Chapter 2701 — Knife-Cut Noodles

"I... all right, all right, Wei Zhao, what exactly do you want?" Yu Xiaoke was getting exasperated. "What do you want from me? Are you determined to force my hand? I already told you, I have someone I like, so why do you..."

"Oh. Then pretend I never said it." Wei Zhao lowered his head and ate his noodles, and did not bring up the subject again.

Yu Xiaoke was so furious her teeth itched, yet there was nothing she could do. She did not want to compromise and bow to him, but she had no way out either. In her agitation, the tears came, and once they started they fell like raindrops, pattering down into her bowl of noodles...

Wei Zhao had not expected Yu Xiaoke to cry. This tough girl, of all people, had actually shed tears—how wronged she must feel inside. Nor had he expected that his teasing would wound her so deeply. Feeling somewhat unable to bear it, he sighed and said, "I'm planning to speak with the Gu Group about sending the orphanage children of school age to school. At present, the Gu Group's First High School only has a middle-school division, no elementary division. If it's needed, I'll suggest they open an elementary division for the orphanage children to attend classes."

"Ah! Is that really possible?" Hearing this, Yu Xiaoke forgot all about crying; her every thought had gone to the orphanage children. She raised her head, her big, watery eyes gazing at Wei Zhao with hope. "Then... you don't have any extra conditions attached?"

"Extra conditions?" Wei Zhao started, then understood what Yu Xiaoke meant. He shook his head with a faint smile. "None. It's entirely for the orphanage."

"That's good, then. Thank you!" Yu Xiaoke stood up and bowed to Wei Zhao, then said, "Wei Zhao, you're actually a good man—I know that. If there weren't someone in my heart, I would surely be with you. But as things stand now, I truly have no way... I'm sorry..."

"Is this what they call a nice-guy card?" Wei Zhao rubbed his nose and asked.

"That... I don't know either..." Yu Xiaoke shook her head.

"Heh. I'm not going to give up," Wei Zhao said.

"Ugh, I knew it!" Yu Xiaoke lowered her head in frustration, then glared at Wei Zhao again. "Fine, fine. Have it your way."

"Shall I walk you back?" Seeing that Yu Xiaoke had nearly finished eating, Wei Zhao felt it was best not to keep sitting there. This was a snack street, after all, with a tremendous flow of customers; he and Yu Xiaoke occupying a table was affecting the owner's business.

"Ah, ah, ah, we can go? Wonderful!" Yu Xiaoke stood up at once and waved her hand. "No need, no need. I'll go back by myself. Go on and do your business—don't worry about me."

"All right." Wei Zhao smiled, thinking to himself that Yu Xiaoke clearly did not want to spend another minute in his company. But he did not want to walk her back either; he needed to find a place to turn his clothes inside out and put on the Thousand-Silk Mask.

"You... aren't going to walk me back?" Wei Zhao's ready agreement made Yu Xiaoke feel that it was somehow unreal.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't let me? So, shall I walk you back?" Wei Zhao asked in return.

"No need. I'm off. Goodbye!" Yu Xiaoke shook her head, turned, and went away quickly. Wei Zhao left shortly after, though not in the same direction as Yu Xiaoke.

Wei Zhao found a place where no one was around and put his clothes on inside out. The garment was the reversible kind, well suited to travel in the wilds. He also put the Thousand-Silk Mask on his face, and in that moment Wei Zhao became a stranger—exactly as he had been back at the ** market.

That done, Wei Zhao came once more to the orphanage gate. By this time, Yu Xiaoke was already waiting there.

"Male Thief!" Yu Xiaoke spotted Wei Zhao from a distance and waved to him with delight and excitement. She must have been waiting a long while; the gloom from her meal with Wei Zhao earlier had been swept clean away, and she seemed a different person altogether.

Wei Zhao smiled wryly and walked over. "Heroine Yan, is everything ready?"

"I told you to call me Xiaoke—what's this 'Heroine Yan'? So distant." As she spoke, Yu Xiaoke looked him up and down. "You came alone? You didn't drive?"

For some reason, Yu Xiaoke found this Male Thief somewhat familiar, as though she had seen him somewhere before—his backpack especially. But last time the Male Thief had not seemed to be carrying this backpack, had he? It was understandable that Yu Xiaoke did not connect him with Wei Zhao, for she had never paid the least attention to Wei Zhao's clothing and appearance. How could she have looked closely at a man who repelled her?

"Xiaoke, I came with someone. This person is a ** of mine. He'll drive over in a little while—we'll wait for him a moment," Wei Zhao said.

"Oh? Your **?" Yu Xiaoke was taken aback. Wei Zhao was introducing her to his **—did that mean he approved of her?

Yu Xiaoke had lost her parents as a child, and her brother was not by her side either, so she had grown up with the belief that a ** was the greatest thing under heaven. For Wei Zhao to bring her before his ** meant that he approved of her, and that made Yu Xiaoke very excited!

"Yes. I only just learned of it myself—he is Zhang Lifeng's successor. So this time I want to take another look at the ancient tomb." As for the matter of his constitution, Wei Zhao did not tell Yu Xiaoke; after all, such a secret was not something he could casually reveal, especially in his identity as the Male Thief, which had no connection to Wei Zhao.

"Ah? Then aren't you also Zhang Lifeng's successor? And we're still going to rob a tomb..." Yu Xiaoke was startled and stuck out her tongue. "Doesn't that count as betraying one's master and ancestors?"

"Of course it doesn't count," Wei Zhao said with a wry smile. "I imagine that even if Patriarch Zhang Lifeng were still alive, he would be glad that his disciples and grand-disciples went to rob tombs and obtained his true transmission. Everyone wants their sect to be passed down enduringly, after all. If we take his lifetime of insights, he would only be gratified."

"That's true too." Yu Xiaoke nodded. "Then I'm relieved. Oh, right—have you eaten tonight?"

"I have," Wei Zhao answered offhandedly.

"Oh, me too. What did you eat?" Yu Xiaoke asked.

Wei Zhao was watching the traffic on the road. Catching sight of the Audi with the white-collar man at the wheel driving toward them, he answered absently, without thinking, "Didn't we just eat knife-cut noodles together?"

"Ah? What did you say? Knife-cut noodles?" Yu Xiaoke started.

"Oh..." Wei Zhao came to his senses and realized he had let his mind wander. He said hurriedly, "I said I ate knife-cut noodles with my **. His car is here—let's go over!"

"Oh, all right." Yu Xiaoke did not think much of it. Hearing that Wei Zhao's ** had arrived, she could not help feeling a little nervous.