Best Friends?

Xiaoling slowly stacked scrolls and books in a wooden casket in her residence. The cozy atmosphere of her wooden, traditionally built house was much better for her than Weisheng's modern apartment. The wooden columns, lattice screens with intricate designs, carved adornments, and beautiful paintings looked so much better than a modern apartment. The archway behind her shed light on her beautiful courtyard. Except it was too dark to make out its true beauty. 

She gathered useful material for her new student, not knowing what unexpected mischievous acts her student was producing. Suddenly, Hai appeared in front of her. 

"Oops," Hai murmured as he shrugged. 

"What?" Xiaoling raised an eyebrow, "Why are you here?" 

"Mr. Yuan ran past me to save a person named Yun Shui. I couldn't stop him because I didn't expect him to run that fast." Hai explained casually. 

Xiaoling's eyes widened, "Are you serious?!" 

"Yes," Hai nodded, "Oops," He added. 

Xiaoling sighed and grabbed her head in disbelief, "Did he say where he was going?" 

Hai slowly shook his head. Xiaoling sighed in disbelief and ran past Hai. She walked out of her room using the sliding door to reach the lounge, where Ru was seated with an old lady. 

"Ru, come with me! Weisheng is in trouble!" Xiaoling said while walking toward the front door. 

Ru's eyes widened, and he shared glances with the old lady. 

"Go, quickly!" The old lady murmured in concern. 

Ru nodded and quickly stood up to follow Xiaoling outside. 

"What happened?" Ru asked while quickly summoning his quill. 

Xiaoling shook her head, "Find Weisheng. He's with that girl named Yun Shui." 

Ru frowned in concern before chanting a spell with his eyes closed. The quill in his hands moved in harmony. It moved so quickly that Xiaoling missed the characters. She looked at Ru with anticipation. 

"He should be at Cang Tao's place," Ru concluded. "Let's go there before it's too late." 

Xiaoling's eyes widened with both surprise and concern. She set out with Ru at once. 

—

Weisheng reached Cang Tao's residence. He had run out of breath because of all the nervousness being piled in his stomach. He rang the bell and stood outside patiently. 

A butler opened the door, "Mr. Yuan," He smiled. "Mr. Cang has been expecting you." He added, "Allow me to escort you." 

Weisheng clenched his fists and walked behind the butler. His forehead sweated as he made up all the worst scenarios in his head. The butler escorted him to the backyard, where Cang Tao and Yun Shui were casually seated by the pool. Weisheng's eyes narrowed at the sight. This wasn't what he had imagined. 

Cang Tao stood up upon seeing Weisheng behind his butler, "Look who's here! My old buddy!" He exclaimed in joy while slowly clapping his hands together. 

Yun Shui turned her head to look at Weisheng and smiled. Weisheng frowned in confusion. Was he just pranked? 

"Come on, now!" Cang Tao walked over to him and patted his back, "It's been so long since we saw each other. Come sit and have a drink with us." 

Weisheng unwillingly walked to the small, round table. He took the empty seat. Cang Tao sat before him and poured him a glass of wine, "Here, drink up!" 

Weisheng grabbed the wine glass and eyed it down, "Yun Shui," He called her without wasting time, "I thought you were in trouble. What is this about?" He murmured while eying the wine glass, swirling it around. 

Yun Shui looked at Cang Tao, then at Weisheng, passing a nervous chuckle, "We thought you wouldn't come if I didn't make something up. Weisheng, we've been friends for so long. Although you've been away from us, we've always considered you our friend." 

"And Bojing?" Weisheng put the wine glass down and looked at Yun Shui, "Bojing wasn't your friend? A'Shui, you called me saying Tao wants to hurt you. Do you have any idea what you're saying right now?" 

Cang Tao scoffed, "That's because you're itching to put me behind bars," He muttered casually, "Since you don't wanna drink with us, I'll just get down to business," He added while leaning forward, "Frame someone, Weisheng. Frame someone for Bojing's death for me. You can do that, right? You're my friend." 

"He's right," Yun Shui quickly added, "Bojing quarreled with him first. Weisheng, you know how moody Bojing could get, right? It was an accident. It wasn't Tao's fault."

Weisheng felt sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe he was friends with these two. He furiously stood up to leave. 

"Wait, now." Cang Tao murmured while gesturing to his butler. 

The butler walked closer and put a file on the table before seeing himself out. Weisheng eyed Cang Tao, waiting to see what he had to say. 

"I'm sure you'll protect me from the prison after seeing this," Cang Tao said as he picked up the file and opened its first page, turning it around for Weisheng to see. 

Weisheng narrowed his eyes to see what it said, "Yuan… Li…" His eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Cang Tao, "Tao… Why do you have this?" 

Cang Tao smirked, pulling the file to his side, "You can have this if you deal with the Gao family case according to my interests." 

Weisheng was shocked. What was his late father's missing murder report doing in Cang Tao's hands?! Before Weisheng could answer, Cang Tao's butler took the file away. 

"This file can stay with me until you show me the results, yes?" Cang Tao muttered confidently. 

Weisheng's head was spinning around. Nothing made sense to him. Every little sound muffled away before reaching his ears. Subconsciously, Weisheng pulled his handgun out and pointed it straight at Cang Tao. 

Cang Tao instantly stood up, "Weisheng!" He uttered with caution, "Are you serious? If something happens to me, you will never get those files!" 

Yun Shui also stood up, "Weisheng, calm down. Tao's family doesn't have anything to do with that case. I gave him these reports!" 

Weisheng quickly pointed the gun at Yun Shui. When Cang Tao tried to walk closer to persuade him, Weisheng pointed the gun at him. His mind was hazy, and he couldn't understand a single thing. All he knew was that the people in front of him weren't his childhood best friends.