Chapter 50: Where Was Yizhou Going To Sleep?

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Where Was Yizhou Going To Sleep?

By the time Sui Sui and Yizhou finished sorting through the clues they had gathered, night had already fallen. Since it was getting late, they decided to head downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant was considerably livelier than the streets outside. Quite a few cultivators were dining there, most of whom Sui Sui recognized as people who had been at the City Lord’s Mansion earlier that day. The two were just about to find an attendant and ask for a table when a familiar female voice came from behind them.

"Cultivator Tuanzi, Cultivator Aotian, it seems you are here as well."

Sui Sui and Yizhou turned around to find Luo Qingya standing a short distance away.

"Oh, Sister Qingya. You’re having dinner here too?" Sui Sui greeted her enthusiastically, already walking over.

"Yes. Would the two of you like to join us for dinner?" Luo Qingya asked, a smile appearing on her face when she saw them.

Sui Sui glanced toward Yizhou, silently asking for his opinion. Seeing that Yizhou did not object, he immediately accepted the invitation.

"If Sister doesn’t mind, then we’d be happy to join you." Sui Sui cupped his hands in a deliberately formal manner, his tone carrying a hint of playfulness.

"Of course I don’t mind. We’re all friends, and it’s better to have more people at the table. Come, follow me. We just arrived as well and haven’t ordered anything yet."

Luo Qingya led them toward the table where her group was waiting. There were already the eight disciples from the Vermillion Moon Palace seated there. With Sui Sui and Yizhou joining them, the group now numbered ten, but fortunately, the table was large enough to accommodate everyone without making the seating too cramped.

After ordering their dishes, everyone settled into their seats and waited for the food to arrive.

Wanting to keep the conversation from becoming awkward, Sui Sui was the first to speak. He looked around the table and asked casually, "So? How has everyone been doing lately?"

Luo Qingya let out a small sigh, her expression becoming slightly more serious. "Well, the situation isn’t quite as good as I would have liked. There are too many people involved in the case, and the records from the City Lord’s Mansion are rather extensive. We spent quite some time just sorting through them."

"That’s true." One of the disciples sitting beside her nodded. "There are already so many victims that going through all those records is troublesome enough."

Sui Sui nodded along, his expression thoughtful. "Indeed. The only fortunate thing is that the killings have stopped for now. We still don’t know when the culprit might strike again, though, so it’s better to stay prepared."

Listening to their words, Sui Sui nodded in agreement. "Indeed. The only fortunate thing is that the killings have stopped for now. However, we’re still not sure when the culprit might strike again, so it’s better to stay prepared."

From the way Luo Qingya and the others described their investigation, it seemed that, aside from him and Yizhou, no one had connected the victims to their Yin-aligned birth charts yet. That was understandable. They had already known about the Soul Bell beforehand, giving them a clear starting point that the others did not have.

This also made Sui Sui wonder about the group from the Wenjian Sect.

Although the Soul Bell was originally an issue of the Wenjian Sect, its existence had been kept strictly confidential during the previous mission with Yizhou and his senior brothers and only a handful of people within the sect should have known about it.

Because of that, Sui Sui wasn’t sure whether the Wenjian Sect themselves had sent their current group here specifically because they also think that it was connected to the Soul Bell, or if these group of disciple had simply heard about the commission and decided to participate.

The latter seemed more likely. If the sect truly knew about the Soul Bell and considered the matter important enough to investigate, they probably wouldn’t have sent Lin Fan, who was barely at the Golden Core realm, along with a few other low-level disciples.

Sui Sui picked up his cup and took a small sip before asking casually, "Then what are you planning to do tomorrow?"

"We’re going to visit the families of some of the victims," Luo Qingya answered. "The records only contain the information collected by the City Lord’s Mansion. We thought it would be better to speak with the families directly. They might remember something that wasn’t included in the records."

Sui Sui nodded thoughtfully. "That’s a good idea."

The families had spent the most time with the victims, so they were the ones most likely to remember the small details that might have been overlooked during the initial investigation. Something that seemed insignificant to them could potentially become an important clue.

"What about you two?" Luo Qingya asked. "Have you decided where you’re going?"

Sui Sui paused briefly before answering, "We’re planning to visit the City Lord’s fiancée’s family first."

"The City Lord’s fiancée?" Several people at the table looked at him, clearly surprised.

Sui Sui nodded. "Yes. There isn’t much information about her in the records, so we thought it would be better to speak with her family directly. They might know something that wasn’t included in the official records. After all, she’s the only one among the victims who survived."

In truth, the City Lord’s fiancée’s family was not their main objective for tomorrow. Sui Sui and Yizhou had already narrowed down three places where the culprit could have obtained the victims’ birth information, and those were the places they intended to investigate first.

However, there was no reason to reveal their findings to the others just yet. They had only just pieced the clues together, and until they could confirm their suspicions, it was better to keep the information to themselves specially since it was related to the soul bell which was their personal target.

Fortunately, their excuse was not entirely fabricated. The City Lord’s fiancée’s records were indeed missing, and they had already planned to visit her family to find out more about her. It was a reasonable place to start their investigation, so Sui Sui’s answer did not sound suspicious at all.

