CH 126

January 17, 2023Merchie

Shen Shijiu shuffled down the steps, and began to walk back with his head lowered.

He didn’t know why Wei Yiren was here, in Pei Zheng’s room. Could Pei Zheng have called her over?

Shen Shijiu felt a bit wronged, and was walking rather slowly; he didn’t see the person coming toward him.

“Aiyo!”

Shen Shijiu’s shoulder accidentally bumped into that person as he passed by. He looked back, and saw a very arrogant-looking young master standing in front of him.

That young master had a few servants following him, and they all looked quite mean.

“Young Master, are you all right? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

This boy was the young master of Liuyun Villa, and was also Mistress Qian’s son. He took his mother’s surname, so this villa could also be said to be his territory.

“How can I be all right, my clothes were dirtied! Who didn’t watch where they were going and crash into me?!”

Shen Shijiu apologized quietly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose…”

Young Master Qian cast him a sidelong glance, “So many people came to the villa today. Whose family do you belong to?”

Shen Shijiu thought for a moment; was he with the General’s Manor or the Prime Minister’s Manor? For a moment, he didn’t answer.

A servant at the side thought that he wasn’t replying on purpose, and gave him a shove.

“Hey! The young master asked you a question! Did you not hear him?”

Shen Shijiu said, “I heard him. I’m thinking about it.”

“Do you really need to think about it? The family you belong to is the family you belong to, unless you’re an idiot that doesn’t even know that.”

Shen Shijiu’s little face became serious, “I’m not an idiot, I just need to think for a moment.”

Young Master Qian looked at him with interest, “Oh, so you know how to argue too. No matter which family you’re with, you’re still just a servant. Do you dare to argue with your master too?”

Shen Shijiu muttered, “But I’m not a servant either… “

At this moment, the door of the wing room at the side opened. Wei Yiren walked out, and saw the people standing on the path.

“Qian Xiao, what’s going on? What are you all doing, you’re so noisy!”

Qian Xiao was Young Master Qian’s name. He had known Wei Yiren since he was young, and it was no secret that he liked her.

“Yiren, so you were here after all. I’ve been looking for you for ages. Earlier, Uncle Wei asked me if I knew where you went…”

Wei Yiren became nervous, “Then did you tell my father?”

“I didn’t, I didn’t say a thing, don’t worry.”

Wei Yiren’s expression relaxed, “You all should hurry up and leave, don’t stay here for too long. It wouldn’t be good if someone saw you.”

Qian Xiao looked displeased, “Yiren, you should come with me then. It would be even worse if someone saw you here. This… this is that Lord Pei’s room.”

Wei Yiren eyed him for a moment, “I know, which is why I want you all to leave and not draw attention to yourselves. Lord Pei isn’t back yet. If he sees this many people surrounding his room, he’ll definitely be irritated.”

Shen Shijiu heard this and looked suspiciously at Wei Yiren, who was standing by the door. So His Lordship wasn’t here. Then why did this Wei Yiren take it upon herself to run over to His Lordship’s room? Didn’t she know that by doing this, His Lordship would be even more irritated?

“Miss Wei, you can’t do this. If His Lordship isn’t here, you can’t enter his room. His Lordship doesn’t like…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Wei Yiren interrupted him.

“Shut up, do you know his Lordship that well? I saw it all today, you entered General Zhao’s pavilion! You must have some kind of relationship with General Zhao!”

Shen Shijiu was a bit surprised; Wei Yiren was actually using that to chastise him, “I don’t. I don’t have any relationship with General Zhao, I was just taking A-Yue back…”

“Hmph, I’m not listening to you. I don’t want to hear your explanation either. Whatever the case, I want you all to disappear from here right now!”

Wei Yiren’s voice had risen slightly, and she looked quite angry.

Qian Xiao answered in a servile tone, “Yiren, don’t be angry, don’t be angry. I’ll leave, I’ll come back a bit later.”

“Don’t come back. I don’t have time to play house with you anymore. Qian Xiao, you’ve been playing for so many years, it’s about time you grew up! Even if you don’t care about yourself, you should care a little about me. You’re always bothering me, if Lord Pei or the other lords saw it, how could I continue to live?!”

