Wang Dong said, "When Nangong Chou realized Lin Taiping was following him, he must have thought his secret—double-crossing his own allies—had been exposed. So he tried to kill Lin Taiping first to silence him."

  Guo Dalu said, "But in the end, the one who wanted to kill ended up being killed."

  Yan Qi remarked, "Lin Taiping′s martial arts seem far superior to ours—even stronger than Nangong Chou′s!"

  Guo Dalu sighed. "That′s why they say you can′t judge a book by its cover. When I first saw him, I thought he couldn′t even catch a chicken."

  The sound of crying still hadn't stopped.

  Yan Qi said, "Wanting to kill someone doesn′t mean you can. And sometimes, the one who kills is the one who never wanted to."

  Guo Dalu said, “Should we go and try to comfort him?”

  Wang Dong replied, “No.”

  Guo Dalu asked, “Why not?”

  Wang Dong said, “Crying may not be as good as ughing, but sometimes, having a good cry isn′t so bad.”

  Guo Dalu sighed. “I′d still rather ugh. At least when someone wants to ugh, they don′t have to hide behind a tree.”

  Yan Qi also sighed. “And no matter how much you ugh, you don′t have to worry about people gathering to watch.”

  The more you try to avoid drawing attention, the more people will come to watch.

  It wasn′t completely dark yet, and there weren′t too many people on the road. But some had already stopped, craning their necks to look in this direction. A few had even started walking over.

  Wiping his sweat, Guo Dalu forced a bitter smile and whispered, “I just hope no one thinks we bullied him into crying.”

  No one suspected it.

  They were absolutely certain of it.

  Seeing the way people were looking at them, Yan Qi couldn′t help but wipe his sweat as well. “You’d better find a way to get him to leave quickly.”

  Guo Dalu smiled wryly. “I′m not that capable. The most I can do is dig a hole.”

  Yan Qi asked, “What for?”

  Guo Dalu said, “So I can crawl into it and avoid being stared at like this.”

  Yan Qi sighed. “Then you′d better dig a big one.”

  Guo Dalu grated his teeth. “If you had lost a little less—or better yet, not lost everything—we could′ve at least hired a carriage for him to sit in and cry his heart out.”

  Just as he finished speaking, a beautifully decorated carriage rolled up and stopped right in front of them.

  Yan Qi gnced at Wang Dong and whispered, "We really shouldn′t have pced that st bet. Since we were bound to lose, we shouldn′t have tried to win it back."

  Wang Dong said indifferently, "If gamblers didn′t try to win back their losses, those who make a living off gambling would have starved to death long ago. You wouldn′t want to see people starve, would you?"

  Suddenly, the coachman of a nearby carriage jumped down, walked up to them with a smile, and asked, "Which one of you is Master Guo?"

  Guo Dalu replied, "Who′s looking for me? And what do they want?"

  The coachman bowed slightly and said, "Master Guo, please get in the carriage."

  Guo Dalu said, "I don′t like riding in carriages. I prefer walking."

  The coachman kept smiling. "This carriage was specially hired by your friend, and the fare has already been paid."

  Guo Dalu was momentarily stunned. "Who hired it?"

  The coachman chuckled. "Your friend, of course. If you don′t know who it is, how would a lowly man like me?"

  Guo Dalu thought for a moment, then suddenly nodded. "I remember now. He′s my godson."

  As soon as they got into the carriage, Lin Taiping stopped crying. He just sat there in a daze.

  Guo Dalu was also lost in thought.

  Yan Qi couldn′t help but ask, "Do you really have a godson?"

  Guo Dalu gave a wry smile. "I′d be damned if I had one. Even if I wanted to be someone else′s godson, they′d think I was too poor. Who would ever want to be mine?"

  Yan Qi frowned. "Then who hired the carriage?"

  Guo Dalu said, “It′s probably the same person who paid our bill at Kuiyuan restaurant.”

  Yan Qi asked, “Did you see who it was?”

  Guo Dalu sighed. “At that moment, I was just grateful no one was looking at me. How would I have dared to look at anyone else?”

  When someone has to pay a bill but has no money in their pockets, they can hardly lift their head.

  Yan Qi said, “What about you?”

  He wasn′t asking Lin Taiping—he was asking Wang Dong.

  After all, Lin Taiping definitely wasn′t in the mood to pay attention to anyone back then.

  Wang Dongchuckled. “I was too busy watching Young Master Guo′s expression. I′d never seen him look so adorable before.”

  Yan Qi was stunned for a moment. He hadn′t seen who paid the bill either.

  Wang Dong said, “Since the coachman came looking for Young Master Guo, that person must be one of his friends.”

  Guo Dalu sighed. “I don′t have any friends that rich. The wealthiest among them is you.”

  Wang Dong said, “Me? Wealthy?”

  Guo Dalu said, “At the very least, you own a house. Sure, it′s a house that neither people nor ghosts want, but a house is still a house.”

  Wang Dong said, “If you like it, I′ll give it to you.”

  Guo Dalu said, “No thanks.”

  Wang Dong asked, "Why not?"

  Guo Dalu chuckled. "Right now, I own nothing and have nothing to my name. I′m free of burdens, unlike you all, who still have things to worry about."

  Yan Qi said, "At least Lao Wang has a house to worry about. What do I have to be concerned about?"

  Guo Dalu gnced him up and down and grinned. "At the very least, you have a new set of clothes. When you're working, you have to worry about getting them dirty. When you sit down, you have to check if there′s mud on the ground. How could you be as carefree as I am?"

  Yan Qi stared at him. "Is there really no one in this world you care about? Nothing that matters to you?"

  Guo Dalu suddenly fell silent, and for the first time, a trace of sadness flickered in his eyes.