Chapter 28: Returning to the City

The two of them returned to Juen City together. As they passed through the city gate, Su Mu idly lifted the curtain and glanced outside, coincidentally seeing Yan Jiyue standing at the city gate, gazing lovingly at… Shen Yuxue’s carriage.

The deeply affectionate look in his eyes would make one think he was looking at Su Mu if they didn’t know better.

Su Mu lowered her eyelids and dropped the curtain, pretending not to have seen him.

He was specifically waiting for Shen Yuxue to return to the city, so it would be awkward if she appeared at this time.

“Young master, how could the young mistress be like this?” Xiao Ping complained, “You’ve been standing at the city gate waiting for her return every day for the past few days. Now that she’s finally back, she didn’t even greet you, let alone spare you a glance.”

Yan Jiyue lowered his eyes bitterly, “She never wanted to see me in the first place… But it’s good that she has returned safely.”

Xiao Ping pursed his lips, not responding.

Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure darting through the crowd. Sharp-eyed Xiao Ping quickly noticed and said, “Young master, isn’t that the little slut Xie Yi?”

Yan Jiyue looked in the direction he was pointing. Xie Yi, dressed in white, was weaving through the crowd. His strikingly handsome features and green eyes were eye-catching in the crowd, almost immediately visible.

Yan Jiyue saw Xie Yi heading straight for Shen Yuxue’s carriage. The carriage driver seemed to know him. Seeing him running over breathlessly, she reined in the horses. The next second, Su Mu lifted the curtain and smiled at him tenderly and affectionately.

She stepped down from the carriage in a crimson dress, the intense red like juice squeezed from crushed camellia flowers splashed on her clothes. Combined with her aloof yet slightly warm gaze, she was dizzying in her beauty.

“Elder Sister Mu, you’re finally back. I’ve missed you so much.” Across the distant crowd, Yan Jiyue faintly heard his coquettish voice.

Coy and clingy, even more ingratiating than the male courtesans in the pleasure houses, let alone doing this on the street.

Yan Jiyue inwardly spat in disgust. Shameless.

But then he saw Su Mu smile and gently ruffle his soft long hair, saying something in a low, doting voice.

Those long, snow-white, delicate hands were the dream he could yearn for but never reach. They glided over Xie Yi’s hair tips, the corners of his eyes, the side of his neck, her sleeves leaving an alluring arc in the air.

Yan Jiyue’s eyes felt as if they’d been cut by a knife. He lowered his head in jealousy.

Although Su Mu’s eyes were on Xie Yi, she couldn’t completely ignore Yan Jiyue, especially since they were actually quite close. With Yan Jiyue’s looks, it was difficult to ignore him.

Even Shen Yuxue had noticed him.

She got off the carriage and came to Su Mu’s side, asking softly, “Your ex-husband seems to be waiting for you. Won’t you go see him?”

Su Mu looked towards Yan Jiyue.

Xie Yi’s lowered eyes churned with displeasure. Why did you have to mention it? If you hadn’t said anything, Elder Sister Mu wouldn’t have even spared Yan Jiyue a glance.

Perhaps too afraid of old feelings rekindling between Su Mu and Yan Jiyue, before Su Mu could speak, Xie Yi said, “Young Master Yan must be waiting for Miss Shen.”

“Me?” Shen Yuxue was dumbfounded.

Xie Yi said submissively, “Miss Shen’s ‘Shui Diao Ge Tou’ has made waves throughout the city. I’ve heard that Young Master Yan bought out all your poems and is known for his admiration of you.”

Shen Yuxue quickly looked at Su Mu, frantically waving her hands as if afraid of a misunderstanding, “There’s nothing between us, we’ve never even met.”

Su Mu said calmly, “I know.”

Shen Yuxue breathed a sigh of relief. She was most afraid of getting entangled in some inexplicable love triangle, “As long as you know. Well, I’ll be going then. I’ll come find you in a few days after I’ve figured out the ice jelly.”

Su Mu smiled and nodded, and the two parted ways.

Xie Yi naturally took the package from Su Mu’s hand, saying thoughtfully, “Elder Sister Mu must be very tired from the journey. I received your letter and went to the market early this morning to buy ingredients. I’ve prepared a table full of your favorite dishes to help you recover.”

“Good.” Su Mu walked back with him side by side.

“Look at how smug Xie Yi is. If it weren’t for you stopping me, young master, I would have taught him a lesson while the young mistress was away for the exam,” Xiao Ping rolled his eyes.

Yan Jiyue raised a cold eyebrow, “Before Amu left, she arranged for Xie Yi to stay at Madam Qiao’s house. He hasn’t set foot outside for a month. How could you have found an opportunity?”

If there had been a chance, he would have acted long ago.

But it was precisely because Su Mu had arranged Xie Yi’s lodging in a place beyond reproach even in her absence that he became more certain of Xie Yi’s importance in Su Mu’s heart.

“But,” Xiao Ping wrung his hands, “But the Zhujun gave orders that if you can’t please the young mistress, she will marry you off. I heard that after the Zhou family fell through last time, she has now found you a tavern owner. How could someone of that status be worthy of you?”

Xiao Ping naturally had his own thoughts. Although a tavern owner was wealthy, he was after all a merchant. The business was unstable and couldn’t guarantee long-term prosperity. Not to mention having to be mindful of others’ feelings everywhere. He already had two male concubines and one female concubine, with two children born to concubines, constantly scheming and vying for favor.

If Yan Jiyue were to marry into that family, infighting would be unavoidable. But with Yan Jiyue’s temperament, how could he possibly outmaneuver those little concubines? Even with his good looks, falling out of favor was only a matter of time.

Xiao Ping had sold himself to the Yan family and would definitely have to follow Yan Jiyue when he married out.

