Chapter 14.1

The steam rose, and the whole bowl of soup was suddenly splashed all over Huo Wujiu’s legs, dripping down along the fabric of his robe.

The maids all around the room cried out in alarm. Sun Yuan at the back also jumped up in shock and hurriedly grabbed a cloth towel to help wipe him.

Huo Wujiu was the only one sitting there motionless.

Even if the boiling hot soup spilled on his robe and not directly on his skin, it still hurt.

But the pain of the flesh was nothing to him. He only lowered his eyes and looked at his legs.

He watched as she deliberately poured the soup over him. That move in the eyes of martial arts practitioners was the most clumsy slow motion, but he could not avoid it.

Because his legs could not move.

This kind of humiliation was much harder to endure than physical pain.

A moment later, Huo Wujiu raised his eyes and gave Tao Zhi a faint look.

If she hadn’t been a woman, he would have returned the hot soup a hundredfold, pouring it all down her throat.

But he would never raise his hand against a woman.

However, this cold and sinister glance also made Tao Zhi shiver with fright, and she retreated back involuntarily.

Then, she came back to her senses.

What was she doing? This cripple glared at her, and she actually got scared?

What was so scary about him? The King was not in the residence today anyway! She was the only one in the courtyard who had the final say right now. She didn’t believe that other servants dared to rat her out to the King, nor did she believe that this cripple had the face to go to the King to complain!

Tao Zhi immediately glared back and sneered: “Blame me for being careless and tripping accidentally. It’s just that Master didn’t know how to dodge. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been scalded.”

Then, she raised her eyes and looked at Sun Yuan at the back of the room.

“Why are you so stupid, you servant? I asked you to serve here and push Master’s wheelchair. What are you doing standing there? Since you’re so stupid, you should go out and sweep the yard tomorrow!”

The King usually stayed in Anyin Hall for a short time, and Meng Qianshan would accompany him everywhere he went, so she was used to playing the tyrant in this courtyard.

Naturally, she scolded everyone around her to her heart’s content. After the scolding, a few bolder ones would step forward to pacify her and smooth things over.

However, this time, when she finished scolding, the room was so quiet that even a pin drop could be heard.

She took a few breaths and looked around with a frown.

The room was full of maids, each with their heads hung low, like a group of quails.

Tao Zhi sized them up and frowned unhappily.

What? Was it because a concubine was in the room today that they were scared like this? He was just a cripple who couldn’t even walk. What was so scary about him?

She snorted coldly and turned around to leave.

But just as she whirled around, she spotted two people standing in front of the door of the room.

Tao Zhi’s legs went limp, and she dropped on her knees.

“Y-Your Highness!”

——

Jiang Suizhou stayed in the study until twilight.

An invitation was sent to him early, and two officials from the Ministry of Works invited him out to drink at night. Jiang Suizhou was new to this place and didn’t even know how well he could drink, so he weighed his options and chose to abstain from the banquet.

He stalled for a while and simply asked Meng Qianshan to personally take the post back, saying that he did not sleep well last night and caught a cold; he was recovering at home today.

Fortunately, he was notoriously known for being sick, so the excuse went quite well, and the two did not press the issue any further.

After dealing with this matter, Jiang Suizhou left the study.

Although his room was now stuffed with a ferocious sick tiger, he couldn’t take this excuse to skip dinner.

To his surprise, just as he reached the door of his main room, he happened to hear Tao Zhi reproaching Huo Wujiu cryptically.

The maid was standing in front of the table, blocking Huo Wujiu, who was sitting in his wheelchair. She stood with arms akimbo, and her shrill voice could be heard from a distance.

When Meng Qianshan saw this picture, his face changed drastically. He was about to speak, but Jiang Suizhou raised hand to stop him.

Although Jiang Suizhou couldn’t see the maid’s face, he could tell from her clothing that she was the one who bumped into Huo Wujiu when carrying a box at noon today. He thought that she would no longer dare to act out after he had scolded her, but he didn’t expect this maid to be so arrogant.

Jiang Suizhou couldn’t tell if she thought her own life was too long or if she had lived long enough.

He just quietly watched her arrogantly fly off the handle, and then watched her turn around and look at him in surprise. Then her legs went jelly in fright, and she collapsed to the ground.

Jiang Suizhou looked at her shivering appearance, a little speechless.

What was the use of being afraid now? Why didn’t she know how to be afraid when facing the fiendish-looking Huo Wujiu just now?

He had always loathed people with these deep-rooted bad habits.

As a man transmigrating back a thousand years, he thought he retained the respect he should have for life and personality. However, there were some people who were respected for their personality, but wanted to trample on others’; originally, they were enslaved, but turned their heads to put on a superior air to enslave others.

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