"Senior Bai, it's been a while." Yuan greeted him with a bow once the landed on the platform.
Senior Bai turned around to face him with a smile that looked slightly forced.
"The passage of time is different for someone like me, and time feels slower than in reality. One day might feel like one day to you, but for someone like me, one day feels like a few minutes."
"Did something happen? You seem worried." Yuan decided to ask him.
"Take a seat." Senior Bai pointed at the chair.
Yuan nodded, and they sat down a moment later.
Meanwhile, Chu Liuxiang had just arrived at the Chu Family's household.
'This place looks gloomier than it does in my memories…' Chu Liuxiang sighed inwardly as she approached the massive steel gate that surrounded the Chu Family's territory.
After pressing the call button on the device at the gates, she waited for someone from the inside to answer it.
"Hello, this is the Chu Family. Who am I speaking with?" A feminine voice resounded a moment later.
"It's me. Hurry up and open the doors so I can speak with my parents." Chu Liuxiang said out loud.
"Y-Young Lady?! Please wait a minute while I call a ride for you!" The person on the other side immediately recognized her just by her voice alone.
The gates immediately opened, and Chu Liuxiang entered into their territory without saying anything else, but she didn't go any further, as the actual building was a couple of miles away from the gates.
After two minutes of waiting, a limousine pulled up beside her, and an old woman came out of the car to open the door for her.
"Welcome back, Young Lady." The old woman bowed to her.
"I'm not back." Chu Liuxiang casually responded.
"..."
The old woman didn't have any response for such words, so she decided to remain silent.
Sometime later, they arrived in front of this massive mansion that looked more like a castle than a house a couple of miles away from the gates.
"Welcome home, Young Lady."
Two rows of servants were already prepared to welcome her back at the front door.
Once they entered the building, Chu Liuxiang could see Sebastian standing not far away.
"Young Lady, the Masters are waiting for you in the family hall," he said to her.
Chu Liuxiang nodded silently and made her way to this family hall with Sebastian and the old woman following her from behind.
"We will be waiting outside." Sebastian said to her once they arrived outside the room.
Chu Liuxiang opened the door and entered the room with a resolute expression on her face.
The moment she entered the room, she could see two individuals— a handsome middle-aged man and a beautiful woman who didn't look any older than her twenties.
These two individuals were clearly her parents. Her father, Chu Shijian, and her mother, Chu Shufen.
"Looks like you have finally decided to listen to your parents and return to the family. I'm relieved." Chu Shijian said to her, assuming that she had agreed to return to the family.
Unfortunately, they are only moments away from immense disappointment.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, father, but I did not come back here because I want to return to the family," Chu Liuxiang said with a stern expression on her face.
"Then why are you here?" As expected, Chu Shijian immediately became displeased after hearing her words.
"I am here to tell you my feelings and plan."
Chu Liuxiang proceeded to take a long and deep breath before continuing, "I want to start a family with Yuan, so I cannot return to this family."
"You what?!" Both of her parents exclaimed in a shocked voice at the same time.
"That's outrageous!" Chu Shijian said.
And he continued, "You only knew that man for a few years in an orphanage when you were still a child! There's no way that you actually like him! You're confused right now, my dear!"
"Your father is right, Liuxiang. You might think that you're feeling love, but that is not the case. I know because I was once in your shoes. However, once I grew up and understood the world more, I realized that 'love' I felt was merely an illusion that will quickly go away once you understand your own feelings more." Her mother also gave her options on the matter.
"You're wrong, father, mother. I know my feelings very well. I love him, and I want to be with him for the rest of my life. Nobody in this world makes me feel the way he does. I feel safe when I am with him, and I am never bored when I am with him no matter what mundane things we do." Chu Liuxiang refuted their claims.
"Why are you not happy for me? Yuan is not only very talented, he's also destined for great things! I know you want me to marry into an influential family, but Yuan will surpass every single one of these families that you're planning to match with me!"
"Hell, he even has the Six Spiritual Families' approval and backing! That alone should qualify him as my husband!"
Chu Shijian shook his head and said, "This world is not just about one's backing, dear. Even if it is, he only has the Six Spiritual Families' backing. While the Six Spiritual Families are, without a doubt, a force to be reckoned with, they are nothing more than cowards that lived the last few thousands of years in hiding— in fear."
"Furthermore, there is nothing to gain from befriending them."
Chu Liuxiang closed her eyes and sighed in a dispirited voice, "In the end, it's all about profits, huh? Yuan… He had to endure a decade of abuse in the Yu Family because they wanted to profit off him. I thought my family was better than that, but alas, it appears that you're not that different from the Yu Family after all…"