Chapter 13: The Lock of the World
If there is a banquet in the mansion, the young man usually has to take a bath before attending the banquet.
The bath room was filled with mist. Jiaoran followed Shao Feng's instructions and handed over the bath beans. Everything was wet. She wiped it on her dress again and again, but her hands were still wet.
Having served Zhuxing countless times in Huiying Inn, Nabu Yue had also tried being a "puppet".
But they had never stood naked in front of Jiaoran like this. Even when he helped Zhuxing bathe, that was a woman's body, and Jiaoran squatted in front of him.
Gathering my courage and not trembling, I slowly wiped him, trying to treat him as an object, without feeling anything.
She was extremely grateful that the hot mist in the bathhouse did not dissipate, otherwise the blush on her face would have been a laughing stock.
As she was thinking, she suddenly noticed that the young master was looking at her with a strange look in his eyes. He asked innocently, "Jiao Ran, is your face burned by the heat?"
She raised her head and was about to reply when the warm, moist mist rushed into her nose and eyes. Before she could finish her words, she fell headfirst. She only remembered that when she fainted, it seemed as if she had fallen right between his legs.
She ran around the mountain gate several times without fainting.
But in such a hot and humid place, he fainted.
Later she found out that people who hang out in bathhouses might get dizzy the first time they go there.
When she woke up, she was already lying on a bed outside the young master's bedroom.
Xiaoju swirled the sniffing pot around her nose, and only put it down when she saw her open her eyes.
"Sister Xiaoju..."
Jiaoran felt vaguely that he had gotten into trouble, as if he had bumped into someone before fainting.
"Luckily you still remember that you knocked the young master into the pool."
"Ah?" Jiaoran was startled and changed from lying to sitting.
Shao Feng said, "You were like a bull, you knocked the young master over with one push. Sister Xiaoju and I were just talking about this. If we had known you were going to faint, we wouldn't have let you help the young master bathe."
"What...what did you say, sir?" Jiaoran was uneasy.
"What can he say? He climbed out of the water and asked someone to drag you back."
"Then - is he okay..." Jiaoran seemed to hear the sound of someone falling into the water.
"You still have the nerve to ask, you - hiss... I'm glad you're awake." Shao Feng was pinched hard by Xiaoju.
After lying down for a while, she thought that she would not be needed to serve him in the evening.
A family dinner like this should be very common, with the whole family sitting together to eat.
But this family dinner was really strange, first of all because of its grand scale.
Jiaoran stood behind the young master waiting to serve him, and next to him was Xiaoju.
There were only six guests and hosts at the banquet. Jiaoran roughly counted the attendants, concubines, and kitchen servants serving them and found that there were at least a hundred people. If the hall was not spacious, it would not have been able to accommodate so many people coming and going to serve and remove dishes.
Jiaoran thought silently in his heart that such a situation might be very common in the homes of kings, wealthy people, prominent officials and businessmen.
It’s really exquisite to eat a meal together as a family.
Jiaoran quietly looked across at the young master and saw a man wearing a light blue round-necked robe. It was a very light color and a very simple style, but it gave him a sense of luxury when worn.
He sat quietly, with no expression on his face. His demeanor, temperament and manner were elegant and agile, like a mountain standing there quietly, as if nothing could make him worry or angry, and he was as leisurely as the clouds in the sky.
On his left and right, there was a man who looked energetic, as if he had picked up hundreds of thousands of taels of gold, and another man with tired eyes, hunched shoulders and waist, sitting awkwardly, and always unhappy.
These three men were, unsurprisingly, the three sons of the governor Xiaoju had mentioned: Chai Lie, Chai Che, and Chai Hui. At first glance, the middle brother, Chai Che, and the third brother, Chai Hui, looked somewhat alike, but Chai Hui exuded an inexplicable sinister aura.
The eldest son, Chai Lie, is a smiling tiger. He appears to be laughing on the surface, but secretly he has learned the most from his father's methods.
The young master Chai Hui is quite favored by the wife of the governor. He likes to use Hanshi Powder. He is arrogant and arrogant, and he will never let go of any grudge.
