Huo Jingzhao was watching intently, completely absorbed. Hearing his question, the man seemed to snap out of a daze and put on his usual gentle smile again. “On the contrary. Being able to enter Master Pei’s Flower Room, I’m very happy right now.”
“Then why ruin these flowers?” Pei Lianyi didn’t look at him. He kept his head lowered. Between his brows was a hint of suppressed anger and sadness.
During the long, lonely days of confinement in the Pei Manor, only these plants and flowers had kept him company. Ziying was too young to understand. Because of his status, there were words he couldn’t speak to anyone, nor could he let the servants see his fragility. In his spare time, he would come to the Flower Room, crouch down, and speak to the flowers.
No matter what worries or bitterness he had to swallow alone, saying them aloud lightened the burden considerably.
But now, this last bit of solace had been destroyed.
Looking at his slightly pale face, Huo Jingzhao’s magpie-black pupils stirred. With his hands behind his back, he said deeply, “Unlike Master Pei, I’m not someone who understands or cherishes flowers. Because, in my view, flowers themselves are meant to be eaten. Petals fall into the mud, crushed into tiny, tiny pieces of nourishment by the wet soil. Nectar is sucked dry by bees, not a single drop left.”
As he spoke, he slowly moved closer to Pei Lianyi. Sensing this, Pei Lianyi retreated repeatedly. “What are you… going to do?”
Jingzhao was a bit strange today. Those usually gentle, dark eyes seemed to hide undercurrents. Even when he spoke, there was an aggressive, overbearing flavor. It made him feel unfamiliar.
Pei Lianyi avoided the man’s deep gaze, eventually backing up against the wall of the Flower Room.
“Ah— Ugh…!” The entire wall of crystal glass was like frozen cold. Pressing his injured area tightly against it, the sensation of ice and fire was enough to make him cry out uncontrollably.
From outside, his smooth shoulders, his well-proportioned, flowing waist, and his buttocks were all squeezed against the glass wall. Even through the clothing, the atmosphere became extremely hazy.
Huo Jingzhao walked over and extended a hand towards him. “Because Master Pei’s flowers are too fragrant. I couldn’t resist and wanted to eat them.”
“Rambling nonsense… What’s that?”
Just as Pei Lianyi wanted to tell him to stop, wanted to scold him not to touch him, Huo Jingzhao plucked a bee from his shoulder.
“It’s a bee.”
The thick, long, deep-black bee lay in his palm. Its two pairs of membranous wings slowly fluttered. It looked full of vitality.
Huo Jingzhao examined the bee’s eyes intently, a smile on his face. “How formidable. Even bees abandon the flowers, only wanting to linger on Master Pei. How could I resist?”
His sigh-like words fell on Pei Lianyi’s ear, making the area behind his ears burn hot. After a long silence, Pei Lianyi touched the drone in Huo Jingzhao’s hand, but his beautiful eyes were looking at the man. “Were you truly not angry because you couldn’t go out with Ziying, and so took it out on these flowers?”
“No.” Huo Jingzhao shook his head.
Pei Lianyi touched the drone with his slender fingers and said softly, “Let it go.”
“Master Pei is so gentle.” Huo Jingzhao nodded and lowered his head, placing the bee back onto a flower.
Gentle? His words left Pei Lianyi a bit bewildered. Ever since taking over the family business, he had lived year after year of calculating days. When people spoke of the Family Head Pei, they were either envious, or sycophantic. Of course, there were also those who feared and dreaded him on the surface, but secretly cursed him for being cunning and using underhanded methods.
Even from Ziying’s mouth, he was always a rigid, old-fashioned, and stubborn father.
The word “gentle” was something he was hearing for the first time. It came from a junior he had been constantly watching, someone he couldn’t help but care about.
How strange. Usually, the Flower Room was the coolest place in the manor, but right now, Pei Lianyi felt incredibly hot. So hot his head spun and his mind heated up. Words buried deep in his heart couldn’t help but slip out. “Then do you like gentle ones, or willful ones?”
He was conservative and aloof, yet at this moment, with a flushed, dizzy face, he asked such a question. Just looking at his straight, pale neck made Huo Jingzhao’s breath tighten. “I like…”
Their eyes met. Even the fragrance of the flowers seemed to grow richer by a few degrees.
“Family Head!”
At that moment, Cao Xian hurried over from the front courtyard. His urgent words instantly drowned out the voice inside the Flower Room.
“Family Head! Old Master Leng is here with a group of people! He says that Leng Huan was beaten last night and wants to come to our manor to demand an explanation!”
Pei Lianyi’s brow twitched. He immediately walked out of the Flower Room. “What does Leng Huan being beaten have to do with the Pei Manor?”
Cao Xian quickly answered, “Old Master Leng said the Leng Manor’s servants chased them for several streets and saw the attacker… return to… the Pei Manor.”
After that, he silently glanced at Huo Jingzhao, as if hinting at something.
Following his gaze, Pei Lianyi lightly pursed his lips. A glimmer of suspicion rose in his eyes. But he didn’t interrogate the man, only saying, “Jingzhao, come along too.”
“Yes.” Huo Jingzhao obediently followed him. The playful mockery he had in the Flower Room was gone, replaced by a spark of interest.
After Sang Sha returned from the Nine Blossoms Sect, he brought back news about the man in black.
“Young Sect Master, the man in black who kicked the child into the water has been identified. He is Leng Huan’s study companion.”
