Chapter 3112 — Short on Money Again

"Exactly, exactly. Dad, so what am I supposed to do now?" Dongfang Buruo said, somewhat unwilling to let it go. "Are we just going to let the matter of Xu Shilan drop?"

"Drop it? How could we!" Dongfang Jinxing dared not provoke the Dark Night Palace, so he could only go after Xu Shilan. "This time, I'll send one of the Dongfang family's finest—a peak mid-stage Heaven-rank expert—to assist you!"

In truth, Dongfang Jinxing did not want to deploy an expert of such caliber either, but there was no help for it: the lower-ranked experts were all dead. The Dongfang family now had only two peak mid-stage Heaven-rank experts, two late-stage Heaven-rank experts, and two late-stage Heaven-rank experts at the pinnacle of perfection. Formidable as the Dongfang family was, losing so many Heaven-rank experts in succession had taken its toll—in one stroke they had nearly fallen from a top-tier ancient power to a mid-tier one!

Fortunately, the family's top experts remained unharmed. Otherwise, Dongfang Jinxing would have been driven to tears.

"Good, thank you so much, Dad!" Dongfang Buruo was overjoyed to hear it. He had not expected Dongfang Jinxing to support him so unreservedly. Of course, if Dongfang Jinxing knew that Dongfang Jian had been killed by Wei Zhao from the very start, and that Wei Zhao was now Xu Shilan's bodyguard, he would never have sent this peak mid-stage Heaven-rank expert into the field—that would be marching him straight to his death!

It was just that Dongfang Jinxing needed an outlet for his fury. The Dark Night Palace could not be touched for the moment, but Xu Shilan could. Without a few deaths, his anger would never be appeased.

……………………

Wei Zhao had only just returned to his room to rest when he received a call from Fatty Lai.

"Hello, Fatty Lai. What's the matter?" Wei Zhao answered the phone.

"Boss… the bank is pressing us for the debt…" Fatty Lai said with a bitter smile. "Before, both the company and the Liu family owed the bank a good deal in loans. Now, the company is running normally again, but we still don't have spare funds to repay the loans. If we repay them, the company's operations will definitely run into serious trouble."

"Oh?" Wei Zhao frowned at once. He had assumed that once the company was running smoothly again, there would be no other problems—he had not expected to be up to his neck in debt. "Our business is booming right now. Can't the bank grant us a little more time? Even if the Liu family is badly weakened, the Wu family and the Sun family are both top-tier powers in the mortal world. Can't they put in a word?"

"Boss, actually… the bank pressed us before, and I had someone help us get an extension at the time. When the bank saw our business starting to turn around, they stopped pushing. But now, they're under a lot of pressure themselves…" Fatty Lai said with some helplessness. If there were any way to work it out, of course he would have found it; it was only because there was truly no way left that he had come to trouble Wei Zhao.

"All right, I understand. I'll think of something," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

After hanging up, Wei Zhao could not help a bitter smile. He had started the company to earn himself a little pocket money, but now it had come to him earning money for the company. Be that as it may, Wei Zhao still had to find a way.

Because the company carried the hopes of the orphanage. True, Yu Xiaoke was sometimes lukewarm toward Wei Zhao, its biggest donor, which he found rather maddening—but who could help it, when Wei Zhao's other identity was that of the Phantom Thief?

Originally, Wei Zhao had meant to wait a while for Han Jingyi, but now he had no choice but to call her.

The phone rang a few times and then connected. Han Jingyi's rather weary voice came through: "Brother Wei Zhao?"

"Yes. Were you resting?" Wei Zhao was not surprised to hear her voice. After all, Han Jingyi would shut herself away to research things, and sometimes her days and nights got turned around, so going to bed early was only natural.

"No… Is something the matter, Brother Wei Zhao?" Han Jingyi asked.

"It's like this: when you have some free time, come by my villa. I have something to discuss with you," Wei Zhao said.

"Oh, all right. Then I'll come over tomorrow morning. I have a few things to finish up here first, and I'll head over once they're done," Han Jingyi said.

"Good." Wei Zhao nodded and hung up.

Wei Zhao intended to have Han Jingyi refine some more pills, and along the way raise her cultivation to the peak of the late Earth-rank, to see whether the two of them together might be able to refine a Qi-Gathering Pill.

After calling Han Jingyi, Wei Zhao went back to condensing his forging fire. Lately, thanks to his efforts, his control over the forging fire had grown ever more skillful. Wei Zhao believed that at this rate, in half a month at most, he would be able to attempt refining the jade pendant space.

In the middle of the night, Wei Zhao was concentrating on condensing the forging fire when he suddenly heard a set of footsteps. He opened his eyes slightly and looked toward his door. "Xiaoshu?"

Wei Zhao had already recognized the footsteps as Xiaoshu's.

"Brother Arrow Sign, I can't sleep." Shen Yushu, in her pajamas and yawning, pushed the door open and came in.

"Missing Yaoyao?" Wei Zhao glanced at Xiaoshu and fell a little silent. To be honest, he missed Gu Mengyao too. It had only been a few hours since she left, but the feeling in his heart was different. Before, even when Wei Zhao went away for a long time, knowing that the young miss and the others were at home put him at ease. But now, Wei Zhao kept feeling as though he had lost something.

"Yes." Shen Yushu nodded. "I always thought that the one who would leave would be me, but I never expected it to be Sister Yaoyao."

"The world is unpredictable. But maybe this is a good thing," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "You and Xiaoxiao are both inheritors now. If Yaoyao weren't, it would be hard for her to stay alongside us in the future. So, looking at it from that angle, this is a good thing too."

"Is that so…" Shen Yushu nodded. "Brother Arrow Sign, it's late. I'm going to bed…"

"All right." Wei Zhao nodded. Watching Shen Yushu's lonely figure as she left, he sighed. He could feel her sorrow.

A BMW sped through the night from Yanjing all the way to Donghai City. The girl at the wheel was exhausted, yet she still drove the car very fast.

At five in the morning, the villa's doorbell rang. Wei Zhao put away his forging fire, rose, and opened the villa door—and there was Han Jingyi, standing at the entrance. Only, her appearance was indescribably haggard, as though she had not rested for many days on end.

(It's turned cold, the heating hasn't come on yet, and I've caught a cold. For the time being, I'll post two updates a day. Once I'm well, I still need to work out the outline for the later arcs—after all, everyone wants the school beauty to have a proper ending.) (To be continued