"Yes! Rest assured, Steward Zhao, we'll keep our eyes nailed to him!" The two menial slaves hurriedly bowed and nodded their agreement.
Meanwhile, Chen Xuan jogged into a blind corner outside the stables and leaned his back heavily against the cold rammed-earth wall. He opened his mouth wide and sucked in seven or eight lungfuls of cold air before his pounding heart barely settled down.
"Huff... huff... too close. That was fucking close!"
Chen Xuan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked at his slightly trembling palms. "Half a second! If the messenger from the front courtyard had called out just a little later, that old fox Zhao De would've seen the uninjured skin on my back for sure. Not even the gods could've saved me then!"
With a shift of his thoughts, the golden lettering in his mind remained suspended steadily:
[Boulder Art: beginner (200/500)]
"When Zhao De grabbed my shoulder just now, there was obvious suspicion in his eyes. With that old bastard's suspicious nature, he'll definitely send someone to watch me in secret today." Chen Xuan picked up an old, ragged gray vest discarded by the wall and put it on, covering the holes in the back of his clothes. His gaze grew exceedingly cautious. "From now on, whether it's how I walk or how much strength I use working, I have to be more careful, keep an even lower profile. I can't reveal the slightest flaw..."
He composed his expression, putting on that same numb, timid slave's face again, then pushed open the wooden gate and entered the manure-stinking stable.
The magnificent bay horse he had led yesterday immediately poked its head out affectionately and snorted at him when it saw him enter.
"Shh, be good. Keep quiet."
Chen Xuan glanced around. Seeing that no one had come yet, he stepped forward, stroked the bay horse's glossy mane with practiced ease, and picked up a wooden fork to add fresh fodder to its trough.
As he added the grass, he leaned close to the horse's ear and spoke so softly that only the two of them could hear. "Big Red, oh, Big Red. Yesterday at the street corner, one jingle of your bell brought me before that King of Hell, the heir, and almost plunged me beyond redemption. But look, I survived today, and I'm still serving you the best tender fodder. Do you know why?"
As though it understood him, the bay horse gently rubbed its large head against his callused palm.
"Because I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault." Chen Xuan lightly patted its sturdy neck, his voice as soft as a sigh. "In this man-eating marquis's estate, you're just like me. We both have reins around our necks held in someone else's hands. Our lot is to be led around by the nose."
He paused, looking at the chewed grass in the trough, and swallowed the rest of his words-but a horse can only be a horse all its life. I, Chen Xuan, will slaughter the one holding the reins someday and sit in that carriage myself!
"Hey! Chen Xuan?! You really are in the stables?!"
Just then, an exaggerated shout suddenly came from outside the stable courtyard's gate.
Chen Xuan's gaze grew guarded, and he immediately hunched his shoulders and turned around.
Outside the stables, in the morning sunlight, seven or eight menial slaves in short gray-cloth outfits squatted against the wall, sunning themselves. Holding dark mixed-grain buns, they took large bites while peering inside as though watching a monkey show.
"Hey! He really is alive! I thought Brother Zhang was pulling our legs!"
"Tsk, tsk, Chen Xuan, you've really got a tough life! Did the King of Hell leave your name out of his register of life and death?"
"Yesterday evening, we all heard the guards from the front courtyard say that the heir lashed you dozens of times with a barbed whip. Your blood ran in little streams on the ground, and you still survived?!"
Amid everyone's chatter, Chen Xuan walked out of the stable carrying the wooden fork, his back bent like a cooked shrimp. He plastered a fawning, spineless grin on his face. "Hehe... all thanks to your blessings, brothers. Mine's a lowly life by birth, like weeds by the roadside. I can take a beating. I won't die, won't die..."
In the middle of the group by the wall, an old slave named Liu San, with a scar on his face, chewed up the crumbs in his mouth and spat a thick glob of phlegm hard onto the ground, then raised his worn straw sandal and ground it down.
He looked Chen Xuan up and down out of the corner of his eye and lowered his voice, speaking with barbed sarcasm. "Hmph, you got lucky! The heir really is fucking vicious. Anyone else would've been feeding the wild dogs in the mass grave by now. Chen Xuan, don't blame your Brother Liu San for lecturing you, but you'd better learn your lesson-serving in the Marquis of Zhenbei's estate, keep your eyes down and bend your back more. If you can keep your head lowered like a dog and stay alive and breathing, that's an incredible feat in itself! Don't be a toad lusting after swan flesh, daring to feast your eyes on women you shouldn't look at!"
"Yes, yes! Brother Liu San, you're absolutely right. Every word's a pearl!" Chen Xuan nodded like he was pounding garlic, playing along with a face overflowing with tearful gratitude. "After walking up to the gates of hell last night, I've finally come to my senses. I'll carve your words into my bones, Brother Liu San. I wouldn't dare forget them again!"
Seeing how well Chen Xuan knew his place, Liu San gave a satisfied grunt and tilted his nostrils toward the sky.
