“Big Brother, are you lazing around again!?” a childish voice broke the youth from his sleep.

He groggily opened his ocean-blue eyes and looked at the girl in front of him, “…yeah, I am.”

“Then, stop!” the little girl harrumphed at him.

“Qing Cui,” the youth closed his eyes again, “has your day been going too well?”

“No…” the little girl, Qing Cui took two steps back before replying fearfully.

“Then, do you want to make it even worse?”

“N-No!” she shook her head furiously.

“Then, why are you disturbing me?”

“Isn’t it because you’re the Mistress’s butler and you should be working instead of lazing around?” she replied sarcastically.

“Why are you telling me things I already know?” he opened his eyes and looked at her quizzically.

“Then…” Qing Cui dragged out her words, “shouldn’t you get to work~?”

“No, because I’m on break!” the youth spoke with a hint of finality before turning away from her.

“Then, tell me some stories,” she shook his arms. “I’m on break as well!”

The youth did not speak. When she saw that he did not respond, she puffed up her cheeks and sat down heavily on his stomach. He did not yell out from pain; on the contrary, he merely opened his eyes and looked at her helplessly.

“My Cui`er, aren’t you getting a bit too big to be doing this?” he shook his head.

“I’m only nine,” she spoke stubbornly and wiggled her butt on his stomach. “Also, your stomach is too hard to sit on!”

“Then, have you tried not sitting on it?” he offered sincerely.

“Tell me a story!” she demanded.

“What story do you want to hear now?” the youth sighed.

“Tell me more about the First Young Miss!” Qing Cui got off his stomach and sat on the ground next to him.

“What else do you want to hear?” he felt speechless. “I was her butler for a few weeks and that was six years ago, what more can I possibly say that I haven’t said already?”

“Well, in that entire time, I’ve only seen the First Young Miss thrice!” she looked at him with a pitiful look. “Shouldn’t I know more about the pride of our Li Clan?”

“I mean,” he scratched his head helplessly, “yeah, sure but I need to have things to tell them to you.”

“Tell me everything,” she insisted.

“What do you mean, ‘everything’?” he looked at her strangely. “Do you want me to tell you how big her breasts were or something?”

“Y-You!” she looked at him with her jaw agape and eyes about to pop out. She pointed her finger at him and asked, “Y-You’ve seen the Young Miss naked?”

“Why are you so shocked? Don’t you see the Second Young Miss naked every day?”

“T-That’s true b-but you’re a boy!” she couldn’t help but exclaim.

“That was one of my key arguments when I first heard I was going to be her butler,” he reminisced. “Glad to know that someone else has common sense!”

“T-Then you’ve seen her naked?”

“What do you think?”

She gasped loudly. Looking at her dumbstruck expression, he couldn’t help but sigh. But in the next moment, her eyes widened as she remembered something else, “Does that mean you also see the Mistress naked since you’re her butler now?”

The boy looked at her with utter shock on his face which quickly turned into howling laughter. “Haha! That’s…you really have a good imagination!”

Qing Cui watched as the youth laughed hysterically. After a while, he calmed down and wiped tears from the corner of his eyes.

“Well, then do you-”

“Of course not! Do you think I want to die!?”

----------------------------------------

The boy yawned as he stretched his body. Qin Cui stayed with him until the end of his break. He couldn’t even sleep. He unhurriedly made his way towards Li Fen’s room.

That little girl was the personal maid of Li Daoyun’s. She was only hired last year and was the child of one of the maids in the clan. Of course, with how willful Li Daoyun is, they both had problems with one another. It was a miracle how Qing Cui did not hate him even though Li Daoyun constantly compared her to him. It was only after the youth reprimanded her did Li Daoyun calm down.

Although it says reprimand, it was more along the lines of making her understand; which wasn’t that hard to do.

He reached Li Fen’s door after a bit of walking and knocked on it before saying, “Mistress, it’s me!”

“Come in,” a soft voice came from the other side of the door. Without waiting, he opened the doors and walked inside. He was greeted by the sight of Li Fen reading a book whilst wearing a negligee. If it was anyone else, they might be stunned by this beautiful sight in front of them. But that was not the case for the youth who did not react the first time much less after seeing the same scene countless times.

