Wen Xu stared blankly at Yu Qinghan, attempting to read some expression from his face, but that handsome face remained completely expressionless.
Unable to guess Yu Qinghan’s intentions, he felt a bit panicked inside. However, the notification sounds for rising favorability values rang out in his mind one after another, and he immediately blossomed with joy.
Forget it, who cares what Yu Qinghan wants to do? As long as the favorability value is going up, everything else is just floating clouds!
Yu Qinghan carried Wen Xu all the way into the inner hall, straight to the study, and then gently and softly placed him on the daybed near the window.
A gentle breeze drifted in lightly from outside, the gauze curtains by the window dancing with the wind, and the air was filled with lingering traces of floral fragrance.
Yu Qinghan’s cold and handsome face revealed a trace of gentleness. Although it was only a tiny bit of gentleness, it still caused Wen Xu to involuntarily freeze in a daze.
This man is seriously so damn handsome!
Wen Xu’s little heart started pounding fiercely again, as if a little deer was running amok inside.
Yu Qinghan brought over a stool, sat down in front of Wen Xu, and softened his voice. “Take off your pants.”
“Huh?” Immersed in Yu Qinghan’s peerless beauty, Wen Xu didn’t hear the other party clearly and widened a pair of innocent almond eyes. “Master, what did you just say?”
Yu Qinghan repeated it with remarkable patience, “Master is telling you to take off your pants.”
“!!!” Wen Xu instantly widened his eyes, instinctively clutching his waistband tighter as he stammered, “W-w-why take off my pants? Master, what do you want to do?!”
Looking at Wen Xu’s nervous and somewhat defensive expression, Yu Qinghan’s face immediately turned cold, but thinking of how this little fellow had endured the pain just to come see him, a trace of tenderness surfaced in the depths of his eyes once more.
“You don’t need to be so nervous; Master won’t do anything to you. Taking off your pants is so I can look at your knees.”
“Oh~” Wen Xu drew out his tone, letting out a sigh of relief. “So that’s how it is. Disciple thought Master wanted to…”
“What does Master want to do?” Yu Qinghan’s eyes narrowed slightly, the meaning within his gaze obscure and difficult to decipher.
“N-nothing!” Wen Xu hurriedly shook his head, revealing a clever and obedient smile. “It’s just… Master, do I really not have to take off my pants?”
Yu Qinghan lowered his gaze to glance at the white under-layers beneath the other’s blue outer robe, and said, “If you can roll your trouser legs up above your knees, you don’t have to take them off.”
“I can! I can roll them above my knees!” Wen Xu hurriedly bent down to take off his shoes first, and then rolled his trousers up past his knees.
Because of his knee pain when getting dressed earlier, he had purposely worn relatively loose pants. Good thing he had the foresight; otherwise, he really would have had to strip.
Although there was still a pair of small under-drawers beneath the trousers and nothing could really be seen, he still felt insecure inside.
After Wen Xu rolled his trousers up, he revealed slender, fair calves without an ounce of excess fat.
Yu Qinghan saw that both knees were red and swollen, which appeared particularly stark against his fair skin.
He reached out and gently pressed down, causing Wen Xu to instantly let out a sharp “hiss” of pain, his little face scrunching up entirely.
“Master, it hurts…”
The voice was light and soft, sounding rather like coquettish pleading.
“You really are fragile. Kneeling for just that little while made you end up like this. Back then, when those few senior brothers of yours made mistakes and knelt for a full day and night, their knees didn’t necessarily swell up like this.” Though Yu Qinghan’s words were harsh, his tone was much gentler than usual. “Stay here obediently; Master will go to Wumuxin to fetch some ointment for you to apply.”
Wumuxin? Where was that again?
Wen Xu tilted his head to think for a bit before remembering that Wumuxin seemed to be Murong Wenyu’s residence.
Judging by today’s trajectory, he should be able to gain quite a bit of favorability. Fortunately he was smart and chose to endure the pain and come over!
