Birthday Party

Chu Li and Ye Wanrou exchanged a glance and said, "I told you Xiao Yue would forget!"

Ye Wanrou laughed out loud, "It doesn't matter if she forgot, we'll just go ahead and celebrate!"

Shui Lingyu handed the menu to Gu Xiaoyue, letting the birthday girl order.

Just as Gu Xiaoyue took it, her brain rang; her mother was calling.

"Happy birthday, Xiao Yue!"

The voice on the other end of the line was so gentle it could almost drip water, yet Gu Xiaoyue felt something was a bit off.

Since starting university, they had talked on the phone often, but this was the first time she had heard Mu Qingning's tone sound so happy and gentle.

Gu Xiaoyue chatted with her for a while, but when Mu Qingning told her some good news, she was so shocked that she couldn't recover for a long time.

"What's wrong, Xiao Yue? Did your aunt wish you a happy birthday? Surely that's not enough to be this surprised, right?"

Ye Wanrou nudged Gu Xiaoyue, and she finally came back to her senses.

"My mom, she—" Gu Xiaoyue was a bit happy and a bit embarrassed, "My mom told me that I'm going to have a little brother or sister!"

The group was stunned for a few seconds, then they all laughed together, "That's a good thing!"

Ye Wanrou took out the gift she had prepared for Gu Xiaoyue; it was a light luxury dress.

"Xiao Yue, this dress is a gift from Chen Yixuan and me."

"It's for you to wear when you receive your award at the National Competition! My Xiao Yue will definitely be able to take first place in the individual competition! As for the team competition—"

Ye Wanrou glanced at Chu Li, "I just don't know if this captain is reliable!"

Chu Li immediately straightened his back and said proudly, "Of course he's reliable! This year's goal is to take down Huaqing and take first place!"

Gu Xiaoyue smiled and thanked Ye Wanrou, while Ye Wanrou winked at Chu Li, signaling him to bring out his gift.

Shui Lingyu read into Ye Wanrou's meaning and took out the gift he had prepared—a very high-end jewelry box.

"Junior Gu, happy birthday! A small token of my appreciation, you must accept it!"

Gu Xiaoyue took it and opened it to see a sapphire necklace resting inside.

She took it out to admire it; the material of the necklace was a high-grade precious metal, costing over ten thousand star coins per gram.

The gemstone felt slightly cool to the touch, emitting a cerulean light, and she could feel the spiritual power fluctuations of the necklace.

"This is a necklace that boosts water-attribute combat power; it's too valuable!"

Gu Xiaoyue's first reaction was to refuse; this necklace was likely worth over a hundred million star coins.

Because it wasn't just simple jewelry; it could add water-attribute damage to skills, and it could be worn by both Beastmasters and their pet beasts.

Of course, if one didn't have water-attribute skills, the effect wouldn't be as obvious as when using water-attribute skills.

Moreover, she had tested shared skills today; the damage dealt by a Beastmaster using the same skill was not as great as when the pet beast used it itself.

"It's not that valuable. It is said that last year—" Shui Lingyu gave Chu Li a meaningful look, "Junior Chu's gift was even more valuable, and Junior Gu accepted it, so you can't refuse my gift!"

Gu Xiaoyue's face flushed slightly; last year, Chu Li had given her a gathering spirit stone.

Up until now, apart from a golden scale fruit, she had only returned a few pieces of qiu mu grass to Chu Li.

She didn't even know what day Chu Li's birthday was.

Gu Xiaoyue accepted Shui Lingyu's gift, but she also solemnly asked for his birthday, intending to return the favor properly when his birthday came.

Before Shui Lingyu could answer, Chu Li took out his own gift, interrupting their conversation.

Gu Xiaoyue frowned, feeling that Chu Li was a bit rude today, though it seemed they had always been like this, bickering and fooling around.

Seeing that Shui Lingyu didn't seem to mind, she decided to ask him again in private.

