Chapter 68: Honeyed Tenderness

  "Master, no need..."

  The little willow's voice was still the same, using the familiar term she had used since childhood. But somehow, the person being called was still the same as before, when she used to call him "young master" but think of him as an older brother in her heart. Now that she calls him "young master", he... seems to be just that, a young master.

  "That's how it is. You're not convenient now, so let me help you with your hair. Once you've recovered from your injury, I'll do it for you every day."

  Xia Liu was gently combing her hair with a comb, and before he could finish his sentence, a sly smile had already appeared on his lips. Xiao Ding now knew what the other layer of meaning of "comb" was, and hearing Xia Liu say this, she was so embarrassed that she just wanted to hide under the bed sheet. But it was really difficult for her to move her body, and it had been several days since she got injured, her wound was still far from healing.

  Her arms were wrapped tightly with white bandages, which Xia Jie had personally applied. Every day, he would also personally change the dressing for her. Her body was covered in scars, and the wounds on her arms were particularly severe. The umbrella-shaped silver needles had thoroughly destroyed the subcutaneous muscle tissue, leaving only rotten flesh that needed to be scraped out, coated with ointment, and waited for new muscle to grow back. Otherwise, the fragmented meat inside would condense into a muscle tumor, affecting not only appearance but also her future activities.

  She had endured such suffering, but it had been seven or eight days and she still couldn't get used to Xia Jiu's service. She said awkwardly: "What kind of comb is this? It's...it's a hair comb."

  Xia Jing blinked her eyes and teased her: "Didn't you say that combing your hair is just like combing a melon?"

  Xiao Ding's face turned red as she stammered: "Us...usually in spoken language, we only say 'brushing hair'."

  "Alright, when we say it, it's 'shū tóu', but when written on paper, it's called 'shū zhuāng'."

  "Shut up, I'm not talking to you anymore."

  Her cheeks were pale due to excessive blood loss, and her originally tender pink lips had also faded. Only because of Xia Jiu's teasing, a faint flush appeared on her cheeks, and her long hair was scattered over her shoulders, with a shallow fringe covering her delicate eyebrows. She wore a loose, soft moon-white dress, looking gentle, lovely, and pitiful.

  Xiao Jia's daughter peeked out from outside the window, looked inside with a happy smile, and tiptoed away.

  "Okay, hair is combed now, look, I'm much cuter now."

  Xia Zhen gave a thumbs up, and Xiao Ding immediately showed a sweet smile. However, as soon as she saw Xia Zhen pick up the medicine bowl, her small face fell, and her bright eyes looked at Xia Zhen with a pleading gaze. Xia Zhen was unmoved, his face stern: "You said you wanted sugar, I've already added it. You said to wait until it cools down, now that it's cooled down, what other excuses do you have? Open your mouth."

  "Master..."

  "Open your mouth"

  The little willow tree bent its flat mouth in a helpless curve and opened it, allowing him to pass a spoonful of bitter medicine into his mouth.

  "It's so bitter..."

  Xiao Ding painfully cried out in a voice that didn't want to live, under Xia Jie's soft and hard deception, this bowl of medicine was finally drunk after nearly half an hour.

  "Alright, you rest first." Xia Yu put down the medicine bowl and tucked in her blanket, then got up to leave.

  Xiao Ding's bright big eyes looked at him and suddenly said: "Young Master..."

  "Huh?"

  "I heard Dad say..."

  Xiao Qi buried her chin in the quilt, shrinking her body downwards, only revealing a pair of eyes that sparkled: "I heard Father say that after I went missing, Young Master offered a reward of 5,000 guan to find out my whereabouts?"

  "What?" Xia Fu raised an eyebrow.

  "Nothing... nothing at all..."

  Xiao Qi softly said, gently lowering her eyelids, her long eyelashes covering her eyes, and softly sighed: "Five thousand yuan ah, it's not worth that much money, you can buy several hundred Xiao Qi..."

  Xia Fu smiled and said: "Then tell me, how much are you worth?"

  Xiao Qi calculated seriously for a moment and replied: "Ten... fifteen yuan, should be able to sell it, right?"

  Xia Liu looked at her without speaking, Xiao Ding's heart felt uneasy: "Uh... although I don't know how to cook and do needlework, but I'm very diligent in doing things. It shouldn't be that I can't even sell it for 15 yuan, right? Otherwise... otherwise 13 yuan, can't go any lower..."

