Daily washing and grooming were very important to Chengxin. Now in the Eastern Palace with no maids to serve him, he had to fetch his own basin of water and comb his long hair. Looking at the charming face reflected in the water, Chengxin couldn’t help but smile sweetly, using a finger to lightly tap that mischievous smiling face in the basin. Immediately ripples spread in circles. Water-lily-like fingers grasped an ivory comb to brush through the long hair draped to one side. The hair was black, lustrous, and very smooth.

When he tilted back his neck, Yun Ye surprisingly discovered no Adam’s apple. Was this damn thing a man or a woman?

“My lord, he’s a man—just raised as a woman from childhood. Men all have two balls. He doesn’t, because they were cut off when he was very young. That’s why his skin can become so smooth. His thing also stopped growing, no different from a three or four-year-old child’s. If my lord is interested, this servant can have him strip naked for you to examine.”

“Ugh! Get lost! You think I haven’t vomited enough?” He kicked the accompanying eunuch aside and leaned against a tree for another bout of violent retching. Early this morning, Li Chengqian had gone to attend court, telling Yun Ye to quickly take away his catamite to avoid sullying the Crown Prince’s reputation.

He had called Li Chengqian’s personal eunuch to witness this historically famous hermaphrodite. At first glance, he thought it was a woman, but the coarse voice couldn’t be disguised. A beautiful woman combing her elegant hair in the morning would be considered a beauty, but a beautiful hermaphrodite pouting playfully—forget it. Yun Ye decided to vomit some more.

Chengxin had to be gotten out of the palace. However disgusted Yun Ye was, he had to endure it. The historical Chengqian actually hadn’t committed any great errors. A reputation for loving catamites had drawn a huge chasm between him and the court officials. Combined with his foot injury, it had thoroughly transformed him into another cruel and sinister Li Chengqian.

Yun Ye led the way in front while Chengxin timidly followed behind clutching a small bundle. Seeing them from afar, Cheng Chumo’s mouth opened wide enough to stuff in a pear. He ran over and said to Yun Ye: “This is big brother’s fault. Knowing your wife is pregnant and can’t serve you, and your household has no one you fancy, you’re feeling pent up—brother understands. Once I’m off duty, brother will take you to Yanlai Tower to relax properly. But bringing a rabbit home—that’s unnecessary, right?”

There was no way to explain things to Cheng Chumo. Looking at Cheng Chumo’s painfully contorted face, this fellow truly detested male prostitutes.

“Get lost! It’s not what you think at all. You find him disgusting, and so do I! I’ve vomited several times since this morning. I have no choice—who would do this if they had options?”

Only then did Cheng Chumo show an expression of sudden realization and disgust. He glanced at Chengxin, then looked at Yun Ye and asked: “How do you plan to settle him?”

“He’s pitiable. Just give him a way to live. Killing people at the drop of a hat—that’s what perverts do.”

The world was like this. Just mentioning perverts, one appeared before his eyes—Li Yuanchang. Who knew if this fellow’s brain had been kicked by a donkey? Clearly knowing Li Er was so powerful he was practically a giant, absolutely not someone an ant like him could harm, yet he stubbornly harbored Jingwei’s ambition to fill the sea, wanting to drag Li Er down from the throne. His little schemes hadn’t stopped over these years.

“Chengxin, you dare to flee privately?” Despite a marquis and a young master standing right before him, he acted as if they were invisible, only caring about looking at Chengxin. What kind of manners was this?

Chengxin prostrated on the ground trembling. Li Yuanchang’s triangular eyes were full of lustful color. Right in broad daylight, he prepared to reach out and touch Chengxin’s face. Chengxin unconsciously shrank back, looking pleadingly at Yun Ye, actually giving Yun Ye some impulse to protect this flower. After confirming his sexual orientation was quite normal once more, Yun Ye struck down Li Yuanchang’s hand with his fan.

“Prince Han, this is the imperial palace. You’d better exercise some restraint. You’re already despised by everyone. What, you want to go further?”

“Audacious Yun Ye, how dare you show disrespect to this prince!” The folding fan in Yun Ye’s hand was made of sandalwood—only a few existed. They were props Yun Ye used when pretending to be a talented scholar. Carrying one in summer and lightly waving it anytime, anywhere attracted much attention. Being struck on the wrist by sandalwood fan ribs must hurt a lot.

“Hurry up and get lost. Go show off your power in your fief—it’s already been ruined by you to the point where people can’t make a living. Don’t run to Chang’an to harm people anymore.” For fools like Li Yuanchang who only knew petty schemes, he really couldn’t muster the energy to deal with them.

Having said this, he cupped his hands to Cheng Chumo and was about to leave with Chengxin.

“This prince can refrain from pursuing your earlier rudeness, but you must leave Chengxin with this prince. Consider it that this prince owes you once.” Li Yuanchang also knew Yun Ye wasn’t easy to provoke. In his view, which was more important—a catamite or a prince’s favor—was already clear at a glance.

Who knew Yun Ye wouldn’t even turn his head, just flipped him the middle finger, waved it, and left through the palace gate. Chengxin followed closely behind, seeming very afraid of Li Yuanchang, leaving only the furiously jumping Li Yuanchang cursing loudly.

Marquis Yun had really made a name for himself this time. Not only did he like putting melons in his bedding when sleeping, now he’d even come to blows with Prince Han over a catamite. It was said Prince Han’s wrist was broken. This was truly “in fury for a beauty’s sake”!