That night, Huo Jingzhao’s mind was completely filled with thoughts of Pei Lianyi, whose waist had trembled wildly that rainy night. Hearing Sang Sha’s report, the usually enthusiastic pugilist felt utterly bored. He just leaned against the outer wall of the Leng Manor, wearing his mask, and ordered, “Don’t kill him. Just cripple him.”
“Yes…!” Sang Sha responded. Shortly after, the occasional, wretched screams echoed from the other side of the wall.
Huo Jingzhao silently appreciated it for a while. When the night patrol servants discovered them, under his authorization, Sang Sha deliberately exposed their trail. That was why the Leng family had come knocking so quickly.
Pei Lianyi, the most brilliant and formidable Master Pei in Rongchu City. This time, how will you handle it?
Watching the tall, slender figure walking ahead, forcefully suppressing his pain, Huo Jingzhao’s eyes darkened.
Arriving at the front courtyard, Old Master Leng was currently shouting at the servants. “Tell your master! If I don’t get a satisfactory explanation today, I will…!!”
“You will what?” Pei Lianyi stopped in the Waterside Pavilion and interrupted him coldly.
He had been cooped up in his room all day. The usually full, crimson lip bead had faded to a pale color from the pain. Now, dressed in a robe with a dark, smoky blue pattern, he walked over slowly. His cold, detached brows seemed to hold a hint of a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. Yet he still possessed an aura of authority without needing to show anger.
All the servants in the courtyard lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at the Master’s elegant figure and face.
“Master Pei…!”
Seeing Pei Lianyi, Old Master Leng was first startled, then suppressed his anger and cupped his fist. “During the Dragon Boat Festival, it’s true my precious grandson won by luck and displeased you. But because of your good Son-in-law, my Leng family lost half its men! Yet look at your manor’s people—each one is still hopping around fit as a fiddle…!”
At this point, he glared hatefully at Huo Jingzhao. “Since the Pei Manor’s people are all safe and sound, why must you, Master Pei, keep picking on a junior?”
“My precious grandson now only has breath going out, no breath coming in!”
His words sounded like a nonsensical harangue, but in truth, they insinuated that Pei Lianyi, displeased with the dragon boat race result, had ordered Huo Jingzhao to ambush Leng Huan late at night, beating him half to death.
Before the matter was even investigated, Pei Lianyi was already branded by him with the label of being petty and intolerant of juniors.
Specifically bringing up the Leng family’s lost men during the Dragon Boat Festival was even more about settling old and new scores together.
Listening to his wails, Pei Lianyi curved his lips and slowly descended the steps. “Leng Yuechuan, I don’t understand your words. You say the Pei family beat someone? What evidence do you have?”
“Of course, I have evidence! Witnesses and material proof, both!” Leng Yuechuan immediately signaled for someone to present a portrait before him and pointed at the man in the painting. “This is the man my manor’s servants saw last night!”
The painting was right before his eyes, but Pei Lianyi didn’t even glance at it. Huo Jingzhao, however, leaned in with great interest and scrutinized it carefully.
“Has no essence,” he commented after a moment.
What a lousy painting? Didn’t capture even half of his handsomeness.
He only saw the rough brushstrokes on the yellowing paper depicting a man’s back. The man wore tight-fitting black clothes, tall with long limbs, his entire outline hard and distinct. But his running posture had a hint of roguish absurdity.
“Are my shoulders really that brawny? They’re clearly quite lean…” Staring at the broad shoulders of the man in the painting, Huo Jingzhao turned his head to look at his own left shoulder and fell into deep thought.
“Master Pei, take a good look! Don’t you see a slight resemblance to a certain ‘utterly ordinary’ individual?!” At that moment, Leng Yuechuan shot him a hateful glare.
Pei Lianyi frowned indifferently, paying him no mind.
Leng Yuechuan lost his temper and roared, “If Master Pei cannot see it, I can have someone help you! Men, have Young Master Huo turn his back…”
“Yes—! Ah! Mas… Master Pei…!”
The servants behind him were imposing, about to step forward and seize Huo Jingzhao. At that moment, Pei Lianyi unhurriedly picked up the painting paper and, right in front of Leng Yuechuan’s twitching features, tore it directly in half.
With his action, the entire painting ripped apart with a “scritch scriitch” sound. It was soon torn into four pieces, eight pieces, countless pieces…
This move stunned even Huo Jingzhao, who was standing right next to him.
Then, with a flick of Pei Lianyi’s slender fingers, the shredded pieces scattered into the air like white moths, falling onto the ground, into the pond, some even sticking to the tops of people’s heads.
“Pei Lianyi! You… you are going too far!!” Brushing the white scraps from his head, Leng Yuechuan’s face turned the color of a pig’s liver.
Pei Lianyi flicked the remaining scraps from his hand with disgust. Cao Xian quickly signaled for someone to hand him a clean handkerchief.
“Don’t be impatient, Family Head Leng. Today I tore one piece of paper for you, so I will give you another one in return.” Pei Lianyi wiped his hands and then gave some instructions to Cao Xian.
A moment later, Cao Xian led someone to place a sheet of paper right under Leng Yuechuan’s nose.
“Th-This is…?!” Leng Yuechuan looked down. It was actually an official investigation document bearing a government seal! The content directly pointed to a black market transaction the Leng family had been involved in three months prior.
