Chapter 14: ve Xiao


    Trantor: Transn Editor: Transn


    It was pretty normal for Bighead Kingpin’s daughter to summon the 10 teen servants. They were led by a maid to the Eighth Young Master’s yard. After swearing allegiance, every morning the teenagers would pay their respects to the female master.


    After a few days, Gu Shenwei realized how difficult it was to get close to the Miss.


    Despite trying to imitate ve Yao, Gu Shenwei did not win the Miss’s favor.


    As the young Master of the Gu family, he never had this sort of difficulty before. Everyone liked him. It had never crossed his mind how difficult it was to gain someone’s favor. Now as a low-ranked ve in charge of taking care of dead bodies, who would like him? Even strangers would try their best to avoid him.


    Whenever the teenagers paid their respects to the Miss, they would kneel at the very edge of the yard. They would remain motionless with their heads bowed. They could not stand up until the Miss hadpletely entered the backyard. Then they would take the same route back to Firewood Yard, where ve Ji’s stony face would await them.


    The Miss with the surname Luo was not a youngdy of the Shangguan family. As a daughter-inw, she had to fulfill her duties every morning. She would go bow to her mother-inw with other daughters-inw. It was in those moments she would have such horrendous moods. Somewhat simr to her husband Shangguan Nu, she would vent her anger by torturing her own ves.


    ve Yao warned the teens, scaring them. “I wonder who will be the first to piss off the Miss. Whoever does, don’te ask me for help. We may be brothers, but I need to take care of myself first.”


    ve Yao often intimidated them with such lies. This time, something actually did happen, matching his prediction. The poor and hapless teenager was named ve Xiao.


    As the tallest and oldest, ve Xiao was strong and always liked to smile with a genial round face. He often appeared more childish than even the youngest, ve Xie. ve Xiao was also very intimidated by ve Yao to the point of crying. However, ve Xiao became exceedingly bold when they bowed to the Miss again.


    He raised his head and nced at the Miss.


    The Miss was striding in the yard hurriedly. Angrier than usual, she asked, “Why does Little Ru have to change her name? Does the Shangguan family have all of the characters copyrighted? This is absurd!”


    Except for Mama Xue, the Miss’s four maids were named Little Chen, Little Xin, Little Ru, and Little Yi. This was ording to the Chinese idiom “Chen Xin Ru Yi”. The teenagers privately thought that these names sounded awful. The Miss’s preference for them was not affected by how they sounded.


    Perhaps the Miss cared about neither the actual four maids themselves nor their names. She was reluctant to change her maid’s name because she was forced to do it. She could not fight against it, however. This was her mother-inw, Mistress of the Shangguan family, who made the request.


    ve Yao had exined all of this to them afterward. The teens at the moment could not think clearly as they became frightened by another voice.


    “Why did you raise your head?”


    The scream resounded throughout the whole yard. The maid, Little Ru, who had yet to change her name, angrily red at the teenager kneeling at the edge of the yard. ve Xiao was trampled underfoot by Mama Xue before he could exin himself. His face mmed into the yard’s bluestone. He did not dare to move.


    The teenagers had been kneeling with their heads on the ground. At that moment, no one dared to even roll their eyes.


    The Miss abruptly stopped her continuousints and rushed into the hall. Once the screen was set down, she asked,


    “This man saw me?”


    ve Xiao, only a silly teenager, became a “man” due to his offensive action.


    “No, he shouldn’t have.”


    Although she had cruelly kicked him, Mama Xue tried to help ve Xiao with an excuse. ve Yao wanted to say something when Mama Xue red at him, but he choked back his words.


    “I saw nothing.” ve Xiao muttered while on his stomach, which proved that he had raised his head.


    “Kill him,” the Miss ordered behind the screen.


    “Miss… we’d better not,” Mama Xue said hesitantly.


