The two chatted half-heartedly for over an hour, with Gu Jinzhi as the main topic.
Through the conversation, the image of "Gu the God" gradually grew more vivid in Li Wei's mind.
Taciturn, extraordinarily gifted, shouldering the responsibilities of his family... and so on.
In Liang Qiushi's eyes, her son was simply flawless.
A little after three in the afternoon, the car slowly decelerated and passed through an imposing gate with a sentry box.
Li Wei, who had still been lost in thought moments ago, immediately straightened and turned to look at Liang Qiushi beside her.
Liang Qiushi nodded. "We're here."
The wheels rolled over a speed bump baked scorching hot by the sun, giving the car a slight jolt as it entered a long, perfectly straight avenue shaded by trees.
Century-old ginkgo trees swept past the windows one after another, while luxuriant flowerbeds bloomed in a riot of colors.
Compared to the Jiang Family estate's elegance, the landscaping here was grander and more imposing, exuding the weight of accumulated years everywhere.
At that moment, the car reached the end of the avenue. It passed a fountain flowing with silver ripples, circled a three-story main building, then turned this way and that before finally stopping in front of a two-story Small Building hidden among the trees.
"This is Jinzhi's house. You'll live here from now on." Liang Qiushi pointed at the Small Building.
Li Wei nodded casually. She had nothing to feel embarrassed about. It was all an act anyway—what difference did it make where she lived?
Her right hand unconsciously brushed over the buckle of her belt, while her left picked up the extravagantly expensive handbag Jiang Xue had left for her.
The car door opened automatically. Afternoon sunlight slanted inside, and the hundreds of tiny diamonds set along the bag's edges immediately reflected a blinding glare, nearly dazzling Li Wei's kryptonite dog eyes.
Tacky.
She disparaged it inwardly, shook the oddly textured double-spiral handles, and followed Liang Qiushi out of the car.
She was still wearing the light-blue dress and crystal-strap sandals from when she had returned to the country. She had not even had time to change her underwear.
Fortunately, she had washed up at the hotel yesterday, so she did not look too disheveled.
A breeze passed by. The blue-and-white ribbons decorating her belt swayed together with her skirt, revealing her smooth calves.
She instinctively reached down to press the hem against the outer side of her thigh, taking half a step across to avoid the car door as it automatically closed.
At that moment, an intensely uncomfortable gaze fell upon her.
Downstairs, Li Wei instantly caught the source.
Following the sensation, she looked back.
Li Wei saw a tall, slender man with peerlessly handsome features leaning against the railing on the second-floor terrace of the Small Building, looking down at her.
He wore a dark navy short-sleeved training uniform, the cuffs and trouser legs bound with extreme neatness. The smooth lines of his muscles were faintly visible beneath the fabric, adding several degrees of sharpness and strength to his originally noble bearing.
Recalling the photographs she had seen before, this man was undoubtedly Gu Jinzhi.
He really was handsome—handsome enough to make Li Wei a little jealous!
If I'd had this face in my previous life, would I still have been single at twenty-eight?
But... what's with that look in his eyes?
There was scrutiny, and a barely perceptible trace of astonishment, but more than anything else, there was a... damp, clinging, sinister stickiness that made people extremely uncomfortable.
Li Wei's perception was astonishingly powerful and keen.
It made her feel as though his gaze were a bundle of cold, slippery tentacles, trying to climb over, coil around, and cling to her body, bringing a wave of instinctive, physical revulsion.
Holy crap, a pervert?!
Li Wei bristled instantly, her reflexes moving faster than rational thought!
Clang!
The mechanism in her belt buckle clicked, and the soft sword sprang from its sheath!
A streak of pale-blue radiance flashed like a startled swan. In the next instant, Li Wei's figure appeared on the second-floor terrace like a ghost!
"What are you looking at?!"
The cold blade rested steadily against the man's shoulder and neck. Li Wei's pretty face was filled with murderous intent, her almond eyes wide as she demanded harshly, "What are you staring at?!"
The man had been reaching toward the saber propped diagonally beside him. His hand froze in midair, and he looked as though someone had sealed his acupoints. His eyes still held the remnants of scrutiny and... bewilderment?
The atmosphere upstairs and downstairs instantly froze.
Liang Qiushi had just opened an exquisite lace parasol. The chauffeur was bending over to retrieve the luggage from the trunk, while the gardener pruning branches nearby snipped with his shears—and cut nothing but air...
Liang Qiushi's parasol slipped from her hand and landed on the ground with a crisp snap, jolting her out of her shock.
"A Xue, put the sword away! He's your Brother Jinzhi!"
In the Small Building's living room, all the servants had been sent away.
Only Liang Qiushi, whose expression was impossible to hold together, Gu Jinzhi, whose face was covered in frost, and... Li Wei, who had no idea what was happening, remained.
After holding it in for a long while, Liang Qiushi was the first to break.
"Cough, cough!"
She cleared her throat and arranged a smile on her face. "Jinzhi, A Xue just wanted to show off in front of you. Look at those movements—how neat! She was only playing around with you, so don't take it to heart..."
