Chapter 66

Chapter 66

By the time Shen Yubi went downstairs, the tavern had already closed.

Jiang Jiu was standing behind the counter, settling the accounts.

Seeing Shen Yubi come down, she tapped on the desk. “Are all your friend’s future expenses going on your tab?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Jiu smiled. “Well, that’s fine then. You have more Points than you know what to do with anyway.”

She paused, then asked, “Is it certain he’s staying here from now on?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. It’ll be livelier with more people.” Jiang Jiu flipped through the ledger. “I was wondering yesterday if you two would bring someone back, and sure enough, I saw him today.”

She leaned her arms on the counter, a playful smile on her face. “I asked you before, but you wouldn’t say a word. I didn’t expect such a handsome guy. I guess those clothes you bought last time were for him, then?”

She knew there was something fishy going on.

Shen Yubi never cared much about food or clothing. After returning from the Instance last time, he had spent his time doing nothing but spacing out.

Then, he had actually hurried off to the mall and bought a bunch of things.

Those clothes were all high-end goods that clearly cost a lot of Points. Normally, Shen Yubi wouldn’t even look at such things.

Seeing Chu Yue today, Jiang Jiu finally understood.

With Chu Yue’s aura and mannerisms, he was clearly a young man from a wealthy family. One look at him made you feel that he deserved nothing but the best.

Shen Yubi ignored her. He walked behind the counter, opened a hidden compartment, and picked out two jars of wine.

When Jiang Jiu saw this, she immediately bristled.

“What are you doing? Put those down! I only have a few jars left.”

She couldn’t even bring herself to open one jar a year, yet this brat was swiping two at once.

“Don’t you still have five jars left? Plus ten of the other kind, and some that haven’t finished fermenting yet.”

“So what!” Jiang Jiu immediately moved to snatch them back. “That’s barely enough to get a taste.”

Shen Yubi raised his arms and quickly stepped away. “This is my compensation to him.”

“You compensate him on your own terms, what does that have to do with me?” Jiang Jiu gritted her teeth.

Shen Yubi looked at her earnestly. “That’s why I came to get them myself.”

Having said that, he ignored Jiang Jiu and headed back upstairs without a second glance.

Jiang Jiu wanted to grab him and argue further, but she was afraid Chu Yue might hear and think she was petty. She could only stand there, glaring at his retreating back.

Shen Yubi and Guan Doujin also returned to their rooms to wash up and rest for a bit.

Chu Yue was still a bit dazed when he was woken up by a knock on the door.

He picked up his phone to check the time.

He had slept for two hours.

A voice came from outside. “Are you awake? If you are, come down for dinner.”

Chu Yue replied, “I’ll be down after I wash my face.”

“Okay.”

By the time he finished getting ready and went downstairs, the aroma of hot pot was already wafting through the air.

The woman he had seen earlier was sitting at the table, watching the water in the pot, but Shen Yubi and Guan Doujin were nowhere to be seen in the Hall.

He walked over and greeted her politely.

“Hello, I’m Chu Yue.”

She raised a hand. “Jiang Jiu.”

Jiang Jiu’s expression was gentle. “How are you? Did you get enough rest?”

Chu Yue gave a faint smile. “Very well. The room is very comfortable, thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Shen Yubi was the one who set up that room.”

“I should still thank you regardless.”

As it was their first time meeting and Chu Yue wasn’t much of a talker, they ran out of things to say after a few sentences. He could only steer the conversation toward Shen Yubi and Guan Doujin.

“Where are they?”

“Cleaning up in the back kitchen.”

Chu Yue immediately stood up. “Then I’ll go take a look.”

The kitchen in the back was similar to a modern one. Shen Yubi and Guan Doujin were there-one washing vegetables, the other chopping them.

Seeing Chu Yue come in, Guan Doujin directly handed him the items in his hand.
“It’s a good thing you’re here. Take over for me for a bit; I need to use the restroom.”

Before Chu Yue could react, a bunch of wet vegetables was shoved into his hands.

He stared at them for a moment before standing at the sink to start washing.

Though he was a Young Master who rarely lifted a finger in his daily life, he at least knew how to wash vegetables.

There was quite a lot in the basket beside him. Chu Yue plucked the leaves off one by one, washing them carefully before setting them aside.

Once finished, he stood to the side, tilting his head as he watched Shen Yubi.

Shen Yubi’s knife skills were excellent. Everything he sliced was of uniform thickness, making the process a pleasure to watch.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing much. Do you cook often?”

“Not really. But if you’re talking about the knife skills, I probably developed those from killing too many people.”

Chu Yue: “…”

Shen Yubi chuckled and changed the subject. “That kid is probably off slacking somewhere. It’s a bit stuffy in here, so why don’t you head out for a stroll? Catch him and bring him back while you’re at it.”

Having lived together for so many years, Shen Yubi knew exactly what Guan Doujin was up to the moment the boy opened his mouth. When the kid had claimed he needed the restroom earlier, Shen Yubi hadn’t called him out on it, but the boy had simply never returned.

Chu Yue gave a nod of agreement.

Shen Yubi added, “He’s in the back courtyard, likely hiding in one of the rooms.”

Following the directions, Chu Yue arrived at the small back courtyard. It was clearly well-maintained, filled with various plants. A small vegetable patch had been carved out on one side, growing all sorts of produce. He recognized some of the vegetables he had just washed, but he couldn’t identify the rest.

He could only tell that some of them seemed to be medicinal herbs.

There were several rooms surrounding the courtyard. He went over to check a few, but Guan Doujin was clearly not in any of them.

Just as he was thinking about heading back, a sudden argument broke out nearby.

Chu Yue followed the sound, which seemed to be coming from the back gate.

“Can you please stop coming here? I told you before, it’s over between us. Can you people just stop looking for me?”

It was Guan Doujin’s voice.

A soft, weak female voice followed immediately. She sounded aggrieved, her tone laced with a hint of a sob. “No, don’t be like this. I still love you, and you still love me. Why can’t we keep going?

“I was wrong before, and I’m apologizing to you.

“I was just too scared. It was an instinctual reaction; I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Chu Yue felt a sense of unease just from overhearing that much. He could piece together the general situation from those few simple sentences.

He turned to head back, catching more of Guan Doujin’s words, though he couldn’t hear them clearly.

Guan Doujin looked utterly impatient as he shook off the woman’s hand.

“Whether it was intentional or an accident, it’s over between us.

“This isn’t up for discussion, and I’ve made that very clear to you.

“Don’t come back. Just go live your life with Da Peng.”

As soon as he said this, the woman across from him burst into tears.

“But I don’t love him! How can I live with him?

“The one I love is you!”

Guan Doujin watched her with cold eyes. “Is that so? How come I remember you saying something different back then?”

“I’m only playing along with him. He’s forcing me. The kind of man I actually like is someone like Brother Da Peng.

“I heard those words with my own ears. Didn’t you say that?”

If possible, he didn’t want to tear everything open and lay it bare like this.

They had been together for a year. As a man, he wasn’t unwilling to grant her some final dignity.

But that didn’t mean she could come and harass him over and over again.

Even a good horse wouldn’t turn back to graze on old grass-especially when that grass was enough to make one nauseous.