Twenty-Seven wasn’t originally called Twenty-Seven. He got this name because it was his number at the slave camp, and it stuck.
When Mingyi first saw him, he was huddled behind the crowded throng, his small, thin body soaked by the rain, his eyes filled with cold indifference.
All the children from the slave camp wanted to be chosen by her, to escape that nightmarish place. But not him. Not only did he not step forward, he even growled, “Get lost!” when she approached.
At that time, Mingyi still lived a life of comfort and abundance, basking in others’ flattery daily. It was the first time someone had cursed at her, and she found it intriguing.
“Very good,” she said, chin held high. “You’ve successfully caught my attention.”
Twenty-Seven looked at her with an indescribable expression of contempt, his fists clenched. Truthfully, if there had been even a one-in-ten-thousand chance of defeating Mingyi at that moment, he would have certainly leaped up to fight her.
Unfortunately, Mingyi was exceptionally talented and had been carefully nurtured for years. Not only could he not touch her, but even the Grand Secretary of Chaoyang City couldn’t lay a finger on her.
So, he could only suffer the humiliation of being reluctantly dragged back to the inner courtyard by Mingyi, becoming a small attendant.
As soon as Twenty-Seven arrived, he shattered Mingyi’s favorite blue and white porcelain cup. He thought he would be driven out, but to his surprise, Mingyi looked at the scattered fragments and mused, “You were originally worth only fifty bei coins, but now you’re worth five thousand three hundred and fifty.”
Twenty-Seven was speechless. Was this how one calculated value?
He continued to break things, smashing his way from five thousand three hundred and fifty to one hundred thousand two hundred and five bei coins, but Mingyi still showed no intention of driving him away.
Twenty-Seven then understood that this person liked those who defied her. So, if he became obedient and docile, perhaps she would quickly tire of him?
With this naive thought, he began to obey Mingyi’s every word.
Mingyi was delighted, thinking he was teachable, and began to instruct him in some combat techniques. Twenty-Seven, however, believed she was deliberately making things difficult for him, trying to provoke his rebellious nature to fight her again, to gain more amusement.
He wouldn’t let her succeed.
So he practiced desperately, no matter how difficult the things Mingyi taught him were, he learned them all, gritting his teeth without complaining of hardship or fatigue.
Unexpectedly, Mingyi taught him for eight years, transforming him from a thin, weak slave into a tall, strong guard.
Mingyi thought Twenty-Seven might hate her because she had forced him to endure so much hardship. Every year when she went to celebrate his birthday, he wouldn’t even face her properly, either hiding away or fighting with her, never showing a smile.
Others also said that Twenty-Seven was cold-blooded and unfeeling. Not only did he not interact with others, he didn’t even listen to her words. They said he was a hard stone that couldn’t be warmed, and she should release him early to avoid nurturing a tiger that might turn on her.
She took this advice to heart and planned to find a time to release him, to let him live his own life.
However, before she could make arrangements for him, she got into trouble.
The venue for the Six Cities Conference was so solemn and austere that even in broad daylight, ordinary people passing by would shudder, let alone in the dead of night. The howling snow and wind sounded like the roar of some monster, and the rain and snow poured down, so cold that people’s lips turned purple.
When she was carried out covered in blood, all the guards in the courtyard were afraid of being implicated and unwilling to even step forward.
This was human nature, and Mingyi held no resentment in her heart.
But there was one person who, passing through the silent crowd, wordlessly followed her.
He dodged arrows, and crossed fire fields, ignoring the shouts of those behind, stubbornly following her beast carriage forward, as if that one place in the whole world was the only source of light.
Mingyi later asked him, “Did you know where I was going at that time?”
Twenty-seven replied, “There was no need to know.”
Wherever she went was where he could go.
Over a hundred small porcelain bottles had been opened. Twenty-Seven ate one pill from each, ensuring some remained in every bottle, then began to regulate his breath and adjust his energy.
Mingyi came to her senses and noticed sweat seeping from his temples. Her expression tightened, “Where does it hurt?”
Twenty-Seven didn’t make a sound, but his face paled a bit.
She panicked, circling him twice, “I could have eaten them slowly myself. Why are you being so stubborn? I’m already poisoned, we can’t risk losing you too.”
“Are you sure all of these are for internal use? What if you’ve eaten something meant for external use?”
“Stop regulating your breath! What if there’s some deadly poison, and your energy circulation sends you straight to the underworld?”
She chattered on and on, buzzing around him like a mosquito.
Twenty-Seven’s temple twitched.
Mingyi saw this and immediately crouched down to interrupt his meditation, anxiously pressing on his pulsing temple, “Is the poison taking effect? Has it reached your brain?”
It wasn’t clear who had been poisoned in the brain.
Twenty-Seven opened his eyes and irritably brushed away her hand, “This subordinate is fine, but if you keep chattering like this, I might go into qi deviation.”
Mingyi sighed in relief, then glared at him, “If nothing’s wrong, why are you sweating and pale?”
“That’s from being stuffed,” he said expressionlessly. “These hundred-odd pills are equivalent to two bowls of rice. You’d be stuffed too if you ate them.”
Mingyi was speechless. He had completely ruined the atmosphere!
She pouted, turning her gaze to the medicine bottles beside them, “If they’re all edible, I’ll take one of each back to try.”
“Be quick about it,” Twenty-Seven reminded her. “The first time, Ji Bozai didn’t pursue the matter, not because he was easy to fool, but because he was seriously injured and didn’t notice many details. A second time might not be so fortunate.”
Alright, Mingyi nodded, “You go back first and digest. I’ll clean up here.”
Twenty-Seven agreed, took two steps, and then stopped, “Ji Bozai is not a good man. My lady should just play around and be done with it.”
“Did I need you to tell me that?” She pouted, “Anyone with eyes can see that. How could I take him seriously?”
Although Ji Bozai’s sweet talk could easily bewitch people, it only lasted for the moment he spoke.
Lowering her head to tidy up the medicine bottles, Mingyi heard Twenty-Seven’s departing footsteps.
When everything around her had fallen completely silent, she stared at the medicine bottle in her hand for a moment, then let out a long sigh.
The melancholic sound turned into an evening breeze, brushing past the clothes of those in love.
Ji Bozai was sitting in Master Qin’s beast carriage, head bowed as he listened to the old man’s teachings. His expression was respectful, but he was truly impatient inside.
Too many words, how could this person talk even more than Mingyi? On the first day the Yuan Shi Academy opened, it should have been the students begging the teachers to accept them. Who would have thought that he would be fought over by several masters, and he had to watch them duel before finally being accepted by the victorious Qin Shangwu?
So he had been listening to him talk for most of the day in the carriage.
He could understand Master Qin’s excitement, but he didn’t have time. He was in a hurry to go back and coax his darling. Who wanted to hear about the origin and development of the Shangwu Hall?
“…Do you understand?” Qin Shangwu looked at him earnestly.
“Thank you, Master. This disciple understands,” Ji Bozai replied.
Understand my foot, he thought. The master had been speaking in his hometown dialect with a strange accent. Except for these last six words, he hadn’t understood a single word.