Chapter 11: Close Your Eyes When It's Dark

  Yang Wenyuan is a man who knows how to enjoy himself, whether it's food, clothing, accommodation, women or bathing, he is very particular. Xia Zhen can see from his residence, the cars he has sat in, the appearance of Xiang Jiejie, and this bathroom, that he has a certain air about him.

  This is a special bathroom, set in the backyard garden, an independent room, surrounded by fragrant grass and blooming flowers, with a beautiful view and a refreshing scent. In the distance, under the green shade, there is a corridor for people to walk through, connected by a stone path leading here. Not far from the front of the bathroom, there is a small five-sided pavilion, inside which there is a stone table and wooden stools, next to which several stalks of bamboo are planted. After bathing, feeling refreshed and invigorated, wearing light clothes, holding a fragrant tea cup, sitting in this pavilion, quietly admiring the flowers of the four seasons, is truly delightful.

  The bathroom is very clean and well-equipped, with both inner and outer rooms paved with green bricks. The outer room is a kitchen area where you can directly boil water, which may not be important in summer but is convenient for heating up in winter. The inner room has a warm wall and a five-foot-long and six-foot-wide pool, with ceramic drainage pipes buried underneath, allowing bathwater to be drained directly. As a result, the foundation of this house is built relatively high, and one corner of the bathtub is equipped with a clothes rack and storage boxes for bathing utensils.

  Several family members were cleaning the bathtub, carrying water and boiling water, all busy there, Xiaodi was no exception, first went to take back the young master's changed clothes, and then rolled up his sleeves to help them. The little girl worked hard and didn't spare her energy, with a pair of bare arms bustling about, the weather was hot, and in a short while, fine sweat appeared on her forehead, a strand of black hair fell on her cheek, red and healthy and lovely.

  She first helped Xia Huo take off his outerwear, then knelt down by the pool to test the water temperature. Her slender waist bent slightly, and her red thin skirt clung to her body, revealing the contours of her small buttocks, with a certain peach-like roundness and curves. In her mind, she had not yet reached the point where she was mindful of the distinction between men and women, or perhaps, in her mind, she did not consider her own young master as someone who needed to be guarded against?

  Xia Yu's heart skipped a beat: "Damn, about bathing... Zhang Thirteen didn't say that much, did she? Is she going to accompany me in the bath? It seems like someone has studied this custom before. Apparently, the maids of wealthy families have to accompany their masters in the bath. The scholar who wrote about it was stern and serious, criticizing the corruption of feudal society, but between the lines, he revealed his envy and lust. Those hypocritical pseudo-gentlemen. If such a lovely little maid were to wear a semi-transparent, tight-fitting undergarment... I wouldn't be able to get near women for a year!"

  "Alright young master, the water temperature is just right."

  The little girl stood up straight, turned around and smiled sweetly at him. Looking into her innocent eyes and her immature body, Xia Xun's sense of guilt rose in his heart, and his spirit was immediately elevated: "Absolutely not! She's still young, how can I...how can I do something that would harm her growth? Facing such an innocent and lovely underage girl, even if I'm not a saint, I should be a man with conscience. Only with conscience can there be a future..."

  Xia Liu coughed and intentionally put on a stern face, adopting an air of dignified gentlemanliness: "Alright, you can leave now. Young Master will take care of his own bath."

  Xiao Qi looked at him in surprise, unable to help but want to laugh: "Are you crazy? Of course you can wash yourself, you have hands and feet, if you don't wash yourself, do you expect others to wash you? Good grief, I'm going out, call me when you're done!" After saying that, she skipped and jumped out, and ran with a few servants to the small pavilion outside, chattering away as they set up the dragon gate array.

  Xia Jiang bumped his nose and briefly mourned his great mood, then awkwardly rolled up his sleeves and stepped into the water.

  Because he had been washing several baths a day, his body was very clean, so the hot bath was washed quickly. After bathing, he felt refreshed and wore a small dress after shouting loudly, Xiao Qi ran back to comb his hair and tie his belt.

  Xia Xuan changed into a pink lotus-patterned Taoist robe, tied up her long hair in a Taoist bun, and put on a pair of soft, finely woven grass sandals. She swayed gently as she walked out of the bathroom.

  Standing in front of the Wujiaotang Pavilion, looking at the beautiful scenery in the garden, he seemed to have found a bit of the feeling of being the master of the Yang family. But as soon as he thought of Zhang Shisan secretly manipulating him from behind with his brocade-clad spies, his face sank slightly again...

