Shi Zhong and Shi Jing had already begun smugly picking out pastries, never expecting Shi Mu to retort.
They were instantly struck dumbfounded.
This Geer came from a humble background and had been the punching bag for the two brothers since childhood. He never fought back when hit, never talked back when scolded, and could only lower his head and sniffle.
To suddenly snap back left them temporarily at a loss for how to retaliate.
Shi Zhong widened his little eyes, “You… you… what did you just say?”
Shi Mu curled the corner of his lips, lazily tossing back, “Brain atrophy or something? Can’t even understand an insult?”
Although Shi Zhong and Shi Jing liked to bully the original owner, their minds weren’t exactly stocked with a rich vocabulary of curses.
Shi Mu was different. Ever since his standardized residency training, he had worked in the obstetrics and gynecology department for seven years.
He had seen mothers-to-be who, to save money, refused a single prenatal checkup, only for the baby to arrive at the hospital with placental abruption, where the hospital barely saved both mother and child, followed by a mother-in-law raising a fuss over the extra hospital expenses.
He had seen husbands who, upon seeing a daughter born, abandoned the mother and newborn to run off overnight with the money.
He encountered situations like that every now and then.
Shi Mu cursed every single one he saw, pairing up to curse a pair whenever he met two.
All the blood rushed straight to Shi Zhong’s head. He glared viciously and demanded, “How dare you curse me?”
He was a concubine-born son; how dared he act like this?
Shi Jing was also boiling with anger and desperately wanted to teach Shi Mu a hard lesson.
Yet this wasn’t the Shi residence.
Mindful of the surrounding gazes, he pinched his voice and sneered, “Shi Mu, you’re a Geer, yet your language is so vulgar. How disgraceful.”
“The two of you have been polishing a single piece of trash for ten years, while I only drop one insult every ten years—I pale in comparison.” Too lazy to waste any more breath on the two of them, Shi Mu stopped hesitating at this point and pointed respectively at the lotus root starch cake, begonia pastry, and chestnut pastry.
“Boss Xu, one portion of each of these three, thank you.”
Boss Xu replied crisply, “Coming right up!”
Wrapping up a portion of each for him, she placed them in a box and handed them over, “One hundred and five copper cash.”
Knowing this concubine-born son possessed no special skills and a frail constitution, Shi Zhong and Shi Jing certainly didn’t believe he had the money to buy pastries worth one hundred and five copper cash.
Just as they muttered, “Where on earth did he get the money to buy so many?” they watched Shi Mu fish out a money pouch, count out one qian of silver from it, carefully count out another five copper cash, and hand them to the owner.
Boss Xu took the qian of silver and kept the remaining five cash, “It’s the young master’s first time here, I’ll waive the odd change for you.”
Shi Mu’s lips curved slightly, his smile as brilliant as the warm summer sun, “Thank you, Boss! Wishing Boss abundant financial success!”
Boss Xu smiled until her eyes narrowed into slits, “You’re welcome! Hope the young master enjoys it, please come again next time!”
Watching Shi Mu swagger away holding the pastry box out of Fuyuan Zhai, Shi Zhong and Shi Jing felt an indescribable stifling frustration.
They couldn’t understand it for the life of them: when Shi Mu was driven out of the Shi family, he only had three taels of silver to his name. He couldn’t read and lacked any physical strength—how on earth did he have the money to buy from Fuyuan Zhai?
Fuyuan Zhai truly lived up to its reputation as a renowned pastry house, down to packaging so exquisite it even featured a lidded paper box.
Thinking of how pleasantly surprised Jiang Xiaolan would be by the pastries and how she would endlessly lament that her son had grown up, Shi Mu felt happy from the bottom of his heart.
He couldn’t resist opening the box, admiring the exquisite and beautiful pastries inside as he walked.
They felt no worse than modern ones.
Having walked just two steps with his head down, a pair of silver-threaded white boots suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision, followed upward by a lavish smoky-purple long robe.
“Excuse me.” Shi Mu finished speaking before raising his head.
Seeing a familiar face, he blurted out in astonishment, “Xie Yi?”
Across from him, Shi Mu’s expression also showed a momentary blankness.
That utterance of “Xie Yi” was like a feather brushing across Xie Yi’s mind, stirring up layers of undulating ripples.
