Aihuai watched the tension and jealousy intertwining on Fu Huaizhi’s face. Unable to hold back for a moment, he burst into laughter, leaning back and forth until tears welled up in his eyes.
Amidst his laughter, Fu Huaizhi’s expression gradually turned ugly. “What are you laughing at?”
“Young Master Fu, I am laughing at you for being far too confident. How do you know that the young master won’t touch me?” Aihuai leaned closer to Fu Huaizhi, speaking in a voice audible only to the two of them. “On the inner thigh of the young master, there is a red birthmark. If you don’t believe me, you can go and ask him.”
“You… you!” Fu Huaizhi’s pupils violently shook, never expecting that Aihuai and Su Ce would be so intimate.
Aihuai glanced toward the bright figure emerging at the distant corner, a flash of shrewdness crossing his eyes. He gave Fu Huaizhi a shy, lingering smile, leaning close to his ear. “Oh, right! The young master feels that Aihuai lacks skill and does not serve well enough. Aihuai would like to ask you, Young Master Fu, as someone who was once betrothed to him, for a lesson or two. I truly hope you can teach me everything you know.”
Hearing this, Fu Huaizhi’s face cycled through a colorful array of expressions. Unable to control his hands, he grabbed the lapel of Aihuai’s robe, his face full of rage as he hissed, “What is a cheap wretch like you worth? How dare you speak to me like this!”
Seeing that Su Ce had already rounded the corner, Aihuai allowed himself to be pulled by Fu Huaizhi’s force and collapsed backward onto the ground, scattering the food he was carrying all over the floor.
Immediately adopting an innocent expression, he cried out loudly, “Young Master Fu, I do not know how I have offended you to make you fly into such a rage…”
Before Aihuai could finish speaking, Su Ce’s familiar voice rang out.
“What are you two doing here?”
Aihuai said with a wronged expression, “My Lord, Young Master Fu asked about your recent situation, and I answered truthfully. I do not know how I offended him to make him so angry, or why he would ask what my life is worth.”
Fu Huaizhi looked at Aihuai’s pitiful, delicate appearance, and then met Su Ce’s scrutinizing gaze. His mind went blank for a moment, and when he opened his mouth to explain, he could only blurt out dryly, “A-Ce, I didn’t—”
“You didn’t what? Wasn’t it you who cursed him as a cheap wretch and asked what his life was worth? Fu Huaizhi, I am not deaf!” Su Ce glanced coldly at Fu Huaizhi, then turned his head toward Aihuai and scolded, “Why can’t you ever do anything right? How could it take you this long just to prepare a meal?”
Fu Huaizhi reached out to grab Su Ce’s sleeve, unable to believe that Su Ce would treat him with such coldness and detachment. His voice trembled slightly. “A-Ce, don’t you believe me?”
Su Ce lowered his gaze to look at Fu Huaizhi’s hand, pausing slightly before turning his face away and brushing Fu Huaizhi’s hand off his sleeve. Turning his back to him, Su Ce said in a cold voice, “Young Master Fu jests. With your current status and prestige, who else in this capital would doubt your words? But after all, I am notorious in this capital, and to top it all off, I am now entangled with a cheap-lived male concubine. I must ask Young Master Fu not to let yourself be stained by any association with the likes of us.”
“A-Ce… I didn’t…”
Before Fu Huaizhi could finish explaining, Su Ce’s tone filled with dissatisfaction, revealing that he was in an extremely foul mood. He snapped harshly at Aihuai, “Is the ground comfortable? Do you want to sleep out here tonight?”
Aihuai immediately scrambled up from the ground, lowered his head, and tugged at the hem of Su Ce’s robe, whispering, “My Lord, please don’t be angry. Aihuai will go and prepare food for you right away.”
Su Ce let out a cold snort of extreme displeasure. “I am already too angry to eat; why bother eating anything? Back to the room.”
Aihuai nodded and followed behind Su Ce as he left.
Even with his back turned to Fu Huaizhi, he could feel Fu Huaizhi’s bone-deep glare of hatred fixed upon him.
