Chapter 52

Huo Lan’s shadowed, gloomy eyes trembled slightly. It wasn’t clear if he understood, but he clenched his fingertips, his face and ears flushing red as he retorted.

“But Lili doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would lie, A Yin. You can’t slander him like that.”

Huo Yin shot him a sharp glare. At that moment, he resembled a dog whose tail had been stepped on, bristling with prickly aggression.

“Yes, of course you don’t care. You’ve already gotten what you wanted out of it, so naturally you think he’s a good guy.”

Huo Lan seemed to grasp this remark, but against Huo Yin’s quick wit and sharp tongue, he couldn’t gain the slightest upper hand.

The longer Huo Yin looked at him, the angrier he became.

Why had his little brother’s brain gotten damaged but not the equipment down below? Or better yet, why not just render that thing useless altogether? Luo Li might never have approached him then.

That greedy little rabbit and compulsive liar had only been using his idiot brother like some kind of massage toy, hadn’t he?

Damn it—what was so impressive about it anyway?

It wasn’t like he didn’t have one himself.

Huo Yin’s thoughts spiraled further off track until Huo Cheng cut in sharply. “Enough. Now’s not the time for this.”

He turned to Huo Xing’er. His aunt’s wrist was now laden with even more bracelets, weighing down her arm, along with a bunch of bizarre peace talismans.

He frowned. “Aunt, the servants say your migraines have been acting up again.”

Huo Xing’er’s face was ashen with exhaustion she could scarcely hide. “Every day, I hear strange noises. Sometimes it’s my brother’s voice, sometimes Xi Wang’s, and other times…”

She shook her head with a heavy sigh. “It’s retribution. All of it.”

The icy wind howled through the corridor. In the distance, the Ancestral Hall’s doors rattled with an incessant clatter—no telling how many snowstorms they’d weathered this year already.

Huo Xing’er murmured, “If Luo Li really is a swindler sent by Chu Jing, doesn’t that mean we’ve defied my brother’s dying wish?”

She shuddered violently. “I’m afraid the curse is about to descend again.”

Huo Cheng rose to his feet, interrupting her mutterings.

“For now, until the snow stops, let’s keep Luo Li upstairs.”

