That evening, Qing Sheng and Xiao Guo arranged to meet in the small kitchen in Third Master's courtyard.
Qing Sheng told her father, "Oh, don't come in! You'll make Xiao Guo feel awkward!"
Qing Da scratched his head, smiling sheepishly. "Once you've made them, whether they taste good or not, bring some out for your dad to try first. This'll be my first time eating snacks my daughter made. Hehe."
"I know. Just wait for me."
Qing Sheng had barely finished speaking softly when she heard Xiao Guo call from inside, "Qing Sheng, is that you? Who are you talking to?"
Qing Sheng pushed the door open and entered with an awkward smile. "It's me... I wasn't talking to anyone. Let's get started!"
The candlelight was dim.
Seeing that Xiao Guo had prepared the ingredients, Qing Sheng copied what she did.
But she was far too strong. Every flower she shaped looked heavy-handed, possessing a beauty akin to the delicate Daiyu uprooting a weeping willow.
"As long as you get the ingredients right, the pastries will taste more or less the same. But if you want them to look exquisite, you'll have to practice your technique."
Xiao Guo explained the flour proportions while guiding her through shaping the flowers.
After many rounds of instruction, the result was...
A counter covered in bizarrely shaped flowers, too dreadful to look at.
Qing Sheng smiled awkwardly. It was all her fault for having too much strength in her hands.
Xiao Guo came around to another idea. "They don't have to be flowers. You can try a shape you're good at."
Even plain square cakes would do, as long as they tasted all right.
Qing Sheng immediately had an idea and grabbed a lump of dough to shape. "Okay!"
Xiao Guo sighed and handed her a cup of fruit wine. "I brewed this myself. Try it and tell me what you think. I'll teach you how to brew it next time."
Qing Sheng took it and drank a mouthful without hesitation.
A gleam flashed through Xiao Guo's eyes. She smiled, then crouched down, clutching her stomach. "Oh, my stomach hurts! Keep experimenting here. I'm going to the privy!"
Qing Sheng asked with concern, "Did you eat something bad?"
Xiao Guo didn't answer at all. She pulled open the kitchen door and hurried away.
Watching from the shadows, Qing Da wondered why Xiao Guo had left clutching her stomach.
Since there was no outsider around now, he could go see how his daughter's lesson was coming along.
But the moment he entered the kitchen, he found his daughter collapsed on the floor!
So frightened that he dropped his lantern, he helped her over to one side.
A gust of wind extinguished the light in the small kitchen.
Qing Da heard someone come in, but before he could speak, the man wrapped his arms around him from behind.
"My little darling, I've missed you to death! Do you know how long I've wanted you? Just give yourself to me, and I'll make you my concubine. How does that sound?"
Feeling the person in his arms still struggling, Xie Jinzhao said with a grin, "Don't be shy. I'll treat you well. No one knows about this, so just give yourself to me!"
Qing Da's face darkened.
So that was it! That Xiao Guo had lured his daughter here to help Third Master defile her!
When the person in his arms remained silent, Xie Jinzhao kissed his shoulder again, his hands roaming over his arms.
"Little Shengsheng, you've only been away from my courtyard a few days, and your muscles have gotten even firmer!" His voice was utterly sleazy.
Qing Da trembled with rage.
Thinking the drug was taking effect, Xie Jinzhao released the beauty in his arms and began taking off his trousers!
"I'm tired of playing with all those painted, common beauties. A girl with firm muscles like you is so special. I like you so much! Come here, my darling~"
With that, he lunged at Qing Da!
Qing Da whipped around and knocked Xie Jinzhao to the floor with one punch.
Xie Jinzhao licked the blood at the corner of his mouth and gave a wicked smile. "Little wildcat, you're still this fierce even after being drugged. Come on, hit me hard. Don't hold back!"
He flung his clothes onto the floor one piece at a time, then got up, licking his lips.
He charged at Qing Da again.
Trembling with rage and unable to endure another moment, Qing Da kicked him clean out of the small kitchen. "Die, you beast!"
He had cherished his daughter like a treasure since she was little. He had even trained her strength and taught her martial arts so she would be able to protect herself.
If he hadn't come along tonight, this beast would have ruined his daughter!
Only upon hearing that voice did Xie Jinzhao freeze for a long moment.
The burly man walked out of the small kitchen. By the moonlight, Xie Jinzhao looked up at him.
His smile froze on his face!
Impossible...
The person he had just been hugging and kissing was actually Qing Sheng's father!
The roughest male steward in the entire residence, no less!
All the color drained from his face. He looked down at his shameful state, bare below the waist, with his shoes and socks still hanging off his feet.
The blood rushed back into his face, leaving him red one moment and white the next.
Luckily, Qing Da had beaten some sense into him. Otherwise, with the way things were going, who knew who would have ended up on top?
Xie Jinzhao wanted to go inside to get his clothes.
Instead, Qing Da pinned him to the ground and pummeled him.
"Boohoo... I know I was wrong! Not the face..."
"Ah! Not there! You can't hit me there either!"
Under the moonlight, Xie Jinzhao covered his face with one hand and his vital parts with the other as he endured the beating.
His miserable screams soon drew servants over with lanterns to watch.
The sight of a pale, naked man being pinned to the ground and beaten by the burly steward was far too shocking!
"Ah!"
The maids covered their eyes, while the male servants felt a chill between their legs.
Someone went to report it to Liu Wan.
But Liu Wan said she was not the mistress of the household and had no authority over matters in other people's courtyards.
At her wits' end, the supervising matron could only rush to Fourth Master's courtyard, drag the sick Fourth Master out of bed, and take him to Third Master's courtyard to dispense justice.
What the supervising matron didn't know was that after they left, Xu Rourou emerged from behind the screen in Fourth Master's room, holding her child and looking terrified.
The inner courtyards descended into chaos.
After others restrained Qing Da, he shouted for Fourth Master to uphold justice for him, his eyes bloodshot.
"This beast told this little bitch to lure my daughter here, drugged her unconscious, and tried to steal her chastity! Xiao Guo, is it? You're the friend my daughter trusts most. How could you do something like this to her?"
"If I hadn't come along with my daughter and noticed something was wrong, that beast Third Master would have gotten his way!"
"He took off his clothes, mistook me for my daughter, and started hugging and kissing me! I don't even want to live anymore!"
"Let alone my daughter, a shy young girl! If he'd laid his hands on her... Beast!!!"
Every word Qing Da spoke...
Exploded like a bomb in the minds of everyone present.
Combined with the immense shock of seeing the stark-naked Third Master being savagely beaten...
Their brains practically went numb, and they stopped thinking!
Had Third Master been trying to defile Qing Sheng, only to accidentally defile Qing Da instead?
Third Master certainly had some extreme tastes.
Even Fourth Master, Xie Jinqiu, whom the supervising matron had dragged over, was stunned.
Damn, Third Brother had already taken his trousers off, and he was still claiming innocence?
This was just too...
An utter disgrace to decency. An utter disgrace!
He ordered someone to fetch clothes and dress Xie Jinzhao, just as Xu Rourou arrived in a hurry and caught sight of him.
Xu Rourou's face instantly flushed. She turned away and covered her child's eyes.
Good heavens, were all the brothers in their Marquis's Residence that small?
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