He sneered inwardly, turned his head to exchange a mocking look with Fu Huaizhi through the air, and then putting on an expression of forced courage said to Su Ce, “My Lord, do we really not need to clean up the mess?”
Su Ce raised his eyes to look at Aihuai. “Then go down and lick the food off the floor.”
As soon as the words left Su Ce’s mouth, he met Aihuai’s gradually dimming eyes, and his heart sank.
Aihuai said nothing more, only following obediently and dutifully behind Su Ce.
There were many times when Su Ce didn’t wish to speak to Aihuai like that. After all, Aihuai knew how to read the room and understood propriety; although he occasionally played the fool, it never mattered regarding major matters. Most importantly, Aihuai had an extraordinary capacity to tolerate his temper.
All in all, for Su Ce, having someone like Aihuai by his side did more good than harm.
When the evening banquet arrived, Su Ce naturally did not bring Aihuai along.
In the banquet hall, wine cups were crossed amidst a bustling crowd. Although everyone knew each other, for Su Ce, the only people he could actually converse with were usually Song Yue and Fu Huaizhi. Now that relations with Fu Huaizhi were at an absolute freezing point, fortunately, Song Yue was still by his side.
However, Song Yue was notoriously well-connected; no sooner had he entered the banquet hall than he was pulled away by others to chat across the room.
Su Ce was left sitting alone at the banquet. While drowning his sorrows in wine, he unexpectedly found the brew to be mellow and rich, prompting him to refill his cup a couple of times.
Right at that moment, Zuo Yu, the son of the Minister of Rites, walked over to Su Ce holding a wine glass and said with a smile, “Young Master Su, Zuo will toast you.”
Su Ce looked at Zuo Yu’s face and wanted to refuse, but seeing the Crown Prince glance right in his direction, he had no choice but to helplessly raise his cup, let Zuo Yu pour him a drink, and drain it in one gulp.
No sooner had that cup been finished than Zuo Yu unceremoniously took a seat right beside Su Ce and began chatting with him. Su Ce frowned in extreme displeasure, but Zuo Yu completely ignored it.
Just as Su Ce began to think he couldn’t handle his liquor, Zuo Yu placed a hand over the back of Su Ce’s hand. When Su Ce tried to pull his hand back, he discovered that his entire body had gone limp and his limbs were devoid of strength.
Su Ce raised his eyes to Zuo Yu, only to find him wearing a cold smile as he leaned in close. “Young Master Su, someone like you—I wonder what grace you show in bed? You certainly don’t look like the one who takes the top.”
With that, Zuo Yu’s hand slid upward from the back of Su Ce’s hand to grip his forearm. Zuo Yu then called out to the Crown Prince, “Your Highness, Young Master Su has shown signs of intoxication. Zuo will escort him back to his room to rest first.”
Su Ce remembered what kind of person Zuo Yu was. If he had to use something as an analogy, Zuo Yu was undoubtedly an apple that was completely rotted from the inside out.
Everyone thought him polite and courteous, but in reality, he was a beast in human skin.
Back when they were studying together, there had been a pretty little maidservant in the academy. Under a manufactured “coincidence,” Zuo Yu easily captured the young maid’s heart.
Yet, once Zuo Yu obtained her, he quickly lost interest, mocking her for harboring unrealistic fantasies. He even took the opportunity to spread malicious rumors, driving the maid to the point where she could no longer bear the strange looks of others. Forced to leave the academy on her way back home, she was intercepted and murdered by thugs.
Now, Zuo Yu flitted through crowds of blossoms without a single petal sticking to him. Su Ce could not understand why Zuo Yu, who had always favored women, had latched onto him today.
Su Ce was unwilling to be manipulated by such an insidious villain, but try as he might, he lacked the strength to break free. Just as he was sinking into despair—
“My Lord, where are you going?”
Aihuai’s voice cut through the dark night like a ray of dawn for Su Ce. A sense of being rescued welled up in his heart, and he rasped in a hoarse voice, “Aihuai, quickly support me—help me back to my room.”