A young slave with a face covered in pimples leaned closer, waggling his eyebrows and chuckling under his breath. "Still, taking a whipping to get a good look at that courtesan queen's real face wouldn't be too bad a deal... Yesterday, I caught a glimpse of her from behind, from way off. Good heavens, that courtesan queen called Chu Miaoyin has one fucking seductive figure. Those calves were as white as freshly shelled eggs..."
Smack!
Before he finished speaking, Liu San swung his hand back and slapped him hard across the back of his head, nearly knocking the bun from his hands.
"Ow! Brother Liu San, what'd you hit me for?!"
"What'd I hit you for? I'll beat you to death, you loose-mouthed idiot!" Liu San's face turned livid. Pointing at his nose, he cursed angrily in a lowered voice. "Do you want to die?! Chen Xuan was whipped into a dead dog yesterday just for taking a look, and today you dare gossip about the heir's beloved concubine right here in the courtyard?! If you're tired of living and want to lie in the mass grave, don't fucking drag us along to be buried with you!"
The young slave shrank back in fright, clutching the back of his head and begging repeatedly. "I know, I know! Brother Liu San, I was wrong. I'll never spout nonsense again..."
"Hahaha, serves you right! That's what you get for letting your mouth and eyes get greedy!"
"Exactly. Why don't you piss a puddle and take a look at yourself? Still dreaming of a courtesan queen! Even if someone gave you a rough old chamber-pot scrubber, you might not be able to handle her!"
The slaves by the wall burst into laughter, and the mood grew considerably merrier.
Chen Xuan stood beside them and laughed along, but his eyes were utterly indifferent. This was life among the lowest slaves: they dared not so much as fart before their masters' butcher knives, yet turned around and sought their pitiful scrap of superiority in their fellows' wounds and vulgar laughter.
"Enough, enough. You've finished your buns. Stop standing around shooting the breeze. If Steward Zhao comes back and sees you, you'll get whipped again!"
Liu San stood up and brushed the dirt from his backside, waving his hand like a petty chief. "Break it up. Those fetching water, fetch water. Those chopping wood, go chop wood! Oh, Chen Xuan, you stay."
Chen Xuan felt a slight stir within. He stopped and asked with lowered eyes and a submissive expression, "Brother Liu San, do you have any other instructions?"
"At three quarters past the start of the shen hour this afternoon, it's our stable's turn to deliver drinking water to the training grounds. You make that trip for me. Don't forget the time." With his hands behind his back and a tone that brooked no argument, Liu San dumped his own arduous chore straight onto him.
"The training grounds?" Chen Xuan froze briefly and instinctively sought confirmation. "The big training grounds in the front courtyard?"
"Obviously. Where else in the estate is there that much room?" Liu San shot him a meaningful glance, the corner of his mouth curling into something that was not quite a smile. "I'll warn you in advance. It won't just be the guards drilling this afternoon. I hear the estate's young masters and young ladies, along with Her Ladyship the heir's most exalted consort, will also be there practicing martial arts for recreation. When you deliver the water, keep those eyelids glued shut. Be careful, and don't fall into yesterday's old habit again. Not even a Golden Immortal of the Great Firmament could save you then!"
"Yes, thank you for the warning, Brother Liu San! I'll remember. Once I'm there, I won't raise my head for even half a glance!" Chen Xuan readily agreed, his manner utterly obedient.
"Mm, at least you know what's good for you. Get to work."
Liu San nodded in satisfaction and sauntered away with several slaves.
Chen Xuan watched them leave, then turned and went back into the dark, damp stable. Picking up an iron shovel and a broom, he resumed working at an unhurried pace.
Shoveling manure, adding fodder, drawing well water, brushing horses.
Every movement was thoroughly practiced, and the curve of his hunched back was no different from any day in the past three years. Even Brother Zhang and Xiao Liuzi, watching from their hiding place in the bamboo grove for a long while, only thought the beating had frightened the boy into being as docile as a block of wood.
But only Chen Xuan himself knew perfectly well.
Three quarters past the start of the shen hour. Deliver water to the front courtyard's training grounds.
The young masters and young ladies from every branch of the marquis's household would be there practicing, along with Her Ladyship the heir's consort, whose standing in the estate was so exalted that even the heir, Xiao Yuxuan, dared not touch her!
Chen Xuan's grip on the iron shovel tightened slightly. Looking down at the fodder tumbling in the trough, he curled his lips into a cold smile no one noticed.
He was still three hundred proficiency points short of early-stage Bright Force. In this marquis's estate, where experts gathered like clouds, he truly could not manage even the most basic self-preservation yet.
But so what?
As long as he was alive, as long as these fists kept swinging, as long as the progress bar in his mind kept inching forward-
"The training grounds? The marquis's estate's supreme techniques? And the heir Xiao Yuxuan's principal wife, the heir's consort..."
Chen Xuan shoveled a lump of horse manure into the wooden bucket and murmured, "No rush. I'll keep it in mind for now. This afternoon, we'll go take a good look at those training grounds and see just what this heir who beat me to death is really made of!"