The day Grandfather died, the weather was very hot.

After the corpse had been laid out for a day, it already smelled. Though Zhou Ye was so hungry his chest touched his back, he still couldn’t help wanting to vomit.

The neighbors worked through the night chopping down several trees to make a thin coffin.

After the burial, the aunt next door secretly slipped him two steamed buns.

That year, he was five years old.

At five, Zhou Ye had never seen his father or mother. He lived with Grandfather in Zhou Family Village, tending a few acres of ancestral fields.

Though life was hard, at least there were roof tiles overhead to shelter from wind and rain.

Four days after Grandfather died, people in Zhou Family Village began dying one after another. In a month’s time, hundreds of new graves had been erected.

The officials came and said it was plague.

Zhou Ye didn’t understand what plague meant, but he instinctively knew how to survive. He fled with several villagers who had luckily survived.

After running for five days and nights, those few also died, leaving only Zhou Ye alone.

Zhou Ye didn’t know where he could go.

He had been hungry for several days and really couldn’t walk anymore. His eyes went black and he fainted.

When he woke up, he discovered he’d been locked in a room with over a dozen children as thin and emaciated as himself.

Zhou Ye had no other talents, but was naturally sensitive to one thing—danger.

He made an excuse about needing to relieve himself. Once in the courtyard, his thin body squeezed through a dog hole like a cat, and then he took off running.

He ran desperately, ran and ran…

Suddenly, he saw a dog by the roadside, lying on the ground gnawing a meat bone.

Without thinking, he immediately stopped, picked up a large stone, and rushed at the dog.

He thought: I’m going to die anyway, so dying after tasting the flavor of bone would be good.

He did manage to snatch the bone, but before he could take a single suck on it, over a dozen wild dogs suddenly sprang out from who knows where.

With the bone in one hand and the stone in the other, he took off running again.

Running in haste, he tumbled to the ground with a thud.

The wild dogs rushed over, opening their mouths to bite him, when an arrow shot over, shattering an entire brick.

The wild dogs scattered in all directions.

Through the pain, he saw a person like an immortal crouch down beside him.

He wiped the sweat from his face and put on a fierce expression. “Don’t think that just because you saved me, I’ll give you the bone. Don’t even think about it.”

That person let out a light sigh.

Many years later he learned that Wu Guanyue had saved him because when he ran at the dog with the stone, his eyes were fierce and cruel—like a wolf.

In the winter of his fifth year, he first picked up a blade, learning to become a true wolf.

In the winter of his sixth year, he was brought into a luxurious grand estate to meet a youth six years older than him.

That youth wore pure white scholarly robes, standing beneath the kapok flowers, showing a calm and gentle smile.

“I hear you’re called Zhou Ye. From now on I’ll call you Aye—how about that?”

He stood there dumbly, stunned.

In this world, everyone who called him Aye had died, but he liked being called that—it sounded intimate, so—

My young master, Aye will never let you die!

…

Zhou Ye saw Wu Shunian again ten years later.

That year he was sixteen, no longer having fierce and cruel eyes, but he had already become a true wolf.

Ten years later, Wu Shunian still wore pure white scholarly robes, sitting in the sunset. Just the curve of his profile alone inspired goodwill in others.

Zhou Ye silently walked behind him.

He sensed it and turned around, his eyes lighting up slightly.

“Aye, you’ve come!”

“Master.”

Zhou Ye knelt on one knee in salute.

He was to be married, taking a beautiful woman from the Chen family clan.

This marriage match was chosen by the Princess Imperial. Unable to control her son, the Princess Imperial thought to use her grandson to restrain him somewhat.

The Master wasn’t at ease and selected him from among everyone to be his shadow guard.

A shadow guard protected his master from where others couldn’t see. Within a few days, he had familiarized himself with the master’s daily routine.

Rising at the second quarter of the Tiger Hour to read;

At the third quarter of the Rabbit Hour, going to pay respects to the Princess Imperial and his mother, staying to eat breakfast with them.

After breakfast, teachers came to give lessons.

After lunch, he would nap briefly, just reclining on a bamboo couch, then upon waking go to the Master’s study to handle various miscellaneous affairs for him.

When matters were many, he’d stay in the study all afternoon.

When matters were few, after handling government affairs he would take his guards out to walk the streets and look around.

For dinner, father and son would eat in the study.

After eating, the Master would test his studies, discuss matters happening at court, and listen to his views.

When everything was finished, he would return to his own courtyard, remove his long robe, change into practical short clothes, and practice boxing in the courtyard until he worked up a sweat.

Finally, he would bathe, change clothes, and sleep.

Before sleeping, he would read leisure books for a while—sometimes ghost and travel records, sometimes tales of scholars and beauties.

He fell asleep slowly, always tossing and turning for quite a while. He didn’t cover himself properly with the blanket, liking to cover half and press down on half.

At night he always ground his teeth and talked in his sleep.

Zhou Ye couldn’t understand at all how someone so plain and elegant during the day could be like this when alone.

His room had four senior maids and two bedwarmers.

The bedwarmers were named Dongxue and Qiufeng, both bestowed by the Princess Imperial.

Once a month, he would lie with Dongxue and Qiufeng twice each, neither more nor less.

When the master lay with women, shadow guards should generally go somewhere else, but Zhou Ye would hide in the darkness watching, listening.

Zhou Ye looked down on those two bedwarmers, feeling they were full of impure energy, completely unworthy of him. In bed they were even more like fox spirits, sucking away his vital yang energy.

He was somewhat angry that the blade in his hand could only kill people, not slay demons.

The grand wedding was in spring. Dressed in red robes and mounted on a tall horse, at that instant Zhou Ye felt his heart blooming like spring flowers.

The new bride was named Chen Liuliu, quite plump and lovely.

Zhou Ye watched him lift the red veil, then quietly and soundlessly left, practicing blade techniques in a secluded place all night.

The next day, he asked the Master for leave, took some silver, changed into clean clothes, dressed himself up presentably, and went to a brothel.

The Master had said that men must experience romantic encounters to be more steady in their affairs.

Seventeen-year-old Zhou Ye stepped into that world of rouge and powder for the first time, but why did his mind fill only with images of that person…

Zhou Ye practically fled out the door, as if over a dozen wild dogs were still chasing him.

Whether by fate’s design or something else, he ran into a dead-end alley.

He looked at the wall before him and slowly crouched down, crying silently.

This was Zhou Ye’s first time crying, and also his last.

After crying, he continued serving as before, and on every lonely, damp night, Zhou Ye watched the person in the room as before…

Only his gaze grew increasingly burning, increasingly impossible to hide.

The new marriage brought no changes to his life. The only change was that Chen Liuliu found excuses to send away those two bedwarmers.

He spent more and more time in the study.

One night deep into the evening, he suddenly called out “Aye.” For the first time in months as a shadow guard, Zhou Ye appeared before him.

Zhou Ye was about to kneel, but he caught him.

“Aye, tell me—what do people live for?”

Zhou Ye didn’t want to answer this question, afraid of frightening him.

He also didn’t seem to care whether Zhou Ye could answer, continuing on his own: “My father wants the realm peaceful and the four seas clear. And me—what am I for?”

Zhou Ye’s stomach rumbled twice.

Both froze at the same time.