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  The dinner was very sumptuous, and the only person who had the qualification to dine with the young master in the Yang Mansion was Xiao Di. This was a privilege she had enjoyed since childhood, as the Yang father and son indeed treated the Xiao father and daughter like family members. However, at this moment, Xiao Di sat below Xia Zhi, looking like a resentful little servant girl. She held a small rice bowl that was smaller than her palm, picked up a thin slice of bitter melon, took a small mouthful of rice, and then looked enviously at the plate of appetizing chicken wings in front of her, swallowing a mouthful of saliva...

  No wonder she suddenly became less talkative, it turns out...

  Xia Fu couldn't help it anymore and finally said: "If you want to eat, just eat. No one is stopping you."

  "Don't..."

  Xiao Ding reluctantly cast a sideways glance at Ji Chi: "Others are trying to lose weight, eating too much won't make them thinner."

  Xia Liu smiled and said: "You're not very fat either, what are you losing weight for? At your age, you should be growing taller, so you need to eat more."

  "Isn't it quite fat? Then it's really a bit fat?"

  She immediately seized his tone, and with a few swift strokes of her chopsticks, she snatched some green vegetables into her own bowl. She gazed at the perfectly cooked chicken wings with a mix of sadness and anger, and said resentfully: "I knew it, you've always held a grudge against me for teasing you about being chubby when we were kids! You want revenge? Don't even think about it! Just watch, I'll definitely lose weight, humph!" With that, she stormed out of the room.

  Xia Fu held his chopsticks and smiled lightly. He was starting to like this place, and also liked Xiao Di, this little girl. Here, not only was there a rich material life, but also a warm home feeling. If he could really replace Yang Wenxuan and live here from now on, enjoying this kind of life, then being mysteriously thrown into this time and space that didn't originally belong to him wouldn't be so unacceptable after all...

  Unfortunately, beautiful dreams are always easy to wake up from. After enjoying a sumptuous dinner alone, his family presented him with a cup of fragrant tea. Xia Jiu held the teacup and had just sat down in his chair with his legs crossed when a furious and piercing shout entered his ears.

  Without a doubt, the only one who can produce a terrifying scream with a cherry-like small mouth, comparable to that of a big-mouthed monster, in the entire Yang Manor, is none other than her own personal maid, Xiao Qi. Xia Liu couldn't help but feel a little curious: What's wrong with this little maid?

  The eaves were covered with a trellis, and the trellis was entwined with grapevines that shaded out the sun, making it a great place to cool off on a summer day. A string of unripe grapes hung heavily from the trellis. Under the grape arbor, Xiao Di and Zhang Shisan stood facing each other, Zhang Shisan sneering coldly while Xiao Di was furious, like a small cat baring its claws, and if it weren't for two maids holding her back tightly, she would have used her sharp fingernails to scratch Zhang Shisan's face.

  When Xia Yu came out, what he saw was this scene.

  "What's going on? What are you arguing about?" Xia Yu asked with a straight face.

  Young master, that person didn't provoke him, I was just sitting here quietly, it was he who wasn't careful and accidentally bumped into me, spilling my sour plum soup, only splashing some on his collar, but he went ahead and knocked over my bowl, and then said I... said I...

  Zhang Thirteen carried his hands behind his back and said lightly, "Isn't what I said correct? It's up to the young master to treat his servants kindly, but a servant must have a servant's awareness. Is the ice stored in the cellar for you to use at will? Go ask around the world, which family's maid dares to take things without her master's permission?"

  Xiao Ding's face turned red with rage, and he shouted: "I am not... I am not..."

  "Who are you? Aren't you a slave of the Yang Manor? You really think you're the young mistress of the Yang Manor?"

  Xiao Qi's temper flared, and she said loudly: "What's wrong with me taking the ice cellar? Young Master never says anything about mine. When did it become your turn to interfere? You've only been at the Yangs' for a few days, I've been following Young Master since childhood, if anyone is going to lecture me, it shouldn't be you!"

  "Master, our Yang family's business is getting bigger and bigger, and there will be more servants in the mansion. Some things need to be established as rules, or else the servants will become unruly and disobedient. Without rules, everything will be chaotic. Xiao Xian taking the ice for her own use without permission is a bad example, Master should not indulge her anymore."

  Xiao Ding was fearless, and Yang Wenxuan, although her young master, was like a brother to her in her heart. She didn't believe that her own brother would listen to this big fool's words and punish him. Xia Zhen glanced at Zhang Thirteen, whose mouth corners were curled up with a cold smile, and his eyes seemed to be hiding a hint of murderous intent.

