Thinking about the days, it had already been four days since he transmigrated, and this was his very first time taking a bath. The steaming hot water soaked his limbs, and at this moment, the person inside the wooden tub felt thoroughly cozy.
For these past few days, the system didn’t know where it had gone; no matter how much he called out to it, there was no response.
The door was pushed open unceremoniously. Tu Xiao reflexively covered his chest, before feeling that it was somewhat overly dramatic and affected they were both boys after all, and his current body was only nine years old; what was there to be afraid of being seen completely?
“Is that Shizun?”
Tu Xiao asked softly from across the folding screen.
Bai Chen uttered an affirmative hum, without stepping inside.
Clothing was slowly draped over the folding screen. Tu Xiao found it all rather novel; in the future, he wanted to learn this kind of skill as well to be able to get whatever he wanted with just a wave of his hand. Wouldn’t that charm the daylights out of the younger girls?
His stomach let out an untimely “gurgle” he had no idea whether the person at the door had heard it or not.
“Shizun, I, I’m hungry…”
How terribly embarrassing!
Would he think he was too expensive to maintain, act a bit too delicate, and regret not wanting him anymore?
Right now, he was in the bath tub, and Shizun was presumably at the door. If he put on his clothes and chased after him given Shizun’s long legs and tall stature, he would 100% fail to catch up. If he chased after him naked given Shizun’s formidable magical power, he would have a 50% chance of being pierced straight through the heart by a sword.
Just as he was pondering how to salvage the situation, a light, breezy inquiry rang out from outside the door:
“What do you want to eat?”
“Anything is fine; whatever Shizun buys, I’ll eat.” He answered very quickly, terrified that being a second too slow would get him disliked, and weakly added, “I’m really, really easy to raise, and I’m not picky at all…”
His mood was like riding a rollercoaster, instantly flying from the valley floor straight up into the sky.
He shouldn’t be disliked as a troublesome burden, right?
After Bai Chen left, Tu Xiao looked at the items hanging on the folding screen: a white inner robe, white inner trousers, two pieces of white middle robes, and an outer robe bearing a white crane pattern—clothes that looked awfully familiar.
Wow oh!
Wasn’t this a miniature version of Shizun’s clothes?
Why was he feeling inexplicably excited? Once he put it on, would he also be able to become the Number One of this world?
Were clothes really this cumbersome? Why were there so many straps that needed tying?
Aside from the inner trousers and bottom trousers being fine, nothing on the upper body looked right after putting it on. He had inexplicably ended up with several extra straps—which step had gone wrong precisely?
Just as he prepared to take them off and put them back on, a knock sounded outside the door, leaving him no choice but to shove all the awkward white straps straight into his clothes. Surely that hid whatever went wrong, right?
Opening the door, it was Bai Chen, who had just left not long ago. His transcendent, ethereal face left anyone who saw it momentarily dazed.
“Shizun.” Tu Xiao called out in a daze.
Bai Chen gave a slight nod, stepped inside, and placed the food he was carrying onto the side tea table.
Sitting upright without speaking, his eyes curled slightly as his gaze fell upon his disheveled disciple.
Meanwhile, Tu Xiao’s gaze gravitated toward the kraft paper.
Wondering what delicious food Shizun had bought, he felt a bit of the blind-box unboxing sensation.
Hopping over to sit beside Shizun, he very sensibly poured a cup of tea for Shizun first, and then poured one for himself.
“Shizun, drink some water.”
With that, he gulped down the water in his cup in one go. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought he was dying of thirst.
Seeing that Shizun’s cup remained completely untouched, he asked in a small voice, “Won’t you drink a little, Shizun?”
Seeing Shizun take a small sip, he looked on with burning eyes, asking expectantly and politely, “Shizun, can I open this up and eat it?”
Bai Chen hesitated for a second before understanding: “I bought it for you; eat whatever you like.”
Given permission, Tu Xiao couldn’t wait to unwrap it.
The first package contained four candied hawthorns.
The second package contained four plum blossom pastries.
The third package was… something he didn’t recognize yellow, rectangular, and presumably also belonging to the pastry category.
Exquisitely crafted with an intoxicating fragrance, his throat bobbed slightly as he picked up the unfamiliar yellow piece. The texture was delicate, clear, and sweet, tasting somewhat like mung bean cake delicious!
After finishing that, he ate the pink plum blossom pastry next. It was complete in color, fragrance, and taste, making him feel as though he were wandering through a sea of plum blossoms. The last item was a candied hawthorn coated heavily in sugar frosting sweet and sour, finally leaving his stomach feeling no longer empty.
Eating delicious food was pure happiness, and having a pretty Shizun sitting right beside him made his appetite even better, doubling his happiness.
How could he forget to share the benefits with Shizun? Failing to do so would be far too discourteous.
Holding out a pink plum blossom pastry to feed Shizun, he said, “Shizun, you have a bite too.”
“This seat achieved penury long ago and has no need to consume these; you eat them.” Bai Chen shook his head, gently pushing the offered plum blossom pastry back.
Tu Xiao wasn’t discouraged either; that way, all of these would belong to him.
