Zhaozhao returned to the Xuanmen with Song Yao and the others. She didn't talk to Su Yuan at all on the way.
Actually, it was impossible for them to talk. After all, Su Yuan walked alone in front. One blink of an eye, he was out of sight.
After returning to the Xuanmen, Zhaozhao was first surrounded by the Xuanmen's doctors for a thorough examination. They didn't let her go until they were sure she was okay.
Song Yao sat opposite Zhaozhao. The loving and heart - aching look in her eyes gave Zhaozhao goosebumps.
Zhaozhao held a cup of hot water, with her head down, buzzing in a mosquito - like whisper, "Cousin, don't look at me like this. It makes me uncomfortable."
Song Yao's rare tenderness broke under the impact of this sentence. "Humph... You feel uncomfortable when I look at you like this, but you think Su Yuan's look is full of tenderness, right?"
Hearing her mention Su Yuan, Zhaozhao really felt sad this time and looked dejected.
"Hey? What's wrong? You look like this as soon as I mention him. Weren't you crazy about him before?" Song Yao was extremely surprised.
Zhaozhao hesitated for a few seconds before slowly saying, "Cousin, do you think Su Yuan doesn't believe what I said today?"
Song Yao said indifferently, "Why do you care whether he believes you or not? What can he do to you? Besides, you're so silly. How could you tell a lie?"
This was a huge misunderstanding. Zhaozhao immediately felt extremely guilty.
Seeing that Zhaozhao was still unhappy, Song Yao leaned over, put her arm around her, and said mysteriously, "Come on, stop thinking about it. I'll tell you some good news!"
"What good news?" Zhaozhao took a sip of the hot water in the cup and then frowned.
Eww... It didn't taste good. Her kind of tree preferred cold water.
"Although there was an accident this time, after the discussion of the jury, they decided to recommend you as the first - place winner of this exchange conference competition!"
"Okay." Song Yao was beaming with excitement, but Zhaozhao didn't show much reaction.
"Is that all you can say? If you're the first - place winner, you can directly participate in the Xuanmen's external missions in the future! Do you understand how valuable this is? It's like you've already stepped half - way into the working level of the Xuanmen." Song Yao guessed that she might still be thinking about Su Yuan and looked a bit frustrated.
Zhaozhao had been absent - minded while listening, but when she heard Song Yao talk about work and the Xuanmen, she quickly waved her hands and shook her head. "No, I can't work in the Xuanmen. I promised Su Yuan that I would go to the Monster Management Bureau."
...
The atmosphere froze for a few seconds. Song Yao suspected that either her ears were playing tricks on her or Zhaozhao's mind was not right...
"Wait, say it again. Where are you going?!"
"The Monster Management Bureau." Zhaozhao held the thermos cup and answered obediently.
"You—" Song Yao stood up from the sofa and pointed at Zhaozhao but couldn't say a word for a long time.
She tried hard to persuade herself not to get angry. After all, there was a patient who had just been detoxified in front of her.
"Who told you to go there?" Although Song Yao asked this question, she already had an idea in her mind. It must be that old dragon, Su Yuan!
It was really too much!
Seeing Song Yao so angry, Zhaozhao thought for a while and finally said slowly, "I want to go there myself."
Song Yao was so angry that she almost laughed. "You yourself? Come on, stop joking. Do you think you could come up with the idea of working in the Monster Management Bureau? You must be kidding me."
This remark seemed a bit like looking down on Zhaozhao's intelligence. Sure enough, Song Yao was still the same sharp - tongued Song Yao.
Zhaozhao put the thermos cup on the table discontentedly. "I really want to go there!"
Song Yao took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down to reason with Zhaozhao. "Do you know what kind of place the Monster Management Bureau is? Almost everyone there is a monster. Do you know how dangerous it is?!"
Zhaozhao couldn't understand why Song Yao hated monsters so much. She seriously told Song Yao, "Cousin, monsters aren't that scary."
Song Yao thought she was just naive. "You don't understand at all. Monsters are insidious, cunning, and ruthless. You—"
"Cousin!" Zhaozhao was really angry this time. "That's not true at all! You think all humans are good and all monsters are bad. Then what about Jiang Rang and Fu Huaizhi?"
"That's... just a very small number."
Disappointment and a kind of sadness that Song Yao couldn't understand showed in Zhaozhao's eyes. She asked Song Yao, "Cousin, what if I'm a monster?"
Song Yao was stunned. "What?"
"What if I'm a monster? Would you think I'm cunning and I deserve to die then?"
"That's different. How could you be a monster? You're from our Song family—"
"Cousin, I'll go out for a walk alone." Zhaozhao interrupted Song Yao, wrapped her coat tightly, and left.
This was the first time she had argued with someone like this, and the first time she had so strongly wanted to change someone's mind.
But it seemed she had failed. It turned out that what Master said was true.
Even though humans and monsters had signed a peace treaty, they still couldn't live together well. She also had to protect her identity and couldn't expose it.
If one day people found out that she was a monster, she thought Song Yao would never show mercy.
Song Yao watched the door close in front of her and didn't know what she had done wrong.
Zhaozhao went to find Su Yuan. She wanted to ask if he still wanted her to go to the Monster Management Bureau.
When Su Yuan opened the hotel room door, he saw a droopy head in front of him. For some reason, a listless little tree in autumn popped into his mind.
"Zhaozhao? What's up?"
Zhaozhao looked up at Su Yuan, with a bit of nervousness in her eyes. "Su Yuan, do you still want me to go to the Monster Management Bureau?"
Su Yuan didn't expect her to come and ask this. His eyes flickered slightly. After a while, he said, "I won't go back on my word for what's been promised."
The anxiety in Zhaozhao's heart finally settled down. She quickly followed up on Su Yuan's words and asked, "Are we still good friends? We promised this too, right?"
Su Yuan pursed his lips and didn't answer her question.
Zhaozhao nervously wanted to grab Su Yuan's sleeve, but he dodged. She stood there at a loss.
"After I left your room in the middle of the night that day, I met a monster." Su Yuan's cold voice sounded above Zhaozhao's head.
"What?!" Zhaozhao knew when Su Yuan was talking about. The panic on her face was hard to hide.
She was so easy to read, innocent and simple. She was just a novice at lying, so much so that Su Yuan couldn't even find an excuse for her.
"I thought he was acting suspiciously and wanted to catch him for questioning." Su Yuan probed word by word.
Zhaozhao thought of her master who had broken the appointment that day and asked him, "So... did you catch him?"
Su Yuan shook his head. "No. We fought. He got injured and escaped." He leaned down close to Zhaozhao and asked in a low voice, "Zhaozhao, tell me, why were you awake in the middle of the night that night?"
Zhaozhao's mind was full of the fact that her master was injured and she couldn't listen to anything else at all.
She pushed Su Yuan away. "Sorry, I still have something to do. I'll... I'll leave first." She had to find a way to find out how badly her master was injured.
"Boss, what about Zhaozhao... What are you going to do next?" Nan Jia walked towards Su Yuan with a solemn look, followed by a few people.
Su Yuan remained silent.
"Boss, send her to the Wuhuang Valley," Gu Qing reminded.