“No one approaches him without permission until we uncover the truth. Understood?”

~~~

At that very moment, the servant sent upstairs with supplies reached the door just as a glass tumbler shattered at his feet, splintering into shards.

Through the ornate antique screen, he could make out the vague silhouette of the long-haired little concubine stomping his foot in a fit of temper.

“Get out! I’m not eating!”

Luo Li was furious enough to spit blood—at Huo Yin, that is.

That sly, treacherous bastard wasn’t content with conspiring with the foreign ghost Bern; now he was even goading Huo Cheng into locking him up!

The Huo Mansion still supplied him with fine food and drink every day, but that did nothing to quell Luo Li’s resentment.

This room of his, they said, had once been Huo Jieqi’s personal quarters. Somber, monotonous colors dominated the walls, while the man’s portrait and spirit tablet remained enshrined on the table. Luxurious, yes—but oppressively eerie in a way words couldn’t capture.

Luo Li shooed the servant away in a huff and slumped onto the grand bed.

Unwilling as he was, one glance upward brought Huo Jieqi’s portrait right into view, staring straight at him.

The man in the black-and-white photo exuded stern handsomeness. Viewed this way, Huo Cheng truly did bear a striking resemblance…

An inexplicable chill ran through Luo Li.

He was nothing but a fraud who’d never even met Huo Jieqi. His motives for coming to the mansion were far from pure—he aimed to claim a slice of the inheritance.

And now here he was, shamelessly occupying the man’s old room.

If Huo Jieqi’s spirit truly watched from above, it surely wouldn’t spare him.

Luo Li glanced instinctively at the Blood Beads around his ankle. He hadn’t paid them much mind lately, but now they struck him as even more unsettling.

Right then, a new task notification popped up before his eyes.

【Task Five: Escape Confinement, Uncover the Secrets of the Huo Family’s Second Young Master Huo Lan】

【Please pay attention to skill changes, Host. Using skills wisely will aid in level progression】

The Second Stage Form skill he’d spotted earlier now glowed faintly, on the verge of unlocking something new.

But…

How the hell was he supposed to get out?

The room was sealed tight on every side, the windows even boarded over with iron sheeting.

Servants brought meals daily, offering the only brief glimpses of the outside world, but Huo Cheng had clearly forbidden them from speaking to him.

Luo Li had tried several times, only to meet their stone-faced, by-the-book demeanor—no openings whatsoever.

The more frantic he grew, the fewer options appeared. He’d cycled through coquettish pleas, pitiful weakness, desperate begging. In the end, all he could do was puff out his soft cheeks and stew in the bedding.

That night, after kicking off the covers in frustration, he woke the next morning to a sudden sneeze.

…Had he caught a cold?

Luo Li touched his forehead—no fever. Relief washed over him, only for inspiration to strike: If he fell ill, they couldn’t just leave him to suffer, could they?

No time like the present. As the servant arrived with breakfast, Luo Li gathered his words and slid the screen aside.

“Here’s your breakfast for today, Little Madam.”

A pair of round, dewy almond eyes peered from behind the screen. Long hair draped low, pale slender fingers gripping the doorframe. The narrow gap revealed just half his porcelain-pale face.

“Just leave it there.”

The servant complied and moved to relock the door when the boy piped up. “How come I haven’t seen you around before?”

“Oh, I’m new.”

Luo Li nodded knowingly. He crouched obediently to drag the tray closer. Feeling pity, the servant lifted the tray and utensils himself, placing them gently into the boy’s hands.

In the process—whether by accident or design—his fingertip grazed Luo Li’s soft, tender palm.

Luo Li clutched his chopsticks, long lashes fluttering down to cast shadows. The dark corners of his eyes resembled ink smudges, misty and alluring.

He coughed softly twice. The servant immediately asked, “Little Madam? Are you unwell? Caught a chill?”

The boy did look wan and weary, especially with the fresh snow and plummeting temperatures. The room hadn’t gotten fresh bedding yet, either… As these thoughts crossed the servant’s mind, Luo Li mumbled dispiritedly, “I do feel off, but I’m not sure if it’s a chill.”

The screen separated them, and the servant knew nothing of medicine—what was he to do?

At that instant, Luo Li eased the screen open a fraction more. He tilted his forehead forward, brushing aside the fringe.

“Could you… touch me?”

The servant’s breath caught, ears ringing as if he’d misheard. The boy pointed delicately to his brow. “…My forehead.”

The servant’s throat bobbed. He touched it swiftly, then yanked his hand back.

“I-it’s a little warm.”

He couldn’t tell if his palm burned or if it was Luo Li’s skin.

Flustered, he scooped up the tray, cleared his throat, and stammered, “I’ll fetch a doctor right away. Just hold on.”

“No!”

Luo Li seized his sleeve in a flash.

Head bowed, he wove his plea carefully. “I-I don’t want to cause a scene. Huo Cheng and the others already dislike me. If they hear I’m sick, they’ll just see me as more trouble.”

In a small voice, he begged, “Just bring some extra clothes for me to layer up in. Please.”

The servant scarcely remembered leaving that door. Only on his return with the garments did it hit him: This breached protocol.

He knocked again, but silence answered. Several more tries yielded nothing.

Heart pounding, he fumbled the key into the lock and burst inside.

“Little Madam? Lit—”

The room lay empty, save for the slight youth in a white nightgown sprawled across the vast dark bed. The gown’s hem had ridden up, baring half his smooth, snow-white calf carelessly against the bed’s edge.

A sweet, delicate fragrance lingered in the air. As if compelled by some unseen force, the servant drifted toward the bed. Barely three steps in, his gaze snagged on the portrait above the headboard.

The late Master Huo glowered from the frame, brows like drawn swords, his stern presence radiating unspoken menace. Thin lips pressed tight, as though appraising the intruder.

Chill gripped the servant; he faltered, afraid to advance.

The youth on the bed let out a soft hum and sat up languidly. “Mm? You came in…”

Unveiled by the screen, his flawless face filled the servant’s vision. A country boy at heart, the finest beauty the servant had ever known was some stage actor caked in greasepaint. Yet this one outshone them a thousandfold.

New to the mansion, he’d still caught whispers of scandal.

The young beauty wasn’t one to stay put. Murky ties bound him to the young masters—and outsiders too.

Servants had swapped crude jokes just the other day.

“Lock him up tight. What if loneliness strikes?”

“Look at him—and what he used to do? Bet he can’t go a day without a man.”

“Ha, as if it’d ever be us. Lights out!”

The servant had brushed it off then. Now, though, the forbidden thought clawed relentlessly at his mind.

…Had Luo Li lured him here on purpose?

Was it true, like the rumors said? This Little Madam, in truth…

Luo Li made no move to take the clothes. What he really wanted was the key dangling from this NPC servant’s belt.

He’d observed it closely before. Get in range, and he could swipe it without a trace.

The boy turned around, raising his almond eyes shimmering with tears. His pink-tipped fingertips rested on his knees, his pale calves peeking out from beneath the hem of his clothes, his round toes snug in cotton socks and leaving faint impressions on the bedsheet.

Pinching a corner of the coat the manservant had brought, he said pitifully, “Can you help me put it on? I… I don’t have any strength left in my body.”

The manservant had brought a white woolen overcoat.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Of course.”

He unbuttoned the coat and draped it over the boy’s shoulders. He realized then just how small and delicate the boy’s frame truly was—frail and soft, with the coat engulfing half his body. His palm-sized face was packed with delicate features, exuding an allure that was hard to pin down.

It felt like if he tried to kiss him, that tiny mouth wouldn’t even fit his tongue…

His eyes were beautiful too, the pupils pitch-black and perfectly round. The manservant had seen pet rabbits kept by young masters and ladies with eyes just like Luo Li’s—framed by long lashes and round pupils…

Without realizing it, he drew closer. Luo Li noticed it too: the Top Floor Gate Key, a shiny golden bunch, dangled from the manservant’s belt.

But it didn’t seem easy to sneak a hand toward it.

Luo Li furrowed his brows slightly and shifted his body a little closer to the manservant.

The man’s trousers were taut, the key swaying at his waist. Seizing the moment as the manservant dressed him in the coat, Luo Li nervously reached out—

At that instant, the manservant spoke up.

“You…”

“Why do you keep staring at my crotch like that?”

Luo Li jumped in alarm and yanked his hand back.

The manservant fixed him with a hard stare, his mind flashing back to the slight furrow in Luo Li’s brow just moments before.

Staring was one thing—but why the frown?

Was he displeased with him?