Butler, Enough with the Memes

Xie Lian: "Flowers need nutrients. Because I give them the finest fertilizer, they always bloom so brilliantly."

Xie Mi: "Are you sure you don't need medication?"

Xie Lian: "Do you remember what I feed them? You've seen it before."

Xie Mi: "You were honestly acting a little nuts just now, you know? Who deliberately lowers their voice and laughs from the back of their throat?"

Xie Lian: "It seems you've forgotten. Shall I refresh your memory?"

Xie Mi: "I've got it. You're a yandere, so you laughed like that on purpose. You were trying to look cool?"

Xie Lian finally cracked. Unable to take any more, he cut short this conversation in which absolutely nothing got through. "Enough!"

The terrifying atmosphere he had built was completely ruined!

This time, it was Xie Mi's turn to let out a low, eerie chuckle from her throat.

"So you really were trying to look cool."

Xie Lian: "..."

There was no reason to endure what he could no longer endure.

Xie Lian moved a flowerpot aside and pressed a hidden mechanism. A secret door opened, and he shoved Xie Mi inside.

The smell of blood hit her nose. Inside were all sorts of horrific torture devices, along with organs from unidentified creatures preserved in formalin on the shelves.

Xie Mi looked around.

Xie Lian walked up behind her, his laughter sinister. "Well? Does this jog your memory? Remember the first time you stumbled in here? The look on your face was just..."

"Spectacular."

There was a faint tremor in his voice. Behind his reflective lenses, his eyes gleamed with excitement. The corners of his lips curled upward, and his tongue traced his lips as though savoring the memory.

"Is this your secret hideout?" Xie Mi suddenly asked.

Xie Lian didn't answer. He simply walked farther inside, picked up a bloodstained scalpel, and waved it in his hand.

The blade reflected the light, casting a dazzling glare across Xie Mi's face.

Xie Mi neither dodged nor flinched, slowly revealing an evil smile.

"Guess why a secret hideout is called a secret hideout."

Xie Lian said nothing. The reflected light swept over Xie Mi's face again.

Xie Mi: "Now that you've told me, it's not a secret anymore."

Xie Lian still said nothing, but the light began shaking wildly.

Oh, his hand was trembling.

Xie Mi grinned.

"I'm telling on you tonight. I'll get this whole place torn down."

Clang!

The scalpel fell to the floor. Xie Lian finally panicked, rushing forward to grab Xie Mi as she turned to leave. "Don't!"

The yandere boy wasn't so yandere anymore. His eyes held nothing but clear, guileless stupidity.

Well, that persona aside, he was only a twenty-year-old college student.

College students were the easiest people to fool.

Xie Mi reclined on a lounge chair in the garden, basking in the sun as she lazily swung her crossed leg.

"Little punk, juice."

As soon as she spoke, Xie Lian came over with the juice and held the straw to her lips.

Without even looking, Xie Mi pursed her lips to catch the straw.

At the sight, the corners of Xie Lian's mouth slowly curved upward.

The next second, he got slapped.

Smack!

"You think I didn't see you put dead bugs in the juice?!"

Li Meiyan, who stood beside them holding a plate of fruit, jolted and immediately put on a fawning smile. "Now that you've hit him, you won't hit me, right?"

Xie Mi delivered a backhand slap. "While I'm at it!"

The little punk and the middle-aged punk each took a slap. They stood behind her, clutching their cheeks and staring resentfully at her back.

Soon, the butler's voice rang out in the hall.

"The master is home!"

Xie Mi promptly set down her juice and ran out. Seeing this, Li Meiyan and Xie Lian dashed after her.

They had intended to tell on her first, but Xie Mi slid forward on her knees and wrapped her arms around a leg, her mouth firing away like a machine gun.

"I was a daughter who dearly loved her father, but my stepmother and stepbrother ruined me! My stepmother bullied me, my stepbrother tormented me, and they drove me out of my home. Given a second chance, I'll keep my eyes open. No one will ever come between my father and me again!"

"So should I transfer you fifty yuan to hear your revenge plan?" The owner of the leg spoke, his voice somewhat familiar.

Xie Mi looked up and met Shen Yeqing's smiling, alluring eyes. "We meet again, Ms. Xie."

Xie Mi: "?"

She was hugging Shen Yeqing. Where was her rich dad, then?

Xie Zhengde emerged from behind Shen Yeqing, looking at Xie Mi with a complicated expression. There seemed to be a trace of helplessness on his stern face.

"You're the first man the master has ever brought home," said the butler, who had appeared at some point and was addressing Shen Yeqing.

"Old Bai, enough with the memes," Xie Zhengde said.

Old Bai acknowledged him and withdrew.

"Mi, get up. The floor is cold." Xie Zhengde's voice carried authority without anger; he was clearly a man accustomed to being stern. "This is Mr. Shen. He's here as a guest."

Xie Mi glanced at the smiling Shen Yeqing, then at the stern Xie Zhengde.

Then she held out her hand to Xie Zhengde.

"Dad, give me a hand."

"Gasp-"

Behind her, Li Meiyan and the servants all sucked in a sharp breath, staring at Xie Mi in disbelief.

Something shifted on Xie Zhengde's usually expressionless face.

Shen Yeqing's hand had already eagerly reached out. Just as he was about to take Xie Mi's hand, it was knocked aside.

Xie Zhengde's heavily callused hand closed around Xie Mi's small one and pulled her up from the floor.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but his stern eyes seemed to hold a little more barely perceptible softness.

"You never grow up." His tone was calm, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.

Old Bai appeared again and sighed. "It's been so long since the master smiled this happily."

Xie Zhengde's expression darkened. "Old Bai!"

Old Bai acknowledged him and withdrew again.

Xie Mi, however, had taken it all in, becoming even more certain of her earlier suspicion.

Her father really was all stern words and honest actions. Beneath that serious exterior was a heart that loved his daughter.

Perhaps his inability to express himself, combined with her stepmother's meddling, was why the body's original owner had always misunderstood him.

"Was what you said just now true?" Xie Zhengde's gaze swept over Li Meiyan and Xie Lian behind her, and his expression grew even darker.

Li Meiyan panicked and immediately explained, "Of course not. She's loved joking around since she was little. You know that. I treat her so well. How could I possibly bully her?"

"Oh? Do you?" Xie Mi gave her a smiling glance.

Li Meiyan's eyes frantically begged for mercy, and she nodded like a bobblehead. "Of course! Look, I even cut up fruit for you just now. Whatever fruit you want from now on, I'll cut it up for you."

Xie Mi's smile widened. "And what about Xie Lian?"

Xie Lian froze when his name was called. His expression instantly turned gloomy, and his tightly pressed lips made it clear he didn't want to give in.

Li Meiyan landed a flying kick on his backside, and Xie Lian dropped to his knees in front of Xie Mi with a thud.

"Him too, him too! He loves his big sister more than anyone. He would never bully her!"

Xie Zhengde swept an appraising gaze over them.

"He'd better not."

Xie Zhengde and Shen Yeqing went to the study to talk, while Li Meiyan and Xie Lian knelt before Xie Mi, rubbing their hands together like flies and begging for mercy nonstop.

Old Bai made his third appearance and sighed. "It's been so long since I've seen the madam and young master kneel this happily."