Xie Yi returned to the general’s residence at nearly midday.
His courtyard was remote, and thanks to his light-footed martial arts, he did not alert anyone on the way back.
However, just as he was about to reach the courtyard gate, he suddenly stopped.
Thanks to his sharp hearing, Lin Zhiji also immediately heard voices coming from inside the courtyard.
One must know—Xie Yi was basically invisible in the general’s residence. Who would come to his courtyard?
Lin Zhiji immediately became nervous: 【Host, could it be your identity as an assassin has been exposed? Should we run first……】
Before he even finished the “right,” Xie Yi pushed the courtyard door open.
The small courtyard was already filled with people.
Leading them was a man in his thirties or forties, sharp-eyed and shrewd-looking—the Second Steward of the residence, Li Guan.
He was also a trusted subordinate of Madam Jiang.
Behind him stood a row of maids holding items that appeared to be clothing and accessories.
Seeing Xie Yi enter, Li Guan quickly stepped forward: “Young Master Yi, where have you been? We’ve been waiting quite a while!”
Though his tone appeared respectful, it carried clear disdain and impatience underneath.
In his eyes, although he addressed Xie Yi as “young master,” this neglected and unloved son was not even comparable to him, a steward with real authority.
People like this, if Madam showed even a hint of favor, would probably wag their tails in gratitude like dogs.
Thinking of this, he stepped aside, revealing the maids behind him, and said condescendingly: “Young Master Yi, tomorrow is Old Madam’s birthday banquet. Madam considered that you had no proper clothing, so she specially ordered these for you……”
He had not finished speaking when Xie Yi glanced over with a half-smile.
Those gray, unfocused left eyes were like a beast with no emotion at all, causing Li Guan to shiver and instinctively take a step back. The rest of his words stuck in his throat.
Xie Yi did not show the gratitude he had imagined. Instead, he said casually: “Leave the things. You can all get lost.”
Li Guan widened his eyes in disbelief: “Young Master Yi, do you know what you’re……”
The rest of his sentence was swallowed by Xie Yi’s gaze.
Though Xie Yi was smiling, Li Guan felt a chill run down his spine.
He did not dare say more. He finished Madam Jiang’s instructions, had the maids leave the items behind, and quickly departed with his people.
Only after leaving the courtyard did his pounding heart slowly settle, though he remained unsettled.
Damn it!
Was this really the discarded pawn raised to waste in the side courtyard, as Madam said?
But soon, that shock was replaced by humiliation.
Thinking of how he had practically fled in panic from the courtyard, his face turned green and red in succession.
He spat viciously toward the courtyard gate.
Just a bastard, and he really thinks he’s a young master!
—
Inside the courtyard, Lin Zhiji was also furious in Xie Yi’s consciousness space.
Li Guan’s contemptuous attitude was completely undisguised, practically written across his face.
Lin Zhiji and Xie Yi had their own conflicts, but when facing outsiders, he was clearly on Xie Yi’s side.
No matter what, they had at least shared life and death—there was some bond between system and host.
More importantly, they shared senses. That was basically a first-person insult.
In other words, wasn’t this insulting him too?!
Could he tolerate that?!
Compared to him, Xie Yi’s reaction was far too calm.
But Lin Zhiji had read the original story and knew Xie Yi was not someone with a good temper. On the contrary, he was vengeful and extremely petty.
Lin Zhiji asked suspiciously: 【Host, you’re not planning to teach him a lesson?】
Xie Yi looked at the puffed-up little light ball with interest, even finding it somewhat amusing.
He had thought it was just a soft, cowardly thing, but it turned out it could also get angry.
The little ball trembled with golden light, very entertaining.
Of course, Xie Yi was not magnanimous.
It was just that there was no need to waste attention on a dying person.
However, Lin Zhiji’s reaction made him slightly more patient: 【How would you teach him a lesson?】
He was also curious how this soft system would punish someone.
Lin Zhiji froze.
He had no idea how to punish someone. After a moment, he tentatively said: 【Then… put a sack over his head and beat him up……】
Xie Yi paused, then suddenly laughed out loud.
His methods had always been to make people wish for death yet unable to die.
He hadn’t expected that in Lin Zhiji’s mind, this already counted as punishment.
Lin Zhiji gritted his teeth in frustration, but didn’t dare provoke him and quickly changed the topic: 【What about the birthday banquet, Host? What are you planning to do?】
Xie Yi’s lips still carried a faint smile as his fingers brushed over the clothes: 【Has my dear stepmother not already told me what I should do?】
Lin Zhiji froze: 【You can tell she has bad intentions, right?】
Xie Yi chuckled: 【And do I have any good intentions?】
Lin Zhiji: 6
Silently, he lit a row of candles for Madam Jiang.
—
Xie Yi went to change clothes. Without warning, Lin Zhiji saw his bare upper body and froze for a moment before hurriedly looking away.
