Chapter 35

Huo Yin had no patience for his explanations. He shoved aside a few servants and strode up to Luo Li.

His handsome face was etched with cold fury, every word laced with venom. “What the hell are you playing at? Watching my dad die and rushing here to snag a replacement?”

Luo Li, who had done nothing to deserve the outburst, wrinkled his pretty porcelain-pale face. He looked utterly aggrieved.

He lowered his leg, twisting his ankle slightly. The blood-red beads dangling there swayed with the motion.

“It—it was the Eldest Young Master who said to check Master Huo’s belongings!”

Huo Yin glanced down at the beads and curled his lip in a scornful sneer.

“These are a heirloom from our family. They’ve always been kept enshrined in the Ancestral Hall.”

“And now you’re wearing them on your ankle?”

Luo Li’s face drained of color.

How was he supposed to know? He’d woken up with the damn things inexplicably fastened around his ankle…

Huo Cheng held Huo Yin back. “Enough, A Yin.”

His gaze flicked over the string of blood beads. There was no doubt—they were the heirloom Huo Jieqi had never taken off. But why give them to him?

Ever since Huo Jieqi’s death, everyone in the Huo Mansion had been searching high and low for those beads. No one had imagined the old man had given them to his little lover.

“Since Father gave you the blood beads, he must have truly valued you. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for you to stay on at the mansion.”

Huo Cheng continued, “But the snow hasn’t melted in the valley below yet, so we can’t bury Father for now. Everything else will have to wait until after the thaw, when we’ve laid him to rest properly.”

Huo Yin opened his mouth to argue but fell silent under a sharp look from Huo Cheng.

Luo Li let out a breath of relief and quickly agreed.

The meal was thoroughly unpleasant. He barely dared to speak—Huo Yin was far too intimidating.

Even the servants around them seemed to tread especially carefully around the Third Young Master, as if terrified of displeasing him with the slightest mistake.

Fortunately, with Huo Cheng present, Huo Yin held his tongue. He toyed with his tea for a bit before excusing himself early.

Luo Li followed the butler toward the guest room. Along the way, he overheard some of the maids gossiping.

“The Third Young Master really is hard to deal with.”

“No kidding. But it’s understandable—he’s a genius, after all. They all have that arrogant streak.”

“No wonder he was raised abroad from a young age. Even Master Huo couldn’t handle him.”

Chu Jing had warned him about the Huo brothers before he came.

All three were no pushovers, but the Third Young Master, Huo Yin, was especially tricky. A teenage genius who had gone abroad early, disdainful of everyone, with his nose permanently in the air.

Luo Li sighed softly.

He had barely arrived at the mansion and already managed to piss off the most volatile one. Talk about bad luck.

Come to think of it, where was the Second Young Master, Huo Lan?

“The Second Young Master is ill and confined to his bed,” the butler said, as if reading his mind. “He’s had a rough go of it. His future looked so bright, but then he inexplicably ran afoul of something evil abroad. Since then, he’s been blind. He rarely sees anyone these days—just holes up in his room.”

They had reached the guest room by then.

“Rest well, sir. I’ll take my leave.”

The room was spacious and bright, scented with expensive incense—a fine display of hospitality from a great household.

But the room next door was locked tight, dark and silent, a stark contrast to the opulent mansion around it.

“That’s where Huo Lan stays,” the butler explained.

“According to the plot,” 007 said, “he’s the one most deeply affected by the mansion’s curse. The curse blinded him and gave him a wasting illness. Everyone says he won’t last the year.”

Luo Li pondered this.

So far, he’d heard the curse mentioned over and over. But what exactly was it? And where had it come from?

He shrugged off his coat. The room was warm enough. Standing before the full-length mirror, he sneaked a peek at himself and carefully lowered his hands. Sure enough, a wide expanse of bare chest was on display.

Luckily, they hadn’t questioned it… At least he didn’t have to strip in front of them.

But what about after the snow melted? What excuse could he come up with to take down those young masters and claim the inheritance?

Luo Li leaned against the bed, mulling it over for a good while without any answers.

Whatever. Time for a bath and bed. Chu Jing would figure something out for him.

The guest room had its own bathroom. A maid had drawn the bath and left, closing the door behind her. Luo Li stripped and sank into the porcelain tub. His frayed nerves finally began to unwind.

The string of blood-red beads on his ankle stood out glaringly. He lifted his leg and prodded one.

He had no idea what the cord was made of—it wouldn’t snap no matter how he tugged, and scissors wouldn’t cut it.

But if it was truly a family heirloom, why had that ghost put it on his ankle?

So bizarre…

Luo Li puffed out his cheeks in annoyance, dunked his foot back in the water, and flicked at the beads disdainfully.

The bathroom was cozy and warm. Before he knew it, his eyelids grew heavy. He slumped deeper into the tub, drifting toward sleep.

Thump. Thump.

A strange noise came from next door.

Luo Li didn’t notice at first, but when it persisted, he stirred groggily.

It sounded… like footsteps.

The bathwater had gone cold—it was time to get out. He reached for a towel, but as he stood, the light snapped off with a click.

Silence plunged over everything. The odd sounds stopped too.

