There were naturally vacant courtyards in the Provincial Governor’s Residence. Jun Huailang was startled when he heard this, then immediately agreed.
For a moment, it was as though he were about to return to Mingluan Palace again.
Of course, it was impossible to move in that very night so hastily. The Provincial Governor’s Residence still needed to be tidied and arranged, and Xue Yan also had a great deal of luggage, so naturally they could not move in that evening.
“Then after the magistrate comes tomorrow to welcome His Highness, I will ask Father to send people to move your luggage,” Jun Huailang said. “There are few people in the residence, and there are several vacant courtyards, so there is more than enough room for your attendants as well. As it happens, there is a spacious vacant courtyard directly opposite my residence. If His Highness does not mind, you can stay there.”
Upon hearing this, Xue Yan’s gaze flickered. He calmly withdrew his eyes and gave a quiet “Mm.”
Just then, Shen Liufeng came out after changing his clothes. He was wearing the everyday clothing brought by the Embroidered Uniform Guards. Although it was not as expensive and splendid as his own, it was clean and fit him well.
When he heard that Xue Yan could take Su Xiaoqian in, he gratefully bowed to him and said, “Thank you, Your Highness! My family has strict rules. If you had not stepped in to help, I truly would not have known what to do!”
Xue Yan did not even lift his eyelids and merely said indifferently, “It is nothing.”
Jun Huailang also knew that Xue Yan had a cold and aloof temperament. Shen Liufeng and he were complete strangers, so it was inappropriate to stay here any longer.
He therefore stood up and took his leave. “It is already late. Young Master Shen and I still need to hurry back into the city, so we will not trouble you any longer.”
Xue Yan paused for a while before giving a muffled “Mm.”
Jun Huailang vaguely felt that he seemed somewhat reluctant to see him leave, though he did not know whether it was merely his own illusion.
But regardless of whether it was an illusion, he still smiled and said, “His Highness will be moving into the residence in a few days. When the time comes, I will give His Highness a proper welcome.”
This time, Xue Yan answered somewhat more quickly.
“Mm,” he said. “I will send someone to see you off.”
Jun Huailang was startled and hurriedly said, “No need…”
But Xue Yan did not give him the opportunity to refuse.
“Duan Shisi.”
That youth who came and went without a trace once again flashed into view before him.
“See the two of them back to the residence,” he ordered.
Duan Shisi bowed with his saber in his arms, accepted the order, then silently walked over to Jun Huailang and waited for him to go first.
Jinbao simply could not bear to look.
What was Duan Shisi for? He was one of the Eastern Depot’s foremost killing weapons. Even though the several dozen Embroidered Uniform Guards who had come along were all top-class experts, they might not necessarily be able to defeat him alone.
All along the journey, he hid in the shadows, used to kill assassins, eliminate informants, and investigate intelligence.
Sending him to escort people home?
It was simply using a dragon-slaying saber to kill flies.
Jun Huailang now had no way to refuse either, so he could only agree and bid Xue Yan farewell.
Shen Liufeng walked out with him, saying as they went, “It is just a pity. In the future, when we go out for drinks, we will not be able to hear Miss Xiaoqian sing pingtan anymore.”
Jun Huailang could not help laughing. “She is still here. Whenever you want to listen, just have her sing for you, won’t that do?”
Upon hearing this, Shen Liufeng refused righteously. “No. This tune ought to be listened to publicly. What would it become if she sang it privately?”
As the two chatted, they got off the boat, and the boat once again became completely quiet.
Xue Yan looked outside the window. Beneath the bright moonlight, the surface of East Lake shimmered with ripples.
His hand dropped from the armrest of the chair and fell to his waist.
He grasped the green jade mandarin-fish pendant hidden beneath his robe.
——
At night, Jinbao carefully pushed open Xue Yan’s door.
Although this boat was large, it was packed with quite a lot of things and also carried many people. Therefore, Xue Yan’s bedroom and study had not been separated. Jinbao could only judge whether Xue Yan had gone to sleep by the brightness of the light inside the room.
Sure enough, he had not slept.
After pushing the door open, he saw Xue Yan sitting before the desk, reading a secret letter delivered by the Eastern Depot’s carrier pigeon.
