After saying her goodbyes, Elder Shan quickly disappeared from the scene with a slightly rosy complexion on her beautiful face.
Once Elder Shan was gone, Fei Yuyan said, "I guess we can stop practice here for today. Good job, Disciple Yuan, and I apologize for sleeping through half of today's practice."
Yuan nodded since it was also about time he logged off for dinner.
Fei Yuyan then turned to look at Xuan Wuhan and Min Li with a slightly cold expression and said to them, "Shows over, you can go home now."
Xuan Wuhan raised her eyebrows, and then she suddenly turned to look at Yuan before asking, "Hey Yuan, do you mind if I stay here for the night?"
"W-What?! What are you trying to achieve here, Disciple Xuan? Why would you want to stay here?" Fei Yuyan was the first to react to Xuan Wuhan's words.
"Why not? I am too tired to walk after sitting here for the entire day. I'd rather just stay here for the night. It's fine, right, Yuan?" Xuan Wuhan asked him again.
Everyone there turned to glare at Yuan with an intensive gaze, but Yuan didn't even budge an eyebrow and nodded calmly, "I don't mind. But you should get permission first like Disciple Fei."
"Right away!"
Xuan Wuhan immediately retrieved her communication jade slip and contacted Elder Xuan, her grandfather.
A few seconds later, Elder Xuan's voice resounded in a casual manner, "What's the matter now?"
"Grandpa, I'm going to stay over at Yuan's house tonight. Can I get your permission real quick?" Xuan Wuhan said.
"..."
Elder Xuan did not immediately respond and remained silent for a good moment until a low mumble finally responded, sounding a little helpless, "Go ahead… Do whatever you want…"
"Thanks, grandpa!"
After deactivating the communication jade slip, Xuan Wuhan looked at Yuan and said with a bright smile on her face, contrary to her 'exhausted' state, and she said, "Well, there you have it! I'll be staying here tonight!"
'T-This little…' Fei Yuyan silently gritted her teeth at Xuan Wuhan's shameless abuse of her background.
Meanwhile, Min Li sighed inwardly, 'If only I didn't live directly next door to him…'
Because she lived so close to him, she wasn't able to use the same excuse as Xuan Wuhan.
Sometime later, Xuan Wuhan went to find a room for the night whilst Fei Yuyan went to clean her body of the sweats she'd acc.u.mulated from practice.
If news of Yuan staying in the same building as two top fairies for the night were to spread to the other disciples, there would, without a doubt, be an army of angry people gathered in front of his house on the same day.
Once Fei Yuyan came out of the bathroom, Yuan went to clean himself next.
"I never knew you were such an aggressive woman, Disciple Xuan," Fei Yuyan said to Xuan Wuhan after running into her while walking towards her own room. "How can you act so shamelessly? I wonder what would happen if the disciples knew that one of the Three Graceful Fairies was such a woman."
Hearing her words, Xuan Wuhan pretended to be stupid and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I am simply sleeping over at a friend's house. Meanwhile, you're taking advantage of your situation as 'partners'. It wouldn't take you even an hour to get here from your place, yet you'd opted to stay in a man's house even though you barely know him. Perhaps you are actually secretly hoping that something might happen?"
"N-Nonsense! Even if it's just one hour, it adds up! We only have one week before the competition! If I take one hour to come here and another to return home every day, that's at least 14 hours that could've been used towards our practice! And I know Disciple Yuan isn't that type of person so I am not expecting anything!"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, 'partner who overslept and missed half of today's practice'." Xuan Wuhan said in an obnoxiously sarcastic voice.
"T-That's all your fault! I swear to heaven, Disciple Xuan! Don't push my limit!" Fei Yuyan glared at her with narrowed eyes.
However, before their tension increased any further, Yuan appeared and said with an innocent look on his face, "What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing…" Fei Yuyan immediately smiled and said to him, "Goodnight, Disciple Yuan. I definitely won't repeat the same mistakes tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Yuan. I can't wait to hear more of your music tomorrow," Xuan Wuhan also said to him with a smile on her face, acting like her little fight with Fei Yuyan never happened.
Yuan nodded and said, "Goodnight to both of you."
They all went to their respective rooms shortly after.
While Fei Yuyan immediately went to sleep and Xuan Wuhan stayed up for a few more hours to cultivate, Yuan logged off the game to eat dinner.
After dinner, Yuan spent the rest of the night cultivating until it was morning.
In the morning, Yu Rou cleaned his body and fed him breakfast before going to school while Yuan returned to the game.
"Good morning, Disciple Yuan." Fei Yuyan greeted him in an elegant manner when he appeared in the living room, even casually sipping on tea like she'd been awake for some time.
"Good morning, Disciple Fei," Yuan greeted her. "Did you have enough sleep last night?"
"Yes, I slept soundly since there was no monkey disturbing my sleep," Fei Yuyan responded with a smile that did not fit her words.
"M-Monkey?" Yuan raised his eyebrows, wondering why she would mention monkeys in this situation.
Sometime later, Xuan Wuhan appeared and said, "Oh? Looks like you really woke up properly this time. I was even thinking about knocking on your door if you weren't awake by now."
"..." Fei Yuyan looked at her weirdly, but she decided to ignore Xuan Wuhan ultimately.
A few minutes later, Min Li knocked on the door and said, "You'll also be practicing today, right?"
Yuan nodded and said, "Yeah, do you want to join us today as well?"
"If you don't mind," Min Li nodded, trying her best not to blush.
Thus, they began their third day of practice with only four days left until the zither competition.