"Heh, if you'd just agreed earlier, you wouldn't have had to go through all this." The black-clad masked man sneered at Howard Gu.
Howard Gu silently picked up the jade bottle, his eyes filled with venom as he swept over the three masked men, finally landing on Yvette Hu. "Don't worry, Yvette. I swear I'll get you out of here."
"Be careful, Howard." Yvette Hu nodded, moved by his words.
"I will!"
Howard Gu's gaze returned to the black-clad masked man. "Remember—before I act, you are not to harm Yvette. If you do, I'll haunt you even after death."
"Ha!" The black-clad masked man laughed dismissively, clearly unmoved by Howard Gu's empty threat. "Relax. As long as you do exactly as I say, I won’t lay a finger on her."
"I hope you keep your word!"
Howard Gu shot Yvette Hu one last look, then turned and left.
Once Howard Gu had disappeared completely, the two masked men holding Yvette Hu suddenly let her go. Yvette showed no embarrassment; right in front of the three men, she calmly took a long dress out of her storage ring and put it on.
The black-clad masked man pulled off his veil, revealing the face of Wynton Wu. "Yvette, you really are something. Just over ten days and you’ve got Howard Gu hopelessly hung up on you!"
Yvette Hu shot him a look. "My cheek still hurts, you know! And here you are, teasing me, Senior."
"Haha, that's my bad. Here, take this and put it on." Wynton Wu tossed Yvette Hu a jade bottle, adding, "It'll bring down the swelling in half an hour."
Howard Gu wandered back to the academy in a daze and headed straight for Harriet Gu's residence.
"You're here!" Harriet Gu greeted him coolly, but then her brows knitted. "What happened to you?"
"I want to see Leon Huang."
Howard Gu got straight to the point, his expression dark and heavy.
"Alright, come with me!"
With Harriet Gu leading the way, they arrived at Leon Huang's courtyard.
They knocked, and Ian Song opened the door.
He invited the Gu siblings inside.
"Leon Huang, someone is threatening me with Yvette Hu's life—forcing me to poison you!" Howard Gu bluntly placed the jade bottle in front of Ian Song.
Wynton Wu's plan was almost flawless, but he overlooked one thing: Howard Gu's feelings for his own sister. He couldn't bear to let Harriet suffer because of Ian Song's death.
So, on his way back, Howard decided to go straight to Leon Huang and lay everything out, asking for help.
Leon Huang was now the academy’s star protégé. If he stepped in, there might be a chance to save Yvette Hu. Besides, Howard didn't trust Wynton Wu at all; if he really poisoned and killed Leon, as the poisoner he'd never escape blame.
Since it was a death trap anyway, why not take a gamble?
Trusting Leon Huang was still better than trusting someone threatening him.
"Big brother, what the heck is going on?" Harriet Gu was both shocked and furious when she heard someone wanted her brother to poison Ian Song.
Ian Song, on the other hand, stayed calm.
He'd seen plenty of schemes and been through them himself.
"Howard, tell me everything that happened." Ian Song said gravely.
"Alright, here’s what happened..."
Howard Gu didn’t hide anything, recounting the entire story from start to finish.
After listening to Howard's account, Ian Song grew thoughtful. After a moment, he looked at Howard and asked, "Howard, how long have you known Yvette Hu?"
Howard didn’t catch the subtle implication in Ian’s words. Lost in memory, he paused for a while before answering, "I first met Yvette during the Grandmaster Ranking challenges, then started pursuing her. At first, she ignored me completely—until about ten days ago, when she suddenly agreed to go out with me... About a week ago, we went out of town on a training trip, and our relationship got closer. But the day after we came back, I went to look for her and found she’d disappeared. Today I got a note with a location, rushed over, and found out she’d been kidnapped. Those three masked men were all late Grandmasters—I couldn’t stand a chance against them..."
After Howard finished, Ian Song was basically certain of his own suspicions. Even though the truth might hurt Howard, Ian decided to be honest.
"Howard, if I’m not mistaken, this whole thing was probably staged by Yvette Hu and her accomplices!"
"No way!" Howard Gu shot to his feet, shouting at Ian Song, "Leon, if you don’t want to help, just say so—don’t make up such a lousy excuse!"
"Big brother, calm down. Sit. Leon Huang has his reasons for suspecting Yvette Hu!" Harriet Gu tried to soothe him.
Howard listened to his sister, took a deep breath, and managed to calm down for the moment, though he still glared at Ian Song.
Ian Song just smiled, unfazed. "I have two reasons to doubt Yvette Hu. First, don’t you think her attitude toward you changed a little too suddenly?"
"Yvette was definitely moved by my sincerity! That's why she accepted me!" Howard Gu retorted stubbornly.
Ian Song didn’t argue with Howard, but instead turned to Harriet Gu and asked, "Harriet, if someone you didn’t like kept pestering you, would you suddenly accept him?"
"No, I’d just hate him even more!" Harriet Gu replied seriously.
"Harriet is just naturally cold; you can't generalize!" Howard Gu still refused to believe it.
Ian Song didn’t press the first point, but continued, "Alright, let me give you a second reason. You and Yvette broke up at night, right?"
"Yes." Howard Gu nodded.
Ian Song continued his analysis: "The girls’ dorm is usually tightly guarded at night, and Yvette is already a late-stage Grandmaster. Even if a Grandmaster tried to kidnap her, there’d be some commotion. Did you check her courtyard for signs of a fight? Besides, who would dare barge into Sanctum Martial Academy to kidnap someone? Do they really think our Martial Saints are pushovers?"
Howard was stunned by Ian’s analysis. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious Yvette seemed.
"So what should we do?" Howard asked, looking dejected.
Ian Song said, "Of course, my suspicion about Yvette is just a guess. So, why don’t we turn the tables and use their scheme against them?"
That night, Howard Gu and Ian Song showed up together at a tavern in the city.
The person assigned to watch them quickly reported the news to Wynton Wu.
Upon hearing the news, Wynton Wu's lips curled into a sinister smile. "Leon Huang, Leon Huang, this time next year will be your death anniversary!"