66 Yan Shen

Ye Xiu was tasked to be the one to look for Yan Guo to ask him whether he could join them and fight as a team in the tournament. It wasn't going so well for him because Ye Xiu forgot that Yan Guo was one of the people in the Academy that were rarely seen in public. He started to scratch his head and walked to San Guo's office to ask him if he could give him the details about where Yan Guo lived.

He knew that this was an invasion of privacy technically and he was doing the same thing that Hua Fei had done yesterday and he hoped that Yan Guo wouldn't take it the wrong way if he managed to find him at his residence. Arriving at San Guo's office, he knocked on the office door and waited for San Guo to call him in. "Come in."

San Guo saw Ye Xiu and continued his paperwork as he gestured for Ye Xiu to ask whatever he needed. "Sir, do you mind giving me the information on where a student named Yan Guo lives?" He was blunt with his question knowing that he shouldn't waste too much of his mentor's time.

San Guo's writing paused for a couple of seconds. "I can't just give away a student's information like that. I'll help you contact the person who is mentoring Yan Guo. I know who you're talking about so just stay here and train. I should get a message back from his mentor in a few hours at the maximum."

"Thank you, Sir." Ye Xiu nodded and went to San Guo's training grounds to practice using the bloodline technique that San Guo had taught him. He had mastered the previous technique's first stage and had moved on to the current technique because he wasn't able to continue advancing to the next stage of the previous technique.

Two hours had barely passed when San Guo came out of his residence and out into the training grounds to inform Ye Xiu of where to find Yan Guo. "I've told you where he lives but please make sure that you don't spread the information around unless you get permission from either his mentor or Yan Guo himself." Ye Xiu nodded to San Guo's advice and left the training grounds to go find Yan Guo immediately.

Though the tournament wasn't anything urgent currently, Ye Xiu found it prudent to always be prepared as early as possible because even an extra day can do wonders for training. In a few minutes, he had arrived at Yan Guo's residence. It was surprisingly close to San Guo's residence and there were barely any other buildings there so it was relatively easy to find. He steeled himself and knocked on the front door, waiting for someone to answer it.

He could hear someone stumbling down the stairs with his sharp ears and knew that somebody was already coming to open the door. The door opened and he was met with the image of the Vice-Principal. The Vice-Principal looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "Are you the person who is looking for my son?"

Ye Xiu had not expected to meet the Vice-Principal in such a way, he forgot to answer the Vice-Principal as he stared at him with his mouth closing and opening in shock like a fish. He pointed his finger directly at the Vice-Principal before putting it back down quickly when he realised that he was being rude. "I'm sorry for being rude, it was just unexpected to meet you here." He bowed to show his sincerity in his apology.

The Vice-Principal raised his eyebrows in amusement as he watched the kid change through a variety of emotions in less than a few seconds. "It's no problem, many people that meet me are often shocked." His voice was a deep baritone that pleased Ye Xiu's ears as he purred in delight as the man continued to speak. "Come on in. I'll call my son to stop training to meet you."

The man gestured for Ye Xiu to enter the house as he closed the door behind, before moving towards the residence's training grounds to ask for his son to come in to greet Ye Xiu.

Yan Guo was obviously surprised to be interrupted during his training because only his father would do such a thing and he would only do such a thing if something important was up. It was rare for something to be important enough for his father to interrupt him so he made no complaint as he followed his father back inside the residence as he wiped his sweat with a towel that he had set aside for later.

As he was led into the living room, Yan Guo spotted who was sitting on one of the chairs before Ye Xiu spotted him. He bounded across the room in skips as he made it to Ye Xiu safely, poking him multiple times on the cheek. Ye Xiu was flustered from the contact since he was hoping that besides his friends or mentors, that nobody else would touch him. Surprisingly, Yan Guo's touch didn't make Ye Xiu feel insecure or uncomfortable, it felt like he was simply one of his friends that had been with him for a long time.

Yan Guo continued to poke Ye Xiu's cheek until his father cut through the silence with his voice. "Yan Guo, stop poking our guest. At least greet him." Yan Guo pouted before greeting Ye Xiu easily.

"Hello Ye Xiu, it's been a while since we've seen each other. How are you doing?" Yan Guo tilted his head slightly as he stared at Ye Xiu's face with an easygoing smile that calmed Ye Xiu's nerves down. Yan Guo's father was watching the interaction closely because Yan Guo rarely interacted with others his age and he rarely came out of the residence unless he had to get food or go to big events such as tournaments or fights.

