CH 45

Thinking of this, Fu Zhiyu raised his head again and took a closer look at the six people in front of him. The young man standing on the far left should be about the same age as him, and he was the one who seemed to Fu Zhiyu the most pleasing to the eye.

The other five were taken by Steward Zhou to a more remote courtyard according to his instructions. They were not allowed to come out at will without his request. The young man stayed behind. Fu Zhiyu beckoned, motioned for him to come over, and asked, “What’s your name?”

The young man saluted again, looking scared, his voice trembling as he said, “This slave’s name is Lu Zhi (lǜ zhī = green branch).”

“This doesn’t sound like a man’s name,” Fu Zhiyu asked again, “Do you have a real name? Where are you from? What did you do before?”

The young man hesitated for a while and said, “Yes, this slave’s original name is Lu, Lu Jian. My ancestral home is in Jiangcheng. I am the son of a concubine. I studied for a while but my family fell into poverty, so I was sold by my mother.”

So he was from a clean family. Fu Zhiyu took a closer look at his hands. He had studied and learned to read and write. Had he also learned to play a musical instrument?

“You know how to play music?”

Lu Jian nodded and said, “I can play the pipa.”

“Play it, I’ll listen,” Fu Zhiyu said, “I’ll tell someone to send a pipa in. Play it right here.”

In fact, Lu Jian’s pipa was rather mediocre, but he played a good tune. It was not the kind of gorgeous music that was often played in the capital and the palace, rather a local song, refreshing to hear.

Fu Zhiyu listened for a while, feeling somewhat interested, then stretched out his hand to interrupt Lu Jian.

“You can live in the Lilac Courtyard. Just you, no need to squeeze with the others,” Fu Zhiyu said. “Tell the steward what you need, I… I will see you at night.”

Lu Jian trembled for a moment, then glanced at Fu Zhiyu secretly again, knowing what the master meant, and retreated after saluting.

In the evening, Fu Zhiyu and Yuan Mingdao didn’t mention this trivial matter when they had dinner.

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Yuan Mingdao has been practising martial arts in his courtyard recently with his half-moon scimitar. Fu Zhiyu had entrusted his younger uncle to ask the caravan that was going to the Western Regions to find it in advance. Thanks to Fu Zhiyu’s pills, the merchant of the Western Regions had recently had a good relationship with Yuan Jiangwen. Hearing of this request, he bought the scimitar and delivered it to Yuan Mingdao directly. 

This scimitar was Yuan Mingdao’s other life. He had been practising with it in the small courtyard in order to restore his previous skills as soon as possible. Now he also left quickly after eating.

“Don’t move at once just after you’ve eaten,” Fu Zhiyu didn’t forget to remind him, feeling that it was really like raising a son, “Rest for some time!”

Yuan Mingdao had long slipped away and it took a while for Fu Zhiyu to hear his reply: “I know~”

Fu Zhiyu sighed sadly: the child grew older and couldn’t be controlled.

In the evening, he was alone in the Huxin Pavilion, enjoying the moon. He drank a sip of wine when he felt like it until Steward Zhou reminded him that someone was waiting for him.

The Lilac Courtyard was one of the better courtyards in the back of the residence. It was originally supposed to be a place where the imperial concubines would live, different from simple concubines who were not allowed to leave the courtyard without permission. But Fu Zhiyu now had no imperial concubines, so he could make whatever arrangements he wanted.

He didn’t care too much about whether there were any spies sent by the Crown Prince. There was really nothing to spy on in this residence. No matter what the Crown Prince could see, he couldn’t find anything wrong. Fu Zhiyu obviously saw that one of the concubines was most pleasing to the eye and tried him out when he was bored.

It was normal for a person to have physical needs. He was not a saint either. It would be better if he could get rid of the shadow of Xie Ke in his previous life.

Besides, in the past, he had only wronged himself for Xie Ke’s sake. Now he naturally had no such concerns.

While thinking like this, Fu Zhiyu opened the door of the Lilac Courtyard.

Lu Jian had already freshened up, and he finally didn’t have that scent of the greasy powder that Fu Zhiyu hated. He only wore a white robe and looked much more handsome.

Fu Zhiyu was half a head taller than Lu Jian. He still had a half-full jug of wine in his hand. Sitting down on the seat in the room, he beckoned to Lu Jian to come over.

Lu Jian walked up to him and didn’t dare to move closer.

“Are you afraid of me?” Fu Zhiyu asked him.

Lu Jian shook his head hurriedly and said, “No… Wang Zhao is too precious, this slave dares not…”

Fu Zhiyu laughed when he heard this. He felt that Lu Jian seemed to regard him as some kind of precious porcelain, the kind that would break when touched.

Lu Jian lowered his head, unable to resist the desire to see Wang Zhao smile again.

The concubines chosen by the emperor were naturally all good-looking. The reason why Lu Jian was sold by his mother was also because of his face. He was sold for a full five hundred taels of silver in a remote place, which was enough for the family to live a long and prosperous life. Later, after several changes of hands, he was sent to the capital. Wang Zhao was the first person he would serve after he had been trained for a long time.

