Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Stay away from me then, there’s a person in there that despises the smell of women’s perfume.”
That ‘person’ in question was none other than young master Jiang Zhi. His health had always remained below optimal, so what choice did they have but to pamper him like a precious toddler?
The woman also noticed his serious tone and reluctantly distanced herself away from Xue Baoyi. Wearing an obedient look on her face which made up most of her charm, she asked, “Second Master, did my acting of the Chinese film script pass?”
This woman was a rookie actress who had signed a contract with the Bao Guang Company just last month.
Rubbing his chin, Xue Baoyi smiled. “You’re already thinking about my resources when you haven’t even served me yet?”
“How detestable of you to speak of me like that,” The woman replied playfully.
“No need to rush it.” Xue Baoyi produced a business card from his pocket, and taking advantage of her dress’s low neckline, he tucked it into the woman’s cleavage. His actions were, to say the least, dissolute. Only his eyes remained sharper than a knife’s edge as he whispered, “Sit tight and wait for my call.”
Before he even had the chance to withdraw his hands, the sound of a man’s cough echoed down the veranda from behind. The cough sounded as if it carried hints of disdain for Xue Baoyi’s unsightly conduct. Though, the sound of a man clearing his throat soon followed
Xue Baoyi retrieved his hand and craned his neck backward. “What’s up?” He asked in a displeased tone.
The lighting was dim in the veranda of the floating hall. Gray-green lampshades blocked out most of the glare from the lightbulbs, leaving light that was bright enough to only reveal the blurry figure of a man standing in the shadows. The man had a long, slender figure, and was wearing a beige overcoat matched with a pastel-pink wool sweater underneath.
Such a feminine combination of colors accompanied by that doll-like face. These features were all befitting of the pretty boy standing before Xue Baoyi.
The ‘pretty boy’ slowly approached Xue Baoyi with a pair of eyes that appeared to be those of an innocent fawn’s. “Have you no shame!?” He yelled out unexpectedly.
Xue Baoyi grinned like the dregs of society that he was and replied, “What is there to feel ashamed about? Did you think everyone in this world should remain as untainted as you?”
The untainted ‘pretty boy’ glanced away and unintentionally stopped at the woman’s cleavage. His eyes widened instantly and his face reddened. Because he was born with an innocent and harmless nature, the threats he yelled out carried no weight on its own.
“Hurry up and come in. Don’t make me lose face, performing such obscene acts while loitering outside.”
The ‘pretty boy’ said these words before turning to leave.
The woman smiled and asked, “Second Master, who’s that?”
Xue Baoyi straightened his coat and replied, “My uncle, the third child of the Xue family.”
Oh, the child which the head of the Xue family had been blessed with despite his old age.
Pushing open the door of the room, Xue Baoyi was only one step into the room before the sharp claw of a chicken swiped at his feet.
“What the f*ck!” He kicked at his feathery assailant. “Why is there a chicken here!?”
“Cluck, cluck, cluck!”
The chicken was kicked into a corner of the room, clucking loudly in protest of its abuse.
Ah Wan walked over to the chicken and stepped down on the rope which was tied to the bird’s legs, preventing it from further running amok in the room. He then explained, “This chicken is Master Jiang’s.”
He had brought it along with him tonight as the chicken would be slaughtered as soon as they reached home later. The plan was to then stew it into a medicinal soup for the young master.
Xue Baoyi pulled a napkin out and wiped his leather shoes clean. “Brother Zhi, have you switched careers from filming to chicken farming?” He asked cheekily.
The furniture decorating the room were all priceless antiques.
Ah Wan replied in his master’s stead, “This was a gift from someone else.”
Xue Baoyi continued rubbing his shoes before crumpling the napkin into a ball and dunking it into a nearby trash can. “People are still gifting chickens in this day and age?” He pulled out a rattan chair and sat down. He then positioned his long legs comfortably onto the coffee table. “Who’s that person? A male or a female.”
Ah Wan was just about to reply when Jiang Zhi raised his eyebrows lazily and shot a look at his bodyguard. “You and that chicken. Out of this room, now.”
Picking up the chicken, Ah Wan exited the room obediently.
“Where’s Nanchu?” Jiang Zhi inquired.
It was late autumn, hence why he was wearing that thick wool overcoat that was wrapped tightly around his body. His mental state was declining too, explaining his spiritless expression.
Xue Baoyi poured a glass for himself and replied, “A new dispute broke out between him and his dad. He’ll be arriving late, I reckon.”
This meeting was on his tab, but his third uncle had stepped in to take the reins for now.
“I’m cold,” Jiang Zhi whined as he kicked Xue Baoyi’s calves.
His body was as fragile as glass. Not only was he susceptible to the cold weather, but he also couldn’t stand the heat of summer either. Winter hadn’t even arrived and he was already complaining about the temperature on a daily basis. Xue Baoyi, amused by Jiang Zhi’s frailness, proclaimed, “Oh, you really are acting like my gramps right now!”
He placed his glass of alcohol down before getting up to find Jiang Zhi a blanket to shield against the cold.
Xue Baoyi had no other choice. Just as Jiang Zhi was susceptible to his environment, this man was susceptible to pretty things. Among the people in his family, he was the one who was the most willing to spoil Jiang Zhi rotten.
It was only after he had left did Jiang Zhi turn to ask the man sitting silently beside him. “Where’s my medication?”
It was the third eldest of the Xue family, Xue Bingxue.
A great big man but with a doll-like face. His face was filled with collagen and he had lips redder than any woman, eyelashes longer than any woman, and eyes rounder than any woman. Still, his delicateness was distinct from Jiang Zhi’s.
