Aside from the fact that this seraph was so unbearably conservative, Lan Xi actually liked him quite a bit.
Without even saying goodbye to Xiao Dong, he slipped through the gate in two quick steps.
Xiao Dong remained rooted to the spot in shock.
From the way those two interacted, he had the vague feeling that he had just uncovered some earth-shattering truth!
Was this… lust at first sight? Was it? After all, Young Master Wen was incredibly beautiful.
Should I tell the Wen family about this? What am I supposed to do? If something happens to Young Master Wen while he’s under my watch, won’t they hold me responsible?
Countless chaotic thoughts crowded Xiao Dong’s head as he interrogated himself. Then Fu Hui said, “You can go back.”
Xiao Dong looked up and met Fu Hui’s eyes. He instinctively shivered. All he knew to do was answer, “Mm. Mm.”
He spent the entire walk back to the hotel in a daze, as if sleepwalking, his ability to think completely gone.
Maybe I’m imagining things. There’s no need to tell the Wen family. Mr. Fu didn’t actually hug him just now, did he? And just like that, Xiao Dong successfully convinced himself.
Meanwhile, Lan Xi had familiarly made his way to the sofa and sat down.
When Fu Hui entered the living room, he deliberately chose a seat opposite him.
Lan Xi immediately followed him over.
Even the bodyguard was starting to find it amusing. This innocent girl really was entertaining.
Today, Fu Hui had someone bring Lan Xi a famous classic. Huge letters on the cover read Wuthering Heights.
Fu Hui opened to the first page and placed it in front of Lan Xi. “Sit quietly and read.”
The enormous book was impressively thick, its pages densely packed with text. It was even more capable of killing a demon’s appetite than yesterday’s brightly colored magazine.
Lan Xi could barely bring himself to keep his eyes open and simply shoved it away with one hand.
Fu Hui took in his reaction and asked, “Have you ever been to school?”
“…”
“Apparently not.” Fu Hui lightly insulted him. “Illiterate.”
Lan Xi: ?
Fu Hui had the bodyguard replace the book with another one. This time, the cover read Grade 1 Chinese, Volume 1.
He had only just sent someone out to buy it.
Fu Hui casually opened to a page. There was plenty of empty space between the pictures and printed text. He bent one finger and placed it beneath a character. “Heaven.” Then the second. “Earth.” Then the third. “Person.”
At first, Lan Xi only stared at his hand. The seraph had very beautiful hands—long, pale, clearly jointed fingers, even the veins beneath the skin somehow attractive. Only afterward did Lan Xi realize: Is he teaching me Heaven’s language?
Lan Xi knew perfectly well that being unable to read was a serious problem. If he got lost, he couldn’t even find his way back. Once, he had seen Xiao Dong happily playing with a little rectangular thing. Lan Xi had leaned his head over to look, only to discover that he couldn’t understand anything on it.
Lan Xi leaned his face close to the textbook, quickly flipped to another page, pointed at one of the characters himself, then turned toward Fu Hui with shining, expectant eyes.
For a moment, the brilliance in his eyes caught Fu Hui off guard. Fu Hui reached over and turned his head back toward the book. “So you can understand human speech after all?”
There were far too many mysteries surrounding her. Fu Hui rarely had this much patience, but he was willing to unravel them one at a time.
He placed a finger beneath a character on the new page. “Mouth.” “Ear.” “Eye.” “Hand.” “Foot.”
Warm breath brushed Lan Xi’s ear. The tip of his ear twitched.
His goat horns were threatening to emerge again.
Fu Hui didn’t care whether she had memorized anything. He turned the page and continued pointing out characters for Lan Xi. “Sun.” “Moon.” “Mountain.” “River.”
Lan Xi held his breath and briefly lost focus. I really want to sleep with him.
“Sir, your phone.” The bodyguard approached carefully and interrupted Fu Hui’s lesson.
“Mm.” Fu Hui got up and left.
Left alone with the book, Lan Xi slowly realized that the writing on the page seemed to be divided into two parts. The square-shaped symbols were clearly the main characters, while the strange curving letters above them looked like some kind of pronunciation guide.
Elio’s Notes: Pinyin is the standard romanization system used to represent Mandarin Chinese pronunciation. Beginning readers’ textbooks commonly print pinyin above Chinese characters.
Lan Xi wanted this book. With it, he could probably learn Heaven’s language much faster!
But he waited and waited, and Fu Hui never came back.
Half an hour later, the bodyguard approached and said, “Sir has some things to deal with. How about some cream mochi today?”
He asked the question, but he already knew the “girl” wasn’t going to answer him. So after speaking, the bodyguard simply headed to the kitchen.
Another hour and a half later, Lan Xi had eaten to his heart’s content. He sprawled across the sofa and tried to rediscover his professional spirit as a succubus.
Lan Xi, oh Lan Xi, you cannot let Heaven corrupt you…
Before even three minutes had passed, the bodyguard once again appeared with a plate of Zengcheng Gualü lychees.