Later on, he would act even more pitiful and put on a sorrowful act to definitely stir up Yu Qinghan’s sympathy!
Yu Qinghan returned quickly, holding a small blue bottle. He unscrewed the cap, scooped out a dab of ointment with his finger, and then gently and softly applied it to Wen Xu’s knees.
“How does this pressure feel? Does it hurt?”
A layer of mist welled up in Wen Xu’s eyes, teary and sparkling, his delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed as he bit his lower lip and trembled slightly, saying, “It hurts a little bit, but it’s okay. Master, go ahead and apply it boldly; Disciple can endure it!”
He didn’t pronounce the word “apply” (抹, mǒ) very clearly, and to Yu Qinghan’s ears, it sounded rather like “touch” (摸, mō).
Yu Qinghan’s thin lips pressed into a straight line. “If it hurts, just say it. You don’t need to endure it in front of Master.”
“Mm-mm!” Wen Xu nodded forcefully, a faint smile blooming on his face as he spoke in a soft, milky tone, “Master, you’re really so good~”
Hearing this coquettish tone, Yu Qinghan’s expression stiffened, his hand paused, and he accidentally pressed down too heavily.
“Ah! It hurts!” Wen Xu’s tears were almost squeezed out, gasping straight from the pain.
Yu Qinghan hurriedly withdrew his hand, his face displaying the first instance of panic since the founding of Wuji Sect especially upon seeing his little disciple cry from the pain, causing an inexplicable ache in his heart.
“It was Master who didn’t control the force well. Be good, don’t cry.”
Yu Qinghan stood up and sat down beside Wen Xu, looping his arm from behind to pull the other’s opposite shoulder close, then took out a snow-white handkerchief to wipe the tear tracks from the corners of his eyes, speaking with a gentleness as if coaxing a child.
Wen Xu sniffled with red eyes. Actually, he didn’t want to cry either, but he simply couldn’t control it. If he were his modern self, he certainly wouldn’t have cried like this.
A thousand words could be summed up in a single sentence: This body is truly delicate!
Yu Qinghan lowered his gaze to look at his little disciple whose eyes were still swimming with tears, his gaze intense as he suddenly thought of a certain possibility.
“A-Xu, oh A-Xu, you aren’t deliberately putting on a pitiful act to win Master’s sympathy, are you?”
Wen Xu’s heart skipped a beat instantly. Widening his watery eyes, he looked timid and innocent as he said, “N-no, Disciple is not acting pitiful on purpose. Disciple doesn’t want to cry either; this doesn’t look like a real man at all! But I just… just can’t control these tears, they stream out all on their own…”
Finishing this, he gave another fierce sniff, his porcelain-white and jade-like little face flushed with a faint pair of red tints, tears swirling in his eyes. The look of wanting to cry yet stubbornly holding it back was truly endearing and lovable.
Especially with the warm, genial sunshine bathing Wen Xu’s fair and tender cheeks, contrasting against his crystal-clear, moist, and smooth skin, paired with a pair of damp, teary eyes.
Simply pitiful enough to melt the heart, making one unable to look away.
Yu Qinghan felt that his heart, which had been like cold iron and ice, instantly softened. This little fellow’s lethal charm was a bit formidable, and it struck invisibly.
“Alright, alright, cry if you want to. Letting the tears out is better than holding them in; later on, Master will be lighter.”
“Thank you, Master~” A trace of a crying nasal twang still lingered in Wen Xu’s voice, and that drawn-out ending tone sounded truly cute.
Yu Qinghan’s cold and stiff lips could not help but curve upward on their own accord. When he applied the ointment to the knees afterward, the force of his hands became even lighter and gentler.
Wen Xu sat there obediently, gazing intently at Yu Qinghan with a serious expression, the sunlight casting a warm and beautiful glow over the two of them.
Murong Wenyu, who had followed cautiously out of curiosity to peek, suddenly had four characters pop up in his mind: A benevolent father and an obedient son.
No, according to Yu Qinghan’s prior statement, their situation should be: A tender husband and an obedient wife!