Knock knock knock.
“What is it?”
“Third Young Master, your medicinal meal is ready.” A slightly muffled female voice rang out from beyond the door.
“Come in.”
Creak… The wooden door swung open, and a slender woman in shadow guard garb stepped inside carrying a tray.
It was Ying'er, the one who had always stayed by Xu Changge’s side. Her face was hidden behind a mask. She wore tight black clothes, a red sash at the waist, and a neat ponytail that swayed lightly behind her.
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes a little as he looked at her.
In his memories, as a textbook wastrel villain, as a lust-crazed degenerate whose glorious record included forcing down medicine just so he could carry out the act of one dragon playing with five phoenixes… Xu Changtian had naturally once set his sights on this shapely shadow guard at his elder brother’s side.
Back in the Imperial Capital, he had even tactfully asked Xu Changge to hand her over. To the Third Young Master, she was just another dog raised by the family. A stronger dog, maybe, but no different from the weaker ones.
The result of that request had been exactly what anyone with a brain would expect, a brutal beating from his big brother.
The memory alone left Xu Yuan speechless. It was completely ridiculous. Frequenting brothels, sleeping with maids, snatching commoner girls, fine, that was already bad enough. But this spoiled little aristocrat had actually tried to stick his hands into his own family’s military apparatus.
Ying'er was a high-ranking shadow guard personally trained by their household. For Xu Yuan to ask for her was basically the equivalent of a prince demanding that a female general, fresh back from the battlefield, be sent to warm his bed.
Absurd or not, the act still had to be kept up. After confirming that he had not been possessed, Xu Changge had left without asking a single question.
Where had this mysterious cultivation art of his come from? How had he obtained the Innate Dao Physique? What exactly had happened on the road when Ran Qingmo took him hostage, and why had he risked his life at the very end to force her release? Xu Changge had asked none of it.
Or rather, Xu Changge simply did not believe that this idiot little brother, the one he had beaten up since childhood, would ever answer honestly. If he had not sealed Xu Yuan’s mouth shut before the beating, Xu Changge was quite certain he would have heard some outrageously rebellious nonsense come spilling out of the bastard’s mouth. So he had left Ying'er, the shadow guard who always followed him, at Xu Yuan’s side.
Xu Yuan judged that this was both protection and surveillance. Every move he made would probably be passed on to Xu Changge word for word. He could change his personality slowly over time, but absolutely not overnight.
Threatening to die unless Ran Qingmo was released could, at a stretch, be explained away as him having developed feelings for her on the road. And the conversation he had with Ran Qingmo at the mouth of the cave, along with the look on their faces, had probably been seen clearly enough by Xu Changge from the mountaintop with that soul sight of his.
Besides, this was not even the first time the Third Young Master had pulled some idiotic stunt like using his own life as leverage.
With that in mind, Xu Yuan let his gaze roam openly over Ying'er's slim figure, wrapped tight in black. This time Xu Changge had not gone all out. Xu Yuan had still been whipped unconscious, but after two days of recovery, he could at least get out of bed and walk around.
Ying'er entered the room and silently bent down to place the tray on the wooden table in the middle of the chamber.
Then Xu Yuan suddenly let out a small laugh and said, “So in the end, Xu Changge still gave you to me.”
Ying'er acted as though she had not heard a thing. She simply continued, calm and methodical, taking the medicinal dishes from the tray and setting them on the table.
Xu Yuan watched her, got out of bed with a smile tugging at his lips, and slowly walked up behind her graceful figure. Then he lifted a hand and went to smack her on the ass. His palm came down.
SMACK! The sharp sound cracked through the silent room.
The whole place went still.
Ying'er lowered her eyes slightly. There was not the faintest ripple of emotion in them.
Xu Yuan froze inside. This woman was so strong, so why had she not dodged? Had she not always avoided him before whenever he tried to cop a feel?
