Chapter 65: Flying Aboard the Black Dragon

Suddenly, the curtains swayed without any wind.

Qiu Yiyao hastily collapsed against Bai Peiyu, resting her head on his shoulder as her hands dropped to her sides.

The curtains whipped about more violently.

Bai Peiyu reached out and grabbed the floor, retrieving the soaked bath towel into his hand.

He wrapped the towel around Qiu Yiyao’s body, scooped her up into his arms, and strode back into the bedroom.

A bone-chilling gust of air followed closely on their heels, rushing directly into the room.

Bai Peiyu stopped in his tracks. Without looking back, he said coldly, "Have you seen enough? Aren't you afraid I'll gouge out those eyes you worked so hard to get?"

Qiu Yiyao felt that eerie coldness circle around her twice before abruptly vanishing.

The bedroom door slammed shut with a heavy thud.

Unable to wait any longer, Qiu Yiyao opened her eyes. "Is nobody watching us anymore?"

Bai Peiyu’s previously stern face instantly melted into a hint of a smile. "What? Afraid I'll devour you? Or..."

"Or what?"

"Or do you want to devour me?"

"You're out of your mind," Qiu Yiyao pushed Bai Peiyu away forcefully. "Do you think I'm like the likes of you?"

The wet bath towel clung heavily to her skin, making Qiu Yiyao feel thoroughly uncomfortable. Just as she was about to change into her pajamas, she turned her head and caught Bai Peiyu staring right at her.

"Can you please go back to your own room?"

"No," Bai Peiyu replied unhesitatingly. "Hurry up and change. Besides, everything that should and shouldn't be seen, I've already seen."

A blush crept up Qiu Yiyao's cheeks. She snatched her pajamas and hurled them straight at him. "You scoundrel! Didn't you say there's already someone in your heart? I actually thought you were loyal."

Bai Peiyu’s expression shifted in an instant, a bitter, self-mocking smile touching the corner of his lips. "Loyal? I'm afraid some people will never know."

He glanced at Qiu Yiyao and instructed, "I have things to attend to. Go to sleep early, and later, no matter if anyone comes to watch you or not, pay them no mind."

Watching his figure vanish into the darkness, Qiu Yiyao made a face.

"Hmph, changing your tune every second."

She changed into clean pajamas and carefully dried her hair with a towel.

As the night deepened, the outdoors grew completely still.

Qiu Yiyao couldn't help letting out a yawn, and without even waiting for her hair to dry completely, she climbed into bed and fell asleep.

In her hazy slumber, she felt droplets of water splashing onto her face.

When she opened her eyes, the scene before her left her utterly shocked.

She found herself seated upon some massive black object, while beneath her feet, turbulent waves surged.

"Ah!"

Terrified, Qiu Yiyao shrieked. She didn't know how to swim, and she held a natural, innate fear of the ocean.

"Don't be afraid."

A voice drifted from somewhere unknown, sounding somewhat familiar.

"Who's there?"

Qiu Yiyao looked all around. In the misty haze, there was only the moving black creature beneath her, with no one else in sight.

Could it be that the creature was speaking?

With trembling hands, Qiu Yiyao reached out to touch the dark entity beneath her. A cool, smooth texture met her fingers—scales.

A sudden realization struck Qiu Yiyao's heart. Raising her hands, she struggled to wave away the swirling mist shrouding her face.

Once, twice—finally, as the fog slowly dissipated, under the bright moonlight, she clearly saw a pair of towering dragon horns rising not far away.

It was actually that black dragon.

Qiu Yiyao was completely bewildered. She couldn't tell whether this was a dream or reality.

Suddenly, Qiu Yiyao felt the river below her growing farther and farther away as the black dragon carried her soaring up into the sky.

Terrified of falling, she quickly pressed herself flat, molding her body as closely as possible to the dragon's back.

The wind roared past her ears, so bone-chillingly cold that she trembled all over, silently praying that if this were a dream, she would wake up immediately.

If it weren't a dream, she hoped the black dragon would stop flying upward, fearing that a single slip would send her plunging down to shatter into pieces.

Perhaps sensing her tension, the black dragon came to a halt once they reached mid-air.

Qiu Yiyao raised her head. The round moon seemed to hang right above her, close enough to touch.

"So the moon you saw back then was this beautiful."

Qiu Yiyao stared in spellbound wonder.

Just as she was lost in enchantment by the moon before her, a sudden shudder shook the space beneath her, and she distinctively felt herself plummeting.

Are we heading back?

She looked down toward her feet. The mist rolled thickly—where was there any sign of a black dragon?

Panic seized Qiu Yiyao, and she thrashed her hands frantically, trying to grab onto anything that might arrest her fall.

Suddenly, a sharp, ear-piercing screech drilled into her ears, sounding precisely like the static white noise of an old television failing to pick up a signal.

Qiu Yiyao hurriedly clapped her hands over her ears.

With a loud bang, Qiu Yiyao snapped her eyes open. The light of a streetlamp streamed through the gap in the curtains, allowing her to make out familiar surroundings once more.

It was all just a dream.

Qiu Yiyao let out a breath of relief, rolling over to hug her blanket tight.

Yet the mere thought of that black dragon made it impossible for her to fall back asleep. What on earth was it trying to tell her?

...

Bai Peiyu's whereabouts were unknown, and he hadn't returned even by noon.

Previously, when he constantly lingered by her side, Qiu Yiyao had only found it annoying. Now that he was nowhere to be seen, she inexplicably found herself constantly recalling his face.

"I must have lost my mind, always dwelling on a pervert."

Qiu Yiyao tapped herself on the head. "The campus hunk is much better; at least he isn't promiscuous."

The campus hunk she referred to was a senior student one grade above her, as well as the student union president—someone proficient in both literary and martial arts.

Countless people in the school pursued him.

Qiu Yiyao's good friend happened to be one of them, though unfortunately, the campus hunk held impossibly high standards and wouldn't even spare her a glance.

While she felt a bit heartbroken for her friend, the fact that the campus hunk remained single, refusing to give even the prettiest girls who confessed their feelings to him a second look, earned Qiu Yiyao's deep admiration.

Though Qiu Yiyao claimed she wouldn't go looking for Bai Peiyu, she couldn't resist asking Qiu Shengming if he knew where Bai Peiyu had gone.

A mask of utter helplessness covered Qiu Shengming's face. "Yiyao, I know you're twenty and at the age for romance, but to us parents, even if you were thirty, in my eyes you'd still be a child. Don't be easily deceived by a man's outward appearance."

Had those words come from the real Qiu Shengming, Qiu Yiyao would have been deeply touched.

Right now, however, she merely found it annoying, convinced he was intentionally trying to sabotage her relationship with Bai Peiyu.

She retorted sharply, "I'm twenty, not twelve. I have a brain and I can think for myself. Besides, everything that should and shouldn't be done between him and me has already been done, and I see nothing wrong with thinking of him."

"You child..."

Qiu Shengming wore an expression that screamed *you are a hopeless case*. "Dad is a man too; what Xiao Bai is thinking in his heart, I know better than you do. Yiyao, I'm only afraid you'll end up getting hurt."