    The Miss was now in Golden Roc Fort, not the Iron Mountain Gang. She no longer had the supreme power to decide life and death. Although she resented her new status, she could not do anything about it.


    “Gouge out his eyes and cut off his tongue.”


    This was the same punishment the unlucky girl standing next to the Miss had suffered. Each time the teenagers bowed to the Miss, they saw her.


    “I didn’t see, I didn’t see.”


    ve Xiao was so terrified, his body trembled like a sifter as hey t on the ground.


    The Miss’s four maids approached him together. It was their duty to gouge out people’s eyes and cut off their tongues. The maid, Little Ru, was especially eager as she needed an outlet for her anger. She was as angry as the Miss.


    Though Bighead Kingpin’s daughter might not be able to act as she acted before, it was still inevitable. No one could restrict her from punishing her own servants.


    No one begged for ve Xiao.


    Gu Shenwei did not want to admit it, but he was scared stiff. He even wished for a moment that he was deaf so that he was not able to hear ve Xiao screaming.


    The maids acted quickly and professionally. They even gave ve Xiao some medicine to staunch the blood afterward.


    The teenagers quietly carried ve Xiao back to Firewood Yard. Even though no one was sincere when they swore to be pack brothers, everyone currently felt like they owed ve Xiao, who had barely survived.


    ve Ji was astonished by ve Xiao’s bloody face. He jumped back a step and waved his rosewood stick as if driving away invisible evil spirits. “What happened?”


    ve Yao briefly exined the whole story. “Idiot, why did you raise your head?” ve Ji asked, appearing strained and afraid.


    ve Xiao could still hear even after losing his eyes and tongue. He disengaged himself suddenly from the crowd’s hold, cried out, and rushed toward the ce that he thought ve Ji was standing.


    It happened so abruptly that no one could stop him. ve Xiao almost ran past his target. ve Ji initially froze up, but then he became irritated and swung his rosewood stick at ve Xiao.


    “Heartless idiot, are you mad? How dare you peep at the Eighth Young Mistress! Do you want to be killed?”


    It seemed unnatural for ve Ji to get angry.


    From ve Xiao’s facial expression, Gu Shenwei suddenly realized that it was ve Ji who incited ve Xiao to secretly peep at the Miss.


    What really happened was that while ve Ji was chatting with the servants from the other yards, he showed his curiosity about the Eighth Young Mistress’s appearance multiple times. The bandit’s daughter from the Western Region was known for her peerless beauty, but no man had ever seen her face. The men in Golden Roc Fort had never experienced Bighead Kingpin’s might and were naturally eager to know whether the rumor was true or not.


    The 10 teenagers, on the other hand, had already ingrained in them the notion to never look at the Miss. Not even the most ordinary curiosity could affect them. Only ve Xiao, who was the most well-behaved and a people-pleaser, had been unexpectedly persuaded by ve Ji.


    Everyone figured out the truth, but no one spoke up. ve Yao hurriedly led them to grab ahold of ve Xiao and carry him to their bedroom. Hit by the rosewood stick, ve Xiao was not able to resist and had already lost consciousness.


    ve Xiaoy on the brick bed, bleeding everywhere. ve Ji had refused to get a doctor, so the other teenagers could only wipe the blood off of him. It was simr to what they did in their daily routine with dying people.


    During the night, ve Xiao kept groaning and puffing for breath. asionally, he cried out in his ownnguage. Gu Shenwei did not know what he yelled, as no one tranted it for him.


    No one could fall asleep under such circumstances. ve Yao jumped out of the brick bed and patted ve Xiao’s head, saying something in an imperative tone. The dying teenager eventually became quiet.


    That night, Gu Shenwei basically did not sleep.


    The next morning, when he opened his eyes groggily, he knew that ve Xiao had passed away.


    The sworn brothers, without any genuine emotional bonds,pletely fell apart. Everyone knew that as servants, they were not qualified to protect each other. To survive, they had to find other backers.