The thought flashed by in an instant. Xu Yuan kept the smile on his face and forced himself to push further, but the next moment his vision blurred.
THUD! A severed hand dropped onto the floor. The cut was clean and smooth. A deathly chill crawled over him, and the suffocating terror felt like being plunged straight into an ice cellar.
BUZZ! Then reality snapped back. His hand was still resting lightly on the woman's peach-round backside, and Ying'er had only turned her head slightly to look at him with flat, indifferent eyes.
That aura instantly reminded him of the vision he had when he first met Ran Qingmo, when he had imagined his head flying off his shoulders.
In that instant, Xu Yuan understood. She was trying to solve the problem of his wandering hands once and for all. His breathing turned ragged. Very cooperatively, he gritted his teeth and stumbled back two steps.
“Y-you... what do you mean by that?”
Ying'er said nothing. She calmly withdrew her gaze, turned, and walked out of the room. Before leaving, she still remembered to gently pull the door shut behind her.
Inside the room, silence held for two seconds.
CRASH! Xu Yuan kicked the wooden table over. The precious medicinal meal went flying and spilled all over the floor. After taking two heavy breaths, he began wrecking the room while putting on a furious show, roaring at the top of his lungs,
“I’ll kill you! How dare you treat me like this! I’ll have Father kill you! You bitch! Just wait until my cultivation catches up! I’ll cripple your meridians and lock you in the dungeon!”
ᯓ➤
On top of the little pavilion built on the giant black eagle’s back, perched out on the upturned eaves, two figures sat lazily in the wind.
The scruffy Zhou Chen was sprawled sideways along the roof, his sword laid beside him, tipping back a wine gourd and gulping from it one mouthful after another. The moment he sensed what had just happened in the main room below, Zhou Chen shivered a little.
The corner of his mouth twitched upward. He looked at Si Ziyu beside him and said with a hint of admiration, “As expected of the Third Young Master. His courage really is something else.”
Si Ziyu sat cross-legged at his side. He had sensed the commotion downstairs as well, and he chuckled softly. “When it comes to this sort of thing, the Third Young Master has always been braver than any sane man. Back then, he even had Marquis Wucheng’s granddaughter tied up and hauled back to the Chancellor’s estate.”
“He did what?” Zhou Chen looked genuinely startled. “If I remember right, wasn’t that young princess only brought to the capital a year ago to be formally acknowledged by her family?”
That was the granddaughter of the Northern War God himself, one of the great pillars of the court. And he dared to kidnap her? The Third Young Master really did have a spectacular death wish.
Si Ziyu glanced at Zhou Chen. “Otherwise, why do you think the Third Young Master left the Imperial Capital and ended up here in Stillwater a year ago?”
Zhou Chen rubbed at his stubble. His eyes flickered for a moment, then he lowered his voice and asked quietly, “So... did he pull it off?”
A trace of amusement entered Si Ziyu’s eyes. “You’re interested in that sort of thing too?”
Zhou Chen smacked his lips, disappointed. “If you can’t say it, then forget it.”
Si Ziyu looked off into the distance and replied slowly, “He almost did. Back then I was the one responsible for the Third Young Master’s safety. Marquis Wucheng’s eldest son led men straight into the Chancellor’s estate and rescued her.”
Zhou Chen shook his head and raised the gourd for another swig. “That little marquis? You could beat him?”
Si Ziyu shook his head. “No.”
Zhou Chen arched a brow. “If I remember correctly, his temper’s pretty awful, isn’t it? The Third Young Master actually survived that?”
Si Ziyu answered evenly, “The Eldest Young Master was in the estate at the time. But even he did not know that girl was Marquis Wucheng’s granddaughter.”
Zhou Chen narrowed his eyes. “You mean the little princess was snatched before she was even recognized after entering the capital? That much of a coincidence?”
Si Ziyu shook his head. “Of course it was not that much of a coincidence. The Third Young Master said he was egged on. But as for who egged him on... he couldn’t remember.”