It was as if that crisp voice was nestled somewhere deep within his heart, only popping its head out abruptly when heard, before concealing its form once more.
Only after shouting it did Shi Mu notice the passing people around him bowing and offering respectful greetings: “Greetings, Your Highness Prince Ling.”
Only he himself was so rebellious and audacious.
Xie Xu, walking behind him, naturally heard this call of Xie Yi as well. Knitting his brows, he paced over to Shi Mu and reprimanded sternly, “What is wrong with you? Is the name of His Highness Prince Ling something you can just casually shout?”
Ever since birth, apart from Xie Yi’s birth mother, Imperial Noble Consort Chen, and the emperor, Xie Xu had never heard a third person dare address his imperial uncle like that.
Behind him, Shi Jing and Shi Zhong had just finished buying their pastries and walked out to witness this scene.
True to form, an ignorant and uncultured concubine-born son—he didn’t even recognize Prince Ling?
Knowing a good show was about to unfold, the two exchanged glee-filled glances.
Walking over together, they stiffly and properly bowed in greeting, “Greetings, Your Highness Prince Ling, greetings, Your Highness Prince Jing.”
The mocking gazes they cast over were clearly meant to set an example for Shi Mu.
Xie Yi possessed deep brow bones and a prominent nose bridge, with the shadow of long eyelashes draped over a tiny pale mole under his eye, making this already flawless visage even more striking.
Although he loved enjoyment and his presence spanned across all of Yidu, his status made him difficult to approach ordinarily.
Encountering him by chance today, Shi Jing felt elated within, his peripheral vision constantly darting toward Xie Yi.
While Shi Zhong and Shi Jing bowed respectfully at the side, Xie Yi acted as though he hadn’t seen them at all. His upturned fox-like eyes flickered slightly, his gaze locking entirely onto Shi Mu.
What are you looking at? Is there anything good to look at?
Shi Mu turned his face slightly away, deliberately avoiding his gaze.
Prince Jing Xie Xu stepped forward, tilting his head to scrutinize Shi Mu carefully before speaking in delighted surprise, “Aren’t you that doctor from Liuli Alley the other day! Young Master Shi Mu of the Shi family, right?”
Hearing Prince Jing mention the Shi family, Shi Zhong immediately chimed in, “Reporting to Prince Jing, he is the concubine-born son of our household, of depraved character, and was driven out by our father! Since he is so disrespectful to Prince Ling, we beg Your Highness Prince Ling not to spare the Shi family’s face! Punish him however you see fit!”
Shi Zhong had just been mocked by Shi Mu and was burning with intense hatred.
Prince Ling Xie Yi’s birth mother, Imperial Noble Consort Chen, was the late empress’s biological younger sister, making him immensely noble in the capital. For Shi Mu to dare show such disrespect to his face was absolute courting of death, and he could seize this opportunity to curry favor with His Highness Prince Ling.
Shi Zhong protested indignantly, “This concubine-born son is rebellious and audacious! Drag him to the Court of Judicial Review and teach him a harsh lesson!”
Shi Mu knew that once Shi Zhong got hold of anything against him, he would definitely make a mountain out of a molehill.
Sure enough, before the Prince and Prince Jing could say anything, Shi Zhong stepped forward and grabbed Shi Mu’s wrist, “You illiterate rat, is the name of His Highness Prince Ling something you can address directly? As your elder, I must teach you a lesson!”
“What kind of thing are you, what gives you the right to grab me?” Sharp-tongued as Shi Mu was, caught now in Shi Zhong’s fleshy, knuckle-dented palm, he couldn’t break free.
“I’ll take you to the Court of Judicial Review right now, accuse you of the crime of disrespect, and properly straighten out that mouth of yours.”
The Court of Judicial Review was the agency in the Yi Dynasty responsible for punishing scions of noble families and imperial relatives.
Discarding propriety and destroying rituals was termed disrespect.
According to the dynasty’s laws, ordinary commoners showing disrespect to the royalty were to be dragged into the Court of Judicial Review and given thirty heavy rod strikes.
For a petty concubine-born son to offend Prince Ling of all people—if sent to the Court of Judicial Review, it would be a miracle if he weren’t beaten to a bloody pulp.
Seeing that Shi Zhong was genuinely about to drag Shi Mu away, Xie Xu intended to step in and protect him a little, but with Xie Yi standing right in front, he naturally had to defer to Xie Yi as supreme.