There was nothing important in the letter. It was merely some trivial movements among the various officials in the capital. There was no need for him to stay up late to read it.
But Xue Yan could not sleep. Instead, he almost hoped that something would go wrong in the capital, so that it could distract his mind.
“What is it?”
Only Jinbao was allowed to enter his room. Without raising his eyes, he merely asked indifferently.
Jinbao carefully stepped forward, adjusted the lamp for him, poured him tea, and said, “Reporting to Master, the young lady who came with Young Master Jun today has already been settled in, and the members of her family have also been brought over.”
Xue Yan gave a low “Mm,” his voice deep and cold. “Give her some miscellaneous work to do. She does not need to come and serve me.”
Jinbao naturally knew this.
His master’s temper was extremely strange. In the residences of the other princes, which one did not have servants in crowds? Without ten or so people, they could not even manage to serve them properly.
But his master hated having people touch or arrange his things. In his daily life, he did everything himself. He only needed to lend himself a hand—where would he need other people?
Jinbao hurriedly answered, “Yes, this servant understands.”
After saying that, he carefully glanced at Xue Yan.
Seeing that he had finished speaking but still had not left, Xue Yan raised his eyes and glanced at him.
“Why haven’t you left?”
Jinbao smiled ingratiatingly and carefully asked, “Master, today… are you not in a very good mood?”
Upon hearing this, Xue Yan’s hand holding the secret letter paused.
Jinbao knew that he had hit the mark.
After staying beside the King of Hell for long enough, even an ordinary person could become somewhat ghostly. Jinbao had served him for a year, and gradually he no longer simply feared him. Instead, sometimes he would try to read his master’s intentions and cautiously smooth his temper.
Occasionally helping this tyrant relieve his worries would also make his own days easier.
After a moment, Xue Yan put down the secret letter and rubbed his temple.
“…It’s very annoying.”
His cold voice carried two traces of weariness and confusion.
He did not particularly like traveling by boat. Whenever they reached sections of river with rapid currents, he would become dizzy. Tonight, he had just arrived in Jinling. The section where the Grand Canal connected to the Yangtze had the fastest current, and over the past few days they had also been traveling through windy and rainy weather, so he had been feeling rather unwell.
Jinbao knew this. He had sent someone over and had only said that His Highness would not arrive until tomorrow, so as to have him leave one night free to rest on the boat.
But just after lying down, Xue Yan heard Jun Huailang’s voice through the open window of the bedroom.
He saw two boats drawing close together, and even from a distance he could hear the sounds of struggling and fighting.
His eyesight was exceptionally good. From far away, he could see the blue-clad figure aboard one of the boats.
Only Xue Yan himself knew that, at that moment, his heart had already risen into his throat.
The sight of Jun Huailang falling into the Taiye Pool that day immediately appeared in his mind. He had no time to think of anything else and immediately summoned Duan Shisi, ordering him to take people to rescue him.
As for himself, he threw on his clothes, rose, and went directly to the side of the boat to wait for Duan Shisi to bring Jun Huailang over.
That pleasure boat lit with lamps drifted and swayed as it came from far away, and Xue Yan’s heart seemed to stop along with it.
For the first time, he experienced the feeling of being timid upon approaching home.
For an entire year, he had been like a tree whose roots had been severed. His heart had been empty, and his whole person had seemed to float.
Only now, upon seeing that figure standing at the bow of the boat, did his heart gently settle somewhere, finally finding a sense of solidity.
For the first time, he realized so clearly that he lacked nothing at all.
Except this one person.
Especially because that person seemed to be staring blankly at him as well.
But when the boat came closer, he realized that was not the case.
He was laughing and talking happily with that wet, pale-faced young man beside him. The two were extremely close, their manner intimate.
And afterward, another woman of unknown origin actually emerged from his cabin, her clothes disheveled, with his clothing draped over her body.
Xue Yan’s heart, which had finally managed to settle in the place it belonged, sank straight to the bottom immediately afterward.
For this entire year, he had been distracted and absent-minded, while the other person had been living freely.
Xue Yan knew that he ought to understand this clearly.
