Guarding the Heart

Prefect Li made his decision. Though Aze had been scolded by him, he felt miserable inside.

And whenever he felt miserable... he thought of that young master.

Over the past few days, he had become friends with that young master. Young Master Li ought to have been an idle rich gentleman, and an exceptionally gentle and kind one at that. After meeting that night, they had happened to run into each other again the following day.

He had thought the other man would stand on ceremony in daylight and refuse to speak with a servant like him. Who would have thought that the man would warmly greet him first? It moved him for quite a while. And whenever he spoke with Young Master Li, he felt wonderfully at ease. They were clearly only chatting, exchanging polite pleasantries, but when those words came from his mouth, they seemed to carry a rhythmic charm—making Aze feel as though his heart had been soaked in warm water.

In all these years, when had he ever experienced such a thing?

So he opened his heart and told him all his troubles. Once the troubles were told, he spoke of the trivialities of daily life too—what his master had eaten, drunk, and used that day, telling him everything. When he was done, he felt embarrassed and asked whether Young Master Li had no interest at all in hearing such things. But the young master merely smiled gently and shook his head, saying that between friends, were these not precisely the sorts of trivial things they talked about?

Between friends... Young Master Li regarded him as a friend.

Carrying that gratitude in his heart, Aze left through the small gate in the rear courtyard. After turning through an alley, he saw Young Master Li again, standing beneath a willow tree. He held a folding fan and lightly tapped it against his palm. The fan ribs striking his palm sounded as though they were tapping, again and again, against Aze's heart.

As he listened, his footsteps unconsciously fell in time with those taps—without him noticing it himself.

Recently, they had met every day, right here, beneath this willow tree, just the two of them. Sometimes, a fleeting thought would brush through his mind—I seem to have been bewitched. But such thoughts were quickly brushed aside.

He still came to see Young Master Li.

"How has your master been today?" Young Master Li asked him.

"He is still... irritable," Aze said. "These days... the moment my master sees me, he becomes irritated."

There was a hint of grievance in his voice. After sulking by himself for a while, he raised his head again. "Does Young Master have any advice for me?"

Young Master Li—Li Yunxin—smiled. He lowered his voice slightly. "When you go back today, tell your master—say it while he is dining—'Are you satisfied with the taste?'"

Sometimes, Aze felt that certain things Young Master Li said had a strange tone, and an odd manner of speaking. Yet he could never say what was strange about them. Stranger still, once Young Master Li said something, Aze learned it at once. Once he had learned it, when he spoke to his master, he could not help speaking that way too.

But he always thought... Young Master Li was such a flawless gentleman—if his own manner of speaking resembled his, then it must be a good thing.

Just then, he heard Young Master Li tap his palm with the folding fan again and say quietly, "Go on."

Aze turned around as though sleepwalking, and with his heart full, walked back in a peculiar gait.

Only after watching him vanish around the street corner did Li Yunxin take a few steps back, lean against the willow tree, and let out a heavy breath.

He was exhausted. But...

It was thrilling.

It was his first time trying something like this—suggestively guiding someone, then using that person to do something he should have done himself—like manipulating a puppet's arm through some remote control, then using that puppet's arm to manipulate another person into completing a meticulously crafted painting. He had wanted to try this in his previous life, but had never had such a perfect opportunity.

This time... the little servant had delivered himself right to his door.

And the people of this era truly had defenses of the heart as blank as white paper.

Having never experienced such a rich and complicated bombardment of information, even a villain, from the perspective of the field he excelled in... possessed thoughts as simple as a sheet of white paper.

And after spending these past days on it, Li Yunxin had finally learned what Prefect Li was guarding against.

Rumor had it that the prefectural yamen had been struck by lightning on a stormy night. More than half the main hall had collapsed, and two of Prefect Li's flowerlike concubines had died. But the strange thing was... even if someone had been inside the main hall, it should have been Lord Li. What had two concubines been doing in the main hall at night?

Only after asking Aze did he learn where the strangeness lay.

It was said that on that night, in the main hall, Aze had heard voices. They seemed to be the laughter of a young man.

He also said that after the rain stopped, he had gone to inspect the main hall...

There had actually been blood. In the half that had not collapsed, there were still dying embers. It was as though someone had once lit a fire there.

After that night, Lord Li had gone to the Weicheng residences of the Pure High Alchemy Sect and the Voidsoar Sword Sect. The lofty figures there had always ignored worldly affairs. Yet Lord Li had actually persuaded them—not only persuaded them, but had them send people to take a look and perform rites.

Ha... Lord Li had survived.

Everything had an explanation now.

That one.

Then Prefect Li... had practically been laid bare before him.

Over these past five days.

Li Yunxin let out a soft breath and turned to look at the distant scenery. The weather was fine today, but willow fluff had begun to drift through the air. His nose itched a little, so he waved his folding fan before his face. One hand behind his back and the other gently fanning, he strolled down the road.

There was a tailor's shop along this road. Liu Laodao naturally knew little about such things, and Li Yunxin did not understand fabrics either. It was Miss Yin who had chosen it for him.

That girl had a stubborn streak—in a time when everyone looked strangely at the two men living in that temple, she alone had marched in, her little face stern, and asked Li Yunxin whether he was being improper with the young lady of the Qiao Household.

Li Yunxin had no mind to indulge a young girl's feelings. He gave her only a few perfunctory replies before walking away impatiently.

Who would have thought that Miss Yin instead came to believe that her question had hurt Brother Xin's feelings?

Thus, she became their unwavering supporter.

That was also a good thing. So he left this matter to her.

When Li Yunxin reached the shop entrance, Miss Yin was already waiting there. Perhaps the girls of Weicheng were all so bold—after these past days, Miss Yin had become quite unreserved in expressing her fondness for Li Yunxin. Now, seeing him approach through the spring breeze with his folding fan swaying, she felt as though her tender heart might melt away.

These past few days, that tender heart had been fluttering especially fiercely. Miss Yin's family circumstances were decent, so she could read. And because she could read, she enjoyed studying like men did. She did not read the classics, histories, masters, and collections—only tales of the marvelous. The love stories of wandering heroes and young ladies in those tales had long since taken root in her heart.

Now that she was convinced Brother Xin had been wronged and dragged into a lawsuit for no reason, while her pleas to her uncle at home had gone ignored, she felt that she had truly become the heroine of one of those tales.

When she looked at Brother Xin again, she felt only that the day of parting was drawing ever closer—perhaps, as the tales said, they would not be able to clasp hands and gaze upon one another through tears until their temples had both turned white—and so she felt even more sorrowful.

She thought Brother Xin probably felt the same way—that was why he had asked her to find a shop to make him an ash-blue inner robe. Not only did it have to be ash-blue, it had to bear a fish-scale pattern. After visiting so many shops, she had found it only here.

Now, holding the garment in her hands as she watched Li Yunxin approach, she did not know why, but her nose suddenly stung slightly—and her eyes reddened.