Chapter 4683 — Have You Thought It Through?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Thank you," Huo Yudie said softly, blushing as she voiced her gratitude. Privately, she was rather surprised—she had assumed that after suffering such an undeserved grievance, Wei Zhao would truly storm off. Never had she expected him to be so unexpectedly agreeable. She certainly hadn't seen that coming before.
For some reason, after this misunderstanding, Wei Zhao suddenly seemed far more dependable in her eyes—at the very least, a world apart from the haggling, profiteering image he had cut at the start.
Yet no sooner had her impression begun to improve than his very next sentence sent much of that hard-won trust crumbling: "Think nothing of it. That said, you and I need to have a proper talk."
"Talk about what?" Huo Yudie had only just regained consciousness, and her head still felt foggy; she stared at him blankly, unable to react for a moment.
"About your repayment, naturally. Surely you don't naively think I'd save you for nothing? You're a prodigy disciple of the Chenjiao Academy, at least—you can't be that ignorant of how the world works." Wei Zhao regarded her with a sly grin.
"Ah... you want..." At that expression, Huo Yudie tensed up again—only this time, whereas before she had been purely startled and indignant, now a few traces of maidenly shyness crept in unbidden. Already ravishing beyond compare, she grew all the more tantalizing, carrying a certain allure that seemed to invite plucking; Wei Zhao's eyes could not help but light up.
"Drawing the poison out for you this time nearly cost me my life. You know better than anyone how dangerous it was, so repayment is naturally unavoidable." Wei Zhao paused, letting Huo Yudie's heart pound wildly, before continuing: "So when the time comes, the split of the Lei Xuan Vine will have to change—you take two, I take eight. You have no objection, I trust?"
"What? You..." Huo Yudie was utterly dumbfounded. The faint nervousness and shyness in her heart vanished in an instant. She had assumed Wei Zhao had glimpsed something he shouldn't have beneath her skirts earlier and meant to use the occasion to make some improper demand—after all, the trope of repaying a life-saving debt with one's body was as common as could be.
Huo Yudie had always been confident in her own beauty; that was precisely why she wore a veil—otherwise men would swarm after her like flies that could not be shooed away, bringing endless trouble. Under the circumstances, she had naturally assumed Wei Zhao would make such a demand too. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected that, after circling the matter for so long, this was what he was after.
Huo Yudie was caught between exasperation and amusement, staring at the utterly serious Wei Zhao and unable to find words for a long while. She truly did not know how to describe the feeling; had she been from the secular world, she might well have blurted out, 'I've even taken off my trousers—and this is what you show me?'
"What do you mean, 'what'? This is already the smallest of repayments, all right? Think about it—I saved your life. Is even this too much to ask?" Wei Zhao said with an expression of perfect matter-of-factness.
"No. We agreed on three-seven, and a deal is a deal," Huo Yudie said, the corners of her mouth curving upward—though for some reason her mood had suddenly turned excellent.
"Then didn't I suck out that poison for nothing?" Wei Zhao shot her a glance.
"I'm already cured anyway. It's no use trying to go back on your word—three-seven is what we agreed, so three-seven it is. As for curing my poison, you can think of some other way to repay yourself," Huo Yudie said, her mouth curving smugly. She had never felt this way before, but now she found that even bickering with Wei Zhao like this seemed rather pleasant.