Careless. It was the only thing he could see as her flaw. Or could it be frivolousness? Either way, she wasn’t too concerned about maintaining propriety in front of those she considered to be close.

“Mistress, you’ve called for me?” he asked.

“Yes,” Li Fen closed the book and smiled at him, “pack my bags, will you? I and Yan`er are going on a trip to the nearby Goldleaf Town.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’d advise you postpone this trip,” the youth warned her. “We do not know if the First Elder will use this opportunity to do something big or not.”

“Haah~” she sighed deeply, “you know, Yan`er still has not found any evidence. It seems he’s losing faith.”

“That can’t be…” he frowned. “Mistress, I couldn’t and wouldn’t have brought up this matter with First Elder’s possible betrayal had it not been for the fact that you had seen it as well.”

“I know, I know, but at this stage, I can’t help but wonder if I am worrying too much. Despite my suspicions, that old coot’s hands look clean.”

“Not even the Espionage Hall could find anything?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Nope!”

With her denial of the matter, the youth stroked his chin as though he fell into deep thought. Indeed, he noticed this abnormality when he saw the First Elder’s expression fall as Murong Fang was banned from being a sect member six years ago.

At that time, he thought that it might not indicate betrayal. But he still told Li Fen about it just to be safe. Throughout these six years, she has tried constantly to find evidence against him but to no avail.

The youth wanted to sigh. With how the First Elder looks at him with visible resentment and hatred every time he passes by, it’s evident that he knows that people have been looking into him. And if he didn’t remove evidence against himself even while knowing this, he might as well have lived 45 years for nothing.

“Listen,” Li Fen called him. The youth looked at her as she continued, “There has to be a limit to which we can investigate someone.” She sighed heavily, “The Espionage Hall has investigated him thoroughly; his house, his habits, his friends, where he goes, his wife and concubines, what kind of foreplay he makes them do, and they’ve investigated it all. And nothing has come out of it!”

“I see,” he nodded, “Then, what does Mistress suppose we do now?”

“Nothing,” she shrugged, “we close off the investigation. Since we haven’t found anything, it makes no sense to keep this going.”

“I understand,” he nodded.

“Since that’s done,” she clapped her hands, “you should begin packing my bags. This trip to Goldleaf Town is crucial.”

“As in?”

“We can finally expand our trade there now!” she looked excited.

“Really? Isn’t that town just northwest of Huangye Town? How did we not have access to trade there?”

“The leading clan there is the Guo Clan. The previous Guo Patriarch was not quite fond of Li Yan due to some differences when they were young. That’s why they had no business in our town and we had none in theirs. Now, that there’s a new Patriarch, we’ve put aside our differences and started to cooperate. Or rather, he fears the Jade Lotus Sect behind us.”

“I see…” the youth’s voice trailed off. He then asked, “Shall I pack your bags now?”

“No, pack them when I’m having dinner.”

“Very well,” the youth bowed before leaving the room.

At the door, Li Fen called him out, “Even after all this time, you’re still not wearing it?”

“Haha! I’m scared of getting my ear pierced,” he laughed it off.

“Look at you!” she scoffed at him. “If anyone looked at you, they wouldn’t think it was Fifth Stage Qi Refinement Cultivator in front of them!”

He smiled and didn’t retort. He left silently and made his way towards his room. Gradually, the smile on his face faded with a solemn expression. Walking step by step, he made his way to the Servants’ Quarters and headed inside his room.

He crashed onto his bed and stared into the ceiling. Three years ago, he was moved to a much larger room, befitting his status as the Mistress’s butler. He looked around his room and surveyed it.

A vase made by one of the maids who confessed to him, a bookshelf full of books on the top shelves, and bottles of herbs on the bottom. The books had bookmarks in them made from pressed flowers. A desk and a chair, a black and yellow longbow hung on the wall above the desk, a quiver full of arrows beside the desk. There were two small boxes on the desk.

At first glance, anyone would say that this was the youth’s room just by looking at the decorations. It had everything the youth used and everything that he held dear to him didn’t it? But the youth knew. This was not his room. It was just the room he stayed in.

