Chapter 288: Leave This Place Immediately
Half a month was gone, just like that. Shu Chen remained in the ancient martial arts world, following the news closely for any bits of information about Gu Xiqiao in the selection compet.i.tion.
She had already received the latest news from the elders, that Gu Xiqiao was at the top of the scoreboard and that she was miles ahead of anyone else. The elders themselves were seated around the elder’s pavilion, their faces full of shock and disbelief.
Shu Chen was surprisingly unsurprised. She then received an incoming message from Jiang Shuxuan—[We’ll be arriving in 5 minutes]
Sitting still turned into an onus from that point on. Holding an umbrella, she awaited her beloved son’s return at the border of the ancient martial arts world.
To her surprise, there were already quite a lot of people gathered near the border. Their faces were all filled with the same look of excitement as they discussed the compet.i.tion. The ancient martial arts world had made their appearance; the mythical beast reapers have captured the respect of many people all over the globe.
It was precisely due to this that these people had gathered at the border.
A microscopic dot appeared on the horizon, which grew increasingly larger as minutes pa.s.sed by.
Finally, the silhouettes of two people became visible as they drew nearer. It was a man and a woman. The handsome man was holding up an umbrella as his partner slowly descended towards the ground. It was only after she tucked away her flying boat that her radiant face was revealed to the ma.s.ses.
How could they possibly not recognize that familiar face of hers? She was Gu Xiqiao alright.
Jiang Shuxuan paid no heed to the crowd. The aura he maintained around him was particularly threatening, which intimidated them so much that they had to restrain themselves despite how excited they were to see the victor’s return.
Shu Chen cut straight across the crowd. Unlike them though, it didn’t really matter to her if she got first place in the compet.i.tion or not. She scanned Gu Xiqiao from head-to-toe and it was only upon confirming that there was not a single scratch on her did she let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, I was worried to death about your safety. Thank goodness you’re safe and sound. I couldn’t wipe my memory of the time when Shuxuan…”
“Mother,” Jiang Shuxuan interrupted. “The rain’s getting heavier as we speak. Let’s head home first.”
Shu Chen nodded instantly. “Oh right, my mind’s getting old. Let’s head home, take a nice, warm shower and then we’ll feast!”
Gu Xiqiao felt a warmth swell up in her heart. Silently, she was led back home by Shu Chen.
“Oh, before I forget, about the flying boat you two were using.” Gu Xiqiao went straight for the bathroom upstairs when they reached home. Shu Chen and Jiang Shuxuan on the other hand, were busily toiling away in the kitchen. Something popped up randomly onto her mind, which made her narrow her eyes at Jiang Shuxuan. “Is that not a treasure of the Baili family?!”
“That’s right. Grandpa Baili gave it to her as a present.” Jiang Shuxuan casually nodded his head as he explained. “You probably don’t know this but he was only steps away from giving her his family’s entire reserve of treasures.”
“…”
Shu Chen was baffled. She felt conflicted about her daughter-in-law being treated so well by someone else. Something about this made her feel slightly panicky.
“Right,” continued Shu Chen as she poured the vegetables into the wok. “I heard the Tang family talking about Qiao Qiao’s friend, Xiao Yun, a couple of days ago.”
“The Tang family?” Jiang Shuxuan smiled, but the look in his eyes was cold and hostile. “They should be regretting their decision by now.”
“What’s going on?” Shu Chen’s curiosity had been piqued. She thought her son would be disinterested in other people’s matters.
“I guess Qingqiu’s fallen for her, but the elders of his family are staunchly against his decision,” replied Jiang Shuxuan.
Shu Chen’s brows furrowed when she heard that. She sighed. “The Tangs probably did so out of consideration of her ident.i.ty as a regular human. No wonder I haven’t seen Qingqiu for the past few days. I can imagine that he’s being emotionally weighed down by these problems.” Persuading the elders of his family was something one could rarely pull off.
Not everyone was like Jiang Shuxuan, who was powerful enough to force the elders into a compromise.
