Chapter 125.1
Editor: Sahloknir
Jiang Bieyu’s entire body was as stiff as a rock right now. He swallowed dryly after Shi Qing patted him a few more times.
Has this Shi family little master never seen tall servants before? How could he dare to take me outside on my first day, when I haven’t even signed the indenturement contract yet?
And he even dared to—
The man remained motionless throughout. His light coloured eyes were always on Shi Qing’s body.
The little master was rather thick skinned. Despite obviously kissing Jiang Bieyu just moments ago, his expression was indifferent as he barked out orders.
“When we encounter Jiang Liye and the others, you have to be a good boytoy and behave like that and if I want to kiss or move you, got it?”
Thanks to Shi Qing wanting to sneak out, there was no one in their vicinity except each other.
When you take into account how delicate and pampered this little master was, how pitiful his strength was, how Jiang Bieyu sitting on his legs for less than a second had him whimpering in pain…
The man could easily knock him out and follow the little master’s planned route to escape.
After all, his aunt had already died. There was no one he cared about left in Crane City. Since he hadn’t signed an indenturement contract yet, the man could definitely seek opportunities elsewhere.
But despite the path in front of him being clear, Jiang Bieyu stood just as still as before. His eyes were completely filled with the image of the little master smiling with a pleased expression.
“It isn’t time yet.” He told himself quietly.
There was no point in leaving in disgrace when his situation wasn’t dire.
He was still injured at the moment, and he could at least be fed at the Shi family. If he left, he would have to compete against others to fulfill basic needs.
Naturally, the little master didn’t know that the man he was touching all over had just dismissed the idea of knocking him unconscious and running away.
He seemed to be very pleased with Jiang Bieyu as a “boytoy”.
Even though Jiang Bieyu was taller than him.
Even though Jiang Bieyu’s supposedly ‘thin’ waist was too thick for him to hold with both arms.
Even though Jiang Bieyu was a hard, muscular man. The completely opposite of him, who disliked exercise and had a soft and supple body as a result.
None of that mattered.
Jiang Bieyu was a boytoy as long as he said so.
So when the tall, powerful-looking man in front of him answered in a husky voice, Shi Qing’s pretty little face almost immediately beamed with joy.
The little master lifted his chin in triumph. He raised an eyebrow.
“Come on, let’s go see that brother of yours.”
***
The one thing Crane City wasn’t lacking in was rich people.
Especially after the world descended into chaos. More and more rich people fled to seek shelter in this prosperous place.
The king who had occupied Crane City was also quite easy to talk to.
Want to come to Crane City?
Sure. As long as you give me money.
I don’t care where you go after that. The more money you pay, the better my att.i.tude will be.
For both the big and small families, living in fear that ruffians might infiltrate and slaughter them all every night wasn’t worth it.
Because of the safety that a place like Crane City could provide them, they wouldn’t even hesitate to part with half of their wealth, not to mention a measly bribe.
As a result, a large number of people came to this city with money and food aplenty.
The Shi family was one of them.
However, the Shi family was in a different cla.s.s of wealth. When other people brought a few carts of grain, they brought hundreds of carts. When other people offered the king a box of riches, they sent an entire caravan.
The difference between the two was night and day.
The Shi family was so generous with their money that their status in Crane City immediately rose to the summit. Due to this, Shi Qing was able to boss even the other second generations around with minimal consequence.
Some of the Crane City second generations in Jiang Liye’s faction weren’t happy with him occupying the spotlight.
Back when there were no outsiders in Crane City, Jiang Liye was firmly in power due to being the eldest grandson in Jiang family even though he was a child of the second master.
He was doted on incessantly growing up. Even outside his family, Crane City’s second generations tended to support him as well due to his generous spending habits and high status at home. He lived a truly wonderful life. Even the concubine-born sons that had the same Jiang blood flowing through their veins were nothing but lowly playthings before him.
Before Shi Qing arrived, Jiang Liye was lounging on a chair with his entourage like he usually did, watching the singers dance vigorously.
Someone mentioned Shi Qing, “Liye, how can you act so unconcerned today when you pushed Shi Qing into the water yesterday? Aren’t you afraid that the Shi family will blame you?”
“What’s there to be afraid of?”
Jiang Liye greatly resembled his father. He wasn’t particularly tall or short or remarkable in any way. Actually, he was the kind of person that would be practically invisible in a crowd.
But he was a young master of the Jiang family, and a favoured one at that. No matter how plain his appearance was, he was still the center of attention right now.
Because he knew that many people had their eyes on him, Jiang Liye puffed up arrogantly. “To put it nicely, that Shi family rose to prominence by gaining the favour of a marquis. But they’re really just a bunch of merchants that run along all day in search of dirty money. Just look at the one at my house. Ever since I married her, she doesn’t dare to say a word to me no matter how many women I take in…”
He laughed again, speaking with contempt,
“What’s more, Shi Qing is truly an unlikeable lad, fooling around outside all day even at his age. He even dared to speak rudely to me. As his brother-in-law, I did his parents a favour and disciplined him, that’s all.”
—Bang!
Just as he was getting into his bragging, the screen divider was violently kicked down.
