After watching Xiang Yang eat the food, Xu Jingying picked up his chopsticks and started eating, his eyes fixed on the food, lost in thought.

It was only then that he suddenly realized that the room seemed to have been cleaned.

This lackey really does seem to be a lackey.

Xu Jingying then became interested and began to examine him closely.

This servant had somewhat thin features and could not be considered handsome, but he had a pleasant appearance.

Perhaps it was those innocent eyes that brightened his entire face.

She's...not bad looking, he finds her attractive.

Xiang Yang had noticed that Xu Jingying was spying on him, but he didn't care and didn't call him out on it. Instead, after the two finished eating, he diligently cleaned up the dishes.

After cleaning up the dishes, Xiangyang went to fetch water.

Because he was too frail, he could only carry about half a bucket of water at a time. He had carried a large water vat seven or eight times and still hadn't finished.

Xu Jingying watched as he carried the water back again and again, and even once fell to the ground with the bucket due to a stumble, but he remained unmoved.

To everyone's surprise, Xiangyang didn't cry out in pain at all. After getting up from the ground, he let out a "Damn it!"

But he was smiling, laughing at his bad luck.

Xu Jingying looked at his smile and didn't understand him at all.

He picked up the bucket again, turned around leisurely, and went to fetch water again.

The young master, who was reading in the room, blinked and felt the cicadas buzzing in his ears. After a while, he came to his senses and ignored them.

In this family, no one can be trusted; the only thing he can trust is his own future.

If he can go to the capital to take the imperial examination one day, he will be able to fulfill his mother's long-cherished wish and personally go to his maternal grandfather to ask for his forgiveness.

He always remembered that his mother wanted to see her maternal grandfather one last time before she died, and until the very end she was repenting for disobeying him, even severing ties with him, marrying a faithless merchant far away, and ultimately being abandoned.

Xu Jingying gripped the pen tightly in his hand.

On his way back and forth to fetch water, many servants pointed and whispered about him.

"Is this the page that the lady bought for that bastard?"

"It seems to be him."

"Didn't you say you bought one that was half-dead?"

"Yes, it looks pretty good."

Xiangyang ignored all the gossip. Carrying the empty bucket, he saw a kind-looking maid and, for some reason, suddenly walked towards her.

The little maid was startled.

"Sister," Xiangyang said with a slight smile, his eyes beautiful and instantly pleasing to the eye, "do you have a needle and thread? Could I borrow it?"

Before the young maid could even react, she nodded and said, "Yes!"

Xiangyang got the needle and thread as he wanted, thanked the maid, and left.

After Xiangyang left, another maidservant, still looking terrified, grabbed the first maidservant and said, "Don't you know he serves the Fourth Young Master? Why did you lend him things!"

"...Well," the little maid named Yun'er blushed, "it's just needlework, don't tell anyone..."

Xiangyang carried the bucket of water and took the needle and thread back. After pouring the last bucket of water into the water vat, he went into the house.

"Why are you back so late this time?" Xu Jingying put down her pen and looked up at him.

A round trip should only take a quarter of an hour, but this time it took Xiangyang a full quarter of an hour, which means that besides fetching water, the servant went to other places.

Is it with the First Madam?

Upon hearing this, Xiangyang winked and smiled at him, then, right in front of him, took out a needle and thread from his pocket and said, "Young master, shall I mend your shoes?"

Xu Jingying was taken aback and instinctively tried to hide the shoes that had already exposed her toes.

Tomorrow he's going to take the imperial examination to become a scholar. Even in an ordinary family, this would be a big day. But he, the young master of the Xu family, doesn't even have a pair of shoes that don't expose his toes.

It's easy to imagine how many eyes will be on me if I go to the exam hall like this tomorrow.

As Xiangyang spoke, he immediately knelt down on one knee and took off his shoes.

Xu Jingying instinctively wanted to pull his foot back, but he held back and let the servant serve him, taking off one of his shoes.

Xu Jingying sat on a chair, while Xiang Yang pulled up a low stool and sat even lower than him. He then took a needle and thread and began to mend Xu Jingying's shoes.

Xiangyang did these things so naturally, as if they had known each other for more than just a day.

Xu Jingying watched as he, despite being clumsy and completely inept at needlework, diligently mended his shoes, and unconsciously pursed her lips.

[Ding! Xu Jinying's Antisocial Index: 82.5%!]

Xiangyang just smiled silently, without even looking up.

Although Xu Jingying didn't want to, she couldn't help but glance at him.

Seeing that he had already mended the shoes, but after frowning, he unstitched the seams again, Xu Jingying's eyes widened slightly, as if he was about to lose something.

He couldn't hold back any longer, but he tried to calm himself down and asked, "It was already sewn up, why did you take it apart?"

"The stitching doesn't look good; the stitches are too obvious," Xiangyang said, carefully unstitching the thread. "I'll try again and see if I can make it look better for you."

Could it be... even better?

Xu Jingying's eyes became moist, and it took him a long time to clear them.

Let alone a teenager like him, even adults have some vanity.

Time and time again, he was pointed at and told he was dirty, that he dressed like a beggar. How could he not be moved at all?

Who doesn't want to dress presentably?

Xiangyang finally sewed up his shoes. Not only were there no visible signs of repair, but they also looked better than the original style.

Then I took another pair of shoes and brushed them with a dry brush, and the surface of the shoes became much cleaner.

Finally satisfied, Xiangyang picked up the shoes and walked up to Xu Jingying, smiling as he asked, "How was it?"

Xu Jingying glanced at it only, gripped the pen, lowered his head and said, "Put it down."

[Ding! Xu Jinying's Antisocial Index: 60.0%!]

Xiangyang was so happy that he treated him like a little child, and squatted down and put the clothes on him by holding his ankle.

Xu Jingying's big eyes became even more moist. He gripped the pen in his little hand, rested his chin on the desk, and felt dizzy.

If his shoes aren't worn out, then when he goes to take the exam tomorrow, no one will keep staring at them.