Zhou Ye was so embarrassed he wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

But he laughed and brought over the walnut cakes from the table. “Eat!”

Zhou Ye didn’t dare move.

“I told you to eat, so eat!”

Zhou Ye could only pick up one piece, lowering his head to take a small bite. He didn’t even dare chew, swallowing it whole and nearly choking to death.

He handed over a cup of tea.

Zhou Ye didn’t dare drink it.

“Drink!”

Zhou Ye obediently drank.

From that day on, whenever that person rested in the study, he would call Zhou Ye out, watch him eat something, drink some tea, then let him go back out.

Zhou Ye felt both happy and deeply troubled.

Were there aphrodisiacs in these walnut cakes? Why did his body feel hot after just one sip?

Half a year later, Chen Liuliu became pregnant. According to custom, they couldn’t share a bed for three months, so he simply rested in the study.

Chen Liuliu, afraid her husband couldn’t restrain himself, relied on the child in her belly to ask the Princess Imperial to replace the study’s maids with male servants.

Chen Liuliu really didn’t understand him. Which of those four senior maids hadn’t harbored feelings for him? And which one had succeeded?

Men serving were not as attentive as women. Several times the tea that reached his lips was cold.

Zhou Ye couldn’t stand watching and secretly came out to help a few times.

After he discovered this, he smiled and said nothing, simply finding an excuse to send the male servants away too.

Thus Zhou Ye served as shadow guard by day and manservant by night, pouring tea and water, making beds and folding blankets for him. Occasionally when the weather was hot, he’d even have to fan him for half the night.

Zhou Ye felt both happy and deeply troubled.

Could this person please not be so restless while sleeping? Every time he turned over, his robes would fall open and everything could be seen clearly.

What was white, what was dark, what was soft, what was hard… he could hardly breathe from looking.

That night, he fanned him as usual.

Just as he was drowsily sleepy, he suddenly sensed something strange in the air.

He was too familiar with this strange feeling. Silently taking up the blade beside him, he burst through the window…

Three assassins, also using great blades, but their strikes were too slow. All died beneath his blade.

He sheathed his blade and glanced back at the room. That person stood at the window, expression calm.

Clearly this wasn’t his first time being attacked.

Apart from the Master, no one knew about the assassination attempt. From that night on, Zhou Ye slept on his outer side—this was the Master’s order.

This order nearly killed Zhou Ye.

He wasn’t the type to sleep peacefully. No matter how far Zhou Ye moved away, he could always edge closer.

Sometimes when pushed to the limit, Zhou Ye would sleep on the couch.

But before long, his heart would feel uncomfortable, and he’d creep back up like a fool.

Once when he awoke, Zhou Ye discovered that person curled up in his arms. His heart gave a sudden thump, and possessed by some impulse, Zhou Ye slowly opened his arms and very, very lightly embraced him from behind.

At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, their depths pitch black and profound.

Zhou Ye was scared to death, frozen like a stone.

He let out a light sigh, his voice very hoarse. “Aye, in a few years I’ll have Father release you. Marry a good wife and have a son.”

Zhou Ye didn’t know what to say and could only flee in panic.

Before he could sort through the chaos, the Master summoned him, ordering him to pack his things and leave immediately for Hua Kingdom.

The assassination attempt on his son finally made the Master determined to leave a way out for his descendants.

He didn’t even pack anything, leaving the Princess Imperial’s residence directly.

After arriving in Hua Kingdom and settling everything, only then did Zhou Ye feel regret.

He should have said something to that person, reminded him not to sleep too deeply at night, not to drink cold tea, not to kick off blankets, not to always seek coolness…

But what face did he have to give such reminders?

Zhou Ye walked before the bronze mirror, looking at that utterly ordinary face reflected there, and sneered coldly:

Surnamed Zhou, remember your identity and place. Don’t rely on his good nature and temper to act without knowing the height of heaven and earth.

Someone like him isn’t someone you can covet!

In the first five years in Hua Kingdom, no one came to find Zhou Ye.

Sometimes waking from a dream, he would look around in confusion, his heart feeling empty—like a living lonely ghost with nowhere to settle.

