Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Sure enough, Wen Qiuye did not mention the matter again. She even took the initiative to change the subject.
Shen Xin was satisfied. What he liked most about Wen Qiuye was that she understood what was expected of her. She handled everything thoughtfully and waited on him in a way that left him entirely comfortable.
What was the point of finding a mistress if she was not gentle, attentive, and eager to please him?
He did not see the resentment in the woman’s eyes behind him.
.
Zhu Yin returned to the Shen residence holding a string of balloons and a large bundle of wrapped cotton candy.
From Han Qingzi to Old Deng the gardener, she left no one out. She gave each person one of her prizes and made a point of explaining that these were the spoils she had won that day.
Even for Lily, she chose the daintiest little balloon and tied it to the tip of her tail.
Confused, Lily kept turning around and trying to bite her own tail.
At last, Zhu Yin took the final balloon and knocked on the study door.
Shen Dongjun, who knew exactly what she had done all day: “…”
After a full day of fun, Zhu Yin was in exceptionally high spirits. Her cheeks were rosy, like a red plum blossom opening through the snow atop a mountain in early spring.
“Young Master, I brought you a present.” She offered him the balloon. She had eaten one of the cotton candies on the way home, so the male lead did not get one.
Shen Dongjun’s lips curled into a cutting smile. “I stopped playing with such childish things when I was three.”
Zhu Yin froze. She tilted her head and studied the extravagantly shaped dinosaur balloon in her hand. After a moment’s thought, she declared, “Even when I’m three hundred, I’ll still like them!”
Shen Dongjun did not take it, but she did not mind. More than seeing his reaction, she enjoyed the act of giving the present away.
She tied the balloon to the curtain on her own, admired it with satisfaction for a moment, then turned and told Shen Dongjun, “Shen Xin asked to meet me today.”
Shen Dongjun gave nothing away. “Oh?”
Zhu Yin knew he had sent someone to follow her and Shen Xin, but that did not stop her from stating her position again. “He wants to ruin the relationship between you and the Young Madam.”
Anyone who interfered with her mission was hateful. “Your father has far too much time on his hands. That’s why he can spend every day making trouble for you.”
That was no exaggeration. In the original plot, at least half the conflict between the two leads came from the messes Shen Xin, his mistresses, his relatives, and his illegitimate children stirred up.
As for the other half, the two leads themselves were to blame for refusing to open their mouths and talk.
Her report complete, Zhu Yin prepared to leave.
Shen Dongjun suddenly called after her. “Wait.”
He had sat in the study all day. Apart from dealing with some accumulated work, he had spent the entire time thinking about Zhu Yin.
He had a vague suspicion.
Zhu Yin turned and looked at him in confusion.
Shen Dongjun said slowly, “Butler Zhu Yin, I’m thirsty. Bring me a glass of water.”
Zhu Yin: “? No problem.”
“It must be freshly boiled water cooled to exactly fifty degrees Celsius. Not a degree higher or lower.”
Meeting Zhu Yin’s gaze, he said coldly, “Surely a qualified butler can handle such a small task?”
Zhu Yin replied, “Of course. Please wait a moment, Young Master.”
She turned and left. Before long, she returned carrying a steaming kettle.
Shen Dongjun frowned. “I asked for water at fifty degrees.”
“Don’t be impatient, Young Master.” Zhu Yin poured a glass of water, lifted it, then let go in midair.
Shen Dongjun’s brow twitched. The glass did not fall. Instead, some mysterious power held it suspended in the air.
Zhu Yin snapped her fingers, and the temperature in the study abruptly dropped.
A humanoid creature wreathed in icy blue flames appeared before Shen Dongjun’s horrified eyes.
It was no bigger than a human palm. It had no facial features, and its entire body was formed from flames of an unnatural color.
Shen Dongjun watched the plainly inhuman creature lightly touch the cup hanging in the air. The boiling water, still releasing clouds of hot steam, suddenly went still.
The creature embraced the cup, which was larger than its entire body, and slowly flew over to Shen Dongjun before setting it down.
