What was Lu Xiao saying?
What lowly, not lowly?
Qiu Yutong found it baffling and was inwardly concerned when someone suddenly pat his shoulders.
He was frightened and quickly came back to the present, “Who?”
Zhang Defu stood behind him, looking at him with a smile, “Young Master Xue Rong, it’s this slave.”
“Oh, it’s you,” Qiu Yutong heaved a sigh of relief and felt slightly uncomfortable. After all, being caught peeking through the window was not something to boast about.
Zhang Defu didn’t seem to mind, a fat face smiled benevolently and amiably. The gaze he used to look at Qiu Yutong seemed like he was looking at some treasure, “Young Master Xue Rong, what are you standing outside for? His Majesty is inside making osmanthus cakes, why don’t you quickly go in to help.”
“Eh, I don’t really know how to cook,” Qiu Yutong subconsciously rejected.
Why did he feel like Zhang Defu’s smile was strange, with an undertone of deceit?
”Young Master Xue Rong, this slave knows that I speak out of turn, but His Majesty…”
Just as Zhang Defu was patiently advising Qiu Yutong, Lu Xiao looked down, adjusting his cuff as he walked out.
He swept his eyes across the two people, “Zhang Defu, what is it?”
“Your Majesty, Young Master Xue Rong specially came to the kitchen, wanting to help you cook,” Zhang Defu said with a face full of smiles.
Qiu Yutong, “???”
“Oh? Is that so,” Lu Xiao disinterestedly glanced at Qiu Yutong. “Zhang Defu, bring that plate of osmanthus cakes to the outer room in Qin Palace, then come back to help Us bathe and change clothes.”
Zhang Defu opened his mouth, looking right about to say “yes” when he suddenly saw the foolish-looking Qiu Yutong standing at the side.
This fat and stout eunuch’s eyes spun, before miserably kneading his waist, “Your Majesty, it’s unfortunate today but this slave’s waist was sprained on accident. Why not let this Young Master Xue Rong serve you to bathe and change clothes instead? What do you* think?”
[T/N: Polite form for ‘you’.]
Qiu Yutong stared blankly and stared at Zhang Defu.
This guy was obviously perfectly healthy just now, where did he look like someone who sprained his waist?
“Let him serve us bathe?” Lu Xiao knitted his brows and said, displeased, “Zhang Defu, your waist was really sprained?”
Zhang Defu said submissively, “This slave does not dare to deceive the monarch.”
Lu Xiao looked at him for a while before suddenly sighing softly, “You don’t need to be this way. You know, it’s no use.”
Zhang Defu lowered his voice, persistently lamenting earnestly, “Your Majesty! Take it as this slave is begging you. It’s been so many years if you’re always like this, in this slave’s heart, this slave’s heart…”
In the end, his voice became choked with emotions.
Qiu Yutong stood at the side, feeling that the atmosphere is strange. Every word Lu Xiao and Zhang Defu said, he could understand, but strung together, he felt muddle-headed.
“Forget it,” Lu Xiao was silent for a moment before looking up towards Qiu Yutong. “Since Zhang Defu said that his waist is sprained, then you will serve instead.”
“This, I don’t…” Qiu Yutong blinked and subconsciously wanted to decline, when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the dark sword hung at Lu Xiao’s waist —— Night Rain.
Previously, he took advantage of Lu Xiao’s bath and snuck into the bedroom to steal the sword. In the end, Lu Xiao brought his sword with him even when bathing, causing him to pounce on air.
Today, if he followed Lu Xiao into the bathhouse, Lu Xiao couldn’t possibly keep Night Rain inside the bathtub right!
Qiu Yutong was currently thinking and Zhang Defu exerted all his strength to give him a push, urging, “His Majesty has already left, hurry up and follow!”
Qiu Yutong came back to himself, before finding out that Lu Xiao had already walked quite far away and quickly followed.
“Young Master Xue Rong!” Zhang Defu’s hesitant voice came from behind.
Qiu Yutong stopped and looked back, “What is it?”
Zhang Defu firmly looked at his face, his face extremely complicated, “Young Master Xue Rong, you, you have to thoroughly serve His Majesty, His Majesty is… ai, ai.”
Qiu Yutong felt that the other party had more to say, but Lu Xiao was already quite far away so he could only messily nod his head, “I know.”
“Young Master Xue Rong…” Zhang Defu wanted to continue but hesitated, “Forget it, go, remember to serve well.”
……
When Qiu Yutong walked into the bathhouse, Lu Xiao had already released his hair and was currently taking the sword off his waist.
Night Rain.
