As the carriage moved forward, I felt as though I had forgotten something, and I actually ended up leaving Chen Xiaowu behind.
Ever since entering the miniature version of the Prince’s Mansion, quite a while had already passed. I prepared to ask A-Yun if he had seen Chen Xiaowu.
Suddenly, Chen Xiaowu appeared right inside the carriage, panting heavily. Although I had been in this world for more than three months, this kind of sudden magic trick still genuinely startled me.
He asked me, out of breath, “Senior Brother, is the Exquisite Pagoda with you?”
The Exquisite Pagoda was an extremely powerful divine artifact in the novel, but it only appeared much later in the story. I asked, “What is the Exquisite Pagoda?”
He said it was what the grizzly bear spirit we just eliminated had transformed; the replica of the Prince’s Mansion was created using the Exquisite Pagoda.
“However, since the grizzly bear spirit is dead, is the Exquisite Pagoda destroyed?”
I remembered that many divine artifacts would vanish along with the destruction of their space or the death of their caster.
With a serious expression, Chen Xiaowu said, “No, it must be with Qianyue Senior Brother.”
Ever since the beginning, Chen Xiaowu had been acting all solemn and proper like a little adult, which made me feel somewhat unaccustomed to it.
Although I hadn’t seen Duan Qianyue take the Exquisite Pagoda earlier, it was highly likely in his possession. In that case, what the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion disciples were looking for back then must have been this very item.
They probably received some intelligence, and Duan Qianyue sneaked in among them to acquire it first. That was also understandable; he was the protagonist, and in the original novel, this item ultimately ended up in his hands.
What was puzzling, though, was how Chen Xiaowu knew about it.
“How do you know about the Exquisite Pagoda? Master didn’t mention it.”
Chen Xiaowu did not expect my tone to shift and start questioning him. He was momentarily at a loss for words, thought about it for a moment, and then said, “I happened to hear those people from the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion talking about it, and that’s how I learned their true purpose was to look for the Exquisite Pagoda. I once flipped through a book about divine artifacts in the sect’s scripture pavilion, and the Exquisite Pagoda was in there. It felt like a really fun thing, and to think it’s right here! I just wanted to see it, but unfortunately, I still didn’t get to see it. Next time, I’ll have to ask Qianyue Senior Brother to let me play with it.”
While we were talking, the carriage stopped, and the Rong Prince’s Mansion had arrived. Just as I stood up and prepared to get off, a surge of sweetness rose in my throat, and a mouthful of blood spewed out.
A-Yun had already been waiting aside. Seeing me spit blood, a trace of panic flickered across his eternally expressionless face as he hurried over to support me.
“Senior Brother, what is wrong? Did that grizzly bear spirit just injure you?” Chen Xiaowu also asked anxiously.
I simply uttered, “I’m fine.”
A-Yun, for once, doubted my words. “Young Master, I am going to summon a doctor.”
This was the poison of the Blue Grass; an ordinary doctor could not treat it. Furthermore, vomiting blood was merely the mildest symptom, and as one’s cultivation level increased, the symptoms would grow even more severe. I repeated once more, “I am truly fine.”
“A-Yun Big Brother, my Head Disciple Senior Brother suffered internal injuries. You don’t have any doctors in Luocheng who can treat this. Besides, my Head Disciple Senior Brother is so powerful that a mere grizzly bear spirit couldn’t possibly do anything to him, so you can rest easy,” Chen Xiaowu said.
This Rong Prince’s Mansion was actually quite ordinary. It wasn’t as luxurious as I had imagined, and was surprisingly a bit austere. The Wang family were merchants in Luocheng who made some money running a winery, so they weren’t extremely wealthy.
Yet this Prince’s Mansion was barely any better than their home. The original host’s father held the title of Prince Rong, and ever since youth, he had indulged in eating, drinking, and making merry without any ambition.
It was precisely thanks to this lack of ambition that he managed to survive the struggles for the imperial throne.
Logically speaking, since such a father relied on his son to hold his head high at court, he should have cherished him dearly. The original host’s family status ought to have been very high.
Why was there no one here to welcome us? I questioned the guard: “Where is the Prince?”
The guard stammered, “The Prince is busy with official business and is not in the mansion.”