  She smiled and leaned down, gently brushing against her nose, softly saying: "You are the priceless treasure in my heart, no matter how much money others offer, I won't sell you."

  Xiao Qi's face turned red again, but her heart felt sweet and warm.

  Xia Xian turned around and walked to the door, Xiao Qi called out again: "Young Master"

  "Huh?"

  Xiao Qi looked at him worriedly: "That person... will there be others coming to bother you?"

  Xia Liu's face darkened for a moment, then turned into a relaxed smile: "These days, when I was guarding you by your side, I was reading books. In the book, I saw such a sentence, which makes sense."

  "What's up?"

  Those who are driven by others are slaves, those who are respected by others are guests. Those who cannot stand on their own feet are temporary guests, while those who can stand on their own feet are long-term guests. Guests who stay for a long time but cannot take charge of affairs are inferior guests. Those who can take charge of affairs can gradually grasp the key points and become the master. Therefore, the strategy to turn guests into masters is: Step 1: Strive for guest status; Step 2: Take advantage of the opportunity; Step 3: Insert one's foot; Step 4: Grasp the key points; Step 5: Become the master. As a master, you can then command others' armies. This is a gradual and progressive strategy.

  "What does it mean?"

  Xia Liu smiled and said: "That means to say, if the guest does well, they can surpass the host."

  Xia Fu took a step out of the door and had just lifted one leg when Xiao Ding called out again: "Young Master"

  "Huh?"

  Xiao Qi showed a small white tooth and smiled sweetly: "It's okay, young master."

  Xia Yu also smiled.

  Kill Liu Xu, rescue Xiao Qi.

  The news of Xiao Qi's disappearance had already spread throughout Qingzhou. She was rescued and brought back, and there must be an explanation for Liu Xuzhi's death. No matter what he explained, the government would definitely investigate. Before rushing to think of a random message to deceive people, this time it was an emergency, saving people was urgent, and couldn't consider the pros and cons, so it was destined that it couldn't be covered up like Zhang Shisan and Feng Xihui's deaths.

  Since that's the case, Xia Jiang decided to make a big deal out of it. After bringing Xiao Qi back to Qingzhou, he insisted that Liu Zhuang had kidnapped Xiao Qi and was extorting money from him. He rushed to rescue her and in the ensuing struggle, killed Liu Xu.

  The two magistrates accepted this answer readily because they were in a hurry to get to Jinan.

  A series of major security cases that have occurred in Qingzhou recently have enraged the two senior officials of the Jining Prefecture Government Office and the Jining Procuratorate. The two seniors jointly issued an order, commanding the prefect and the county magistrate to immediately go to Jinan Prefecture for interrogation. Now that the case has been solved on the second day after it was reported, it can be considered a meritorious deed.

  After deceiving the authorities, Xia Liu immediately went to find An Litong. He had already prepared a draft in his mind and decided to tell An Litong half-truths and half-lies. With lies mixed with truth, he could confuse people. He planned to tell An Litong that Liu Xuan suspected him of being involved in the deaths of Thirteen Lang and Feng Zongqi, so he kidnapped Xiao Ding to capture his weakness. He rushed to rescue Xiao Ding, but Liu Xuan refused to listen to explanations and instead wanted to kill him, and in the struggle, he accidentally killed Liu Xuan.

  As for this nonsense, An Litong didn't care whether he believed it or not. Anyway, regarding the deaths of Zhang Thirteen and Feng Xihui, An Litong was absolutely unable to find any evidence to prove that he did it. And as for Liu Xu's death, since it was an internal conflict and a mistaken killing, at a time when the Embroidered Uniform Guard was relying heavily on him, they would also not dare to do anything to him. He was no longer someone who could be bullied or manipulated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard whenever they wanted.

  His reliance is not small now: Firstly, he has stood firm in his identity as Yang Wenyuan, and the upper and lower levels of Qingzhou Prefecture have all recognized his identity, even Xiao Ding, Yang Wenyuan's personal maid, has acknowledged his existence; Secondly, he has made a big name for himself throughout Shandong Prefecture, with the spread of the Putai County incident, now even in Jiangnan Yingtian Prefecture, there are people spreading his story and making his name known.