Qiu Yutong stared at Night Rain and unconsciously licked his lips. He thought and learning from those palace servants, he did his utmost to put on a humble attitude, forcing himself to soften his voice, “Your Majesty, pass the sword to Xue Rong.”
陆霄的动作顿了顿，而后抬起眼皮，冷冷地瞥了他一眼。
Lu Xiao paused before looking up, staring at him coldly.
那目光几乎是厌恶的。
That gaze was filled with disgust.
秋雨桐被他看得有点瘆得慌，自己是哪里学得不像么？宫人们不都是这么说话么？软软的，嗲嗲的，讨好的。
Qiu Yutong was frightened by his gaze, did he learn something wrong? Didn’t the palace people all act in this way? Softly, coyly, currying favour.
陆霄沉默了片刻，冷冷道：“别顶着这张脸讨好朕。”
Lu Xiao was silent for a moment before saying coldly, “Don’t wear that face to curry favour with Us.”
……好吧，原来问题不是出在态度上面，而是出在这张脸上面。
… Alright, actually the problem wasn’t in the attitude, but the face.
秋雨桐面无表情地想，陆霄到底是有多恨他这个师尊？
Qiu Yutong thought expressionlessly, how much did Lu Xiao hate this shizun?
陆霄不再搭理他，自己解下了夜雨，小心翼翼地放在浴桶旁边斜倚着。
Lu Xiao didn’t continue to pay him any attention and took off Night Rain himself, carefully and cautiously leaned it against the bathtub.
秋雨桐眼睁睁地看着，心中好生失望，但又没有办法。
Qiu Yutong looked on helplessly, his heart filled with disappointment, yet he had no methods.
陆霄仔细放好了夜雨，又转过身来，扬起手臂站着。
Lu Xiao carefully put Night Rain down before turning around and stood there with raised arms.
秋雨桐抬头望着陆霄，对方也垂眸望着他，漆黑的眼珠冷冰冰的。
Qiu Yutong looked up at Lu Xiao and the other party also looked down at him, his pitch-black pupils were ice-cold.
两人面面相觑，室内一片寂静。
The two people looked at each other, the room was silent.
僵持了片刻，陆霄微微蹙起眉头，不耐烦道：“给朕宽衣。晋王是怎么调/教你的，连伺候人都不会？”
After a moment of being in a deadlock, Lu Xiao frowned slightly, impatiently saying, “Take Our clothes off. How did Prince Jin teach you, to not even know how to serve people?”
这辈子都没伺候过人的秋雨桐这才恍然大悟，赶紧上前一步，把手伸向陆霄的腰带。
Qiu Yutong, who had never served anyone in his life, was finally enlightened. He quickly stepped forward, hands reaching for Lu Xiao’s belt.
九五之尊的常服玉带，非常精美，也非常繁复。秋雨桐折腾了足足半盏茶功夫，额头都微微见了汗，才终于解了下来。
The emperor’s typical jade belt was extremely fine and complicated. Qiu Yutong fiddled with it for half the time it took to brew a cup of tea, his forehead was even slightly sweating, before he managed to take it off.
He placed the jade belt onto the screen at the side then braced himself and reached out to undo Lu Xiao’s outer garments*.
[T/N: Specifically those outer robes that cross over the front.]
“Hiss——” Lu Xiao hissed out a cold breath before pushing Qiu Yutong away, “Are you trying to strangle Us?!”
Qiu Yutong was pushed back quite a few steps and couldn’t help glaring at Lu Xiao, feeling extremely sullen. This was also his first time helping someone undress*, what was this youngster still unsatisfied with?!
[T/N: The raws actually literally state “He was also a bride entering the bridal sedan, looking back”, which just means it’s his first time. The meaning is based on a story.]
“Idiot,” Lu Xiao scolded at the end of his patience, tearing off the lapels himself, then casually threw his inner garments onto the floor, turning around and stepping into the bathtub.
Qiu Yutong foolishly stood in his original position, his mind shocked into a sea of white by that word “idiot”.
Evil disciple, Lu Xiao this evil disciple!
Nevermind that he had to help him undress, he actually still, still scolded Shizun… this was simply, simply bullying the teacher and betraying the ancestors!
He really wanted to rush forward and slam a palm on this disciple’s forehead, then ruthlessly teach him a lesson! Make this evil disciple brandish the sword a thousand times, no ten thousand times! And suspend a stone from the sword! Fifty catties, no, a hundred catties!
… Forget it, calm down, calm down.
North Snow City’s fifth commandment, be wary of being temperamental.
That’s enough, how could he be calm!
