The next three months passed in an impasse.
Zixi watched with folded hands as the illegitimate child's behaviour became more arrogant and despotic.
He allowed her free reign over things. He followed all her whims to a T. But sometimes when he was too tired of dealing with her or on days when he saw Yueyue with an unhappy face, Zixi couldn't stop his heartfelt emotions from leaking into his eyes and actions.
He knew the new addition to the Yu family noticed it but he already had a plan if she ever questioned him about things. Uncle had asked him not to give in to all her demands, he had acquiesced to his order and curbed a few of her excessive ideas.
For the most part, Zixi left her to her own devices and gave in to all her demands after a token hesitation. After all, there were many ways to eliminate an opponent. One didn't need to have epic confrontations or enact make-believe plots.
He had always favoured the easiest as well as the most difficult method. One that wouldn't even leave any clues for anyone to follow and fool most of the people. He just had to let her grow in a greenhouse so that she could never grow into a towering tree. He had decided to fulfil all her demands.
As they say, one needed to fatten a pig before anything else and Zixi had planned to raise her as a pig marked for slaughter who would be either sacrificed or discarded at the opportune moment.
It was the day of the new girl's eighteenth birthday. While giving her well wishes Zixi had a random errant thought that he had been in close quarters with her for three months but till date, he hadn't called her by her name or proper title even once in his own thoughts.
He wondered if it was the same for Yueyue as well. If she also called that interloper by something else behind closed doors. He would love to know about it.
Anyways, all the preparations had been made. He once again played a slight trick when he had learned how that spurious had repudiated Yueyue for her suggestion to have the party outside.
Generally, in their social class, any birthdays except for the heir were celebrated outside. It was a sign that though the said person wouldn't have the reins of the family fortune in his or her hands in the future, they would still have a say in the important matters. Since she was so eager to compete with the heir he'll fulfil this wish of hers as well.
She had complained to him loudly about how the elder sister didn't have her best interest at hearts so Zixi cajoled her and promised her that it would be as she wanted it to be. Let her be happy in her own bubble.
Celebrating a birthday at the main residence was equal to blowing a loud trumpet that though the patriarch of the Yu family had taken this daughter in, he didn't plan to give her anything substantial in regards to business in the long run.
Zixi had been immensely pleased and satisfied when his uncle had told him about the three per cent shares being given to her with an upper cap of twenty per cent. He had watched how that girl had felt dissatisfied with the decision. Well, as long as she was unhappy he could find some solace in that fact.
In fact, she was itching to throw the birthday gift presented to her from the heir, whether at his head or in the fire he couldn't decide.
Her thanks were barely given before it was pushed to the side.
For a gift with so much potential meaning, it had seemed she had just taken offence. It didn't bother him, in fact, it helped his cause, but Zixi did wonder what it was she did expect.
A legitimate first born child and the only child at that giving an illegitimate child a set of journals was the legitimate child's generosity and the illegitimate child's good fortune.
All family heads gave their heirs such a set on their sixteenth birthday. It was given so that the heir could write down the journey of their life and it was then passed on to the first born child of their own for reading and gaining knowledge as well as understanding everything their parents had gone through to stand at the point where they were.
Anyways, after much ado about nothing, the party had started. Zixi didn't want to see that girl trying to curry favour with others. It was an unsightly thing to watch so he left the hall. After some time as he was planning on going out and leaving the compound, he saw the Yu patriarch rushing upstairs with no regards to anything else. His heart gave a skip and he knew something was amiss.
When uncle had explained to him about receiving a text message about someone taking undue advantage of his eldest daughter, the rug had been pulled out from under his feet. For a moment, Zixi had lost all composure in his anger but then his worry had made him control himself since their first priority at the moment was finding her and hoping and praying that it wouldn't be too late by then.
They had frantically opened each individual door of every room when he had heard an unexplained noise and realised that she must be in that room. Without further thought, he had rushed towards the door and broken it in a matter of seconds.
