As the golden rays of sunlight streamed through the open windows and landed on his face, Lin Xia Zhi turned and grumbled in his sleep.
"Urgh...too..bright…"
"YOUNG MASTER! IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP!" A familiar voice jostled Lin Xia Zhi out of his comfortable sleep. Now slightly awake, he lifted his right hand and pushed back the messy dark hair hanging loosely on one side of his head.
"What's the rush, Qin Yi? It's still so early..Let me sleep a while more...Don't..disturb..m-" Before Lin Xia Zhi even finished his sentence, he slumped back onto the wonderful softness of his bed and cushions, almost falling back into his slumber immediately. He had totally forgotten what day it was.
"Young master! Don't fall back asleep! It's the day of your marriage to Young lady Xi! Please wake up so that we can make preparations for today." Qin Yi urged Lin Xia Zhi, his master, who was currently listening to him with the attention span of a goldfish.
"Hmm...yea...the marriage...tell father that I'll discuss that with him later...after all, the marriage…" In his desire to sleep, Lin Xia Zhi put random words together, hoping to delay whatever his servant Qin Yi had been tasked to get him to complete that day, courtesy of his father.
"Young master…" Qin Yi sighed. His young master always tried to push matters to a later timing even if it was scheduled to be completed in the morning. A # mark could almost be seen on Qin Yi's head. At that moment, he decided to do something no other servant would even dream of attempting.
"This is for the sake of a prosperous marriage, young master. Please do not blame me for what I'm about to do." Despite what he said, Qin Yi's lip curved upwards as he thought of what was to come.
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"You're it! Bet you can't catch me!" A young, brown-haired boy wearing simple clothing could be seen running across the garden of the West Wing of the Lin Clan.
"Hey! No fair, you surprised me!"
Another boy with dark, thick, wavy hair exclaimed in surprise as the first boy ran at him out of nowhere, slapped him on the shoulder, and took off running in another direction. The second boy wore a robe instead of simple farmer's clothes. He owned a pair of sandals whilst the other didn't. As the young master of the household, he was naturally presented with more luxurious apparel.
However, the servant had been next to the young master ever since they were born. They were so close-knit that they could be mistaken for blood brothers. The two had overcame many odds together, and were quite inseparable. In fact, when they were at a tender age of five, the young master had solemnly promised the servant, under a cherry blossom tree in their backyard, "I'll stay next to you forever. I'll protect you from anything that is a threat to your safety. After all, as your master, isn't it my duty to protect your life with mine? Just as how you'll protect mine with yours?"
Even after twelve years, they have kept their promise, and their bond has only grown deeper since then.
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"HYAAAAH!" Qin Yi shouted a battle cry as he snatched up a pillow and started pummeling Lin Xia Zhi.
"Ow ow ow! Qin Yi...you dare…" Lin Xia Zhi's eyes fluttered open and he stared Qin Yi down. Without warning, he disarmed Qin Yi in an instant and pushed him down. Qin Yi struggled, but as expected of his young master, the grip was extremely strong, and Qin Yi could hardly move, even though he was trained in battle.
"Young master, you're finally awake! Today is a really important day and it was of utmost importance that you wake up immediately." Qin Yi turned his head and smiled devilishly at his captor, showing no signs of remorse for what he just did.
Lin Xia Zhi lowered his head until his mouth was right beside Qin Yi's ear, " I see...and you thought it would be alright to wake your young master up in such a violent manner, not considering how your young master would feel about being pummelled to death first thing in the morning. What sort of punishment is suitable for such a violent act against your young master, I wonder? Maybe I..." He spoke in a low tone, cold and threatening, breathing heavily into Qin Yi's ear.
Anyone else would have already crapped their pants in terror and apologised a hundred times over, tears spilling out of their eyes as they vowed to never appear in front of Lin Xia Zhi again.
However, to Qin Yi, Lin Xia Zhi was really more of a brother than his higher-up. Unfortunately, the hierarchy set in the Lin Clan was so that the members with the Lin surname, like Lin Xia Zhi, were members of the main family while members without the Lin surname, like Qin Yi, were members of the branch family. The two families differed greatly in status and power, which resulted in situations like Lin Xia Zhi's and Qin Yi's, where even best friends became master and servant when they came of age.
Qin Yi's response to Lin Xia Zhi's supposed death threat was unexpected, at least to Lin Xia Zhi. Tears welled up in Qin Yi's eyes as his expression suddenly morphed. He sniffed, "Pl-please spare me young master, this lowly servant dare not raise his hand against young master. P-Punish me as you wish."
However, Qin Yi knew full well that Lin Xia Zhi mutually treated him as a brother too. What Qin Yi said was merely an act, and he was enjoying every moment of their role play.
Lin Xia Zhi, having caught on almost immediately, released his hold on Qin Yi, murmuring, "As if you'd be sorry over something like that."
Lin Xia Zhi got off Qin Yi, and stood next to his bed while Qin Yi dressed him and prepared him for the day. In more ways than one, the master-servant pact between the members of the main family and the branch family wasn't much of a deal to Lin Xia Zhi and Qin Yi, because they got to spend much more time with each other, especially after Qin Yi became Lin Xia Zhi's personal attendant, and got to follow his young master almost to anywhere he went.
"What's my schedule for today?" Lin Xia Zhi asked Qin Yi, who was adjusting the young master's clothes with a serious expression on his face.
"Mmmm...young master, today you're having breakfast with Master Lin, Lady Lin and the representative of the Xi family, Elder Xi Shen, who will be in charge of the young lady during her visit. In the afternoon, the bride from the Xi Clan will arrive, and the wedding ceremony will commence shortly after. The wedding ceremony will be followed by the greeting of parents of the bride and groom as a show of respect. After the wedding ceremony, there will be a grand wedding celebration to celebrate the start of a close relationship between the Lin Clan and Xi Clan." Qin Yi meticulously explained to his young master.
"Arrival. Ceremony. Celebration. Got it." Lin Xia Zhi speedily recited the three main events that Qin Yi had briefed him on.
"Lady Xi...I don't think I've met her before. Qin Yi, do you know how she looks like? Her personality, likes, dislikes, these type of things." Lin Xia Zhi was slightly curious about this Lady Xi. It seems that his father had arranged this marriage to the adopted daughter of the Xi Clan in order to gain some ties with the mighty Xi Clan. That was understandable. As the heir to the Lin Clan, a political marriage to bring benefits, ties and connections to his clan to further strengthen the clan was what was expected of him. He would never be able to get away with falling in love with a common villager and taking her as his wife, the heiress of the Lin Clan. That was one of the reasons for him to enter the gruesome battlefield when he was just fourteen, after receiving strict, some would call it vigorous, training since he was nine.
Before he started training to fight, he was taught all the basics of being a future Clan Leader. From etiquette and business classes which he would need for daily meetings to lessons for niche skills such as art, music and other lessons a normal boy would go through when he was growing up.
"Lady Xi...she…"Qin Yi started to explain about what he knew about the future young lady of the Xi Clan.