Chapter 119.2
Editor: Sahloknir
Some of the maidservants rushed forward to shield Shi Qing behind them.
When Shi Qing waved to tell them to back off, one protested, “Qing-er, this man looks so hostile! You should let someone tie him up before questioning him. What if he hurts you again?”
As they spoke, the maidservants looked warily at Jiang Bieyu, as if the man who was beaten within an inch of his life would jump up and bite Shi Qing to death with his sharp teeth at any second.
They had reason to be so scared. Jiang Bieyu’s appearance was truly fierce.
It’s not that he’s ugly. He was quite handsome upon closer inspection, but his combination of sharp eyebrows, high nose bridge and thin lips at first sight reminded people of wolves and tigers.
And his eyes were ominously radiating hostility.
With one glance, he made these timid maidservants want to rush to hide themselves.
In a nutsh.e.l.l? He didn’t look like a good person.
In this era, jade-like men with a gentle demeanour were favoured. Despite the chaos outside, refined gentlemen were still the ideal of male beauty. No matter how dashing his features were, Jiang Bieyu’s fierce appearance inspired fear in everyone.
Especially his narrow eyes. They denoted he had the blood of the Hu people flowing through him. The Hu people were renowned across the country for their brutality. That, along with his muscular and tall build that was obvious even crouching on the ground, made it not unusual for others to reject him.
Jiang Bieyu was clearly used to the rejection of people when they saw his face. He lowered his head again with a blank expression, hiding his features as much as possible—like before.
As he grew up, this face of his had caused him a lot of trouble.
While young girls avoided him on sight, many men of higher status than him were eager to see someone with his features humiliated.
After all, although he was only eighteen this year, he was a tall man with a fierce-looking face. Some derived pleasure from watching such a man being tormented.
The only thing in Jiang Bieyu’s stomach now was acid, and the wounds on his back hurt intermittently. He really didn’t have the strength to deal with much else. He could only try his best to avoid trouble.
If he frightened the little master in front of him, he would certainly be in for a real ‘treat’.
Jiang Bieyu consciously lowered his head to keep Shi Qing from looking at him, but Shi Qing became even more curious because of that.
He squatted down again, stretching out his white fingertips and poking Jiang Bieyu on the cheek. His tone was still domineering, but his soft accent minimized the aggression, “Why is your head still down? Didn’t I tell you to look up?”
He had never done a bit of work since he was born, so every part of his body was incredibly tender. Naturally, this included his fingers.
The sensation of soft, tender and hot fingertips nudging his cold cheek made Jiang Bieyu’s body subconsciously tremble. He obediently raised his head again.
“Yah!”
Seeing this handsome yet chilling face once more, one of the younger maidservants startled. In a trembling voice, she asked Shi Qing,
“Qing-er, h-he’s so fierce, ah. Aren’t you afraid of him?”
“What’s so scary about him? He looks quite valiant to me.”
The little master adorned with nothing but the best in front of Jiang Bieyu smiled curiously. He casually placed his hand stove on the thick carpet, freeing up his white soft hands to cup Jiang Bieyu’s face.
Perhaps because they had just held the hand stove, but warmth enveloped Jiang Bieyu’s cold, bloodless cheeks. The touch was almost scalding to the man.
He looked at the little master in front of him in silence.
This little master was smiling, his delicate and pretty eyebrows full of interest and his beautifully shaped red lips slightly curled up. His soft hands kneaded Jiang Bieyu’s cheeks while he tilted his head up and talked to that maidservant.
“Look, doesn’t this make him seem less scary?”
He deliberately squished Jiang Bieyu’s face. What would’ve made any other person appear ridiculous actually made him look scarier.
That little maidservant carefully looked at the man on the ground who was very pale due to the deep wounds on his back.
“He’s still so scary, Qing-er. Don’t play around, he’ll hurt you again.”
“He wouldn’t dare to.”
Shi Qing was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, gently patting Jiang Bieyu’s cold, hard cheek. “Unless he doesn’t want to live anymore.”
The little master didn’t use much force, and his hand was soft and tender. His pats felt like soft touches to Jiang Bieyu’s face.
Of course, there was no way he would say that out loud when his life was in jeopardy.
He only listened in silence as the little master, who was squatting in front of him and squishing his face like it was a toy, asked him in a condescending tone of voice.
“Did you know? Jiang Liye has given you to me.”
Jiang Bieyu’s gaze darkened slightly as he opened his dry, puckered lips to reply. “I know.”
Only when he opened his mouth did he realise that his voice became so hoa.r.s.e and unpleasant to listen to.
As expected, the little master in front of him let go of him in disgust. “You have a good face, but your voice is so awful. What a waste.”
Jiang Bieyu hung his head in silence, not bothering to explain.
