Chapter 37
Editor: SimoB
The snowfall outside was heavy but silent. Melted snowflakes slowly dripped in the corridor like rain.
There was a light fragrance in the room. Warm and thick bedding covered Yu Chennian’s body, and there was even a small, soft and tender stove tucked in his arms.
Even when Yu Chennian woke up, he thought he was still dreaming.
He had only ever experienced such comfort in his dreams until now.
He moved his arm slightly and felt the softness of cotton beneath his hands. Yu Chennian lowered his head a fraction to see Shi Qing contently asleep against him.
The little boy’s sleeping face was flushed. The smart black eyes that glanced at everyone with arrogance when open were now hidden beneath his closed eyelashes.
Based on this moment alone, he seemed like an obedient child.
Naturally, Yu Chennian knew that wasn’t the case.
When Shi Qing opened his eyes, he would once again become the thin-skinned little master who looked down on and played tricks on him.
He had been bullied since he was a child, but he had no feelings about his tormentors.
It was in Yu Chennian’s nature to be proud and to him, those people didn’t deserve even his hatred.
He was like a poisonous snake hiding quietly in the dark, waiting for the opportunity to kill those who stood in his way. But he wouldn’t feel anything, even happiness or guilt, when they died. They weren’t worth the effort on his part.
Shi Qing was once the same in Yu Chennian’s eyes.
But now, looking at the little young master’s ruddy face and the warm breath that gently landed on his arm with each breath Shi Qing took, Yu Chennian’s heart was strangely complicated.
He was such a proud but fragile little guy.
He was like the kitten he once wanted but couldn’t have.
[Ding! Yu Chennian’s animosity value 142/100]
The young man felt the youth in his arms move slightly. Those delicate lips moved as well, like he had eaten something good in his dream. His beautiful curled eyelashes were also slightly shaking.
Shi Qing was about to wake up.
Yu Chennian closed his eyes as if he had been sleeping this whole time.
The body in his arms became more and more active. He could feel Shi Qing twisting and turning in his arms while half-asleep. He was murmuring indistinctly.
After a while, the little master woke up. He pushed the quilt off and yawned.
The next second, Yu Chennian felt Shi Qing’s soft feet kick his waist. They were tickling him.
The little master’s voice was a bit off after getting up, but his tone was as proud as ever: “Hey! Why are you still asleep? Get up!”
Yu Chennian opened his eyes obediently.
Shi Qing, who had already sat up, looked like he had slept well. When he saw Yu Chennian wake up, he raised his chin and huffed. The expression on his delicate face said ‘you did a good job of serving me. This little master is very satisfied’.
“It seems that you still have some use. You’re not as annoying as they said. When I come to take a nap in the afternoon, you’ll warm my bed.”
With such a commanding tone of voice, he obviously did not intend to give Yu Chennian a chance to refuse.
Yu Chennian did not want to refuse either.
Compared to being with his imperial brothers outside, he would much rather be with this spoiled young master.
After he gave his orders, Little Master Shi summoned the eunuch outside.
Yu Chennian watched him stand there with open arms, waiting for the eunuch to dress him. Then he sat back on the bed and had his socks and shoes put on for him.
Yu Chennian considered the fact that Shi Qing had probably never dressed himself in his entire life. Maybe he didn’t even know how to do so.
When they arrived at the Imperial Study, it was already well into the afternoon. The princes all greeted Shi Qing warmly and cordially. One prince had even arranged to bring him a calming soup, to show how gentle and considerate he was.
They tacitly agreed to neglect the one standing at Shi Qing’s side. Yu Chennian lowered his head slightly, making himself seem smaller.
No one asked the youngest brother if he had suffered under the hand of the bad tempered Shi Qing.
No one had objected to how he was wrongly blamed to begin with.
However, from this day on, Shi Qing seemed to find a new way to play with Yu Chennian that was different from his usual pranks.
He began to show interest in making a prince like Yu Chennian do the tasks of a humble servant.
For example, Shi Qing ordered him to arrive early everyday, just so Yu Chennian could directly carry him from his sedan chair to the Imperial Study when he arrived. This used to be done by eunuchs.
Shi Qing wasn’t willing to give Yu Chennian a break, even during their lunch break.
He forced Yu Chennian to follow him back to his room and, according to the information obtained by the princes from the eunuchs serving Shi Qing, Shi Qing ordered Yu Chennian to sing like a courtesan and even stepped on him with his feet.
And after being egged on by a few princes, the little master even said that he wanted Yu Chennian to serve him from now on.