Was that a word a disciple should say?! If his shixiongs’ disciples dared to speak like this, they would have long had their spiritual veins uprooted, their cores gouged out and expelled from North Snow City’s gates!
Forget it, forget it, calm down, calm down. After all, this youngster didn’t know who he was… The important thing now was still to snatch Night Rain.
After a long while, Qiu Yutong managed to pacify his mood and looked at Lu Xiao.
Lu Xiao seemed to have placed no hope on his service and washed himself, too lazy to even look at him.
Night Rain leaned against the bathtub, beside Lu Xiao’s hand.
Qiu Yutong took a deep breath, prepared himself mentally and picked up some soap beside him, walking forward.
Lu Xiao glanced at him, not saying a word.
Qiu Yutong hesitated for a bit before soaking the bar of soap and placing it on Lu Xiao’s back, slowly going in circles.
Lu Xiao’s shoulders were sturdy and wide, his light honey skin covered strong yet not overly buff muscles, looking like they were full of ferocious explosive power. Compared to that scrawny young boy in the snow previously, it was as different as heaven and earth. He didn’t when he had grown so tall.
The soap continued to circle, gradually shifting from his back to his chest, and Lu Xiao also gradually relaxed, leaning against the bathtub, closing his eyes in enjoyment.
Qiu Yutong saw that he had closed his eyes and was inwardly overjoyed. His right hand clutched the circling soap while his left silently reached towards Night Rain.
His hand hadn’t even touched the sheath when Lu Xiao suddenly said coldly, “Don’t touch it.”
Qiu Yutong was caught red-handed without warning and could only give a hollow laugh, “The sword placed here is a little obstructive.”
“Oh, really?” Lu Xiao expressionlessly twitched his mouth, reaching out to place Night Rain onto the other side of the bathtub.
Qiu Yutong, “…”
So tired.
After a while, he managed to finish using the soap with great difficulty. Qiu Yutong thought and picked up a wooden ladle, scooping a ladle of hot water from the tub beside and slowly poured it on Lu Xiao’s shoulders, cleansing the fine bubbles from the soap.
He strove to put on an eagerly attentive act and said gentle, “Your Majesty, is the water temperature suitable?”
Lu Xiao made a soft sound of acknowledgement.
Qiu Yutong ladled out a scoop of hot water again, and suddenly, as if he couldn’t endure the weight, the water ladle tilted!
‘What are you doing?!” Lu Xiao bellowed, one hand grabbing Night Rain, which was beside, only then did he manage to avoid even the sword and sword sheathe getting wet from the bathwater.
“It’s nothing, my hand slipped,” Qiu Yutong was simply extremely dejected.
He actually wanted to get Night Rain drenched, then he could request to clean the sword or whatever, then take the opportunity to steal the sword and slip away.
But Lu Xiao’s reaction was too quick.
Previously when this youngster learned the sword, his reactions were very slow. A simple sword manoeuvre, even after teaching it to him a few times movement by movement, he still couldn’t learn!
Lu Xiao carefully analyses Night Rain, confirming that it wasn’t soaked, before carefully and cautiously placing it against the bathtub.
After that, at the end of his patience, he pointed at the bathhouse’s door, “Get out.”
“You…” Qiu Yutong held back a belly full of anger, yet was at his wits’ end and could only look reluctantly at Night Rain, walking out of the bathhouse in extreme disappointment.
Zhang Defu was currently hanging around the courtyard in Qin Palace. When he saw Qiu Yutong his fat face couldn’t cover up the disappointed look, “You’ve come out so fast? Why not accompany His Majesty to wash for a while more? Bathing for two to four hours is also fine, there’s enough hot water, cough cough, this slave even put some oil on the shelf…”
“…” Qiu Yutong simply didn’t want to talk to him and silently shook his head, turning and heading towards his west wing.
Zhang Defu grabbed his arm with one hand, “Ai, Young Master Xue Rong, His Majesty will be having his evening meal soon, you should stay and eat together.”
Qiu Yutong was extremely dejected and was about to reject when he suddenly smelled the fragrance from that plate of osmanthus cakes and couldn’t help nodding, “Okay.”
The author has something to say:
Xiaoxiao has no many thoughts, Qiuqiu wanting to steal the sword is also not easy…
Some cuties say that if he revealed his identity, he could directly ask for the sword but actually…
Qiuqiu: “Xiao-er, this teacher has failed in ascending, has no more spiritual power and would like to borrow Night Rain to fly back to North Snow City, reconstruct a body, and attempt to ascend to become an immortal again.”
Xiaoxiao: “He*.”
[T/N: A laugh]