He sat up from the bed and swept his face.

“What happened to ‘making it my home’? Six years. Six long years! And I still can’t do such a simple thing!” The boy exclaimed with a mixture of wonder and hopelessness. Wonder at the fact that he was such a fuck-up and hopeless at the fact that he was such a fuck-up!

Despite his best efforts, he still could not make it his home.

“They even gave me permission! So, what’s stopping me!?” he clutched his head. His headaches hadn’t stopped that day. It only escalated; which was just a heartbeat-like thumping in his head escalated into that of a jackhammer beating it. And with it came nosebleeds.

It was a drag to explain this to Li Fen and the others. It had no pattern to it. At first, it happened once in two weeks which became once every week then daily, and finally once every twelve hours.

And worst of all, he still had no cure for it! Not even the doctors could do anything! One of them even suspected if he was faking it! He had tried very hard to resist the impulse to put an arrow in that moron’s head.

The youth stood up and walked towards his desk. He picked up one of the boxes and opened it. A gold hoop earring rested amidst the velvet padding. His eyes flashed with reminiscence as he closed the box and put it back where it was.

Gratitude. It was Li Chyou’s way of showing gratitude. Before leaving the sect, she left this in his room with a note attached to it. He never wore it. It didn’t belong on him.

The youth lay on his bed once more as he covered his eyes with his arm.

“Really…the outsider has the better perspective.”

The Espionage Hall couldn’t find anything. Ridiculous! It takes meticulousness to erase every piece of evidence against yourself. Not everyone can do it and certainly not the First Elder. If he truly was that meticulous or rational, he wouldn’t have betrayed them in the first place. As for the Espionage Hall…it’s not that far-fetched to believe that they never did a search, to begin with.

“They’re with the enemy,” his thoughts leaked out of his mouth.

My intuition is telling me that they indeed harbor thoughts of betrayal. But now instead of still harboring these thoughts, they might be made to do it. They might not have accounted Murong Fang to get banned nor did they account for Li Chyou to get cured.

“That means the plans to overthrow the Patriarch began with Li Chyou’s poisoning!”

Both Li Chyou getting cured and Murong Fang being banned as well as the death of one of their Elders must’ve made them postpone their plans. It would explain why they did not take action for six years.

“Wouldn’t it be the perfect time to strike? The Patriarch and his wife are leaving the town, the First Young Miss is out of town, and the Second Young Miss is completely powerless.”

No one knows who or how many people are supporting the rebellion. But isn’t this rebellion doomed to fail from the start?

The youth sat straight up. A revelation had dawned on him as he began murmuring, “Then this rebellion isn’t to overthrow the Patriarch but to decrease the Li Clan’s power!”

Of course! The youth slapped his forehead. Why would the First Elder pull off something so suicidal like a rebellion when the Jade Lotus Sect clearly supports the main family?

Either the First Elder knows he can live even after doing it or he’s being forced to do it! The Jade Lotus Sect supports the main family to a certain extent since it’s one of their core member’s families. If everyone from her family dies, they might punish the culprits. But then how does the Murong Clan have a way out of th-

“Oh…so that’s why they’re doing a rebellion. It’s just a front for their actual goal.” The sun steadily went set as the youth’s room was dyed by a red hue.

But for this small of a reason, won’t many die? There were many still loyal to the Patriarch. They might even give their lives away if someone decided to usurp the Patriarch.

The youth leaned his back on the headboard of the bed. Even after learning all of this, it’s not like he could overthrow it. He still had no power. He was given the Li Clan’s Yellow Shade Cultivation Arts but he couldn’t learn it or rather, his body refused to learn it.

He still had to absorb Qi through all 107 acupoints which was a painfully slow method. Although he was very slow, he had a solid foundation. He had no match in the same stage and could even fight two stages above him. But what good would that do when there are Blood Condensation and Tendon Transformation Realm experts against him? He could fight across stages but not realms!

“Am I seriously thinking that I could be a hero?” the boy laughed in ridicule. “In the first place, isn’t that just a fool’s dream?”

“I might not be able to save everyone but I should at least save those who count.”

He looked outside the window and smiled hopelessly, “Ah, I’m going to die, aren’t I?”