Just as he wanted to turn and ask his imperial uncle’s opinion, a folding fan neatly pressed down, resting on the wrist Shi Zhong used to grip Shi Mu.
Xie Yi pressed down on the fan pivot with a casual demeanor, yet Shi Zhong’s expression changed instantly, as though bearing immense pressure.
With another upward flick of Xie Yi’s wrist, the fan tapped against Shi Zhong’s pulse point, and he said indifferently, “Let go.”
Shi Zhong felt his entire arm go numb, forcing him to unlatch his grip on Shi Mu’s wrist beyond his control.
Xie Yi withdrew his folding fan, his expression betraying neither joy nor anger, “It is merely a name, it matters not.”
Pronouncing Prince Ling’s given name right to his face—both Shi Jing and Shi Zhong had assumed Shi Mu would receive a harsh lesson, and were filled with intense anticipation, yet Prince Ling wasn’t even going to bicker with this concubine-born son?
On what grounds?
Shi Jing’s reaction was exceptionally quick. He immediately smiled and bowed to Xie Yi, “Prince Ling is magnanimous and treats others with tolerance; this humble subject has learned much!”
Xie Yi’s gaze swept across to see Shi Mu raising his chin slightly without looking at him.
The little Geer actually had quite a temper?
Unconsciously curling the corners of his lips, he told Xie Xu, “Let’s go.”
Watching Xie Yi leave, Shi Mu breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
Glancing at him sideways out of the corner of his eye.
For reasons unknown, Xie Yi, who had already walked ahead, suddenly turned his head sideways as well, casting another slightly appraising gaze in his direction.
Shi Mu froze for a moment, and the other party averted his gaze, stepping into the curio shop ahead instead.
On the contrary, Prince Jing Xie Xu blinked ambiguously at him.
In the original work, Xie Xu was a dispensable supporting character. He was very close to the cannon fodder Xie Yi, but because his screen time was so minimal, he wasn’t even implicated when Xie Yi was eventually exiled.
Others didn’t know, but Shi Mu knew from the plot that the cannon fodder Xie Yi was only putting on a facade of being a romantic playboy, and that night with him had actually been Xie Yi’s very first time.
That was why, in the original text, he had married the original owner without a moment’s hesitation.
Xie Xu, however, was a genuine playboy who had flirted with countless men and women.
Thinking of Xie Xu’s wink just now, Shi Mu couldn’t help shivering.
Shi Mu: Stay away from your big brother, please.
Xie Xu caught up with Xie Yi, entering the adjacent curio shop together with him, “Imperial Uncle, the Hetian jade pendant I mentioned to you is right in here; it truly is pure white all over and exceptionally glossy.”
As Xie Xu spoke, seeing Xie Yi halt in his tracks, pressing a fist against his lips with an expression of mild discomfort.
“What is it, Imperial Uncle?”
Xie Yi had just recently felt a wave of nausea and chest tightness, though it vanished as quickly as it came. Raising a hand, he said, “It’s nothing, let’s go.”
Prince Ling and Prince Jing had departed, and failing to teach this little rat a lesson left Shi Zhong fuming with rage.
Seeing Shi Zhong’s liver-colored face, Shi Mu felt an indescribable sense of gratification.
Shouldn’t he add a little more fuel to the fire? He asked with a beaming smile, “What’s wrong? The one surnamed Xie didn’t sort me out, are you about to burst from anger?”
The one surnamed Xie?
He’s just a lowly concubine-born son, he’s rebelling!
Shi Jing wished he could drag the person right back in front of His Highness Prince Ling and let the prince witness this concubine-born son’s unruly behavior, “You… you… how dare you show such disrespect!”
The youth before him wore an air of absolute nonchalance, humming softly, “Then go tell him, see what he can do to me!”
Regardless of whether the one surnamed Xie would punish him or not, he was going to satisfy his mouth first.
Glancing sideways at Shi Zhong again, he raised an eyebrow, “As for me, I have the heart of a bodhisattva, so let me advise you out of kindness: eat fewer pastries.”
With that, leaving behind a trail of cheerful whistling, he strolled into the distance.
Shi Zhong assumed Shi Mu was just mocking him, and in a fit of rage, promptly chewed through another chestnut pastry.