Chapter 534 — No Need for Tang Zhi

Wei Zhao lay flat on the hotel bed in a sprawl, and let out a long breath.

He had thought that when he met the Yu family, he would be able to face them calmly. And in truth, Wei Zhao had tried hard to keep his composure, but once he was alone and quiet, that peerless face surfaced in his mind unbidden, along with those aggrieved, sorrowful eyes.

Xiao Ning, are you well?

Wei Zhao shook his head with a trace of self-mockery. It was all in the past, so why was he still brooding over it?

Had he truly left because he felt his status was unworthy of her? Or because he could not give her a comfortable, stable life? Or was it the recklessness of youth, not wanting to be bound by love and family? Or had he simply discovered Xiao Ning's secret and chosen to run from it?

Wei Zhao did not know, and he could not explain it himself. His state of mind then and his state of mind now were two entirely different things.

Back then, he had been tense and on edge every waking moment; now, he was at ease and carefree.

Wei Zhao climbed out of bed, went into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stepped in, and in an instant he felt much refreshed.

He silently circulated the internal energy method of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. The mid-Yellow rank brought a faint smile to the corner of his mouth.

In the course of a single night, his strength had recovered to the mid-Yellow rank; the speed was still quite fast. Still, it was nothing to celebrate, because the closer he came to his former strength, the slower the progress became.

In fact, Wei Zhao had recovered to mid-Yellow rank in the first half of the night, and in the second half he had made no progress at all.

After his shower, Wei Zhao dried his hair and glanced at the phone on the bed; there were two missed calls. He assumed they were from Tang Zhi, but they were not.

One was from Feng Xiaoxiao, and the other from Kang Xiaofeng.

Wei Zhao called Kang Xiaofeng back first, and the other end picked up quickly. "Boss, why didn't you answer your phone just now?"

"I was in the shower. Is something the matter?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Boss, did you have a fight with sister-in-law Tang Zhi?" Kang Xiaofeng asked.

"No. Why?" Wei Zhao was taken aback for a moment. It probably did not count as a fight, did it? He had merely stood her up; Tang Zhi would not be so petty, surely?

"At school today, I saw sister-in-law Tang Zhi with red-rimmed eyes, like she had been crying all night!" Kang Xiaofeng said. "Could something have happened in her family?"

"Her family?" Wei Zhao paused slightly. That was possible, he thought; it was quite likely that some trouble had come up in Tang Zhi's household, and he did not know the phone numbers of her father and mother, nor how to reach Tang Zhi. The girl had even turned off her phone, which was truly worrying. So he said, "Tomorrow, help me ask her, or Liu Xinlan, and then call me back."

Since Tang Zhi could still come to school, it should not be any great trouble; it was only that Kang Xiaofeng said she seemed to have cried all night, with red-rimmed eyes, which made Wei Zhao's heart ache a little. He was not a man skilled at expressing his feelings; since childhood, his life had been nothing but training and missions, and the only family affection he had known was his master and the old man, though those two had been strict in the extreme.

"All right, I'll ask right now. I have Liu Xinlan's number here," Kang Xiaofeng agreed.

After hanging up on Kang Xiaofeng, Wei Zhao called Feng Xiaoxiao back. "What is it?"

"I did you such a big favor today, and you won't even thank me?" Feng Xiaoxiao said with a giggle.

"No time, I'm busy. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up." Wei Zhao was waiting for Kang Xiaofeng's call back, so he naturally had no patience for dithering with Feng Xiaoxiao.

"Hey! What do you mean by that? You dump me the moment you're done using me?" Feng Xiaoxiao was furious, and she angrily accused Wei Zhao of being utterly unscrupulous.

Used and then thrown away? Several black lines rose over Wei Zhao's head. The way she put it, the ambiguity was a bit much, wasn't it? What did she mean, used and then thrown away? As if he had done something to her.

"Then how do you want me to thank you?" Wei Zhao had no choice but to ask.

"Treat me to a big meal. I want something good!" Feng Xiaoxiao said.

"I can't afford seafood. Beef noodles, take it or leave it," Wei Zhao said flatly.

"Oh... fine." Feng Xiaoxiao nodded indifferently. "What we eat doesn't matter. What matters is who you eat it with."

"..." Wei Zhao hung up, somewhat speechless. He had no idea what had gotten into Feng Xiaoxiao's head. Day after day it was either hints or confessions! Wei Zhao refused to believe that after he had dressed her down a few times, the girl had actually fallen for him. Was she some kind of masochist?

Not long after, Kang Xiaofeng called back. "Boss, did you and Tang Zhi break up? Why is Liu Xinlan saying you're ungrateful and that you've abandoned Tang Zhi?"

"Huh?" Wei Zhao was stunned. "Abandoned Tang Zhi? Broken up? Since when?"

"You didn't know?" Kang Xiaofeng was stunned too.

"I've been in Yanjing the whole time. How would I know?" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "Are you sure Liu Xinlan wasn't pulling your leg?"

"I don't know either. Who knows what's going on. I called her and Liu Xinlan just tore into me the moment she picked up, then told me to pass a message to you, boss: Tang Zhi doesn't care to be with you. If you don't want her, there are plenty of people lined up waiting!" Kang Xiaofeng was rather depressed too. That phone call had been a complete waste. "I'll ask Xiaofen tomorrow and find out what's really going on."

"All right, ask her for me tomorrow." Wei Zhao frowned. Could there be some misunderstanding here? Tang Zhi wasn't so petty that she would think he had abandoned her just because he had stood her up once, was she?

Less than a minute after he hung up on Kang Xiaofeng, Feng Xiaoxiao called again. "Wei Zhao, why did you hang up on me? Is that how you treat a pretty girl?"

Feng Xiaoxiao was genuinely angry. What gave him the right? What gave Wei Zhao the right to ignore her like that? Even when she asked him to buy her a meal, he acted like he couldn't stand it, as if she really cared about that one meal.

"Has Uncle Feng come back yet?" Wei Zhao did not get tangled up in Feng Xiaoxiao's topic, because once he did, there would be no end to it. He simply steered the conversation elsewhere. This was something he had learned from Shen Yushu.

"No. Why, are you in a hurry to meet your father-in-law?" Feng Xiaoxiao teased.

Wei Zhao had not expected Feng Xiaoxiao to steer the conversation right back with a single sentence. He had to admire her. This girl really was a match for Shen Yushu. One played the fool, the other was a mischievous little sprite, but neither of them was any pushover.

"Then give me a call after Uncle Feng gets back. I'm going to sleep," Wei Zhao said, and made to hang up.

"Hey, wait! When are you going to treat me to beef noodles? I want a big bowl with extra meat!" Feng Xiaoxiao said urgently.

"We'll see when I have time." Wei Zhao truly could not figure out what Feng Xiaoxiao was thinking. One bowl of beef noodles, was it really worth all this?