Chapter 7 But the people who returned weren't just the waiter...

The person who returned was not just the waiter; Xie Rongjing walked into the room in front of the waiter.

Lin Mushi's wet undergarments had been removed, and he was now draped in a thin blanket.

The waiter who was drying Lin Mushi's hair placed a charcoal brazier aside and dried Lin Mushi's hair.

Upon seeing Xie Rongjing enter, Lin Mushi remained seated on the stool without making any movement.

The attendant beside him bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."

Upon hearing the waiter's address, Lin Mushi couldn't help but glance at Xie Rongjing again.

"Qiong, Mushi, I heard from the maid that you got your undergarments wet. We don't have any extra clothes prepared for the time being, so I had someone bring some of my childhood clothes. We'll have someone come to the manor tomorrow to take your measurements and make you a few outfits."

As Xie Rongjing spoke, she walked over and sat down next to Lin Mushi.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

His hair, which had been loose, was half-dry, and the waiter helped Lin Mushi put on his clothes.

The moment the thin blanket was laid down, Xie Rongjing caught a glimpse of the jade pendant hanging on Lin Mushi's chest, but before he could examine it closely, his view was blocked by the inner garment.

Lin Mushi stood in front of Xie Rongjing, letting the servants arrange things for him, but he refused the jade pendant that was finally tied to his belt.

The waiter's hand holding the jade pendant froze. Xie Rongjing's voice rang out from the side: "It's alright. Put the jade pendant away for now. The young master can wear it when he wants."

After the waiter left, several more plates of food were brought out.

Lin Mushi glanced at Xie Rongjing beside him, then, remembering the other master of the Marquis's mansion, asked, "Where is Lord Xie?"

"Father went to handle official business."

—

Xie Zhuo, whom Xie Rongjing mentioned, was indeed in the study, with completed reports spread out on the table in front of him.

Xie Zhuo's attention was not on the official business at hand. He raised his hand to stack the completed reports aside and his gaze fell on the plate next to the table.

On a small, porcelain-white dish with lotus patterns, there was a cornbread that didn't seem to match the dish at all. Upon closer inspection, a few tooth marks could be seen remaining on one corner of the cornbread.

Xie Zhuo took the cornbread and broke off a small piece.

The brownish-gray food didn't seem like something Xie Zhuo would normally eat, but even so, he put the piece of cornbread he broke off into his mouth.

The cooled cornbread was a bit hard, and the coarsely ground flour mixed with wheat bran scraped against my mouth. Apart from the original taste of flour and wheat bran, I couldn't taste any other flavors. Xie Zhuo had to use some effort to finish the piece in his mouth.

The image of Lin Mushi sitting cross-legged in front of me, grinding cornbread with an expressionless face, seemed to reappear before my eyes. I felt that the child was cute, but at the same time, I felt a little bitter. After all, he owed me a lot.

—

After Xie Rongjing finished his meal with Lin Mushi, he had to leave on important business. Lin Mushi wandered around the courtyard, peeked out, and saw that there was no one guarding the gate, and the servants in the courtyard did not seem to be following him.

If not now, when?

The Hou residence was spacious, and when Xie Zhuo led him into the courtyard earlier, he was surrounded by many people, so Lin Mushi didn't pay attention to the surrounding environment when he arrived.

The scenery of the garden corridor was pretty much the same to Lin Mushi, and he soon became disoriented in the garden.

When Lin Mushi stopped at yet another fork in the road, he felt that the intersection in front of him was somewhat familiar, just like the previous one.

Since neither path necessarily leads to a safe outcome, Lin Mushi turned and leaped onto the artificial hill in the garden, stepping onto the railing of the corridor.

Before he could use the artificial hill to climb over the wall, he heard footsteps approaching from afar.

Lin Mushi stared at his feet, his intuition telling him that it was best not to be discovered by others. Before the figure in the corridor appeared, he shrank his body further.

The boy's figure was hidden in the gaps between the artificial hills, completely concealed by them.

A corner of clothing peeked out from the corner of the corridor, and the figures of two servants appeared under the corridor.

Lin Mushi dared not easily reveal his magic, so he did not use his divine sense to investigate, but instead looked through the holes in the artificial hill.

Two servants, each carrying a box, drifted into Lin Mushi's ears on the wind as they talked.

Lin Mushi had no intention of listening, but seeing that the people under the corridor hadn't noticed him, he prepared to turn and leap away.

But the person the servant mentioned made Lin Mushi retract his actions.

"Hey, I heard you met the newly returned young master. What did he look like?"

It seemed that he was the main character in their conversation, so Lin Mushi quietly moved to a more comfortable position and listened attentively to what they were going to say next.

"The one who came back was surrounded by people. I only caught a glimpse of him from afar, but he really looked like the Marquis."

"Now that that person has returned, do you think the Marquis might request an imperial decree to change the heir apparent, since the new one is the right one..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was hurriedly interrupted by another person: "It's not our place to discuss the master's affairs. The young master has always treated us well. We don't even know what kind of person the newcomer is..."

Xie Rongjing looked to be a few years older than him. If he remembered correctly, Xie Zhuo and Princess Huayang got married fourteen years ago after Xie Zhuo passed the imperial examination.

That doesn't match Xie Rongjing's age. Could it be that he doesn't understand human appearance?

After thinking it over, Lin Mushi suddenly felt that he should ask someone in the mansion. He peeked out from the gap in the artificial hill and was about to climb down.

The moment he peeked out, his gaze met that of the person under the eaves.

Xie Zhuo stopped in his tracks, a look of surprise flashing across his face as he saw the head peeking out from the artificial hill.

The person walking beside Xie Zhuo also stopped, turning their face slightly towards the outside of the corridor.

