Second-floor tea room-
"Someone got into the back garden?" The deep voice carried the weight of age and authority.
"It was my oversight, Father." After Xia Shule left, Yan Zhiyi had come to the tea room on the second floor.
"Ah... your sister... there's nothing we can do. Thank you for your efforts, Zhiyi."
"It was no trouble."
"We keep people out because we don't want to frighten anyone. After all, your sister..." Before the Yan Family Old Master could finish, a knock interrupted him.
Knock, knock!
As the knocking sounded, Old Zheng, the butler, said, "Old Master, there's a young student at the door asking to see you. He says he's Xia Shule, the boy from the Xia Family, and he's brought you a birthday gift!"
"The Xia Family?" The Yan Family Old Master searched his rather sluggish memory.
Then it suddenly clicked, and a little white dumpling appeared in his mind. "Oh, yes, yes! I even held that child when he was little! Hurry, let him in."
The Yan Family Old Master's eyes lit up with curiosity.
He had adored that soft little white dumpling back then. He wondered what the boy looked like now.
God only knew how much trouble Xia Shule had gone through to find him. He had searched every corner of the Yan residence without spotting a single member of the Yan Family. Whose birthday party was this, anyway...?
He had finally found a bartender to ask, only for the man to know absolutely nothing. Not a single useful answer. It was infuriating!
If he hadn't run into Old Zheng and told him he had a birthday gift to deliver, who knew how much longer he would have wandered around outside tonight.
At that moment, Xia Shule felt a little nervous. He couldn't be certain the Yan Family Old Master would actually remember him.
In his previous life, the two of them had never had anything to do with each other again. Coming to see the Yan Family Old Master now meant going against the plot, and he had no idea where the story would go afterward.
Fear of the unknown was the most tormenting thing of all-a tormenting little tease~
"Young master, please go in."
"All right." Xia Shule abruptly snapped out of it. What tormenting little tease? Get that out of my head.
Xia Shule had specially prepared a rare ink painting, which he had managed to track down with considerable difficulty. His parents had instructed him to make sure it reached the Yan Family Old Master's hands today. They weren't in Jingjiang, so he could only rely on himself.
But on this day in his previous life, so much had happened that he had never had a chance to deliver it.
He opened the door to find a wrinkled little old man wearing a stern expression.
Xia Shule was so frightened that he nearly bowed three times in reverence. However spoiled he might be, he was still a child at heart.
He clutched the ink painting, then worried he might damage it by gripping too hard.
Why so serious? Did I do something wrong?
No, no. Definitely not.
"I'll discuss the back garden incident with you later." The little old man snorted.
"Come here, little Xia. Let Grandpa have a look." The little old man narrowed his eyes again and chuckled. This little dumpling was just as adorable as he had been as a child.
His expression changed so quickly that he hardly seemed like the same person.
The back garden. Those words triggered something.
Only then did Xia Shule notice someone else in the room: the gardener from the back garden earlier. That cold-faced gardener who walked so ridiculously fast he might as well have been riding a flying cloud.
Oh no, he thought. Did he get scolded because of me? He must be getting lectured here because I barged into the back garden, right?
He instinctively explained, "Grandpa Yan, it wasn't his fault. I wandered into the back garden by accident. I'm sorry... I wasn't watching where I was going. Don't blame him! He was working hard the whole time. If I hadn't been so careless, none of this would have..."
Xia Shule glanced toward the gardener and happened to meet his gaze.
Yan Zhiyi froze. Those beautiful eyes again.
This time, the boy wasn't covering his mouth, and his entire face was lovely. That single glance sent a faint ripple through the still depths of the sea.
His name is Xia Shule? A good name.
The Yan Family Old Master studied the youngster before him. He hadn't changed much since childhood. Still such a fair, tender little thing.
"Haha, all right, then I won't blame him. What an honest, good boy!" The Yan Family Old Master smiled even more kindly, but his face turned cold again as he looked away. "You can leave."
"Mm." Yan Zhiyi rose briskly, withdrew his gaze from Xia Shule, and left.
"Come here. Sit beside Grandpa."
Xia Shule sat down beside him and leaned closer with a smile. "Grandpa Yan, I brought you a painting. I heard you liked them!"
"Good. Very good." In truth, he barely looked at it, too busy staring at the white dumpling. "You admitted it just like that. Aren't you afraid Grandpa will give you a beating?"
Xia Shule's voice was soft and sweet, plainly coaxing as he put on an obedient act. "Grandpa would never hit me~ If I didn't say anything, wouldn't he be blamed for nothing?"
"What a good child!" The Yan Family Old Master pinched the tip of his nose. "You've grown so big! When I held you as a baby, you were only this tiny!"
Xia Shule cupped his face in his hands and leaned closer with a grin. "Hehe! Grandpa, do you think I've changed much since I was little? Am I still just how you like me?"
Yan Family Old Master: cuteness overload!
"Oh, hahaha! Grandpa still likes you just as much!"
"Hehe, I knew it~ Take a proper look at it, please~ It took me ages to get my hands on this!" Xia Shule hugged the Yan Family Old Master's arm and wheedled.
"All right, all right."
Xia Shule had a sweet tongue and knew better than anyone how to charm his elders. He had the Yan Family Old Master rocking with laughter, his grin almost reaching his ears. He adored the boy so much that he even asked him to stay over.
The room was filled with warmth and harmony.
He was in no hurry to reveal his purpose. Today, he would just get closer to him first. Once their relationship grew warmer, certain things would naturally fall into place.
A little while later, somewhere around a corner outside the room... two suspicious figures hovered.
"Is this dose enough? That little bastard will definitely... haha." He left the sentence unfinished, but the rest was easy enough to guess.
"No. I want him to wish he were dead." The words came out through almost gritted teeth.
"Gechen, will this really work? Nothing's going to go wrong, is it?" Zhou Anyang was uneasy, a little panicked.
An unreadable smile appeared on Jiang Gechen's face. "It's fine. Whatever happens, I'll take care of it."
Xia Shule, I'm waiting for you to beg me. Waiting to see you in that pitiful state.
Passing by the corner, Yan Zhiyi's ears pricked up. He recognized that voice. It belonged to his worthless excuse for a nephew, Jiang Gechen.
From the sound of it, he actually intended to drug someone in the Yan residence?
Hah. Just like that scumbag father of his.
Then Jiang Gechen murmured like a demon, "Xia Shule, I'm waiting for you to beg me..."
Xia Shule?
Yan Zhiyi's heart gave a jolt. That boy with the big eyes was called Xia Shule. So the drug was meant for him?
Hearing footsteps drawing closer from beyond the corner, Yan Zhiyi slipped away without a sound.
Yan Zhiyi had never been one to meddle in other people's business. He had always firmly believed that a person's fate was decided by heaven. But now, he had to tell Xia Shule about this.
After all, that big-eyed boy had just spoken up for him. This could count as... returning the favor?
Wait, didn't that big-eyed boy seem to be very close to my worthless nephew?
If they're so close, why drug him?
He had heard a few things before, too. For instance, that the children of the Jiang and Xia families were childhood sweethearts, a match made in heaven.
That the big-eyed boy clung to that worthless brat, utterly devoted to him.
That no matter how the brat humiliated him, the big-eyed boy... never abandoned him.
Just as he was thinking about the big-eyed boy, he ran into him again at a corner. It seemed he had finished talking with Yan Zhiyi's father.