"That's right—but we'd have been lost without Granny Sun's years of connections. Those secondhand electronics dealers would have cheated us blind, and we'd never have known the difference." Gu Mengyao was delighted too; today's take had far outstripped their expectations.

Listening to the two of them, Wei Zhao could not help but be baffled. What laptop had sold for over two thousand yuan? And who on earth was this Granny Sun?

A moment later Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu came into the room. The first thing they did upon returning was check on Wei Zhao; only after making certain that nothing was wrong with him did they nod in relief.

"Little Shu, I'll go decoct the medicine. You take your bath first," Gu Mengyao said.

"Okay!" Scavenging every day left them both filthy—how could fastidious little Shu and Yao-yao stand it? Luckily Granny Sun's house had an old-fashioned water heater, so every evening when they came back they bathed before going to sleep.

Of course, the next day they would put the same dirty clothes back on and be grimy again, but at least they could sleep comfortably at night.

Decocting the herbs left one reeking of medicine from head to toe, so every day little Shu bathed first and Gu Mengyao washed after the brewing was done; that way the two of them could take turns, for the water heater could not supply enough hot water for two baths at once.

Seeing them so dirtied, Wei Zhao grew all the more puzzled. What exactly were they doing?

But he could only faintly sense the world outside; he could not wake to ask, and so had no choice but to bury his questions in his heart.

What Wei Zhao had not expected, however, was that scarcely had Gu Mengyao left the room when Shen Yushu began to undress—and in a twinkling she had stripped off every last stitch!

In an instant Wei Zhao felt his blood come surging.

He had seen little Shu unclothed before, but he now discovered that perceiving the world through his sensing power was far more distinct; before, he had caught only a hasty glimpse—now every fine detail stood out starkly.

"Brother Arrow, once little Shu's finished bathing, I'll wipe you down! It's been so long since you had a wash!" Shen Yushu had no idea Wei Zhao could sense her, and came over to his side to speak to him.

At once Wei Zhao felt he could bear it no longer; little Shu had him burning all over, and the fire poison he had so painstakingly subdued began to stir restlessly again!

This alarmed him, and he hastily cut off his contact with the outside world. Little Shu might be lovely to look at, but one more look and he would surely fall into an even worse deviation—Wei Zhao dared not watch another moment!

"Phew..." Wei Zhao steadied his agitated feelings and quickly reined in his mind. Lust is a blade hung above the head; he had nearly been driven into deviation by it again, and the thought left him shaken and cold with fear.

"What's the matter with you?" Jiao Yazi glanced at Wei Zhao in some surprise, not knowing why his breathing had turned so ragged.

"Nothing!" How could Wei Zhao bring himself to describe what he had seen? With a bitter smile he hurriedly pressed on, driving the fire-poison true qi toward the meridians of his right hand...

Some time later, Wei Zhao suddenly sensed that his body in the outer world was being lifted. Curious, he paused in expelling the fire poison and reached out once more with his sensing power—and found that Gu Mengyao was slowly propping him upright and feeding a bowl of brewed medicine into his mouth.

What the medicine tasted like, or whether it was hot, Wei Zhao had no way of knowing; he could connect with the outside world only through his sensing power. If he could taste the medicine, that would mean he was close to waking.

He was merely baffled: where exactly was this place?

"School's about to start, and Wei Zhao still hasn't woken up, so we can't even go register..." Gu Mengyao said with a bitter smile. "I hope Wei Zhao wakes up soon..."

"Yeah, otherwise we'll be living off scavenging for the rest of our lives—though with the Heavenly Thunder Pig around, we find something good every single day..." Shen Yushu nodded.

"These really have been hard yet fulfilling days. Little Shu, at last we can do something for Wei Zhao," Gu Mengyao said with feeling.

"That's right. These days have taught me just how hard Uncle Chu worked to earn his money!" Little Shu nodded too. "But once Brother Arrow is better, everything will be fine again, and we can go back to living like young ladies!"

"..." Gu Mengyao was briefly speechless.

Hearing their exchange, Wei Zhao grew more and more bewildered, yet he could not speak to ask; he could only judge from their words that the two of them were living hard, far from comfortable lives, that they scraped by on scavenging—and strangest of all, that they used the Heavenly Thunder Pig to scavenge!

No wonder they could pick up twenty thousand yuan's worth of junk in a single day. No ordinary person could ever collect that much; it was an astronomical figure. But for a Heavenly Thunder Pig with its treasure-seeking gift, it was nothing at all—it could find even rare heavenly treasures, let alone valuable old goods.

After the two chatted idly for a while, Gu Mengyao got ready to bathe, and Wei Zhao hurriedly cut off his connection to the outside world. He had just looked his fill of little Shu; if he looked at the young lady as well, he would surely suffer a qi deviation!

Another stretch of time passed, and Gu Mengyao finished her bath. She brought over a basin of water, and together with little Shu she wiped Wei Zhao's face, hands, and feet; as for the rest of his private parts, they did not touch them. Little Shu might not have minded, but the young lady was too embarrassed.

The days passed one by one in plain monotony. Wei Zhao gradually drove the fire poison from the meridians other than those of his head and heart, and the effect was quite marked. He believed that if he kept at it, the day of his awakening could not be far off.

During this time Wei Zhao also worked one thing out: the reason Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were here! From their broken snatches of conversation he understood that Gu Pengzhan had gone bankrupt, and Fatty Lai too. Not only had they lost every means of support, but Yu Liu of the Yu family was after him!

So they could only lodge in Granny Sun's house and live by scavenging. Fortunately, no one paid any attention to a few women picking through trash, and Yu Liu and his people would probably never imagine that the young lady of former days would do such a thing!

The tender care of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu moved Wei Zhao deeply. He had truly never thought the young lady could endure such hardship and give so much...

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