The Young Marquis is Ruining the Court! - Chapter 20

Xie Jiu thought Chi Zhou would be angry or at least a little displeased.

After all, why should he be the only one feeling frustrated? It would be better if Chi Zhou felt it too, better if Chi Zhou’s emotions were swayed by him, even if it was only over a dog.

But Chi Zhou merely parted his lips, then closed them. The corners of his narrow eyes curved slightly into an arc like a willow branch. With extreme indulgence, he said, “Little Boat? That’s actually quite nice.”

Xie Jiu froze. The dark, restless rage that had been crashing against his chest seemed to have its floodgates slammed shut in an instant, leaving him feeling stifled.

Chi Zhou moved past the subject, squinting his eyes against the sunlight with a faint, shallow smile. He didn’t rebuke Xie Jiu for the lack of respect. In that moment, he genuinely felt it was fine.

Hadn’t he decided from the very beginning? He couldn’t stay with Xie Jiu for long. In that case, giving a puppy that would grow up by Xie Jiu’s side the name “Little Boat” was actually quite a comforting thought.

Chi Zhou stepped past Lu Zhongyuan’s front door, crossed the small alley, and emerged into the long street. He merged into the bustling crowd as if he might gallop away in an unknown direction at any second.

Xie Jiu’s heart tightened. Without a second thought, he strode forward to catch up, leaning in to grab Chi Zhou’s wrist.

Chi Zhou was slightly stunned. He looked down and saw the veins bulging on Xie Jiu’s well-defined hand, his knuckles white from the force. Xie Jiu’s face remained somewhat cold, seemingly devoid of emotion, but the strength and movement of his hand betrayed the truth.

After a moment of silence, Chi Zhou laughed. He patted the back of Xie Jiu’s hand with his other hand and said softly, “What’s wrong, Jiu Jiu? You gave my name to a puppy, so why do you look like the aggrieved one?”

He could roughly sense that Xie Jiu’s current emotion wasn’t grievance, but he couldn’t quite put into words what it actually was. He chose a vague expression to try and soothe the panic that had arisen in Xie Jiu from nowhere.

Yes, it was panic. Panic, stubbornness, paranoia… mixed together, they formed an extreme state of unease, infinitely similar to a frantic sense of being wronged.

Chi Zhou really couldn’t understand why he had such sensitive, subtle emotional fluctuations. Applying a bit of force, he tried to pull Xie Jiu’s hand off his wrist. He pried for a while but couldn’t move it. The harder he pulled, the harder Xie Jiu gripped. He had no idea where that immense strength came from.

It wasn’t until they both reached a breaking point and Chi Zhou let out a soft hiss of pain that Xie Jiu snapped out of it, his fingers instinctively loosening.

However, he didn’t let go completely. Almost the instant Chi Zhou thought he was being released, Xie Jiu clamped down again, his five fingers curling into Chi Zhou’s palm. He muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Chi Zhou looked down at the ring of finger marks on his wrist, then at the hand still restraining him. He couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. He playfully lifted his wrist and shook it in front of Xie Jiu. “Is this how you apologize?”

Xie Jiu kept a stiff face, remaining silent, but he did not let go.

Chi Zhou realized he couldn’t do anything about it and decided to let it be. The kid has no sense of security, he thought, let him have his way. Even though the stares from passersby were a bit embarrassing, the original owner of this body had left him a reputation so notorious that there was no room left for shame. Why should Chi Zhou care?

He gripped Xie Jiu’s hand back and led him down the street.

They didn’t take a carriage. They stopped and started along the way, entering any shop they encountered, regardless of whether it sold scented balms or jade ornaments. Chi Zhou had said he wanted to buy furniture, but before they even reached the carpenter’s shop, he had already ordered a bunch of random items.

The two of them naturally couldn’t carry it all, so Chi Zhou left the address of the house in Jifu Alley and told the clerk to deliver it. Some items weren’t in stock and needed to be custom-made. Chi Zhou wasn’t in a hurry; he paid the deposit and took Xie Jiu to the next shop.

Xie Jiu wanted to hold hands the entire way like a child who hadn’t grown up. Chi Zhou felt a bit awkward at first, but eventually got used to it. After all, one hand being occupied didn’t hinder much.

