Chapter 36: There’s a Ghost in Your House Part 1

He lifted his eyes, his dark pupils surveying the surroundings. Once he confirmed he was in Pei Ziying’s bedroom, the dry heat in his throat intensified.

Pei Lianyi, are you really that impatient to have me sleep with him?

Touching the bandages on his chest, Huo Jingzhao furrowed his brows irritably. Just as he was about to get up, the door was pushed open from outside.

“Jingzhao—! Jingzhao, you’re finally awake… boohoo.”

Huo Jingzhao was still scowling when Pei Ziying threw himself into his arms.

He clung tightly to the man’s back like a cat, his slender frame trembling the whole time.

The impact caused a dull ache in his wound. Huo Jingzhao stiffened, his handsome face twisting slightly.

As if sensing something was wrong, Pei Ziying quickly asked him, “Jingzhao, what’s the matter? Why won’t you answer me?”

Examining the face that was seven or eight parts similar to Pei Lianyi, Huo Jingzhao pressed down on his hand and said with a smile, “Little reckless ghost, is that any way to treat an injured man? Hmm?”

His voice was usually clear and spirited, but after lying in bed severely injured for days, that clear tone had become hoarse, as if drifting in from the deep night, making the maidservants following behind Pei Ziying blush.

“Jingzhao…! You’re finally awake, you scared your mother to death—!”

Before Huo Jingzhao could ask why his mother was here, Madam Huo put her hands together and said gratefully, “Master Pei is so generous. Blessed by his care, ever since you were injured, he feared I’d worry, so he arranged for me to stay in the manor. Not only did he find a famous doctor to tend to my health, but he also assigned so many people to serve me. Son, Master Pei is truly our family’s great benefactor…”

Listening to her words, Huo Jingzhao secretly clenched his fists, a layer of gloom clouding his raven-black pupils.

Pei Lianyi, where exactly are you? What are you doing, and why won’t you come see me?

This feeling of only hearing news of the other person from others infuriated him, like a spark rushing into his body, burning his entire heart until it swelled and seared, threatening to burst.

“Where is Master Pei?” Huo Jingzhao asked hoarsely.

The sweet smile on Pei Ziying’s face froze for a moment. After a pause, he softly replied, “Father has been busy with Chamber of Commerce matters lately and has to socialize with other Family Heads. He simply can’t get away for the moment.”

As he spoke, he handed the man a cup of water. “Jingzhao, just focus on recovering for now. Don’t… worry about other things.”

Although she had been resting in a guest room these past days, Madam Huo had still heard some of the gossip circulating in the manor. Afraid her son might disturb Pei Lianyi and Li Man’er at this time, she stepped forward and echoed, “The Young Master is right. Master Pei is a very busy man. How could he have the free time to stay here and wait for you to wake up?”

Hearing the words “socialize” and “busy man,” Huo Jingzhao’s expression grew even darker.

The angrier he got, the more seductive the smile twisting at his brows became. “Yes, since Master Pei is so busy, as his live-in son-in-law, I should naturally go pay my respects and greet him.”

He threw off the blanket and grabbed his outer robe, ready to leave.

“Jingzhao, you—!” Pei Ziying was instantly panicked, not knowing what to say.

Madam Huo immediately blocked her son’s path, urging him to lie back down. “The doctor said you broke several ribs; you absolutely mustn’t move now! Jingzhao, listen to your mother. You’re the only son I have left…”

Her words made Huo Jingzhao’s brow tighten, and he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

Seeing the man’s back heaving violently, Pei Ziying quickly supported him and called for servants to bring medicine and hot tea and snacks.

Soon, clean, hot mist rose in the room, the heat mingling with the fragrance of tea, warm and gentle to the point of drowsiness.

“You, you’re under too much pressure from Father. Injured like this and still thinking of greeting him…” Pei Ziying cleaned a cloth, helping wipe the blood scabs from the man’s body.

The handsome man leaned against the bed, enjoying his service, his expression thoughtful.

Watching his silent demeanor, Pei Ziying suddenly started to cry.

“Why are you crying?” Huo Jingzhao snapped back to attention and used his sleeve to wipe the other’s face.

His movements were a bit rough, and Pei Ziying’s delicate face immediately reddened.

Smelling the soap fragrance on the man’s sleeve, he shyly said, “N-It’s nothing, just… don’t get into fights anymore in the future. I was afraid.”

Seeing his red nose tip, and remembering another mature face on the verge of tears, Huo Jingzhao’s throat went dry. “Alright, stop crying. Your face is all wrinkled.”

Pei Ziying murmured, “You’re mean, making fun of me.”

Huo Jingzhao raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

Seeing the subtle atmosphere developing between the two, Madam Huo quickly signaled the maidservants with her eyes, telling them to leave the medicine and exit the room.

Once the door closed, Huo Jingzhao’s gaze shifted to the medicine bowl. “Is this what I’ve been drinking these past days?”