In those moments he had an epiphany that he was capable of the same destruction that had happened to his parents. If even a single strand of her hair was out of place he would burn the animal who dared do something like that to her along with this place.
The scene that greeted him had made him thankful to God for once in his life. He saw her sitting with the arrogance of a supreme being while the other person was at her feet whimpering like the animal he was.
He wished she had broken something more important of that pig rather than his wrist so that he would never even be able to experience anything like what he had wanted to do to her ever again. Yu Jian would later think back to this day and remember how Zixi 's aura had turned overbearing and his gaze vicious.
Later on, he had vented all his feelings on Yuanzhi and listened to his screams with a perverted sense of relish. His fury was indispensable and he was livid.
Who would have thought that someone would be so brazen and bold?
Yu Yue was the future master of the Yu family. Even if she was a girl, she would follow the footsteps of her father. The other person - no matter even if it was someone from the upper echelons of society was just thinking too highly of himself.
A person whom he treasured greatly: that he had put so many years of hard work to even appear in front of in some semblance of capability had been almost destroyed by this guy.
Zixi felt that even if he cut his flesh into pieces and drank all his blood, his anger still wouldn't abate. Afterwards, when the Yu Patriarch had asked him to break all of Yuanzhi's fingers and throw him in a place far away from human habilitation, he had felt that it wasn't enough punishment for his misdeeds.
Since he had to follow the orders, he did as was ordered but he added his own punishment over it. After breaking the fingers, he broke his both legs as well and threw him in a water-filled area. Well, he was asked to throw the offender far away from human civilization and the deep sea seemed to be a good option.
The next day when the interloper asked him questions while he was dropping her off at the school he had an idea that she might have been involved in the incident somehow so had looked at her sharply but diffused her questions without telling her the pertinent points.
He'll slowly start probing her out.
If there was even a shadow of a doubt that she was involved, he would return to her ten-fold what she had planned for her sister. He would try to find a reason to put out even the smallest kindle of fire that could hurt Yueyue in case the fire grew more intense.
He also questioned the household staff. This also gave him a chance to pluck out all the rats and weasels that had been planted into the main residence by other families so he swiftly and mercilessly let them off.
In the evening when he had been summoned into the study he knew the other girl must have played some trick or something along the same lines. He rushed to the study and when he was asked to sit in the chair without a single word being spoken, he knew he had to relay his thoughts so as not to be misunderstood in any way.
He had knelt on the floor with the resolution that he wouldn't move from his position until he was sure that his uncle wouldn't just offload him permanently to the brainless idiot. The talk afterwards had eased his worries.
When uncle had asked him if he wanted to stop with his secondary identity, he had immediately rejected it. If he left this post, he wouldn't even be able to watch the wonderful person Yueyue was growing up to be.
It was his most cherished desire to have a personal hand and say in her growth. Though the wish was still unfulfilled atleast he could have a fill of watching her from the shadows. Without becoming an integral part of her life, he wouldn't leave this place, even if he was to be shunned.
When he was told that the eldest miss was selected for a foreign exchange programme, he wanted to be the one sent along with her to take care of her matters.
Zixi wanted to be the one to hide her from all wind and rain but he couldn't do it openly.
All his desires, all his wishes, he had to bury them deep within his heart.
If someday the truth about his identity came to light he knew those people wouldn't care about anything else before taking an action. He didn't want his own desires to hurt the only person in his heart. So he suppressed everything and watched from the shadows as uncle started preparing for the year-long separation without telling Yu Yue.
Three days later when he had been formally and through proper channels been introduced to Yu Yue, his heart had been beating at a fast rate and his palms had gotten sweaty. He realised that the saying 'I was so nervous being introduced like that' was also applicable to him.