The singers shrieked and startled, so the music came to an abrupt halt. These girls scrambled to a corner of the room, where they huddled together and shivered with pale faces underneath their makeup.
The young masters who came here to enjoy themselves were also caught off guard. They all got up and looked in that direction.
They saw Shi Qing standing behind the screen divider he had just kicked down, glaring at them coldly with visible anger on that pretty face of his.
Even the tone of his ever-soft Jiangnan voice had deepened.
“Young Master Jiang really is powerful. All you can do at most is make me call you brother-in-law. How exactly are you ent.i.tled to discipline me on my parents’ behalf?”
Faced with his aggressiveness, everyone other than Jiang Liye shifted uncomfortably and looked away. They had come here to basically listen to Jiang Liye badmouth Shi Qing, only to be caught red handed by the person in question.
Shi Qing’s expression was very twisted, his face alternating between gray and green. He didn’t move an inch after speaking.
It was clear that he was very angry.
When had they ever seen this little master like this before?
Everyone in the room subconsciously breathed lighter for fear of setting off this infuriated Shi family little master.
Or else innocent pa.s.sersby like them would be sacrificed before the fight between Jiang Liye and Shi Qing even started.
Shi Qing’s entrance was so intimidating that everyone was too busy looking at him to notice the man with his head lowered and dressed in shabby servant’s clothing behind him.
Naturally, they didn’t know that the seemingly respectful Jiang Bieyu was paying close attention to Shi Qing either.
But when everyone else was occupied with Shi Qing’s expression, Jiang Bieyu was focused on the foot the little master just used to kick down that screen.
Although the two of them haven’t spent much time together, Jiang Bieyu was already sure that Shi Qing’s entire body was soft and tender.
This petulant little master whose kicks didn’t even hurt, who screamed in pain when Jiang Bieyu sat on him had kicked a hole through the screen.
His foot should be hurting right now.
The man whose posture seemed very subservient looked down at Shi Qing’s right foot that was just used to kick.
At the moment, that leg was trembling slightly with a frequency that was hard to observe with the naked eye.
Wu.
Jiang Bieyu was even more certain.
It must have hurt a lot.
He was the only one in the room that noticed. Jiang Liye had an ugly expression on his face, but he didn’t answer. The others were dying of awkwardness, but they couldn’t play dead like Jiang Liye.
Someone soon got up and tried to greet Shi Qing like nothing had happened.
“Shi Qing, why didn’t you tell us you would be coming? A-Zheng brought some good wine today. Come and try it with us.”
He was planning to divert attention from the elephant in the room with humour. After all, neither of the people involved here had ordinary backgrounds. Jiang Liye had the Jiang family behind him, while Shi Qing was the Shi family’s sole little master. They could emerge unscathed from any blow the other could deal.
But the same could not be said for pa.s.sersby like them, who came from much more ordinary families. If these two made a scene in public, they’ll be the ones in trouble.
Just look at Shi Qing. He was carried home yesterday after being pushed into the water, and now he’s back, as flamboyant and haughty as even. It didn’t take a genius to know that his family didn’t scold him one bit.
The same went for Jiang Liye. He was behaving the same as before, not the least bit down like he would be if he had been reprimanded.
But none of the others here were their equal in status.
Who didn’t know that Shi Qing was the Shi family only heir? Or that the Shi family was favoured by the king at the moment?
As the old dog on the block, the Jiang family also had unfathomable depths. As the eldest grandson, Jiang Liye was expected to be the heir. He could even give his concubine-born younger brother away like a servant, showing how high his position was in the Jiang family.
In short, the pa.s.sersby were screwed either way.
These two young masters were fine and dandy after their fights, but everyone else had to suffer even if they didn’t do anything.
Yesterday, Shi Qing fell into the water.
He was fine, and so was Jiang Liye.
However, most of the others on that boat who witnessed what happened were punished by their families. They either had to write copies of their household rules or got beaten with a paddle.
Their crime? Not stopping this from happening and not rescuing the Shi family’s little master in time.
What bad luck.
One young master surnamed Lu was particularly unfortunate. He could have been considered favoured in his family. However, in a bid to divert suspicion from his own son, Jiang family’s second master sent someone to his house to ask him if he had personally seen Jiang Bieyu push Shi Qing into the water.
Young Master Lu actually saw Jiang Liye pushing him, not Jiang Bieyu.
He was not the only one since Jiang Liye didn’t even try to cover up what he did. Most of the people trying to pull the two apart probably saw what happened.
But none of them dared to say, “Yes, I saw it. But it wasn’t your concubine-born son who pushed him, it was Jiang Liye.”
If they did, their family’s good days would be over.
But they couldn’t frame Jiang Bieyu and say he was the one who pushed Shi Qing either. Of course Shi Qing knew who pushed him.
They couldn’t afford to face the wrath of the Shi family either.
So in the end, this young master could only say that he didn’t see anything, that he was too busy trying to pull the two apart amidst the chaos.
If someone could stick around the circle of Crane City’s second generation without being kicked out for a while, they definitely had a calculating side to them regardless of their outer appearance.