Naturally taking back the pushed pastry to shove into his mouth, he chewed twice and smiled very happily: “Alright, Shizun, I definitely won’t waste any. I’m going to sweep all of these straight into my stomach.”
He swallowed the pastry, declaring with absolute confidence.
After finishing, he rubbed his belly and let out a series of hiccups. Having been too starved just now, he had eaten a bit too hurriedly.
He hadn’t paid attention to his table manners either—wondering if that would make him disliked. He had to work hard to become a disciple that Shizun loved.
Just as he was pondering how to win someone’s affection, an angry voice rang out by his ear:
“Get up and stand by this seat’s side.”
Hearing Shizun’s command, without even stopping to think, he whooshed straight up from the stool and stepped forward.
They were a bit close now, he and Shizun.
So fair, with a tiny red mole beneath the outer corner of his eye, bringing life and movement to his fair, flawless visage.
“Shizun, you are so good-looking.”
The realization slipped out of his mouth, and futile attempts to cover it with his hand were useless. He lowered his hand and continued:
“Your disciple is speaking the truth. Shizun has a majestic and open-minded demeanor, and a single white robe makes you look like an immortal descending from the heavens. Plenty of people must have told you that already.”
Bai Chen’s emotions remained unexpressed on his face. Pushing his lips together, his fingers fished out the haphazardly stuffed straps on Tu Xiao’s body, carefully untying every single misaligned strap before retying them properly from scratch.
Since he had never had anyone dress him from childhood until now, there were always days when he ended up putting his clothes or trousers on backward.
It wasn’t any major issue; it just gave him a strange, fluttery surge of happiness in his heart.
“Thank you, Shizun, Shizun is so nice.” Tu Xiao said sincerely.
“They don’t say it to my face, unlike you…”
Bai Chen finished tidying up his clothes and casually tossed out a reply, though the righteous justification at the back ultimately went unspoken.
Unlike him what? Unlike him being fast-spoken, or lacking a brain… Tu Xiao froze for a moment, and said in a small voice: “That’s why I’m unlike them. I will only ever speak of Shizun’s good points. Is that good…?”
“There’s no need to be like others; just be yourself.”
Be himself? Could he do that? Twisting his sleeve cuffs, he felt unsure in his heart, but whatever Shizun said went.
Failing to retain Shizun to sleep with him left him feeling surrounded by an eerie, gloomy vibe. Although the person was right next door, not having them in plain sight robbed him of a sense of security.
Timidly pulling the quilt over his head, Tu Xiao successfully drifted off to sleep amidst a flurry of nervous terror.
Groggy and hazy, he seemed to see a little child being bullied, cursed at as a wild child, and pelted with stones.
Such a miserable kid, so pitiful.
Plunging into darkness, he actually found himself experiencing it firsthand!
There was a fat, pot-bellied bully resembling Zhang Fei who was charging straight at him with a kitchen knife in hand.
Holy crap! In this situation, anyone who didn’t run was a total moron.
His feet felt as though they were filled with lead, unable to shift even a single step. Crap, he was about to be chopped up into a plate of spiced meat pancakes!
The stones nearby formed a black fog it was precisely that same mass of black fog that had choked his neck yesterday.
Hadn’t it been stabbed to death by Shizun’s sword? How was it still alive? Its life was truly tenacious.
“Child, do you want me to save you?”
At life-or-death moments, asking such rhetorical questions. He broke out in a cold sweat of anxiety: “If you’re going to save me, hurry up stop wasting breath! Do you know who my master is? The number one Immortal Venerable in the world.”
“Number one in the world? He can’t even protect his own disciple; so much for being the damn number one. If your master was coming, he would have come already. The fact that he hasn’t shown up means he can’t make it your master is a useless piece of trash.” The black fog morphed into human shape, laughing hideously: “Hehehehe… stop being his disciple; why not become my disciple instead and hand your body over to me? I’ll make you the supreme, highest-ranking existence in the Demon Realm.”
Cold sweat began to seeping down Tu Xiao’s forehead; monsters digging up walls painted pie-in-the-sky promises too.
With wolves in front and tigers behind, a single careless move would leave him without even a corpse left behind.
He wanted to play a bit longer and didn’t want to turn into a lonely ghost.
A dazzling flash of white light appeared, forcing Tu Xiao to shut his eyes. Someone save him if he met an untimely demise today, the game was over…
Even if he became a lonely ghost, he would still remember this black fog’s appearance and draw circles every single day to curse it with a restless death.
Opening his eyes once more, the Sword of Unemotional Severing had pierced two-in-one. Shizun descended like a deity from the heavens dignified, poised, and graceful, effortless in letting his head remain securely attached to his neck.
Shizun was truly reliable. He shot a sidelong glare of disdain at the black fog, letting it reap what it sowed for running its mouth earlier wondering if Shizun had heard its wall-poaching speech just now.
He had to let Shizun know that he only clung to his thigh and would only ever be his sole disciple!
Thus, he cried out loudly: “I am Shizun’s person for the rest of my life! Shizun is so awesome!”
“Shizun is so amazing! This little heart of mine beats for Shizun, goes crazy for Shizun, and thumps incessantly against him!”
Hmph! Who was calling whom useless? Bai Chen was insanely cool.