"I was held up a little today, because I had a student come to see me," the white-collar instructor began, his voice unhurried. "Comrade Kang Zhaolong is also in our field — he is your senior fellow student, and currently a doctoral candidate under my supervision. He is writing his dissertation, and he came to me today saying he wanted to sit in on a class and look for inspiration. So for the next little while, Comrade Kang Zhaolong will be a member of our class."

The instructor had no reason to refuse Kang Zhaolong's request. Though Kang Zhaolong was not the most outstanding student under his wing, he was a hardworking one, having studied all the way from undergraduate to doctorate under the instructor's guidance.

So when Kang Zhaolong asked to audit the class, the instructor agreed on the spot.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Kang Zhaolong. As your senior fellow student, if any of you run into difficulties with medicine or pharmacology in the future, you can come to me anytime!" Kang Zhaolong introduced himself with an easy confidence. His gaze swept over the students below, and finally came to rest on Wang Xinyan's face, beside Wei Zhao.

Seeing Wang Xinyan sitting together with Wei Zhao, an inexplicable fury rose in Kang Zhaolong's heart! This was his woman, and she was sitting beside Wei Zhao, his family's sworn enemy — a tremendous insult to him!

But Kang Zhaolong was a man of deep calculation. On an occasion like this, he would never let his anger show; he simply fixed his eyes on Wang Xinyan.

Wang Xinyan felt the scorching heat of Kang Zhaolong's gaze and was instantly seized with discomfort! She had never expected Kang Zhaolong to suddenly appear in her class! Only yesterday she had raised the matter of breaking off the engagement with her family, and today Kang Zhaolong had come chasing after her — was this meant to be a show of force, a warning to put her in her place?

It was not that she feared being "caught in the act" with Wei Zhao and worried about Kang Zhaolong's reaction; what she feared was that Kang Zhaolong might use the power of the Xuandan Sect to harm Wei Zhao! Then all her painstaking efforts would have been for nothing!

Kang Zhaolong had, so to speak, caught her completely off guard. Had she known he would come, she would have said anything to avoid sitting at the same table as Wei Zhao — but now it was too late! Kang Zhaolong's gaze was steeped in a thick possessiveness; how could Wang Xinyan fail to sense it?

Wei Zhao, by contrast, gradually calmed himself after the first brief shock. Kang Zhaolong was here? This was no longer merely a matter of coincidence — the question was why the Kang family was so bold as to send Kang Zhaolong here.

Behind the Kang family stood the hidden You family. Though Wei Zhao could not deal with the hidden You family at present, neither would the hidden You family dare to move against Wei Zhao lightly! Especially after the Summit of the Hidden Great Houses — the You family was even less inclined to act rashly. One need only look at how the hidden You family had suffered setback after setback and still not dared to utter a single word of protest.

Moreover, Wei Zhao had gravely wounded Elder Bi. News of that had surely spread long ago. For Kang Zhaolong to appear here at this very moment was strange no matter how one looked at it! Could he really have come chasing after Wang Xinyan? Knowing the Kang family as Wei Zhao did, he found that very hard to believe!

Though Wei Zhao had not had much contact with Kang Zhaolong, he could tell from the man's style of doing things that he was a sinister and calculating sort. For such a man, with the Kang family in such decline, to come wading into these troubled waters — Wei Zhao found it simply inconceivable!

At this thought, Wei Zhao raised his head and gave Kang Zhaolong a faint glance. The sharpness of that gaze made Kang Zhaolong's heart tighten, and he did not dare look Wei Zhao's way again…

Kang Zhaolong was seething with frustration, yet he dared not meet Wei Zhao's eyes. True, the Kang family's confidence was now极度 inflated — but that was under the hidden You family's coaxing. Kang Zhaoming, for his part, remained cautious and had given no clear support, which was why Kang Zhaolong dared not confront Wei Zhao head-on!

But neither was he afraid of Wei Zhao. His purpose in coming this time was not to oppose Wei Zhao, but simply to take his fiancée back from Wei Zhao's side and thereby humiliate him! After all, he had right on his side — he and Wang Xinyan were bound by an engagement — and within the instructor's class, he believed Wei Zhao would not dare lay a hand on him. That was the rule.

In truth, this was also the mentality of one long suppressed who now fancied himself vindicated! The Kang family had never drawn a single easy breath under Wei Zhao's relentless pressure! Ever since Wei Zhao appeared with Kang** and that** at the Divine Physician Kang's birthday banquet, the Kang family had been on the decline. Now, if they could win back a single round, it would be enough to lift the spirits of the entire clan.

Having reasoned this through, Kang Zhaolong paid no heed to Wei Zhao's icy gaze and strode toward You Panhu's seat! Today You Panhu was sitting by himself, his underlings Yellow Hair and Purple Hair seated behind him, having deliberately vacated the spot for Kang Zhaolong.

Once Kang Zhaolong had settled into his seat, the instructor began his lecture.

Wei Zhao did not take him seriously at all, but Wang Xinyan was plainly ill at ease, a faint, flickering worry playing across her face.

"Xinyan, you don't really want to marry Kang Zhaolong, do you?" Wei Zhao, sensing her unease, ventured to ask.

"Ah!" Wang Xinyan gave a start. She had not expected Wei Zhao to ask such a thing so suddenly, and it left her at a loss for an answer… She had thought that when facing Wei Zhao, she would steel her heart, put on an air of perfect composure, and deceive him — tell him she did not like him, that she was already engaged, that they were nothing more than good friends!

But when the words reached her lips, they were nowhere near as crisp as what she had said to Gu Mengyao the day before. She stammered, unable to find the right words; to deceive Wei Zhao was something she simply could not bring herself to do.

So Wang Xinyan found herself in a bit of a quandary. After hesitating for a long while, she said, "Wei Zhao, the two of us are good friends. An upright person has no fear of crooked shadows. Kang Zhaolong may be my fiancé, but that doesn't give him the right to make trouble for me, and I won't allow him to restrict my freedom to make friends."

"That…" Faced with Wang Xinyan's answer that missed the question entirely, Wei Zhao was caught between laughter and tears — yet at the same time, he found Wang Xinyan's true feelings more baffling than ever! By any reasonable account, if Wang Xinyan had a fiancé and her heart truly leaned toward him, then she could not possibly be so close to Wei Zhao, let alone sit beside him in class!

But if she did not like Kang Zhaolong, then why marry him? And why keep insisting she had a fiancé, stressing that she and Wei Zhao were merely friends?

"Let's get to the lesson. You've been absent for so long — you must have fallen far behind. Here are the notes I took earlier; copy them out," Wang Xinyan said, pushing her class notes over to Wei Zhao and speaking in a calm voice.

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