Hubby: Grandma says the hostile forces may come looking for trouble with you. I was frantic with worry, so I've specially sent Zhang Zhishen to protect you. Zhang Zhishen is one of my disciples. He is skilled in gu sorcery, but what he excels at most is unravelling gu. He's a bit simple-minded, but he can be trusted. With him beside you, I can rest easy.

Also, I'm giving you another small box. When you run into a danger you cannot resolve, open the box. Inside is a child gu; the mother gu is with me, and I will receive word at once and come to your aid.

Missing you. Kissing you. Loving you. Tormenting you—Lan Ling, in her own hand.

Those last words set Yang Ce's blood racing. "Tormenting" meant in bed, surely—haw haw. Lan Ling, that little prize, he loved her to death. Recalling all that had gone before, Yang Ce's thoughts wandered and his heart grew restless.

Picking up the little box, Yang Ce turned it this way and that, but for a long while could find nothing special about it. Looking into it with his penetrating sight, he found only pitch-blackness within, and could not tell what lay inside.

But according to what Lan Ling had said, this thing was a child gu: once released, the mother gu on Lan Ling's side would react. Which meant that if he opened this box now, Lan Ling would soon come rushing to him.

It was a rather tempting thought. Though Yang Ce had many beauties for company, his longing for Lan Ling had never diminished. Especially deep in the quiet night, thinking of the joys of the past, the sweet and the bitter, the sour and the hot, Yang Ce felt utterly transported.

Though Yang Ce very much wanted to open this box right now and bring Lan Ling back to his side, he was still a rational man, and would not do something so irrational.

It was true that he missed Lan Ling, but had Lan Ling not missed him just as much? It was all mutual. If Lan Ling could return, she would certainly have flown back at the first moment; there would be no need for him to resort to any trick.

Yang Ce did not want to squander Lan Ling's painstaking care on a whim, so with great solemnity he tucked the box into his bosom, resolving to keep it close to his person.

He read the letter Lan Ling had written him several more times. Though there were not many words on it, the deep concern was plain in every line. Since Lan Ling had said Zhang Zhishen was reliable, trustworthy, and capable, what more could Yang Ce say?

The man Lan Ling had sent him must have his uses in the end. Though he was unwilling to have someone trailing after him every day, there was no help for it. Yang Ce did not want to be struck by gu sorcery again—the memory of last time was still fresh. Had he not by some strange twist of fate encountered Old Man Lan Hai, Lan Ling's grandfather, he would have been dead and gone long ago.

Though Lan Ling had said his heart gu could immunize him against most gu poisons, Zhang Zhishen had also said that certain formidable and special gu poisons could not be immunized against. The gu poison he had suffered last time was probably of that kind.

Now that the decision was made, it was necessary to meet Zhang Zhishen once more and discuss their plans for the future. With that thought, Yang Ce took out his phone and called Zhang Zhishen.

To be continued.

1005. Lan Ling's Disciple

Zhang Zhishen was at that moment waiting in the hotel for Yang Ce's call, not daring to be the least bit negligent. His task on this trip was to protect Yang Ce; Lan Ling's instructions were the direction of his life. So after returning to the hotel, Zhang Zhishen set his phone's ringtone to maximum and placed it before him, waiting for the call to come in.

A sharp ringtone sounded. Zhang Zhishen quickly picked up the phone and glanced at the caller display—it was the number he had saved today, Yang Ce's. Zhang Zhishen breathed a sigh of relief. Yang Ce had finally called.

In fact, he had had this number for some time—Lan Ling had given it to him once already. It was only that he had not known the man he met today was Yang Ce, and so had saved it again.

If Yang Ce had not called, Zhang Zhishen would not have known what to do. Though he had Yang Ce's number, he was afraid of disturbing Yang Ce's proper business, and while he hesitated, Yang Ce's call came in.

"Hello, Mr. Yang." Zhang Zhishen answered the phone.

"Brother Zhang Zhishen, is that you? Where are you? I've finished up my business here, and I'm coming to find you now," Yang Ce said.

"I'm at the Xuezhi Inn near Songjiang Engineering University. Master said you live near here and told me to look for you in this area," Zhang Zhishen said.

"Oh, all right. Then wait for me—I'll come over to you. Which room are you in?" Yang Ce knew of the Xuezhi Inn; it was right near the school.

"In the basement, room 1106," Zhang Zhishen said.

"All right, wait for me a bit. I'll be there in about twenty minutes." With that, Yang Ce hung up and headed toward Songjiang Engineering University.

Lan Ling probably still thought he lived in his old place, which was why she had told Zhang Zhishen to look for him in that area. Yang Ce soon found the Xuezhi Inn. There were only so many inns near the school; back when term first started, the inns' attendants had all come into the school to hand out advertisements.

Back then, Zhang Bin had even brought back several of them, declaring that he and Zhao Sisi were going to get a room.

Yang Ce had noted the approximate locations of those inns, just in case. He had never expected they would actually come in handy. Yang Ce entered the Xuezhi Inn, and the proprietress came up to him beaming. "Student, are you staying the night, or just resting a while? How many of you?"

"I'm here to see someone." Yang Ce shook his head. "Room 1106."

"Oh, that's downstairs. Just go down the stairs in front of you." Seeing that he was not there to stay, the proprietress did not waste more words.

Yang Ce went down the stairs, found room 1106, and knocked. The door was opened quickly, and Zhang Zhishen poked his head out. Seeing it was Yang Ce, he opened the door. "Mr. Yang, you've come. Please, come in."

After Yang Ce entered, Zhang Zhishen shut the door tight and said, "Brother Yang, you've read the letter Master wrote you, haven't you?"

Yang Ce did not speak, but raised a hand and made a gesture for silence.

True, the little inns near campus generally kept their word and did not install listening devices or cameras in the rooms—once the students caught them at it, the place's reputation would be ruined beyond repair. Word traveled faster on a campus than anywhere else, and before long the inn would be out of business. But there are exceptions to everything: just look at that clothing shop they had visited today, which had a camera after all.

Yang Ce began searching every corner of the room with care. The topic he and Zhang Zhishen were about to discuss was rather private, so Yang Yongjin had to be cautious.

"Rest easy, Mr. Yang. I've looked everywhere already—this time I was careful." Zhang Zhishen knew from Yang Ce's movements that he was hunting for cameras and the like. But even as he said it, his face flushed red. What good had his searching done? He had searched today too and found nothing, and in the end it was Yang Ce who spotted it.

Yang Yu nodded. There really were no eavesdropping or peeping devices in the room, and only then did Yang Ce relax and sit down on the sofa.

"Xiao Qi, go get Mr. Yang something to drink," Zhang Zhishen instructed his girlfriend.

"No need to trouble yourself. I just ate, I'm not thirsty." Yang Ce waved a hand. "Let's get down to business instead."

"All right." Zhang Zhishen was a plain, straightforward sort—what was one was one, what was two was two, with no pretense about him. Seeing that Yang Yongjin would not drink, he did not press the matter, but sat down beside Yang Juehuan and said, "Mr. Yang, you've seen the letter the master gave you?"