Returning to his chamber, Gu Xici closed the door and sat down on a stool. He frowned and pondered for a long time, yet failed to come up with a good solution.
Perhaps I should approach this from a different angle.
While this annoyed him greatly, it wasn’t the first time he had found himself in such a predicament.
First, he needed to leave this place. But since he lacked lightweight kung fu, how was he going to slip out? For one, his elder brother would absolutely refuse to let him leave, so that option was out of the question. Second, his sword had been confiscated by his brother, making it impossible to use force to subdue the guards. Therefore, he recalled that there was a woodshed in the estate equipped with a ladder. With this ladder, he might just be able to scale the courtyard wall and slip away unnoticed.
Hey, this method could actually work!
This way, he could shake off the guards and follow the maple leaf jade pendant to uncover some clues.
To make things more convenient, Gu Xici changed into a set of black robes and black boots.
Next, Gu Xici opened the door, glanced around in all directions, and then quietly closed it again.
Arriving at the woodshed, Gu Xici spotted the ladder leaning against the wall at a single glance. Just as he reached out to grab it, two figures suddenly walked over in his direction.
Gu Xici inwardly cursed bad luck and flattened himself against the wall.
Peering outside with a narrow gaze, he saw two maidservants carrying food coming out from the kitchen. They were drawing closer and closer to his location, and their conversational voices could be heard quite clearly.
“You know, why does the Heir go around stirring up trouble everywhere, only ever causing headaches for the General? Such an unruly spendthrift.”
“Xiao Fu, stop talking nonsense. It’ll be bad if someone hears us. Hurry up and deliver the meal to His Lordship the Heir.”
“Understood, understood.”
As their voices faded into the distance, Gu Xici finally poked his head out. His wheat-toned skin flushed with anger at the word “spendthrift,” though he couldn’t exactly argue that it wasn’t true.
Gu Xici couldn’t fathom it was his reputation really that abysmal?
Never mind. I’ll get out of here first and figure things out later.
Quickly, Gu Xici hauled the ladder over to the western courtyard. He propped the ladder against the wall, swiftly scaled the courtyard wall, and leaped down to the other side.
Once outside, the sky began to grow dark.
Following the directions in his memories from his past life, Gu Xici made a series of twists and turns until he arrived at the Grand Preceptor’s Residence.
He was somewhat familiar with this place.
Seeing several guards patrolling the entrance, Gu Xici hurriedly ducked into a street corner.
Normally, he would have simply barged straight through the front gates, regardless of the consequences.
Yet this time, if he burst right in, the guards would report it to Ye Shu, who would undoubtedly be on his guard against him. By then, not only would he fail to find any clues, but he would also be thrown out by Ye Shu’s guards.
With no other choice, he had to resort to scaling the wall.
To think that he, the heir of a distinguished military family, would be reduced to scaling walls to spy on someone.
I really give up… When a tiger falls to the plains it gets bullied by dogs; it’s infuriating.
He now regretted immensely that, out of sheer laziness, he had never properly listened to his brother’s instructions to study lightweight kung fu.
Yet while he didn’t know lightweight kung fu, his martial arts were reasonably decent, and he had also cultivated a sturdy physique with a fair amount of muscle.
Well, that was stating the obvious.
In truth, he preferred visiting brothels to admire beauties and listen to tunes.
Gu Xici scrambled up the top of the wall and edged his way along to the rooftop.
Following the edge of the roof, Gu Xici padded stealthily toward the center, using his fingers to gently shift a roof tile aside. Through the gap, Gu Xici took in the scene below.
Ye Shu was seated in an armchair, while a teapot and several teacups sat upon a round table nearby. The person beside him held that very jade pendant in his hands, speaking respectfully to Ye Shu: “Grand Preceptor, although this subordinate is an appraisal master at the pawnshop, this jade pendant is as flawless as if crafted by nature itself. This maple leaf imprint likely originates from some Jianghu assassin organization, but the rest is beyond this subordinate’s knowledge.”
With that, he handed the jade pendant over to Ye Shu.
Ye Shu took the pendant, nodded indifferently, and cast a wolf-like gaze toward the bowing appraiser.
“Very well, you may return first. Come back and report if there are any developments.”
“Understood, Grand Preceptor.”
With that, the man slowly departed from the estate.
Meanwhile, Ye Shu lowered his gaze to the jade pendant in his palm, his eyes harboring an unfathomable depth.
This jade pendant… why had his parents handed it to him? Because of this very item, he, who had been adopted by a wealthy merchant since childhood, brought cataclysmic disaster upon his adoptive father, leading to their entire household being massacred by a group of men in black. As for himself, he had hidden inside the kitchen chimney, thereby escaping with his life.
All these years, he had yet to track down that group of men in black to avenge his adoptive father.
