But did the young miss truly have feelings for him? Wei Zhao was not quite certain. Sometimes he was sure of it, and other times it blurred into ambiguity—an odd feeling altogether. Yet since the young miss had never said anything, Wei Zhao would not lightly shatter the warm habit they shared.

Perhaps one day in the future, the two would cross the line from friendship into love, but neither would be much surprised—because that tacit understanding and feeling had long since taken root between them. Only, it certainly was not now.

And Wei Zhao enjoyed this warmth and familiarity with the young miss as well—no passion of romance, only the plain, quiet care and concern of two people for each other...

But the appearance of the Dark Night Palace's Grand Elder shattered the peace between Wei Zhao and the young miss. The young miss would leave in the end, and the dream would end with her waking.

"It's late, Daddy. You should head back—we're going to rest too. Maybe first thing tomorrow morning, the Grand Elder will come knocking. The Black-Robed Elder at her side knows this place." Gu Mengyao said to Gu Pengzhan. His account of the past had taken quite a while, and it was already night.

"All right, Yaoyao, then I'll be off. Tomorrow's business... I'll stay out of it. Xiaoyi, I'm counting on you!" Gu Pengzhan knew it would not do for him to show his face tomorrow. He feared that meeting the Grand Elder would humiliate her—after all, Mr. Yang had once stood up for him against her.

"Don't worry, Uncle Chu. I'll help Yaoyao and get Auntie Ye to come back." Wei Zhao nodded.

Gu Pengzhan said nothing more. He rose and left the villa with Uncle Qing; they got into the car and soon vanished into the vast night.

In the villa, Gu Mengyao also rose, yawned, and said to Xiaoshu, "All right, Xiaoshu, come upstairs and sleep with me. I'm leaving, not disappearing for good!"

"Oh... okay!" Shen Yushu obediently went upstairs with Gu Mengyao. She knew, too, that this might be the last night she would sleep beside Gu Mengyao.

Wei Zhao sighed. He wanted to follow them up, but instead he said, "Xiaohan, you should rest too. I'm going to sleep as well."

"Okay..." Xu Shilan had never expected such things to happen in Wei Zhao's household. She nodded and went upstairs.

Back in his room, Wei Zhao sat cross-legged on the bed and began circulating the third layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. He knew that only by cultivating harder could he make his voice heard at the ancient level.

Otherwise, Xiaoxiao and Yaoyao would be at others' mercy—as would, in the future, Xiaoshu and Xiaojiu. Though Wei Zhao was on good terms with the Fireflame Mountain and the Loess Sect, if they decided to do something, he could not stop them; but greater strength would let him shield those girls from harm.

Upstairs, in Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu's room.

Though the lights were already off, neither of the sisters slept.

"Xiaoshu, are you asleep?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"No, Yaoyao-jie. Are you?" Shen Yushu asked back.

"Of course I'm not asleep—otherwise how could I be talking to you?" Gu Mengyao was caught between laughing and crying.

"Oh, Yaoyao-jie, you're leaving tomorrow, and I can't fall asleep." Shen Yushu said.

"Mm, me neither." Gu Mengyao smiled, but there was a note of sorrow in it. "Then let's talk."

"Okay!" Shen Yushu nodded.

"How amazing. I never thought I'd turn out to be an inheritor..." Gu Mengyao sighed. "I could never have imagined it before. It seems like ever since Wei Zhao came to the villa, our lives have changed so much."

"Yeah. So, Yaoyao-jie, have you ever regretted it?" Shen Yushu asked.

"Regretted? Of course not. It's good this way—far more interesting than that dull, ordinary life before. And if Wei Zhao hadn't come, we might have been dead long ago. One Zhao Qibing alone could have put us in our graves." Gu Mengyao said.

"That's not what I meant. I meant, have you ever regretted not seizing the advantage of being close at hand?" Shen Yushu asked.

"Seizing the advantage of being close at hand?" Gu Mengyao was slightly taken aback. Then her face flushed—thankfully it was dark, and Shen Yushu could not see. "Don't talk nonsense. Wei Zhao and I have a pure friendship."

"Oh? I didn't say that. Yaoyao-jie's thoughts have turned impure—jumping straight to Mr. Arrowbrand. Seems there's definitely a problem!" Shen Yushu said with a giggle.

"Then what were you talking about?" Gu Mengyao snorted.

"I was saying, that... Yaoyao-jie didn't push Mr. Arrowbrand down—do you regret it?" Shen Yushu said.

"Is there a difference?" Gu Mengyao was furious. "Are you fishing for words out of me? Just wait till I tear that mouth of yours apart!"

Yet though Gu Mengyao said so, she did not really go tear Xiaoshu's mouth apart—because she no longer felt like romping and teasing with Shen Yushu. She would be leaving tomorrow, and she no longer had the heart for it.

"Hehe, actually, Yaoyao-jie is now on the same level as Mr. Arrowbrand's other wives. They're all vice-palace masters, elders and so on, all inheritors—and now Yaoyao-jie is one too. In the future, Yaoyao-jie will be formidable too!" Shen Yushu said. "Now only Xiaoshu is left. Once Xiaoshu works hard and becomes an inheritor too, the big and little wives can join forces again!"

"Hehe, sure, then work hard!" Gu Mengyao thought Shen Yushu was joking and smiled. "Let's look back on the things that happened this past year..."

"Okay..." Shen Yushu said. "It was March 12th this year, wasn't it, when Mr. Arrowbrand first moved into the villa. Back then we still really disliked him..."

"Yes, March 12th. But on March 13th, I ran into those robbers—and that was when I started to think Wei Zhao was actually pretty decent. At least he stood up for me, stepped forward for me..." Gu Mengyao nodded...

The two of them, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, reminisced through every little moment of the past year, and before they knew it, dawn had broken...

Today was destined to be a sleepless night. Many people had lost sleep!

Besides Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, Gu Pengzhan had lost sleep too—and so had the Dark Night Palace's Grand Elder and Black-Robed Elder. The two of them spent the night discussing how to persuade Gu Mengyao, but after a whole night of deliberation, they had reached no conclusion. After all, the Grand Elder truly did not know how to persuade anyone. Previously, in her view, Gu Mengyao would happily return with her; the current turn of events had caught her somewhat off guard!

It was the Black-Robed Elder who came up with an idea: use Ye Wan'er as a bargaining chip!

(During the holiday, I have to go out in the mornings these few days and can only write in the afternoons once I'm back, so updates will be a little late.) RS

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