However, some pedestrians cast strange looks at them, pointing and whispering. Some showed disdain, while others covered their mouths and giggled. After being stared at like a rare species for the whole journey, Chi Zhou finally couldn’t take it anymore. He sighed and pulled Xie Jiu into the nearest restaurant.

They didn’t sit in the main hall. He asked the waiter for a private room and dragged his “human pendant” inside.

The environment suddenly became cramped. In the enclosed space with only the two of them, Chi Zhou shook his now-sweaty hand and said helplessly, “Still not letting go?”

Xie Jiu struggled with hesitation for a moment before finally releasing his grip.

Chi Zhou exhaled, unsure of his own thoughts. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and poured himself a cup of tea. While rubbing his wrist, he looked up at Xie Jiu. After a long silence, he said, “If it’s really that bad, you can go catch a cat for me. I’ll call it Jiu Jiu, just so you don’t have to panic like this.”

Chi Zhou had assumed the man was acting so abnormally all morning because he was afraid Chi Zhou was angry, and he thought this would even the score.

To his surprise, Xie Jiu’s expression darkened. He refused immediately without a thought: “No.”

Chi Zhou: “Hm?”

Xie Jiu pursed his lips, his expression serious as he repeated, “Chi Zhou, no.”

The phrasing was a bit ambiguous. Chi Zhou found it funny and actually laughed out loud.

“Xie Jiu Jiu, are you being reasonable? You’re allowed to use my name for a puppy, but I’m not allowed to raise a cat?”

“…” Xie Jiu was silent for two seconds before nodding. “Correct.”

He answered with such righteous conviction that Chi Zhou felt his temper vanish. He stared at the man for a long time, picked up the cold tea on the table, and gulped it down. He held the tea in his mouth for a while, staring fiercely at Xie Jiu for several seconds before his Adam’s apple bobbed sharply, swallowing the tea as if he were swallowing the curses he wanted to say.

Then, he irritably hooked a nearby chair with his foot. “Sit down. Eat.”

Xie Jiu obediently sat beside him, but noticed Chi Zhou refused to look at him, instead staring through the window at the crowds below.

Neither of them spoke. After a while, Xie Jiu couldn’t sit still. He pushed back his chair and knelt down.

Chi Zhou was startled and said with a hint of alarm, “What are you doing?”

Xie Jiu knelt on one knee without answering, simply lifting Chi Zhou’s trouser leg. Chi Zhou was scared half to death and tried to pull his foot back, but Xie Jiu’s strength was inexplicable. He grabbed Chi Zhou’s ankle with one hand and pulled it toward him, rendering Chi Zhou immobile.

“Don’t move,” Xie Jiu said lowly.

His voice was incredibly commanding, a side of him Chi Zhou had never seen. Dazed, Chi Zhou allowed him to roll up his trousers and remove his shoes and socks.

The scene should have felt suggestive, especially in a private room where someone could burst in at any time. Chi Zhou was extremely nervous, his hand clutching the side of his clothes.

He asked again, “What are you doing?” His voice was hoarse, carrying a trace of a shiver he couldn’t hide, though he wasn’t sure if it was from fear or something else.

Xie Jiu knelt on the floor, one hand gripping the ankle, looking up at Chi Zhou silently before lowering his head to gently knead the sprained area.

“Hiss” Chi Zhou gasped. It wasn’t pain; it was purely a bit ticklish. He finally realized what the man was doing.

Xie Jiu kept his head down, his expression hidden, but Chi Zhou could instinctively sense that his face was likely somber, cold, and heavy with a low-pressure mood. Xie Jiu remained on one knee, resting Chi Zhou’s sprained foot on his own knee, massaging it bit by bit. His technique was skillful, and his expression was earnest, as if there was nothing in the world more important than this.

The waiter came in mid-way to serve the food. Seeing the scene in the room, he was momentarily stuck, not knowing whether to enter or retreat. Chi Zhou was deathly embarrassed but forced himself to stay calm. “Just put it here.”

“Oh… okay,” the waiter replied, hurriedly putting down the plates and scurrying out.

The next dish was brought by a different person, and the one after that by yet another. Chi Zhou strongly suspected that the waiters in this restaurant were treating their room as some kind of tourist attraction.

His embarrassment and awkwardness eventually turned to numbness under Xie Jiu’s overly indifferent actions and the waiters’ repeated “viewings.” It wasn’t until all the dishes were served and Xie Jiu still showed no intention of getting up that Chi Zhou finally couldn’t hold it in. He lightly kicked Xie Jiu’s knee. “That’s enough—”

“Chi Zhou, you can only raise me,” Xie Jiu spoke at the same time, his request phrased as a demand.