  Sometimes, status and prestige are themselves a deterrent weapon that dares not be trifled with. With the current power of the Brocade Guards, at least in public, no one would dare to make a move on him. Moreover, when necessary, he can still use the Qi Wang's tiger skin as a banner. However, the Qi Wang's tiger skin won't last long, his loss of most of his business and assets due to a reckless gamble has already spread, and the young master of the Yang family has become the number one cautionary tale for parents in Qingzhou City to educate their children.

  Recently, in Qingzhou City, two girls have gained notoriety. One is the "Mirror Flower Water Pavilion" purple-clad girl, who has become the laughing stock of Qingzhou City. Even customers visiting the brothel to seek pleasure can't help but mock her. The 17-year-old purple-clad Teng girl is always in a state of shame and embarrassment, with her face flushed red, showing signs of premature aging and brain hemorrhage. She now hates Yang Xu to death.

  Another was Xiao Ding, the young lady with a reward of 5,000 guan for her whereabouts. Although the final reward posted by Xiao Guan was only 350 guan, the news that Yang's young master wanted to ransom back his personal maid with 5,000 guan had already spread throughout Qingzhou through the mouths of the Yang family's servants. If people still had doubts about the authenticity of this news, then when they learned that Yang's young master had single-handedly fought a bloody battle with bandits on the outskirts of the city to rescue Xiao Ding, they no longer doubted it.

  Lao Yang's good-for-nothing son has become the number one romantic and chivalrous man in the hearts of all the young ladies and servant girls in Qingzhou City, especially those in the wealthy households. This can be considered as losing something in the east and gaining it in the west.

  When Xia Jiang hurried to see An Yuanwai, he calculated that although his abacus was good, An Baozi refused to see him. It is said that An Yuanwai suffered from malaria and did not want to infect his friends, so he resolutely refused to meet. Yang Xu and An Yuanwai were good friends, and the upper and lower levels of the An Mansion all recognized him. Under his firm request, the old steward of the An Mansion went back and forth to convey more than a dozen messages, and An Yuanwai finally reluctantly invited him in, seeing him through the curtain.

  At that time, An Tong was wrapped in three layers of quilts, sweating profusely but with a pale face, constantly fanning himself. There were at least ten servants standing in the hall, staring at them with wide eyes. Xia Fan couldn't talk to him under such circumstances and could only ask about his condition before taking his leave. Afterwards, Xia Fan wrote down his explanation in a letter and sent it to An's residence, but An Litong didn't respond at all. Xia Fan had no idea what attitude he was taking, so for now, he could only remain unchanged amidst the changes, waiting for An Baozi to make his move.

  As soon as Xia Liu entered the front yard, he heard a burst of chirping and tweeting sounds coming from afar, which made him feel a headache. This had been going on for several days at his residence. Xia Liu hastened forward in quick steps, and upon entering the front hall, he stealthily peeked around the screen door to see that several house servants were holding clubs horizontally across the entrance. Outside, there were many women with thick layers of powder on their faces, as well as some lively young girls, waving their arms about. Xiao Guan Shi was drenched in sweat and hoarse from shouting as he tried to explain something.

  Xia Liu didn't dare to go out, standing behind the screen and taking a peek, just about to call Xiao Guan Shi over, when suddenly the women and girls outside let out shrill cries, tumbling around in all directions. In an instant, two young masters burst out of the crowd, their hats askew, their belts undone, and after much difficulty, they charged in, pushing aside the family's gatekeeper, standing in the great hall, panting heavily.

  Xia Yu couldn't help but laugh: "Zhu Zhihou, Zhu Zhichun, I reckon they should be here too..."

  PS: Ming Ye Da Shen's new book "Ao Shi Fa Ze" is out, book number 2022067. Introduction: Very domineering, very ***, very homebody. Suddenly crossed over and became a cannon fodder. Love beauty, love life, love showing off power. Don't like being a rule-abiding ability user, don't like studying or training. My name is Tang Sen, I can move the fulcrum of the ability lever. Love peeking, love ambushing, even more love settling scores quickly. Often in the shadows, often fighting, often winning. Cunning, ruthless, values relationships, and does business with space merchants. In fact, I am a superstar, I have many brothers and an army. As long as equipment drops are good, even gods will be killed for you to see.

  Please enjoy, please enjoy