I didn’t believe for a second that such an idle prince had any official business to attend to, so I put on a stern expression and said, “Speak properly.”
The guard instantly dropped to his knees. “The Prince is fishing at the western lake, and he told me not to tell anyone.”
So this father was actually afraid of his son.
“Have the kitchen prepare a table of good food.”
As if granted a pardon, the guard scurried off to the kitchen in a hurry. By the time the kitchen finished cooking and we had eaten our fill, it was already getting late.
Having endured a tiring journey all day and even vomiting blood, I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Chen Xiaowu was sleeping right next door. The moment I collapsed onto the bed, I realized A-Yun was still there.
“You should go get some rest too. You don’t need to worry about me.”
This original host certainly had unambiguous sexual preferences; there wasn’t even a single maidservant in the room. Alas.
“Young Master, you should take off your outer robe,” he said.
Remembering that I had gotten into a fight with the grizzly bear spirit and my clothes were indeed quite dirty, I sat up and prepared to undo my garments. But feeling overwhelmingly drowsy, I closed my eyes and fumbled with my hands.
I felt A-Yun come over to help me. True to being the original host’s capable helper, dealing with these troublesome layers of clothing was no issue at all, so I let him handle it. However, after quite a while, he still wasn’t finished.
Instead, a chill hit my chest, followed by a pair of ice-cold hands stroking my torso, giving me a sudden shiver that jolted me more than half awake.
I looked at A-Yun, who still wore that expressionless face, and then looked down at my chest as his hands wandered over my body.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Serving Young Master.”
I leaned my upper body backward and quickly pulled my inner garments together with both hands.
“Step down, I am going to sleep.”
“Understood.”
Just as he was about to close the door, I said, “You don’t need to do this in the future.” Immediately afterward, the door clicked shut.
I felt like I had just discovered something incredible. The original host liked men, and the only attendant serving by his side was A-Yun, whose appearance was exceptionally striking.
There was also a saying that because ancient aristocratic scions had strict family upbringing and couldn’t easily visit pleasure houses, pageboys were also expected to satisfy their young masters’ physical needs.
This was practically forcing good people into prostitution; poor A-Yun.
When I woke up the next morning, it was already quite late. The weather was fine, and sunlight streamed inside through the white paper windowpanes carved with floral patterns.
I put on a white cloud-patterned robe that A-Yun had left by the bed the previous day, pulled open the door, and stretched lazily. A-Yun had already walked in carrying a basin of water.
“Is Xiao Wu awake?” I asked.
“He is awake. He is feeding the fish in the small courtyard garden.”
After washing up, I mentioned that I wanted to go out for a stroll, taking Chen Xiaowu along while A-Yun led the way. Early in the morning, the only shops open on the street were bun shops, with steam rising into the air.
I bought a few large meat buns. Compared to those bowls of porridge or pastries, these steaming hot meat buns were truly the soul of breakfast.
Walking casually, there weren’t many people on the street yet. Some people had bought buns and were hurrying back, while other children were squatting by the roadside playing, a few of them running back and forth.
One of them crashed headfirst into my leg, then raised his head, made a funny face at me, and scurried away. Several other kids shouted out, “Big fool! Big fool!”
I looked in the direction the children had run off to. At first, I thought they were shouting big fool at me, and I wondered why they didn’t apologize after crashing into someone and instead hurled insults, how utterly lacking in upbringing.
Later on, I realized they were actually shouting beat the fool, with some clenching their fists and others holding small wooden sticks, all beating someone up.
The person being beaten was clearly an adult. Yet, being bullied by a bunch of kids under ten years old, he didn’t even fight back, just curled up on the ground.
I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether I should meddle in other people’s business. Glancing at the attitudes of my two companions, Chen Xiaowu was smacking his tongue because the bun was too hot and didn’t notice at all, while A-Yun expressionlessly spat out a few words, “It is the Second Young Master.”
Geez, could you have mentioned that a bit sooner?
I shoved the paper-wrapped meat buns straight into his arms and rushed over. In the original novel, the original host did have a mentally deficient younger brother. Prince Rong found him disgraceful, so he had him imprisoned in a secluded courtyard and announced to the outside world that he had fallen ill and died. Why on earth would he appear here?