"Young Master Jiang, with your abilities, you should be making connections with the major powers here on Winter Yan Island. How is it that you've been going it alone?" Xing Hui found this rather puzzling.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "I haven't been on Winter Yan Island very long. I'm still in the process of learning the lay of the land. Have you and your daughter been regulars here for some time?"
Xing Hui gave a bitter laugh. "I wouldn't say regulars, but we've been hanging around here for sixteen or seventeen years now. When I first came, my daughter was still in swaddling clothes. Now, Tong'er has grown so much."
Jiang Chen glanced at Xing Tong. The girl had delicate, painting-like features and eyes full of simple kindness — clearly someone who had grown up entirely under her father's protection and hadn't picked up many of Winter Yan Island's darker habits.
Still, surviving on Winter Yan Island as a single father raising a daughter who grew more beautiful by the day was no easy task.
Xing Tong was already at the age where her body was filling out. She had blossomed into a slender, graceful young woman — quite the picture of youthful beauty.
If she were still a little girl, there would be far less danger. The more she grew, the more attention she attracted, and the more trouble followed.
Since ancient times, beauty itself has been no crime — but beauty inevitably draws trouble.
"Young Master Jiang carries himself with extraordinary bearing. At a glance, you're clearly a prodigy of considerable depth. I can't help but wonder — what circumstances led you to end up here on Winter Yan Island?" Xing Hui asked curiously.
Those who ended up on Winter Yan Island were, almost without exception, the downtrodden and unlucky.
So Xing Hui was genuinely curious: with this young Master Jiang's composure and presence, how could he possibly have been banished to this place? It simply didn't add up.
Jiang Chen gave a wry smile. "That's a long story. Better left untold. Right now, all I'm thinking about is whether there's some way to leave this place early. Do you have any suggestions?"
Xing Hui looked stunned. "Leave? Once you've come to Winter Yan Island, leaving is practically impossible!"
"Daddy…" Xing Tong tugged at Xing Hui's arm. "We don't have a way, but maybe Young Master Jiang does?"
Xing Hui collected himself and nodded. "Right, right. The chances of leaving Winter Yan Island are astronomically slim, but it's not entirely without hope. With your talents, Young Master, perhaps such an opportunity could fall to you."
"You mean the champion selection?"
"Yes — you know about it?" Xing Hui asked, surprised.
"That kind of opportunity is once in a lifetime. What I want to know is, apart from the selection, is there any possibility of simply escaping?"
"Escaping?" Father and daughter stared at him, dumbfounded.
This young Master Jiang was positively audacious. Once you set foot on Winter Yan Island, no matter how powerful you were, you kept your head down and behaved. People had certainly entertained thoughts of escape over the years — such incidents happened now and then. But success? Practically nonexistent. In all of Winter Yan Island's recorded history, those who had successfully fled could probably be counted on one hand.
"Young Master Jiang, you can say things like that here, but outside — please, don't say them so freely. Speak carelessly and you're very likely to bring trouble down on yourself," Xing Hui said gravely.
Jiang Chen shrugged. He knew that for the Xing family, this notion of his must sound terrifying.
But in his heart, he had never abandoned the thought. He would leave. He was determined to leave. No matter how difficult it was, as long as there was even a sliver of hope, he would never give up.
Xing Hui saw the look on Jiang Chen's face and realized the young man hadn't taken a word of his warning to heart.
He sighed. "Perhaps Young Master Jiang has his own reasons for needing to leave. I'm a man of little influence, and it's not my place to lecture you. Just — even if you have this intention, keep it to yourself. Don't go asking around. If someone reports you, the consequences would be dire. And even if no one actively targets you, simply being watched would be detrimental to any escape plan."
Xing Tong blushed and chimed in, "Brother Jiang, Tong'er knows you're a good person. But Daddy says there are a lot of terrible people in this City of Sin. When you're out and about, you have to be careful."
Jiang Chen laughed at that. "Don't worry — I know who I can trust and who I can't. You, little girl, with those kind eyes of yours — you'd never betray me, would you?"
Xing Tong's cheeks flushed crimson, but she nodded firmly.
Xing Hui spoke with deep emotion. "Young Master Jiang, life on Winter Yan Island is hard. Perhaps the way I've been sheltering Tong'er has actually done her harm. I don't want her to live in a world of treachery and deceit. I don't want her to become a cunning, scheming child. But here on Winter Yan Island… I honestly don't know whether my protection is right or wrong."
Jiang Chen could see that Xing Hui had likely been overprotective of his daughter. He hadn't allowed this young girl to pick up a single bad habit from Winter Yan Island.
But was his insistence truly wrong?
Jiang Chen couldn't say for certain. To each their own. Perhaps for a girl like Xing Tong, living simply and kindly was a hundred times happier than living by cunning and deception.
She might one day find it impossible to survive with such a nature.
But at least during the time she was alive, she could live more happily.
*Knock, knock, knock!*
While they were chatting, a knock came from outside the corridor.
"Guests, I'm the inn's serving boy. There's an honored visitor in the main hall who invites you to join him for a drink."
Jiang Chen's brow furrowed. "What honored visitor?"