After washing up and changing into a clean set of robes, Wen Xu instantly felt much more refreshed. He then washed the clothes he had just taken off, along with his underpants, and hung them out to dry in the courtyard.
It was currently dusk, and the brilliant sunset was dyeing the entire sky a fiery red like a phoenix spreading its wings, casting a warm, glowing hue over the courtyard as well.
Wen Xu stretched lazily and felt a bit hungry. Just as he was preparing to rustle up some food, Yuan Xiuzhu suddenly arrived.
Moreover, he was carrying a large food box, and the rich aroma reached Wen Xu even before he walked up to him.
Craving the food intensely, Wen Xu felt a surge of delight, though right after, he suddenly remembered the wound on his neck. He quickly tugged at his collar and pulled his hair forward to conceal it.
Yuan Xiuzhu was entirely focused on taking the food out of the box and didn’t notice his little actions at all.
“This roast chicken is truly delicious! Senior Brother Xiuzhu, you are so good to me. Even though you are so busy every day, you still go out of your way to bring me delicious treats. I honestly do not know how to repay you!” Wen Xu ate the roast chicken with an expression of complete satisfaction, squinting his eyes like a contented little cat.
“Who is asking for your repayment? With a scrawny little frame like yours, this senior brother only asks that you eat enough to put on some weight.” Yuan Xiuzhu gazed at Wen Xu with tender affection. Noticing a smudge of oil on his face, he pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped it clean. “Look at you—getting oil all over your mouth is one thing, but you managed to get it all over your face, too.”
Watching Yuan Xiuzhu wipe his face, Wen Xu blinked blankly in utter astonishment.
Yuan Xiuzhu was simply too gentle! This didn’t look like a senior brother treating a junior brother at all; it felt practically like a father doting on his son.
Turns out Yuan Xiuzhu was a paternal-type senior brother!
Over the past few days since crossing over, Yuan Xiuzhu had dropped by every day or two to deliver delicious food and pamper him. He had truly treated the original host wonderfully it was just a pity that the original host had bowed out of the story far too early, leaving all these benefits entirely to him.
After finishing the main course, Wen Xu turned his attention to the pastries. Their presentation was exquisite, and the taste was delightful—sweet without being cloying.
In particular, there was a plate of pastries named Exquisite as Jade, flavored with lychee. They were wonderfully fragrant, shaped like delicate flower petals, and possessed a translucent blue color that looked crystalline and pure like fine jade, truly living up to their poetic name.
“Senior Brother, these pastries are so delicious! Do you think Shizun would like them?”
“Shizun?” Yuan Xiuzhu paused, looking startled. “You want to give these to Shizun?”
Wen Xu nodded repeatedly with an affirmative “Mm-mm.” “I am heading to Feiyu Palace tomorrow, and I can just bring some for Shizun to try. If I leave them until tomorrow, they shouldn’t spoil, right?”
“They certainly won’t spoil if kept inside my food box. But why on earth are you going to Feiyu Palace tomorrow?” Yuan Xiuzhu stared at Wen Xu in utter astonishment. “Aren’t you most afraid of Shizun? You have never once actively gone to Feiyu Palace all these years.”
“Er, about that…” Wen Xu took a bite of an Exquisite as Jade pastry and spoke evasively, “Times have different circumstances now… Didn’t I mention before that I hold a lot of admiration for Shizun? Therefore, starting tomorrow, I am going to Feiyu Palace every day to attend to Shizun. If you bring food over in the future and I am not around, just leave it directly inside the room, and I will eat it when I come back at night.”
“…Alright.”
After leaving Mingyue Cottage, Yuan Xiuzhu walked back to his room in a daze the entire way.
Although he had vaguely sensed over the past few days that his little junior brother had become different from before, wasn’t this transformation a bit too drastic?
Clearly, he used to be so terrified of Shizun, yet now he actually wanted to serve closely by Shizun’s side, and it was entirely of his own volition.
Yuan Xiuzhu’s gaze darkened slightly as he stared blankly at the white fox ornament sitting on his desk, a gift the little junior brother had given him.