Many years ago, the Second Young Master, Chai Che, was sent to Chang'an by the Governor-General. Ostensibly to accompany him to the palace and be raised by the royal family, he was actually a hostage, a means of keeping the Xiu Tu Governor-General's Office in check. But hadn't Fenghuang Chu said he'd always been in the Chang'an Palace? Why was he back at the Governor-General's Office now?
While thinking about this, Jiaoran accidentally met the eyes of the blue-robed young man, Chai Che. His eyebrows suddenly took on a murderous look that could make people shiver from head to toe. The calmness he had just shown was completely gone.
Although Jiaoran had never been around the world, she knew that Huiying Inn was a mixed crowd. Her intuition told her that this was the look only a very calm killer could have. She even felt that as long as he killed someone, that person would definitely die.
But usually the killers in the underworld also have a kind of wild spirit, which is nurtured in bloody battles. There are very few killers like the one in front of Jiaoran who come from wealthy families.
It seemed as if Chai Che had the inviolability written all over him. Anyone who had seen this young man could understand Jiaoran's fear.
If ordinary killers regard human life as worthless, then they can only be regarded as killing tools. The biggest difference between Cha Che and them is that he is definitely not a brainless weapon.
Jiaoran is usually very brave in her master's sect because she knows that her mother is cruel and protects her. If anyone offends her in Mianyuan, her mother only needs to say a word and no one can take Jiaoran away from Huiyingmen.
Now that I've left my master's sect, I have to behave myself.
She slowly moved behind Mu Jin, avoiding the man's gaze.
Just don't mess with him, she muttered to herself.
The host and guest were the governor and his wife.
The lady had three sons and four daughters, one of whom was already married. She had seen a few of the young ladies from afar, but for some reason, the lady kept a close watch on them, just like today's family dinner, where they were not allowed to attend.
Young Master Mu Jin is not the governor's child. Until now, Jiaoran still hasn't figured out whose child he is. He calls the governor uncle, so is he really his nephew?
The governor sat in the main seat, the candlelight cast a shadow beside his nose, his eyes looked like the abyss, when he was not smiling, his eyes were very cold, when he smiled, there was a feeling of being fierce and evil. It must be said that Cha Che was more similar to his father than his eldest brother.
"Jiao Ran?" Xiao Ju reminded her.
"ah?"
"I asked you to serve the food." Xiaoju wanted to cut off her ears and hang them around her neck to see if she wanted to use them.
Jiaoran hurried forward and saw that the young master's eyes were clear and sharp. "Why are you distracted again?" He whispered while Jiaoran bent down to pick up some food.
He didn't know that when he spoke seriously, there was always a kind and lovely little expression appearing, like a spring breeze blowing across a river bank that was about to melt the ice.
Among so many men in this house, only the one she serves looks normal and kind.
Jiaoran likes to open all kinds of difficult locks, so sometimes she will accompany her fellow apprentices to complete tasks, which basically only require opening the outer locks on some boxes or the inner locks of the house.
Generally, the golden beetle locks used to lock antiques and the butterfly locks in front of the storehouses of wealthy families are the most difficult to open. However, after she turned thirteen, these locks were no longer a problem.
If these people were locks, then the easiest person to open would be the Young Master Mu Jin in front of her. Jiaoran even had an illusion that the lock was not properly locked in the first place.
He couldn't keep things secret, and he would always tell her when they were practicing calligraphy, what his uncle said while he was painting yesterday, and what the eldest son accidentally dropped on him when he passed by the day before yesterday. He would tell her everything.
At first, Jiaoran thought that it might be because Sister Xiaoju and Shaofeng's maids were big mouths that he didn't trust her and didn't say much, but after spending a long time with Xiaoju, Jiaoran felt that she was a man of few words and could keep secrets well.
Jiaoran guessed that he was just too talkative and only talked to strangers, and that he would be fine after a while.
What Fenghuangchu said was not entirely right, and what Xiaoju said was not entirely accurate either. It is difficult to summarize the young master in a few words.
Sometimes Jiaoran was working, and when she turned around, she saw him staring at her. When she saw the young master, she would think of the warm fire in the room, like the fire in the small red clay stove used to cook wine or tea, not scorching, but warm.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
