Chapter 5029 — Constant Coincidences

But the tall young woman showed no inclination to acknowledge him at all—not a word in reply, not even a glance. She simply turned and headed downstairs, leaving Wei Zhao nothing but the cold, distant view of her back.

"Uh…" Wei Zhao rubbed his nose awkwardly. Their earlier encounters had not exactly been chatty, but at least she had nodded. Now even that small courtesy was gone. Evidently the fallout from that misunderstanding still lingered, and under such circumstances, improving relations in a short time would not be easy. But Wei Zhao had no other choice—for Qiu Lingshan's sake, he would simply have to grit his teeth and push on.

The two went downstairs one after the other. The tall young woman was not, as Wei Zhao had assumed, going out to buy breakfast. Once past the compound gate she headed straight off into the distance—the very same direction as last time.

Off to buy medicine again, was she? Wei Zhao turned it over privately. He had expected her to be gone as long as before, but this time the little ice queen returned in a mere fifteen minutes, a bag of medicinal herbs in hand just as he had guessed.

At the sight, Wei Zhao quickened his pace and went on ahead. When he reached his own door and was getting out his key to unlock it, the tall young woman indeed followed up behind him. He had done this precisely because of last time's lesson—if he had trailed her up the stairs again, she might well have accused him of peeking up her skirt, and that would have been enough to drive a man mad with frustration.

"Hey, you haven't had breakfast, have you? I bought an extra portion—it's for you." Wei Zhao turned and spoke to the little ice queen, who was likewise fishing out her key to open her door.

The tall young woman paused, glancing at the breakfast in his hand with some surprise, then shook her head. "No need."

"Don't be polite—I just picked it up on the way. About last time…" Wei Zhao had gotten only halfway through when the little ice queen simply shut her door in his face, plainly unwilling to exchange another word with him.

"Quite the character." Wei Zhao could only smile bitterly. This little ice queen was truly hard to get close to.

But having made up his mind, Wei Zhao was not about to retreat at the first sign of difficulty. If she wouldn't take breakfast, then dinner it would be.

Toward evening, a delivery rider suddenly knocked on the door across the hall. When no one answered at first, he knocked several more times in succession, and only then did the door finally open.

"What do you want?" The tall young woman regarded the delivery rider coldly.

"D-delivery." The rider was clearly dazzled; his tongue had gone clumsy on him.

"What delivery?" The tall young woman looked in puzzlement at the thing in his hand, not quite understanding for a moment.

"Didn't you order this?" The rider was taken aback in turn. He checked the room number carefully again and muttered in confusion, "I couldn't have misread it…"

Just then Wei Zhao's voice came from behind, apologetic and coaxing: "Sorry, that's my delivery. I just moved in and I'm not familiar with things yet—I put down the wrong room number."

"So that's it. That'll be seventy-eight altogether." The rider turned and handed the delivery to Wei Zhao, though his eyes kept stealing glances at the tall young woman beside him. A beauty of such looks and bearing was not to be seen on any ordinary street.

Even after Wei Zhao had taken the delivery and paid, the rider lingered, dragging his feet down the stairs and looking back every few steps, itching to pull out his phone and snap a few covert photos to take home—only Wei Zhao and the tall young woman were both watching him, so he truly had no chance.

The tall young woman glanced at the delivery in Wei Zhao's hand with some surprise, a flicker of curiosity in her look, but she still did not ask. She turned to shut her door and go back inside.

"Wait—sorry to bother you. It happens that I ordered a two-person portion. How about we eat together?" Wei Zhao suggested.

"No need." With that, the tall young woman shut her door again outright, giving Wei Zhao no chance to say another word.

A little ice queen is a little ice queen! Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. He had been prepared for this outcome. She wouldn't take breakfast, and now she wouldn't take dinner either—she truly was impervious, like water poured over stone.

Still, even to get close to an ordinary girl of the mundane world, one could hardly succeed just by bringing breakfast or dinner on a whim. Nothing in this world came that easily—let alone with a cultivator in the early Foundation Establishment stage.

This seemingly commonplace method that never failed had one essential secret: patience.

Without perseverance, it was unquestionably a foolish, artless ploy. But if one could manage that much, it became the wisdom of the simpleton—and in the end it was bound to bear fruit.

Human hearts are made of flesh, and girls especially tend to be softhearted. Even if wariness ran high at first, given enough time a person would inevitably leave a deep impression on her heart—and most likely an impression not at all bad. After all, no one truly resents another's attentions; it is merely a question of whether they suit one's taste.

To get to the bottom of those Heaven Dao stage experts' origins as quickly as possible, Wei Zhao was throwing caution to the wind this time. If once or twice wouldn't do, then three times, four times—he would risk his face, and he refused to believe he could not thaw this block of ice.

His hide had never been thin to begin with, of course. He had never done such a thing before, but that was only because he had never thought to. This time his motive was strong enough, and he could certainly put his shame aside.

One day, two days, three days—by means of his primordial spirit's covert observation, Wei Zhao managed each time to engineer a chance encounter at just the right moment, and then, as always, to bring three meals. He knew nothing at all about the little ice queen, still less what she liked; the only angle he had was food.

Over time, the tall young woman began to find it stranger and stranger. Meeting once or twice by chance was only natural—they lived directly across from each other, after all, bound to run into one another. But to meet like this day after day, to run into Wei Zhao every single time she stepped out—that was truly bizarre.

What on earth was this man up to? Could he be watching her room day and night?

The tall young woman puzzled over it in private, unable to think of any other explanation. After all, she could hardly tell herself these were all pure coincidences, a fate-ordained destiny…

Yet even with her doubts, she would not ask. Every time Wei Zhao paid her court, she refused him with the same coldness as ever, without a single word to spare.

Now it was Wei Zhao's turn to grow anxious. The method itself was sound enough, but at this rate, a whole month might pass with no result.

The little ice queen could afford to wait; Wei Zhao could not. His primordial spirit body could not remain long in the mundane world to begin with. If he frittered away months on the little ice queen for nothing, he would get nothing else done at all. Even to extract information, this was no way to go about it.

After much thought, Wei Zhao decided to change tack. Three meals a day remained indispensable, but beyond that he must find some opportunity to speed things along. Otherwise, if they never got to talking, when would he ever extract his information?