  Xia Xiao understood that Zhang Thirteen was taking advantage of the situation. When they were at Shi Stone Village, he had said that Xiao's father and daughter were the most loyal to Yang Wenxuan and also the most familiar with him. For safety reasons, they needed to find an excuse to keep them at a distance. Now Zhang Thirteen was giving him the opportunity to do so. In large wealthy families, servants could gain or lose favor because of one sentence, it was a common occurrence.

  "Master!" Xiao Qi angrily shouted.

  Xia Liu's gaze fell from Zhang Thirteen's face to the bowl of sour plum soup at his feet. The bowl shattered, and the sour plum soup flowed all over the floor. There were a few crystal-clear ice cubes on the ground, which, stained with the sour plum juice, emitted a blood-red, eerie glow under the lamplight. Looking at those ice cubes stained like blood, Xia Liu seemed to see a tragic female corpse struggling and screaming in the ice, and his heart felt a chill.

  Young Master!

  Zhang Thirteen also coldly called out, Xia Xun sighed and slowly said: "Xiao Qi, hand over the key to the ice cellar."

  "What?"

  Xiao Qi almost didn't dare to believe her own ears, she stared at Xia Jiu in shock, disbelievingly looking at him. Xia Jiu's face turned cold, his tone also colder: "From now on, you don't have to take care of the ice cellar in the mansion anymore."

  Xiao Qi's nostrils flared rapidly, and mist quickly filled her eyes. She suppressed her anger, took the key from her waist, and slammed it in front of Xia Chui before turning around and running away.

  "Look at her, young master," Zhang Shisan said, "does she have any of the rules of a servant? When the master is weak, the slave becomes strong. If everyone learns from her..."

  Xia Fu didn't pick up the conversation, he bent down to pick up the key and walked forward.

  Zhang Shisan was furious, but with several servants still present, it was not suitable to lose his temper. He could only suppress his anger and quickly followed after them.

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  "Why not take this opportunity to demote her from the inner palace?"

  As soon as the four of them went down, Zhang Thirteen immediately questioned in a loud voice: "Such a good opportunity, why let it go to waste? You scoundrel, you really think you are Yang Wenyuan."

  Xia Liu explained in a humble and obedient tone, "Thirteen Lang, I naturally understand your intentions, but... Yang Wenxuan has always been extremely trusting of her father and daughter. If I were to suddenly turn against them, wouldn't it be suspicious? Moreover, the reason for driving them away is to prevent them from discovering my true identity. Now that they don't suspect me at all, why must we be so hasty?"

  "Thirteen Lang, you also said that the big and small matters in the mansion, as well as all kinds of business under Yang Xu's name, were usually handled by Xiao. I...I'm not even familiar with every nook and cranny of this Yang mansion now, if I rashly drive them away, father and daughter, how can I pick up these things? Wouldn't it delay the important matters of Thirteen Lang and Mr. Feng?"

  He smiled and said, "So, I dare to be presumptuous, not following the meaning of the Thirteenth Master. If the Thirteenth Master thinks it's inappropriate, can't he easily find a reason to drive them out? I'll make sure to get rid of the father and daughter as soon as possible."

  Zhang Shisan's face was unpredictable, and after a while, he suddenly chuckled and patted his shoulder, saying with a hint of a smile: "Hmm, what you said makes sense, I was indeed too hasty. Let's keep them for now. Tomorrow, Xiao Jing Tang will report the accounts to you, take your time to understand it carefully, then gradually transfer the business matters to my hands. Once we grasp the entirety of Yang's family business...

  "Then let's follow Sanlang's orders and send them far away."

  "Alright, let's go. I'll take you on a tour around the front and back, and first get familiar with every nook and cranny of this house..."

  The night was deep and dark, Xia Chuan lay quietly on the bed, seemingly asleep. If the lights in the room were turned on at this moment, you would find that he was still dressed neatly.

  "As an undercover, don't put your trust in your colleagues. Know that criminals also understand counter-surveillance and will notice your every move. If you frequently contact your own people, you'll eventually be exposed. When you become an undercover, the best protection the police can offer is actually no protection at all; the safest measure is to take no measures at all. So, you must learn how to save yourself, utilizing everything around you that can be used, without revealing your identity, to achieve your goal! Even grass, wood, earth, and stone can be used to kill!"

  Xia Liu suddenly sat up, took out a key from his waist, and quietly looked at it in the cold moonlight. His eyes gradually became deep and stern. He clenched his fist, grasping the key tightly, and raised his head to look out the window. Outside the window was a bright moon, shining with no clouds.

  Xia Liu took a deep breath and lightly jumped out of the window like a nimble cat.

  The moon is hazy outside the window, and the night traveler has no trace.