Naked and panicking in the pitch black, Luo Li stood frozen. When he thought it was just a power outage, the footsteps resumed—growing closer.

“Who… who’s there?”

No answer.

Luo Li shivered uncontrollably, telling himself to stay calm. He stepped quietly out of the tub and groped for the clothes rack.

The pajamas the maid had left were gone. Only his discarded qipao hung there.

Had he remembered wrong? Maybe they weren’t on the rack?

With no choice, Luo Li hastily dried off and slipped back into the qipao.

The outer room was dark too. He shuffled along the wall to the bed.

The footsteps had finally stopped. He told himself it was probably just someone passing by outside.

But as he shifted, his hand brushed something strange.

On the bed…

The pajamas were there, after all.

His fingers curled around one edge to pull it over.

The other edge was caught fast by something unyielding.

At the same moment, heavy, ragged breathing sounded right by Luo Li’s ear.

“Wha—! Mmph…!”

Someone—or something—was on his bed!

It rolled over, looming over him.

A puff of hot breath washed over the sensitive skin of his ankle. A prominent nose pressed against the sole of his foot.

Then came a slow, deliberate rub.

Luo Li’s hairs stood on end. He thrashed desperately, but iron fingers clamped his ankle.

His toes twitched wildly, trampling the intruder’s face amid scorching breaths. The more panicked he got, the sharper his senses—the parted lips, the tongue tip easing out to press firmly against his sole.

Luo Li: “!”

What the hell was this thing…?

So disgusting…

The beads swayed. Zhang Banxian’s words flooded his mind: Huo Jieqi’s ghost would follow the beads and return.

Was it… a ghost?

But a ghost’s body heat… how could it be this scorching…?

The tender arch of his foot grew slick quickly. Patiently, the tongue circled up to his toes, the wet sucking sounds growing louder and clearer.

Luo Li had no idea how many times he’d kicked. It did nothing.

The bed creaked. Finally sated, the thing reared up and pinned him down.

The peach-pink qipao clung to the boy’s slender, delicate frame. His long, shapely legs kicked wildly, tangling in the sheets.

He still carried the steamy freshness of his bath, his damp hair sweet-scented, his clothes too.

The thing on the bed—who knew how it navigated? By smell, perhaps.

It sniffed along his calf to his waist. The nose tip grazed Luo Li’s sensitive skin, breaths growing thicker and hotter.

Finally, the breathing halted at his chest.

It had found the qipao’s cutouts.

Luo Li’s lashes were damp with tears. He felt it settle over his chest and inhale deeply.

Then, as if confirming its target, the nose nudged the cutout’s edge aside.

Scorching lips pressed against his skin.

…

The maid knocked several times with no response.

“Strange…”

She called out for the Second Young Master a few times. Nothing. Turning, she spotted Huo Yin approaching from down the hall.

“What is it?”

“I came to bring the Second Young Master’s dinner,” the maid said, “but no matter how long I knocked, there’s no answer. Maybe… he’s asleep.”

Huo Yin frowned but said nothing.

He noticed the formerly locked room next door was now unlocked. “Why’s this one open?”

“Oh, that’s… the one they cleared out for Master Huo’s little companion.”

It was pitch black inside too. Had Luo Li gone to bed this early?

“Since Second Brother’s asleep, you can go,” Huo Yin said.

The maid bowed. “Shall I escort you back to your room, Third Young Master?”

“No need.” Huo Yin’s brows knitted, still every inch the haughty young master. “I’ll stay out here a bit.”

…But he didn’t go anywhere else. He simply stood guard by the door.

Without reason, the face of that young rent boy popped into his mind. More exquisitely beautiful than any movie star in a magazine spread, with lips so red and lashes so long…

No wonder the old man liked him.

A man like that, unable to perform, probably went for ones who were young and fragile.

Hadn’t he come to the Huo Mansion for money? Who was he fooling with that devoted, loyal act? Did he really think he had a claim to any of the inheritance?

A fire burned in Huo Yin’s chest, and it took him a good while to calm down.

He was sick in the head too, standing there gawking like that.

He straightened his coat and turned to leave.

He hadn’t gone far when he heard the door to Room 201 suddenly burst open.

A splash of vivid peach-pink slammed into his vision. Before Huo Yin could react, the young man in the cheongsam came running out of the room.

His long hair was a tangled mess, his cheeks flushed a deep crimson. He clutched his soft arms tightly to his chest, as if desperate for someone to help him. But as soon as he escaped, he realized there was no one outside.

Huo Yin stood in the corner. For some reason, he turned sideways, hiding from view so the boy wouldn’t spot him.

Luo Li’s eyes brimmed with tears. He let out a few aggrieved sobs. Silver moonlight spilled down, illuminating the delicate lace of his outfit. The skin beneath glowed pale pink, accentuating the soft peaks that stood out all the more vividly red and swollen.

…They looked swollen.

Seemingly oblivious, Luo Li lifted his chin toward Huo Yin.

“The room you arranged for me is filthy. I want a different one.”

Seeing Huo Yin still lost in a daze, he raised his voice a notch.

He stamped his foot on the ground in frustration.

“You— are you even listening to what your elder has to say?”