Vol 3 Chapter 82 – You are more than a servant to him
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XH 82 - You are more than a servant to him

"Angel - I mean, Feng Jiu, is the Third Prince celebrating his birthday now at the Pearl Courtyard?"

Feng Jiu stopped writing and replied with a shake of her head. The Third Prince had left not long ago and the sky was already dark.

Feng Jiu decided to accompany the resting yet restless Xiao Hua, at the same time busily writing something on the stack of papers laid out on the table.

"The night celebration is canceled."

Xiao Hua's heart stopped momentarily before it resumed at a faster pace. "Why? Is it because of me? The fire had caused a lot of mess?"

Placing down the brush, the lady in red stood up and walked towards Xiao Hua that was forced to lie down on the bed by the Third Prince.

Her body still feels sore and tired to move around. Lying down on the bed seems like a nice thing to do for the lazy Xiao Hua, but she grew bored with no laptop or mobile phone to keep her attention occupied.

There was a time she got bored and asked for novels, which Duan XiYing brought some for her. But the words were too advanced for the beginner Xiao Hua so Duan XiYing ended up reading aloud for her. Le XiaoTing, who had read dozens of interesting romance books before hitting the genre of transmigration and reincarnation, could not help but cringe upon the cheesy and sexist stories of this world.

Since then, she was no longer interested in the novels of this world. The idea of making Heise wrote some BL novels came into mind, but she rather he focused his energy on searching for any clues to help them return to their original world than occupying her bored mind.

Duan XiYing had suggested more training when she complained she was bored, but a lazy person would remain lazy even in boredom.

Speaking of Duan XiYing, Xiao Hua wondered when she would return. There was no word of how long she would 'help out'.

"The fire is just one of the reasons for Long Zhu to cancel the night feast." Feng Jiu rubbed Xiao Hua's head affectionately as she patiently explained. "He is not in the mood to celebrate when you are injured."

It was unclear how she would have the feeling of wanting to treat this little girl nicely despite only knowing her for half a day. Perhaps Feng Jiu had not met such a clear yet lazy eyes that belonged to a fourteen-year-old girl with a prince as her master.

Strangely, those eyes reminded her of Doctor Bai's, even if they were different. 

"A servant getting injured should not be a big deal."

Feng Jiu smiled and poked a slender finger onto Xiao Hua's soft cheek. "You are more than a servant to him."

Xiao Hua's eyes clearly revealed mixed feelings to Feng Jiu's words before they were hidden away. "I should not be."

The younger girl closed her eyes with body language that told Feng Jiu she was not willing to continue the conversation. It was rude to do so but if Xiao Hua did not stop the conversation, she might have exposed something she wanted to keep hidden.

???

Long Zhu stared at the reports on his table in a distracted manner, his mind unable to fully concentrate on the issues that needed his urgent attention.

Three brief knocks at the door got his far away mind back to reality. "Master, An Wan is here to report the search of that servant's room."

"Enter," Long Zhu answered curtly and placed down his brush.

The creak from the door opening and closing was loud in the silence of the room. An Wan curtsied in greeting before placing a royal blue pouch with a familiar embroidery of a white cat onto the table, making sure not to disturb any of the documents on the table.

"This was found hidden in that servant's room. Her bedmate knew nothing about her plan other than knowing she had been crafting short arrows lately."

Long Zhu immediately recognized the pouch as Xiao Hua's handiwork. The threatening letters had revealed that this pouch was important enough for Xiao Hua to risk her life to get it back.

That traitorous maid must have been confident about her plans to go well enough that she did not bother disposing of the threatening letters quickly.

"Sister An Jing had taught Elder Sister Hua how to embroidery and make a pouch. This pouch is Elder Sister Hua's gift for you, Master."

Long Zhu already knew that this pouch was his little flower's gift for him. He gently picked up the blue pouch and absent mindedly rubbed his fingers over the embroidered white cat, just like Xiao Hua had said it would. "It's not a dragon."

An Wan did not say anything but she understood what her master meant. Sister An Jing had suggested for the younger girl to embroidery a dragon but Elder Sister Hua was not skilled enough to do so. An Wan remembered the poor stitch work that Elder Sister Hua had called a 'dragon' but ended up resembling a snake.

Long Zhu and An Wan quickly turned their attention on the door when they sensed a familiar flare of Qi right outside the room. After getting permission using eye contact, An Wan moved to open the door and allowed An Jing to enter the study, holding onto a tall food container with both hands.