Qian Xiao looked visibly embarrassed. He smiled, “Okay, I understand.”

Then, he turned and left without saying a word.

Shen Shijiu was still standing to the side. His eyes were round. He glanced at Wei Yiren for one moment, then at Qian Xiao the next, looking very innocent.

But Qian Xiao felt that he had lost face, “What are you looking at?! Hurry up and get out of here!”

Shen Shijiu blinked and said quietly, “I was just about to leave, but you all blocked my way…”

“You still dare to talk back?! Do you think that this young master is easy to bully?! Do you believe that this young master can toss you right out of the villa?!”

The servants at the side looked so angry that it really seemed as though they were going to pin Shen Shijiu to a rack and throw him out.

“All right, Qian Xiao, let him leave. You can’t actually do anything to him. I’m not sure about the specifics of his background, so we can’t provoke him.”

Wei Yiren said enigmatically, “And if you really throw him out, something terrible could happen to you.”

But Qian Xiao felt that these words were sweeping the floor with his face. He was just a servant, and what’s more, this villa was his territory; no one who came here dared to show anything but the utmost respect for his mother.

“Yiren, are you worried about me? Don’t worry, nothing will happen to me.”

Qian Xiao waved his hand nonchalantly, “Drag him away.”

Those servants stepped forward and grabbed Shen Shijiu, before they quickly dragged him away.

Shen Shijiu was already feeling quite wronged. Now, he had no clue why these people insisted on taking him away, and they were walking quite fast tool; he couldn’t even keep up by jogging.

He ran for a while, before they finally came to the end of the path. Only when they were quite some distance from the three-story building did those servants let him go.

Shen Shijiu couldn’t control his legs. He staggered forward a step and immediately fell onto his stomach.

Fortunately, his clothes were thick, so he wasn’t injured. However, the small man lying on the ground held a grievance in his heart. His eyes immediately reddened, and a bean-sized tear splashed onto the stone path.

Qian Xiao leisurely walked over from behind. When he saw Shen Shijiu lying on the ground, he came up to him and prodded him with his foot.

“Hey! Get up! No one’s going to help you up!”

Shen Shijiu slowly supported himself off the ground and sat upright. But he didn’t stand up. Instead, he sat on there on the ground, and his tears flowed out uncontrollably.

“Oi oi oi, don’t cry, I didn’t do anything to you, you fell on your own!”

Shen Shijiu smeared his tears away, “Why did you guys.. walk so fast… I-I couldn’t keep up…”

“It’s your fault for being short! How can you blame us for being tall?!”

Qian Xiao shot his servants a glance, and had them walk over to pull the small man off the ground.

Several pairs of hands came to drag Shen Shijiu off the ground, tugging at his arms until they ached.

Shen Shijiu couldn’t struggle away. He had wanted to get up on his own, yet they wouldn’t even let him do that. His tears flowed down even more furiously.

“I don’t want you guys to help me up… I’m going to stand by myself… Let go of me… let go of me…”

If someone who didn’t know what was going on saw this, they would think that Qian Xiao had brought his servants with him to bully the person on the ground.

“What are you all doing?!”

A shout sounded from behind them. Everyone stopped and turned toward the direction of the voice.

Someone was standing not far away with his hands on his hips, staring at them with angry eyes.

These people might not have recognized him, but Shen Shijiu did. This was the servant that had been accompanying Pei Zheng this whole time.

Then that could only mean that His Lordship was back…

Qian Xiao lifted his head, “Who the hell are you?! What are you screaming for?! You must not know who I am if you dare to talk to me like this!”

“The young master of Liuyun Villa,” Another voice sounded from behind those servants, and they hurriedly stepped aside.

Pei Zheng slowly walked up from behind them, with his towering figure and commanding presence. The corners of his lips curled slightly, and he stared coldly at Qian Xiao, “Isn’t that right?”

Qian Xiao felt that this man looked familiar. He couldn’t recall who exactly he was at the moment; he only remembered that he was one of today’s honored guests.

The man in front of him was much taller than him. Qian Xiao was instantly dwarfed by him.

“S-so what if I am?”

“Nothing.” Pei Zheng said nonchalantly, before he turned, walked over to the small man sitting on the ground, and held his hand out to him.