Lan Xi had never eaten them before. He picked one up and immediately tried to put the whole thing in his mouth.
The bodyguard didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He quickly washed his hands and peeled one for him. “You eat them like this.”
Elio’s Notes: Zengcheng Gualü is a famous lychee cultivar traditionally associated with Zengcheng in Guangdong. It is especially prized for its fragrance and flavor.
So delicious… Lan Xi collapsed back against the sofa again.
So what if Heaven corrupts me? Depravity is practically synonymous with Hell. I’ll fall proudly and openly!
Fu Hui disappeared completely from his thoughts.
At two in the afternoon, Xiao Dong arrived with his heart full of anxiety to collect him.
Fu Hui still hadn’t appeared.
Lan Xi quietly swiped Grade 1 Chinese, Volume 1.
On the way back, Xiao Dong nervously chatted with him as usual. “What did you do today?”
Lan Xi squeezed out a single word. “Eat.”
Were you eating food… or was he eating you? Xiao Dong grew frightened.
Xiao Dong dug his fingernails into his palm and asked, “What else?”
Lan Xi pulled out the textbook and showed him.
Xiao Dong: “Huh???”
Not long after Lan Xi left, Fu Hui came out of the study and looked at the empty bowls and plates. “She certainly cleaned everything up.”
The bodyguard thought, When does she ever leave anything behind? At this rate, she practically wants to eat the kitchen too.
The bodyguard was baffled. “Sir, do you think maybe her family abuses her and doesn’t feed her?”
Perhaps that was why Sir pitied her and allowed her to spend time here.
Fu Hui shook his head. “Would someone who was abused have that much nerve?”
The bodyguard thought about it. That was true.
Maybe fools simply liked eating more than normal people.
“Where’s the elementary-school textbook that was on the table?”
“I haven’t seen it.” The bodyguard paused, then hurriedly added, “I’ll look for it.”
“No need. Someone swiped it.”
Who would dare steal a book from here?
Oh.
That mute girl.
But the bodyguard still couldn’t understand. “Who steals just one book?”
“Yes,” Fu Hui said softly. “Who steals just one book?”
Lan Xi turned on the television and compared the characters he saw on-screen with the ones that looked the same in his textbook.
He spent the entire evening on it and had more or less worked his way through the whole book by the time he finished.
At eight the next morning, Xiao Dong knocked on his door and asked softly, “Going out again?”
“Out,” Lan Xi said.
As usual, he tied a scarf around his head to block the sun.
Xiao Dong’s face went gray. Yesterday, Lan Xi had been out the door by seven. When there had been no movement this morning, Xiao Dong had thought they might finally be spared the trip.
Fine. Fine.
Xiao Dong continued escorting him to the villa.
When they reached the gate, Lan Xi performed the same combination as always: smile at Fu Hui, pluck a flower and give it to him, then fall toward his arms.
He still failed to get the hug.
Fu Hui caught him around the waist and steadied him.
One day…! Lan Xi secretly swore.
Once inside, Lan Xi expected the seraph to ask where yesterday’s book had gone. He didn’t.
Fu Hui settled Lan Xi in place, then another phone call summoned him away.
Lan Xi was extremely, extremely disappointed!
He could now recognize that yesterday’s book said Volume 1. That meant there absolutely had to be a Volume 2. Why isn’t he giving me Volume 2 to read?
Lan Xi spent most of the day eating and drinking. Fu Hui didn’t show his face again until Xiao Dong arrived to collect him.
Lan Xi glared at Fu Hui and reluctantly walked out.
Seeing his unhappy expression, Xiao Dong asked, “Did you two fight?”
Lan Xi said nothing.
Xiao Dong brightened instead. “Then are we still coming tomorrow?” Please say no!
Lan Xi tossed out a stiff single word. “Still.”
Xiao Dong wanted to cry.
Inside the villa, the bodyguard reported everything Lan Xi had done that day to Fu Hui.
There really wasn’t much to report. Aside from eating, all he had done was eat some more. He had also lingered outside Fu Hui’s study for quite a long time.
After finishing the report on Lan Xi, the bodyguard added, “Brother Wang called from the hospital. He wants to ask for leave. Apparently the problem with his arm is a little complicated.”
“Mm.” Fu Hui said, “Give him a medical allowance.”
Fu Hui had someone bring over a Go board and sat on the sofa, beginning a game by himself.
He wasn’t busy.
Seeing this, the bodyguard couldn’t help asking curiously, “Miss A-Lan waited for you for a long time. Why did you leave her sitting alone in the living room?”
Fu Hui idly held a black stone between his fingers. “I was teasing her.”
Another morning.
Today, Lan Xi deliberately made a small detour before leaving.
“Hey, hey! Young Master, where are you going?”
Xiao Dong followed him into a tea field.
By the time he caught up, Lan Xi had already ruthlessly snapped off several tea blossoms.
Xiao Dong nearly blacked out. “You can’t pick those! This tea field belongs to someone!”
Lan Xi turned around.
