Chapter 58 The Maid: A Man-Eating Flower
Jin Guizhong was still recovering from his illness, and Huangfu Feng was also entangled with Huangfu Li, so he stayed in Ziwei City for almost the entire time. In the end, Jin Shiyu became the most powerful person in the huge Jin family. Once he made a decision, no one dared to object.
Jin Suiqing then realized that she had underestimated Jin Shiyu too much and acted too recklessly in the past two days. Now that she had been appointed as his maid, she had no one left to stand up for her.
After becoming Jin Shiyu's maid, Jin Suiqing became slightly wary.
According to the original plot, the female supporting character also became Jin Shiyu's maid at this time, and was whipped and tortured by him day and night. All the suffering that Jin Shiyu had endured before was returned to him.
Of course, the book only touches on this briefly and doesn't go into detail.
However, after Jin Suiqing moved into the side room of his courtyard a few days ago, her treatment was not as unpleasant as described in the book; in fact, to be honest, she was quite comfortable.
Despite being called a maid, Jin Suiqing actually slept until late morning every day, only waking up close to lunchtime; although she was supposed to serve meals, Jin Shiyu had already prepared the bowls and chopsticks for her as soon as she entered the main room.
The rule is that if Jin Suiqing says "Let's eat," he has to sit down and eat with him. He can't leave until Jin Suiqing finishes eating.
You can talk, read, or do anything else during this time.
The only thing that cannot be done is people.
After the meal, Jin Shiyu wouldn't let Jin Suiqing clean up. Instead, he would send her back to take a nap or take her to the courtyard to sunbathe and read.
Now he no longer withholds tea and snacks from people; they can order whatever they want, with unlimited supplies all day long. However, like before, he still makes sure to watch people brush their teeth at night.
Jin Suiqing pinched the roll of flesh that was gradually spilling out of her waist, glared fiercely at Jin Shiyu sitting opposite her, holding a book, and thought to herself, this is not Jin Shiyu’s maid, but Jin Shiyu’s pig.
Day after day, it's the same. If there's any change, it's probably today.
Huangfu Li visited the Jin residence to have tea with Jin Shiyu.
The two didn't even try to hide their conversation from Jin Suiqing. Huangfu Li bluntly said, "Zhu Feng has disappeared from the black market. It's really not easy to find a suitable magic master."
Jin Shiyu calmly sipped his tea, watching Huangfu Li put on an act in front of Jin Suiqing.
Huangfu Li's eyes shifted to Jin Suiqing, "Sister Suiqing, do you know any powerful magic users? Could you introduce them to your Crown Prince brother?"
She was no longer his sister, yet he kept calling her "sister." Jin Suiqing knew this person was deliberately trying to trick her out of her identity, so she said without revealing her true identity, "Your Highness is joking. I was known for being stupid back in the Imperial Academy. How could I possibly know such a powerful person?"
Huangfu Li's eyes darted around, and he smiled. "I don't think so. I heard that Sister Suiqing once competed with Huangfu Feng. Although Huangfu Feng won, from my description, it seems that she won by a narrow margin. Sister Suiqing, could you tell me about your rapid progress? Who is your teacher?"
Judging from these few sentences, it seems that although Huangfu Li suspected her, he did not think she was Zhu Feng. He probably thought that she had no intention of teaching Jin Guizhong and was ambitious, so she became Zhu Feng's disciple.
Now that her status is different from before, Huangfu Li's probing is much less roundabout than in the past, showing that he is much more perfunctory.
Jin Suiqing said, "If His Highness's rapid progress refers to reversing the installation of the sulfur combustion engine, then it is indeed understandable why His Highness sought out a magic master behind the back of the Magic Machinery Sect."
Having understood Jin Suiqing's implication, Huangfu Li laughed heartily, "Interesting, interesting! I never knew that Sister Suiqing was so eloquent. It's a pity that I can't banter with you anymore; it's a bit of a shame."
Jin Suiqing rolled her eyes inwardly, feeling resentful. She knew that Huangfu Li was keeping an eye on her, and she was sure she wouldn't have a good time from now on.