Up in the corner of the roof, Gu Xici was watching with rapt attention when he accidentally stepped on a small fragment of a tile, instantly drawing Ye Shu’s attention.
“Who’s there?”
Ye Shu looked up alertly toward the chipped corner of the roof, his sword flashing from its scabbard as he thrust upward toward the rooftop. Accompanied by a cry of surprise, a piece of black clothing hem dropped to the ground, followed immediately by a figure tumbling down amidst a shower of shattered tiles.
Appearing right before his eyes was none other than his arch-enemy Gu Xici, who had departed just that very morning.
“Uhm…”
Before Gu Xici could finish speaking, Ye Shu fixed a chilling gaze upon him, one hand clamping around Gu Xici’s throat as he spoke in an icy tone: “Gu Xici, what are you playing at? Not sleeping in your own mansion in the middle of the night, yet sneaking over to my Grand Preceptor’s residence to spy, hmm?” Choked to the point of breathlessness, Gu Xici coughed, struggling with one hand to claw at Ye Shu’s arm while kicking out with his leg to strike Ye Shu in an effort to break free from the restraint. Instead, Ye Shu caught his ankle with his free hand, pinned him against the wall, and interrogated him: “Answer me quickly, Gu Xici. I don’t have that much patience to wait.”
Realizing the situation was turning perilous, Gu Xici inwardly groaned that he was in trouble, flaring up slightly in frustration. Yet, remembering the circumstances, he hurriedly forced himself to act weak while feeling somewhat guilty as he stammered, “I… I didn’t mean to spy, Ye Shu. Let me go, damn it, your lord here can’t breathe…”
Ye Shu loosened his grip on Gu Xici’s neck and ankle, drew his sword, and rested the blade right beside Gu Xici’s cheek, his tone dripping with menace. “Gu Xici, I advise you best not to pull any tricks behind my back; otherwise, I can’t guarantee whether this blade will slice open your neck and send blood spraying everywhere.”
Pinned against the wall by Ye Shu, Gu Xici took heavy, heaving breaths, staring at the sword resting against his neck, feeling thoroughly miserable.
This heir is truly… that roof tile had to break neither sooner nor later than right when that guy left, talk about damned bad luck!
If not for his quick reflexes, your lord here would have nearly lost his little life right here.
This is driving me crazy! How am I supposed to explain this? Should I tell him that because this lord was reborn, and right before dying, saw the assassin who killed me wearing a jade pendant identical to his, I came over here to snoop?
That doesn’t make any sense either…
I could threaten people with anything to make them believe me, but… Ye Shu? Forget it!
Gu Xici wailed internally.
He’ll never believe I’m reborn.
Screw it, I can’t beat him anyway, your lord only has this one life believe it or not! Besides, I’ve already died once, what else is there to fear from this fellow?!
“I came here because of that jade pendant of yours! Do you hear me clearly? Because I was reborn! The assassin who killed me carried a jade pendant identical to yours!!” Gu Xici shut his eyes tight, speaking with the resolve of someone marching to their execution.
“What? Gu Xici, say that again?”
Shock flickered in Ye Shu’s eyes, and the sword in his hand trembled slightly before slowly lowering.
The maple leaf represents an assassin organization—how on earth did Gu Xici encounter it?
“I’m completely done with you! Ye Shu, are you deaf? Your lord said it, your lord has been reborn, and so is that jade pendant of yours!” Confronting the stunned Ye Shu, Gu Xici finally erupted, gritting his teeth as he snapped, “Believe it or not, kill or slice me however you please!”
A slight curve touched the corner of Ye Shu’s lips, his pale purple eyes fixed intently on the tight-eyed Gu Xici as he teased him: “So, let’s see… should I believe you or not?”
Gu Xici opened his eyes, startled by the faint smile playing at the corners of Ye Shu’s mouth.
What the hell, what on earth is this guy’s deal? Smiling so creepily, the sword is no longer pressed against my neck, and he actually has the leisure to tease me?
So, this means he probably believes me, right? Gu Xici thought about it for a second—could it be… that Ye Shu was also reborn?
“Heir, I think you ought to believe me, otherwise you wouldn’t have put the sword down,” Gu Xici stared at Ye Shu, seemingly latching onto a realization as he challenged, “Ye Shu, could you possibly be reborn as well?”
“Care to guess?”
Ye Shu slowly leaned in close, lowering his voice to murmur right beside his ear.
This gave Gu Xici quite a fright, making his words stumble awkwardly: “Well… I suppose so. You… stop getting so close to me, it’s… it’s creepy…”
What is going on here? What is Ye Shu trying to pull? Just because I guessed it right, he wants to use it to threaten me? Come to think of it, in his past life, he had never stood this close to his arch-enemy Ye Shu…
Moreover, Ye Shu wore his hair down every day, and suddenly being this close to him… felt somewhat overly intimate.
