"Come inside with me, it's chilly out here," Old Chentou said, grabbing her wrist and leading her off the deck.
Her hand felt cold. Old Chentou couldn't help but nag, "You, you silly girl. You're always afraid of the cold, yet you stand on deck in the wind. If your mother knew you were so disobedient, who knows how she'd nag you."
He was as verbose as ever, saying things Meng Jingwei was very familiar with.
But hearing them again, Meng Jingwei's state of mind was entirely different.
With this thought, her inner musings spilled out, "Old man, if one day someone were to take my life, would you sacrifice yourself to save me?"
"Hmph, what nonsense is that. You're my disciple, Old Chentou's disciple. Anyone who dares to touch you, I'll fight them to the death."
"If I wasn't the young mistress of the Yin Clan, would you still protect me like this?"
Meng Jingwei asked again.
This time, Old Chentou's steps faltered. He paused for a few seconds, turning back to look at Meng Jingwei.
Under the lamplight, Old Chentou's clouded eyes were filled with complexity. He hesitated for a few seconds before finally saying, "I watched you grow up. You're no different from my own child. No matter the time, if anyone dares to lay a hand on you, I'll risk my life."
As he spoke, his pupils showed sincerity, genuine emotion, and heartfelt words.
Meng Jingwei absolutely believed him.
But another question lingered in her heart: What if that person was you, or someone else from the Yin Clan?
Meng Jingwei didn't voice these special questions.
Old Chentou released her hand, "Come on, let's go down quickly, it's so cold."
Meng Jingwei followed behind him, going downstairs with him.
In the dining room, Meng Jingwei sat bored, watching television. Her phone and watch had been taken away.
With no electronic devices on her, she couldn't contact the outside world.
While waiting for Old Chentou to make the crucian carp soup, Meng Jingwei was too preoccupied to watch TV. She propped her elbows on the table, tilted her head, and looked out at the dark window, lost in thought…
Qing Muye, how would he get to the Yin Clan?
He was truly a fool.
She had known him for just over two years. Up until their wedding day, they had only known each other for a year and a half.
He was willing to make such a huge sacrifice for her.
What good fortune was it to meet such a perfect man?
Could it be, as Qing Muye had said that day, that she had accumulated good karma in her past life to have met him?
Thinking of this, Meng Jingwei couldn't help but smile.
…
After three days at sea, Meng Jingwei had been getting along peacefully with them.
She adhered to the principle of not saying much and not asking much.
Finally, the yacht docked at a deserted island, and everyone disembarked with their luggage.
Meng Jingwei looked at the deserted island stretching as far as the eye could see, knowing she was getting closer to the Yin Clan, but this wasn't it.
Walking on the deserted island was like traversing a South African rainforest, with dense canopy and thorns as tall as a person.
The calls of birds and the chirping of cicadas were everywhere.
The weather was already hot, and walking in the dense forest where there was no airflow made it even more sweltering.
Everyone took good care of Meng Jingwei, so she only carried a backpack and walked in the middle of the group.
Along the way, she observed her surroundings and noticed that not many people walked on this path, but she could faintly discern a slightly whitened trail trampled by pedestrians.
As the saying goes, 'There were no roads in the world to begin with; paths were made by walking.'
In the dense forest, there were fewer people coming and going. Thus, the path was not very clear.
By noon, everyone stopped to rest. Meng Jingwei asked, "How much longer until we arrive?"
"At least two more days," Old Chentou replied.
Then, he handed Meng Jingwei a bottle of mineral water.
Meng Jingwei looked at the mineral water, raised her eyebrows slightly, and smiled faintly. She took it and drank.
She would have been wary of Old Chentou, but she was very thirsty, so she didn't bother.