Chapter 162: Ao Tian's Confusion (2)

Holding onto the branches beside the tree trunk, Gu Yun lay down slowly. The stars came into view, and the faint fragrance of grass and trees surrounded her with the breeze. She could even hear the low chirping of insects in her ears; everything was so peaceful. Gu Yun slowly closed her eyes and sighed secretly: why hadn't she met a normal, friendly person since coming to this era? Su Ling's arrogance, Mu Yi's monstrous nature, the mysteriousness of the woman in green, Ao Tian's cold pride, and even Lou Xiyan, who was actually an old, cunning fox. She was indeed more suited to life in the 21st century; she... really wanted to go back.

Perhaps the alcohol had really gone to her head, perhaps lying down was more comfortable than sitting, or perhaps the quiet environment beside her was truly too suitable for sleep, Gu Yun actually fell asleep on the swaying branches of the treetop in a daze.

Half an hour later.

There had been no movement from the person beside him for a long time, and her breathing was becoming more and more steady and even. Ao Tian suddenly had a bad premonition. He sat up straight and looked at Gu Yun, only to see her lying flat on the branch, one hand half-resting on the branch beside her, her eyes closed, looking as if she were asleep. Ao Tian frowned and called out in a low voice, "Hey?"

There was no response. Ao Tian called out again, and answering him was her sweet sleeping face.

Now it was Ao Tian's turn to not know whether to laugh or cry. Did this woman have any idea what she was doing? This was a treetop more than ten zhang high; even he, who considered his martial arts extraordinary, only dared to close his eyes and rest. She just fell asleep like this! She might be fine if she didn't turn over, but as long as she turned over, she would definitely fall and be half-dead!

Ao Tian was secretly annoyed and wanted to shake her awake to ask if she wanted to die, but when his hand reached toward her shoulder, he stopped. Under the moonlight, her face looked so quiet and so... cute. Her long eyelashes cast two crescent-like silhouettes on her fair face, her crimson lips were full and moist, and the faint dimples on her cheeks were actually less obvious when she was awake. The two deep knife scars on her cheeks looked even more unsightly at this moment. What was she thinking at the time? How could she, who was always rational, choose self-harm to solve the problem? Ao Tian's hand involuntarily touched the scars that looked hideous in everyone else's eyes. He stared blankly at the lovable sleeping face before him, and a ripple of strangeness crossed his heart. What kind of woman was this, really? How could there be such a big difference between when she was awake and when she was asleep?

Ao Tian didn't know how long he had been staring at this face when Gu Yun suddenly moved, startling Ao Tian into immediately coming to his senses and hurriedly holding her shoulder. Fortunately, she only moved her waist and didn't turn over, and after a while, she fell back into her dreams.

She slept sweetly, but Ao Tian was startled into a cold sweat. He slowly withdrew the hand that was holding Gu Yun's shoulder, his brows furrowed slightly. He used his feet to gently step the few branches under his feet toward Gu Yun's side, weaving the dense branches into a small net. Even if she turned over, she wouldn't fall off the tree immediately, right?

Leaning against the tree trunk, his feet stepping on the branches, Ao Tian didn't look at the woman beside him again. The ink-black horizon began to glow with a faint red, and the chirping of birds in the forest became more and more lively.

The chirping of birds sounded as if it were right in her ears. Gu Yun rubbed her eyes. Opening her eyes, what came into view wasn't the plain white bed canopy, but the gray-blue horizon. She was lost for a moment, but soon, everything that happened last night came back to her. She remembered that she had drunk a lot of wine, then enjoyed the moon in the tree, then took a nap, and then... she fell asleep!

Gu Yun sat up straight suddenly, and seeing the layers of leaves and branches beneath her, she couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. She had slept in the tree for a whole night! It was truly her! It was a miracle she hadn't fallen to her death!

While still feeling lingering fear, Gu Yun keenly noticed the place where she had slept. There seemed to be a lot of branches beside her. Following the branches, she saw a pair of long legs stepping on the place where the branches connected to another main trunk. Looking up again, that cold, silent face was looking straight in another direction.

Ao Tian? Was it him who accompanied her for a whole night?

"You..." Gu Yun was just about to speak when a low voice interrupted her, as cold as usual, but sounding a bit hurried. "I'm waiting for the sunrise."

Sunrise? Following his gaze, sure enough, the fiery red sun was rising, the morning glow dyeing the horizon red, dispelling the darkness of the night. It was indeed very beautiful. It turned out he had such an elegant interest. Gu Yun wanted to thank him, but found that Ao Tian didn't even bother to look at her, as if he were deliberately avoiding her. Gu Yun was puzzled, but didn't force it. She stretched her waist and smiled. "Then I won't disturb you from watching the sunrise."

Sobering up, Gu Yun's movements were much more agile than when she climbed up. She leaped lightly to the main trunk beside her, and regardless of whether he ignored her or not, she smiled at Ao Tian's back. "Thanks." After saying this, Gu Yun climbed down on her own.

Ao Tian looked down, and that flexible figure had already reached the bottom of the tree, running toward the back door of the General's Mansion. The lean figure disappeared into the forest extremely quickly. Ao Tian didn't understand why he had to sit here for a whole night. He didn't want to watch any sunrise at all, but now, he had to watch it because he couldn't get down. He moved his two stiff feet with difficulty; after stepping like that for a whole night, his feet were already numb.

Gu Yun was in such a hurry to return, firstly because she felt a bit embarrassed to face Ao Tian after sleeping in the tree for a night, and secondly because of the Golden Bagua Disk. She was afraid Su Ling would go out in the morning, so she wanted to wash up quickly and go find him early.

