Night fell...
On the rooftop terrace above a small alley, steam from the hot pot drifted through the air as tripe and beef rolled in the spicy red broth.
"Cheers!"
"Clink!"
The glasses collided with a crisp chime.
Gu Shen slowly finished an entire glass of wine.
Everything felt as ethereal as a dream... When he had left the Welfare Institute, he had wondered what his future life would be like. No matter what he did, he would probably be alone. Whenever he passed through small alleys late at night and saw people clinking glasses and drinking heartily in shops on street corners, he had never imagined himself in such a role.
Maybe he was not that lonely.
It was just that no one had ever raised a glass to him.
But now, someone had.
"Three consecutive Dream Interpretations... Those assessors are fucking awful!"
After hearing about the day's assessment, Zhong Wei slammed the table and roared, "If anything happened to our Little Gu, could they bear the responsibility?"
"Exactly!" Mr. Shu puffed on his cigar and leaned back slightly, saying with righteous indignation, "They went too far!"
"So..." Zhong Wei immediately continued, "Teacher, can you really tolerate this? They haven't left Qinghe yet. It's not too late to make a move!"
"Cough, cough!" Mr. Shu choked on a huge mouthful of smoke.
"Enough."
Luo Er saw through Zhong Wei's ulterior motives and hurriedly came to her teacher's rescue. Smiling, she said, "It's enough for us to drink and curse them in private. Those grand dukes were only doing their duty. Besides... Little Gu tore apart the Cage of the Netherworld Phantom. It's already a blessing that Grand Arbiter Tang isn't coming after us."
At that, Gu Shen scratched his head awkwardly.
"Cage of the Netherworld Phantom..."
Nan Jin took