While shocked, Pei Xiao’s mind suddenly turned. Xie Wushi was going to elope with Yan Sanhe—these two were grasshoppers on the same rope.
“Then… how about divining Xie Wushi’s fortune and misfortune?”
“Third Master’s is simple.”
Zhu Yuanmo pulled three copper coins from his bosom and tossed them on the floor.
The three coins spun on the ground for quite a while before stopping.
Pei Xiao looked carefully, cold sweat immediately pouring out.
Three tails.
Great misfortune!
Pei Xiao pointed at Li Buyan: “Brother Zhu, divine for this girl.”
She and Yan Sanhe were closest—practically family.
Zhu Yuanmo picked up the three coins and walked to Li Buyan’s side: “Miss Li, throw them yourself.”
Li Buyan took the coins and tossed them upward.
Three tails.
Great misfortune!
Pei Xiao’s face turned green. Rolling up his sleeves: “My turn!”
Yan Sanhe herself had said Young Master Pei was her best friend.
Pei Xiao picked up the coins, bowed three times toward the sky, silently chanted “Amitabha” several times, then threw forcefully.
Still three tails.
Still great misfortune!
Pei Xiao and Li Buyan stared at each other, their hearts pounding with alarm.
…
At the estate.
Xie Zhifei had just finished a bowl of clear porridge when Ding Yi entered the room.
“Master, General Bu has arrived.”
Yan Sanhe held up the teacup: “You were just about to go see him, yet he came running over. You really think alike.”
Xie Zhifei took the teacup and rinsed his mouth, smiling ingratiatingly at Yan Sanhe: “After sleeping three days, my bones have all come loose. How about I go out for a walk with him?”
“Alright.”
Xie Zhifei left the bedroom. Looking up, he saw Zhu Qing standing in the corner with his head lowered.
“You slept for three days. He stood guard there for three days. No one could persuade him otherwise.”
Yan Sanhe watched Xie Zhifei’s expression and made an independent decision: “Ding Yi, go tell General Bu to wait a bit.”
“Yes.”
Ding Yi glanced worriedly at Zhu Qing before turning to leave.
Immediately after, Yan Sanhe also left with the food box. Some matters no one could help with—Xie Zhifei had to handle them himself.
In the main hall, quiet and empty.
Xie Zhifei suddenly recalled his first meeting with Zhu Qing. It was also such a quiet afternoon.
He wore coarse cloth clothing, stood straight, had a youthful face, sharp eyes—exactly… what a guard should look like.
With just one glance, Xie Zhifei had claimed him as his own.
Zhu Qing hadn’t failed that glance. In the days that followed, master and servant grew increasingly in sync. A raised eyebrow, a look from Xie Zhifei, and Zhu Qing understood the deeper meaning. Only he understood.
Xie Zhifei not only regarded him as a guard but also as family in his heart.
Betrayal by family hurt the most.
He walked before Zhu Qing and sighed: “You like the eldest young lady. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Zhu Qing’s shoulders tensed tightly, his head hung low: “I didn’t dare say.”
Xie Zhifei shook his head: “Zhu Qing, in your eyes, am I that unreasonable?”
“No, Third Master.”
Zhu Qing raised his head, a glimmer of moisture in his eyes.
“Someone like Miss Yan—even the Master and Old Madam disapprove. For someone like me, even looking at the eldest young lady once more is a sin.”
Xie Zhifei was speechless.
“Third Master, I’m not standing here waiting for your judgment, much less begging your forgiveness.”
Zhu Qing wasn’t dull-witted or unable to speak. Previously, he felt that doing things well was more useful than speaking ten thousand words.
“I just…”
He bit his lip: “…want to beg Third Master not to harm your health over a small person like me. It’s not worth it.”
Xie Zhifei laughed bitterly: “If you were thinking of my health, you shouldn’t have…”
“Third Master.”
Zhu Qing lifted his robe and knelt on the ground.
