Ye Tiancheng looked at his disciple's retreating figure, which had completely vanished into the dark night. He wanted to visit Lin Xue's room to see for himself, and at least chat with his disciple a bit more.
However, there was a distinction between men and women. Although Ye Tiancheng usually didn't dwell on it, he was quite particular about such matters. He wouldn't insist on entering his disciple's room when she had already said she was resting.
Thus, even though he went to Lin Xue's door and paced back and forth for a long time, Ye Tiancheng still chose to find Fatty first to discuss the situation.
Ye Tiancheng arrived at Fatty's room. He didn't feel any awkwardness about the gender distinction. He opened the door and walked straight in. When he reached Fatty's window, he suddenly recalled Lin Xue's peculiar state earlier. So, he stood there without speaking, deep in thought.
"Brother Ye, do you know that scaring people can kill them?"
Fatty instinctively felt someone nearby and suddenly woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a dark shadow. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was Ye Tiancheng. But in that moment of seeing the shadow, Fatty, still groggy from sleep, was so terrified that half his soul seemed to have flown away.
"I think Lin Xue is acting strangely. We can't stay here anymore. We must leave first thing tomorrow morning. If it were a straightforward fight, it would be one thing, but I fear some accident might occur that we are completely unable to resolve. That would be disastrous."
Ye Tiancheng felt a sense of fear and tension he had never experienced before, as if something big was about to happen. Therefore, he wanted to leave Hope City quickly.
"But we came here to find a way to break the curse, Brother Ye. We haven't made any progress at all. Are we just going to give up like this?"
"Fine. I don't have that much of an obsession. To help Hou Mingzhu return to her original state, the prerequisite is that no one gets hurt. If we all perish, then all of this is meaningless. I don't like doing such foolish things with high investment and low returns."
"Alright then. You appearing so suddenly really startled me. Brother Ye, to be honest, I can't think straight right now. Whatever you say goes."
He felt very helpless and didn't want to argue anymore. Whatever Ye Tiancheng said, he would go along with it. He believed Ye Tiancheng's judgment was always correct, and he just needed to obey.
"Okay, then I'll make do here with you tonight. It won't take long; it will be dawn soon. Let's just get some sleep, and then we'll leave here quickly."
"You and I, two grown men, squeezing into one bed to sleep. I'm afraid people will think we have problems if they hear about it. Brother Ye, are you sure you want to squeeze in with me?"
"Fatty, didn't you just say you'd listen to me about everything? Have you changed your mind so quickly? Do you want to be a scumbag?"
It seemed Ye Tiancheng was determined to stay here. Fatty naturally wouldn't defy his wishes and chose to listen to him, as Fatty was accustomed to being led by Ye Tiancheng.
The more Ye Tiancheng thought about it, the more fearful he became. Even lying next to Fatty, he felt restless, as if something significant had already happened, but he couldn't stop it. That feeling was incredibly powerless, and he felt immense pain.
"Brother Ye, you know I'm not a good sleeper. I snore and grind my teeth. If I disturb you, just kick me, and I'll stop."
After saying that, Fatty yawned and fell back asleep. Being disturbed in his sleep like this was truly unpleasant. If it were anyone else, Fatty might have grabbed a shovel and hit them.
"I really envy you. You don't have anything on your mind and can just sleep when you want to. You're so fortunate."
Soon, Fatty began to snore softly. Ye Tiancheng found it strange that this fellow could fall asleep so quickly, even with danger lurking all around. Ye Tiancheng, on the other hand, was constantly thinking, his mind racing, making sleep a difficult task.
He suddenly remembered a time when he had insomnia. Liu Lanying had recommended a melatonin supplement, saying it was imported from abroad and looked like gummy candy. Ye Tiancheng remembered this and took one from his bag.
The medication worked quickly. Within minutes of taking it, Ye Tiancheng felt extremely drowsy, his head fuzzy and light. He couldn't think about anything and soon fell asleep.
He woke up at noon. The sun was shining brightly outside. Ye Tiancheng was surprised he had slept so soundly. However, he quickly remembered that since he had taken melatonin, it might not be his own resilience but the drug's effect.
Upon waking, Ye Tiancheng coughed violently, and a few wisps of black energy emerged from his body.
"Brother Ye, you're finally awake. How could you sleep so soundly? I've already walked around Hope City several times and haven't seen you wake up."
"I took some medicine yesterday, and I didn't expect its effects to be so strong. I slept until now without waking up. I'm quite bewildered myself."
"Alright, Brother Ye, hurry up and eat. This meal was prepared this morning and has been reheated countless times for you. You should be able to eat it now, right?"
"Yes, okay. I'll get up and eat first."
As Ye Tiancheng prepared to get up and eat, he felt something was amiss. He quickly realized someone was missing.
"Where is Xue'er?"
"Brother Ye, I haven't seen Miss Xue'er since I woke up this morning. I don't know where she went."
"If she's gone, why didn't you look for her? Aren't you too calm about this!"
