Gu Chengcheng crisply called out to Gu Xiyue before darting over and hugging her thigh tightly.
Gu Xiyue bent down slightly and gently rubbed Gu Chengcheng’s head, "Where’s your mom?"
Gu Chengcheng, looking up at Gu Xiyue with his clear, doe-like eyes, responded in a tender voice, "Mom is cooking."
Gu Xiyue pinched his soft cheek and took his hand to enter the house.
As they walked into the living room, Gu Xiyue noticed Yue Lan engrossed in her mobile phone, sitting seriously on the couch.
Upon hearing the noise at the door, Yue Lan looked up at her, "You’re back?"
"Why are you here?" Gu Xiyue, holding onto Chengcheng’s hand, asked as she sat down beside Yue Lan on the couch.
"Waiting for you," Yue Lan put away her phone, which she placed on the table, and turned her attention to Gu Xiyue.
Gu Xiyue handed the paper bag she was carrying to Chengcheng without any particular reaction to Yue Lan’s words.
"What kind of duck?" Chengcheng asked softly, yet he didn’t reach out to take it.
He suspected the bag contained candies.
Those that couldn’t be eaten without counting them first.
Chengcheng’s eyes brightened upon hearing this, and he quickly took the bag from her hand.
"And candies," Gu Xiyue added after he took the bag.
His excitement deflated, and he slowly went to count the candies in the bag.
Yue Lan appraised Gu Xiyue from head to toe and noticed that her complexion had improved a lot since their last meeting. Not only that, the cold, world-weary aura she carried had lessened significantly.
Surprise flickered in her beautiful eyes as she said to Gu Xiyue, "Your complexion looks much better. Is it because of Phoenix Sleep Fragrance?"
Gu Xiyue, leaning on the sofa, coolly replied, "Maybe."
Seeing her reaction, Yue Lan pursed her lips and muttered under her breath, "It must be the Phoenix Sleep Fragrance."
Gu Xiyue didn’t argue. Glancing sideways, she asked Yue Lan, "Didn’t you say there was an urgent matter? What is it?"
Although she had told Mother Gu that she was heading back to Yueqi Village, in fact, her real plan wasn’t to return to Yueqi Village. She intended to take care of some business in Yan City, drop by Yun Town No.1 Middle School to see Gu Chengan, and then head straight to Sen City.
Unexpectedly, she had just arrived in Yan City when she received a message from Yue Lan claiming there was an urgent matter that needed her attention.
Since it was only an hour’s drive from Yun Town to Yueqi Village, she had changed her plans on the fly and returned.
"Why don’t you guess what it is?" Instead of telling Gu Xiyue directly, Yue Lan looked at her with a mysterious expression.
Yue Lan hadn’t yet told her about the reason she wanted Gu Xiyue to return to Yueqi Village— to teach her Fragrance Refining.
The purpose was to see firsthand Gu Xiyue’s reaction upon learning she was going to be taught how to make Phoenix Sleep Fragrance.
"I’m not guessing," Gu Xiyue refused bluntly.
Seeing Gu Xiyue’s complete disinterest in guessing, Yue Lan felt disappointed and murmured a complaint, "Don’t you know how to play along at all?" Then, looking at Gu Xiyue, she continued, "Just make a wild guess. If you don’t guess at all, I won’t even know where to start."
Gu Xiyue, still with a cold expression, obliged and made a wild guess, "Caught some severe illness and asked me to come back and cure you?"
Yue Lan secretly gritted her teeth, pinched Gu Xiyue’s arm, and said resentfully, "You wretched girl, can’t you wish something good for your master?"
"Anything less than a life-or-death matter doesn’t count as an emergency," Gu Xiyue remained indifferent.