The resentment in her heart was no match for the drowsiness brought by the warm sunshine. After lunch, Jin Shiyu took her out to bask in the sun. Jin Suiqing yawned, her head nodding, and she could barely hold the book in her hands.
Jin Shiyu said softly, "If you're sleepy, go and rest on the recliner for a while."
Jin Suiqing climbed onto the recliner, thinking she would take a short nap.
He fell asleep soon after, snoring loudly.
Jin Shiyu put down his book, stared at Jin Suiqing on the recliner for a moment, then got up and went back to the room to get a thin blanket. He gently unfolded it and was about to cover Jin Suiqing with it.
Looking at Jin Suiqing's sleeping face, he lowered his eyes, his hand barely stopping in mid-air.
He quickly withdrew his hand, draped the thin blanket over the armrest of the recliner, carefully picked up Jin Suiqing, and let her lie on him, wrapping her up in his arms along with the blanket.
Jin Suiqing rose and fell slowly with his suppressed breathing.
In her dream, Jin Suiqing felt as if she were sleeping on a boat, the water perfectly still, gently rocking. Without light or dreams, she slept very comfortably. When she opened her eyes again, it was almost dark.
As she climbed up from the recliner, the thin blanket covering her fell to the ground. She bent down to pick it up and clutched it in her hand in a daze before realizing that it was Jin Shiyu who had covered her.
Thinking that he hadn't woken her sooner, Jin Suiqing looked up to look for him. The main house was dimly lit, except for the study, which was lit. Seeing this, she casually tossed the blanket onto the recliner and walked towards the study.
The study door was wide open, and Jin Suiqing peeked in, leaning against the door to watch what Jin Shiyu was doing. He saw Jin Shiyu holding a pen in his left hand, copying something from a book.
Jin Shiyu didn't even look up. "Aren't you going to knock?"
Seeing that she had been spotted, Jin Suiqing didn't mince words and jumped out from behind the door, first going to the table to see what Jin Shiyu was copying. Upon closer inspection, she saw that Jin Shiyu was transcribing the "Meditation Sutra," with a stack of sketches of magical implements beside her.
Jin Suiqing was puzzled, wondering why he was copying this. Before she could ask, Jin Shiyu said to her, "His Highness the Crown Prince couldn't find a suitable magician, so he's making fun of me. He said if he can't find one, he'll lock me up in jail and make me practice every day until I reach the level of Zhufeng before I can be released. I'm feeling frustrated, so I'm copying scriptures to calm my mind."
Jin Suiqing sized him up; his handsome face was expressionless and stern, showing no sign of distress. She guessed that the Crown Prince was urging her again, testing her.
As expected, Jin Shiyu pointed to the messy stack of drawings and asked, "Can you draw some for me?"
Jin Suiqing shook her head decisively: "No."
Kim Si-ok had expected this, and countered with a question: "Didn't you draw quite well when you were little?"
He remembered the perfect arc of the bird's wings and the half-eaten magic bird on the ground.
That's only what he saw; there must be things he couldn't see.
Jin Suiqing pretended to be stupid, "What did you say? I've forgotten most of what happened when I was a child. I only remember that I almost made Mr. Chai die of anger."
Jin Shiyu looked at her and chuckled twice, "Then fine, grind the powder for me."
When the maids arrived to do the work, Jin Suiqing stared at the ink stick and inkstone for a long time. Thinking of the scenes in the painting books where "women grind ink and men write and paint"—the so-called harmonious scene of a couple—she felt a little uncomfortable. She turned to Jin Shiyu and asked, "Can I write and you grind the ink?"
Jin Shiyu paused, his hand holding the pen still. Seeing Jin Suiqing's serious expression, he said, "Copying scriptures is tedious. Are you really going to copy them?"
“I don’t really want to,” Jin Suiqing said. “I just don’t want to grind inkstones as much as I want to copy scriptures.”
