Chapter 2666 — Yu Dake's Plan

"It's all settled. Wei Zhao took care of it too—not only did they compensate us with a piece of land, they also gave us a large sum of money," Yu Xiaoke said with a sigh, paying no mind to Yu Dake's earlier remark about the collateral families being fine; she simply ignored it.

"Ah? Right, those hidden families all fear Mr. Lin now, including our own hidden You family—none of us dare make a rash move. But Mr. Lin really is a good man!" Yu Dake said with feeling. "Little sister, do you have a boyfriend? You're not young anymore..."

"I..." Yu Xiaoke did not know what to say. Did she have a boyfriend? Apparently not. Nandao had never given her a direct answer, so the two of them could only be counted as ordinary friends. And Nandao had said he already had a girlfriend—she did not even know whether she still had a chance...

"So you don't have one either. Well, that makes sense—you're busy with the orphanage every day, so you surely have no time for romance!" Yu Dake had misunderstood, thinking Yu Xiaoke was simply too embarrassed to say so. After all, a girl her age—if she were still in university it would be one thing, but among those striving in society, few had never had a boyfriend.

"Yeah..." Yu Xiaoke nodded. Yu Dake was not wrong; she truly had no time for romance. Even her meeting with Nandao had been a matter of chance, and she had never deliberately forced anything.

"I think Mr. Lin is quite good. Why don't you make an effort?" Yu Dake's eyes suddenly lit up. "Mr. Lin helps you for nothing in return—I'd say there's a good chance he's interested in you?"

"Wei Zhao... he already has several girlfriends, and he doesn't like me anyway." Yu Xiaoke's face darkened. She had finally managed to change the subject, and now it had been dragged right back.

"Several girlfriends is no big deal—it's common enough in our cultivation world. I think Mr. Lin is excellent, a man of outstanding appearance, and they say he can now kill heaven-rank experts in an instant. If you follow him, you'll never suffer in this life!" Yu Dake's sudden decision was not the product of some unreliable, random notion—it had deep meaning behind it.

Sooner or later he would go for revenge, and if that revenge failed, it might well drag his sister down with him. By having her follow Wei Zhao, he was in truth trying to give her a powerful patron. At the very least, the hidden level already feared Wei Zhao—and who could say that the ancient level would not one day act according to Wei Zhao's whims?

If his sister followed Wei Zhao now, it would greatly reduce the resistance to his revenge later. With Wei Zhao's help, so much the better; without it, Yu Dake could at least be free of worries about what lay behind him. Otherwise, he could never have spoken such words so rashly.

Though in the cultivation world, having three wives and four concubines was normal—the hidden You family's young master, You Zhentian, for instance, had several women—and in the hidden families this was nothing novel, Yu Dake, as an elder brother, still did not truly wish for his sister to become anyone's lesser wife.

But this man was Wei Zhao, and Yu Dake could accept that. It was for the sake of his sister's lifelong safety that he urged her to follow Wei Zhao.

"..." Yu Xiaoke thought to herself: sure enough, her brother had somehow been bought off by Wei Zhao and had come here to play the advocate for him. Did Wei Zhao want her to make the first move? To go and confess to him herself?

The more Yu Xiaoke listened, the angrier she became. Fine if you like me, but now you want me to confess to you? What was that supposed to mean—and you even brought my brother into it?

"Little sister, just think it over anyway. Mr. Lin is a good man, and an opportunity like this won't come again..." Seeing Yu Xiaoke silent, Yu Dake assumed she was moved and hurried to press his advantage.

"Brother..." Yu Xiaoke took a deep breath and decided to speak honestly, to lay the matter bare with her brother. Otherwise, if he brought up these things every time he visited, it would drive her to distraction.

"Hm?" Cut off by Yu Xiaoke, Yu Dake was slightly taken aback, but he still said, "What is it?"

"Brother, actually... I already have someone in my heart..." Yu Xiaoke summoned her courage and said it.

"Someone in your heart?" Yu Dake was stunned, then somewhat embarrassed. Only now did he realize he had misread her and been recklessly pairing people off. Thank goodness Wei Zhao was not present—between the two siblings it was nothing, but otherwise he would not have known what to do.

"Yes, that's right. But it's not Wei Zhao..." Yu Xiaoke said. "He is a very considerate and attentive man..."

"Oh? Then who is he..." Yu Dake was curious. After all, it concerned his sister's lifelong happiness, so naturally he was attentive. "Tell your brother about it?"

"Mm..." Yu Xiaoke nodded and slowly began to tell the story of her and Nandao. In truth, she had long wanted someone to confide in, but in the orphanage the only ones she could talk to were the old director and Xiaoken; there was no one else. Now that she had a brother, Yu Xiaoke wished she could pour out everything that had happened over the years to him...

Strange to say, it was a bond of blood born from nature. Though Yu Dake looked nothing like her, Yu Xiaoke was certain he was her brother, and the longer she spent with him, the stronger that feeling grew.

"So that's how it was..." Yu Dake listened to the many perils in the ancient tomb, to Yu Xiaoke's bold attempt to storm the execution ground, and to their reunion at the auction house. This thrilling, stirring tale drew a sigh from him. "You may not have spent much time together, but so many stories happened between you—no wonder you like him..."

Because Yu Xiaoke did not say which ancient tomb it was, and her account was not especially detailed, Yu Dake did not connect it with Zhang Lifeng's ancient tomb, much less with Wei Zhao. Besides, he was only a retainer of modest standing; even if he had heard rumors of Wei Zhao, they were mostly about his instant kills of heaven-rank experts, and he knew little of the specifics.

"Yes. But I don't know whether we'll ever meet again..." Yu Xiaoke sighed. "As for Wei Zhao and me, it's probably impossible. If I had never met Nandao, out of gratitude I would certainly have ended up with him. But now that Nandao is already in my heart, making me be with him would leave me unhappy for the rest of my life..."