done well for yourself, Xue-gongzi," he says and folds his hands in front of himself. He raises his eyebrows over wide, attentive brown eyes. "Haven't I always valued your ingenuity?" Abruptly, a--noise--from the women on the platform behind them brings Jin Guangyao back to the present moment, and he flinches as though pained. He needs to get away from here, put distance between himself and--and--
He drops his gaze and swallows, says, "Please excuse me," past a newly formed lump in his throat, and attempts to step past Xue Yang to make his expeditious escape.
no subject
Thrown out? What reason would his father ever have to throw out the only demonic cultivator worth his salt left in the jianghu after Wei Wuxian's ignominious end in the Burial Mounds? Had Xue Yang failed to make substantial progress with the remains of the stygian tiger amulet? Surely if that were the case, it would have made far more sense simply to have Xue Yang executed and be done with the Lanling Jin's unsuccessful foray into demonic cultivation altogether. Such an action would have done much to satisfy Nie Mingjue's desire to see justice done and repair relations between Lanling and Qinghe--but Jin Guangyao's father has always been an ambitious man (among other things) rather than a shrewd one.
These are not the thoughts of a dutiful, filial son. He closes his eyes, takes a breath, and smiles pleasantly.
"I am not surprised to hear that you have done well for yourself, Xue-gongzi," he says and folds his hands in front of himself. He raises his eyebrows over wide, attentive brown eyes. "Haven't I always valued your ingenuity?" Abruptly, a--noise--from the women on the platform behind them brings Jin Guangyao back to the present moment, and he flinches as though pained. He needs to get away from here, put distance between himself and--and--
He drops his gaze and swallows, says, "Please excuse me," past a newly formed lump in his throat, and attempts to step past Xue Yang to make his expeditious escape.