Chapter 3026 — The Strange Little Shu (Part One): Fiery Cloud Sees Shen Yushu Addressing Gu Mengyao as Elder Sister and Concludes She Must Be Wei Zhao's Concubine, Yet He Dare Not Offend Her, and Can Only Ask Meekly
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"Who are you? What business do you have with Wei Zhao?" Gu Mengyao blushed, yet did not contradict the address. She told herself inwardly that this man knew none of them, and there was no need to explain so much to him.
Shen Yushu, however, was momentarily startled to hear herself called so by Fiery Cloud, and then realized she had apparently misunderstood something. Fiery Cloud had indeed come here for Wei Zhao, not for her. Earlier, Shen Yushu had assumed on instinct that Fiery Cloud had come for her sake, and when he spoke of growing familiar upon a second meeting, that was why her reaction had been so fierce.
Now, hearing Fiery Cloud call her second sister-in-law, she was instantly delighted. "Oh, so you know how to read the room—I am Arrow-Brand Brother's little wife!"
"Arrow-Brand Brother?" Fiery Cloud blinked, having no notion who Shen Yushu meant. Even so, he circulated the mnemonic of his internal-energy cultivation method and evaporated the water from his body outright. He was a fire-element cultivator; this was an effortless matter for him.
"You are... a cultivator?" Gu Mengyao was somewhat surprised, but she quickly turned to Little Shu. "Why did you say earlier there was no Wei Zhao here?"
"Oh... oh... that was because he was asking for some Young Hero Lin, some Brother Lin, and there is only Wei Zhao Arrow-Brand Brother here, no Young Hero Lin or Brother Lin, so Little Shu drove him off!" Shen Yushu explained.
"......" Gu Mengyao plainly thought Shen Yushu was talking nonsense, yet with an outsider standing right there, she could hardly press her on it. She could only explain to Fiery Cloud, "Little Shu does call Wei Zhao Arrow-Brand Brother. There may have been some misunderstanding in all this."
"I am Fiery Cloud, junior sect master of the Fire Flame Mountain sect in the southern outskirts, and I have come this time to call on Brother Lin. Might I trouble the two sisters-in-law to introduce me?" Although Fiery Cloud too had been puzzled by Little Shu's earlier reaction, the matter was at last cleared up, and he spoke in haste.
"Fiery Cloud of Fire Flame Mountain?" Gu Mengyao nodded. She had never heard of this sect, but clearly the man bore no hostility; had he come with hostile intent, Shen Yushu soaking him through would never have earned such courteous words. So Gu Mengyao said, "Wei Zhao has gone out on some business and has not yet returned. What business do you have with him?"
"It is like this: our Fire Flame Mountain sect holds a deep and bitter grudge against Zhang Naipao of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect. Have you by chance heard of Zhang Naipao?" Fiery Cloud asked.
"Zhang Naipao?" Gu Mengyao started. "He was a former classmate of Little Shu and me, and of Wei Zhao as well..."
"Er... you are all classmates..." Fiery Cloud was instantly taken aback, his expression shifting slightly. "Could it be that you are disciples of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect as well?"
"How could we possibly be disciples of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect?" Gu Mengyao was likewise startled, and found the question baffling.
"Then you say Zhang Naipao was your classmate?" Fiery Cloud thought it over and decided it was impossible. If Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao were fellow disciples of the same sect, there was no way Wei Zhao could have struck at Zhang Naipao! He came from an ancient sect and had only a hazy notion of what a classmate was, taking it to mean fellow disciples. But now, thinking again, the truth dawned on him. "Could it be that you and Zhang Naipao were classmates in the secular world?"
"Yes, we were high-school classmates," Gu Mengyao nodded.