    Three of them turned to ve Ji. Certainly, they had all learned a lesson through ve Xiao and would never peep at the Miss for ve Ji.


    The other two teenagers curried to ve Yao’s favor more than usual. ve Yao, appreciated by Mama Xue, soon seemed to have a bright future as a killer apprentice.


    The pair of brothers, ve Qi and ve Xie, remained independent and rarely associated with others. They were always whispering something in their ownnguage.


    Gu Shenwei did not care about these connections in their social circle. He was focused on the way to get revenge.


    The day after ve Xiao died, Mama Xue came again and directly burst into ve Ji’s room with a re.


    “You killed our Miss’s servant.”


    ve Ji was scared of Mama Xue’s imposing attitude. He took two steps back and muttered,


    “Don’t use me. You murdered ve Xiao yourself by gouging out his eyes and cutting off his tongue. This has nothing to do with me!”


    Mama Xue was ineloquent, but adept in Iron Finger. With no words, she poked ve Ji in the chest twice. The experienced teenagers knew that the skinny woman’s finger was harder than the overseer’s rosewood stick.


    ve Ji’s face abruptly turned beet red. Crying out, he fell and curled up on the ground. It was the second time he had gotten stabbed by her. The strength this time was quite more powerful thanst time.


    Mama Xue punished ve Ji, which concluded the death of ve Xiao.


    In order to avoid being despised by the teenagers, the next day, ve Ji invited his backer. It was due to this man that he was able to be the overseer of Firewood Yard.


    At dusk, when the nine teenagers were getting ready for bed, ve Ji called for them in his room and ordered them toe in. It seemed that he was emboldened and wanted to show his “power”.


    ve Ji became confident because of the person in the room. The many on his back in a deck chair, while ve Ji sat on a small stool, massaging the man’s legs.


    The man was a killer of Golden Roc Fort. He had a ck robe with a golden bird embroidered on the shoulder, a dark red waistband, and a narrow de.


    The teenagers could only recognize his identity from his clothing, but Gu Shenwei actually knew the man.


    Gu Shenwei thought that he looked familiar just by seeing his profile. He must have met him somewhere before.


    “Bastards, did the Miss not cut off your tongues today?”


    ve Ji looked mean, so no one dared to respond.


    “Hey, watch out! That’s the Eighth Young Mistress you’re dealing with, don’t lose your manners,” the assassin in ck said casually with his eyes closed.


    “Third Brother, I’m serious. It was just a ve that died. In our fort, I’ve always taught the servants in this way. No master has everined. The new Mistress asked that skinny bitch to stab me twice, but it was them who gouged out his eyes and cut off his tongue. They were the ones who caused him to die. Third Brother, you are not aware of this, but the bitch’s finger is so pointy. There are two bruises on my chest from her.”


    ve Ji took the killer’s right hand and used it to massage his own chest.


    His tone and behavior werepletely different from the usual cruel overseer.


    “That bitch has a background. It was very kind of her to not stab you to death. What do you want me to do? I’m an underling of the Eighth Young Master. How can I go against the Eighth Young Mistress?”


    “Hmph, I think the Mistress must be very ugly, or she doesn’t know how to be cordial. Why doesn’t she allow others to look at her? She has just gotten married a few days ago, and the Eighth Young Master has traveled far from home. s, Third Brother, you yourself had left for several months and just came back a few days ago. Soon you’ll leave again. Third Brother, you should speak to the Eighth Young Master about Mama Xue. She has just entered the fort, but she’s so arrogant. What will be of her in the future?”


    Gu Shenwei suddenly remembered who the man was.


    About three months ago, a man called Han Shiqi from the Western Region came to the manor of the Gu family with a letter. Master Gu Lun had epted him as a manor servant.


    Gu Shenwei found himself fearfully looking down at the edge of the cliff again. If Han Shiqi were to sit up and open his eyes, he would immediately recognize the young Master of the Gu family.