After Su Yuan returned to the hotel, he summoned the nine - tailed fox Nanjia.
Nanjia showed a resentful look on her face and stared at Su Yuan reproachfully. "Come on, boss. It's off - work time! What do you want?"
Nanjia rolled her eyes mentally. She thought to herself that while Su Yuan had offended his little sweetheart and was left alone in his room, she had a bunch of handsome guys waiting for her. The nightlife of the nine - tailed foxes was really busy!
Su Yuan hung his head, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. His slender fingers were resting on a glass of whisky. Half of his face was hidden in the shadow, making him look mysterious and dangerous.
"Boss? Boss—! What are you thinking about?" Nanjia tossed her wavy curls. She began to feel curious.
She had never seen the boss looking so melancholy before.
Nanjia tentatively asked, "Boss, did you quarrel with your little sweetheart?"
Su Yuan cast a cold glance at her and said calmly, "No."
"..." Well, if there was no quarrel, so be it. He was as stubborn as a mule. She couldn't get a word out of him. "Fine, I'm out of here. You can just keep your thoughts to yourself!"
Nanjia was about to leave with the clicking sound of her high - heels when Su Yuan spoke again, "Wait."
Nanjia was forced to stop and secretly gave him the middle finger, gritting her teeth.
"Nanjia, how do you start a relationship so quickly?"
"Eh?" Nanjia suspected there was something wrong with her ears. What did she just hear? The boss was actually asking about his employee's love life?
"Boss, you..." Nanjia hesitated, "Why do you ask this?"
Su Yuan fell silent again. After a long while, he said, "Forget it. It's nothing. You can go."
Nanjia was about to leave the room with her long red dress trailing behind when suddenly an idea flashed through her mind. She rushed back and shouted in surprise, "What? Does it mean that your little sweetheart has found another man?"
A vein on Su Yuan's forehead bulged, and the whisky glass shattered. "Shut up. That's nonsense."
"Then you're... Wait, are you worried about what the Earthly Fiend said about your mortal fate with Zhaozhao?"
Su Yuan calmly wiped the whisky off his hand and didn't say a word, which was tantamount to an admission.
Nanjia said carelessly, "What's the big deal? If you like her, go after her. If not, just let it go. It's not like—"
"I'm different." Su Yuan interrupted Nanjia coldly. "Nanjia, you know, I'm different."
Nanjia suddenly remembered something and swallowed the rest of her words. Her eyes darted around. "That may not necessarily happen. Nothing has happened for so many years..."
Seeing Su Yuan like this, Nanjia felt a bit uncomfortable. She deliberately changed the subject. "Besides, boss, you're worrying too early. I think you should first figure out your feelings for the little sweetheart. You've been single for so many years. You probably don't even know what it means to like someone!"
After saying this, Nanjia quickly left, afraid that Su Yuan would punish her the next second.
Nanjia looked back at the hotel entrance, sighed, and then made a phone call. "Hey, Lao Gu. Do you have any leads on the Resurrection Tree?"
She didn't know what was said on the other end of the phone. Nanjia impatiently flipped her long hair. "Ugh! This is driving me crazy. Okay, bye."
Just as Nanjia was about to leave after hanging up the phone, she suddenly smelled a strange odor.
The nine - tailed foxes had an extremely sensitive sense of smell. Nanjia frowned and sniffed carefully. It was the smell of a forbidden demon drug.
Nanjia closed her eyes. Did everyone have to spoil her good time? She'd better not catch the culprit!
Nanjia resignedly sent a mental message to Su Yuan. "Boss, something might go wrong."
...
After Zhaozhao left with a heart full of grievances, she found a small corner to stay.
She took out the sound - transmitting conch that her senior sister had given her on Wutong Mountain and talked into it over and over again.
In the past on Wutong Mountain, no matter how far away she was, as long as she called out in the conch, her senior sister would respond.
Now, the sound - transmission was blocked by the barrier of Wutong Mountain. No matter how much she said into the conch, no one would answer.
Actually, the injury on her ankle had stopped hurting long ago. Zhaozhao had always been like this since childhood. No matter how serious the injury was, she could recover quickly.
However, no matter how fast the injury healed, it still hurt at that moment. Just like she knew her cousin was doing it for her own good, but when the words were spoken, it still made her feel sad.
She always knew that her cousin disliked her, so she had been working hard to learn. She felt insecure in human society. She was always worried about exposing her identity and wanted to be recognized.
Zhaozhao wiped away her tears. It was so difficult. She was just a tree and couldn't handle all this.
"Zhaozhao? Why are you crying?" Jiang Rang's voice came from behind. Zhaozhao turned around and saw him. She wiped her tears embarrassedly and stood up.
"Jiang Rang... Hi."
Jiang Rang looked around and asked Zhaozhao, "Why aren't you with Song Yao?"
Zhaozhao didn't want to talk about it and replied vaguely, "It's nothing. I just wanted to take a walk alone."
Jiang Rang showed a gentle smile and held out an ice - cream in his hand to Zhaozhao. "Don't be sad. Have this ice - cream."
Zhaozhao waved her hand and refused. "Thank you, but I don't need it."
It wasn't good to take things from others for free. This was a principle that Zhaozhao always remembered.
The smile on Jiang Rang's face froze for a second and then quickly returned to normal. "Don't be so polite. We're at least friends. If you don't eat it, do you hate me?"
"No, I don't hate you." Zhaozhao quickly explained.
Jiang Rang persisted and stuffed the ice - cream into Zhaozhao's hand, insisting that she eat it.
Zhaozhao was forced to hold the ice - cream. She was a bit at a loss. Under Jiang Rang's urging, she lowered her head and took a small bite.
Jiang Rang stared at her. After seeing her take that bite of ice - cream, he showed a meaningful smile. He threw something on the ground, which emitted a fragrant smell.
"Well, I have something to do. I'll leave first. Bye." Jiang Rang waved and turned away.
"Okay, bye..." Zhaozhao politely replied.
Something was slowly approaching. Zhaozhao's expression changed. She looked around warily.
"Get out of the way!" Song Yao's anxious voice came. Zhaozhao was pushed to the ground from behind by her.
"Cousin!"
Zhaozhao looked up and saw several half - demon hounds in front of them. Their beastly eyes were red, and they were drooling as they slowly approached.
Behind Song Yao, the wound scratched by the hound was constantly oozing black blood.
"Beast!" Song Yao gasped in pain. Two talisman papers flew out of her hand, and the half - demon hounds were repelled a few steps.
But soon, more demonized and rampaging animals gathered around them. And there was no one around them, as if they had been deliberately separated by a barrier set up by someone with ulterior motives.
"Zhaozhao, put on this magic robe and protect yourself." Seeing the situation was getting out of control, Song Yao took out a cloak from her mustard space and put it on Zhaozhao.
However, Zhaozhao seemed not to hear. She looked at Song Yao's wound. Tears welled up in the eyes of this usually gentle and cute girl, and she was angrier than ever.
Zhaozhao was angry. She stood up and walked step by step towards the hounds. She flipped her hands to form a seal and said firmly,
"Don't you dare hurt my cousin!"