Jin Shiyu sighed and stepped aside to give the table to her. Jin Suiqing brushed past Jin Shiyu and squeezed in front of the table. Although she picked up a pen, she still kept glancing at Jin Shiyu out of the corner of her eye.
Jin Shiyu held the ink stick between his fingers, tilting it at an angle to the inkstone. His slender index finger rested on the ink stick, the deep black contrasting against the snow-white ink. He applied a little pressure, revealing the veins on the back of his hand, and his fingernails were short and rounded, giving him an indescribable...
Staring intently, she became completely absorbed in the sight. Jin Suiqing unconsciously swallowed, her mind filled with a golden haze—a field of wheat ripe for autumn harvest.
It is human nature to be attracted to beauty, regardless of gender.
Seeing that she hesitated to put down her pen, Jin Shiyu, taking advantage of his height, followed Jin Suiqing's gaze and examined her. He noticed that she was looking at his hand, so he lowered his eyes in thought. After a moment, he deliberately spoke to entice her, "Don't you know how to write?"
Caught red-handed, Jin Suiqing's heart skipped a beat. In a panic, she picked up her pen and wrote two characters, both crooked and illegible. Jin Shiyu laughed upon seeing this, saying, "Suiqing's two characters are as ugly as ever."
Jin Suiqing blushed and retorted, "Nonsense, you look much better than before."
She looked down and saw that the words looked even more like scribbles against the backdrop of Jin Shiyu's neat handwriting.
It's really not her fault that her handwriting is bad. Modern people usually use hard pens, and since she transmigrated into the book, she's been pretending to be stupid, so she has a legitimate reason to neglect practicing her handwriting. In addition, she mostly uses charcoal pencils for drawing, and for finalizing the outlines and outlining, she only uses a fountain pen that she made herself. Over the years, she has become completely incapable of handling this kind of soft-tipped brush.
Jin Shiyu picked up a handkerchief, wiped the ink stick and the edge of the inkstone clean, washed her hands, and went around behind Jin Suiqing. "Let me teach you how to write, okay?"
He seemed to be asking Jin Suiqing a question, but in reality he had already moved close to her back, and a strong bitter smell enveloped Jin Suiqing.
She hurriedly looked down and saw the hand that had been the subject of her fantasies, which was now resting on the table and had moved slightly toward her; Kim Shi-ok's thumb was almost touching her little finger.
We're getting close.
Jin Suiqing instinctively wanted to escape, but before she could retreat, the person behind her had already grabbed her right hand and whispered in her ear, "First, you have to hold the pen upright."
He used his right hand to pull her hand up to hold the pen tip upright, bringing him closer. He then slightly pulled his arms back, completely trapping Jin Suiqing between his body and the table.
There was still a sliver of room for maneuver. If Jin Suiqing dared to move again, he would be completely pressed against Jin Shiyu!
Jin Suiqing's cheeks flushed red. "Jin Shiyu... is too, too close..."
"Shh," Jin Shiyu tilted his head and, as if speaking, blew a breath of hot air into her ear. Jin Suiqing shrank her neck, prompting Jin Shiyu to press closer, and continued, "Copying scriptures requires a calm mind."
Jin Suiqing closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. Calm down my foot!
Jin Shiyu noticed her trembling eyelashes, completely ignoring the embarrassment of the person in his arms. He took her hand and copied down the next sentence, teasing her as he wrote, "Suiqing, look, which sentence are we on?"
Jin Suiqing stammered, not daring to open his eyes, when Jin Shiyu suddenly said hatefully in his ear, "If you don't want to see, then let's just wait it out."
Startled, Jin Suiqing immediately opened her eyes, not daring to look closely. She pointed to the sentence that needed to be copied with her left hand. Jin Shiyu encouraged her, saying, "Read it out loud. Write it down as you read it, and you won't make a mistake."
She wanted to read it quickly, but when she saw the words clearly, she didn't dare to speak!
Jin Shiyu urged, "Suiqing, recite it."
Jin Suiqing shook her head, but Jin Shiyu leaned closer as a warning. Jin Suiqing could only tremble and recite, "Male... pure, female turbid..."
