The Feeling of Being Treated Like a Person

"Master?"

Just as Ye Liuyun was lamenting that he might be getting a little carried away.

Xing'er beside him suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"This servant did not mean to hide it from Master."

Her tone clearly showed that she was worried Ye Liuyun would blame her for not speaking up sooner.

That worried little expression made Ye Liuyun laugh despite himself.

Then he flicked Xing'er's forehead with a bent finger.

"Alright, I'm not that petty. Go have someone boil some water. I want to bathe before sleeping!"

"This servant will go at once!"

Seeing that Ye Liuyun truly had no intention of blaming her, Xing'er immediately smiled, happily answered, and hurried off to prepare hot water for him.

While he was bathing.

Xing'er was still attending him at the side, massaging his shoulders.

"Master, Madam, she..."

Xing'er's expression shifted for quite some time. She hesitated again and again, inwardly wavering as she spoke.

Yet she did not know how to continue.

Just then, Ye Liuyun, leaning against the side of the wooden tub with his eyes closed, continued from where Xing'er had left off.

"You want to say that some of the things your Madam said just now were true, while some were false, right?"

"Ah!"

Xing'er looked over in surprise, seemingly not expecting Ye Liuyun to say it so directly. Yet she had no intention of denying it.

As Sheng Lanzhi's personal maid, Xing'er had carried out many of Sheng Lanzhi's affairs in her stead, so she knew quite a bit about Sheng Lanzhi's circumstances.

Although most of what Sheng Lanzhi had said while drinking with Ye Liuyun was true, some parts did not match reality.

At the very least, in Xing'er's eyes, Sheng Lanzhi had never been a frail person. Since childhood, whatever she wanted, even if she had no way to obtain it openly, she would still use underhanded schemes behind the scenes to seize it.

Though Xing'er did not know what Sheng Lanzhi wanted to do, she still feared Ye Liuyun would be deceived because he trusted Sheng Lanzhi too much.

She simply had not expected that Ye Liuyun had already seen through it without needing her warning.

"Master, you saw through it long ago?"

"Half and half, I suppose."

Ye Liuyun spoke in an unconcerned tone.

Sheng Lanzhi was quite clever. She had deliberately pinned all the reasons Ye Liufeng wanted to kill him onto Ye Liufeng himself, likely because she feared he would harbor suspicions.

But in truth, after growing stronger, Ye Liuyun's mindset had changed as well.

"In this world, it doesn't really matter whether someone is strong or clever. What matters is whether they have value."

Sheng Lanzhi was competing with him in acting, but was he not doing the same?

He had said a great deal just now, but to Ye Liuyun, only a few things truly mattered. Keeping Sheng Lanzhi around meant she could provide him with funds, materials needed for martial cultivation, and even martial arts manuals.

It saved him the time he would otherwise need to spend worrying over such matters.

That was Sheng Lanzhi's value.

Listening to Ye Liuyun's words, Xing'er nodded as if she understood, though not entirely.

"This servant worried too much!"

In any case, knowing Ye Liuyun had not been deceived was enough for Xing'er. She stopped dwelling on it and focused on massaging his shoulders.

However.

Xing'er might have understood now, but Ye Liuyun instead turned his head toward her and teasingly said.

"You know your Madam means no good, yet you still told me. Aren't you afraid Sheng Lanzhi will punish you if she finds out?"

Normally, Xing'er was someone by Sheng Lanzhi's side and ought to have stood with Sheng Lanzhi.

Faced with Ye Liuyun's words, Xing'er showed no panic. Instead, after thinking of something, she gave a silent, helpless laugh.

Then she softly said.

"This servant was sold into Sheng Residence as a child and followed Madam ever since. Step by step, this servant went from a little maid to Madam's personal maid. This servant has met many people, but only Master has ever treated this servant like a person!"

Though Sheng Lanzhi had said many times that she trusted her, Xing'er knew it was only because Sheng Lanzhi needed her to work obediently.

Back at Sheng Residence, Xing'er had seen many maids and servants casually beaten to death simply for misspeaking. Or when their masters encountered something unpleasant outside, they would return home and vent their anger on the maids and servants.

Xing'er had survived until now only by relying on her quick wits, and even so, she had been caned several times.

Only with Ye Liuyun had Xing'er felt the equality of being treated as an ordinary person.

That was not something a few pretty words could replace.

Ye Liuyun truly had not expected it to be because of that. He had thought perhaps he possessed some protagonist's aura, and that one shake of his mighty frame had made others submit.

He shook his head with a laugh, waved his hand, and said.

"Alright, it's getting late. You should go back and rest early too."

"Understood, Master!"

With a bright smile, Xing'er waited until she had attended Ye Liuyun to rest before finally leaving.

When she returned to the rear courtyard.

Sheng Lanzhi had once again taken a seat in the courtyard. The drunken haze on her face had already been completely swept away.

Seeing Xing'er return, Sheng Lanzhi looked up at her.

"The relationship between you two is much closer than I imagined."

She had not thought much of it before, but now that she considered it, Ye Liuyun and Xing'er seemed to be far closer than she had expected.

"I..."

Xing'er still wanted to explain.

But Sheng Lanzhi did not care and directly said.

"No need to explain. This is quite good. If anything happens to him in the future, you can report it to me promptly."

Sheng Lanzhi still trusted Xing'er greatly.

She only assumed Xing'er had a good relationship with Ye Liuyun and had never considered that Xing'er might betray her.

Xing'er did not refute her. Instead, she seriously replied.

"Understood, Madam!"

In any case, she had merely agreed. When the time came, she could casually report a few insignificant bits of news, and Sheng Lanzhi could do nothing about it.

Thinking of what had happened today, Sheng Lanzhi still found it somewhat unbelievable.

"That Ye Liufeng really died at just the right time."

If the person who had appeared tonight had been Ye Liufeng rather than Ye Liuyun, she would probably be thinking now about how to keep people from setting their sights on the shops under her control.

Yan Shuzhu moved faster than Ye Liuyun had imagined.

In just one day, Ye Liuyun's identity issue had been resolved.

Brocade Guard Ye Liufeng had been harmed by treacherous villains. To avenge his brother, Ye Liuyun had assumed his identity and entered the Brocade Guard, investigating in secret all along. After sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall, he had finally avenged his brother.

In recognition of Ye Liuyun's resolve, special approval was granted for Ye Liuyun to become a Brocade Guard Centurion and continue in his post.

When Ye Liuyun heard this news, he could not help but laugh.

Come to think of it, it gave Ye Liufeng a respectable death after all.