“The ground is cold, stand up.”

Shen Shijiu looked up with teary eyes. There were still a few tear tracks on his little face, and his eyes were red, which made one’s heart ache.

He twisted his head to the side, and didn’t place his hand in Pei Zheng’s. Instead, he stood up himself with great effort.

Pei Zheng didn’t know what was wrong with him. He gently held Shen Shijiu by the shoulders, turning his body to face him, before he reached out and wiped the tears off his face.

Shen Shijiu pouted, and still refused to look at Pei Zheng. His gaze shifted slightly in Pei Zheng’s direction; it seemed as though he was trying to hold his tears in.

“Were you wronged? Hm?”

Pei Zheng lowered his voice. There were still people around them, so he couldn’t lift the small man into his arms and force him to look into his eyes.

The corners of Shen Shijiu’s lips drooped, and he still refused to speak.

No matter how dense Qian Xiao was, he could feel the strange intimacy between the pair in front of him; it was like they couldn’t even see the throng of people standing next to them.

“I-I don’t know how he was wronged, it’s, it’s got nothing to do with me…”

Pei Zheng’s gaze shifted over, and Qian Xiao’s voice gradually trailed off.

“So what… I’ll kindly advise you all that this is Lord Pei’s residence. You all better hurry up and leave, don’t disturb Lord Pei’s pea-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Pei Zheng’s servant snorted and began to laugh.

“What are you laughing at?! I was being nice!”

“But you’ve already disturbed his Lordship’s peace.”

That servant also kindly reminded him.

Qian Xiao understood the meaning of these words. Hiw eyes suddenly widened, and his body stiffened in embarrassment. He didn’t even dare to look at Pei Zheng; he and his servants ran off without saying another word.

Pei Zheng watched Qian Xiao’s receding figure, and he lifted his gaze slightly. After he gave a few orders, his servant affirmed and left.

All the onlookers were finally gone. Pei Zheng clasped Shen Shijiu’s hand.

Shen Shijiu didn’t avoid him, and allowed Pei Zheng to pull him along, but he didn’t return Pei Zheng’s gesture.

“What’s wrong? Are you angry at me?”

Pei Zheng pulled Shen Shijiu into his body, and tilted his little chin up.

“Earlier, Mistress Qian had something she needed to discuss with me. Were you anxious because you couldn’t find me?”

“I wasn’t…” Shen Shijiu huffed, “I wasn’t anxious at all…”

In truth, he had been anxious. The moment he was free, he hurried over to look for Pei Zheng. Unexpectedly, he didn’t find Pei Zheng, and instead encountered those people. On top of that, he had fallen over as well.

The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he became. He blinked, and a few crystal tears stuck to his lashes.

“Oh, so you weren’t anxious.” Pei Zheng said, “You didn’t come here to look for me either, right? Then, did you come here to relax?”

Shen Shijiu’s thoughts had been exposed, and he stuttered, “Th-that’s right, to relax… I was taking a walk, and I happened to walk over here… I-it wasn’t on purpose…”

Pei Zheng couldn’t restrain himself and laughed out loud. His voice was so rich and deep that when Shen Shijiu heard it, his earlobes immediately reddened.

“W-what are you laughing at?!”

Shen Shijiu lifted his gaze to look at Pei Zheng, and his delicate brow was slightly wrinkled.

He pulled his little hand out of Pei Zheng’s, before he twisted his head around and strode away.

The small, angry man muttered as he walked, “Hmph, if you laugh at me, I’ll ignore you. I’ll ignore you! They even thought I walked too slowly, I’m not slow…”

Pei Zheng watched as the small man walked forward with his head down, and the smile at the corners of his lips deepened. This little fool was walking quite fast, yet he didn’t look up to see where he was going.

Pei Zheng leisurely walked after him, and in a few steps, he was right behind the small man.

Shen Shijiu walked until the path beneath his feet had disappeared. He looked up; only then did he realize that he had walked back to Pei Zheng’s quarters.

He turned back and was about to start walking again, but he immediately crashed into someone’s chest, and his body bounced backward quite violently.

Pei Zheng was stunned by his idiocy. He quickly reached out to steady him, before trapping the small man in his embrace, rendering him unable to move.