In Xue Baoyi’s words, “My third uncle is like a silly white candy. He’s already at the ripe age of twenty-eight and yet, he’s as naive as a middle-school girl. With kindness rivaling that of Mother Theresa’s, I bet your ass he’s a masochist in bed. There’s no other explanation as to why he’s still crushing on women when men his age would otherwise swoop right in for the kill. Might I add that the woman he’s crushing on is someone that wouldn’t hesitate to tear open his pants and clutch his ‘you know what’ in her hands like a stress ball!”
Xue Bingxue retrieved a bottle of pills from his pocket and passed it over to Jiang Zhi. “Take only one per week. Not a single pill more.”
Jiang Zhi mumbled a reply as he unscrewed the bottle cap. Then, he poured a single pill out onto his palm and flung it into his mouth, followed by a mouthful of warm water. After that, he tucked the bottle away into his pocket before stretching out his arms and rested it on the edge of the table.
Xue Bingxue was a doctor, a specialist in hematology to be specific. Apart from that, he was also a successor of his master, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine practitioner.
He walked over and took a pulse reading from Jiang Zhi.
The man was suffering from a congenital illness that arose due to the defects of his lungs as well as his heart.
This was the diagnosis given by the doctor when Jiang Zhi was barely five years old. He was born prematurely when his mother was just seven months into her pregnancy. This resulted in his naturally weak constitution, but if looked after carefully, the risk of death should be near zero. The chronic deficiency he was suffering from, under the warm care of the Jiang family, was originally under control. And yet, his situation at some point had started worsening, and later on, they would find out that his organs were slowly deteriorating, severely weakening the boy as his health went into a nosedive.
Winter, of all seasons, was the time when his illness would flare up. There would even be times when he became bed-ridden and would cough up mouthfuls of blood. The oddity, however, was that while it was apparent he was suffering from some illness, no doctor was able to conclude their diagnosis of his condition.
If it wasn’t for the young man stumbling forward stubbornly through life, he would’ve been dead long ago.
There were rumors around the Jiang family that the young master would not live past 25, and as of this year, he was already 24.
“It’s not worth it to do all of this for that group of people,” Xue Bingxue said.
The medicine tasted extremely bitter. So bitter in fact, that Jiang Zhi poured himself a small glass of alcohol which he downed in order to wash out its aftertaste. He hated alcohol. His brows furrowed as the alcohol burned his throat, making him feel a little sick in the gut too.
Setting aside the glass, Jiang Zhi lay down again. Perhaps the effects of the medication had started kicking in as he was feeling slightly drowsy. “Keep the lid shut tightly on my condition. Don’t let your nephew know about this. He has a one-track mind and no secret can remain a secret when passed into his ears.”
Xue Baoyi was no idiot. It was just his lips that he struggled to keep shut.
Xue Bingxue sat upright with good posture. “Understood.”
Speaking of the devil, Xue Baoyi returned to the room as soon as their discreet conversation had ended. “Brother Zhi, a buddy of yours picked this girly pink one just for you.”
Jiang Zhi glanced at the pastel pink sweater Xue Bingxue was wearing underneath his coat before coldly shooting back at Xue Baoyi with a single word.
“Idiot.”
“…”
Xue Baoyi rolled his eyes.
Ah, having been verbally abused by Brother Zhi a countless number of times, he still treated the man like his first love.
In front of the Floating Hall was a courtyard with 8 entrances and 8 exits. It had been renovated recently and modern decorations and infrastructure were added to the place, segregating it into an inner building and an outer building. The latter was used to house ordinary guests while the former was only reserved for dignitaries of the imperial capital and was more intricately decorated.
The Floating Hall was situated in the Luo family’s territory. They were a wealthy bunch but because their roots in this city weren’t particularly deep, they were not included as part of the “Big Four” families.
Zhou Xufang glanced up at the door plaque. She didn’t know there was even such a place in the imperial capital. With a shoulder bag slung across her body, she walked through the front hall, only to be stopped by its employees.
A lady wearing an alluring short cheongsam maintained a friendly expression, and with a sweet smile, she explained. “I’m sorry but this area is reserved for VIP guests only.”
The rain was pouring down outside. Zhou Xufang wore her usual outfit, a black raincoat, black waterproof boots, and black everything else, except for her yellow cap which was issued for delivery workers by her company. She also covered her face with a mask, shrouding her identity in mystery.
She took out a phone from her pocket and dialed a number.
“Your delivery is here, sir.”
Whenever she had time to spare, she would always take up delivery jobs for a seafood rice porridge restaurant. Her boss was a really nice lady. She used to frequent the shop and it was during one of her visits that they had messed up her order. They had mistakenly placed an egg into her porridge which had made her drunk. Without further contemplation, the boss had allowed her to spend the night there, and it was after said incident that she would help out the shop from time to time, perhaps to repay her debt to the kind-hearted lady.
The voice on the other end of the line was a woman’s voice. “Room 304, send it over.”
“They won’t let me in,” Zhou Xufang replied.
This time, a man’s voice sounded from the earpiece. “Pass the phone over to the person who stopped you.”
Zhou Xufang handed her phone over to the lady in the cheongsam. With most of her hand covered by the raincoat, she tried her best to avoid making physical contact with the lady.
After a moment on the phone, the lady returned the phone to Zhou Xufang.
“You can go in now.”
Zhou Xufang took her phone back by grabbing onto one of its corners. Carefully, she retrieved it as if she was holding a ticking bomb. After that, she made her way into the inner courtyard where she was met with four separate lanes. Each had different paintings of plum blossoms erected beside them. She sent a short text asking the customer which lane she had to take, but after a few minutes of silence, she decided to find out herself.