Chapter 6

He really did send Qingfeng away.

Not to empty chamber pots. He sent him on an errand that kept him away for more than half a month.

Zhou Jichuan now wore a mask whenever he went out, terrified someone would recognize him as the impotent young lord.

But I wasn’t wearing one.

Who didn’t know I was Zhou Jichuan’s personal maid?

Wasn’t that rather giving himself away?

One day, he took me into town, saying he wanted to try a newly opened restaurant.

Every dish on the table was a favorite of mine.

I stared. “How did you know today was my birthday, my lord?”

He took up his brush. “I didn’t. You’re tasting them for me. If they’re good, I’ll eat them.”

“…”

[Hehehe. She must be so touched!]

[Stupid hand! Why didn’t you tell her I brought her out especially for her birthday? I even ordered a hairpin at the jeweler’s and haven’t picked it up yet!]

Listening to his inner monologue, I had mixed feelings.

Was he trying to bribe me?

Or had he heard something?

A few days earlier, Madam had secretly told me she wanted an exorcism performed on him.

A Daoist priest said a female ghost had attached herself to him and drained his yang energy, causing his impotence.

Madam had told me to keep it from him. Later, we were simply to knock him out with a drug and let the priest perform the ritual.

I picked up a morsel of food, too guilty to look at him.

I agonized over whether to tell him or keep quiet.

The comments:

[Still eating? The heroine’s been cornered by thugs downstairs!]

[Here comes the rescue! The hero will get hurt for her, and she’ll be so moved she’ll throw herself into his arms.]

Hmm?

A fight downstairs?

I was just about to lean out for a look when the door burst open.

Xu Lianyi stumbled in, her hair disheveled and her eyes red. Spotting Zhou Jichuan, she rushed at him as though he were her last hope.

“Lord Zhou! Please save me!”

Zhou Jichuan sprang out of his chair in fright and hid behind me.

“…”

The comments:

[???]

[Why’s the hero chickening out? Get in there!]

Xu Lianyi froze, too, staring tearfully at Zhou Jichuan as he shrank behind my back.

“Lord Zhou… Some bad men are trying to take me…”

He poked half his head out and made a shooing motion at her.

[Back! Back! Back!]

[Go away! Stop interrupting my time alone with Xiao Qiao!]

I was about to smooth things over when several men barged in.

Their scar-faced leader swept his gaze around the room, settled on Xu Lianyi, and chuckled.

“Well, Miss Xu, you certainly run fast. Got yourself a pretty boy hiding here, too?”

I stepped forward. “Mind your manners. This is the heir to the Marquess of Dingnan.”

Scarface paused, looked Zhou Jichuan up and down, then laughed even more brazenly. “Oh, that eunuch.”

Zhou Jichuan ground his teeth audibly.

[A eunuch? He called me a eunuch? I’ll have Qingfeng beat them into eunuchs!]

[Where’s Qingfeng? Where is he?]

[Oh. I sent him away on an errand…]

I…

“You know who my master is, and you still dare behave like this?”

Scarface pointed at Xu Lianyi. “We only want her. Her father borrowed money from us at interest. The agreement was, if he didn’t repay us in ten days, we’d take his daughter instead.”

What kind of rubbish father used his daughter to pay a debt?

Xu Lianyi was crying so hard she could barely breathe. “I… I have no money. It’s all locked in my father’s storeroom… Unless…”

She suddenly turned to Zhou Jichuan, a glimmer of hope lighting her eyes. “My lord, please lend me some money. I promise I’ll repay you!”

Zhou Jichuan:

[She wants to borrow money from me? Do we know each other that well?]

[She’s crying so hard her nose is running. Why is she standing so close? Trying to wipe it on me?]

He shook his head decisively and took my hand to leave.

The comments:

[What’s going on? Why is the hero so stingy?]

[He isn’t stingy. The heroine’s father is a miser. His storeroom is stuffed with money, and he won’t part with a penny.]

[Exactly! He has money, but he borrows from loan sharks to gamble. If he wins, he pretends he lost. If he loses, he plays dead. He even suspects the heroine isn’t his biological daughter.]

[And now he’s demanding an outrageous bride-price from the Prince Regent, who’s leaving him hanging. Take her as a concubine? He can keep waiting.]

Scarface advanced with a vicious grin and grabbed Xu Lianyi.

Unable to pull free, she panicked, drew a dagger from her sleeve, shut her eyes, and thrust it at him.

“I told you I have no money! Why won’t you leave me alone!”

In a flash, Scarface twisted aside and pulled her along with the movement.

The blade plunged straight into my shoulder.

I stared down at the dagger’s hilt, my head ringing.

???

Heaven, tell me how this is fair!

Am I some kind of human shield?!

Zhou Jichuan kicked Scarface flying and caught me as I collapsed, his eyes reddening.

[Xiao Qiao! I’LL KILL HIM!!!]