“Yes,” Pei Ziying stirred the medicine with a spoon and said softly, “Many doctors from the city came when you were unconscious. They all talked at once and wrote up quite a few prescriptions. I thought those quacks were useless, but I didn’t expect one would actually target the problem…”

Huo Jingzhao opened his mouth to drink the medicine, but his expression was somewhat nonchalant.

He had entered the Nine Blossoms Sect at a young age, and within three years had mastered its arcane internal cultivation.

It was during this time that Shi Wuya discovered his unusual internal energy. The man both feared and needed this power, so he implanted twelve Soul-Devouring Nails within his body.

But what Shi Wuya hadn’t anticipated was that the Soul-Devouring Nails couldn’t suppress his power; instead, they stimulated his meridians, triggering rampages and a reversal of qi and blood, leading to demonic deviation.

Every time it flared up, it required either taking a Red Pill for relief or having Shi Wuya personally neutralize it.

How could such an injury be healed by a few small bowls of soup?

He harbored doubts, but since he could get nothing out of Pei Ziying, he first closed his eyes to doze, waiting for night to fall.

At that moment, on the other side, in the main courtyard’s master bedroom filled with the scent of eupatorium, a man and a woman were sitting at a table playing chess behind a half-open patterned window.

Hearing the shouts relayed by people throughout the manor, Li Man’er asked with a beaming smile, “The man is awake. Family Head Pei isn’t going to take a look?”

The man sitting across from her was draped in a quilted robe with satin patterns. The soft, smooth fabric hung like a curtain of water, lending him an indescribable, unspoken allure.

Recovering from his injuries in his room these past days, Pei Lianyi not only dressed casually but had simply tied his hair back at his waist with a red cord, his brow also betraying the weariness of his injury.

“Not going.” He placed a chess piece and said calmly.

“Ha?” Li Man’er widened her eyes in surprise.

Just yesterday, he’d been asking her when Jingzhao would wake up, worried as anything. How had his attitude changed so much today?

“He has Ziying and others around him to take care of things. I can’t do anything if I go. It would be a wasted trip.” Pei Lianyi slowly turned the pieces in the chess box, his expression extremely composed.

That was what he said, but the suddenly sluggish movements and the faint tremor in his fingertips betrayed his concern.

Li Man’er thought to herself that his mind wasn’t on the game at all. A winner would be decided before this round was even finished.

So, despite her abysmal chess skills, she grabbed the black pieces and started a chaotic, reckless assault. Within just a few moves, she had actually forced Pei Lianyi’s white pieces into a steady retreat.

Looking at the drastically changed board, Li Man’er let out a “Wow” of amazement. “Family Head Pei, my first win against you in days!”

Realizing his “position was lost,” Pei Lianyi’s hand froze in mid-air. He pressed his lips tightly together, a blush spreading across his face.

He was thin-skinned, deeply concerned with face, and had a personality that refused to admit defeat. Now, losing a game of chess due to matters of the heart that shouldn’t be there, he was suddenly overwhelmed with shame and fury. Unable to bear it, he overturned the chessboard and said to Li Man’er in a deep voice, “Again!”

“…” Li Man’er bared her teeth, thinking to herself that the usually strict and proper Master Pei was actually reneging on a game. Today was truly eye-opening.

Looking closer, his sharp eye corners and reddened eyes gave off the feeling of a high-born lady pining away in her boudoir…

Luckily, at that moment, Cao Xian knocked and opened the door, easing the awkwardness of Pei Lianyi’s lost game.

“Family Head, the medicine is ready,” the Old Steward said with a smile.

Seeing the potion’s lurid color, Li Man’er felt a wave of nausea: He’s still drinking this stuff?

Fearing it was an enemy faction targeting the Pei Manor deliberately, administering a strange drug to Pei Lianyi, Li Man’er asked Cao Xian about the medicine’s origin.

Hearing Cao Xian say it was a prescription from the Old Doctor in the city, specifically for Master Pei’s convalescence, and seeing Pei Lianyi’s complexion regain some color after taking it, Li Man’er’s expression wavered. She had no choice but to suppress the words on the tip of her tongue for now.

After swallowing the bitter medicine, Pei Lianyi wiped his lips with a silk handkerchief and asked hoarsely, “Over at Ziying’s place…”

Cao Xian hastily picked up the conversation. “Family Head, rest assured. The Young Master is quite spirited. The moment Young Master Huo woke up, he stuck right to his side.”

Hearing this, Pei Lianyi instantly lost all interest in chess. He said to Li Man’er, “Family Head Li, let’s end here for today.”

“Very well. Take good care of yourself, Family Head Pei. I’ll come find you tomorrow for flower arranging.” Li Man’er was still harboring doubts about the Old Doctor’s medicine. Hearing his dismissal, she rose, cupped her hands in farewell, and left the bedroom with Cao Xian.