"Xiao Yue doesn't have a water-attribute pet beast right now, so you were in too much of a hurry to give this necklace. You might as well have given her a heaven-tier water-attribute pet beast, and then given her this necklace!"

Of course Chu Li knew that Gu Xiaoyue had a water-attribute pet beast, but he only knew that Ying Long had water attributes, and he also knew that Ying Long couldn't be exposed to the public for the time being. He just said this on purpose to tease Shui Lingyu.

Gu Xiaoyue smiled bitterly. Give a pet beast?

Don't!

She had so many babies in her Yu Beast Space that she was almost worked to death.

But it was also a sweet busyness. In her previous life, she had wanted to raise pets, but she hadn't had the conditions to do so.

After all, when the apocalypse broke out, let alone pets, even people might not find a bite to eat for days, and instead became food for zombies.

Gu Xiaoyue's thoughts drifted away for a moment, but were immediately pulled back by Chu Li as she took his gift.

It was a wooden box; even before opening it, a clear white light shone through the gaps. It was clearly an extraordinary treasure of heaven and earth.

Gu Xiaoyue opened the box with some anticipation, and a porcelain-white, butterfly-shaped flower came into view.

"A shaping flower!"

Ye Wanrou exclaimed first, "Young Master Chu is really going all out!"

The shaping flower could allow pet beasts above the mature fifth tier to change their body shape according to the Beastmaster's preferences.

It could even change into a human form, satisfying the special preferences of the Beastmaster.

Moreover, it could switch back and forth with the original form at will, displaying the desired body shape as needed.

shaping flowers were rare to encounter in a decade, and their special attributes caused their price to be hyped up to 300 million each.

Gu Xiaoyue understood Chu Li's intention; several of her pet beasts could not reveal their true forms.

She was a bit moved, "Thank you, Chu Li! I really like it!"

"You young masters are really going all out, reducing me, a little commoner, to dust!"

Ye Wanrou was a bit dejected, wondering if Xiao Yue would look down on her gift.

Gu Xiaoyue rubbed Ye Wanrou's head and smiled gently, "I like whatever you give me, Ye Wanrou."

"What I hope for more is that you work hard, and we will compete together in next year's National Competition."

Ye Wanrou's eyes sparkled as she looked at Gu Xiaoyue with admiration, "Xiao Yue, you are really amazing!"

She felt that Gu Xiaoyue was different from before. The old Xiao Yue was also gentle, but more often than not, she was forbearing and timid.

When did the Gu Xiaoyue who used to be bullied to tears by Gu Xiaoxing and was depressed by the Gu Family's indifference grow into the sunny and strong person she was now?

Gu Xiaoyue put away everyone's gifts and immediately gave each of them ten drops of spirit condensation dew, plus a piece of qiu mu grass.

Now Gu Xiaoyue could exchange points for twelve pieces of qiu mu grass every month, and she only exchanged for lanzhi grass as needed.

After everyone finished eating and returned to school, Gu Xiaoyue secretly asked Shui Lingyu if the necklace he gave could be worn by a pet beast.

Shui Lingyu smiled and said that since he gave it to her, she could do whatever she wanted with it.

Gu Xiaoyue was just afraid that one day, Shui Lingyu would find out she gave the necklace to a pet beast and be unhappy.

Receiving a definitive answer, she breathed a sigh of relief and gave the necklace to Xiao Lan.

Xiao Lan couldn't wait to put it on, and the faint blue light around him became even more dazzling.

His original appearance of being fifteen or sixteen years old seemed to have matured by two more years; his jawline became more defined, and his build became two points more robust.

He happily sang while circling in the sea area, and whirlpools appeared in the surrounding seawater, with waves lapping against the beach one after another.

The other pet beasts whimpered, as if blaming her for favoring Xiao Lan.

Gu Xiaoyue, with a doting face, took out many bags of snacks and fed them to each of them one by one.

She still had to go to Hualian Shopping Mall in the next two days to buy more snacks.