"Forgive me, Master. I would have knocked but this servant feared that the containers would drop," An Jing apologized. "There's also Lady Feng Jiu requesting to meet you."

Without Long Zhu's response, Feng Jiu had already swept into the study, her bright red clothes flared around her dazzlingly. Even at this late hour, she still looked as perfect as she was when the day started. The red flower between her eyebrows was especially eye-catching on her fair skin.

"I meet up with An Jing on the way here. I would have left you to enjoy your dinner but I changed my mind when I found out Xiao Hua was the one that made your dinner."

"So you are here to steal food from me?" Long Zhu asked as he leaned back on his chair relaxingly. He motioned An Jing to set up the dinner on his table.

An Jing handed the food container to An Wan before clearing the table. After setting up the dinner for two people, the inner maids left their masters to enjoy Xiao Hua's 'specialty' fried rice. Feng Jiu immediately sat down on the prepared chair opposite Long Zhu and without any bashfulness, reached out to taste the fried rice.

Her beautifully shaped eyes widen in delight. "I never tasted this type of fried rice before!"

Long Zhu's mouth twitched when he saw Feng Jiu quickly piled fried rice onto her bowl until it was as high as a mountain. "This is my birthday dinner."

Feng Jiu sniffed daintily. "But this might be my only chance to taste Xiao Hua's cooking."

"Mother Concubines are always afraid to eat too much for fear they gain weight. Feng Jiu is not afraid to gain weight?"

Feng Jiu gave the boy she had watched over for seven years a dirty glare. "You know better than to point out a lady's weight and age."

"I apologize for my bluntness, Lady Feng Jiu."

"You are not sorry at all." Feng Jiu sighed and decided not to fight with a lovesick boy over fried rice.

Long Zhu stood up and walked towards a shelf to pick up a scroll. The dark blue pouch with amateur stitching hanging on his belt drew Feng Jiu's eyes. "Oh? That's a cute pouch you have."

"It's a birthday gift from my little maid."

Feng Jiu's frowned with concern. The memory of Xiao Hua's sudden coldness when she hinted that Long Zhu viewed Xiao Hua more than a maid worried her.

"This is the information you asked Lau Liu to investigate." Long Zhu placed the scroll down on the table before returning back to his seat and eat his portion of fried rice.

Normally, Feng Jiu would have eagerly unrolled the scroll as the information she had asked Long Zhu to investigate had occupied her mind for far too long. But now she was more worried about the little maid that she had taken a liking to.

"Long Zhu, I know your little maid was the one that saved your life but treating her too well seems a little too much."

The hand holding onto a porcelain spoon that had scooped a bundle of rice stopped its tracks. "What are you trying to say?"

Feng Jiu sighed silently. "Xiao Hua might look younger than her age, but she is not a child. When a beautiful looking man treated her so well, her heart would develop feelings that she could not control and may not have the will to."

After Feng Jiu finished speaking, the hand continued its path and the rice entered the waiting mouth. Long Zhu chewed and tasted the rice, resulting in a pleased hum. This time, the fried rice has a hint of tea leaves and the prawns were omitted. The taste of the tea leaves was strong, but it mixed well with the other ingredients.

Seeing the uncaring response, Feng Jiu glowered in disapproval. "Long Zhu."

The two-sentence was enforced with a strong, pressuring Qi that the Guilin's Emperor would never in his life be able to replicate it. Long Zhu stopped eating but he does not look strongly affected by the pressuring Qi.

"I know what I am doing."

Feng Jiu gasped in incredulity. "You are doing it on purpose?"

Long Zhu frowned and a hint of confusion could be identified from his phoenix shaped eyes. "Of course. Isn't that the best way to make her love me?"

Feng Jiu exhaled a shaky breath at his surprising revelation. "Long Zhu, why do you want her to love you?" 

Do you want her to love you as one does to a master or love you as one does towards a lover?

"You do not need to know."

Something almost like terror rolled around her heart. The image of Xiao Hua with guarded eyes flashed past her mind, stirring her fear even more.

"Long Zhu, if you have no desire to marry Xiao Hua, stop what you are doing. That girl is inexperienced and guileless towards a man's attention."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Long Zhu!"

The cold gaze stopped Feng Jiu's outburst. "I'm not a cruel person."

That promise stopped her fear from growing but it did not lessen it. 

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