It was late by the time Liu Yao reached Qianqing Palace. This was the residence of the emperor, and his father and his grandfather had stayed here before him.
Liu Yao hated it. The memory of that hateful man he'd called father contaminated the very air of the place. He'd taken out all the opulent jewels, all the golds and rubies, and furnished it in someone else's preferences instead. Just out of spite.
As he entered the front chamber, he could hear a commotion coming from within. His brows furrowed as he considered who would have the gall to cause a ruckus in the emperor's sleeping quarters.
His eyes narrowed. If it were one of the concubines…
He'd given them due warning before. No one could blame him for being harsh.
Cao Mingbao took one hasty look at Liu Yao's darkening mien before hastening inside.
"Audacious!" he shouted. "Is Qianqing Palace a place for all of you to cause a fuss?!" The maids were startled at his sudden arrival, their faces turning pale as they fell to their knees. This was the sight Liu Yao saw as he stepped over the threshold of the doorway.
But before he could begin to investigate and mete out any due punishment, a tiny azure blur sprang forward from behind the maids and latched onto Liu Yao's legs. This small creature careened forward with so much force that Liu Yao had to take a step back to catch his balance. He reached out instinctively to grab onto the clothes of his assailant, preventing him from tumbling backwards and falling over onto his chubby bum.
"Your Highness!" Cao Mingbao exclaimed, his voice more fretful than respectful, even though he used the term of address for a prince that hadn't been granted a proper rank yet. "Please be careful, my small master, what if you injure yourself or His Majesty?"
The little ball of energy ignored him in favour of rubbing his cheek against the back of Liu Yao's hand. "Royal Big Brother!" he chirped in a childish voice. "This brother-subject has missed you~"
"…" Liu Yao bent down to pick the small boy up, perching him on one arm as he dismissed the relieved maids. He headed into the inner chambers where he normally slept. "Liu An, how old are you?"
"Liu An is 9!" He held up two hands, grubby with snack crumbs, to proudly display the number. Liu Yao moved his face back so it wouldn't come into contact with the mess.
"Then you're aware that you're too old to be sleeping with your big brother?"
Liu An's mouth contorted into a sad pout. "But Big Brother," he said miserably, "I've had another nightmare, I don't wanna stay alone."
Tiny hands clutched at the front of Liu Yao's robes, effectively dirtying them, but this time, Liu Yao didn't pull away.
Unlike Liu Yao and Liu Wei, Liu An's mother wasn't the empress. But he had been taken under the empress' wing after his birth mother had committed suicide in her own chambers. Liu An had only been 4 at that time and still staying with his birth mother. She'd only been a lowly Lady of Handsome Fairness when she'd died, and there hadn't been many servants. As such, everyone had overlooked the poor young 9th prince, and he'd walked into the room amidst all the screaming maids and eunuchs to see his beloved mother swinging from the rafters.
Liu Yao couldn't blame him for his bad dreams.
Big, innocent eyes blinked up at the emperor imploringly. "May this cute brother-subject of yours, sleep here tonight?"
They were very similar, Liu Yao realised. He was referring to the quality of Liu An's gaze and that of the servant he had seen earlier in Meiyue Tower.
But not entirely. There had been something else in that boy's demeanour that Liu Yao couldn't stop thinking about. Liu Yao hadn't expected to walk out of the room and catch sight of him standing there, quiet and tranquil, beautiful despite his poor attire. He'd looked like he'd stepped out of a fairy painting himself. He'd gazed up at the watercolour plum blossoms with a peaceful reverence on his face. His bright eyes had traced the strokes of Liu Yao's calligraphy with a knowledgeable appreciation. It was such a familiar expression that Liu Yao's heart had ached.
On impulse, he'd walked up to the boy for a better glimpse at his face, only to be disappointed. They weren't the same. To be sure, the boy was a devastating beauty, with the sort of looks that could cause the downfall of nations. But his eyes were too big, too gentle, too kind. His lips were too small, his frame too slight. Liu Yao had tried and failed to find a hint of that person in his features, and yet, unreasonably, he still saw a shadow of him nonetheless.
Which was why, after his teacher had brought up finding a companion, the memory of the boy had invaded his mind. Liu Yao had concealed it well from Du Yi—and even Cao Mingbao, who knew him best— but that didn't mean he wasn't unnerved by it. He didn't want to think about the last time he'd paid this kind of attention to another person.
