Chapter 639 — Tang Yun's Sense of Crisis

Tang Yun did not know how she was meant to contend with Gu Mengyao, nor whether she ought to contend at all. Everything came down to Wei Zhao's attitude in the end. If he did not care for Gu Mengyao, then Tang Yun would have nothing to fear; but his attitude was maddeningly ambiguous — toward Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu alike, he surely felt something.

That was the wellspring of Tang Yun's sense of crisis. Living under one roof, they could hardly keep from falling for one another with time. For now, all she could do was take one step and see where the next one led.

Wei Zhao came into the classroom, glanced at his own empty desk, and suddenly thought of Feng Xiaoxiao.

It had been some while since he had seen Feng Xiaoxiao. He had been back from Yanjing for days now, and still she had not returned. Was she still in Yanjing?

Wei Zhao considered sending a text, just to ask after her — their relations had eased, after all, no longer so strained as before. But then he remembered that Feng Xiaoxiao was the sort who, given an inch, would take a mile, and he set his phone down again.

Who was to say that, once he took the initiative to contact her, she would not stir up some fresh trouble?

He was still thinking of Feng Xiaoxiao when her text arrived: Wei Zhao, why has it been so long since you contacted me? Is it that there is simply no place for me in your heart?

Wei Zhao stared at the message on his phone, caught between laughter and tears, at a loss how to answer. After a moment's thought, he replied only: Very busy. When are you coming back?

Feng Xiaoxiao was at that moment sitting bored on a hospital bed. Feng Tianlong had returned and was keeping her company.

"Xiaoxiao, texting a friend?" Feng Tianlong was rather startled to see his daughter sending a message. He knew very well that his daughter had few friends, and scarcely any she would bother to text. Apart from the crowd she raced cars with, there was no one she truly opened her heart to.

"Oh, it's Wei Zhao. You've met him." Feng Xiaoxiao made no secret of it.

"Wei Zhao?" A glint flashed through Feng Tianlong's eyes. "You two are close?"

"So-so." Feng Xiaoxiao looked at Wei Zhao's evasive message and felt her temper kindle. Very busy? Busy with what? Busy courting Tang Yun, or busy trailing after Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu like a lackey?

"He truly isn't your boyfriend?" Feng Tianlong asked suddenly.

"Ah!" Feng Xiaoxiao's heart gave a jolt, and her face warmed. Had her father seen through something? He had asked her a question much like this once before, and she had denied it — so why bring it up again today? Then, all at once, she thought of her own condition and threw caution to the winds. "For the time being... not yet!"

"Not yet?" Something stirred at once in Feng Tianlong's heart. "You're trying?"

"I'm the one chasing him!" Feng Xiaoxiao's relationship with her father had never been an easy one, and she had never been the good-girl sort. Though she had never had a boyfriend, once the subject was broached she was shy only at first, and after that quite unconstrained.

"Ha, then I wish you success." Feng Tianlong had long hoped his daughter would find a boyfriend — even if she did not marry, she might at least have a child first. He had no wish to lose his daughter and grow old alone; a grandchild, boy or girl, would be something for his spirit to cling to. And Wei Zhao was a man he approved of, which only made him the readier to endorse the match.

"Success is a long way off. We haven't even made the first stroke of the character. Who knows — I might be gone before I ever catch him!" Feng Xiaoxiao took life and death lightly and did not shrink from the subject. "And this trip was wasted again, so many days thrown away. With that time I could have done anything at all — anything but lie in a hospital every day!"

"The final results aren't out yet, are they? Maybe there is still a way..." When he said this, Feng Tianlong himself had little conviction. He had long since expected this round to end much as every round before it; but until the final verdict came down, he could not quite put his hope to death.

"So pointless!" Feng Xiaoxiao flopped back onto the bed and went on texting Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao sent Feng Xiaoxiao a few more messages, but then class began. He folded his phone shut and put it in his desk, and Feng Xiaoxiao's messages sank like stones into the sea. She was beside herself with fury. Wei Zhao, you wretch — you cannot even be bothered to text me?

"Sister Yaoyao, by my observation, Brother Arrow came with Tang Yun today!" Shen Yushu was once again exercising her talent for espionage.

"Oh." Gu Mengyao answered flatly. "What does that have to do with us? Leave him be."

"But aren't you going to pursue Brother Arrow? You've already thrown down the gauntlet to Tang Yun. If we make no move, Tang Yun will think we're afraid and have sounded the retreat!" Shen Yushu needled.

"Let her think whatever she likes." Gu Mengyao was not so easily taken in; she had long known Shen Yushu's little tricks — only the likes of Zhong Yongliang and An Jianwen ever fell for them.

"Oh..." Shen Yushu was somewhat deflated. Seeing that no matter what she said, Sister Yaoyao remained unmoved, she had no choice but to give up.

Gu Mengyao had been listening to the lecture with all her attention, but Shen Yushu's words left her mind in a snarl. She had refused the suggestion, yet she could not quiet the turmoil within... She drifted through to the end of class without even noticing, still staring fixedly at the textbook before her.

"Sister Yaoyao?" Shen Yushu waved a hand in front of her face.

"What?" Gu Mengyao started, came back to herself, and glared at Shen Yushu. "Are you trying to frighten me to death?"

"Sister Yaoyao, are you pining for love?" Shen Yushu studied her with curiosity.

"Pining for what? What nonsense is this?" Gu Mengyao's heart clenched, and she fixed Shen Yushu with a fierce look that belied her alarm.

"On television they say that when a woman stares into space all the time, it means she's pining for love. Just like you were doing a moment ago, Sister Yaoyao," Shen Yushu said.

"Whatever the television says, you believe? Then why don't you believe the shopping channels?" Naturally Gu Mengyao would not admit to pining for love — surely she would not die of it; at most she was furious at Wei Zhao for chasing girls while he was supposed to be working!

If he had made a move on Xiaoshu, that could still have been forgiven. But no — it had to be Tang Yun. The mere thought of it set Gu Mengyao seething.

"Oh... then what were you doing just now, Sister Yaoyao?" Shen Yushu nodded and pressed on.

"Nothing at all. I was meditating. Is that not allowed?" That said, Gu Mengyao turned away and paid Shen Yushu no further heed.

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