Zhou Ye had once thought, if he saw him again someday, what would he say?

Should he smile first, or kneel first?

Should he not mention that morning’s incident at all, or apologize?

But when that person stood unexpectedly before him, Zhou Ye discovered he was completely wrong.

He couldn’t say anything, not a single word. He could only stare at him foolishly, as if in another lifetime.

“Aye.”

That person took a package from a guard. “I brought you walnut cakes, freshly made. Try them and see how they taste.”

He took them and bit into one.

Good.

He was no longer a lonely ghost—his soul had returned!

That person dismissed the guards and looked at him: “Mm, you quite have the bearing of an official now.”

Zhou Ye took another bite of the walnut cake. With his mouth full, he didn’t need to speak. Originally he wasn’t much of a talker anyway.

“Grandfather died. Father plans to act.”

Zhou Ye’s head shot up sharply.

“One move affects everything. No one can predict what will happen next.”

That person walked into the room, poured a cup of warm tea, and handed it to him. “Among so many people, I only trust you. Protect him well for me.”

Having said this, he lifted his robes and sat down on the threshold, then patted the spot beside him, indicating Zhou Ye should sit.

Zhou Ye sat down trembling with trepidation.

“Sometimes I often think—living in such a family, is Heaven showing me favor or disdain?”

Zhou Ye’s heart gave a start.

“My grandmother is pitiful—having a husband is like having no husband. Strong-willed her whole life, in the end even her son isn’t close to her.

My grandfather is pitiful—lived his whole life under the Princess Imperial’s authority, couldn’t even have a good death.

My mother is pitiful—every day thinking about pleasing my father, guarding against this one and that one, but never guarding her own heart.

My father is also pitiful—hasn’t slept peacefully a single day all these years, his brow has never relaxed for even one day.”

After a brief silence, he shook his head and continued:

“From the day I became aware, I wanted to make them all happy. I listened to everyone. Whatever they told me to do, I did. Whoever they told me to marry, I married.

I worked hard, I was disciplined, I was more diligent than any young master from aristocratic families. But why, after pleasing them for so many years, is the result that Grandmother had Grandfather killed? Father had Grandmother placed under house arrest?

Each of them loves me, but before doing anything, they never thought of me. The meaning of my existence seems to be just to leave an heir for the Wu family.”

Zhou Ye’s heart pounded frantically.

That person lowered his head, not a trace of expression visible on his face.

“When you were six and came to the Princess’s residence, I begged Father to bring you in. I wanted to see what that child who snatched a bone from a dog’s mouth looked like.

When you came back to the Princess’s residence at sixteen, I personally selected you. Ten years separated these events, and I saw you ten times during those years.

Every year-end when you engaged in combat, Father would take me to watch. He stood in the open, I stood in the shadows.

There was one person—when he won, I felt happy for him; when he was injured, I felt distressed. That person is sitting beside me right now.”

At this moment, Zhou Ye’s heart suddenly stopped beating.

“Zhou Ye.”

That person raised his head, looked at him, and called his full name.

“In this life, there are things one must do and things one cannot do. Continuing the Wu family line is something I must do. Loving a man is something I cannot do.

Pleasing the Wu family is something I must do. Making the Wu family sad is something I cannot do.

Five years ago when I told you to marry and have children, those were my sincere words. Five years later, those are still my words.”

That person let out a light sigh, as if quite angry.

“Don’t live like a lonely ghost. Look at this room—is there any trace of human warmth?”

Zhou Ye’s pitch-black eyes stared fixedly at that person.

His heart was beating again.

Too fast.

He could barely suppress it.

It took a long while to recover.

Zhou Ye set down the tea cup in his hand and took several deep breaths.

While inhaling and exhaling, he clenched his hands into fists, released them, clenched them into fists again, released them again.

Finally Zhou Ye gritted his teeth and grabbed that person’s hand.

Very forcefully.

“Once a shadow guard, always a shadow guard. Shadow guards don’t need to marry and have children. He will do only one thing in this lifetime.”

Zhou Ye looked at him, very insistent.

“Protect his master well, accompany him in life, accompany him in death.”

——————Zhou Ye’s Extra Story Ends