Even though he was placing himself in a weak position to be “raised,” every word was an unshakeable notification. “You cannot raise anyone else. You cannot call anyone else by my name.”

Chi Zhou remembered their previous conversation and wanted to tell him he only meant a cat, and that it had nothing to do with “anyone else.” But the words died in his throat. Chi Zhou sighed and gave him another kick as if to vent. “Fine, I get it.”

Go ahead and die of jealousy then, he thought.

His earlobes, caught in the sunlight from the window, turned a translucent, pale pink. Xie Jiu looked at that spot silently for a while before finally putting Chi Zhou’s shoes and socks back on. He washed his hands and returned to the table to eat.

For the next few days, Chi Zhou practically lived in Jifu Alley.

At first, he only intended to add a few pieces of furniture. But then he saw a cabinet and thought the pattern was too plain, so he wanted something better. He picked a bed, then worried the wood wasn’t sturdy enough and wanted to commission a larger one.

Once the furniture was finally selected, he felt that the roof tiles and white brick walls, though functional, looked too old. It would be best to renovate everything. Consequently, the workload grew every day. Every time Chi Zhou saw the house, he came up with a new way to fuss over it.

Xie Jiu always followed his lead, never saying “no.” Every evening when Chi Zhou had to leave, Xie Jiu would quietly walk him to the door, accompanied by the dog named “Little Boat.”

When Chi Zhou was around, Xie Jiu usually held the dog, rarely letting it play near Chi Zhou. The puppy was well-behaved; it seemed to know it was only allowed to stay because of Chi Zhou. In front of him, it would nuzzle and nudge, rolling over to show its belly for rubs. Even when it was excited, it would just hop back and pant happily, never baring its teeth.

Chi Zhou became exceptionally fond of the dog, often playing with “Little Boat” while Xie Jiu was cooking or reading. He was having a great time, but every time he looked up, he would meet the resentful gaze of a certain human-shaped kitten. Chi Zhou found it hilarious and intentionally petted the dog even harder, refusing to indulge him.

Xie Jiu had said Chi Zhou couldn’t raise anyone else, but he hadn’t said Chi Zhou couldn’t play with what Xie Jiu was raising.

As Chi Zhou got along better with Little Boat, he had fewer nightmares about being executed and fed to dogs in prison. Once, he was so amused by the puppy that he couldn’t help but pull it onto his lap, leaning his face down to give it a kiss.

The puppy froze for a second, then became incredibly excited, its tail wagging so wildly it actually hurt Chi Zhou’s hand. But before their faces could touch, Chi Zhou’s arms were suddenly empty. The puppy was gone, replaced by a hand with long, elegant fingers.

Chi Zhou couldn’t pull back his movement in time, and his lips brushed against a small black mole at the base of that large hand.

Chi Zhou froze, dazed for a long time. Xie Jiu held the dog and stood still, his eyes fixed on the spot on his hand that had been kissed. A strange atmosphere began to spread through the air, and for once, Chi Zhou felt restless.

He tried to brush off the accidental contact with a light tone. “That…”

Suddenly, a loud voice came from the courtyard. It was the mason calling out, “Young Master, could you come take a look? Is this all right?”

Chi Zhou felt as if he had been given a way out. He immediately scrambled off the daybed, slipping into his shoes and heading outside without a hint of hesitation. “Coming!”

The dog, Jin Ge, wanted to chase after its other master, but its body was confined in its owner’s arms. Its owner was silent, and his aura was so low that it made the dog a bit afraid. It let out a low whimper, its body beginning to tremble slightly.

Xie Jiu looked down at it for a few seconds before putting it on the ground. “You’re the only one who knows how to act spoiled and play pitiful.”

Jin Ge didn’t understand, but it immediately bounded happily into the courtyard. Its barks sounded much more cheerful.

When the sound of Chi Zhou laughing at the puppy’s antics drifted into the room, Xie Jiu was still standing in the same spot, silently staring at the mole on his hand.

Shadow Three, hiding in the shadows, felt a shiver run down his spine. His intuition told him it was best not to look at what happened next. But he was a step too late.