Jun Huailang had always been like this. He treated everyone well, everyone liked him, and everyone was willing to draw close to him.
If not for this, would he have once given even a trace of favor to someone like himself, a calamity whom everyone hated?
But Xue Yan simply could not stop himself from becoming irritated. His heart was so sour that it made him angry, yet he was like a trapped beast in a cage, unable to find an outlet.
If this had happened with someone else, whatever made him annoyed, he would simply destroy it.
But now he could not.
The person before him was Jun Huailang.
Even if he had ten thousand thoughts of making Jun Huailang look at no one else and only look at him, he had to swallow every single one of those thoughts, endure them, and pretend they had never arisen.
Xue Yan rubbed his temple, clicked his tongue, and picked up the secret letter again.
Beside him, Jinbao cautiously asked, “Master, are you anxious because of Young Master…?”
Heavens, he had almost said “Bodhisattva” aloud.
Xue Yan’s hand stopped.
“Is it that obvious?”
Jinbao chuckled. “It isn’t obvious. But this servant has been following you for so long that I can see some things—Master is always somewhat different toward Young Master Jun.”
Xue Yan lowered his eyes.
It really was different.
How could it possibly be the same?
Everyone in the world was more or less the same to him.
Only he was special.
After a moment, Xue Yan gave a self-mocking curl of his lips.
“But he is no different toward anyone,” he said.
Jinbao froze.
Oh my goodness.
Was his master… jealous?
Jinbao stood rooted to the spot, a sinful yet well-founded guess emerging in his heart, frightening even himself.
After not hearing Jinbao reply for a while, Xue Yan raised his eyes and glanced at him indifferently.
“What is it?”
Jinbao hurriedly came back to himself.
Even if… even if his guess were true, he could not just say that to his master!
His overwhelming instinct for survival forced Jinbao to swallow the words at the tip of his tongue and change direction. He persuaded him, “Young Master is naturally kindhearted. Master knows that. But there are always differences in how close people are. Helping someone out of kindness is one thing; genuinely caring about them is another.”
Everything he said was knowledge that lay completely outside Xue Yan’s understanding.
In Xue Yan’s world, treating people was nothing more than a distinction between good and bad.
For example, when it came to him, it was extremely simple—the whole world said he was a calamity, feared him, and hated him, so to him, all of that was bad.
As for how deep or shallow that badness was, it merely depended on how much power they had and how much courage they possessed. To Xue Yan, there was no difference whatsoever.
As for good—
That was Jun Huailang.
He had no comparison for it.
“…Is that so?”
Xue Yan paused before asking.
Jinbao said, “Of course! Look, Young Master merely said to have Miss Xiaoqian go to his residence to work. When has he ever asked her to follow him? But you are different. Just for staying temporarily at the residence, he even let you stay in the courtyard directly opposite his.”
The reason for that was certainly because that was the best of the vacant courtyards.
But Jinbao knew that his current task was not to reason things out. His task was to open his eyes and speak nonsense to this ancestor.
After all…
If his master really had those improper thoughts toward Young Master Jun, then relying only on that cold face of his that could not be bothered to acknowledge anyone, while he indulged in jealousy all by himself, when would he ever manage to become close to him?
Thinking this, a few traces of guilt rose in Jinbao’s heart.
Young Master Jun was, in his eyes, a living Bodhisattva.
And now he was actually being bold enough to egg his master on to approach him and ruin him.
It was practically blasphemy.
However, in his position, he had to attend to his duties. Jinbao could not concern himself with so much.
Xue Yan fell into thought, clearly taking his words to heart.
Jinbao pressed his advantage and continued, “Although Master and His Highness have known each other for a shorter time and cannot compare with His Highness’s own family, His Highness is still sincere toward you. But if Master always treats people with a cold face like today… Young Master will become unhappy too, won’t he?”
Upon hearing the words “become unhappy,” Xue Yan’s hand tightened slightly around the secret letter.
After a moment, he slowly placed the secret letter back on the table.
“There will not be a next time.”
His voice remained deep and cold, but it carried several more traces of solemnity and certainty.
It was as though, across the distance, he were making a promise to a certain person.