"Cough cough! This is so much dust, eww." Mei Qingyang had started helping Yu Bufan with the cleaning. There was a large vacuum cleaner available in the small cabin. Yu Bufan had started to take out dust from most accessible places while Qingyang thought of dusting the bedsheets, in case they would need to stay overnight.

    Yu Tian and Su Lang went to check the condition of electricity and water. They had brought ample food with them, thanks to Yu Bufan''s flawless arrangements.

    Well, the cabin actually was anything but small. It was luxuriously built at one of the most scenic places. From the front, it did look like a tiny cozy little place. But inside, there were two stories. The ground floor was just a living room with a big kitchen adjacent to it while the second floor was two bedrooms. The living room had a big book stack as usual, and was full of both fiction and non fiction.

    It was the first time Mei Qingyang had seen fiction in any of these places of wealthy people. Neither in their hostel building nor in Yu Tian''s room could one find any novels. Yu Ming must have been an avid reader.

    The other side of the cabin was all glass, opening up to a patio. The patio had a view of the whole valley.

    If given a chance, Mei Qingyang could probably spend rest of her life at this place. She was stuck to the glass since she stumbled upon it after finishing her dusting. The water droplets against the glass and the fog outside despite it raining so heavily made it all so surreal.

    In all honesty, Mei Qingyang had not seen much world. First she was in hospital for an eternity, without her memories and then, all she did was train with her friends. In her five years alive, she had never been on a vacation.

    That way, she had not seen any ocean or mountains. The first time she got to see the sea was during her hospital visit. She had made all the plans to just relax on the beach but that bloody incident happened.

    And now, she had given up hopes of enjoying anything since Yu Rong was going to be with them. But unexpectedly, she got such a chance.

    "Have something hot to drink," Yu Tian brought a mug of hot chocolate from the kitchen to her. It would have been perfect if he could just hug her petite frame from behind. This would have been the ideal scenario. Her small back looked so lonely for some reason.

    "Oh! Oh! Is this what they say feels like heaven? Cold rains and hot chocolate and perhaps a book? I have heard so much about it!" Mei Qingyang had a child like excitement that she had never shown anyone before. Her curiosity and happiness were so contagious that all three men in the house were smiling unknowingly.

    "Have you never seen this kind of place Qing Qing?" Given that her dad needed to roam around the whole country, she should have definitely seen mountains before? As far as Su Lang remembered, Jiang Bo was quite the wanderl.u.s.t and that was only because of his dad. Minister Jiang used to take his family with him on his official trips quite often. How come Mei Qingyang was behaving as if she never got to go out?

    "Well, after my treatment, I was still a sickly child, so dad did not let me out much. Later, all my time was spent in train… ahem… studying since I did not remember much. I needed to catch up with high school students. So, I never went outside," Mei Qingyang recalled with an awkward smile on her face.

    Why did it sound like a sad story? She was not much bothered by it though. If she had not put her all in that hellish training, she would not have been able to survive the actual hell of this school.

    The boys, on the other hand, did take it as a heartbreaking story. Yu Tian patted her head from behind while he and Su Lang, both promised themselves in their heart that they would take her to all the beautiful places in the world someday.

    Were they trying to comfort her? Mei Qingyang''s smile turned into a genuine one. Even Yu Bufan was full of pity in his eyes. Ah! These guys were so cute. Mei Qingyang giggled to herself.

    "Anyway, I am sure Yu Rong will be furious once she learns we had to take a detour. When do we anticipate getting out of here?" Mei Qingyang looked at Yu Bufan. He was the assistant; he would have updated information for everything.

    "We will keep monitoring the weather. For now, forecast says the rain will stop at night and then snow will start falling early morning. We will need to leave in that time period," Yu Bufan gave his report.

    "Sounds like a plan. Oh, by the way cousin, how come you don''t bring your assistant around? I have never met her. Even senior Fan doesn''t bring brother Z much. What''s the secret?" Having no better topic to discuss and curiosity getting better of her, Mei Qingyang ended up asking the question.

    "I don''t know about Ruyi but my assistant is hella clumsy. I don''t even know why I have kept her employed till now. But she is a very sharp girl and learns really fast. Just that she is really tactless sometimes," Su Lang bumped his fists in frustration on the glass. The two boys were standing adjacent to Mei Qingyang on either side.

    "Hmm… sounds like something else to me, hehe," Mei Qingyang gave him a mischievous smile. "Do you like her, eh?" She poked his arm with her finger in a teasing manner.

