He raised the curtain and devoted himself to doing shameless beastly things.

Being able to see the beautiful young gentleman again was, to Ji Linxi, an immense blessing in itself. Not to mention that he had even learned the other man’s identity: the second son of Grand Tutor Shen.

He paced back and forth in his guest room, unable to stop himself from laughing aloud.

He and the beautiful young gentleman — wasn’t this just a fated match?! Otherwise, why would they have met the day before yesterday and then met again today? It must be heaven’s doing, tying him and the beautiful young gentleman together!

Truly… a match made in heaven!!

He paced excitedly around the room for a long while, feeling that he couldn’t miss this wonderful opportunity. He began thinking about how he could get to the Sun-Rise Courtyard and see that beautiful face again to ease his longing.

Licking his lips, he arranged his face into that calm, desireless Taoist expression again, then went to open the door.

Since honored guests had arrived, the restrictions in the estate had suddenly increased. As soon as Ji Linxi stepped out, he was stopped by a servant. Because he had shown “favor” to the Wang family, the servants remained rather polite to him.

“Daoist Chu, where are you going?”

Ji Linxi said, “It’s too stuffy in the room. I’m going out for a walk.”

The servant hesitated for a moment, and just as he was thinking of a way to answer, Chang Gui came over from the side and said, “I’ll accompany Daoist Chu outside.”

That would do.

The servant nodded and stepped aside.

Chang Gui thus led Ji Linxi out of the guest courtyard. Ji Linxi had already learned the Sun-Rise Courtyard’s location while touring the Wang estate during the day; it was the innermost courtyard in the inner estate. Hearing that he wanted to go there, Chang Gui said, “Are you crazy? Don’t you know the people inside are the highest-ranking nobles? If you get discovered…”

Ji Linxi looked at him and said, “You and I are already on the same boat. You want revenge, and I’m helping you get revenge. Now that I want to go to the inner estate, you have to help me too.”

“Don’t worry. No one will discover me. Even if they do, I can handle it and won’t expose you.”

Chang Gui gritted his teeth. They found a rockery, and the two of them exchanged clothes. Ji Linxi put on the servant’s outfit and swaggered out openly.

He found his chance outside the inner estate and blended into the group of servants heading in. There were more than ten people, and no one noticed that one extra person had slipped in. Ji Linxi swept the floor, carried flowers, wiped things down, and kept himself busy like that for the better part of the day.

Then he heard the window opening, and at last he saw his longed-for beautiful young gentleman again.

Only, there was an annoying person beside him.

The two of them were seated by the window, playing chess.

“This Wang family really is rich.”

A household without any official position actually had a residence that could rival the homes of third-rank officials in the capital.

Yun Huai said, “Looks like they’ve made quite a bit of use of the Prime Minister’s influence.”

Another round of coughing. Chu Yu raised his hand and covered his lips.

He was playing the role of Shen Wenzhi, so naturally he had to act the part of a sickly young master as well.

Second Young Master Shen’s frail reputation was famous throughout Liang.

As the game went on, for some reason the two of them began arguing. Ji Linxi only saw the beautiful young gentleman brace himself against the table and stand up, panting as he said, “Yun Huai, don’t go too far!”

The man called Yun Huai also had anger on his face.

A chess piece was suddenly thrown out of the window by the beautiful young gentleman, and then Yun Huai flung his sleeves and left. “Then you can stay here alone, Second Young Master Shen. Anyway, you’re just a sickly invalid — you can’t even leave the house!”

The beautiful young gentleman sat back down, his face showing distress.

Ji Linxi, who had been hiding the whole time, saw the chess piece thrown out and immediately crawled over on hands and knees like a thief. After searching around, he found the piece in the grass, quickly grabbed it, and held it tightly in his palm before retreating again.

Looking at the distressed beautiful young gentleman, he wanted nothing more than to stand up from the bushes and comfort him. But now he absolutely couldn’t.

After thinking it over, he decided to cheer the other man up a little and learned to make a cat’s meow.

Hearing the cat’s cry, Chu Yu turned his gaze toward the window.

Ji Linxi hurriedly hid.

Eunuch Chen frowned. “Where did that cat come from? The… young master dislikes cats the most. We can’t let it get near him.” With that, he shut the window.

Ji Linxi felt like vomiting blood on the spot, furious.

Why did he have to imitate a cat? Why didn’t he imitate a bird instead?

He continued sneaking glances outside at the shut window until it was almost time for the appointment he had made with Chang Gui. Only then did he leave the Sun-Rise Courtyard reluctantly and return to the rockery.

The two exchanged clothes again, then wandered around outside for a while. On the way, they ran into Yun Huai, who was wearing a cold expression and seemed to be going somewhere.

Ji Linxi had no interest in the man beside his beautiful young gentleman at all. In fact, he found him very eyesore. He was just about to return to the guest room when the other man noticed him, frowned, and seemed to recognize him.

“Stop!”

Ji Linxi stopped.

Yun Huai walked up to him.

So it really was that disrespectful, lowly fellow from the pharmacy yesterday, the one who had stared without blinking at His Highness. And he was actually in this Wang estate too — truly birds of a feather.

If yesterday he had merely disliked the way the man looked at His Highness, today, now that he knew this person was connected to the Wang family, he found him utterly disgusting.

Yun Huai was never short of good food, and his build was half a head taller than Ji Linxi’s. He looked at Ji Linxi for a long while before dropping a warning: “Mind your eyes. Don’t look at what you shouldn’t.”

With that, he turned and left.