“You’re already here. You don’t want to come in and sit for a bit?”

“I don’t.”

“Really?”

“… I-I don’t.”

Pei Zheng leaned into to his ear, “I do.”

And just like that, Pei Zheng carried the small man as he walked up the steps. Just as he reached out to push the door open, the door was suddenly pulled opened from the inside.

“Lord Pei, you’re back…”

Wei Yiren, who was behind the door, immediately froze in place. She didn’t expect that Pei Zheng and Shen Shijiu would come back together, and that Pei Zheng would actually be hugging him so tightly!

Shen Shijiu’s eyes also widened. He hurriedly tried to struggle out of Pei Zheng’s arms; how could he forget that Miss Wei was still here?

But not only did Pei Zheng’s arm hugging his waist not loosen, it tightened, binding the small man and pressing his body against the other’s chest.

Shen Shijiu’s cheeks were red, and he buried his face in Pei Zheng’s chest, too scared to look at Wei Yiren.

“Why are you here? Who let you in?”

Pei Zheng’s face was gloomy, and his gaze was ice-cold. He looked extremely displeased.

“M-my Lord,” Wei Yiren finally recovered from the shock and found her voice again, “Y-you weren’t back yet, and people would see me if I waited outside, s-so I let myself in.”

“You’re quite bold.”

“My Lord, please don’t be angry, I came here to tell you something.”

Wei Yiren didn’t dare to look at Pei Zheng’s cold face. She cautiously said, “You know that there will be a banquet at the villa tonight, right?”

Pei Zheng’s eyes narrowed slightly; it seemed that all of his patience had been exhausted.

“I just wanted to tell you, after the banquet’s over, could you w-wait for a bit before you leave? I have something to tell you. We’ll be leaving the villa early the next morning, I’m afraid that if I don’t say it then, I won’t ever have the chance…”

Within these words hid the wishes and thoughts of a young maiden.

But it didn’t make one feel moved, only irritated.

Although Pei Zheng’s reputation wasn’t good, he was very attractive, especially in appearance and temperament; no one else could match up to him.

There had been several brave ladies in the past who had come to confess their love to him, but they were all dealt with by all sorts of methods by the people of the Prime Minister’s Manor. Eventually, no one dared to voice their feelings to him anymore.

“Are you done?”

Wei Yiren nodded.

“Get out. Close the door.”

It seemed as though Pei Zheng hadn’t even heard what Wei Yiren had just said. He tossed her these careless words before brushing past her and walking into the room.

Wei Yiren clenched her fingers; she couldn’t accept it. She glanced back at Pei Zheng, “My Lord…”

But Pei Zheng didn’t even look back as he hugged the small man in his arms. He turned, walked toward the staircase, and climbed up the stairs.

The girl downstairs stood there for a while before she finally left, gently closing the door behind her.

Shen Shijiu heard the door close and lifted his head.

“Is she gone?”

Pei Zheng set him down, “Let’s go and take a look.”

The decorations on the second floor weren’t much different than those on the first floor; it was just a little smaller. However, there was an open-air area surrounded by a railing, and one could see the distant scenery as they stood there.

Shen Shijiu ran to the edge of the railing. He saw Wei Yiren’s figure disappear from the path, and his face softened quite a bit.

A body pressed up against his back. Pei Zheng placed both hands on the railing, surrounding the small man with his arms.

“Are you still angry?”

Shen Shijiu’s back was facing Pei Zheng. He was slumped over the railing, and after a long time, he answered quietly, “I wasn’t angry. I just didn’t like it.”

“You didn’t like what?” Pei Zheng’s body tilted sideways. He leaned his head against the small man’s shoulder and took a deep sniff.

This small man always carried a faint fragrance; was it coming from his clothing or his body?

“I don’t like Miss Wei, she’s always looking for Pei-gege. I also don’t like that young master, he thinks I’m short, and he even made me fall…”

“Mm, whatever you don’t like, I don’t like either.” Pei Zheng agreed in a soft voice, “Anything else?”

