Chapter 3049 — Little Shu's Secret, Part One

"All right." Gu Mengyao opened the villa gates, and Wei Zhao drove the Grand Cherokee into the courtyard. But hard on his heels, another vehicle followed in, making Gu Mengyao blink in surprise. "Wei Zhao, whose car is that?"

Before she had even finished asking, though, she caught sight of Wu Chengtian sitting in the driver's seat.

"Mengyan, this is spoils of war from the raid—the ringleader's. Worth a fair bit, too. A modified Hummer!" Wu Chengtian was rather taken with the vehicle; it had a certain domineering presence. It just didn't have as many seats as the Grand Cherokee and couldn't carry many people.

This Hummer was to be Little One's and Little Eleven's ride. Wei Zhao, still seething, had simply appropriated it for himself. In truth, modified or not, the thing was worth only a few million—small change neither Wei Zhao nor Wu Chengtian gave a second thought to. What delighted them was that the car belonged to Little One! A textbook case of sacrificing the chariot to save the general! The doors had been locked, of course, but to Wei Zhao that was a trifle.

What Wei Zhao and Wu Chengtian did not know was that Little One had stowed his Heaven-tier divine weapon in the Hummer's trunk, and Wei Zhao had not bothered to search it. Poor Little One—he was still planning to wait until the heat died down in a couple of days and then send men to drive the car back!

After all, in his estimation, a locked car parked on a street in the mortal world could not possibly come to any harm. All along the way he had seen plenty of private cars left at the roadside without incident.

He had forgotten one thing: the spot where he parked was the Sun family's private grounds. And Wei Zhao had spotted at a glance that this dust-caked Hummer with out-of-town plates must have been Little One's ride when he came.

Once the cars were parked, Gu Mengyao and Wei Zhao and the others went into the villa together, Gu Mengyao calling out as she walked: "Little Shu, Wei Zhao's back! Weren't you missing him? Come down!"

"Oh? Arrow-Brand Bro's back?" Shen Yushu came rushing down the stairs. She had just finished a shower and was toweling her hair dry, looking quite cheerful—but the moment she saw Fire Burn Cloud entering behind Wei Zhao, her expression froze.

"Fire... Fire Burn Cloud? Arrow-Brand Bro, why did you let him in?" Shen Yushu's rejection of Fire Burn Cloud was visceral. "He's a bad man!"

"Little Shu, have you perhaps misunderstood Fire Burn Cloud?" Wei Zhao found her attitude strange. Little Shu might seem flighty and wild day to day, but when it came to serious matters she never made a fuss over nothing. That she should be so hostile to Fire Burn Cloud made Wei Zhao suspect something was wrong.

"No misunderstanding. This man... this man was using his martial techniques to barbecue right at the villa gates. He was going to roast the Heavenly Thunder Pig and turn it into suckling pig!" Shen Yushu had begun to fabricate charges against Fire Burn Cloud.

"Er... Second Sister-in-law, when exactly did I... roast a suckling pig?" Fire Burn Cloud's face went dark with exasperation, yet he dared not protest too strongly and could only ask with a bitter smile.

"That's enough, Little Shu. Just now Fire Burn Cloud was badly wounded trying to help—struck down by an expert at the peak of the late Heaven tier. He's not a bad man," Wei Zhao told her.

"Oh!" Seeing that her attempt to smear Fire Burn Cloud had failed, Shen Yushu could only sit down on the sofa in a sulk and say no more.

"Ringleader, Second Sister-in-law seems to have some misunderstanding about me..." Fire Burn Cloud truly could not work out how he had offended this baby-faced girl. From the moment he arrived he had been on his best behavior, hadn't he? He hadn't leered at her the way some rich young masters might.

"What misunderstanding? It's just that you're no good as a person!" Shen Yushu muttered under her breath.

"Little Shu, stop making a scene!" Gu Mengyao shot her a glare too. "Don't you want to hear Wei Zhao tell us what happened at the Sun family?"

"I do, I do!" Shen Yushu loved hearing Wei Zhao's stories best; every time he came back from an outing she listened with relish. So for now she had no choice but to abandon her assault on Fire Burn Cloud and obediently shut her mouth.

Wei Zhao smiled. Little Shu did leave him rather helpless, but with Fire Burn Cloud standing right there he could not ask too much. He simply said to Wu Chengtian, "Chengtian, why don't you tell Little Shu and the others what happened?"

"Right!" Wu Chengtian nodded, then recounted in full detail everything that had happened to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

Neither Gu Mengyao nor Shen Yushu had imagined that Patriarch Xuanchen would strike again—and this time his target was the Sun family! Sun Jingyan was Uncle Qing's daughter, and Gu Mengyao cared deeply for her safety. When she heard how Little Eleven had tortured Sun Jingyan with silver needles, her face flushed crimson with fury. "Wei Zhao, did you teach that Little Eleven a lesson afterward?"

"Heh, just keep listening to Wu Chengtian's account!" Wei Zhao said with a smile.

So Gu Mengyao had no choice but to listen patiently. She knew, of course, that Sun Jingyan must be safe now—otherwise Wei Zhao could not have returned so relaxed.

But when Wu Chengtian went on to describe how Wei Zhao had paid Little Eleven back in her own coin, tormenting her with silver needles, an excited smile crept across Gu Mengyao's face. The young miss was not a cruel person; on the contrary, she was kindhearted. But clearly this time she was truly enraged.

This Little Eleven had tortured Han Jingyi last time and nearly killed her; now she had moved on to Sun Jingyan. Kind as Gu Mengyao was, she could not tolerate the woman any longer.

Shen Yushu, though, seemed to think it hadn't been vicious enough and cut in: "Oh, if Little Shu had been there, I'd have tied her to Little Feng's tail and dragged her around the ground for ten laps!"

Wei Zhao could only smile wryly. "I'd have liked to. The problem was time. If Fire Burn Cloud hadn't held off Little One's attack for me, I'd have had no choice but to kill Little Eleven on the spot—no chance to torture her at all!"

Wu Chengtian went on with the rest of the story, and Gu Mengyao and Little Shu clicked their tongues in dismay. Thank goodness Wei Zhao had kept Tagan Long in reserve as a bargaining chip to make Little One hesitate—otherwise, if Wei Zhao had slain Tagan Long first, Wei Zhao and the others likely would never have made it back!

It had been a desperate measure on Wei Zhao's part. Facing an enemy stronger than himself, he had no choice but to leave himself some way out; otherwise it would have been far too dangerous. Of course, if there was no way out, then he could only fight to the death.

By the time Wu Chengtian finished his account, it was getting late, so Fire Burn Cloud rose to take his leave. He was not a man without tact; he knew Shen Yushu disliked him, and that staying would only deepen the friction.

As for the matter of Yang Shuizhen, he was in no hurry to raise it with Wei Zhao. After all, Wei Zhao had more or less accepted him as a subordinate, and had promised to go to the Hakunamata Desert. Why bring it up again?