Afraid of provoking him into killing intent again.
Even so, he could not avoid the rustling sounds of changing clothes beside his ear, nor the occasional glimpse of skin and defined muscle contours through his peripheral vision.
The half-concealed sight only made it more suggestive.
Lin Zhiji looked helpless. This was exactly the inconvenience of shared perception.
He had already tried his best to avoid it, yet still ended up in this kind of awkward situation.
Fortunately, Xie Yi didn’t seem to notice.
Lin Zhiji relaxed slightly.
But the more he told himself not to think about it, the more his mind kept replaying it on loop.
In his past life, he had been sickly and thin. Before death, he was nothing but a frame of bones. He had even grown to loathe his own body, sometimes enviously glancing at male models in magazines.
And Xie Yi’s body—healthy, perfect, seen in first-person perspective—was simply too hard to ignore.
He had originally thought, both of them being men, he would be rather calm about it.
But after Xie Yi had exposed his reaction, he had been overwhelmed by a moment of embarrassment—though it was quickly drowned out and shredded by Xie Yi’s killing intent, leaving only fear behind.
Now, as the pain faded, the belated embarrassment slowly surfaced again.
That earlier “calmness” had shifted into something strange.
Even details he hadn’t cared about before suddenly became vivid and unavoidable.
Xie Yi was a human. And humans had physiological needs.
For example—going to the bathroom.
He could still try to avoid visual input, but hearing and touch were unavoidable.
Especially—
Xie Yi’s “assets” were still quite substantial.
He thought sourly.
While his mind was a chaotic mess, he was suddenly nudged and almost stumbled.
If it were usual, he would’ve snapped a little—but now he only felt guilty, like a deflated balloon: 【W-what are you doing?】
He looked up—and froze.
The Madam Jiang had clearly prepared thoroughly despite her malicious intent. Aside from clothes, headwear, and accessories, there was even a bronze mirror.
In the mirror stood a man so striking it made one lose focus.
Black hair tied up with a golden crown; perhaps due to inexperience, a strand had slipped loose, adding a touch of unruly ease.
The overly ornate robe should have looked gaudy, but on him it instead became an effortless kind of noble refinement.
His features were deep and sharp, lips faintly curved.
One eye carried a lazy, indifferent smile, while the other was veiled in gray opacity—an emotionless, beastlike stillness.
This extreme contrast seized attention at first glance, making it impossible to look away.
Even Lin Zhiji froze for a moment.
He had read descriptions of Xie Yi’s appearance before, knowing only about the gray haze over his left eye—but seeing it in reality was an entirely different impact.
This level of looks… if placed in the entertainment industry, it would be nuclear-level.
Xie Yi met his gaze through the mirror.
He could feel that stare lingering on his face—more precisely, on his clouded left eye.
Since childhood, this eye had been called an omen of misfortune.
Those who saw it either looked down in disgust, or, before dying, screamed and cursed in fear.
But in any case, the dying screams were usually more pleasant to hear.
He thought indifferently, lips still faintly smiling.
Then he heard Lin Zhiji’s muttering in the consciousness space: 【So good-looking… this is what you call a god-tier face…】
Xie Yi: ?
The faint killing intent that had not yet fully formed was instantly dispersed.
—
Main Courtyard.
Madam Jiang listened to Li Guan’s report while tending to a pot of orchids.
“You’re saying he told you to leave things and get lost?”
“Yes,” Li Guan added fuel to the fire. “This subordinate followed your instructions and treated Young Master Yi with utmost respect, but he not only rejected your kindness, he even cursed you… truly outrageous…”
Madam Jiang said nothing, but her pruning scissors moved slightly harder—snipping off a perfectly blooming orchid.
Only after Li Guan left did she slam the scissors down in anger, her face twisted in disgust.
“不识抬举的野种……” (An ungrateful bastard…)
Her maid quickly supported her. “Madam, please calm yourself. He is merely a low-born, ill-omened child of a foreign concubine. Why lower yourself to his level…”
Madam Jiang’s expression darkened further. “Low-born? Ha! Isn’t that exactly the type the general likes?”
Back then, her husband had been obsessed with that foreign concubine, even allowing her to bear a child.
Fortunately, she had used some means to brand Xie Yi as ill-omened at birth, earning the general’s disgust and causing the concubine to lose favor and die soon after.
She had thought that with the concubine gone, she could slowly reclaim her husband’s heart.
But instead, he was ensnared by another woman—Madam Han.
That woman was far more cunning, far more ambitious.
Not only did she aim to bear a child, she even manipulated the general and the matriarch into considering elevating her to equal wife status.
Madam Jiang had suffered repeated setbacks before finally lying low, waiting for an opportunity.
And tomorrow—would be that opportunity.
Thinking of her arrangements, she finally calmed down and sneered.
“Very well. Tomorrow, I’ll send him and that Madam Han to their deaths together.”