Chapter 16: The Guest

Chapter 16: The Guest

Li Zhiming was silent for a moment, then began to spout nonsense: "Mm... liking someone comes in two kinds. One kind is how I feel about you—it's appreciation, like you could be a good brother."

"The other kind is the man-woman kind, the kind about carrying on the family line and having kids together."

Sang Yu's eyes darkened a little.

"We live together and sleep together now, so that means it's the second kind?"

Pfft.

Li Zhiming's mouth twitched: "I told you, it's between a man and a woman. We're both dudes, we're brothers. Obviously it's the first kind."

Ugh, talking to a minor is such a pain, all this beating around the bush.

And kinda embarrassing too.

He pulled his hand back, rolled over to lie flat, and avoided those innocent eyes: "Go to sleep, go to sleep. You'll get it later."

The room went quiet.

Li Zhiming figured he'd settled down and was about to doze off again when the kid suddenly spoke up out of nowhere: "I once heard the palace servants say nothing in the world beats the pleasures of a brothel. When I'm better, take me there to check it out."

"??? Hell no!!!"

As a model citizen, how could he hit up a brothel and hire prostitutes? That's illegal.

Taking him there would just add another crime to the list.

No freaking way, no matter what!

"?" Sang Yu was confused. "Why not?"

"You, you, you can't leave the mansion." Li Zhiming racked his brain for that excuse.

"Why not?"

"You were snatched up by me. Anyway, you can go out, but you're someone I took a liking to and grabbed. If I took you to a brothel, where's my face? Plus, there might be new assassins coming after me."

He spoke fast, shutting it down hard.

Sang Yu went quiet and said nothing.

This time, it was really quiet.

Li Zhiming lay there, his drowsiness more than half gone.

He was still a virgin, honestly. He'd never been to a brothel either, only seen them on TV—full of beauties.

The thought of holding a beauty in his arms made his virgin body stir with restless want.

The next day, neither of them got much sleep.

Li Zhiming, with dark circles under his eyes, wolfed down breakfast and hightailed it back to his room to catch up on sleep.

Daytime was safer, so he felt fine, sleeping till noon before getting up.

Feng Yin reminded him: "Young master, that scholar came by this morning wanting to see you, but since you were resting, I sent him off. Want me to call him over?"

Oh, he'd almost forgotten about that guy.

Li Zhiming waved his hand: "No need. Which courtyard is he in? Take me there."

He could also use the chance to get familiar with the estate and the folks in it.

"Yes."

The courtyard wasn't far, just down a corridor.

As soon as he arrived, the scholar put down his book and bowed respectfully: "This humble one greets—"

"No need for all that."

Li Zhiming sat down casually, checking out the young man, and gestured to the seat across: "Sit down too."

"Yes."

The rescue earlier was rushed, so he hadn't gotten a good look at him. This was the first time he really saw the scholar's face.

Refined and gentle, with a clean, handsome face and bright, lively eyes. In a long blue robe, he fit the scholar image perfectly.

Before Li Zhiming could ask, the scholar introduced himself: "Lord Li, this humble one's surname is Su, given name Yi."

Then, he told his whole story in detail.

According to him, he was attacked by bandits on a spring outing and saved by a young lady. Unexpectedly, she took a liking to him at first sight and insisted on marrying him.

The flowers fell with intent, but the water flowed on unmoved.

He already had a childhood sweetheart at home he loved, so he flat-out refused her.

After multiple attempts to pressure him, his stubborn attitude finally pissed off the lady and her father too.

If they couldn't have him, they'd destroy him, and so disaster struck.

While fleeing, he heard his whole family had been dragged into it for no reason. In a panic, he rushed home to find everyone dead, with only his younger sister missing.

Following clues his sister left, he tracked her all the way to the capital, where he got found out and had to run for his life, eventually being saved by Li Zhiming's guards.

The world was going to hell, and people's hearts weren't what they used to be.

A young man out in the world had to watch his back.

Li Zhiming shuddered, scared stiff of a world where lives were snuffed out so easily.

The two sat across from each other, at a loss for words for a moment.

Since it was mealtime, Li Zhiming had the servants bring the food to the courtyard, eating and chatting with Su Yi, picking up more about this world from him along the way.

After the meal, Su Yi seemed weighed down by something.

"If you've got something to say, just say it. No need to hold back."

"Yes, thank you, Lord Li, for saving me and for your care. I want to go find my younger sister, so I'm afraid I can't stay here much longer."

"You wanna leave?"

"Yes."

"That's not gonna work." Li Zhiming thought it over. "Feng Yin told me you're hurt. If you go out now, the people after you might still be waiting out there. That's way too risky."

"Exactly 'cause it's dangerous out there, I can't just leave my sister to fend for herself."

"Well..."

He had a point.

A guy with skills like this suddenly showing up could come in handy later.

"How about I help you track down your family?"

Not that he'd be doing the searching himself.

Su Yi's eyes lit up. "For real?"

Li Zhiming nodded. "Mm, I'm a man of my word. Just settle in here and hit the books. When you ace the imperial exams, I hope you'll serve the people and be a solid official."

He might not have much talent himself, but he sure knew how to fire someone up.

Su Yi nodded firmly. "Don't worry, Lord Li. I'll never forget what you said."

"Good. So what does your sister look like? Any distinguishing marks? You should draw a picture of her so I can have people look for her."

Su Yi pointed at his own face. "We're twins, a brother and sister, and we look almost the same. Just use my face as a reference, my lord."

"That's no problem."

Feng Yin, quick to catch on, chimed in: "Boss, want me to go set it up?"

"Mm, go ahead."

With that big worry off his chest, Su Yi loosened up a lot and stopped being so stiff, even joking around with Li Zhiming.

Li Zhiming was stoked to finally have a friend who treated him like a regular person.

The two got along so well that the evening snuck up on them. His shoulder started hurting, and that's when it hit him how fast the time had flown.

They simply had dinner together as well.

Li Zhiming had been in such a good mood lately that he swung by Su Yi's courtyard every day to shoot the breeze.

From Su Yi, he picked up all sorts of weird stuff about this world, which only convinced him more that this wasn't any dynasty from history.

It might be a special time and space, or a special world.

In any case, it was not a dynasty he knew of.