    Mei Qingyang, no filter…

    "You… you ah! Don''t leave any opportunity to tease me, you…," Su Lang caught her hand and started tickling her.

    "Ahahaha, cousin, stop. It''s really ticklish haha." They had never seen Mei Qingyang so carefree and happy. She must have been really ecstatic for leaving the campus. The other guys also started laughing with her. This small moment would perhaps go down as one of the most delightful in the history of these four people. The ringing of laughter in the house was really ironic against the gloomy weather that day.

    Later, all the guys decided to take some rest. Yu Tian and Su Lang went in the two bedrooms above while Yu Bufan got busy in the kitchen. Mei Qingyang opened the glass door and sat down under the temporary canopy which could be automatically opened by a button of remote with a book and hot chocolate. She closed the glass door so that the cold from outside did not replace the heat inside.

    -----------------------------------------

    "How is the situation at home?" There was an indifferent expression on Mei Qingyang''s face. The guy in front of her was one of the spies given to her by Li Hanyu. She trusted Li Hanyu more than anyone in this world. This guy had sworn her as his master and was free from the influence from her dad or anyone as a matter of fact.

    "Nothing unusual to report master. Just that, Minister Jiang has been looking into Yu island," he stood under the canopy, barely hanging to the protective railing. He had chosen that position to not be spotted by anyone inside. Due to the cloth extending to form the roof, no one from the windows above could spot him either.

    "Yu Island? You mean the place where Yu Ming is thought to have hidden himself for eternity? Rumors say even Yu family does not know where this Yu island is," Mei Qingyang turned her head to check if Yu Bufan could see her speaking with someone. Her back was facing the glass door, so unless someone came in person and heard her talking, no one would know. She just needed to ensure.

    Why would her dad look into Yu Island though? Was he planning to find Yu Ming?

    "How many people know this?" Mei Qingyang was worried about her dad. If he was caught snooping around by Yu Rong, she would try to shred him to pieces.

    "He has been keeping it under the wraps quite well. Even Master Li doesn''t know," the spy finally found a footing down. His climb up this hill wasn''t easy. But he was trained enough to take the challenge. With the heavy rain, everything was slippery but he had braved it all just to meet his mistress.

    "That''s good then. You must keep an eye on him. You must have been following me since the time the car left the school?" This guy had practically been living just outside the school for any information from her. He was different from the communication she used to send to her dad via library.

    This trustworthy guy had a network of his own who would give him the information he needed. Whenever he would get a chance to meet her, he would report to her everything she needed to know. Rest, he would take care by himself.

    During the hospital incident too, he had tagged along in the shadows with them. However, given how busy Mei Qingyang was, he could not meet her. Now he was talking to her in person after almost four months.

    "Yes, I followed you all the way here and climbed up the hill to reach the front of this house. There was a small steep trail leading to here, so I waited for you. It is good you took a rest here, there have been several landslides on the way. The bus is also stuck somewhere, they were lucky enough to be close to a hotel," the spy explained.

    "Very well. Pass this along to brother Hanyu. No one else should see it. If it falls into someone else''s hand, just destroy it," Mei Qingyang passed a paper to the spy.

    "With your hacking skills, why can''t you just transmit your messages electronically?", the spy was curious. He knew all the skills of his mistress, another reason why he revered her so. In return, he received a frosty stare from Qingyang.

    "It''s not your place to question me. No matter how skillful a hacker is, they always leave a trail. Right now, no one except brother Z can trace my steps but who can say there won''t be another hacker Z in the future? What if he takes Yu Rong''s side? All my hard work will go down the drain. Moreover, it gives me an excuse of keeping the communication to the minimum. I don''t want to be opening up channels of free talking and then making my dad ask me for detailed reports every day," despite scolding him, she did explain her reasoning. Well, he was her subordinate and if he were to work with her, he needed to start thinking like her.

    "Understood, I will take my leave then." This was a very opportune moment. Now she would not need to look for him at the gymnasium and fear that Yu Rong was coming after her. Her work was done for now. She stretched her arms in the air.

    "Who were you talking to?" she heard Yu Tian''s voice from behind.

    "Oh, did you hear? I was just chanting the dialogues from this novel I was reading. Pretty embarrassing," she pointed to the book on the table. There was nothing out of the place with her manner, perfectly calm and unusually chirpy. But she had been in this jovial mood since they had arrived here.

    "The rain has completely stopped, so let''s leave from here."

    "Coming," Mei Qingyang heaved a sigh of relief. He did not suspect her at all.