Bai Yi was completely locked inside Jingqian Palace. He could not go out and could only stroll around the palace garden. Fortunately, Jingqian Palace, being the place where the Emperor rested, was reasonably large.
Every time he walked to the entrance of the courtyard, he could see the secret guard who had kidnapped him last time and another guard standing like statues on the left and right. Bai Yi felt a surge of excitement, as if he had run into old acquaintances.
“Hey, bros, we met last time, didn’t we? Even though you were wearing a hood, I asked around later and found out it was you. We can consider ourselves old acquaintances through a fight. Since I can’t go out anyway, I might as well chat with you.”
Secret Guard Sixteen maintained a stone face and stood at the entrance without moving an inch, while the other guard played the part of a wooden dummy just as well. No matter how much Bai Yi chattered, there was no reaction. Xiao Shiyun had not dismissed the imperial court session yet, leaving Bai Yi without a single person to talk to.
Bai Yi waved his hand in front of Sixteen’s face. “Are you really going to ignore me? How about I tell you a secret about Xiao Shiyun?”
The eyeballs of the two guards rolled slightly, and they exchanged a glance, both seeing a spark of interest in each other’s eyes.
“Are you really not going to listen? I genuinely want to sneakily tell someone,” Bai Yi said, deliberately leaning closer to them.
One of the guards shifted slightly but was immediately glared at by Sixteen, so he dropped the idea.
“Sigh, it is not like there is anything that cannot be said. Let me tell you then.” Bai Yi made a fake gesture, using his hand to cover his mouth as he leaned close to Sixteen for two seconds. The other guard only saw Bai Yi apparently whispering Xiao Shiyun’s secret.
Having supposedly learned the secret, Sixteen looked at Bai Yi in astonishment. Bai Yi smiled and patted the other guard’s shoulder. “Alright, I cannot say any more. If you want to know, just ask him.”
Bai Yi shook his head with a smile and walked away. Entering the hall, he purposefully opened a crack in the window and crouched on the floor like a thief, looking outside.
The other guard asked, “What did he say to you?”
Secret Guard Sixteen replied, “He did not say anything at all.”
The guard countered, “Keep pretending. What secret of the boss did he actually tell you?”
Sixteen felt incredibly wronged, but only the person framing him knew how wronged he actually was. “He really did not say anything! He just put on an act to fool you.”
The guard said, “Young Master Bai is so honest, how could he do what you said? Unlike you, who has eight hundred hidden motives and has not put on enough of an act. I will tell the boss in a moment that you know his secret.”
Sixteen grew angry. “I already told you he did not say anything. Is it really necessary to tell the boss?!”
The guard sneered, “Keep acting, just keep acting.”
Bai Yi thought to himself that it was truly touching. That guard would rather believe he was a fool than believe his own teammate. Xiao Shiyun had still not returned, and Bai Yi was bored to death, completely lacking the self-awareness of a person locked up and deprived of personal freedom.
He wondered if he should tease them a bit more. Bai Yi snatched two chicken drumsticks from the kitchen and strolled casually to the main entrance.
“It smells so good! The cooks at your Jingqian Palace are highly skilled. Look at this chicken drumstick, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, savory, spicy, and not greasy, glistening with oil. Sadly, I cannot eat any more.” Bai Yi waved the chicken drumsticks right under their noses. He refused to believe that they would not say a single word.
Just as he was about to wave them around again, a chicken drumstick was suddenly bitten by a large mouth. Startled, Bai Yi pulled the drumstick back. “Hey, what are you doing? I have not even eaten yet.”
Secret Guard Sixteen chewed the chicken drumstick furiously and said, “Are you looking for a beating? If the boss were not protecting you, you would have been beaten to death the moment you stepped outside.”
He finally spoke to him; luckily, the man was not mute. Bai Yi was not angry either. He stuffed the rest of the chicken drumstick the man had bitten straight into his mouth and handed the other drumstick to the guard who had not heard Xiao Shiyun’s secret.
“Why don’t you two let me out? Just for a little while, I will stroll around nearby to see if Xiao Shiyun has dismissed the court session yet. Give me some leeway.”