He didn’t understand.
Xiao Dong knew explaining would be useless, so he hurriedly grabbed Lan Xi and ran.
They ran, panting all the way to the villa before Xiao Dong finally relaxed.
The bodyguard on duty heard the commotion and turned around. He froze. “Why are you so early today?”
Xiao Dong gasped for breath. “We… ran… here…”
The bodyguard suppressed his surprise. After thinking it over, he went inside to get Fu Hui.
Fu Hui came out wearing a robe.
The “girl” smiled at him. Today, however, she didn’t pluck one of the flowers from his gate.
Lan Xi held out the tea blossom.
Fu Hui accepted it and lowered his head to smell it. For the first time, he gave a review. “Smells nice.”
Xiao Dong was still panting.
So… so it was… for this…
He surrendered.
Even my heart is moved.
Today, Fu Hui brought out Grade 1 Chinese, Volume 2.
The succubus was now ravenous for new knowledge and almost wished Fu Hui would leave first.
But today, Fu Hui stubbornly refused to go anywhere!
By the end of the day, Lan Xi had failed to swipe Volume 2 as well.
As Fu Hui watched him leave, Lan Xi looked both reluctant and furious enough to grind his teeth.
Fu Hui even walked over and lightly patted Lan Xi on the head. “Why are you unhappy?”
Lan Xi: “…”
Fu Hui turned to the bodyguard. “Give her some food to eat on the way.”
Once the bodyguard handed him a box of Chinese pastries, Lan Xi became a little happier.
He decided he would pick another tea blossom for Fu Hui the next day.
But the following morning, Xiao Dong wrapped both arms tightly around Lan Xi’s waist and gestured frantically. “No! That’s stealing! Stealing!”
Then he tried to frighten him. “Careful, or they’ll let a dog loose to bite you.”
When Lan Xi arrived at the villa yet again, he had no flower for Fu Hui.
If he still wanted to eat to his heart’s content today and learn new things, he would have to improvise.
Lan Xi picked up a pen.
“Want to write?” Fu Hui was rather curious to see what she could produce, so he had the bodyguard bring over a stack of blank paper.
Lan Xi pulled out one sheet and began producing a collection of incomprehensible doodles.
First he drew two little people, one with long hair and one with short hair. The short-haired person held the long-haired person’s hand, while the long-haired person went to pick flowers from a field.
Then Lan Xi added a crudely drawn dog behind them.
It was far too abstract. The corner of Fu Hui’s mouth twitched.
Lan Xi flipped through the textbook until he found the character for “flower.” He pointed at it, then at the flowers in his drawing, then at Fu Hui, then at the dog.
The bodyguard watched in confusion. Was he saying Sir was a dog?
Fu Hui: “…” Then he said, “You picked flowers, and a dog would chase you?”
Lan Xi nodded.
Immediately afterward, he remembered that he had forgotten to pretend he was stupid again.
Whatever.
It wasn’t important anymore.
Fu Hui took the pen from Lan Xi’s hand, amusement coloring his voice. “That must have been difficult for you. All that trouble just to bring me a flower.”
Lan Xi badly wanted to keep nodding.
He restrained himself.
Fu Hui opened Lan Xi’s fingers and taught him how to hold the pen correctly. Then, guiding his hand, he wrote the character for “flower” in a blank space.
Fu Hui had grabbed Lan Xi’s forearm and wrist before, but he had never actually held his fingers. Now that he did, they didn’t feel much like a girl’s hand.
But she wasn’t short, and there was nothing strange about her having long finger bones.
The thought passed quickly.
Fu Hui continued teaching Lan Xi several more characters. Finally, he taught him how to write the surname “Fu” and the character “Lan.”
Lan Xi understood that the two characters represented their names.
He immediately pulled his wrist free and, by himself, drew a line connecting the two characters.
Fu Hui: “…”
He lifted Lan Xi’s chin. “You really are stupid whenever it suits you.”
At times like this, she was remarkably clever.
Lan Xi looked completely innocent and blinked at him.
At the hotel, the doctor called Wen Ming.
“Second Young Master, Young Master hasn’t been receiving his treatment on schedule lately.”
Wen Ming forced himself to remain patient. “What happened? Can’t you just go to his room and find him? Is he throwing another tantrum?”
The doctor sighed. “The problem is that I can’t see Young Master at all. Every morning, he goes out with a hotel employee. Then he comes back in the afternoon and locks his door.”
Wen Ming frowned in displeasure. “The hotel never mentioned this to me. He goes out every morning? What is he doing?”
“I don’t know,” the doctor said.
He isn’t secretly preparing some enormous disaster again, is he?
Wen Ming glanced at his business-trip schedule and circled the flight to Min Province two days later.
Elio’s Notes: Min (闽) is a traditional abbreviation for Fujian Province. The Wuyi Mountains are located in Fujian.
He decided to go and see for himself.
If that still didn’t work—then they would have no choice but to temporarily send Wen Lan to a psychiatric hospital.
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