Zhu Yin smiled at him. “Young Master, the hot water you asked for is exactly fifty degrees. If you’re worried, you may check it with a thermometer.”
Shen Dongjun did not speak. He stared intently at the little flame person floating before him, then suddenly reached out to grab it.
Just as his hand was about to close around the flames, the little figure trembled. Its entire body abruptly dispersed, and Shen Dongjun caught nothing but a handful of icy air.
“You can’t touch him casually.” Zhu Yin smiled. “Lanlan’s temperature is extremely low. If an ordinary person touches him without warning and he fails to control it, their flesh will suffer immediate freeze damage.”
“Is it magic?” Shen Dongjun murmured.
Perhaps because he had prepared himself this time, the sight of the little flame person did not horrify him as deeply as his first encounter had. Instead, he was filled with curiosity about the unknown world.
Zhu Yin hesitated for a second. “…You could call it that.”
Shen Dongjun asked again, “Beyond the world ordinary people know, is there another, more mysterious world?”
Put another way, what he really wanted to know was, “Are there many people like you?”
Zhu Yin told him, “I’m the only one in this world.”
“You aren’t lying to me?”
“I’m not.”
Shen Dongjun slowly exhaled and said in a heavy voice, “Now I believe you truly bear me no ill will.”
For this person, taking his life was probably no different from crushing an ant.
Zhu Yin nodded vigorously. She had made it this obvious. If he still refused to believe her, she would have to suspect something was wrong with the male lead’s brain.
Shen Dongjun asked, “Do you really have to stay with the Shen family?”
It was one thing to know she would not hurt him, but who could relax with such a devastating weapon living at their side?
Zhu Yin hesitated for a second and asked, “Do you want the truth?”
That familiar phrasing made Shen Dongjun’s heart lurch.
He said, “Tell me.”
“The truth is,” Zhu Yin said with complete sincerity, “if I wanted to do something, living on the other side of the world wouldn’t hinder me in the slightest.”
“…”
Their eyes met.
Shen Dongjun finally settled down.
He never again mentioned firing Zhu Yin, nor did he deliberately make things difficult for her.
He wished he could wake one day and find that Zhu Yin was gone, that everything had merely been a dream and this person had never existed.
Being competent at a butler’s work was not difficult. Zhu Yin enjoyed the job quite a bit, and the servants at the Shen residence liked her too.
The Shen family enjoyed a long stretch of peaceful days.
By “long,” that meant twenty days.
Then Shen Dongjun and Han Qingzi erupted into a fierce argument.
When the noise woke Zhu Yin, dawn had not yet broken.
She checked the time. Four in the morning?
She dressed, got up, and stepped outside. The corridor was already brightly lit, and all the other servants had been roused by the commotion.
Unlike Zhu Yin, whose face was full of confusion, everyone else looked thoroughly accustomed to it.
“The Young Master and Young Madam are fighting again.”
“It’s been so long since the Young Master woke us up by smashing things. It almost feels nostalgic.”
Xiao Ding, the pastry chef, even pressed a packet of cookies into Zhu Yin’s hands on the way and told her, “Butler, eat something first. When the Young Master and Young Madam start fighting, it goes on for a long time.”
The second floor of the main villa was in complete disarray when they arrived.
Xiao Ding tactfully retreated and crouched at the stairwell. He smiled. “I won’t go any farther.”
Zhu Yin: ?
Xiao Ding whispered, “It’s the middle of the night. The Young Master and Young Madam might not have had time to make themselves presentable.”
If he saw something he was not supposed to see, the Young Master would lose his mind again.
Shen Dongjun was still wearing a robe. His hair was disheveled, and fury twisted his expression.
Seeing the great crowd of people approach, he roared, “What are you doing here? Get out!”
Han Qingzi stood coolly before the floor-to-ceiling window in white pajamas. Her skin was fair and translucent, and suggestive red marks showed above her collar. Plainly, the young couple might have been passionately entwined not long ago. What had happened since then was anyone’s guess.
Han Qingzi said coldly, “Why should they leave? You go insane in the middle of the night, yet you’re afraid of being embarrassed and won’t let anyone watch?”