Wait, what on earth was he putting in his hair? It actually smelled quite pleasant—a faint, cool fragrance of pine and bamboo, light and subtle…
No, what on earth am I thinking about? He’s my arch-enemy! He’s hateful!
Pull yourself together, Gu Xici! Even though Ye Shu is drop-dead gorgeous, you mustn’t let yourself be bewitched! Furthermore, he just tried to choke me to death a moment ago, so I mustn’t lower my guard.
Gazing at his arch-enemy pinned against the wall, Ye Shu’s gaze lingered on the reddish bruises around Gu Xici’s neck. Seeing Gu Xici awkwardly avert his gaze, even the wheat-toned skin of his face tinged with a flush of red.
Noticing that his arch-enemy—who was usually at sword’s point with him—actually had reddened ears and turned his head away不敢 look at him, Ye Shu couldn’t help letting out a soft laugh.
“I roughly know why you came here.”
Hearing those words, Gu Xici felt as though his inner thoughts had been completely seen through by Ye Shu.
No way, as his mortal enemy, he actually managed to guess what was on his mind.
Gu Xici’s face flushed even redder with anger. He reached out to shove Ye Shu away and scolded, “I’m your arch-enemy, how dare you go around guessing this lord’s thoughts!”
Witnessing Gu Xici’s flustered and exasperated appearance, Ye Shu’s smile deepened, and even his perpetually cold pale purple eyes flashed with a trace of amusement.
“Gu Xici, with your little brain, the moment I threatened you, you spilled everything. Did I even need to guess? Besides, I never acknowledged that you were qualified to be my arch-enemy.”
“I…”
For a moment, Gu Xici felt utterly incapable of retort. This sense of helplessness caught him completely off guard.
“Who are you saying isn’t qualified?! Ye Shu! I admit I was indeed thinking about it, but you didn’t have to just blurt it out! Besides, sneaking around spying on you was my only resort, I couldn’t think of anything else. Just now when I made a noise, it was because… seeing you talk about that jade pendant with that guy made me a bit too excited…”
As he spoke, Gu Xici felt as though his arguments were growing weaker, and he had even let Ye Shu back him into a corner.
Hearing Gu Xici put it this way, Ye Shu could do nothing with him; after all, who told him to confess everything so honestly? As an arch-enemy who had spent his past and present lives disrupting his plans and causing him trouble everywhere, Ye Shu found him a massive headache. At the same time, he realized that apart from finding Gu Xici amusing, a strange, unfamiliar emotion had quietly taken root toward him. He felt something was amiss, yet couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.
Furthermore, in his past life, he had never seen Gu Xici blush so easily; what had happened in this lifetime? Why did he constantly feel as though he had also been infected by Gu Xici, losing control of his own emotions?
Yet regarding the matter of the jade pendant, he had ultimately deceived him in their past life without ever revealing the truth…
With this thought, Ye Shu returned to the armchair he had previously occupied, gestured for Gu Xici to take the seat beside him, and stated: “Since matters have come to this, now that both of us have been reborn because of that jade pendant, I might as well tell you about my pendant.”
“So what’s the story behind your pendant?”
“This jade pendant has been with me since childhood; to be precise, it should have been given to me by my deceased biological parents. They passed away from illness when I was very young, so they entrusted me to the care of a trusted friend of theirs within a wealthy merchant’s household. That merchant treated me quite well. Perhaps because of this jade pendant, on the night three years after adopting me, a group of men in black broke in and interrogated my adoptive father about the whereabouts of the jade pendant. Because my adoptive father said he didn’t know, those men in black slaughtered my adoptive father, adoptive mother, and everyone else in the estate. As for myself, I hid inside the kitchen chimney, thereby escaping with my life.”
“Ye Shu, you… actually went through such an ordeal? I had no idea.”
“In our past life, you were always coming to find trouble with me, so naturally I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Ah… my apologies, but this time the two of us share a common goal, I will definitely not cause trouble for you anymore, Ye Shu, I swear…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of guards reporting outside suddenly rang out, accompanied by hurried knocking at the door.
“Reporting to the Grand Preceptor, General Gu requests an audience.”
Gu Xici’s heart skipped a beat, thinking to himself that he was done for—his elder brother had discovered he wasn’t in the mansion and had come looking for him.
He hurriedly used hand gestures to signal Ye Shu not to let his elder brother find him, or else he was finished.
Noticing Gu Xici’s panic-stricken expression, Ye Shu knew immediately that he had sneaked out and that his elder brother had arrived looking for him in a fury.
Pondering for a moment, he first instructed Gu Xici to hide behind the folding screen, then replied, “Dark One, let General Gu in first.”
“Understood, Grand Preceptor.”
Following a flurry of footsteps, a man walked in who shared a four-tenths likeness with Gu Xici, yet possessed an imposing, majestic aura and a head of pitch-black hair.