It was said the Crown Prince felt very guilty. Not knowing his friend had such peculiar tastes, he’d rummaged through the gift pile and found a remarkable person to give his friend. Who could have predicted such an incident would occur? This was all his own fault! So the Crown Prince explained the incident to other wastrels.

“All the Crown Prince’s fault! That bastard, to extricate himself, put the shit pot on your husband’s head.” Hearing the rumors, how could Xinyue sit still? Early in the morning, she cornered Yun Ye in bed to interrogate him. She even lifted the quilt and leaned in to smell, and only relaxed after detecting no strange odors. She had seen Chengxin—indeed very pretty, with a figure and face more attractive than a woman’s. Although convinced her man didn’t have that kind of strange preference, from the first moment she saw Chengxin, this trust became shaky.

“Then how will you deal with this person? A grown man being coy and affected is disgusting.” She straightened Yun Ye’s head, and Xinyue began arranging an exit strategy for Chengxin. She arranged many things but discovered none suited what Chengxin could do, so she irritably tugged at Yun Ye’s hair.

“Right now, he’s neither man nor woman. Raised as a girl from childhood, his movements and physical strength can’t compare to men. Calling him a woman isn’t right either—he can neither bear sons nor raise daughters. So basically, aside from being someone’s plaything, he’s useless. However, what kind of place is the Yun family? A clan that can sell a rotten iron bar for twenty thousand strings—how could they not find a way to utilize waste?”

Sitting before the bronze mirror, he let Xinyue comb his hair. Yun Ye had never managed to straighten out these two feet of hair. Sometimes he wished he could just cut it all off with scissors. How comfortable a shaved head would be!

After two days of observation, Yun Ye discovered Chengxin’s sense of smell seemed extremely developed. From several courtyards away, he could discern exactly what raw materials the perfume workshop was using. This amazed Yun Ye and made him decide to give him a chance to support himself.

In a sealed room, only Chengxin sat blindfolded in a chair. Two maids who had just bathed and had no scent at all waved a small bottle under Chengxin’s nose, then took it away.

“This is gardenia fragrance mixed with a little jasmine.”

“This is orchid fragrance, very pure, no mixture.”

“This is clove.”

“This is musk mixed with borneol.”

A maid covered her nose and placed a small piece of something emanating a fishy stench under his nose, ready to watch him make a fool of himself. Chengxin wrinkled his brow and sniffed once, then suddenly took a deep breath before saying: “This is ambergris—unprocessed ambergris. It hasn’t reached the right age yet. It needs thirty more years before it can be used.”

Yun Ye walked in clapping. Xinyue followed behind holding her slightly protruding belly. Servants opened doors and windows while maids vigorously fanned, not wanting the slightest fragrance to remain in the room. The young mistress would vomit endlessly whenever she smelled perfume now.

“Chengxin, I think you’re very clear about your circumstances without me saying. What are your plans for the future? If you still have family, I’ll give you travel money to go join them. If you have nowhere to go, you can temporarily live on the Yun family manor. But the Yun family doesn’t support useless people. You must earn your living with your own two hands, no longer depending on others. What do you choose?”

Chengxin immediately prostrated on the ground kowtowing continuously: “This servant has long had no relatives. I only beg my lord not to drive this servant away. Once out the gate, this servant has only a dead end. My lord is upright and self-disciplined, naturally uninterested in this servant’s appearance. I only beg my lord to take pity on this servant—a bowl of rice to eat is sufficient. This servant has loved distinguishing fragrances since childhood. If my lord can use this servant, I will certainly devote all my heart and strength.”

“Very good. From today, you are a servant of the Yun family for three years. After three years, I’ll give you commoner status papers. You can choose to work independently or continue signing a contract with the Yun family. Alright, I’m done talking to you. Ask the steward about anything you don’t understand. Change your clothes—what’s a grown man doing wearing flowered robes and embroidered shoes? Don’t apply powder and rouge to your face either. If you dare look disgusting again, household law will serve you.”

As soon as Yun Ye left, the steward arrived with a servant boy behind him carrying a large stack of things. Old Qian first had Chengxin sign the contract. After reading the contract clearly, Chengxin carefully asked the steward: “Uncle Qian, does the Yun family truly allow servants to gain commoner status?”

Old Qian smiled and pointed at the servant boy: “Let him tell you.”

“You must be full and have nothing better to do to want that worthless manumission document. Our family never deceives people. Three years means three years—not even one day different. When the time comes, they’ll definitely manumit you. Then you go register yourself at the authorities, wait for land allocation, then buy an ox yourself, build a house, marry a wife, scrape food from the soil for a lifetime—and you’re done for.”

“Right now we’re all thinking about how to get my lord to sign another contract. I have three more months until expiration—I’m so worried! If my lord doesn’t want me, where would I find such a place that both pays well and is comfortable? And you’re actually thinking about manumission? In our household, those crying their hearts out aren’t those entering service but those leaving. It’s exactly opposite from other families. I’d be happy working here my whole life. Being a servant is being a servant—what’s the big deal?”

After signing the contract, Old Qian urged him to quickly change into blue servant attire, straightened his hat for him, praised him as a handsome young fellow, then advanced him half a month’s wages. At the Yun family, servants were all treated this way.

Looking at the small pile of copper coins on the bed, Chengxin felt those copper coins looked very comfortable. He had never had money before.