Chapter 545 — Qing Bo's True Strength

Zhong Yongliang nodded silently, said no more, and left Gu Pengzhan's office straightaway. He knew Qing Bo would have a hard time sending him back this time, and for fear of making a fool of himself, he did not bring it up.

"Follow him! Find out how Yaoyao is doing." As soon as Zhong Yongliang left the office, Gu Pengzhan quickly instructed Qing Bo.

"Yes, Mr. Gu!" Qing Bo nodded, turned, and left the office as well. Catching up to Zhong Yongliang, who had not gone far, he said, "Mr. Zhong Yongliang, let me drive you back."

Zhong Yongliang was overjoyed at once. What did this mean? It meant Gu Pengzhan still had thoughts of reconciliation? At that thought, Zhong Yongliang's mood became incomparably cheerful, and he grew greatly confident that Gu Pengzhan would eventually agree to the matter!

"Then I'll have to trouble Qing Bo." Zhong Yongliang already carried himself like a son-in-law of the house.

Qing Bo naturally said nothing more. He went downstairs with Zhong Yongliang, got into the car, and only then asked, "Where would Mr. Zhong Yongliang like to go?"

"I'm going home!" Zhong Yongliang thought to himself that he must not let Qing Bo see through him. "Yaoyao is still waiting for me at home. I have to get back soon. If she gets hungry, I'll have to fix her some instant noodles!"

"Oh, since Miss Gu is at your home and you two haven't eaten, then come with me to the hotel to pick up the lunch boxes," Qing Bo said after hearing him. "I prepare them for Miss Gu every day."

"That works too. Give them to me, then." Zhong Yongliang nodded, thinking that at least his dinner was settled this time.

After they went to Pengzhan Grand Hotel to collect the dinner, Qing Bo drove Zhong Yongliang to the foot of his villa. Carrying the meal boxes, Qing Bo made to go upstairs with Zhong Yongliang, but Zhong Yongliang stopped him.

"Mr. Zhong Yongliang, I would like to see Miss Gu and ask whether she needs anything. It is getting late today, so I'm afraid she cannot go back. I will go buy her some toiletries," Qing Bo explained mildly.

"Oh, that. No need!" How could Zhong Yongliang let Qing Bo go up? If Qing Bo went up and did not see Gu Mengyao, would not everything be exposed? He hastily waved his hand. "Qing Bo, Yaoyao surely has no clothes on right now. It would be inconvenient for you to go up!"

"Oh, then you go in first and have her put on some clothes?" Qing Bo suggested.

"That... her body is not convenient, as you know. It is a girl's first time, and it is always a little inconvenient. Wouldn't dressing be suffering for her?" Zhong Yongliang seized the moment to explain. "Besides, the guest rooms in my house all have toiletries. I can just get her a set!"

"Is that so? Then never mind. Go up by yourself, then." Qing Bo handed him the meal boxes, then turned and went back into the car.

Carrying the meal boxes, Zhong Yongliang hurried upstairs to his room. He glanced out the window and saw that Qing Bo's car had already left. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, thinking to himself: He's finally gone. I nearly failed to hide it. Thank goodness I, young master, am quick-witted; otherwise I would have capsized in the gutter!

As long as he weathered these two days, once Gu Pengzhan made up his mind, he would see the clouds part and the blue sky. Zhong Yongliang opened the meal box before him with an easy mind and found the dinner inside rather sumptuous. His appetite stirred, and he ate quickly.

In fact, Qing Bo's departure was only an illusion. He had not driven off directly but had circled around, parked the car in a corner, gotten out, and come near Zhong Yongliang's villa, hiding behind a transformer box.

Glancing at the second-floor window, he saw that Zhong Yongliang was still there. Qing Bo breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that Zhong Yongliang might slip away in the blink of an eye, but it seemed Zhong Yongliang had not slipped away directly.

He did not know whether it was because of caution or something else.

After reporting the current situation to Gu Pengzhan, Qing Bo stayed there to keep watch on Zhong Yongliang. Gu Pengzhan had arranged for Qing Bo to come precisely so that Qing Bo could find out how Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were doing!

In truth, neither Gu Pengzhan nor Qing Bo believed Zhong Yongliang would be so foolish as to keep both Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu at his home; that would be purely courting death. What Zhong Yongliang had said before was nothing but lies.

What left Gu Pengzhan and Qing Bo uncertain was whether Zhong Yongliang had actually done anything to Gu Mengyao! Thus only by having Qing Bo secretly follow Zhong Yongliang and find the place where Gu Mengyao was imprisoned could they investigate clearly.

And Zhong Yongliang was indeed not so utterly foolish. Though he had not seen Qing Bo's car from the second-floor window, under the circumstances he did not dare rashly go to the cave in Shuangyan Mountain again. Before Gu Pengzhan made a clear statement, going there would be a wasted trip, and besides, the cave already had enough food and water prepared; the two girls certainly would not starve to death.

After dinner, Zhong Yongliang watched a ghost movie for a while and then went to sleep. These past few days Zhong Fabai had been following Bing Shao and Li Cihua to study the demolition matter and had no time to come home at all. With such an opportunity to curry favor with a patron, how could he possibly let it slip?

Seeing that every light in Zhong Yongliang's house had gone dark, Qing Bo did not act rashly at once. He waited a good while—over an hour, until any normal person would surely be asleep—before he vaulted over the wall into the villa's courtyard, climbed up to Zhong Yongliang's window, and peered inside through a gap in the curtains. Zhong Yongliang lay alone on his single bed; there was no one else in the room.

Qing Bo grew all the more certain of his guess: Gu Mengyao was not in Zhong Yongliang's house. Yet he dared not be a hundred percent sure, so he resolved to search the villa once through first—there could be no great harm in caution.

That Qing Bo was an outer-school expert of the Yellow Rank was a thing no one knew but Gu Pengzhan. In truth, even Gu Pengzhan had no clear notion of just how much of Qing Bo's strength had been restored.

Qing Bo's present strength had already reached the peak of the late Yellow Rank. But for an outer-school expert to break through to the Profound Rank was impossible without a fitting opportunity. That was why outer-school experts at the early Profound Rank, men like Wu Gonggao, were exceedingly few.

Because Qing Bo cultivated only his body, attaining formidable power through the flesh itself, the energy fluctuations within him differed little from those of an ordinary person, and so Wei Zhao could not perceive his true strength either! Only in the instant Qing Bo gathered his force to strike could Wei Zhao detect it.

Yet in all the time Wei Zhao had spent with Qing Bo, Qing Bo had scarcely ever made a move, and that was why, to this day, Wei Zhao had never been able to ascertain his strength.

To search out the goings-on within a villa was no difficulty at all for an expert at the peak of the late Yellow Rank. Qing Bo completed his search smoothly, and even discovered a secret chamber door hidden behind a wall cupboard in Zhong Fabai's study.