"Uh... I'm good. I came here to ask you if you would mind joining my team in the upcoming inter-school competition that will happen in the latter portion of the academic year?" Ye Xiu was being straightforward because he didn't want to waste time and he was slightly uncomfortable with the way the Vice-Principal was staring at him with an amused smile.

Yan Guo thought for a few seconds before nodding his acceptance to Ye Xiu's offer. Ye Xiu sighed in relief as he knew that Yan Guo would definitely be a good addition to the group as he had watched a few of his fights discretely so that he could keep track of Yan Guo's progress.

Ye Xiu started to get up from his sitting position. "I should be going now." As he made his way to the door, he was distracted from his action when the baritone voice of Yan Guo's father sounded out through the room.

"There's no need to leave in such a hurry, why don't you stay and have some food with us? We were just about to eat lunch." The Vice-Principal smiled in a way that conveyed a message to Ye Xiu. 'If you try to deny the invitation, I'll make sure to make your life a living hell.' With Ye Xiu being able to interpret the message he was sending easily, he had no choice but to accept. The Vice-Principal smiled in a victorious manner as he knew he had won this little battle.

Ye Xiu walked back to the chair he had been previously sitting on and sighed. Yan Guo had gone upstairs to freshen himself up before they ate. Yan Guo's father smiled at him mischievously. "I heard that you are good at cooking, mind helping me cook some food for lunch?" Ye Xiu once again couldn't deny the Vice-Principal with that smirking face still stuck on his face that promised pain if he denied him.

Ye Xiu cleaned his hands and started to help Yan Guo's father with the cooking. The man was an easygoing person who liked to talk a lot which surprised Ye Xiu since his first assumption of the man was to be of a stern person. He didn't dismiss the idea that he wasn't a stern person especially since he was able to send so many different danger signals with a single smile when he looked at Ye Xiu.

"My name is Mu Yan Shen, just call me Yan Shen. There's no need for you to be polite to me since you're already too polite to that old codger, San Guo." Yan Shen politely mocked San Guo behind his back and Ye Xiu had nothing to say because San Guo was his mentor and it wasn't polite to talk behind people's back.

"My son doesn't display emotion often and it's a wonder that you can evoke such feelings in him. I wonder what he sees in you to display so many emotions that I don't see often." Yan Shen commented lightly which sent shivers down Ye Xiu's spine as he didn't know what Yan Shen was implying with that sentence. Yan Shen didn't say anything else.

It wasn't until a few minutes passed in silence that Ye Xiu remembered that he hadn't even introduced himself to Yan Shen. Knowing that it was slightly impolite for him to take so long to introduce himself, he quickly broke the silence that had been formed as they were cooking. Once he introduced himself, the silence had come back once again with a vengeance as the two just stared whenever they met each other's eyes.

Luckily, Yan Guo came down after finishing his shower, breaking the silence easily with his upbeat personality. "Ye Xiu when do you want me to meet with your other team members? Is it urgent for me to meet them as soon as possible or did you make the team just for fun? Why'd you choose me to join your team?" Yan Guo's sparkling eyes combined with his barrage of questions left Ye Xiu slightly speechless as he tried to digest what Yan Guo had just asked him before responding in a slow and calm manner.

"It'd be best to meet them as soon as possible and it seems that you have free time today, so it might be best for you to just follow me so we can meet up with the others after we finish lunch." At that, Yan Guo looked at his father who merely nodded his head. Yan Guo looked back and smiled. Ye Xiu got the message easily. "The team is supposed to be a team that aims for total victory. We want to win the tournament and we want to do it spectacularly."

"The team was made because my mentor decided that my friends and I should get more experience in fighting as a team since we don't do it enough. We decided to choose you because you had the best qualities and skills that we knew of, and well... we don't know too many students well enough to ask them to fight with us?" Ye Xiu ended his sentence in a questioning tone as if he was unsure whether he should've said what he had said or not.

Yan Guo accepted Ye Xiu's answers without even questioning them and continued to babble randomly about normal things in his life that made Ye Xiu convinced that either Yan Guo truly had no experience with speaking with others or that his personality was just bright and bubbly. Though from what Yan Shen had told him, it was highly likely it was the former so he let Yan Guo continue to speak without interruptions as Yan Shen watched his son in a fond manner.

They were eating at the dining table when Ye Xiu decided to say something that had come up when he was thinking about their appearances. He looked at Yan Shen and then looked at Yan Guo, then flicked his head back and forth to look at the two before commenting. "The differences in appearance are so drastic."

Yan Shen laughed before replying to the comment.