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Compared to the last time they met, Quan Shaoqing’s indifference towards Chen Lu...

This time was obviously much better.

At least, when Chen Lu made a request, he didn’t reject her coldly!

Soon, the servants had all the items to be brought on board sorted out and moved onto Quan Shaoqing’s yacht.

Jin Xiao was busy arranging everything, and the originally orderly yacht immediately became bustling with activity.

He was somewhat unaccustomed to this noisy atmosphere.

Of course, he couldn’t understand why Quan Shaoqing was doing this either—there were a thousand ways to curry favor with Bai Yaxuan.

Moreover, did they need to please Bai Yaxuan?

Even if they intentionally tried to please him, the other party might not accept it...

He couldn’t fathom what Quan Shaoqing was doing this for!

Just as the people on the small boat had all moved over and were beginning to count heads.

Dongfang Le suddenly realized something and exclaimed, "Wait, Xiao Xi is still sleeping on the sun lounger on the boat!"

...?

The crowd stood up, walked to the edge of the yacht, and peered over the railing to see the sun lounger on the small boat—a woman was sleeping like a princess from a fairy tale.

Her chestnut hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall, and her fair little face flushed pink with the sun’s glow, enveloped in a pale yellow sweater that hugged her petite frame.

She curled up like a cat basking in the sunlight, lazy and charming, peaceful and pleasing to the eye, and even making people reluctant to disturb her.

For a moment, everyone on the yacht was stunned.

Fu Zhe and Luo Yiyan frowned.

Chen Lu instinctively looked towards Quan Shaoqing, saw that the man was silently gazing at Gu Xiaoxi without saying a word, and instinctively moved closer to him, "Shaoqing, shall I go wake her up?"

Dongfang Le was the first to react, turning around quickly, "I’ll go."

But at that moment, Quan Shaoqing indifferently withdrew his gaze, turned around, and said leisurely, "Mrs. Bai seems to be exhausted. Get her a blanket. Let’s continue drinking tea and discussing the itinerary. We can wait a bit longer. There’s no rush!"

Dongfang Le’s steps halted, and he turned back to look at the tall man in front of him.

Suddenly, he felt that Quan Shaoqing wasn’t as bloody and fearsome as rumored.

At least, at this moment, he seemed very gentle.

Fu Zhe and Luo Yiyan exchanged glances and were thoroughly convinced!

This Gu Xiaoxi really had a relaxed disposition—to be able to lie on a sun lounger and sleep soundly even after the boat broke down.

Now, so many people were waiting for her...

Quan Shaoqing was indeed different from what was said about him outside!

An hour later, with everyone having had N cups of tea and having nearly finished discussing the places to visit and the travel route,

Quan Shaoqing, holding a teacup, walked to the edge of the yacht, obviously wanting to see if Gu Xiaoxi had woken up.

Everyone else followed suit.

They saw the woman on the sun lounger turn over but still showing no signs of waking up.

Jin Xiao stood behind Quan Shaoqing and glanced at the time; it was four in the afternoon, and in an hour, the sun would set.

By then, the sea breeze would pick up and it would get very cold.

"I’ll go wake her up!" Jin Xiao couldn’t help but whisper.

Quan Shaoqing, however, emotionlessly picked up his teacup, while Jin Xiao looked at Quan Shaoqing with a meaningful glance, just to see him pour half the water from the cup into the palm of his hand.

Then, with a flick of those strong, powerful fingers at his side,

The water in his palm suddenly shot out, silently crossing the distance of twenty or thirty meters, and sprinkled onto Gu Xiaoxi’s pink cheeks.

"Ah! Is the water rising? The Bai Yu boat is sinking..." The woman suddenly leaped up from the sun lounger like a startled deer.

Gu Xiaoxi looked around to find no one else, relieved that the boat hadn’t sunk, but puzzled about where the water on her face came from.

She lifted her sleeve to wipe her face, scared half to death!

Instinctively, she looked up towards the yacht.

She saw a dense crowd of heads leaning over the railing, looking down at her with a great variety of expressions,

all seemingly helpless yet with twitching corners of their mouths.

"What’s going on with you guys..." Gu Xiaoxi asked confusedly.

Dongfang Le quickly explained to Gu Xiaoxi everyone’s arrangements.

Quan Shaoqing drank the rest of his tea nonchalantly and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Jin Xiao stared at Quan Shaoqing as if he had discovered a new world... Had he just seen the young master smile?

Although it was faint, it was a genuine smile, seemingly truly amused rather than a feigned, skin-deep smirk.

Of course, no one else noticed Quan Shaoqing’s earlier action except for Jin Xiao.

Jin Xiao had a strange feeling about the little interaction between Quan Shaoqing and Gu Xiaoxi.