Shi Qing acted like he had lost interest because of his voice. He stopped patting Jiang Bieyu’s cheeks and got up, receiving the hand stove from a maidservant and looking down at the man.
“Since your big brother has made the decision to give you to me… Our Shi family is also a family with rules and regulations. Once you sign the indenturement contract, you will become one of my servants.”
Shi-furen, who had not interfered with her son thus far, was stunned. She hastily stepped forward with her handkerchief, “This isn’t wise. He’s the one who pushed you into the water! Had you not been lucky enough to be rescued, you would have been killed by him. How can you keep such a troublesome person by your side?”
Shi Qing waved his hand dismissively. “He looks like a strong fellow. When I get drunk later, I can ask him to bring me back and serve me well.”
“Him, serve you well…?”
Shi-furen looked Jiang Bieyu up and down with disgust.
“He looks like a b.u.mbling ruffian, how can he possibly serve you well? These female servants have always been the ones to take care of you when you came back drunk. How could someone with his looks possibly compare?”
Shi-furen was a very gentle and traditional woman. She devoutly believed the principle of obeying her husband after marriage and obeying her son after her husband’s death. Although her husband had not yet died, there was only one son in the family. Therefore, she had never been too opposed to Shi Qing’s decisions.
But currently, she was truly upset with Jiang Bieyu for almost killing her son.
“No, Mother won’t agree to this. How can someone who pushed my son into the water take good care of him? What if he were to go on a rampage and push you into the water once more?!”
To this, Shi Qing could only say, “It wasn’t him who pushed me, it was Jiang Liye.”
From his position on the ground, Jiang Bieyu frowned slightly and lifted his head, looking at the little master that actually had flowers embroidered on his clothing.
There was a very convincing cold sneer on his face, but his soft accent dissipated any sense of threat. He sounded like he was acting spoiled with Shi-furen.
“I saw it with my own eyes, Jiang Liye was the one who pushed me.”
Jiang Liye was the husband of his legitimate sister.
Shi-furen was so stunned that she couldn’t be bothered with Shi Qing’s decision to keep Jiang Bieyu anymore.
Although she had been crying and ranting, that was only to express her frustration about Jiang Liye daring to hit her daughter and one of Jiang family’s concubine-born sons pushing her son into the water.
She never thought that Jiang Liye was responsible for both incidents.
Her tears fell once again after half a second. She got up and cursed, “What a black-hearted man, not only did he treat my daughter badly, but he also tried to kill my son. I was truly blind to agree to give away my daughter to him. Why doesn’t he do everyone a favour and just go die? Then I can drink his blood, eat his flesh and skin him whole.”
Her voice was lilting, but her curses were neverending. “This b.a.s.t.a.r.d deserves an early grave for daring to harm both my children. I will clap and celebrate the day of his death. I’ll take people to dig up his grave. And even if he doesn’t die, I’ll blind him so he can never commit such wrongs outside again.”
It was only because the people in this room were all members of the Shi family that she dared to curse in such a way. She desperately needed an outlet to express her anger. Unexpectedly, the curtain outside lifted and a little maidservant ran in.
“Furen, Laoye has returned. He said he wants to come and see Qing-er.”
Just as she said that, a middle-aged man with a beard and defined facial features came striding in.
Shi-furen, who had just been cursing with her hands on her waist, immediately changed her demeanour. She was no longer fierce, nor did she look imposing.
As soon as she sat down on the bench, she took a handkerchief and sobbed quietly into it.
“How is he? I heard that Qing-er is sick?”
As soon as Father Shi said this, before he had time to look inside the room, Shi-furen, who was sitting on the bench, shouted delicately.
“Laoye!”
She turned and flung herself into Father Shi’s arms, sobbing and choking as she said, “Look at our Qing-er, look at how he’s been bullied by that Jiang family! Not only did they push him into the water, they even forced him to hit people with his own hands! Qing-er is sick from all that exertion.”
Father Shi was a bit confused about what was going on. He looked at his son who was standing and holding a hand stove all fine and dandy. “Didn’t you say that Qing-er caught a cold after being pulled out of the water?”
Shi-furen held her handkerchief and sobbed, “We’ve been nurturing Qing-er since he was a child, so how could he not get sick from a little bit of chill? They clearly frightened him so much that he became ill!!”
“In…in order to stop our Shi family from pursuing the matter of pushing him into the water, they forced our Qing-er to hit people. Laoye, you know how timid Qing-er is. How can he not be scared at the sight of so much blood? My poor Qing-er, ah wuwuwuwu… Laoye, you have to seek justice for us, ah.”
Jiang Bieyu, who had watched the whole thing, silently withdrew his gaze from Shi-furen, who was crying quietly as if she was a delicate flower.
He glanced at the little master next to him, who was nodding along with a straight face.
“That’s right, Father. I even have a person as evidence! Just look at his bloodstained body. I was almost frightened to death.”