The moment Shadow Three turned his head, he saw Xie Jiu lower his head and kiss his own finger. Like a parched man tasting a drop of spring water, he was devout and submissive. It was as if a traveler had finally found his way home.

In late March, the weather began to warm up, and the sun set later and later.

Chi Zhou was walking slowly back to the Marquis’s manor. As he passed the garden, he saw Chi Tong feeding the fish. Seeing him return, she smiled. “Brother.”

Chi Zhou walked to her side. Chi Tong opened her palm. “Want to feed the fish?”

The sky wasn’t dark yet; the egg-yolk sun was still hanging high. Chi Zhou took the fish food and relaxed, throwing it into the pond to watch the colorful koi scramble for food.

Chi Tong glanced at the area under Chi Zhou’s eyes, noting that he had been sleeping well lately. Suddenly, she let out a laugh. Chi Zhou looked at her, confused.

Chi Tong smiled and asked, “Brother, have you been decorating a wedding chamber lately? I just wonder which of my sister-in-laws will be moving in?”

Chi Zhou froze. At her words, a sudden chill rose from the soles of his feet.

These past days had been too stable and fulfilling. Every day, small matters cropped up, and every day, he had new ideas. Not only had he furnished the house for Xie Jiu, but he had also asked the craftsmen to build a small room for the puppy in the northwest corner.

Remembering Xie Jiu said it would grow quite large, he specifically asked for the room to be built bigger, though the bed was still just a tiny nest filled with cotton bedding. He planned to replace the puppy’s furniture as it grew, so he had seven or eight small beds made for it. Seeing them lined up was incredibly cute.

This resulted in Xie Jiu being jealous of a black dog every single day. If Chi Zhou held Little Boat, Xie Jiu would sidle up behind him, wrap his arms around his waist, bury his chin in the crook of Chi Zhou’s neck, and complain muffledly for a sentence or two before pulling away, managing the boundaries perfectly. He didn’t make Chi Zhou uncomfortable, but he didn’t let him be too comfortable either.

Every night before falling asleep, Chi Zhou would think about what else he could add to Xie Jiu’s little house and recall what they had done that day.

Now, with Chi Tong’s cold reminder, he suddenly remembered something he had almost pushed to the back of his mind.

He was getting married. In Chi Tong’s words, there should only be one “sister-in-law,” and that was Xie Mingjing.

The decorations he and Xie Jiu had worked on in Jifu Alley were, at most… just children playing house. No matter how cute and clingy Little Boat was, there was always a rapacious beast lurking behind him, salivating and staring at his flesh.

Chi Zhou’s mind wandered. The fish food slipped through his fingers, causing the koi to leap out of the water in a frenzy. The splashing water hit his eyelids, as if shattering a bubble-like dream.

Chi Zhou closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he threw the rest of the fish food into the pond and said softly with a smile, “He’s just a plaything. How could he possibly count as your sister-in-law?”

Chi Tong raised an eyebrow in surprise, rarely caught speechless by him.

Chi Zhou clapped his hands and didn’t wait for her to respond. “I’m going back now. You should rest early too.”

He turned around, the smile on his lips fading bit by bit until they formed a straight line. The color in his eyes gradually matched the darkening sky, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Chi Zhou returned to Shuanghua Courtyard. The cherry blossoms had all fallen, and new leaves were trembling on the branches. The moment he stepped through the gate, he heard the rustle of a breeze through the trees.

In a daze, he seemed to hear a clear, youthful voice: “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have planted cherry blossoms. Once the flowers fall, there isn’t even a fruit to eat.”

“Then shall we change it to peach trees next year?” another voice asked. Compared to the first, it sounded more somber, but very earnest.

“No,” the youth laughed. “Cherry blossoms are beautiful. Even when they fall, they fall beautifully.”

**

Chi Zhou’s footsteps paused. He scanned the courtyard but saw no one. He lowered his gaze, stepping through the last rays of sunset into the yard, the phrase ‘Even when they fall, they fall beautifully’ echoing in his mind.

He didn’t know what kind of ending counted as “beautiful,” but being left as a pile of white bones with flesh strewn on the ground certainly wouldn’t be pretty.

Chi Zhou entered the room and closed the door.

The next day, he didn’t go to Jifu Alley. He didn’t go the day after that either.

It seemed that the brief spring between him and Xie Jiu had fallen along with the cherry blossoms, each of them growing their own new leaves.

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