Chapter 3658 — Look More Carefully Next Time

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Yet her every gesture carried a touch of innate refinement and petulance, making it plain that her background must be exceedingly deep. Who knew which great personage's beloved daughter she was?

But seeing this young miss reminded Wei Zhao of something that had long puzzled him: ever since he arrived on the North Island of Cloud Terrace Island, the ratio of men to women seemed severely skewed—especially at the Welcome Pavilion, where he had not set eyes on a single female newcomer.

What he found was that the female cultivators of Cloud Terrace Island were, under normal circumstances, all concentrated on the West Island. Not only did local newcomers go to the West Island, but even women transmitted up from the mortal world were sent straight there.

"It really wasn't you?" Shangguan Lan'er said suspiciously. Spurred on by the accusations of Meng Jueming and the other, she had already formed a preconceived notion that this Wei Zhao was certainly no good, and that he harbored ill intentions toward Xiaobai!

Does this girl have any brains at all? Wei Zhao rolled his eyes in exasperation, then casually beckoned to the little Curly Bear. The little creature immediately trotted over happily, released Shangguan Lan'er, and scampered back onto him, so affectionate in every movement that even Shangguan Lan'er, its owner, felt a pang of jealousy.

"Young miss, you should be quite clear about the intelligence of your own spirit beast, shouldn't you? If I really had kicked it, do you think it would still be this close to me?" Wei Zhao said, glancing at Shangguan Lan'er.

"That..." Shangguan Lan'er was instantly stumped.

Her little Curly Bear might be perpetually slow-witted and adorable, but it could at least tell good from bad—who treated it well and who did not, it knew with perfect clarity. After all, back when her grandfather Shangguan Tianxia had merely scolded it once, the little thing had nursed the grudge for ages and flatly refused to be close to him.

While Shangguan Lan'er was still at a loss for words, Wei Zhao had originally intended to let the little Curly Bear identify the culprit itself—after all, by his earlier reasoning, whoever had kicked it was very likely one of the two, Meng Jueming or Meng Zhou.

Unfortunately, ever since the two of them had come in, the little Curly Bear had ignored them completely yet never shown any obvious hostility. That, in turn, left Wei Zhao somewhat uncertain. Could it really have nothing to do with these two?

What Wei Zhao did not know was that before the little Curly Bear ever fell into Meng Zhou's hands, it had already knocked itself unconscious; then, groggy and half-awake, it had tried to flee and taken a solid kick from Meng Zhou, after which it had remained in a dazed state throughout. So it had never clearly seen Meng Zhou's face, and naturally showed no hostility now.

"Then why is Xiaobai with you? What exactly are you up to?" Seeing how close the little Curly Bear was to Wei Zhao, Shangguan Lan'er felt her anger rise from nowhere. What kind of honeyed potion had been poured into this little thing's ears, that it would be so familiar with a total stranger?

Wei Zhao glanced at Meng Jueming and his companion, knowing full well that if the little Curly Bear could not identify the culprit itself, further argument was pointless. The girl had clearly already set herself against him on first impressions, and he had no idea what her background was; dragging this out might well stir up no end of trouble.

Having reasoned this through, Wei Zhao simply said, "I merely happened to see it and played with it for a while—I had no designs whatsoever. Since it is your spirit beast, just take it with you."

"Hmph, at least you know your place!" Shangguan Lan'er gave a delicate sniff. By now she realized she had wronged Wei Zhao and felt a little embarrassed, but she still said with haughty pride, "Out of consideration for your having looked after Xiaobai, this young lady will not hold you responsible for luring it away! I'm leaving!"

With that, Shangguan Lan'er beckoned to the little Curly Bear and made to leave—only for the little creature to refuse stubbornly to climb down from Wei Zhao. Even when Shangguan Lan'er reached out to pick it up, it paid her no heed, its four short little legs clinging tightly to Wei Zhao and refusing to let go.

Shangguan Lan'er was instantly furious: "Hey! You ungrateful little Xiaobai! I treat you so well, and you won't even come with me—do you want to live with this stranger or something?"

"Woo... woo..." The little Curly Bear gave Shangguan Lan'er a pitiful look, then glanced at Wei Zhao. Under her furious glare, it at last reluctantly let go of Wei Zhao.

"That's more like it!" Shangguan Lan'er's anger turned to delight, and she scooped up the reluctant little Curly Bear and headed outside.

"Woo! Woo!" Perched on Shangguan Lan'er's shoulder, the little Curly Bear strained to stretch out both little paws and called to Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao was utterly baffled, but its owner Shangguan Lan'er understood the little thing's meaning well enough. She gave it an exasperated rap on the head: "You want him to come find us and play? Forget it—don't even think about it! Let a strange male disciple come looking for me to play, and if Grandfather got wind of it, he'd have me confined for sure!"

"Woo! Woo!" The little Curly Bear kept calling out again and again.

Helpless, Shangguan Lan'er could only placate it: "All right, all right. Then I'll try to find chances to come here and play in the future, how about that?"

"Woo!" Only then did the little Curly Bear finally settle down, waving its paw at Wei Zhao with obvious reluctance.

Wei Zhao smiled faintly. This little creature certainly knew how to cling to people. By comparison, its owner, though somewhat haughty, was not really bad at heart—otherwise, had she truly been shrewish and unreasonable, goodness knew what a scene today's affair would have turned into.

Carrying the little thing out of Wei Zhao's cave dwelling, Shangguan Lan'er shot a glance at Meng Jueming and the other, who were still trotting along behind her, and snapped, "What are you two still following me for? It's all your nonsense that made this young lady lose so much face!"

"Young miss, calm your anger! Perhaps the two of us simply misjudged things for a moment!" Meng Jueming hurriedly begged forgiveness, quaking with fear.

Meng Zhou, for his part, simply shrank behind him, not daring to let the little Curly Bear see him. Seeing the creature so lively on Wei Zhao's body had nearly scared the crap out of him—if the little Curly Bear bore him a grudge and showed it in front of this young miss, he would be finished!

Fortunately, the little Curly Bear seemed to have no impression of him at all, which let Meng Zhou breathe a sigh of relief. Even so, he still dared not let the little thing see him—what if it noticed him and recognized him? What then?