“Zhu Qing betrayed his master—an unforgivable crime. The Master has already torn up my contract of servitude. After kowtowing these three times to Third Master, I will leave.”
Three kowtows rang out loudly. His forehead turned blue from the impacts.
Zhu Qing rose and looked seriously at the handsome man before him.
Once the contract was torn, he was no longer a servant of the Xie family, no longer Third Master’s personal attendant. He had become just Zhu Qing.
A small person without parents, who betrayed trust.
Third Master was the most soft-hearted. Out of past sentiment, he couldn’t bear to drive him away, but what face did he have to remain by Third Master’s side?
“Please rest assured, Third Master. Unless I die, certain matters will never leave my lips.”
Xie Zhifei’s expression appeared somewhat cold.
He walked to sit in the grand master’s chair, saying nothing, just sitting quietly.
After three days unconscious, walking before the gates of hell, his chin had sharpened and his clothes hung loosely on his body.
After a long while, he raised his head to look at Zhu Qing.
“The contract of servitude is a matter between you and the Master. The account between you two is settled, but ours isn’t. However, how to settle this account—I haven’t figured it out yet.”
He waved his hand: “These few days, first return to the residence you bought yourself. When I’ve decided, I’ll naturally come find you.”
“Master?”
Tears burst from Zhu Qing’s eyes. After a long moment, he finally ground out a few words from his throat.
“You must… not be soft-hearted.”
…
“Bu Liu, should I be soft-hearted?”
On the bluestone path, Xie Zhifei turned to look at Bu Liu beside him.
Bu Liu’s face was even uglier than the night sky.
He’d come to the estate today for two reasons: first, because the war horses had suddenly recovered and he was curious about the reason; second, the army was about to deploy and he needed to bid farewell to the young master.
Who would have thought the reason would be Xie Daozhi?
If not for consideration of the young master, he’d want to charge into the Xie residence with his blade right now and take that dog Xie Daozhi’s life.
“Young Master.”
He said with a stern face, suppressing his voice: “You can be soft-hearted toward Zhu Qing, but toward Xie Daozhi… if you’re soft-hearted, you wrong the Zheng family, you wrong the Old General.”
“Bu Liu, you don’t know…”
Xie Zhifei said lowly: “Old Ancestor, my mother, my eldest brother, even him—they all treated me very well.”
Ten years. Two years more than at the Zheng family. How many days and nights? Even a stone would be warmed through over time.
“I know very clearly in my heart that I cannot return to the Xie family. I should hate Xie Daozhi to the bone. But when I think of these ten years…”
He pointed at his heart.
“It hurts here. Hurts terribly. But if I go back, the moment I think of the Zheng family’s one hundred and eighty people, think of Grandfather, hatred rises in my heart again.
Before, I thanked Heaven for letting me survive. But now I realize it would have been better to have gone with Father and Mother back then.”
“Young Master?”
“I don’t cling to the identity of Third Master Xie. These are all external things. What I cannot let go of is not only their feelings toward me, but also my feelings toward them.”
Once your heart was given, how could you simply take it back?
Xie Zhifei’s thick lashes trembled slightly, blocking the moisture in his eyes.
“I can distance myself from them, never see them again until death. But the past traces cannot be erased. For the rest of my life until death, I can only be Third Master Xie. I cannot become Zheng Huaizuo again.”
Bu Liu’s heart ached unbearably.
Damn Heaven! Why didn’t you let the young master be reborn anywhere else? Why the Xie family? Isn’t this forcing him into a dead end?
“Bu Liu.”
Xie Zhifei said in a voice like a growl: “Tell me, for the rest of my life, can I still smile? Can I still be happy?”
Bu Liu looked at him silently. After a long while: “Young Master, can your body withstand jolting around?”
“Are you taking me to the Zheng family graves?”
How clever my young master is!
“Once this matter ends, we should go tell them about it. Also, tell them what’s in your heart.”
Bu Liu patted his back: “Perhaps your heart will feel better.”