By the end, even she lacked confidence. Her voice grew softer and softer, and the smile on her face stiffened more and more.
Facing her son's cold expression, like a marble statue from ancient Greece, she gave up and turned to Li Wei with encouragement in her eyes.
"A Xue, you and Jinzhi haven't seen each other in so many years. Hurry up and say something to him."
Li Wei knew it was time for her to take the stage!
Although she felt a little awkward... she had shattered the persona herself, so she had to rebuild it herself no matter what!
Recalling the television dramas she had once watched, she struggled to squeeze out a coquettish expression and shifted her butt a little toward Gu Jinzhi.
The result...
Gu Jinzhi silently... shifted a little, too...
Li Wei refused to believe it and moved over again.
Gu Jinzhi continued moving away.
Li Wei moved again.
Gu Jinzhi moved again.
Until she had "forced" Gu Jinzhi to the end of the long sofa, with nowhere left to retreat.
Heh, you think you can beat me?
Li Wei crooked her mouth into a grin, then boldly stretched out her arm and hooked it around Gu Jinzhi's shoulders, looking as though they were the best of brothers.
Liang Qiushi wanted to cover her face, but she held herself back...
Gu Jinzhi wanted to shake off this woman's filthy paw, but then a clear, ethereal fragrance suddenly reached his nose, and his entire body froze for an instant.
Li Wei, meanwhile, was racking her brain for something to say that might save Aunt Liang's "perilous" Substitute Service plan...
Damn, I've got nothing!
"Man, you've successfully attracted my attention"? No, no, that's way too embarrassing!
"Little thing, don't even think about escaping my palm"? Ugh~
Why didn't I watch more romance dramas back then?
The harder she tried to think of something, the more anxious she became. Her mind was filled with every drama she had ever seen, screening them one after another.
In her panic, people easily lost their minds. And so Li Wei lost hers: "I'm glad you waited at home for Sister Xue. But I don't like the way you look at Sister Xue."
Liang Qiushi: "..."
She finally covered her face inconspicuously, feeling as though her blood pressure was rising.
Gu Jinzhi: "..."
He came back to himself from the girl's natural fragrance, expressionless as he pried Li Wei's filthy paw away, then moved to an individual armchair.
"Cough, cough!"
Liang Qiushi had thoroughly cleared her throat for the day. She tried to change the subject.
"Jinzhi, you don't know this, but Grandma Jiang realized four years ago that A Xue had extraordinary talent. That was why she quietly sent her abroad for careful training. She even kept it from me."
As she spoke, she put on a suitably emotional expression.
"A Xue worked hard, too. After four years, she reached Great Perfection in Blood Nourishment, and yesterday she broke through in one move to become a formal martial artist!"
"Sigh, when she used to come to our house, she was only this tall, right?" Liang Qiushi raised a hand to a point slightly above the sofa's armrest. "Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, she'd grown into such a fine young woman—and accomplished at that."
Not long ago, after confirming that Li Wei agreed to continue fulfilling the "engagement," Jiang Xinyue and Liang Qiushi had settled on a unified story.
Jiang Xinyue was certain that the Dao Protector from the Yun Family yesterday could only tell that Li Wei had the foundation of Great Perfection in Blood Nourishment at most.
To avoid the trouble of exposing the Dao-Approaching Body, the two had agreed to publicly acknowledge only that Li Wei had broken through to become a First Order martial artist on the foundation of Great Perfection in Blood Nourishment.
After all, a prodigy at the "Great Perfection" level was already enough to make the Zhang Family hesitate like a rat before a cat. There was no need to provoke them further.
As for the faint white lotus mark between Li Wei's brows...
Outsiders did not understand the wonders of the Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll. With a group of "lotus spirits" within the Jiang Family helping to cover for her, it likely would not draw too much attention.
Listening to his mother's words and recalling that ultimate flash of sword light, Gu Jinzhi was also somewhat dazed.
"Great Perfection?"
A trace of surprise flashed through his eyes before turning into realization.
No wonder... no wonder she was so strong.
Although he still felt that the sharpness of that sword strike had been beyond imagination, the explanation of "Great Perfection" made sense for the moment.
He looked at Li Wei again. His gaze was clear and upright now, no longer sticky as before—the plan for that look had apparently failed completely.
"Miss Jiang, shall we go to the Training Ground and exchange a few moves?"
Li Wei's eyes lit up at once, and she looked eager to try. "Sure, Mr. Gu. I was thinking the same thing!"
He called me Miss Jiang, so it's fine for me to call him Mr. Gu, right? As for Brother Jinzhi and all that, I... cough... I can't do it!
However, thinking of that infuriating look from earlier, she felt a little suspicious and could not resist issuing a warning:
"Hey, if you look at me like that again, hmph!"
As she spoke, she shook her little pink fist at him.
She thought she looked imposing. In reality, she was adorable.
Gu Jinzhi was a little awkward. He answered in a low voice, "Sorry..."
Liang Qiushi sat alone in the living room, unable to recover for a long while.
She had imagined countless possible developments after their first meeting...
But she had never imagined that the two of them had seemingly become acquainted through a fight.
They had even arranged a match?
Could this be the generation gap?
Before you continue