Su Ce was now reduced to panting heavily just to speak.
Seeing his flushed face, Aihuai raised his voice and said to Zuo Yu, “My lord, thank you for taking care of my young master for so long. Now, this humble servant will just support him back to his quarters.”
Zuo Yu exchanged a long look with Aihuai, then glanced at the exhausted Su Ce, seemingly reluctant to hand Su Ce over.
Right at that moment, someone called out that Zuo Yu was wanted elsewhere.
Zuo Yu’s gaze instantly turned cold. With a long sigh, he said to Aihuai, “Then help him back.”
Aihuai caught Su Ce from Zuo Yu’s arms, half-squinting down at him as he said softly, “My Lord, Aihuai has already prepared hot water for you. Let me take you back right now.”
Steam curled around the wooden tub. The moment Su Ce stepped inside, the water spilled over the sides, soaking the floor into a slippery mess.
The warm water dampened Su Ce’s white robes, outlining his perfect curves—a well-proportioned physique with faint, lean muscle lines vaguely visible beneath the fabric.
Aihuai dampened a cloth with water and meticulously wiped Su Ce’s body, his fingers brushing intentionally or unintentionally against Su Ce’s skin.
Instead, it stirred up a series of hidden, longing, and unfamiliar sensations deep within Su Ce. Su Ce closed his eyes, desperately trying to endure so that Aihuai wouldn’t notice anything unusual, completely unaware that this was merely deceiving himself.
The next second, Aihuai accidentally brushed against his lower abdomen and paused.
Su Ce’s expression immediately shifted. He opened a pair of eyes filled with anger and glared at Aihuai. “What are you doing?”
Aihuai instantly dropped to his knees, pressing his forehead tight against the floor. “A-Aihuai… Aihuai didn’t mean to…”
Su Ce did not answer him.
Gathering his courage, Aihuai lifted his head to look at Su Ce’s pupils, which were clouded with a misty haze and had lost their usual clarity. He whispered, “My Lord.”
Su Ce’s vision was growing somewhat blurred, and his body was aching with a swelling heat brought on by the drug. His rapidly collapsing reason made his voice soften by several degrees. “So hot.”
Aihuai stood up and reached his hand into the water, just about to say something.
Su Ce rose from the tub. His garments were already somewhat disheveled, exposing his fair chest. He grabbed Aihuai’s hand and pulled it against his body. Aihuai’s hand wasn’t particularly cold, but compared to Su Ce’s frighteningly high body temperature, it was undoubtedly the most suitable remedy.
Aihuai drew in a sharp breath and exclaimed, “My Lord, what… what is wrong with you?”
Looking at Aihuai’s feigned ignorance, Su Ce couldn’t muster even a shred of temper. He could only pant weakly, “Help me…”
Aihuai nodded in a daze, moving his hand up and down in rhythm with Su Ce’s movements.
Seeing the light completely fade from Su Ce’s pupils as his body began to slide into the water, Aihuai immediately scooped him out, letting him lean half-supported against his own body.
Aihuai’s palm had grown slick and messy, and ringing in his ears were the soft, whimpering pants of Su Ce like a small beast trapped in a snare.
The more anxious Su Ce grew to find release, the more his body betrayed his mind. He only felt a powerful wave of emptiness welling up from within, crying out, roaring—
Not enough… Still not enough…
He pressed himself a little closer to Aihuai, watching the sweat drop from Aihuai’s temples and the slightly parted lips…
Before he knew it, Su Ce felt his throat go completely dry. He actually stuck out the tip of his tongue, licking his way upward along the trail of sweat until he reached those breathing lips, easily sliding his tongue inside.
Wet, soft, and warm, it made one sink into oblivion.
After the span of an incense stick, the moment Su Ce’s body went rigid, a startled cry escaped the depths of his throat. He then slumped sideways, collapsing unconsciously against the side of Aihuai’s neck.
At that moment, Aihuai stiffened his body. Listening to Su Ce’s unconscious breathing right beside his ear, he turned his head and pressed a gentle kiss to Su Ce’s cheek.