“Nothing else,” Shen Shijiu pouted, “I couldn’t find you today. The moment I turned, you were gone, so I went with shifu to take A-Yue-”

Pei Zheng turned Shen Shijiu around, “It was my fault, I shouldn’t have left without telling you, right?”

Shen Shijiu nodded.

“Then in the future, whenever I go somewhere, I’ll tell you. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Pei Zheng pinched his cheek, “Then could you tell me why you don’t like Wei Yiren?’

“I-I don’t want you to talk to her.”

“Why not?”

Shen Shijiu thought for a moment, “Pei-gege, I think she likes you. In the future, you should ignore her. What if she starts thinking that you like her too?”

“Don’t worry, I don’t like her.”

Pei Zheng suddenly leaned closer. His warm breaths hit Shen Shijiu’s face, “Do you know who I like?”

Shen Shijiu’s head became dizzy once more. He blinked furiously as he looked at Pei Zheng, his breathing chaotic.

“I-I don’t know…”

His lips were suddenly sealed, and that warm, moist feeling vanished after a single touch.

“What about now? Do you know?”

Pei Zheng lifted his chin with one hand. His mouth was only a hair’s breadth away from those red lips.

He tried his best to resist the crazy urge to tear into this soft, small man and swallow him up. But he could only continue to tell himself: you have to wait until he’s willing.

Shen Shijiu opened his mouth and panted for a moment. He felt that his little heart was about to explode out of his chest.

A gust of cold wind suddenly blew in, carrying a few crystalline snowflakes.

Snowflakes fluttered on the small man’s long, trembling lashes. He blinked, before he looked outside.

The sky was full of goose feather-white snow that had suddenly begun to fall. Countless snowflakes fell over the tranquil villa. Those verdant trees and scarlet flowers were now blanketed in white. This scene was far more beautiful than the empty field of snow one would see somewhere else.

Shen Shijiu’s eyes were shining with a silver glow. He clutched Pei Zheng’s cuff and wiggled it, “Pei-gege! It’s snow! It’s snowing outside, look!”

Pei Zheng stared at his joyous face from the side with eyes full of gentleness and affection, “Mm, it’s snowing.”

“Can I go and play in the snow?”

“Yes.”

“Great!” Shen Shijiu leaned toward Pei Zheng’s cheek and gave him a kiss, before he burrowed his way out of the other’s embrace, and ran like the wind down the stairs.

Pei Zheng touched his face with his fingertips, and the corners of his lips rose.

Shen Shijiu ran out into the snow. The ground was already blanketed in a layer of white. He scooped his hand through the ground and shaped a snowball, before he happily placed it at the side and began to make another.

Pei Zheng walked down the stairs. He leaned against the doorway, watching the small man as he ran excitedly through the snow.

People from the other pavilions had also come out to admire the snow.

Shen Shijiu squatted on the ground for a long while. Snow had already piled up on his clothing, but he still squatted there without moving.

It was already getting dark.

Pei Zheng also walked into the snow, and strode over to his side to watch him.

He saw Shen Shijiu making a little snowman; he was carefully drawing its nose and eyes.

After he finished drawing, he lifted his head to look at Pei Zheng, a brilliant smile on his face.

“Pei-gege! Look, I made a snowman!”

Pei Zheng looked at his face, and thought back to previous years.

Every year, whenever it snowed in the palace, within the towering red-brick palace walls, there would always be a little snowman placed outside of a lonely residence.

There would be a little prince dressed in a white robe embroidered with gold thread and a flame-red cloak over his shoulders, standing beside the snowman and smiling at him.

Pei Zheng bent over and helped Shen Shijiu off the ground. He clasped his frozen little hand and rubbed it.

“Are you cold?”

“Not cold!”

“If you’re not cold, why are your hands frozen like this?”

“Wuu, I’m a little cold.”

Pei Zheng led him back toward the room, but Shen Shijiu hadn’t had enough time to play, and was a bit reluctant.

“My snowman…”

Pei Zheng was scared that he would freeze, and simply pulled him into the room to warm up.

After they came to the second floor and staying next to the blazing charcoal fire, the snowflakes on Shen Shijiu’s body melted and soaked his robe.

Notes

Stop… stop smelling him…

I also don’t like it when people suddenly open the door for me from inside my house. Especially if they don’t live there.