“No,” Sixteen said, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. “We only obey the Emperor’s commands.”
“Are you always this cold? You are indeed a soldier trained by Xiao Shiyun. Last time in the carriage when you said I looked like a monkey that had sprung from a crack in a rock and had not spoken for eight hundred years, I thought there must be some connection between you and Xiao Shiyun.”
Bai Yi continued, “By the way, aren’t you secret guards? How can you come out to work so openly?”
Sixteen sneered, “Thanks to you, ever since I drove the carriage to fetch you once, I went straight from a secret guard to an open guard. Guarding the main gate is much more relaxing than before.”
“What does this have to do with me? You only kidnapped me once, and I did not even say anything myself. Why did Xiao Shiyun have to punish you?”
The other guard said, “Young Master Bai may not know, but as long as a matter involves you, the Emperor is bound to intervene, and then we are bound to suffer.”
How miserable. Bai Yi felt a bit sorry for them. “Um, I was just joking with you just now. How could I know any secret of Xiao Shiyun? I did not make a sound at all.”
The moment the words fell, the two guards immediately threw down the blades in their hands, swarmed over, and began to rough Bai Yi up. One of the guards muttered not to hit him too hard or too obviously, otherwise he might complain to the Emperor.
“Don’t hit my face! Xiao Shiyun still needs to look at my face!” Bai Yi took advantage of the moment they hesitated to slip away immediately, running around the courtyard for several laps. “Bros, don’t be angry. Fun is fun and jokes are jokes, but don’t make a joke out of my life.”
Bai Yi was genuinely afraid that the two of them might conspire at night to slip some laxatives into his water. If he had known, he wouldn’t have been so asking for a beating.
The two pursued him, leaving the main gate unguarded. Using his quick wit, Bai Yi ran toward the main gate as fast as his legs could carry him. Damn it, he had finally caught an opportunity.
Bai Yi accelerated and dashed forward. Just as he was about to rush out of the entrance, he slammed into a wall of flesh. His forehead struck Xiao Shiyun’s chest, and he fell flat on his backside on the floor. “Holy crap, who is it?”
“Who do you think it is?” a cold, sinister voice drifted down from above his head.
Bai Yi slowly lifted his head. Xiao Shiyun’s face was hidden in the shadow of a bamboo sun umbrella, his phoenix eyes lowered and his thin lips pursed. His prominent, three-dimensional features were rigid with an aura of authority that commanded respect without anger. It was truly like seeing a ghost in broad daylight.
“Haha, well, I was running a marathon in the courtyard. Isn’t this just moving the muscles and exercising the body? I will stop running, that’s all. I will roll right back inside to grind ink for you.”
Bai Yi scrambled up and wanted to run back, but Xiao Shiyun effortlessly grabbed his back collar, lifting him into the main hall like a little chick.
“Since you love running around blindly so much, do you need me to break your legs and lock you up with a chain?” Xiao Shiyun said, his mood poor.
“No need. I would like to ask, when will you be in a good mood and let me go out?” Bai Yi could not afford to offend this master. Good brothers? What a joke. This man was not nearly as easygoing as the original Xiao Shiyun.
“My mood is never good, except when I am doing it with you,” Xiao Shiyun said sarcastically, carrying Bai Yi into the study.
Bai Yi could not accept this. “You must be sick! I am truly afraid of you now. If you are that enthusiastic about this kind of thing, you can go find someone else.”
“Shut up if you do not want to make me angry.”
Just when he thought he would be thrown onto the bed again, Xiao Shiyun sat down before the desk. “Come over and grind ink.”
“Huh?” Bai Yi walked over obediently. Just as he was about to pick up the ink stick, Xiao Shiyun caught him off guard, pulling him into his embrace and causing him to land right on his lap.
Xiao Shiyun circled his left arm around his waist, took a wolf-hair calligraphy brush, stuffed it into Bai Yi’s hand, and covered Bai Yi’s hand with his right hand. Leaning down close to Bai Yi’s ear, he whispered, “Since the master refuses to teach you how to write characters, I will teach you.”