When Xu Hengyan, drenched in sweat and utterly defeated, finally pushed open the door and stepped out, he saw only Guang Bai rubbing his chin. The figure that had haunted his dreams was long gone.
"Where's Xiao Xie?"
Guang Bai was slightly taken aback. Didn't the young master leave the room only after knowing Xie Gongzi had departed?
"Xie Gongzi left."
"Left?" Xu Hengyan stared at him.
Guang Bai felt a prickle of unease under his gaze. His chin, still bruised from being squeezed, throbbed. "Nie Tong and Da Chui came looking for him earlier and carried Xie Gongzi away."
Gone.
In his agitated state, struggling with himself, he hadn't even noticed the commotion outside. Kuai Shu Ge.
Xu Hengyan’s eyes remained fixed on Guang Bai.
Guang Bai felt a chill creep up his spine, as if he had done something wrong.
Did the young master actually want Xie Gongzi to stay?
But it wasn't too late now. They could still chase after him. The back courtyard wasn't far from Xie Residence.
Xu Hengyan’s gaze, now heavy with thought, fell upon the puddle of water in the courtyard.
She had come with a wine jar, so drunk she could barely stand, and had been stopped in the courtyard.
If she hadn't drunk so much, she would have barged in long ago.
Guang Bai asked softly, "Young Master, should we… chase?"
Xu Hengyan turned and walked back into the room expressionlessly. The psychological defenses that had completely collapsed moments ago were now being cruelly reinforced, bit by bit.
With time, even the deepest wounds would slowly heal.
She might be very sad and upset now, but she would get better after enduring this period.
Her path ahead should have been bright and brilliant.
If they met again in the future, it would be best if they could be mere acquaintances.
Though, her temper…
~
Having been carried back to Xie Residence, Xie Jiang, who should have been completely drunk, jumped down from Da Chui's shoulder, her footing steady and her eyes clear.
"Alright, mission accomplished. Go back to sleep."
Xie Jiang yawned as she walked towards the house.
Da Chui, with a single stride, moved in front of her, blocking her path like a small mountain. He glared at her unhappily. "Jiang Jiang, you drank secretly and didn't call me!"
Wasn't he being very considerate of the bigger picture, holding back and not saying anything just now?
Xie Jiang helplessly raised her arm, fanning him with her sleeve to let him smell the wine on it. "When did I drink? I only had two sips of wine, just to make the act convincing."
Da Chui, smelling the aroma, became greedy. "Then I want two sips too!"
Xie Jiang was annoyed by the pestering of a bear cub, albeit a giant bear cub. "I'll have Tian Kang Tai get you some wine tomorrow."
Da Chui, the strong man, whined, "I want to drink now!"
Xie Jiang patted his head. "What are you drinking so late at night for? In a hurry to reincarnate?"
Da Chui looked incredibly wronged. "I haven't had alcohol in so long, and none of you let me drink!"
Everyone in Lan Yong knew he was family to Xie Gongzi. He could go anywhere to eat and drink, eat and drink as much as he wanted.
And he didn't have to pay.
It wasn't that he was unwilling to pay, but everyone adamantly refused to accept his money.
Later, when Jiang Jiang found out, she dragged him by the ear and made him pay each shop.
Then, one time, he got drunk and got into a fight, almost killing someone. After that, Jiang Jiang forbade anyone from giving him alcohol.
People outside wouldn't give him alcohol, wine shops would close their doors when they saw him, and his family members also kept him in check.
Jiang Jiang also always bullied him, tricking him with different methods every day. He wasn't truly foolish!
Da Chui felt utterly wronged.
This fellow had no idea of his own destructive power, let alone his doubled destructive force when drunk. Yet, he had the nerve to look so wronged like a strong man.
Compared to constantly cleaning up his messes, keeping him under strict control was more hassle-free. However, Xie Jiang's tight rein on him wasn't solely for her own convenience.
Once, this simpleton got so drunk he fell headfirst into a well. If a child hadn't seen it and run to her mansion to call for help, he would be drinking with the King of Hell in the underworld by now.
Xie Jiang was dead tired and couldn't be bothered to argue with him. She said to Nie Tong with a dark expression, "Give him just two sips of wine, not a drop more! If he dares to snatch it, break both his legs."
Da Chui: "They can't beat me."
Nie Tong: "..."
Xie Jiang: "You dare to fight with them again?"
Da Chui realized he had said the wrong thing and quickly covered his mouth with his two large, fan-like hands, leaving only his ox-like eyes to blink.
Xie Jiang said, "If you break your promise and act up with Nie Tong and the others, I'll deal with you myself."
Da Chui immediately promised, "I'll definitely keep my word. Two sips as agreed, not a drop more, and I won't fight with them."
Xie Jiang waved them away. "Go on, go on."
"Hehehehe..." Da Chui immediately grinned, revealing two deep dimples.
See how well-behaved he was? Satisfied with just two sips! He wasn't being greedy!
Nie Tong dragged Da Chui away.
Xie Jiang went back to her room and sank into the bathtub.
She disliked drinking.
Getting herself drunk and disoriented, what use was it other than making a fool of herself?
Even if making a fool of herself had its uses, like the foolishness she had just committed in Xu Hengyan's courtyard, there was no need to actually get herself drunk.
How could one so easily surrender their sobriety and reason to the control of alcohol?
He Gu Gu stood behind her, combing her hair. "Your head smells of alcohol too. Do you want to wash your hair?"
Xie Jiang submerged herself completely in the water. After a while, she emerged.
He Gu Gu then used their homemade soap to scrub Xie Jiang's hair. "Who washes their hair in the middle of the night? You said you slept in caves and holes with Young Master Xu in the mountains before, and now you've just gotten a little alcohol smell on you and you insist on washing it clean."
"You can't do this again in the future, alright? If you develop a headache, problems with your head are hard to treat."
Although He Gu Gu was nagging disapprovingly, she washed with great care. If her young master couldn't sleep well because he disliked the smell of alcohol, wouldn't she be the one to worry?
Xie Jiang leaned back lazily, closing her eyes. "What caves and holes? Those were mountain caves for shelter from wind and rain."
He Gu Gu: "Aren't caves just dens for wild cats and dogs? Wild cats and dogs also need shelter from wind and rain."
Xie Jiang immediately became wide awake. "...Put two more applications of soap on me."
~
Another seven or eight days passed in the blink of an eye. Xu Hengyan woke up feeling restless one morning, until he received a letter from the capital.
"Guang Bai."
Xu Hengyan stared at the thin sheet of paper for a long time, then suddenly called out to Guang Bai, who was about to leave.
"Yes."
"Go to Xie Residence."
"Ah?"
Guang Bai thought he had misheard. The young master wanted him to go to Xie Gongzi's place?
It had been nearly a month since they had fallen out. After the incident of drunken disturbance last time, Xie Gongzi had not set foot in the back courtyard again, and the young master and Xie Gongzi had not seen each other.
Xu Hengyan said, "Your relationship with Xie Gongzi, isn't it quite good?"
Guang Bai: "Uh, it's, it's alright..."
Where did the young master get the impression that his relationship with Xie Gongzi was quite good?
The large dark marks on his chin had only disappeared a few days ago. Wasn't the young master still staring at the dark marks on his chin and spacing out from time to time? Could it be that the young master had deduced it from the dark marks on his chin?