“Huh?” This time, Qing Zhu was the bewildered one. For a moment, he could not remember where their conversation had reached.
“What rumor?” Ning Xuan repeated.
Qing Zhu paused, assuming Ning Xuan was merely embarrassed. His expression immediately turned wicked, like some lecherous old uncle, and he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Come on. We’re such good brothers, yet you’re still hiding it from me? Isn’t that a little distant? Besides, there’s nothing embarrassing about this. So many people have watched and waited desperately for an opportunity like yours, crowding close to the master every day without getting anywhere. None of them could match your speed. Tsk, tsk—impressive! You’ve really made us proud!”
As he spoke, Qing Zhu wrapped an arm around Ning Xuan and vigorously ruffled the hairstyle Ning Xuan had struggled so hard to arrange.
Ning Xuan’s eyelid twitched. His instincts told him this was nothing good. Judging by the wildly different yet universally intense reactions around him, a chill kept creeping down the back of his neck.
Ning Xuan’s blank expression finally made Qing Zhu’s pride falter. He looked up and only then noticed Mo Qi furiously signaling him, the corner of one eye nearly twitching from the effort. Qing Zhu inwardly cried out in alarm. He remembered that they had joked about something similar several days earlier. Ning Xuan had not reacted with disgust, but he had certainly looked as though lightning had struck him. Seeing Mo Qi leaning helplessly against a pillar with a sigh, Qing Zhu wanted nothing more than to release the person in his arms and flee for his life.
Ning Xuan straightened and stared directly at Qing Zhu, his dark eyes restrained and solemn. Under that gaze, Qing Zhu wanted to turn and escape, but even the bones in his body seemed to stiffen.
“Heh, heh…” Qing Zhu forced a smile that did not reach his eyes and hurriedly attempted to muddle through. “It isn’t anything important. Everyone was just joking around and saying things casually.” He tried to run, but Ning Xuan’s unfathomable tone froze him in place.
“Oh? What sort of ‘joke’? What were they ‘casually saying’? Tell me too. Don’t keep enjoying yourselves in secret while leaving me completely confused.” Ning Xuan smiled. He smiled and genuinely believed it was a smile.
Ignoring Qing Zhu’s tearful expression, Mo Qi walked away without looking back and went to work inside the library.
Knowing his final hope of rescue had disappeared, Qing Zhu gritted his teeth and decided to risk everything. “It truly isn’t anything serious. Everyone heard that you’ve won the master’s favor, so naturally they started discussing it. You don’t need to care about what they say. For servants like us, who have no education and know nothing about wielding swords, this is the best possible path. They’re only calling the grapes sour because they can’t eat them. Some even say your good fortune won’t last…”
At this point, Qing Zhu’s expression turned furious. Then he became earnest and determined. “As for you, this is a rare opportunity, so you must seize it properly. No matter how unpleasant their words become, now that things have reached this point, all they can do is talk. They wouldn’t dare go too far. Once you become a young gentleman, won’t they all have to cling to you? So worrying about gossip, dignity, or status would be a complete waste! What dignity or status do servants like us possess? Even if it’s like they say—that you… that you…” Qing Zhu faltered before waving the matter away. “Anyway, as long as you push forward and become one of the young gentlemen in the western wing, all of them will have to shut their mouths. Won’t the people who usually make your life difficult come rushing over to flatter you and serve you humbly?”
“So, brother, this opportunity is hard to come by. You must hold on to it tightly, understand?” Qing Zhu solemnly patted Ning Xuan’s shoulder, wearing an expression that clearly said, I believe in you.
Qing Zhu had avoided the heart of the matter, leaving Ning Xuan as confused as ever. Still, several grating words—words that should have had absolutely nothing to do with him—struck Ning Xuan like a needle against his spine. “The master? Which master are you talking about?”
“There’s only one true master in this entire residence. Who else could simply be called ‘the master’?” Qing Zhu asked with amusement. “The people in the other wings count as masters too, but at most they’re half-masters, and we cannot ordinarily address them that way. Don’t we call them Madam or Young Master?”
A bolt of lightning struck Ning Xuan. So this was the heart of the misunderstanding! Heaven knew that since entering the residence, he had barely met any of the madams or young gentlemen from the various wings. Even on the rare occasions he glimpsed them, it was only from a great distance, and he could not distinguish their eyebrows from their eyes—much less recognize the supposedly exalted Prince Rong, Feng Xuanyi!
The very thought made his calves tremble. Ning Xuan knew perfectly well that he had no talent for flattering powerful people. If he truly encountered such a fearsome figure, his unrestrained mouth might somehow cost him his life. Therefore, apart from joking and fooling around casually with Mo Qi and Qing Zhu, Ning Xuan had kept his head lowered ever since entering the residence, behaving and working as inconspicuously as possible.
“Could everyone have made a mistake? I barely know anyone in this residence. I would run from such an important person, not approach him!” Ning Xuan pressed a hand to his forehead.
Qing Zhu assumed Ning Xuan was thin-skinned and too embarrassed to admit it, so he did not press him further. He merely smiled ambiguously and muttered, “Fine, fine. Keep hiding it and let’s see how long you can hold out. What a pity, though. I was so close, yet I never had the opportunity to witness yesterday’s tender scene of you standing shoulder to shoulder in an embrace. Honestly, you’re treating me like an outsider.”
Before Ning Xuan could react, Qing Zhu turned and strolled away at a leisurely pace, presenting Ning Xuan with a back he desperately wanted to charge over and beat.
Throughout the morning, an unspoken atmosphere hung between the three people in the library. Mo Qi was tolerable, maintaining his usual indifferent, corpse-like expression. Qing Zhu was another matter entirely. He wore an ambiguous smile and occasionally released a low chuckle, whether deliberately or accidentally. Whenever Ning Xuan’s sharp gaze fell upon him, he hurriedly looked away and coughed to conceal it—only to burst out laughing halfway through the cough on more than one occasion.
Ning Xuan ground his teeth in fury and mentally marked the unseen “master,” who had somehow caused him endless trouble, as a dangerous individual. Prince Rong must have been fundamentally incompatible with him. Ning Xuan had hidden himself so thoroughly, yet the man could still cause him this much trouble. If they ever had the misfortune of meeting face-to-face, Ning Xuan could not imagine how he might die.
When the long-awaited lunch finally arrived, Ning Xuan entered the dining room with great anticipation. Though not particularly large, the room could still hold thirty or forty servants. The instant he stepped inside, it fell completely silent. Damn it! Do they really think I’m a virus?!
Pretending nothing was wrong, Ning Xuan sat with Mo Qi and Qing Zhu at a table in the corner. The two people who had originally been sitting there immediately vanished without a trace as though desperate to escape. The corner of Ning Xuan’s mouth twitched, and the hand holding his chopsticks trembled.
Ning Xuan tried his hardest to ignore everything around him, but with everyone engaging in such blatantly obvious “whispers,” only a deaf man—or a dead one—could have failed to hear.
Damn it! Someone explain to me what they mean by, “He’s only relying on his looks, yet he shamelessly insists on climbing into the master’s bed”! And what do they mean by, “Look at that seductive face of his—neither man nor woman, strange and unnatural. Who knows what the master sees in him?”
With great “gentleness,” Ning Xuan tapped his chopsticks against the table. The enormous room instantly fell silent.
Damn it! Do they think I’m some kind of chicken? No—a duck! The shameless kind who throws himself at customers, and a male duck who warms another man’s bed!
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