After Yun the Marquis left, Chang Gui asked, “You didn’t end up offending that noble guest in the Sun-Rise Courtyard, did you?”

Ji Linxi had one hand in the inner pocket of his chest, where he had tucked away a chess piece.

He curled his lips.

What did he mean, “what shouldn’t be looked at”?

Not only had he looked, he had even thought about it — all his thoughts were filthy, unspeakable things he could never admit, all involving the beautiful young gentleman. And even so, what could that Marquis Yan do to him, Ji Linxi?

Maybe one day in the future, he’d even have to drink the wedding wine he shared with the beautiful young gentleman.

With that thought in mind, he answered Chang Gui and didn’t take Yun Huai seriously at all.

“Why bother with him?”

…

At night, after washing his face and feet, Ji Linxi lay on the bed and took out the chess piece from his robes. With one hand under his head and the other holding the piece above him, he examined it carefully in the lamp light.

It was a black jade chess piece, its edge faintly glowing.

He thought of how this piece had once rested in the beautiful young gentleman’s fingers, licked his lips, and couldn’t help bringing it to his nose to smell it.

In a dazed moment, he really did seem to catch a trace of the beautiful young gentleman’s scent, which stirred his emotions and made him unbearably restless.

His throat bobbed deeply once.

He got up, drew the curtain, and devoted himself to doing shameless beastly things.

…

After the chess piece was lost, Chu Yu had people search for it that night, but the entire patch of grass outside the window had been turned over and still they couldn’t find it.

Mr. Wang was heartbroken. That whole chess set was made of jade, and he had brought it out to entertain the two young gentlemen from the capital. He never would have thought that, because of a moment of anger, one piece would be thrown and lost.

They really were two little ancestors.

Faced with the so-called Second Young Master Shen, he dared not even be angry. He only forced a smile and said, “It’s all right, Second Young Master Shen. It’s just one chess piece — if it’s lost, it’s lost. Please don’t take it to heart.”

Chu Yu sighed and rested his chin on his hand. “All right, then.”

The candlelight under the lampshade made his face look like that of a celestial being, as beautiful as jade. Young Master Wang, who had come here with his father, thought that if the other party were just a little less distinguished — if he were a commoner easy to manipulate — that would be better. Then he wouldn’t need to worry about the other man’s status and hesitate to make a move.

“Where is Marquis Yan?” Chu Yu asked again.

“He didn’t really get angry with me and leave me here in the Wang estate, did he?”

“It was he who refused to let go of the chess game. I only said a couple of words to him, and then he ran out. He knows martial arts, so your people probably won’t find him so easily.”

Mr. Wang had just been saying that they were still looking, when a servant came in from outside and said joyfully, “We found Marquis Yan! He’s sitting in the pavilion!”

The cold-faced Yun Huai walked in with snow on his shoulders.

Seeing him, Chu Yu stood up to coax him.

He put a hand on Yun Huai’s shoulder. “All right, Marquis Yan, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have quarreled with you over a momentary temper. Please forgive me?”

“We’re in someone else’s home right now. How can you treat someone else’s house like your own? If something really went wrong, wouldn’t you drag the host family into it?”

Yun Huai’s expression slowly softened too, and he said, “I’m not even good at chess to begin with. Second Young Master Shen, your skill is outstanding. Am I not allowed to cheat a couple of moves?”

“I’ll let you win next time, all right?”

The two of them behaved like ordinary friends who had quarreled and made up, chatting and laughing again, though Chu Yu still coughed from time to time while speaking.

Thinking of his lost precious chess piece, and of how worried he had been all this time, fearing that this Marquis Yan might come to harm in Yong City, searching everywhere only to discover that he had been hiding in the estate the whole time, Mr. Wang was so exasperated that he nearly choked on it. But he still had to pretend not to care and had servants bring hot water for the two men to wash their faces and feet, smiling as he urged them to rest early.

After everyone else had left, Chu Yu let go of Yun Huai, and Yun Huai also dropped his earlier expression. He knelt on one knee and reported everything he had heard and investigated.

“Half a month ago, this estate really did see the death of a young woman, violated and murdered by Young Master Wang. It must be the daughter of that old couple,” Yun Huai said, each word cold as ice.

How could a person be so evil, to do something like that to an unfamiliar young woman?

That kind of scum really deserved to die!

“However, I didn’t have enough time to find solid evidence. Still, the Junzi Pavilion where Young Master Wang stayed was sealed off earlier, and they say it’s haunted. Two Taoists were invited — one was captured and locked up by Mr. Wang, and the other…”

“And the other?” Chu Yu sat in his chair, idly playing with the jade chess piece left behind by Mr. Wang. Seeing Yun Huai hesitate, he turned his head to look over.

“The other…” Yun Huai truly did not want to mention this person, but had no choice: “was the fake Taoist we met in the pharmacy yesterday.” The very same false Taoist who had behaved so rudely toward His Highness and whose eyes had practically stuck to him.

“…Who?”

Seeing Chu Yu’s puzzled expression, Yun Huai continued, “Yesterday, when Your Highness went to buy medicine for Second Young Master Shen, there was also a Taoist in the pharmacy. It was that person.”

“If he could be called upon by the Wang family to perform this ‘ghost exorcism,’ then he can’t be a good person either.”

Chu Yu lightly tapped the chair arm with the jade chess piece in his hand.

“Tomorrow, find a chance to get close to him.”

“You come with me.”

Yun Huai lowered his head. “Yes, Your Highness.”

---

Author’s Note:
The wife feels that going alone might be subjected to that bastard’s molestation, so it’s safer to bring one more person.