"Royallll Bigggg Brotherrrrrrrr…"
Liu Yao gritted his teeth in irritation. He was still thinking about the boy even now. This was unacceptable.
"It's against decorum for a prince to spend the night in the emperor's residential palace," he said sternly. But after one more look at Liu An's pleading gaze, he caved and tossed this troublesome monkey onto the bed, pointedly ignoring the delighted cheering that followed.
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Wu Bin was silent for the duration of the carriage ride back to the Wu Estate. This made Yan Zheyun so uneasy that he tried to make small talk, in the hopes that Wu Bin's replies would give him a clue about his actual mood. Wu Bin would respond to his comments before reverting to his quiet reverie.
[The dog that bites doesn't bark,] was all Yan Zheyun could think of, even more discomfited now. If Wu Bin's new strategy was to play mind games, it was working too well.
Everything had been normal when Yan Zheyun had made his way back to the private room that Wu Bin was waiting in. Too normal. Yan Zheyun had apologised abashedly for getting lost, and Wu Bin had nodded in sympathy and asked him if he'd been scared. They'd even gone for a walk in the western market bazaar. It had been an eye-opening experience even for Yan Zheyun, who was very well-travelled. On any other occasion, he would have taken his time browsing from stall to stall, let himself soak up the atmosphere. Perhaps even spent a bit of time regretting that he didn't have his Hasselblad H6D-400C MS camera with him.
But he hadn't been in the mood. And neither had Wu Bin, evidently, because they took a turn around the place just once before departing for the house.
Yan Zheyun had been expecting to find Liang Hui lying in wait for them at the entrance. Maybe she would even have recruited the Minister of Rites to her cause, convinced the old man that his so-called prized trophy had overstepped its boundaries and seduced their son. But there was no one waiting to greet them besides two young servants who manned the entrance at night.
"My parents are asleep?" was all Wu Bin asked once they entered the estate.
"In response to Big Young Master, yes."
Wu Bin nodded before turning to Yan Zheyun. "It's time for your rest too, Yun Er. Good night." Without further ado, he walked off towards his own residences, leaving Yan Zheyun and the two door servants gaping at his back.
What was he playing at?
Yan Zheyun didn't want to follow Wu Bin back, of course, but the side-glances the two servants were giving him made him feel awkward. Like he was the one clambering after Wu Bin for attention, but the big young master was obviously too tasteful to take a lowly servant seriously.
Whatever. This was probably another ploy of sorts but Yan Zheyun could deal with it in the morning.
The kitchens' servant sleeping quarters were already dark by the time Yan Zheyun reached. This was vastly different to the corridors of the posh residences, which had lanterns lit all night long so that slaves could better attend to their masters' needs. In contrast, there was no point in wasting money burning expensive oils or candles for the sake of slaves.
The door creaked open when Yan Zheyun pushed it. The shrill sound made him wince and he heard one of the boys inside swear. There were probably a couple of them awake, but no one acknowledged him. That was fine, he wasn't expecting them to. After Wu Zhi's death today, he was pretty confident no one would try and accost him anymore. But he was also sure he wouldn't be able to find any allies in this place.
Except maybe Wu Zhong. As Yan Zheyun lay down, Wu Zhong turned to face him. Yan Zheyun couldn't see him in the dark, but he could feel warm breath against the arm that he was using as a pillow. This was the closest Yan Zheyun had ever slept to anyone. It made him uncomfortable, and he tried to shift backwards surreptitiously to create some distance, stopping only when his back hit the wall.
"Did you get into trouble?" Wu Zhong whispered.
"No," Yan Zheyun replied.
There was a long pause. And just as he thought Wu Zhong had fallen asleep, he heard, "Good."
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It didn't take long for Yan Zheyun to figure out the consequences of Wu Bin's actions. Overnight, an ugly rumour spread throughout the entire estate, about how the big young master had finally enjoyed a taste of his delectable manservant and was now ready to be serious and settle down with a woman of reputable status.
Wu Bin wasn't sure who'd started it. Perhaps it'd been the two door servants. Or Wu Bin himself. Maybe even Liang Hui. But he could guess that someone was fanning the flames and keeping it from dying down.
What had been an arduous but relatively uneventful life soon became a living hell.