“Don’t you worry about this though,” Jiang Shuxuan chuckled. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen the rankings for the compet.i.tion?”
“Hm?” Shu Chen was plating out the dish when she looked up curiously with an eyebrow raised.
“Xiao Yun, she’s in the 11th place.” Jiang Shuxuan answered while lifting the plate off the table. How could that girl ever leave behind a friend who’s being bullied?
Shu Chen froze up in the middle of the kitchen, staring at her son with eyes that were about to pop out of their sockets. She turned around to their butler. “I-I didn’t mishear what you said did I?” That friend of hers. Wasn’t she just a regular human being? How did she suddenly get 11th place in the compet.i.tion out of nowhere?
The butler smiled. “Madam, I a.s.sume you have yet to browse the online forum? I think the team Gu Xiqiao led was the legendary mythical beast reapers. Retrospectively, I don’t find it odd that Miss Xiao Yun was able to land a spot so high up in the scoreboard.” After all, even Baili Wen had managed to get tenth place.
Shu Chen was primarily worried about Gu Xiqiao’s safety and as such, she cared little about other problems. What the butler had said initially did not surprise her.
Despite that, upon putting in deeper thought, she couldn’t snap out of her mental shock. She had only heard about her daughter-in-law scoring first place in the compet.i.tion but it was surprising to her that there were still so many talents out there. It really was so shocking that…she was about to turn into a fangirl! No wonder so many people were awaiting Gu Xiqiao’s return just now!
“To be honest, I think Miss Gu was probably trying to avoid troubling others.” The butler let out a quiet sigh. “This whole ruckus has s.h.i.+fted the attention of the entire world onto her. I’m guessing this was done with the main intention of helping out her friend, Miss Xiao Yun.”
“I think so too,” said Shu Chen while nodding. “Qiao Qiao is someone who places great importance on friends.h.i.+p. The Tang family was looking down on Xiao Yun, and so she sent her straight up to eleventh place. I can imagine that the elders of the Tang family are now very anxious.”
What they initially thought was a rat t.u.r.d turned out to be a precious piece of gold after they had kicked it away.
This must be incredibly painful for them.
Shu Chen felt sympathy for the elders of the Tang family but recent memories of them being played by Gu Xiqiao made her chuckle to herself. In any case, the ancient martial arts world was now much more lively than before.
Jiang Shuxuan set the dish down onto the table before heading upstairs with Jiji silently trailing behind him.
The little robot initially had a smirk on its face, thinking that Jiang Shuxuan wasn’t aware of its presence behind him. However, it had only taken a few steps before the looming figure before it came to a halt. He turned around and peered down with those ink-dark eyes of his.
A cold voice echoed down the stairwell. “This is my house.”
“…”
Jiji quietly retraced its steps.
“…”
A servant who unintentionally saw their odd little interaction was speechless. Why was Young Master treating this little android so badly?
Jiang Shuxuan remained still until he was sure that Jiji had indeed stopped following him.
***
Gu Xiqiao was was.h.i.+ng in the bathroom upstairs. She had not taken a shower ever since stepping foot into Bahuang Forest. Because of this, she darted straight into the bathroom in Jiang Shuxuan’s room the moment she returned home. Although she wasn’t a clean freak by any means, she still couldn’t bear the thought of not cleaning herself for so many days.
She realized upon pulling open the door of the wardrobe that… there were clothes meant for her inside.
They were all brand-new and were hung right next to Jiang Shuxuan’s clothes.
There was no doubt about it. Shu Chen must’ve been the person behind this. And it seemed like her clothes have been hanging around here for quite some time now.
Gu Xiqiao picked a long b.u.t.ton-down s.h.i.+rt and a sweater which she changed into quickly. The clothes Jiang Shuxuan had in his wardrobe were pretty basic; apart from a couple of sweats.h.i.+rts, most of them were plain dress s.h.i.+rts. They were all of the same brand and were either black or white in color.
In fact, that combination applied to his room as well. The items he had were either black or white in color, with nothing in between.