If the master had no standing in the inner courtyard, life as a servant would be even more difficult.

He didn’t want to live that kind of life following Yan Jiyue. All things considered, Su Mu was still the best.

Young, gentle, and capable, she was already a scholar at such a young age. She was also kind to servants and wouldn’t mistreat him. If she passed the provincial examination in the future, that would be even better…

Xiao Ping couldn’t help but daydream.

Yan Jiyue looked at Xiao Ping’s lovestruck expression and sneered inwardly.

Two lifetimes couldn’t change his fawning nature. If it weren’t for Hua Lu’s uselessness, Yan Jiyue wouldn’t have kept him at all.

When Yan Jiyue, who had been reborn, first saw Xiao Ping, he immediately remembered how Xiao Ping had secretly climbed into Su Mu’s bed behind his back.

Su Mu, concerned about his reputation and afraid that if word got out about his servant doing such a despicable thing, it would make him lose face as the young master, kept it secret. Even Yan Jiyue himself was kept in the dark.

But suddenly one day, Xie Yi came to see him.

He was wearing white brocade with floating light satin, wearing a South Sea orchid jade pendant at his waist, a gold filigree sea and cloud cliff hairpin in his hair, and on his slender, delicate wrist was the blood jade bracelet that had once severely humiliated him. His expression was radiant.

Every inch of him displayed Su Mu’s doting love, looking more like the principal husband than the actual principal husband himself.

After arriving at Handan Courtyard, Xie Yi sat down leisurely, with a lazy smile at the corners of his mouth, his eyebrows slightly arrogant, a completely different face from when he was in front of Su Mu.

He overstepped his bounds, dismissing all the servants in Handan Courtyard on Yan Jiyue’s behalf, leaving only Xiao Ping behind.

At that time, although Yan Jiyue didn’t know what had happened, he knew that for Xie Yi to take the initiative to seek him out, it must be about Su Mu.

“If you have something to say, just say it. Even if you are favored, I won’t be polite to you if you act wild in my courtyard,” Yan Jiyue said coldly.

Xie Yi, unhurried, sat askew on the huanghuali wood chair, his lips curled in a faint smile tinged with coldness: “Brother always says I’m just a dog picked up by Sister Mu, born lowly, unworthy to serve by her side… Indeed, my humble origins naturally can’t compare to brother’s nobility. But no matter how lowly I am, I wouldn’t strip myself naked and climb into sister’s bed, begging for her favor and pity like some people.”

Yan Jiyue narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning sharp as he looked at Xiao Ping: “Is what he’s saying true?”

“Young master, that’s not true, how could I possibly do such a thing?” Xiao Ping defended himself, but was already trembling all over.

Xie Yi laughed contemptuously: “What a good servant trained by brother. His body is soft and delicate, his skin fair, especially when Sister Mu kicked him off the bed, even that place was pink. It seems brother has raised him well.”

Xiao Ping was almost crying, kneeling at his feet, constantly begging: “Young Master Xie, please don’t say anymore.”

“Get lost, you filthy thing! Now you know about face?! When you stripped naked and climbed into Sister Mu’s bed, why didn’t you know the word shame?! Pah! You cheap little whore!” Xie Yi’s expression suddenly changed as he viciously kicked Xiao Ping in the chest, his eyes shooting out daggers.

In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi always maintained a gentle and virtuous appearance, but when it came to torturing people in front of Yan Jiyue, he showed no mercy.

Seeing Xiao Ping crying and wailing, Xie Yi seemed to recall Xiao Ping’s clothed—no, completely naked appearance in Luofeng Courtyard. Unable to contain his jealousy, he viciously kicked him two more times before finally venting the envy and hatred in his heart.

“You say you’re Yan Jiyue’s personal attendant, so you’ll have to serve Sister Mu sooner or later anyway, what’s the difference? Today I really must ask, were these shameless words taught by your dignified and noble master?!”

After venting his anger, Xie Yi adjusted the gold filigree sea and cloud cliff hairpin in his hair and looked at Yan Jiyue with contempt: “Brother, your servant has done such a thing, so I’ve taken the liberty of punishing him for you. Next, whether you sell him off, continue to keep him by your side, or do a favor and send him to Sister Mu’s room, I don’t mind… After all, brother hasn’t received the wife-master’s love all these years, it’s understandable that Xiao Ping couldn’t resist.”

Xie Yi spoke while smiling carelessly, and left unhurriedly.

Leaving behind the trembling Xiao Ping.

“Young master, please forgive me. I-I only wanted to help you win the young mistress’s heart after seeing you fail for so long,” Xiao Ping knelt and crawled to his feet, begging repeatedly.

“Help me?” Yan Jiyue slowly bent down and gripped Xiao Ping’s chin, his narrow phoenix eyes cold and gloomy: “Who do you think you are, worthy of climbing into her bed?!”

He hadn’t even touched her himself.

Yan Jiyue could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. The betrayal of his servant, the mockery of his love rival, and the crisis of Su Mu being taken away all exploded in an instant. He took out the whip he hadn’t touched in years and lashed it on Xiao Ping’s body, one stroke after another.

Xiao Ping cried out in pain, rolling around the courtyard and calling for help. His voice attracted other servants from Handan Courtyard. Hua Lu and others all came, shocked to see Xiao Ping covered in blood and rolling on the ground.

Looking at Yan Jiyue again, his eyes were like the most venomous and vicious snake crawling out of a snake pit. Everyone broke out in a cold sweat from fright.

“What are you looking at?! You bunch of blind dogs, hurry up and hold him down for me!” Yan Jiyue shouted angrily, his killing intent erupting.

Everyone quickly helped him hold Xiao Ping down, watching as Yan Jiyue frantically whipped and tortured Xiao Ping until he fell unconscious.