The little fox wore a smiling, adorable expression much like the person who had given him the gift.
Naturally, in his heart, the little junior brother resembled a tiny white rabbit. But now, that little white rabbit was heading straight into the den of a big bad wolf.
Shizun’s temper was capricious and unpredictable, and Yuan Xiuzhu genuinely felt a bit worried about whether his little junior brother would be able to handle it.
Compared to the anxious and worried Yuan Xiuzhu, Wen Xu slept exceptionally well.
He dreamed that his sales performance ranked first in his team, earning him not only a generous commission but also a large bonus red envelope from the manager as a reward. On top of that, his former goddess confessed her feelings to him with a shy expression.
With a sales bonus in his left hand and his goddess with a luxury car in his right, the two of them drove off to the seaside, embracing each other as they faced the ocean. Their faces drew closer and closer together, and just as their lips were about to touch, the goddess’s face suddenly transformed into that of a white snake.
The white snake flicked its forked tongue, and the moment it opened its mouth, a chilling voice rang out: “Good disciple, hurry and come touch Master’s scales.”
Holy crap!”
Startled almost to the point of cardiac arrest, Wen Xu bolted awake from his dream. His eyes widened like copper bells as he stared pale-faced at the canopy of the bed, his chest heaving heavily as his rapid breathing took a long time to calm down.
It took him a good while to recover. The chilling moonlight filtering in through the lattice window illuminated the cold sweat glistening on Wen Xu’s face.
He sat up in bed, wiping his face with lingering dread. That dream had simply been too terrifying he must have been thoroughly poisoned by that white snake!
Wen Xu decided that from now on, he would never be able to look at a goddess the same way again, not even in his dreams.
Because of this nightmare, Wen Xu slept extremely restlessly for the rest of the second half of the night, so much so that when he arrived at Feiyu Palace the next morning carrying the food box, dark circles were prominently visible beneath his eyes.
Yu Qinghan frowned slightly. “What on earth were you doing all night? Didn’t Master tell you to get a proper rest?”
Sensing the reprimand hidden in Yu Qinghan’s tone, Wen Xu quickly explained, “I did rest properly! It’s just that I had a nightmare in the second half of the night, and after being startled awake, I couldn’t fall back asleep.”
Yu Qinghan asked, “What kind of nightmare?”
Wen Xu instinctively wanted to answer that he had dreamed of the goddess turning into a white snake. Catching himself just in time before the words left his lips, he hurriedly altered his statement: “I just dreamed that… Shizun turned into a white snake and suddenly opened his bloody maw at me, and I was so scared that I woke up.”
Hearing this, Yu Qinghan’s brows furrowed even more deeply. It seemed yesterday’s incident had left quite a severe psychological shadow on the little fellow.
“Since you were scared to the point of having nightmares, do you still insist on coming here every day to attend to me? Aren’t you afraid that I might turn into a snake and attack you again?”
Wen Xu shrank back slightly, shaking his head. “Not afraid! This disciple trusts Shizun. Shizun is so formidable, you certainly won’t lose control again! Oh, right, Shizun, these pastries were brought back from outside by Senior Brother Xiuzhu yesterday. They are incredibly delicious. I couldn’t bear to finish them all and specifically brought some over for Shizun to try!”
With that, Wen Xu took out a piece of Exquisite as Jade, extending his arm so that it was resting about two fists away from Yu Qinghan’s mouth.
“This piece is called Exquisite as Jade. This disciple especially loves its color a translucent, crystalline blue that feels very much like Shizun!”
Yu Qinghan stared for a moment at the fair fingers pinching the pastry before asking, “Are you saying Master is crystalline and translucent?”
“Pfft!” Wen Xu choked slightly, completely unprepared for Yu Qinghan to hit him with such a remark. “That is not what this disciple meant! This disciple simply thinks this color is gorgeous, striking the eye instantly while exuding a hint of refreshing coolness much like Shizun’s name: Qinghan, pure and cool. That is the meaning this disciple wished to convey!”
Yu Qinghan gazed at the blue pastry, forced to admit that its color was indeed lovely.
So, his little disciple was using a pastry to subtly compliment his appearance?