Jin Shiyu held her hand and wrote slowly, word by word. If he missed a part she was supposed to read, he would ask her to go back and read it again.
He abruptly interrupted her, saying, "This sentence is not good. Suiqing, repeat it with me."
Jin Suiqing was so hot she was almost melting, and under his physical pressure, she could only stammer, "Male...female."
“No, come, repeat after me,” Jin Shiyu said, pointing to the scripture with his left hand. He had already completely wrapped his arms around her waist. He resisted the urge to pull her into his body and, with her hand in hand, wrote the last few strokes of the last few words.
He said in a low voice, "Men are impure, women are pure; men are still, women are active. From the root to the branches, all things are born."
Jin Suiqing finally couldn't take it anymore. Before she could finish writing, she hurriedly pulled her hand out of his grasp, pushed him away forcefully, and breathed heavily, keeping her head down and not daring to look at Jin Shiyu.
Jin Shiyu tilted his head to look at her, his Adam's apple bobbing as he let out a low, hoarse laugh. He flung his brush at the Xuan paper, the ink-stained tip leaving a messy, rough mark on the paper.
Ink splashed everywhere. He strode forward, pinned her against the bookshelf, and with undeniable force dug out Jin Suiqing. Holding her face in his hands, he gritted his teeth and said, "Jin Suiqing, do you know what my maid should be doing at this moment?"
Before she could speak, Jin Shiyu lowered his head and leaned closer to her, saying, "No matter what, don't hide anything from me. You must tell me the truth about what you've done or how you feel. Whatever I give you, you must also bear the consequences..."
Jin Suiqing instantly regained her senses. Jin Shiyu was acting on Huangfu Li's orders to have Zhanxinglou repeat the same trick and force her to tell the truth!
At this moment, Jin Suiqing had no sleeping potion on hand and wanted to hide, but had nowhere to go. Having seen countless flowers and grasses, she was now terrified. She had never seen such a morbid state before. The person in front of her was clearly a man-eating flower.
Just as the two were only half an inch apart and about to touch, someone burst in from outside the door. Huihong shouted in a low voice, "Young Master Jin, the Princess has something to discuss with you!"
Jin Shiyu paused, and Jin Suiqing finally had a chance to free himself. He pulled his hand away, bent down, and in one smooth motion, slipped out from under Jin Shiyu's arm, brushed past Hui Hong's shoulder, and disappeared into the vast night.
Jin Shiyu clicked his tongue inwardly, leaned against the bookshelf, and turned his head sharply, saying, "Who let you in?"
The hen, Huihong, protected her chicks without fear. "Of course, it was the princess who sent me."
Jin Shiyu looked past her and gazed at the door for a long time, but no one was there. He closed his eyes and spoke with deep dissatisfaction, "What do you want?"
Huihong: "The day after tomorrow, Ziwei City will hold a banquet for the princess's return to the palace. The master is unwell and needs you to attend on his behalf. There are some things we need to discuss."
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit."
The red flowers remained motionless.
Jin Shiyu opened his eyes wide and said, "Get out of here now."
Huihong trembled, but despite her fear, she bought time for Jin Suiqing and said firmly, "The princess said that there will be a banquet the day after tomorrow, and she wants Suiqing to go with her. Suiqing will not stay here with you tomorrow. Let her go back so that you and Suiqing can get some rest."
Kim Shi-ok: "Are you done talking?"
"That's all."
Jin Shiyu was exhausted: "You can go now."
Huihong added, "Where are Suiqing's things? I'll go help her tidy them up."
Jin Shiyu rubbed his face and said hoarsely, "There's nothing there."
The author says: If he didn't have some personal items made of gold and green to comfort him, he would really go crazy.
This sentence was originally at the end, but I wanted to leave some blank space, so I deleted it from the main text and put it in the "Something to Say" section.
Thank you all for your support. Please leave comments; I'll be giving away 30 small red envelopes to those who comment on this chapter. (bows)
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