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Half of the bookshelf in the study held books, and the other half, sketches. On the workbench, tools needed for making Cyan Feather crafts such as hole punch pliers, a hand drill, and carving knives were neatly arranged. There was also a semi-finished Cyan Feather inlay peony piece on the table.
Tang Wan was brewing tea, and as the boiling water poured in, a faint aroma of black tea filled the study.
She was about to serve the tea to Jiang Jinsang but realized he had somehow circled behind her.
His unexpected closeness caught her off guard, causing her hand holding the cup to tremble and nearly spill the tea, but...
The next second, he reached over, and with her hand, steadied the cup.
"Were you scared of me?"
The cup was too small, and Tang Wan held it with both hands. His hands now encased hers, his fingertips warm and his body temperature slightly high, as if there were sparks teasing the back of her hand...
It was quite hot.
"No," Tang Wan maintained her composure, attempting to withdraw her fingers, but she was trapped, having no way, "Fifth Master?"
"We're somewhat familiar now, aren't we? I'm currently staying in your courtyard, it's hard to avoid seeing each other every day."
"You keep addressing me as Master, and it always makes me feel like we're generations apart, even though there's only a three-year age difference between us."
"What Grandpa Tang said this morning was quite right..."
His tone was calm and gentle, his eyes lowered, without a hint of desire, speaking as if he were discussing the weather so casually.
Tang Wan guessed what he was about to say, but when he finally spoke, it was simply, "Should we change how we address each other?"
His voice was warm, and he pressed down on the last syllable of the word, sliding the entire sentence into a low, ambiguous tone.
Tang Wan's heart was pounding, thumping wildly, squeezing her chest.
It painted her ears with a delicate blush.
"Change how we address each other?"
"Yes."
If Old Master Tang had said it, it would have been a half-joking teasing, but when Jiang Jinsang said it, the entire meaning changed. His soft and humble tone made it irresistible.
The form of address was just a few words, yet it constantly reminded Tang Wan that the person before her was a master of Sijiu City. She must respect and revere him. Once such boundaries were broken...
More things would inevitably follow suit and be broken.
They were not from the same world, and even if she felt a flutter, Tang Wan wasn't eager to get too entangled with him.
Sijiu City was different from Pingjiang, and the waters of the Jiang Family only ran deeper.
...
At that time, a few members of the Jiang Family were squatting in the courtyard, fussing with flowers and plants.
Most of them came from martial backgrounds, usually handling firearms and sticks, yet now, these grown men were holding pink watering cans to sprinkle the plants. The scene was truly strange.
"This life is impossible to live, broke the heater, took the blame, and now damn it, we even have to water the flowers? How did we end up like this?"
"Why don't you go and ask the Fifth Master then?"
"The Fifth Master is definitely interested in the young lady, lying through his teeth, saying he knocked over her flower pot yesterday and dirtied her yard, but the results?"
"He compensated with a courtyard full of flowers!"
"Weren't we supposed to cancel an engagement? How did he end up flirting with a girl? Should we tell Madam about this?"
"Shut up, unless he's sick, if you dare to say a single word more, today you can still plant flowers, and by tomorrow, you'll be planting trees in the desert."
"..."
They had followed Jiang Jinsang for quite a while and had previously sensed that their Fifth Master had some special interest in Tang Wan, but they dared not think in that direction. After last night and this morning, even a fool could see the anomaly.
The group watered the flowers and squatted in the corner to bask in the sun. Thinking about it, this wasn't such a bad little life.
**
Meanwhile, Tang Wan suppressed her trembling heart, slowly withdrew her fingers from his palms and created a small distance between them.
"Fifth Master, I think there's no need to change the form of address. You are indeed a master of Sijiu City, calling you Fifth Master isn't overboard, just like you said before..."
"In speaking and acting, one must match their identity."
This was what Jiang Jinsang had said when he once admonished Tang Mo.
...
He held the teacup, the water was hot. He blew at the rising steam by his lips and looked at Tang Wan, with gentle brows and eyes, "But in my heart..."
"You are different."
Tang Wan felt she was about to die. This man was naturally too handsome, and he always left some parts unsaid when he spoke. She indeed was different from Tang Mo, but hearing this...
Yet it always carried some indescribable ambiguity.
Enough to make one's heart skip a beat.
...
"Some things she can't do, but you can afford to be a bit indulgent with me." Jiang Jinsang's voice was clear and slow, yet it shot like an arrow, "biu—"
Hitting right in the heart.
This was tacit favoritism and indulgence.
Tang Wan wasn't cold-hearted. When a handsome man tells you that you are special, claiming not to be moved would be a lie.
"In my household and among friends, I'm the youngest, everyone calls me Xiaowu, you can call me by my name, or..."
"Calling me Brother Wu is fine too."
Tang Wan tightly pressed her lips, call his name? Jinsang? How could she bring herself to say it?
Yet Brother Wu was even more ambiguous.
He stood right in front of her, leisurely drinking his water, patiently waiting, but Tang Wan felt like sitting on pins and needles, changing the form of address wasn't a big deal, but at the moment she just couldn't get the words out.
...
Just when the atmosphere was tense, someone's phone started vibrating. Tang Wan felt saved, immediately took out her phone, but it wasn't hers.
"Fifth Master, it's your call."
"Mm." Jiang Jinsang's phone was on the chair he had been sitting on, resting on a blanket, vibrating away.
He picked up the phone, squinted at the caller display, frowned slightly, mildly impatient, and directly hung up.
"Not answering the call?" Tang Wan exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling she had dodged a bullet, internally grateful for such a call.
"Unknown number, a spam call."
"Mm." Tang Wan didn't think much of it.
And then Jiang Jinsang's phone vibrated again, he casually ended it and blocked the number.
Tang Wan exhaled long, took a sip of tea, her palms damp with nervous sweat.
This Fifth Master Jiang was truly a demon, and not a little demon, but a millennium-old Demon!
Later she came to know, this Demon—
Could eat people!
*
Meanwhile in Beijing, the person on the other end frowned, having called twice and unable to get through: "What's going on? Bad reception?"
Yet when he dialed again, the tone indicated:
[The number you have dialed is not in service.]
...
"Could it be because the Tang Family's old residence is in the suburbs, so the reception is poor? The suburbs aren't the countryside; how can there be such poor mobile signal?" he mumbled softly to himself.
For the next few days, the call never got through, only then did he realize his prior thoughts were so naive, for then he became aware of one possibility:
He might have been blocked by Jiang Jinsang!
Damn it, I was just concerned about your health, afraid that you'd be unfamiliar with the Tang Family's place, mistreated and abandoned in the wilderness, and you blocked me?
All my earnest brotherly feelings, truly fed to the dogs!
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