The commotion startled Gu Jingheng.
He looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Gai Xue, who usually just rubbed against the feet of the bookshelf, was now squatting on the shelf, looking down at the ground with her head tilted to the side, her face full of innocence, as if she had no idea that she had done something wrong.
"Gai Xue, what are you doing?"
Gu Jingheng walked over and went around the desk, only to find a broken celadon vase on the floor of the bookshelf, with some books scattered around it.
"Gai Xue! Nonsense!" Gu Jingheng scolded, his face hardening.
Gai Xue tilted her head to look at Gu Jingheng, and suddenly meowed.
"You bastard, how could you smash things!" Gu Jingheng reached out and pulled Gai Xue into his arms before he could run away.
The soft, boneless little black cat meowed softly. Gu Jingheng raised his hand and gently patted its bottom: "Meowing won't help. You'll get punished for doing bad things."
After petting the cat for a while, Gu Jingheng finally let go of Gai Xue and squatted down to start packing his things.
The shards of the celadon vase were scattered all over the floor. Gu Jingheng first picked up the books before cleaning up the shards.
One of the books caught Gu Jingheng's eye.
Jade Screen.
This is what the woman I bumped into on the street last time dropped.
After cleaning up the debris on the ground, Gu Jingheng picked up the book, only to be greeted by the familiar floral scent that once again filled his nostrils.
"How can it still smell good after so long?" Gu Jingheng wondered, and sniffed it again, but couldn't smell anything. "Strange."
"Meow~" Gai Xue ran back at some point, rubbing her little head against Gu Jingheng's trouser leg, meowing softly.
"Are you pretending to be a good boy again?" Gu Jingheng chuckled and scratched the top of his head, while Gai Xue raised her little paws, pretending to snatch the book from his hands.
Gu Jingheng stretched the book further away: "You little rascal, you want to look at this picture book too? Why are you like that woman, liking to look at these... these things? You little rascal, go away, stop fooling around."
But Gai Xue refused to give up and cried out even more pitifully.
Gu Jingheng assumed Gai Xue was just playing around with him. After teasing him for a while, he put the book back on the table and left.
Gai Xue squatted on the ground, looked up at the desk, then at Gu Jingheng's departing figure, and with a whoosh, jumped onto the tabletop.
"Meow~" Gai Xue pawed at the book a few times, then rubbed her little head against it, before lying down on the desk with the book as her pillow, closing her eyes and falling asleep.
When Gu Jingheng returned to the room, he saw Gai Xue sleeping soundly with her head resting on that thin book.
Gu Jingheng couldn't help but chuckle. What was wrong with this cat?
Gu Jingheng woke Gai Xue by rubbing her awake and moved the book to the other side of the desk. Gai Xue meowed unhappily and lazily followed, wanting to lie down again.
"Why do you like this book so much?" Gu Jingheng was a little speechless, so he tried a few more times, and this time Gai Xue moved with the book.
On the last occasion, Gai Xue seemed to lose patience. She slammed her paw down on the book, preventing Gu Jingheng from taking it away, and then picked it up and ran off.
Gu Jingheng watched the cat with amusement. The cat carried a book around the room, then jumped onto the bed, spread the book out beside Gu Jingheng's pillow, walked around the book twice, and then lay down on it contentedly, even squinting its eyes at Gu Jingheng.
Lian Yingtong and Xu Meng came into the house to find Gu Jingheng and saw the same scene. Xu Meng couldn't help but laugh.
“General, he seems to be provoking you!” Xu Meng said.
Gu Jingheng also found it amusing: "This cat is strange. I've never seen him show any particular interest in anything. But today he's been clinging to this book and won't let go."
After a while, Lian Yingtong whispered, "General, someone has been inquiring about you recently."
"Oh?" Gu Jingheng raised an eyebrow.
"The brothers concealed their identities and hid in various places, and frequently heard people looking for a young master who had come to study abroad."
"But the Qiu family is looking for me again?" Gu Jingheng asked.
"Exactly."
"Could it be that our tracks have been exposed?" Xu Meng asked.
"The Qiu family is really that capable?" Lian Yingtong didn't think so. "Could it be because of... something else?"
Xu Meng: "What could it be? Ying Tong, stop beating around the bush, just tell me what it is."
Gu Jingheng didn't understand what Lian Yingtong was talking about either: "Yingtong, what is that?"
Lian Yingtong suddenly clasped his hands in apology and said, "These are all just my wild guesses. If there is anything inappropriate, please forgive me, General. I think, could it be that Miss Qiu... has taken a fancy to you, General?"
"What?!" Xu Meng exclaimed in surprise. "Why would you take a fancy to a general?!"
"Xu Meng!" Lian Yingtong called out, reminding Xu Meng to watch his words. "The general is handsome and elegant, which is exactly what girls of Qiu's age like like the most."
Xu Meng scratched her head.
That's right, how could I forget?
"Is it because the Qiu family's daughter has taken a liking to me that she had the Qiu family's servants inquire about my whereabouts?" Gu Jingheng continued, following Lian Yingtong's train of thought.
"Yes, that's what I think."
"In that case, why don't we go out for a walk?"
"yes!"
***
Lingyue Tower.
When Gu Jingheng appeared at the street corner below Lingyue Tower, a man hidden in the crowd suddenly sat up straight, glanced at him a few more times to confirm, and then chuckled: "He's here!"
After throwing away the branch hanging from his mouth, he watched Gu Jingheng and his group go up to Lingyue Tower, then turned around and ran away in a flash.
***
The Sun residence.
As Sun Wanqing lay dozing on a recliner under the covered walkway, Qiu Pingshuang suddenly rushed into the courtyard.
"Sister Wanqing!"
Sun Wanqing was startled and quickly turned around to look. She saw Qiu Pingshuang's face flushed with uncontrollable joy. Behind her, a little maid from the Sun family was running after her, panting, and holding a visiting card in her hand.
"Sister Wanqing, it's me!" Qiu Pingshuang was about to say something when Sun Wanqing stopped her with a look.
Sun Wanqing looked at the little girl behind her: "Give the visiting card to Chunrou. She must be tired from running around. Ask her to give you some tea money so you can go and rest."
"Thank you... thank you, young lady..." The little girl gasped for breath, clutching her chest.
Qiu Pingshuang pulled Sun Wanqing into the house and closed the door.
"Sister Wanqing, we've found Young Master Gu! He's at Lingyue Tower!"
"Really? I didn't expect you to actually go again."
"He only went after so many days, I was worried he'd left Yongning City! Sister Wanqing, let's go to Lingyue Tower too!"
"What?!" Sun Wanqing was somewhat surprised. "But you saw him, what did you say to him? Did you already know what you were going to say to him?"
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