He was a silent spectator as many thoughts seemed to flash past her eyes and brain in a minute. Even her expressions had been varied but he couldn't catch anything since he didn't know the cause of it. He watched as she seemed to come to a decision of keeping him at an arm's length due to whatever reason and just gave him a brief vague look.
He had wanted to question her if he was so unimpressionable that he hadn't left any kind of long-lasting impression on her when they had been informally introduced by the other girl. Afterwards, she had left the study without sparing him a single additional glance and had taken his heart away with her.
Last night uncle had asked him to bring The Wisteria Lamp out of the storage and give it to her. He was worried that it would bring back memories that were better left to the dark recesses of their brains, to the forefront. He wanted to talk about it with her but she just left him standing there with a single order to bring the lamp to the sitting room after breakfast.
Now had it been someone else in his position, they would have felt disgruntled at being ignored like that by the person who occupied their complete heart. On the contrary, Zixi felt his fighting sense rekindled. He wanted her to get close to him on his own merits not just because they were introduced by the patriarch or be given face due to his position in the staff.
He saw a violent turmoil of emotions in her eyes when she looked at The Wisteria Lamp. It was as if she had found something that had been long lost. It was akin to a boat landing on the port after a long time spent on the sea.
Afterwards, he had taken a half - day off to go visit the cemetery to visit the loved ones who had left him long ago. He received a phone call from Xun Mei.
"Heaven's, you wouldn't believe what happened here."
He knew Xun Mei had a tendency to exaggerate things so he simply asked her to tell him in short, concise sentences what had happened without any of her usual flare towards dramatics.
"The Wisteria Lamp that everyone was talking about in the morning fell down and broke."
"What? How could someone be so careless while working? They had been warned repeatedly by the Butler to take care of it or be ready to answer to the people above " He was bewildered and asked his doubts in quick succession.
"It wasn't the servants. It was Miss who did it."
For a moment Zixi couldn't fathom tow could Yueyue do something like that.
"Such an expensive item. The eldest miss hasn't left her room since then. She must be in a terrible mood." Xun Mei carried on speaking without any input from him.
Before he could ask her to slow down and explain the ins and outs of everything that had happened, Xun Mei continued, "She has forgotten her own identity. Is she mad? She is too arrogant and villainous Otherwise, how could it be that she managed to break The Wisteria Lamp."
It was only after listening to the last few sentences he realised that the lamp that was so important to his uncle and his daughter had been broken by that spurious person.
Obviously, he had never considered her a part of the family so how could his mind connect it to her when Xun Mei said it was broken by Miss.
He had thought Yueyue had inadvertently broken it. But how could it be such a coincidence?
That new girl hadn't bumped into all the things placed around the residence but had wobbled, bumped into it and broken it.
"She broke it in front of the eldest miss. The news has spread through the servants like a wildfire. Everyone had thought Eldest Miss would sort her out but she hasn't left her room since then." When he heard those words his heart trembled in fear for his girl's current emotional turmoil.
"Why didn't you call me as soon as all this happened? You only know to gossip around every day and neglect what is truly important." Zixi spoke harshly to Xun Mei. He knew he was being unfair but it would have been better if he had been informed of this incident as soon as it had happened.
Xun Mei huffed when she heard Xun Zixi's admonishment and before he could lecture her once again, she cut off the phone.
Xun Mei knew they weren't related by blood and she also knew there was some deeper secret to this 'brother' of hers. She had seen the patriarch treat him different from the other staff. He never said more than necessary to the rest of the household staff but since they had been brought into the residence all those years ago, she had seen a soft light in master's eyes whenever he looked at Zixi.
They also spent hours at a time in the study. Though, they thought that nobody noticed but how could that be?
She had been the first one to notice and she had taken notice of anyone else who had even gotten a mere glimpse of it. She had made sure to wreck those people with other things so that they wouldn't pay attention to the master. After all, as servants, they just had to keep their heads low and hands fast.
Moreover, both males were her benefactors so how could she repay them for their generosity with selfishness.