"Why did you run over there? Come down, Dad will catch you." Xie Zhu walked around to the rockery and stretched out his hands to Lin Mushi, who was squatting on the rockery.

Lin Mushi glanced at Xie Zhuo's outstretched hand, pursed his lips, feeling a little uncomfortable, avoided Xie Zhuo, and jumped to the ground.

Once on the ground, Xie Zhuo gently pulled him over and looked him up and down carefully. Xie Zhuo asked again, "How did you get up there?"

"The Marquis's mansion is too big, I got lost," Lin Mushi answered honestly, without mentioning his plan to run away.

Xie Zhuo was taken aback, but his attitude remained as gentle as ever: "Father will send someone to follow you in the future, so you won't get lost."

Before Lin Mushi could refuse Xie Zhuo's kindness, a clear voice rang out from behind Xie Zhuo: "Lord Xie, is this the child?"

Lin Mushi looked in the direction of the sound and saw a handsome man wearing a snow-gray Taoist robe with a moon-white cloak over it.

Lin Mushi stared blankly at Lin Zhechun's face.

His face was as fair as jade, and he had an otherworldly appearance, except that his eyes were covered with a white silk ribbon.

But Lin Mushi could clearly feel Lin Zhechun's "gaze" falling on him.

"My son is being naughty; I'm sorry to have made the Imperial Advisor laugh." It was Xie Zhuo's voice that interrupted the two of them gazing at each other from afar.

"It's alright." Lin Zhechun's face remained turned towards Lin Mushi: "May I ask how I should address you, young friend?"

As a demon cultivator, even with the jade pendant given to him by Su Xiaochun to conceal his aura, Lin Mushi still couldn't help but be wary of human cultivators.

He didn't answer immediately. Taking advantage of Xie Zhuo blocking him and Lin Zhechun, he simply reached out and grabbed Xie Zhuo's clothes.

Xie Zhuo felt the tugging of his clothes, and a slight smile appeared on his lips. He raised his hand and ruffled Lin Mushi's hair, then replied, "My son's name is Xie Baoqiong."

When Lin Mushi (crossed out) Xie Baoqiong heard Xie Zhuo's introduction, she looked up at Xie Zhuo with shock in her eyes, but only saw the curve of Xie Zhuo's lips.

“Baoqiong.” Lin Zhechun pondered the two words carefully, then his tone softened: “It is a good name.”

...

"My name isn't Baoqiong." After Lin Zhechun took his leave, Xie Baoqiong frowned and angrily retorted to Xie Zhuo.

"Don't you like this name?" Xie Zhuo lowered his eyes and glanced at the loosened hem of his clothes, concealing the regret in his eyes.

Xie Baoqiong had no preference for names, but said, "I am not Xie Baoqiong, I am Lin Mushi." When she said this, Xie Baoqiong lowered her eyelashes, and her previous arrogance disappeared.

Xie Zhuo sighed, cupped Xie Baoqiong's face in his hands, looked directly into her eyes, and said earnestly, "Dad is taking you home. You can be Xie Baoqiong."

Xie Baoqiong broke free from Xie Zhuo's hands and turned her face away: "Lord Xie will regret this." Recognizing a demon as one's child is nothing but a tragic fate.

Xie Zhuo took Xie Baoqiong's hand and led her towards the courtyard: "No."

Looking down at the cobblestone path beneath her feet, Xie Baoqiong remained silent for a long time.

He didn't know how to deal with Xie Zhuo's attitude, and his thoughts drifted back to the conversation between the two servants.

He tugged at Xie Zhuo's hand, which was holding his, and asked, "Lord Xie, how old is the young master this year?"

"You mean your brother? His seventeenth birthday is in two months." Although Xie Zhuo didn't know why Xie Baoqiong asked the question, he was happy to talk to his son.

After asking the question, Xie Baoqiong fell silent again.

At seventeen, Xie Zhuo was Xie Rongjing, a child born before his marriage to Princess Huayang.

Xie Baoqiong's gaze towards Xie Zhuo changed instantly. An image of a treacherous scholar appeared in her mind, gradually merging with the image of Xie Zhuo beside her.

This is how it's written in storybooks: a heartless and ungrateful scholar betrays his promise and murders his wife and children for the sake of his beloved. After his wife dies, she is resurrected and successfully takes revenge.

Princess Huayang was not so lucky, but fortunately he was there and would surely reveal the truth to her.

Xie Baoqiong, who had given herself a role comparable to the protagonist in a storybook, narrowed her eyes slightly and took in Xie Zhuo, who seemed to be holding a "villain" script. It seemed that he would have to stay in the "tiger's den" of the Marquis's mansion for a while longer.

Xie Zhuo felt a sudden pull on his left hand. He turned around and saw the little person he was holding standing still, staring at him with slightly narrowed round almond eyes, and some of the hair on the top of her head standing up.

Xie Zhuo seemed to understand why some colleagues would secretly show off that their pet cats hadn't broken the skin after taking a light bite.

A smile involuntarily crept into his eyes: "Are you still angry about what happened earlier?"

Xie Zhuo raised his hand to suppress Xie Baoqiong's bristling hair, leaned down and teased, "From now on, when others ask what Xiao Bao's name is, Dad won't interrupt."

But when I let go, his straightened fur bristled even more: "Don't call me Xiaobao."

Xie Baoqiong was not ready to be so intimate with her "enemy," even if Xie Zhuo was only a suspected real culprit.

He broke free from Xie Zhuo's grasp and ran towards the courtyard, which was still a few steps away.

The boy's blue robes fluttered like butterflies in the wind. On the path in front of Xie Zhuo, Xie Zhuo lowered his eyes and looked at his empty hand, his fingers curling slightly.

The stunned expression on his face changed into a helpless smile in an instant, and then he slowly followed Xie Baoqiong's steps.

A note from the author:

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