But just as Gu Yun walked to the backyard where she usually lived, Su Ling's tall figure had already appeared in her dilapidated small courtyard. It was truly a coincidence, saving her the trouble of looking for him. Gu Yun walked up and just wanted to greet him, but Su Ling had a dark face, and his low voice carried a strong, angry roar: "Where did you go last night?"

Gu Yun immediately swallowed the "good morning" that was on her lips, and her good mood from the morning also vanished. He had nothing to do early in the morning and was looking for a fight, right?! Her temper, which was already quite fiery, surged up, and she retorted directly, "What, has my loss of freedom reached such a degree? I need your approval to leave the gate of this General's Mansion, and even in the mansion, I have to report my whereabouts to you?"

"Where did you go last night!" Su Ling's jaw was clattering. The patrol general reported that her courtyard had been empty all night, the guards at the gate said she hadn't gone out, and sending people to search the mansion didn't reveal her whereabouts. Although Su Mufeng had been caught, who knew if he was really the murderer!

What right did he have to question her whereabouts! Gu Yun sneered and walked straight toward the room. When she passed Su Ling, her wrist hurt, and Gu Yun had to stop. A more furious roar rang in her ears: "You drank!" Although it was just a faint smell of alcohol, it was still so obvious after a night; she must have drunk a lot last night.

Gu Yun simply stopped walking, stood face to face with him, and sneered, "I drank, and I slept in a tree on the back mountain for a night. What do you want to do about it?"

"That's what I should be asking you!" He had worried about her safety for a whole night, and she had been carefree! Su Ling had been worried about her safety last night and had gone to great lengths to send people to search the imperial city for a whole night. Now it seemed it was simply ridiculous!

Su Ling's good intentions were treated as a donkey's liver and lungs, and he was burning with anger. Gu Yun didn't know what he had done and just thought he was looking for trouble, so she said even more unceremoniously, "What a joke. You came to interrogate me early in the morning, and you ask me? I don't know that there's a rule in your General's Mansion that you can't drink or spend the night on the back mountain. Please, General, write down those rules for me to see in the future, so I can hang them on the gate, lest I don't know which one I've broken!"

"Qing—Mo—" Su Ling, who had never been good at verbal arguments, naturally could not compete with Gu Yun's sharp tongue. Furthermore, he was unwilling to admit that he had spent the entire night worrying about her, so now he could only hold his breath until his eyes turned bloodshot, glaring at Gu Yun as if he wanted to strangle her slender neck!

"Hiss—" It hurts! Gu Yun struggled hard to break free from Su Ling's iron-pincer-like hand. Five red, swollen finger marks immediately appeared on her wrist; one could imagine how much force he had just used. Gu Yun cursed secretly, this damn, rough man!

Looking at the five finger marks clearly visible on her wrist, Su Ling's rising anger finally extinguished a bit. He said coldly, "From today on, you move to Yitian Courtyard." This place was too close to the back mountain, and she was so wild, so it was better to live in Yitian Courtyard, closer to Lingyun Pavilion, so he could pay attention to her movements at any time.

Gu Yun was still angry and wouldn't listen to him. "I'm not going. This place is quite good, and I'm used to living here."

Su Ling seemed to have expected her to say this, so he replied in a deep voice, "I'm going to tear this place down to build an armory, you must move." He did intend to build an armory, but originally he wanted to build it next to the drill ground. Now it seemed this piece of land was better!

"Armory?" It turned out he came to find her early in the morning for this matter. Wasn't there an armory in the General's Mansion? Gu Yun just wanted to ask again, but Su Ling's tall figure had already walked away with large strides.

"Hey!" She called out, but Su Ling walked away without looking back.

Damn it! Gu Yun patted her forehead hard and sighed. She wasn't going to ask him about the Bagua Disk? How did it become a quarrel again!

Study.

"Has she moved over?" Su Ling put his brush on the brush rack irritably and asked the old servant who was serving hot tea, without beginning or end.

Having worked in the General's Mansion for a lifetime and could be said to have watched Su Ling grow up, Ming Shu naturally knew who Su Ling was asking about, so he replied in a low voice, "Miss Qing has already moved over. This old servant added some clothes and items that a young lady needs according to the General's wishes, but the young lady had them moved away, saying... she doesn't need them."

Su Ling frowned, waved his hand, and replied, "Move them away." He also couldn't imagine her dressing up like a young lady from a wealthy family!

"Yes." Ming Shu retreated quietly. Walking to the door, he suddenly heard Su Ling call out, "Wait."

Ming Shu stopped and stood respectfully to the side, waiting for Su Ling's instructions. For a long time, Su Ling coughed lightly and asked in a low voice, "Why don't you call her Madam anymore?" He had heard the house generals and servants call her Miss Qing for the past few days. As far as he knew, they had always called her Madam. Su Ling vaguely felt that there must be something strange about it. Ming Shu was an old servant in the family, so it was more reliable to ask him, and he wouldn't talk nonsense.

Ming Shu lowered his head slightly, seemingly thinking about how to answer. Su Ling felt even more strange and roared, "Speak."

Ming Shu replied embarrassedly, "The young lady said... this is the General's order."

Su Ling's cold eyes narrowed slightly and he continued to ask, "What else did she say?"

"Also said that the General already has a sweetheart and is about to marry a new Madam, so the house generals are not allowed to call the young lady Madam anymore, otherwise... military law will be applied."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 163 =====