He was listening to some gossip outside and the rumours were that Wang Zhao was a fool and his brain was not working. The emperor pitied him and made him a wang. Before Lu Jian came here, he thought he would see a dumb, demented man. But once he took a look at the man sitting in front of him, he didn’t dare to breathe.

How in the world could there be such a good-looking man?…

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He couldn’t help feeling ashamed of himself. He only felt that his face, which was worth five hundred taels of silver, was really nothing in front of Wang Zhao. He didn’t expect that this noble would take a special fancy to him. Now Wang Zhao was sitting in front of him, with a faint smell of wine on his body. Under the dim light, he could make anyone’s heart tremble with his beauty.

Lu Jian watched Fu Zhiyu stand up, get closer and closer to him, watched him lower his head and ask softly in his ear: “Have they taught you how to please your master?”

Lu Jian’s mind was blank, and he couldn’t say a word, but he heard Fu Zhiyu chuckle, and the smell of wine on his body seemed to be a little stronger.

“No?

It’s fine… let me teach you.”

But before the ambiguous atmosphere was created, Lu Jian heard the sound of the door being kicked open with a bang. He was startled, and then instinctively ran to hide behind the nearest table.

Fu Zhiyu was a little drunk, but he was also awakened by the sound. Anyone who was disturbed at this moment would be unhappy. He was angry and turned his head to see that it was Xie Ke.

He came alone, and Fu Zhiyu couldn’t see his expression clearly but he saw Xie Ke walking in slowly with a silver spear in his hand. The tip of the silver spear scraped over on the ground, making a sharp, chilling sound.

Fu Zhiyu frowned: “What are you doing here again?”

Xie Ke was obviously seriously sick, on the verge of dying, but he walked over like a desperate Yama, King of Hell. Lu Jian was so frightened that he couldn’t even speak, so he just shrank behind the table, trembling all over.

“Which hand did he touch you with?” Fu Zhiyu heard Xie Ke’s low, hoarse voice, completely different from usual, “I…”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Fu Zhiyu: “He didn’t touch me, but I touched him. I touched him with both hands. What now? Does General Xie want to cut off my hands? There are five other people in the courtyard, so what? What does this have to do with you?”

Xie Ke slowly turned his head to look at him. In the dim light Fu Zhiyu could see that his eyes were bloodshot. After listening to his words, Xie Ke seemed to have suffered some great grievance.

Fu Zhiyu: “……”

In his life he had seen too many different sides of Xie Ke, but it was the first time he had seen him on the verge of crying.

General Xie would still shed tears for this kind of thing, it was really… crazy.

Xie Ke stared at Fu Zhiyu for a while, only to feel that his heart was about to be crumpled into a ball by the person in front of him. Obviously, he was in a good mood after meeting Zhiyu during the day today, and he was about to go back to recover from his injuries. He didn’t expect to hear Nong Yu hesitantly tell him such a thing.

He felt that the blood all over his body rushed into his head all at once, and he couldn’t tell how he was feeling. He felt that it was a hundred times more painful than the wounds on his body. Now he saw Fu Zhiyu, but he couldn’t be angry with him, and his hand holding the silver spear was shaking.

“I… what exactly can I do?” He gritted his teeth and asked, only to feel that the splitting wounds on his body stretched all the way to his heart, causing him to be enveloped in pain, “If you have some pity on me, Zhiyu, you can’t do this to me…”

When he walked up to Fu Zhiyu, the tip of the silver spear was pointed at Lu Jian, and Lu Jian didn’t dare to move, only watching the tip of the spear aiming at his chest.

Fu Zhiyu was almost about to hold his forehead. Naturally, he didn’t have any ambiguous thoughts now, and no matter what, Lu Jian was an innocent man.

“Put down the spear.” He was a little angry, stood directly in front of Lu Jian, kicked away the tip of the spear and stared at Xie Ke, obviously furious, saying word by word, “You, dare.”

Fu Zhiyu used a lot of strength. He was already very strong after his mutation and probably there was also Xie Ke’s injury. Obviously, Xie Ke could restrain Fu Zhiyu more than a year ago, but now Fu Zhiyu kicked away the tip of the spear and Xie Ke took a step back.

His wound must have opened again, and the smell of blood gradually filled the room.

“Get up,” Fu Zhiyu ignored him, lowered his head and helped Lu Jian up, realising that the young man was so scared he was limp all over.

Indeed, in this situation neither side could be in any ambiguous mood.

Xie Ke watched his movements, feeling as if all his emotions were controlled by the man in front of him, and yet he was willing.

He finally threw the silver spear aside and then covered his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Zhiyu, I’m obviously ready to change…” There was a slight choking sound in his voice, “I don’t want to scare you, nor do I want to make you angry, I just, just, don’t want to see you touch others, it will kill me, it really will…”

Fu Zhiyu looked at him, and then at Lu Jian, who was almost paralysed on the ground. The feeling in his heart was indescribably complicated.

Wasn’t it just favouring someone? What did Xie Ke think of himself as? What was he playing at?