Chapter 564 — Meeting an Old Taoist

"Congratulations, you got it right." Jiao Yazi nodded. "I'm a ghost. Are you afraid?"

"..." Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words.

He had no idea how much time this breakthrough had taken, but Wei Zhao suddenly heard footsteps outside his room. Startled, he hurriedly returned to reality from the jade pendant's space. A glance at the alarm clock on his bedside table showed it was already half past six. Every day at this hour he was long since out of bed; today, because of the breakthrough, he had been delayed a while.

Wei Zhao dressed and pushed open the door, only to find Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu whispering together over by the kitchen and dining area.

"Why hasn't Arrow-Brand Bro prepared breakfast today?" Shen Yushu asked, one hand on her belly, the other groping across the dining table. "Did he make it and hide it away?"

"That's enough, Xiaoshu. Wei Zhao hasn't gotten up yet. He rushed back to save us, and these past two days have been exhausting enough for him. Let him sleep a while longer. We'll eat breakfast at school," Gu Mengyao said with a shake of her head.

"Oh, Yao-Yao, are you feeling sorry for Arrow-Brand Bro?" Shen Yushu blinked, then looked at Gu Mengyao in some surprise.

Gu Mengyao's face flushed red. She coughed once. "Feeling sorry for what? He's our savior. We ought to treat him a little better!"

"Oh, all right." Shen Yushu nodded. "But the school breakfast is awful. We should ask Uncle Chu to replace the cafeteria manager!"

"That manager seems to be a relative of my family. He can't be replaced..." Gu Mengyao said. "Anyway, we're about to graduate. We won't have to eat it many more times."

Standing in the doorway of his room, Wei Zhao's lips curved into a faint smile. Heh. The young miss was the same as ever—always caring about people behind their backs while wearing that cold, icy look on the surface.

"It's still early. I'll fix you two something to eat." Wei Zhao stepped out of his room and headed for the kitchen.

"You... you're awake?" Gu Mengyao jumped in fright, her eyes going wide. Had Wei Zhao overheard what she'd just said? Feeling a bit embarrassed, she glared fiercely at him. "How do you make no sound at all? Are you trying to scare people to death?"

"Heh..." Wei Zhao said nothing and simply busied himself in the kitchen.

Ever since he'd moved into the villa, Uncle Qing had bought a great many semi-prepared foods and stocked them in the villa's freezer. Wei Zhao opened the freezer and spotted some frozen soup dumplings. He took out a bag and put it in the steamer, then pulled some fresh daylily buds and enoki mushrooms from the refrigerator's crisper drawer, washed them clean and cut them into segments, then poured in Sichuan peppercorn oil, salt, sugar, and chili, and stirred it all together until it became a plate of tasty pickles.

Meanwhile, the soup dumplings were ready too. Wei Zhao quickly fished them out of the pot and set them on the dining table together with the pickles. "All right, time to eat."

"Wow, just as expected of Arrow-Brand Bro, you're amazing!" Shen Yushu, who had long since gotten hungry, reached out to grab a bun.

"Xiaoshu, how can you eat like that? Just now, didn't you not wash your hands?" Gu Mengyao stopped her.

"Uh... I don't think I peed on my hands..." Shen Yushu said, blushing a little.

"Don't think?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"Uh... just a little bit. I got some on my hand when I was wiping..." Shen Yushu stuck out her tongue.

"Then why aren't you going to wash your hands right now?" Gu Mengyao shot her a glare.

"Then this bun... you can have it, Yao-Yao," Shen Yushu said, offering the bun in her hand to Gu Mengyao.

"I don't want it!" Gu Mengyao waved her hands again and again.

"Arrow-Brand Bro, then it's a gift for you!" Shen Yushu set the bun on the plate in front of Wei Zhao.

"..." Wei Zhao's face instantly went dark with lines.

By the time Shen Yushu came back from washing her hands, Wei Zhao was still staring speechlessly at the bun in front of him. It wasn't that he found Shen Yushu disgusting—on the contrary, there was a faint, peculiar thrill in his heart. It was just that Wei Zhao's taste for mischief wasn't strong enough; he couldn't bring himself to reach for it, much less bring it to his mouth.

"Throw it away," Gu Mengyao said, glancing at Wei Zhao.

"I'm not hungry. You two eat," Wei Zhao said with a sigh. Living under the same roof as Shen Yushu required summoning the courage of a man in training.

Shen Yushu seemed to have just realized what was off about Wei Zhao. She looked at him, then at the bun in front of him, and burst out laughing. "Haha... Arrow-Brand Bro, the hand I used to grab the bun just now was my left hand. The one I use in the bathroom is my right..."

With that, Shen Yushu took the bun back from in front of Wei Zhao and bit into it hugely, eating with particular relish...

Wei Zhao and Gu Mengyao exchanged a glance, each seeing deep helplessness in the other's eyes...

After breakfast, Uncle Qing came to pick up Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu for school, while Wei Zhao drove his own beat-up van. Having just broken through from the Yellow Rank to the Mystic Rank, Wei Zhao was feeling pretty good. A Mystic Rank expert—in the mundane world, there probably weren't many left to be seen, were there? Next time he ran into Wu Gonggao, he wouldn't need to fear him either. External-school experts were, in the end, a notch below internal-school experts. Though the gap wasn't large, a gap there ultimately was.

Wei Zhao was gloating inwardly when he turned his head and got the fright of his life! For in the van, which should have held only himself, an old man had somehow appeared in the passenger seat! The old man was dressed very fashionably: T-shirt, jeans, sunglasses, and slicked-back hair.

"Whoa!" Wei Zhao slammed on the brakes in fright, bringing the van to a stop in the middle of the road. "Who are you?"

How this old man had gotten into the car, and when, Wei Zhao had not the slightest inkling! The mood that had been so smug over his promotion to early Mystic Rank plummeted to rock bottom in an instant.

"This poor monk is Mo Kongwen." The old man nodded at Wei Zhao. "Boundless life to the Buddha."

"Boundless life to the Buddha? Are you a Daoist or a monk?" Wei Zhao was baffled. Just what was this old man's background? Could he be an expert? Yet Wei Zhao could not sense the slightest ripple of energy from him.

"Neither," the old man said with a shake of his head.

"Then why do you call yourself 'this poor monk'?" Wei Zhao blinked.

"My humble surname is Poor Monk, my given name Mo Kongwen," the old man said.

"..." Wei Zhao was speechless. This old man was obviously full of crap. "I don't know you. Get out of the car."

"Benefactor, you carry too much murderous aura, and an ill omen hangs above your head—this is a sign of misfortune..." the old man rattled on without pause.

Wei Zhao reached out, opened the passenger door, and kicked the old man right out of the car. He quickly started the engine and floored the gas, speeding away.

So he was just an old swindler after all! Wei Zhao had barely breathed a sigh of relief when he heard someone knocking on the car window. He turned his head and saw that Mo Kongwen sprinting along outside the car, one hand reaching out to tap on the window.

Wei Zhao glanced at the speedometer and his eyes went wide! Sixty miles an hour—how was this old man keeping up?

"Benefactor, I can help you dispel the ill omen..." the old man said as he ran.

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