Chapter 197: Leaving Without Saying Goodbye

Gu Xixi gently closed the door, turned back and glanced toward the bed, almost laughing out loud.

Only Xiao Hua stood at the bedside, its two front paws fiercely battling a segment of mosquito net that had drooped down to the edge of the bed.

Seeing Gu Xixi enter, Xiao Hua stopped moving.

Its paws still hung on the mosquito net, it let out a wronged, delicate meow, and with those big, watery black eyes, Gu Xixi's heart softened instantly, and she hurried over to rescue it.

She carefully removed Xiao Hua's claws one by one from the tiny holes of the mosquito net.

The fluffy cat paws regained their freedom.

Xiao Hua immediately leapt away, landing on top of the cabinet, looking down warily.

Through a flat mosquito corpse on the net, Gu Xixi saw He Jinglan still sound asleep inside.

Apparently, Xiao Hua had hooked itself while swatting mosquitoes just earlier.

Fortunately, Gu Xixi returned in time; Xiao Hua hadn't run out of patience yet, and didn't make a big commotion to wake He Jinglan.

Gu Xixi quickly washed up, removed her clothes, and got into bed.

As she pulled the quilt over herself and was about to close her eyes, a muffled murmur came from beside her:

"You're back."

Gu Xixi apologetically asked, "Did I wake you?"

He Jinglan turned over, lazily facing her, "No, I was half-asleep waiting for you, so any little movement wakes me."

Gu Xixi paused, then said, "Then go back to sleep."

To keep He Jinglan from saying more, Gu Xixi even feigned a yawn, "I'm sleepy too."

But He Jinglan suddenly spoke clearly, "Xixi, you don't ask what I'm waiting for you about; you obviously know what I want to say, you're just pretending not to understand!"

Gu Xixi closed her eyes and mumbled indistinctly, "Whatever, whatever, pretending to be clueless... it's the middle of the night, we can talk tomorrow... just sleep."

Best to forget this after waking tomorrow, never ask again, and completely turn the page!

Silence fell for a moment.

Just as Gu Xixi, feigning sleep, thought He Jinglan had given up,

Suddenly a cool, eerie voice drifted from beside the pillow into her ear, "Did the talks fall through?"

Gu Xixi jolted awake, her eyes turning inward, and saw He Jinglan's enlarged face.

"In the pitch dark, can you stop pretending to be a female ghost and get so close to me!"

He Jinglan leaned on the pillow, propping her chin with her hand, "Sure enough, the talks fell through."

"I had seen something to eat and my stomach was growling, but to avoid disturbing your lingering farewell, I could only hold back and come back to sleep; once asleep I wouldn't feel hungry."

Seeing she could no longer pretend to sleep, Gu Xixi sighed helplessly, "Who made you wrong yourself, having food but not going out, yet insisting on sneaking a look inside."

"I wasn't sneaking a look," He Jinglan objected, "I was openly looking through the window crack."

"Is looking through a window crack not considered sneaking?"

Gu Xixi pondered, then said, "Since you heard it all, why ask me?"

He Jinglan replied, "I only caught a few fragments, and not clearly."

"After all, martial artists have keen ears; I don't want to be caught by Mu Nan Zhao."

Gu Xixi closed her eyes again, "Ask whatever you want."

He Jinglan: "He's about to leave? Didn't say when?"

Gu Xixi: "Soon, I guess; I don't know the details."

He Jinglan: "He didn't tell you he wants to stay here, not leave?"

Gu Xixi paused, "... No."

He didn't say it, but he seems to show a bit of that tendency.

Otherwise, why would he be hemming and hawing, beating around the bush, endlessly entangled, and even deliberately pick fights and lose his temper?

Now thinking about it, could the surname Mu be suffering from post-vacation syndrome, equivalent to an office worker not wanting to go to work?

He Jinglan: "Then you didn't try to stop him?"

Gu Xixi: "No. Who would dare to stop him now? Would you dare?"

He Jinglan: "I wouldn't dare, but that's not what I meant."

Gu Xixi: "Then what aspect are you referring to?"

Silence fell for a moment.

Then it was He Jinglan's turn to sigh: "... Just sleep."

Not long after, Gu Xixi's light, even breathing sounded from within the mosquito net.

He Jinglan turned on her side, glanced, then waved her hand in front of Gu Xixi's face to confirm she was truly asleep, and couldn't help but sigh again,

Thinking, whenever Mu Nan Zhao and romantic feelings are mentioned, Gu Xixi is even more dull than Meng Chengping's blockhead, as if she neither understands nor senses it.

Yet in any other matter she grasps instantly, clearly an extremely clever and perceptive person.

Upon realizing this, He Jinglan suddenly drew a deep breath and had an epiphany.

This little troublemaker Gu Xixi is clearly feigning ignorance while knowing full well!

The next morning, when Gu Xixi got up at dawn, He Jinglan also rose.

Although she had taken a long time to fall asleep in the early hours, she was still a bit drowsy now, but she genuinely worried about how the unpleasant encounter between the two last night would unfold when they met later.

If both ended up with cold faces, as childhood friends and close sisters to both sides, He Jinglan felt responsible for easing the atmosphere.

As she opened the door, a sheet of paper fluttered down from above and landed on the floor.

He Jinglan bent down to pick it up, instantly recognizing Mu Nan Zhao's handwriting, "Oh, an apology note first thing in the morning! Xixi, hurry and take a look."

Saying so, she shoved the note into Gu Xixi's hands.

The note was not folded, a light, narrow sheet.

Some commoner under heaven, the peace you desire is just a trivial matter for me; you need not be overly grateful. From now on, at home you may do whatever you wish; Master Liu will simply continue being his teacher, and will not come to you again to say those things you don't like to hear.

I have kept the Shadow Guards, but I gave them leave; they will no longer revolve around you. When you have need, simply find Master Liu.

Besides, I dislike the Hu people's scent; I have changed the lock on the West House, and taken the key away.

He Jinglan, watching from the side, curled her lips: "How dare you leave without a word, and still be so arrogantly smug?!"

Gu Xixi smiled faintly: "That's just his style."

Although she, upon knowing that Mu Nan Zhao had already left, inevitably felt a tinge of regret.

But she was not overly surprised by this outcome.

Just as he had silently left and returned countless times before.

This time, at last she could……

Gu Xixi gazed at the sunlight filling the courtyard, feeling her mood brighten, as if a weight had been lifted.

"However," He Jinglan, smiling amusedly at Gu Xixi, said, "From his meaning, he will surely come back again."

The soothing melody in Gu Xixi's heart instantly shifted to a discordant tune.

Her face darkened, and she hurried out the door, heading straight for the West House.

Indeed, a new lock hung on the West House gate.

The bronze lock, about the size of Gu Xixi's fist, gleamed in the sunlight, blindingly bright.

Gu Xixi pointed at the bronze lock, her voice trembling with anger: "What is this!"

He Jinglan leaned in to look; the bronze lock was shaped like a blood-sweating heavenly horse, with a fine rolling wheel on the horse's belly that could slide up and down.

Four horizontal rows, four vertical rows, each small square engraved with a Chinese character.

He Jinglan straightened up, looking sympathetically at Gu Xixi: "This is a poetry cipher lock."

"I reckon he set a four-line quatrain……"