Fatty replied unhurriedly, "It's not a big deal. Miss Xue'er likes to appear and disappear mysteriously. Sometimes she's not seen for a whole day, and we don't know where she went to cultivate."
Fatty never kept a close eye on Lin Xue because she was a remarkable woman whose inner maturity was completely mismatched with her appearance. He felt that everyone else might act impulsively and get into danger, but this girl wouldn't.
This was because she could always protect herself and everyone around her. She was unimaginably powerful. For such a person, did Fatty need to worry about her? That would make Fatty seem overly meddlesome.
"No, Xue'er was very strange yesterday. What she said to me last night had a sense of farewell. I felt something was wrong then. Thinking about it now, something must have happened. Let's split up and look for her."
"You don't say, Brother Ye. I think you worry about everyone around you, but you don't need to worry about Miss Xue'er. She's so powerful, no one will really get hurt. She's probably up to something behind our backs."
Even with Fatty saying this, Ye Tiancheng couldn't be optimistic. Because when he combined it with Lin Xue's behavior yesterday, Ye Tiancheng's heart raced. He felt as if something had happened, and he felt very distressed.
"No, I need to find her quickly."
Ye Tiancheng even took out the artifact for finding people in front of Fatty. The result showed that Lin Xue was very far away, with only a vague direction. It seemed Lin Xue had deliberately obscured her whereabouts, likely not wanting Ye Tiancheng to find her.
"How could this be? What exactly happened?"
Ye Tiancheng was completely baffled. He didn't understand anything that was happening now. Why did Lin Xue suddenly disappear after saying strange words? There must be some hidden reason, but Ye Tiancheng wasn't sure yet.
Just as Ye Tiancheng was racking his brain, he suddenly received a long-awaited call, which was from Hou Mingzhu.
After Hou Mingzhu disappeared, Ye Tiancheng had tried every means to find her but had never succeeded. Now, seeing this incoming call, he immediately felt that sense of
gratification, so happy that he felt like crying.
"You've finally appeared, Hou Mingzhu. Do you know I've been looking for you?"
Ye Tiancheng was so excited he truly wanted to cry, but thinking he was a grown man and crying would seem too effeminate, he held back.
"I have returned to normal. You don't need to feel guilty about me anymore. I'm going abroad to live with my daughter soon. You take good care of yourself too."
The rest was not important. Ye Tiancheng extracted the information he cared about most: Hou Mingzhu had recovered. However, in Ye Tiancheng's memory, this curse would last for a very long time. Hou Mingzhu was just an ordinary human, and her decades of life were not enough to wear away the damage caused by the curse. Therefore, all of this sounded utterly absurd.
"How is that possible? The curse disappeared so quickly!"
"I have truly returned to normal. If you don't believe me, we can video call."
Upon hearing that Hou Mingzhu could video call him, Ye Tiancheng agreed without hesitation. Then, the two began their video call.
On the video call, Hou Mingzhu, although not wearing the exquisite makeup and designer clothes she used to, was equally stunning in her simplicity.
It was evident that Hou Mingzhu had indeed regained her former beauty, and she seemed even more beautiful than before, possessing an almost ethereal quality.
"Good, then take good care of yourself, Hou Mingzhu. I respect all your decisions. I've learned from past mistakes and won't do anything to make you unhappy."
Ye Tiancheng knew Hou Mingzhu had a unique personality. Sometimes, if you pushed her too hard, it could be difficult to handle, so he tried his best to comply with her wishes.
"Okay, thank you for being willing to accept me before. However, I still prefer living alone. Thank you this time for letting me see that you do have some genuine feelings for me. But the life I want to pursue is different."
"Okay, I understand you don't want to be tied down by family life. If you find happiness and freedom living abroad, I support you."
Ye Tiancheng naturally wished for the family of three to live together, but Hou Mingzhu had no such intention. Ye Tiancheng knew that his unrequited wishes would never come to fruition, so he shouldn't harbor any illusions.
"Okay, thank you. After some time, I'll arrange for you to pick up our daughter."
After saying that, Hou Mingzhu hung up the phone. However, Hou Mingzhu's final sentence gave Ye Tiancheng immense encouragement.
This sentence had a more significant uplifting effect on Ye Tiancheng than hundreds of millions. In Ye Tiancheng's mind, he had already begun planning how to meet his daughter, what gifts to prepare beforehand, and how to speak to her when they met.
"Good, then it's settled."
Facing the phone that had already hung up, Ye Tiancheng couldn't suppress his smile. The thought of meeting his daughter made him grin from ear to ear.
"Brother Ye, do you think Sister-in-law Ye's recovery is related to Miss Xue'er? I have a feeling that the switch to break the curse has already been activated in Hope City, but we just don't know it yet."
Although Fatty usually seemed a bit slow-witted, his words at crucial moments were truly insightful. Ye Tiancheng suddenly understood.
"You're right. It seems Lin Xue might be in trouble. We need to find her immediately."