Soon, Sui Sui steered the conversation toward lighter topics, easing the somewhat serious atmosphere that had settled over the table. With his naturally bright and easygoing personality, he quickly became familiar with the disciples of the Vermillion Moon Palace.

He was lively without being overbearing and spoke with an easy warmth that made it comfortable to talk with him. Before long, the girls were chatting with him as though they had known him for much longer.

When dinner finally ended, everyone left their seats and prepared to return to their rooms. Sui Sui and Yizhou already had accommodations, so they could head upstairs directly, while Luo Qingya’s group had only arrived that morning and still needed to arrange their lodging.

However, just as Sui Sui and Yizhou were about to go upstairs, he noticed that something seemed to be wrong with Luo Qingya’s group near the reception area. Curious, Sui Sui slowed down and walked over to see what was happening. Yizhou followed behind without saying anything.

"What’s happening, Sister Qingya?" Sui Sui asked as he approached.

The hotel steward turned toward him before returning to Luo Qingya, his expression apologetic. "I’m very sorry, miss, but there are only three rooms left. The rest of the rooms have already been occupied. There has been an influx of cultivators into the city recently, so the entire hotel has been booked almost completely."

"Oh no, how could this happen?" one of the girls exclaimed, glancing at the remaining rooms with obvious worry. "What are we going to do, Senior Sister Qingya?"

"Isn’t this the only proper hotel in the city?" another disciple asked, her brows furrowing.

Luo Qingya fell silent for a moment, considering their options. There were eight of them in total, yet only three rooms were available. After a brief thought, she calmly said, "For now, the six of you can share the three rooms. Two people to a room should be enough. As for A-Xue and me, we’ll look for somewhere else to stay."

The moment she said this, several of the younger disciples immediately looked reluctant, clearly unwilling to let their senior sister and junior sister sleep somewhere outside.

Sui Sui watched the exchange and couldn’t help but admire Luo Qingya. She had not hesitated to put her juniors’ comfort before her own, naturally taking responsibility for the situation without making a fuss about it. As expected of the chief disciple of the Vermillion Moon Palace, she truly seemed to be the type of senior sister who took good care of those under her wings.

"How could we let our Senior Sister do that? You are our senior. Let us go out and look for somewhere else to stay while you remain here," one of the disciples immediately protested.

The others quickly joined in, and before long, the group had fallen into a small debate over who should go out and who should stay behind. Luo Qingya tried to settle them down, but none of the younger disciples seemed willing to back down.

Just as they were going back and forth, a familiar cool voice came from behind them.

"If you don’t mind, I can give up my room. That should free up enough space for all of you."

The discussion abruptly fell silent.

Sui Sui turned around in surprise and stared at Yizhou, who had stepped forward with the same calm expression he always wore.

What happened?

Sui Sui blinked several times, completely caught off guard.

How did the protagonist suddenly become a gentleman?

Sui Sui’s gaze unconsciously shifted toward Luo Qingya and Luo Qingxue.

Could it be that seeing the two sisters about to sleep somewhere outside had stirred something in him? Was this the legendary pull between the protagonist and his future female lead?

The thought made Sui Sui’s eyes brighten.

Amazing. I haven’t even done much but actually managed to change him so much that he’s become considerate toward women?

Meanwhile, Luo Qingya also looked slightly surprised. She had not expected Yizhou to make such an offer. From the moment they had met until dinner, he had barely shown any interest in their affairs. If anyone was likely to offer their room, she would have expected it to be Sui Sui rather than him.

"Would that be too much trouble for you?" she asked, her tone carrying a hint of hesitation.

"No trouble at all," Yizhou replied casually, clearly not bothered and treating it only as a trivial matter.

Seeing that Yizhou had already agreed, the hotel steward quickly stepped forward and began making the necessary arrangements.

Sui Sui watched the whole thing unfold, and a strange sense of accomplishment slowly rose in his chest.

He glanced between Yizhou and the Luo sisters, his thoughts already running ahead of him. Perhaps this was the beginning of Yizhou’s relationship with the two sisters. If Yizhou continued behaving like this, wouldn’t everything go according to plan easily?

Sui Sui was so pleased with himself that he completely overlooked one rather important detail.

If Yizhou gave up his room, where was he supposed to sleep?

It was only after the ladies had settled into their rooms that Sui Sui returned to his own room. He had barely stepped inside when he noticed Yizhou following him.

Sui Sui turned around and stared at him in confusion. "Senior Brother, is there something you need?"

Yizhou looked at him for a moment, his expression carrying a faint trace of amusement. "Nothing. I’m just going to my room."

Sui Sui blinked, he looked around the room, then back at Yizhou.

"...Your room?"

"Mn." Yizhou nodded naturally.

Sui Sui stared at him for several seconds before something finally clicked in his mind and a sense of foreboding came. "Then where is your room?"

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Yizhou’s lips. He stepped closer, his expression carrying an almost teasing warmth as he looked down at his junior brother.

"Silly Junior Brother, would you really let your Senior Brother sleep outside?" he asked. "Of course I’m sleeping with you ah."

Hearing this, Sui Sui froze.

Only then did he remember what he had completely overlooked earlier.

Yizhou had given his room to the Luo sisters.

Which meant that he no longer had a room of his own.

And since Sui Sui was the only one who still had an empty room, there was naturally only one place left for Yizhou to sleep.

Sui Sui’s room.