Serve!
He wanted Yu Chennian to be a servant!
He didn’t bother to disguise his intentions in the slightest.
At the very least, Yu Chennian was a prince. Even if his birth mother was humble and his foster mother was deposed, he was still a prince. Even his own brothers didn’t dare to treat him this way.
But that wasn’t because they were afraid of Yu Chennian. They feared that their father would not look favourably upon it. They were all part of the royal family after all. Other types of bullying could be ignored, but no one knew if their father would be angry if they treated their brother like a palace servant.
But now, the princes were all secretly hoping for their father’s anger. Then they could take the opportunity to comfort Shi Qing after he gets scolded.
Five days pa.s.sed like this, but the emperor, who always knew everything that happened in the palace, never said a word.
And so, they took his silence as approval.
As expected, Shi Qing’s position in their father’s mind was even higher than that of his sons.
At the same time, Yu Chennian’s position was even lower than they had imagined.
Some of the princes who used to bully Yu Chennian for fun looked down on their youngest brother even more now, with this revelation.
He didn’t have a powerful maternal family behind him, and as a person, he was dull. Even their father didn’t like him. Being bullied was the only thing he was good at.
On the sixth day, when Shi Qing arrived at the foot of the Imperial Study steps in a sedan chair, he found that the young man who was supposed to be waiting under the porch, was standing out in the snow.
The boots on his feet were half buried by the snow, and there was a layer of white on his body. He had clearly been standing here for a while.
The little master’s eyebrows wrinkled at once.
That spoiled and sheltered boy ripped open the curtain and jumped off the sedan.
“Please be careful Little Master! Little Master……”
His actions frightened his eunuchs. They followed Shi Qing carefully, like he was a baby that had just learned to walk.
“Get lost!!”
Yu Chennian looked at Shi Qing approach from afar like an angry little lion, roaring and bearing his milk teeth to drive away the people following him. He puffed up and stalked over with his head held high to question him.
“Who made you stand here!”
His naturally soft voice was raised because of his unhappiness.
The kitten meowed angrily, as if he had found an enemy invading his territory: “Don’t they know that you have to carry me to the Imperial Study everyday! How can I let you carry me when you’re covered in snow! ”
Yu Chennian was stunned.
He didn’t expect Shi Qing’s anger. He a.s.sumed that, in accordance with the little master’s volatile temperament, he would just switch to an eunuch upon seeing Yu Chennian’s snowy self.
The little master grew even angrier because of his silence: “Speak!”
Yu Chennian: “First Imperial Brother said that as I’ve been skipping cla.s.ses these days, I should stand in the snow as punishment and reflect on my actions.”
Kitten Shi puffed up even further: “Who doesn’t know that it was I who asked you to accompany me? Is he trying to say something to me!”
Not really.
The eldest prince was just looking for any reason at all to torture his brother.
It has always been this way. Anyone could step on the ninth prince who had no one to look after him.
Yu Chennian’s dark eyes were fixed on the youth, who was angry on his behalf.
He was so angry that his little face was turning red, and like a baby animal who found that someone raided the food supply he had worked hard to gather, he howled adorably with rage: “You’re my servant! What gives them the right to discipline you?! I said it was mine! Mine!”
The little master glared maliciously at Yu Chennian.
“You’re useless too. You’ve been with me for a few days already, but you still let them humiliate you!”
The eunuchs approached cautiously when they saw that he had calmed down somewhat: “Little Master, don’t stand in the snow. Your boots are getting wet.”
Those words only made Shi Qing angrier: “Yu Chennian’s back is covered in melting snow!! How can he carry me! What does big brother mean by this?! I’m here to be a reading companion, not to be bullied! Yu Chennian has carried me for several days, so who is he really targeting by punishing him!”
Eunuchs: “……”
This logic wasn’t quite right, ah…
But the little boy who has been spoiled rotten all his life didn’t care if it was logical or not. After finishing his tirade all in one breath, he turned and dashed furiously into the Imperial Study: “I’m not leaving until I get an explanation!!”
But before he even took two steps, he looked back at Yu Chennian, who was still standing in place. He urged him unhappily: “Are you a dunce?! Hurry up!”
Yu Chennian took two steps forward and almost tripped over his numb feet.
But he recovered quickly, like he always did.
After three steps, feeling began to return.
Four, five, six……
He chased after the vivid figure in a red cloak in front of him. His eyes brightened and his steps became lighter.
[Ding! Yu Chennian’s animosity value: 100/100]