No matter where Yan Zheyun went, crude comments and snide remarks followed him. The female servants gossiped about the techniques he must have used to crawl into Wu Bin's bed, and boldly asked him to share his tips. The male servants eyed him up and down lasciviously, calling him 'Little Beauty' whenever he walked past and asking if he'd noticed a difference when he relieved himself in the toilet, now that he'd had a man to loosen him up.
He'd thought that after so many years of building his company from scratch and having to wrangle with underhanded, cunning competitors, he would have developed skin as thick as the Great Wall. But his fortitude didn't stop his face from burning with anger and humiliation.
If Wu Bin knew what was going on, he didn't do anything about it. This was a sign to the rest of the servants that the death threat Wu Bin had issued outside the kitchens over Wu Zhi's fresh corpse was no longer going to be enforced. Wu Bin had gotten what he'd wanted and tossed Yan Zheyun aside like a used rag.
No one blamed Wu Bin for his empty promises. No one pitied Yan Zheyun for the abandonment.
Well, almost no one.
Mingyue sneaked in to see him once, eyes watering when she saw the bruises on his arms and legs. He'd received them from scrapping with some servants who had tried to strip him and 'see if his body was as fair as his face'. Yan Zheyun hadn't expected her to visit, especially since he'd received word of her plight, which he felt was far worse than his.
Liang Hui had mentioned marrying her to Yan Zheyun just a fortnight or so ago. And then she'd turned around and chucked her onto Wu Bin's bed as a bedwarmer, along with all of the other young girls who had served him before. The matchmaking negotiations between General Guo's family and the Wu Household had progressed nicely and Liang Hui had decided that training her son in the ways of the bedroom was more important than keeping her word.
Like mother like son.
Wu Zhong, too, didn't treat him any differently. Although every day, he would look at the increasing number of injuries on Yan Zheyun's body with a scowl on his face. And in the evenings, there would be a jar of cheap herbal salve tucked away in Yan Zheyun's blanket.
He never acknowledged Yan Zheyun's thanks, but the salve would be there again the next night.
By the time spring faded and Wu Bin's matchmaking formalities had been traded satisfactorily, Yan Zheyun had long since cottoned on to Wu Bin's plan. Wu Bin wasn't going to sacrifice a powerful political alliance for a faithful relationship with a slave. Of course not. But he couldn't stand the idea of Yan Zheyun escaping his control either, had been angered that Yan Zheyun had even tried. So to prove to Yan Zheyun that he was reliant, that he couldn't live without Wu Bin's protection, Wu Bin had decided to withdraw it.
Wu Bin didn't care anymore if it would make Yan Zheyun hate him. He just wanted Yan Zheyun to put aside his pride and come begging to be taken back, glad of his own accord to be reduced to Wu Bin's plaything. He wanted Yan Zheyun to stand faithfully behind him, watching with sad envy as a woman took her rightful place as the future mistress of the Wu Household by Wu Bin's side.
In modern-day terms, Yan Zheyun, ex-CEO and current very annoyed slave, was being PUAed. If he weren't personally involved, he might even laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the idea.
Though, to be honest, it wasn't an ineffective plan. It probably would have worked on Yan Yun. On the worst days, when the bullying had just started, Yan Zheyun had even considered giving up once or twice, just because reprieve had been so tempting.
But he'd quickly murdered that thought. Wu Bin wanted to increase his value in Yan Zheyun's eyes by devaluing Yan Zheyun in the eyes of others? What a joke. Who here wasn't a young master in their own right?
All this while, he'd been so obsessed with just trying to escape Wu Bin's clutches and finding a way to survive. He'd allowed himself to wallow in so much self-pity that he could scarcely recognise himself anymore. Yan Yun would have fretted and worried about what others might think. He would have been ashamed of what he had been reduced to, hurt at the insults that weren't true.
But Yan Zheyun wasn't Yan Yun. He was the fucking oldest son of SH City's Yan Family, and if his parents had taught him one thing, it was to not go down without a good fight. Merely survive? Fuck that. Yan Zheyun was going to rub his survival into the faces of his enemies. He was going to show them how to thrive.
If everyone could step on him because he was right at the bottom, then he'd just have to climb to the top so that he could do the same to their corpses.
What? Slaves can't become masters?
Sure. Whatever. At least he would be able to say that he'd died trying.