"Uh... right! Then let's buy the saplings first." Shen Yushu nodded.

"Wei Zhao, we're going to buy saplings, and the car won't hold them all. How about we take yours?" This time Gu Mengyao did not let Shen Yushu speak on her behalf; she asked it herself.

Though she did not much want to talk to Wei Zhao. Feng Xiaoxiao had come looking for him today, and Gu Mengyao did not know how to bring it up. She felt a little embarrassed: the trouble was plainly of her own making, and yet she had sent Xiaoshu to text Wei Zhao and demand to know whether he had been out fooling around with girls...

"Sure." Wei Zhao nodded. How could he refuse an order from the eldest miss? So he said, "Shall we go now?"

"Mm, let's go now..." Gu Mengyao rose to her feet, took Shen Yushu by the hand, and made ready to head out with Wei Zhao.

It was the first time the eldest miss and Chen Xiaoni had ridden in Wei Zhao's "junker," and its degree of junkiness left them awestruck.

"Brother Shield, this car of yours — it still runs?" Shen Yushu truly could not fathom how a wreck like this could still move, and move rather fast, at that.

"Whether it runs or not, don't you know by now?" Wei Zhao laughed. "For an underling like me, having some beat-up car to drive at all is already pretty good."

"Oh, then I'll give you my car. I don't like driving anyway." Having heard him out, Shen Yushu said this with perfect seriousness.

Gu Mengyao's face at once became hard to keep composed. Wei Zhao was her underling, and yet he did not even have a car — heaven only knew which scrapyard this one had been salvaged from. She cleared her throat twice. "Wei Zhao, tomorrow I'll speak to Uncle Qing and have him buy you a business van..."

"Ha... no need. I'm quite used to driving this one..." Wei Zhao had not expected the eldest miss to be so sensitive; he had only said it in passing, and here she was offering to buy him a car.

"Oh..." Hearing Wei Zhao refuse, Gu Mengyao naturally would not press the matter — that was not her nature. "Today — that Feng Xiaoxiao didn't give you any trouble, did she?"

"Ah, how could she not? She took out her phone to secretly photograph me in the bathroom, meaning to hold it over me. But I mistook her for Zhong Yongliang and gave her a good soaking of piss... The grudge this time is a big one!" Wei Zhao hid nothing; this business had come out of going out with the eldest miss in the first place, so whatever Feng Xiaoxiao got up to from now on, Gu Mengyao could not blame him for it.

"What? You... you mistook her for Zhong Yongliang and peed all over her?" Gu Mengyao's eyes went wide. When the bathroom had "rained" the last time, she and Xiaoshu had gone to see it, and the memory of Zhong Yongliang's sorry state had been rather funny... but substitute a girl, and how humiliating would that be?

Gu Mengyao could well imagine that if it had been her, she would have wished herself dead. How could Feng Xiaoxiao possibly let it go?

"Heh, it's nothing. Who told her to go into the men's room?" Wei Zhao did not care in the least. "Let her do as she likes. Once she tires of her revenge, she'll leave. She's just a little punk girl."

"I really am sorry. I never imagined she would come after you..." Gu Mengyao said apologetically. "How about I talk to her tomorrow? What happened that day was not your fault..."

"Huh?" Wei Zhao looked at the eldest miss in surprise, not having expected her to say such a thing.

Gu Mengyao blushed a little as well. She gave a hmph and explained, "I'm a person who keeps clear account of favors and grudges. Don't think that just because I speak up for you, it means I feel anything for you. I'm telling you, I still very much dislike you!"

In her fluster, the words came tumbling out of Gu Mengyao's mouth; yet once they were out, she rather regretted them. Did she really still dislike Wei Zhao? It seemed... not anymore.

"Ha..." Wei Zhao laughed. "I know. But Feng Xiaoxiao can't do anything to me either. Don't go looking for her — it would only let our classmates find out about the relationship between us!"

Gu Mengyao was so furious at Wei Zhao that her teeth itched! Don't let our classmates find out about our relationship? And what if they did? I'm not even afraid — what are you afraid of? What is that supposed to mean?

Still, Gu Mengyao understood that Wei Zhao said this out of fear that it would make things hard for her, not for his own sake. But it made her angry all the same! Any other boy would have been dying for a connection with her; yet this Wei Zhao — how could he have so little sense of the privilege? Was she really so unappealing?

Gu Mengyao said nothing, and the mood inside the car turned rather stifled — but fortunately there was Shen Yushu: "Brother Shield, do you think the flower-bird-fish market might have sharks for sale?"

"..." Gu Mengyao truly wanted to smack Shen Yushu dead with one palm. "Xiaoshu, do you think anyone would buy a shark and take it home to raise? Aren't you afraid of being eaten by the shark?"

"There are!" Shen Yushu nodded. "People who want to kill themselves, for example!"

"All right, you win." Gu Mengyao slapped her forehead.

Wei Zhao parked the car at the entrance of the flower-bird-fish market, then led Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu inside. "Stay close. This place is a mixed crowd — there are pickpockets."

"Oh..." Shen Yushu quickened her steps by a couple of paces, then slowed again. "I didn't bring any money."

"Xiaoshu, are you serious? You're not joking?" Gu Mengyao's expression changed the moment she heard this.

"No, Sister Yaoyao. You know I always like to keep my wallet in my schoolbag..." Shen Yushu said. "Look at this dress I'm wearing — where would I even put a wallet?"

"I didn't bring any either..." Gu Mengyao frowned. "Wei Zhao, did you bring money?"

"Ha, I did." Wei Zhao thought to himself, no wonder Uncle Qing had gotten him a credit card — these two girls often went out without any money at all.

"Then... count it as borrowed from you..." Gu Mengyao breathed a sigh of relief. If Wei Zhao had no money either, this whole trip would have been for nothing.

"Wow, Sister Yaoyao, look — they really do sell saplings here, and so many kinds..." Shen Yushu's eyes were dazzled the moment she stepped through the door. "Sister Yaoyao, what kind of tree should we plant tomorrow?"

Gu Mengyao shook her head. She was no good with plants either, and had no idea what they ought to buy.

"Sister Yaoyao, look over there — that tree is so strange. Why is it on an IV drip?" Shen Yushu pointed at a few saplings not far away.

"I don't know. Maybe it's sick," Gu Mengyao said.

"Ha, that's nutrient solution. Some imported saplings need nutrient injections because of the difference in environment — otherwise they can't survive." Wei Zhao smiled and explained. "Some high-end estates plant trees like these."

"That looks rather interesting. Sister Yaoyao, why don't we buy this one?" Shen Yushu found the IV-drip trees fascinating.

"Xiaoshu, could you not say such idiotic things? After you graduate, will you come back every day to put the saplings on IV drips? Without the drips, wouldn't the trees die?" Gu Mengyao glared at Shen Yushu.

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