Chapter 152: Seeking a Strategist

Thus, acting out of spite, Lian Li swept the duck meat into his own bowl and picked out a relatively whole clove of garlic, placing it into Yun Huizhou’s bowl.

Neither he nor Yun Huizhou liked eating garlic. Consequently, the meals prepared for them rarely contained any. However, there was a fish dish today, and without ginger and garlic to remove the scent, it would have been too fishy.

This was the only reason Lian Li was able to find a clove of garlic to give to Yun Huizhou.

His action of serving food finally caught Yun Huizhou’s attention. Yun Huizhou looked up, and without even seeing what Lian Li had given him, he reflexively said, “Thank you.”

Lian Li felt even more annoyed, his tone tinged with bitterness. “You didn’t even look at what I gave you before saying thank you? You’re that lost in thought?”

“Hmm?” Yun Huizhou asked, puzzled.

Lian Li withdrew his chopsticks and pointed his left hand at Yun Huizhou’s bowl. “See for yourself.”

Yun Huizhou looked down and saw a perfectly whole clove of garlic sitting right next to his chopsticks.

Yun Huizhou: “…This is…?”

Lian Li lowered his head. “That’s for not eating properly.”

Yun Huizhou was both annoyed and amused. “There have been plenty of times when you didn’t eat properly, yet here you are lecturing me. If I had known, I should have been putting garlic in your bowl long ago.”

Lian Li huffed twice. “Then do it now.”

“Fine.” Yun Huizhou picked up the garlic from his bowl and placed it onto the side plate for bones. Then, he reached into the fish dish, picked out another clove of garlic, and dropped it into Lian Li’s bowl.

Looking at the large clove of garlic in his bowl, Lian Li felt even more miserable. As expected, now that he has someone in his heart, he’s actually started giving me garlic.

In the past, while Yun Huizhou might not have always served him his favorite foods, he certainly would never have served him the thing he hated most.

Even though Lian Li knew he was the one who had served the disliked food first and that Yun Huizhou was just playing along with a bit of lighthearted revenge—not that he was actually treating him poorly—Lian Li, currently trapped in an emotional vortex, could not stop himself from thinking this way.

He felt that he truly could not continue staying with Yun Huizhou.

It just so happened that he was supposed to go to the East Island tomorrow to begin his martial arts training; he might as well just move over there.

He would stay there until Senior Uncle left. By then, he should have roughly reached the level of a second-class expert, and then he could head out on his own.

He wouldn’t go anywhere too far, just wander around the nearby cities.

Seeing Lian Li staring at the garlic in his bowl with his eating movements frozen, Yun Huizhou immediately fished the garlic out for him. He then picked out several of the best pieces of duck and placed them in Lian Li’s bowl.

“Stop staring, I’ve taken it out for you. Hurry up and eat,” Yun Huizhou said. “After we finish, we’ll go for a walk. Once your food has digested, I’ll help you practice a bit. We can’t have you getting rusty after not practicing much these past few days. If Senior Uncle is dissatisfied when you go to the East Island tomorrow, you’ll be the one suffering.”

Seeing that Yun Huizhou had given him his favorite food and changed the subject, Lian Li felt a bit happier. He is still very good to me.

He wasn’t someone who didn’t know what was good for him; he didn’t want to pick a fight with Yun Huizhou just because of these inexplicable emotions.

Thus, he decided to make up with Yun Huizhou. He placed a duck leg into Yun Huizhou’s bowl and said awkwardly, “You were just eating plain rice earlier and didn’t touch the dishes. Make up for it now.”

Yun Huizhou gave a soft “Alright” and lowered his head to eat the duck leg.

He felt that Lian Li’s current, awkward way of showing kindness was simply adorable.

Seeing Lian Li frantically piling food into his bowl to “make up for it,” Yun Huizhou blinked and came to a decision.

In matters of the heart, the person involved is often blinded. Since he couldn’t untangle his own thoughts or understand them clearly, he would go ask someone with experience in this area—someone whose own love life was perfectly happy.

He decided not to worry about saving face. It was better to figure things out early and make a decision than to let things drag on until they reached the worst possible conclusion.

***

Early the next morning, the two of them woke up at the same time.

After eating breakfast together and chatting casually for a few moments, one headed toward the East Island while the other headed toward the West Island.

As soon as he arrived at the West Island and saw the West Island Lord, before Yun Huizhou even had a chance to offer a greeting, he heard the West Island Lord speak: “I suddenly remembered, your dear Junior Brother still owes me a year of cross-dressing, doesn’t he?”

As expected!

Yun Huizhou shouted inwardly. Junior Uncle had indeed just forgotten for a moment before; now that he remembered, he was asking.

“Brother Zhao and Miss Qu are still here, so it might be inconvenient,” he said, feigning hesitation.

“Is that so?” the West Island Lord said meaningfully.

He reached out to check Yun Huizhou’s pulse and used his internal energy to inspect the condition of his meridians. Then, he pointed toward the inner room. “Same process as yesterday. You know what to do.”

Having said that, he didn’t bother with Yun Huizhou further and walked straight toward the small pavilion where Qu Tingquan was staying.

Once the day’s treatment process was finished, Yun Huizhou did not leave immediately. Instead, he waited until the West Island Lord had left Qu Tingquan’s pavilion. Then, avoiding the West Island Lord, he went to see Qu Tingquan.

“Brother Yun?” Qu Tingquan was somewhat surprised to see Yun Huizhou. “Did you come to see me for something?”

“Miss Qu,” Yun Huizhou greeted her, his expression exceptionally solemn.

His appearance gave Qu Tingquan a start. She subconsciously assumed something major had happened and wanted to call Zhao Honglan over to discuss it together.

But on second thought, if there really were a problem, Yun Huizhou would normally go directly to Zhao Honglan. The fact that he was specifically avoiding the West Island Lord and Zhao Honglan to seek her out privately meant it likely wasn’t that kind of trouble.

It was more likely a private matter that he didn’t want others to know about and required someone to consult for advice.

Qu Tingquan invited him to sit at the table, poured some tea, and sat quietly opposite Yun Huizhou, waiting for him to speak first.

Yun Huizhou’s face remained heavy with gravity. He didn’t look at Qu Tingquan, but rather stared at the tea in front of him.

He had made the decision quickly last night, but now that he was actually sitting across from Qu Tingquan, he didn’t know how to start.

Fortunately, Qu Tingquan was in no hurry. Since he didn’t know how to speak for the moment, she would simply wait.

It wasn’t until the tea had grown cold that Yun Huizhou finally spoke.

“Miss Qu, I have been troubled lately by something I can’t figure out, so I wanted to ask you.”

Qu Tingquan gave a slight nod. “I am all ears.”

Yun Huizhou took a deep breath and then spoke: “My feelings for Lian Li seem to have become… somewhat strange.”

Fearing Qu Tingquan might not understand, he paused and added another sentence: “It seems my feelings for him are no longer just simple brotherly affection.”

Qu Tingquan’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

In truth, she had noticed something before, but she hadn’t expected Yun Huizhou to come to her directly to ask about this matter.

Qu Tingquan weighed her words carefully and asked, “So, Brother Yun, is it this feeling that is causing you distress?”