Yet, he couldn’t quite pinpoint what was strange about it!

Anyway...

This way of doing things doesn’t seem like the Quan Shaoqing I know from daily life!

It’s as if he had become a different person, much gentler too.

Gu Xiaoxi got on Quan Shaoqing’s ship, poking Dongfang Le’s forehead with her hand, "Are you stupid? You could have just woken me up!"

Dongfang Le’s face was full of grievance, "But Young Master Quan said, let you rest a bit more!"

"If he told you to die, would you go and do it?" Gu Xiaoxi said in disbelief, glaring at Bai Yu, "She is stupid, what about you? Are you still my friend or what?"

Bai Yu hurriedly explained with a smile, "Yeah, exactly because we’re friends, and you were sleeping so soundly, how could I bear to wake you up?"

"..." Gu Xiaoxi’s face turned completely black.

She was sleeping alone, and so many people were waiting for her...

So awkward!

"Alright, now that everyone is here, we can set sail. We are going to Small Stone Island tonight." Chen Lu said gleefully, and then looked at Gu Xiaoxi, coming forward to take her hand, "Don’t feel embarrassed, you are our honored guest. Waiting for you is no trouble at all!"

Gu Xiaoxi raised an eyebrow, but was that really true?

At least, Fu Zhe and Luo Yiyan looked particularly displeased, as if she owed them money.

...

The ship set off, and everyone gradually went into the cabin.

Gu Xiaoxi had slept her fill, and now was bored out of her mind.

Dongfang Le had left too, and she sat alone on the edge of the huge yacht, leaning against the railing.

She suddenly noticed that the sunset was about to go down, and the white clouds in the sky were so pretty.

Gu Xiaoxi found herself missing her master, Yi Haoran, a little.

When she was in her teens, he always took her for picnics on the lawn and released animals into the wild.

He loved lying on the ground to watch the clouds, and often stared into the sky, lost in thought, or muttering to himself.

She sat beside him, looking up at the sky, seeing nothing but blue skies, white clouds, and the sun.

Out of curiosity, she would ask him, "Master, what are you looking at?"

"Contemplating the Dao!" Yi Haoran would say.

Gu Xiaoxi rolled her eyes, "You think you’re Siddhartha Gautama?"

"Who knows, maybe I was in a previous life!" Yi Haoran, even though he was only seventeen or eighteen, had a demeanor that seemed ancient, as if he had lived countless years in this world.

Gu Xiaoxi couldn’t be bothered with him, treating him as if he were crazy.

And, she found being with him the most boring of all her masters.

Because he was either talking to her about incomprehensible philosophies, or telling her uninteresting things about Buddhist doctrine...

Afterward, Yi Haoran continued his pursuit of the Dao and even became a mendicant for his practice.

Since then, she never saw him again.

As for the cultivation techniques Liu Yishou taught her, they were all nonsense, and she never bothered to learn them properly.

However, since she had come to this world, she had completely forgotten the little she had learned.

At this moment, she had only retained a little bit of Qinggong.

Even if she wanted to cultivate it, she had nowhere to learn.

Gu Xiaoxi looked up at the white clouds, had a thought, stood up from the deck, used a bit of Qinggong to jump onto the nearby roof of the ship, and lay there to continue watching the white clouds.

A white cloud drifted by, turning into a little lamb, and then into a giant whale...

Contemplating the Dao?

Gu Xiaoxi suddenly laughed, guessing she’ll never understand the principle of the blue sky and white clouds in this lifetime.

"Hey, what are you hiding over here for?" The man’s sudden voice startled Gu Xiaoxi.

It almost made her fall off the sloped roof.

But Quan Shaoqing was quick to act, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.

She quickly steadied herself, looking up and glaring at the man in front of her, "Don’t you make any noise when you walk? You scared me to death."

Seeing Gu Xiaoxi looking up, and how awkward her posture was, Quan Shaoqing simply sat down next to her, "I come without a shadow and leave without a trace, you know that."

"What do you want with me?"

Gu Xiaoxi, bored out of her mind, picked at her fingernails, sitting cross-legged like a monk, well-behaved.

"I saw you were so lost in thought and came to see if you were sleeping like a pig again," Quan Shaoqing said nonchalantly, taking a cigarette out of his pocket.

Gu Xiaoxi’s forehead twitched hard, "You’re the pig! I wasn’t sleeping, I was just looking at the blue sky and white clouds!"

"What’s so interesting about the blue sky and white clouds?" The man spoke with a cigarette in his mouth, his fingers nimbly twirling a lighter, though he showed no intention of lighting it.

Gu Xiaoxi looked up indifferently at the sky, imitating Yi Haoran’s mannerisms, and said in an old, dragony voice, "I’m contemplating the Dao!"