She observed the room whilst drying her hair with a towel. On the window sill were a few pots of plum blossoms. They were currently blossoming, which raised Gu Xiqiao’s curiosity. Brother Jiang was interested in growing flowers? Why hadn’t she discovered this up until today?
She was still observing the plum blossoms when Jiang Shuxuan entered the room. Gu Xiqiao instinctively turned around the moment she heard the doork.n.o.b being twisted open.
The delicate pink blossoms were right next to her in full bloom, which further enhanced the beauty of this scene, which appeared almost to have been ripped straight out of an artwork.
“Are you gazing at the flowers?” Jiang Shuxuan’s fingers paused for a second before silently shutting the door behind him, removing Jiji’s sulking face from her view.
Gu Xiqiao nodded. “I didn’t know you were interested in flowers.”
“These are not mine.” Jiang Shuxuan walked up next to her. He peered down at the pot of flowers before his eyes s.h.i.+fted back to Gu Xiqiao. “I don’t come home that often.”
“If this isn’t yours then…” Gu Xiqiao wanted to ask who was tending to these flowers when Jiang Shuxuan answered her question.
“It’s my mom.” He let out a sigh. “She said these plum blossoms are much more obedient than dealing with her child.”
Jiang Shuxuan was dead serious when he said that, and yet it was enough to make Gu Xiqiao giggle. She looked up at him with a pair of crystal clear eyes. Tending to plum blossoms was much better than raising a son? Aunt Shu definitely didn’t seem like the kind of person who would say that.
Or perhaps, she was unaware of Jiang Shuxuan’s rebellious phase?
Gu Xiqiao stifled her laughter by cupping her palm over her mouth.
Jiang Shuxuan glanced at her as he leaned up against the window frame. “Stop laughing.”
Gu Xiqiao nodded in response. “You think I’d laugh at you for that?” Of course! She could laugh at this all night long!
Jiang Shuxuan clasped her hand and proceeded to lean in for a kiss.
Something cold but soft pressed against her lips. Gu Xiqiao’s mind went blank in the spur of the moment. She had long forgotten about Jiang Shuxuan’s funny little story. Their breaths merged as a warmth slowly crept up to her fingertips. Their shadows cast on the wall by the fluorescent lighting grew increasingly overlapped.
A moment later, Jiang Shuxuan slowly loosened his grip on her. He peered down at her now bright red face. Her lips were no longer the light shade of pink like that of the plum blossoms on the windowsill. They were now glowing red, akin to a burning flame.
The look in his eyes was a little dreamy, as if he was only half-sober.
“Let’s head down for dinner,” he said with a slightly hoa.r.s.e voice.
Fortunately, his brain was still working as he remembered that dinner was waiting for them downstairs.
Gu Xiqiao opened up the windows and the two of them remained there for a brief moment before they walked down the stairs.
Shu Chen hurried Gu Xiqiao to sleep after they finished their meal. “You must be dead tired after spending half a month in Bahuang Forest! Go up and get yourself some rest! We’ll leave talking for tomorrow, alright?”
Shu Chen then excitedly logged into the ancient martial arts forum.
Jiang Shuxuan received a phone call from Yi Tong shortly after Gu Xiqiao had fallen asleep. His voice was audibly more panicky than before. “Big boss! Something’s happened in W Town!”
***
Yi Bing stumbled into the room after the phone call had ended.
“Soon.” Yi Tong shoved his phone into his pocket. He located the official of W Town, in front of which he slammed the table out of anger. “If you don’t order the people of this town to evacuate, they’re all going to die here!”
That man glared back at Yi Tong with hostility in his eyes. “Mister Yi Tong, upon hearing your allegation that a tsunami would engulf this area, I have hired an expert to do the necessary testing. Based on our topography, it is simply impossible for such a phenomenon to take place. Furthermore, have you any idea how many people we have to evacuate? Perhaps I have gone insane, or perhaps I am a fool, but I want you to leave this place immediately!”