"Well, can you think of someone? I can only think of one person when it comes to ’trust’." Yuan said a moment later.
"Really? Who?" Yu Rou asked in a truly puzzled voice.
"Meixiu," Yuan quickly answered.
"..."
Yu Rou turned silent.
"It’s true that Meixiu can be trusted... But..." Yu Rou pondered with a perplexed frown on her face.
While she can trust Meixiu to take care of Yuan in her stead, even keeping his secret as Player Yuan, she was worried that they would develop some sort of relationship with each other from spending too much time together and that her relationship with Yuan might grow further apart as a result.
"Oh, right... She’s your personal maid, nor can we really separate her from you just to help me, much less giving her such a burden that is me... That would be way too selfish of me. I guess we’ll just have to find some random person to help me and hope for the best. If my identity as Player Yuan is revealed, it is what it is... I highly doubt that’ll make my life more miserable than currently," Yuan sighed.
"..."
Yu Rou turned silent once again, and then she said a moment later, "Brother... Let me speak with Meixiu to see if she wants to help you. Of course, I won’t command her or anything like that, and it will be entirely up to her whether she helps or not. How does that sound?"
"Are you sure? You’ve been with Meixiu for all your life, and she has been your servant for as long as well. I don’t think I can really separate the two of you."
"Don’t worry, brother. It’s not like Meixiu will stop helping me. Furthermore, I can say the same to you, as Meixiu has been in our lives for almost the same time, and she’s almost like a second sister to us at this point."
"I guess you can go ahead and ask her. However, don’t force her, Yu Rou. Even if you are trying to help me, I don’t want you to force Meixiu, because I won’t accept her help if that’s the case."
"Who do you think I am, brother? I am not unreasonable like some people in this family. I won’t force her— I swear."
"Okay... If you say so."
"Are you going to play Cultivation Online today?" Yu Rou asked him after their daily routine.
"No, I’ll take a break today. There’s nothing to do until next week, anyway."
"Okay."
After cleaning up, Yu Rou went to eat her own breakfast and prepared for school.
On her way to school, Yu Rou asked Meixiu while they sat in the car.
"Meixiu, I have something important to ask you." Yu Rou stared at Meixiu in the eyes with a serious look on her face.
"What is it, Young Lady?"
Yu Rou took a deep breath, and she began explaining to her the situation regarding Yuan.
"Well, my parents are thinking about making Brother Tian play instruments inside Cultivation Online as he used to when he was young, but my brother refused. The thing is... if he refuses, they will disown him and kick him out of the house..."
"What?!" Meixiu covered her mouth in shock, as she could almost not believe her ears. "How could the Masters..."
"What does the Young Lady and Young Master plan on doing?" Meixiu couldn’t help but ask, as this will definitely change the entire household as a whole.
"We don’t really know yet, but Brother Tian intends on leaving the family and living by himself. However, his condition doesn’t exactly allow that... Therefore, he’s thinking about hiring someone else to take care of him, as he doesn’t want me to bear the burden anymore."
"That’s very like the Young Master." Meixiu nodded.
"But the problem is that I don’t know anyone I trust enough to take care of Brother Tian. There are many bad people out there— heartless people who will mistreat or take advantage of Brother Tian’s condition, and I fear that very much." Yu Rou spoke from the bottom of her heart.
While it sounded like she was trying to get sympathy from Meixiu so that she could pressure Meixiu with guilt, that was not the case, as Yu Rou truly feared that someone might take advantage of Yuan.
"Indeed, this world is filled with nasty people." Unexpectedly, Meixiu agreed.
"Anyways, I have been thinking about people who I trust enough to take care of Brother Tian, and after thinking about it for very long, I could only think of a single person that I trust enough— and that’s you, Meixiu."
"M-Me...?" Meixiu pointed at herself with a startled look on her face. "But I am the Young Lady’s..."
"I know." Yu Rou quickly interrupted, and she continued, "I know that you’re my personal maid and that you’ve been for almost my entire life, but I can only trust you to take care of Brother Tian. Of course, I am only asking you, and if you refuse, I won’t hold anything against you since I know very well from experience how difficult it could be at times to take care of Brother Tian, especially if you’re doing it every day for years, and even brother himself said that it’s all up to you whether you want to listen to our request or not."
"You don’t need to give me an answer right away. Think about it. We’ll continue this conversation when we come back home," Yu Rou then said.
"I understand, Young Lady." Meixiu nodded, feeling many perplexed emotions in her heart.
While Yu Rou went to school, Yuan focused on cultivation.
’Now that even my own parents have given up hope on me, I can only rely on Yu Rou and myself to survive! I should’ve expected this outcome sooner or later!’ Yuan gritted his teeth in frustration, his heart burning with the desire and passion to crawl out of this hellhole.
’Cultivation is now my only hope to recover! Even if it’s not a full recovery, I will be satisfied with a partial recovery!’
At this moment, unbeknownst to Yuan, the flames within his heart began pulsating, and the golden symbols engraved in his bones began to glow brightly.