This, too, was why Tang Yun felt the gulf between herself and the young miss — though now it seemed the young miss was truly low-key about it. The people here did not know her, and she had put on no airs of a young miss.

Though Gu Mengyao had grown up in a house of enormous wealth, she had never developed a swaggering, domineering temperament — partly because Gu Pengzhan's family discipline was strict, and partly because the young miss's inner world was a lonely one. She did not make friends easily. From childhood up, only Shen Yushu could be called a real friend, and there was no one else she was close to; so the young miss had never been led astray by bad company.

Both had grown up without a mother's love, yet it had produced two extremes in Gu Mengyao and Feng Xiaoxiao. But they shared one thing in common: neither had many friends. Gu Mengyao had only Shen Yushu; Feng Xiaoxiao had none at all.

What the young miss had over Feng Xiaoxiao, though, was that her mother had not died — there was still hope; and with Xiaoshu beside her, she was not so very lonely. Feng Xiaoxiao had nothing at all, and stricken with a terminal illness, she could only squander her life to give her brief span some worth.

Arriving at the private room, Gu Mengyao handed Tang Yun the menu and the ordering tablet, letting her do the ordering. But how would Tang Yun ever have eaten in such an upscale restaurant? She flipped through two pages before the prices frightened her — how could it be so expensive? The cost of a single dish was enough to cover her family's food for over a week.

Besides, this place ran on self-service ordering: once you saw a dish on the menu, you entered its code on the tablet, and it would show whether the kitchen could prepare that dish at the moment. But Tang Yun did not know how to work the thing either.

"I don't know how to order... you do it." Tang Yun was honest too — poor was poor, and there was no need to put on an act in front of Gu Mengyao. So she handed the menu and the tablet back to her.

Gu Mengyao probably guessed Tang Yun's difficulty. She took the menu without a word and ordered several dishes straight off. She did not care for things like bird's nest or shark's fin; she thought they did not taste good. But considering Tang Yun, she still ordered a bird's nest porridge, then passed the menu to Shen Yushu.

Shen Yushu flipped through the whole menu and found only shark's fin, no shark meat, and was instantly disappointed: "Sister Yaoyao, I suggest Uncle Chu add a shark meat dish!"

"..." Gu Mengyao was a little speechless. How would Daddy bother over such things? Was he supposed to order the hotel's dishes himself? She thought for a moment, then asked, "You want to eat shark meat?"

"A little. Though I don't know if it would be as good as Brother Arrow's," Shen Yushu said, swallowing.

Tang Yun felt a faint discomfort in her heart. Did Wei Zhao make them good food every day?

"Then we'll ask the waiter later whether they can make it. Anything else you want?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"Nothing else." Shen Yushu shook her head.

"All right, then. Wei Zhao, and you?" Though Gu Mengyao no longer faced Wei Zhao with her former composure, that was only on the inside. Outwardly, her manner toward Wei Zhao had dropped as if to freezing point — exactly as it had been when he first moved in.

But was it really the same? Probably only Gu Mengyao herself could say clearly — or perhaps even she did not understand.

"This is enough. I'm not very picky about food." Wei Zhao was telling the truth. From childhood up, it had always been food that picked him; wherever he went, he had to adapt to the local fare, and in the deep mountains there was simply no fare at all. Wei Zhao ate whatever there was — he had no room to be choosy.

Gu Mengyao nodded, called the waiter over, handed her the ordering tablet, and said, "Do you have shark meat here?"

"Shark meat?" The waiter was briefly startled, then said, "One moment, please. Let me ask for you."

With that, the waiter picked up the walkie-talkie and made an inquiry. Only after getting confirmation from the kitchen did she say, "Yes, miss. How would you like it prepared?"

"Can it be grilled? I want grilled shark meat!" Shen Yushu said.

"Certainly. Let me ask." The waiter then made detailed inquiries of the kitchen, and only then said, "That is possible, but since this dish is specially customized for you, the charge may be a little higher. Would that be acceptable? It would be about six hundred yuan..."

"That's fine." Gu Mengyao nodded faintly. Price meant nothing at all to her; she had little concept of money. Though she would not buy a houseful of luxuries like some money-worshipping girl, she would absolutely never fuss over a price tag.

After ordering the grilled shark meat over the walkie-talkie, the waiter brought the drinks. Gu Mengyao had ordered juice — they were all girls, and Wei Zhao was driving; there was no need for alcohol to fill out the occasion.

"Tang Yun, thank you for today." Gu Mengyao raised her glass and spoke to Tang Yun. She hesitated, then added with a touch of self-mockery, "Though between us, it seems we still can't be friends..."

Gu Mengyao had truly been moved by Tang Yun's calling Wei Zhao today. But moved was moved: when it came to her own happiness, she would absolutely not compromise. Tang Yun wanted to take Wei Zhao away from the villa — that was absolutely out of the question.

If Wei Zhao left, where would she ever find another person who cared for her and looked after her like that? Of course, the young miss had never once believed she liked Wei Zhao. Wei Zhao was such a playboy — how could she possibly like him?

"I understand." Tang Yun nodded, unsurprised. She did not think that one meal from the young miss would dissolve the conflict between them either. "Calling Wei Zhao — I did it because I didn't want to beat a rival that way."

"Heh..." Gu Mengyao smiled, but did not explain herself. Her dependence on Wei Zhao was something Tang Yun did not understand.

"Oh, Sister Yaoyao, let's not talk about this anymore. It's so gloomy!" Shen Yushu could not get a word into the exchange between the young miss and Tang Yun, so she began to steer the conversation elsewhere.

"Heh, then let's not." Gu Mengyao drained her glass of juice and signaled to Tang Yun.

Tang Yun picked up her own glass too and drank, taking it as accepting Gu Mengyao's thanks. In truth, Tang Yun had never expected Gu Mengyao to thank her so solemnly. The relationship between them was too strange; sitting together over a meal like this felt a little awkward.

In fact, Tang Yun did not understand Gu Mengyao. From childhood up, there had been few people who truly cared for the young miss. Apart from Gu Pengzhan, Uncle Qing, Shen Yushu, and a handful of family, there was only Wei Zhao — and Tang Yun's concern had moved Gu Mengyao beyond measure.

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