V2C14

Shu Nian dreamt of his childhood.

Shabby old orphanage, the edges of the storybook already rolled up, but he really treasure it, even when there're just pictures, a simple and rough picture above a line, a prince riding a horse and holding a sword, standing in front of the prince, everything would look humble and inferior, the refined and wealthy boy said arrogantly: "I will be good to you..."

It wasn't said to him, he wasn't a princess.

He was just a mere servant.

The prince carried the princess on his horse and galloped away from his side, dust flew around causing him to choke and cough.

Shu Nian woke up, he was still coughing when he woke up, and he couldn't stop, he was coughing roughly and his chest was throbbing in pain, his shoulders quivered and tensed.

It slowed down, and the day had also turned bright, his room was gloomier than the dream, he didn't get sad often, but he felt inexplicably sad at the moment, he brought his face closer to the bed sheets quietly and heaved a breath, it seemed like the dream wanted to remind him of something.

He was already old and shouldn't endure something like this.

Previously, when he was slightly younger, he didn't feel hopeless as now, and he also didn't feel that hurt.

He was already old, and it was easy to get tired.

He took a deep breath and got up, he thought he might have caught a cold, since he had been waiting under the snow for too long, it seemed like he had a fever, but he didn't want to fuss about it, he felt that it would naturally get better if he just ignore it, and it ended up he was still having a fever, and he became tired. If he has free time then he would go out and find medicine, his body wasn't strong, but it was healthy, even though it was slightly thin, it was his normal physique anyway.

He put on some clothes and went to the bathroom, washed his face with warm water, and then looked into the mirror, looked at the delicate man in the mirror, actually he didn't look that old, forehead, hair, cheeks, neck, everything looked youthful, and there was absolutely no difference with a twenty three or twenty four years old man, only his eyes looked worn out, slightly deeper, the color was also deep, and seemed quite haggard.

Shu Nian stared blankly at the person in the mirror for a long time, he thought he didn't do well enough, and might not understand himself that well, therefore he would like to have a closer look.

Of course, besides from his familiar and mediocre features, he didn't see anything else, and he couldn't imagine that everything would turn like that.

He would naturally see Xie Yan at the dining table during breakfast, they didn't spend the night together for the past few days, because Shu Nian became a light sleeper, just a slight movement near him would make him wide awake until dawn. In the past both would sleep soundly once Xie Yan held him, but now it would only counteract.

It was definitely better to be separated.

"Did you sleep well yesterday?" Xie Yan asked, Shu Nian hurriedly stopped chewing, raised his head and answered "yes", after that he continued to have breakfast, and didn't say anything.

Shu Nian slowly stopped talking that often, afraid his mouth would get out of control and say something wrong, and he also didn't look that much at Xie Yan, it was as if he would be able to forget his face if he didn't look at him that much.

The situation between his young master and Miss Xia still didn't resolve, it continued to drag on day after day, and it finally made him felt disheartened.

He had stop wearing the ring long time ago, he had put it together with the treasured storybook that he brought from the orphanage, alongside with old things Xie Yan gave him, there were also old toys and figurines, watches, mobile phone and many more. That man's promise was as empty as Shu Nian's childhood fantasy and it's ridiculous how he still keep those broken things, and yet he couldn't stand to throw it away.

"Are you sick?"

"No." His answer was very respectful, very serious, but it was also brief.

"But your face doesn't look good, if you really don't feel good, call the doctor, just take a rest for today, do you understand?"

"En, yes."

Xie Yan stared at him for a long time, but Shu Nian didn't look at him and just ate his breakfast. He knew Xie Yan was unhappy with his reticent, but he really didn't want to speak. He also didn't know the reason for his silence, perhaps he had been patience for too long, everything built up slowly and he ended up couldn't say anything.

Although he said it was nothing, he coughed even harder by noon, and it looked like he really have to go out and buy medicine, it should be better after he eat it, and it was also easier than going to a doctor.

For the main course for lunch — a bucket of fresh crabs was bought by a servant, although Shu Nian really like it, he couldn't enjoy it, since eating seafood would only worsen his cough. No one knew he was sick, and he didn't want them to know.

Xie Yan looked at the man who was sitting quietly and eating light dishes, and then quietly went upstairs, and it made him felt really at lost.

He ordered foods that he really dislike for the sake of Shu Nian's happiness, but Shu Nian didn't even say anything and he didn't even eat that much.

"A grown up man, only have a few bites for a meal, Xiao Nian is really strange recently."

"It's fine, he is very quiet, and didn't speak that much."

"It's making me worried, afraid he can't stand it, and he might do something stupid..."

"With his attitude, what can he do, kill or commit suicide? You don't have the time to care about him."

"But we still have to watch out, a silent person like him is the most likely to create a disaster, no one know what he is secretly thinking, he must really hate about the thing that happened to Xiao Yan, in case he wanted to do something..."

"I will tell a servant to keep an eye on him so that you will be at ease."

"Dad, Mom, you are saying nonsense." Xie Yan became impatient, "his appetite isn't good, you are speculating too much. Don't call him out in the afternoon, let him rest. If he doesn't eat, just change the chef."

After he said that, he went knocking on Shu Nian's door and he wasn't better than his parents.

Shu Nian's indifferent and dispirited was making his patience reaching the limit.

Until when did Shu Nian want to sulk? He had never ruin his shào yé's temper, Shu Nian's character simply wouldn't allow him to do that, he had always been the one to please him, and Xie Yan never had to please anyone. That slap was unnecessary, but he had apologized repeatedly, so that they wouldn't fight anymore, but Shu Nian would only smiled and said "it's fine", and then deliberately looked gloomy every day, in trance and didn't eat that much, was Shu Nian causing trouble deliberately for him to see?!

It was enough.

When Xie Yan was knocking on the door, Shu Nian had just let out a series of intense coughs.

He hurriedly ate in silent because he couldn't suppress to cough, and he didn't want to cough at the table and ruin others' appetite. It wasn't serious, but his fever extended for days, and his spirit wasn't that great. No matter what, he should go to buy a medicine today.

"Young master?"

Xie Yan's unhappy face after he opened the door made Shu Nian felt at loss.

"You don't have to go with us this afternoon."

"...oh" Shu Nian didn't know the reason, but he nodded his head as if it didn't matter.

"Also, you are too much, is there anything you can't say out loud? What are you playing with? Regarding Xia Jun, how many times do you want me to explain for you to understand?"

Shu Nian took a step back by the sudden lashing, and looked at him confusedly.

"You are acting like this again! I don't want you to talk in riddle with me, I beg you, you had tormented me enough! I want you to speak directly!"

"What...what did you said?"

Xie Yan stared at him, he was completely overwhelmed by his frustration, cursed lowly after a while, slammed the door and left.

Shu Nian stood alone and thought about it for a moment, then he smiled sadly, right now he didn't even understand what was making Xie Yan mad.

When did it start becoming out of reach?

He ate something and then went to a pharmacy to buy a medicine, the urge to cough wasn't that strong, and he leaned on a sofa in the living room, he used a small blanket to cover his legs like an elderly, he chose an English program that he didn't understand because he felt that he should learn something new. The show was very boring, but he couldn't find other ways to kill time.

The doorbell rang, the lazy servants was hiding in their rooms and didn't even open the door, Shu Nian's temperament and status weren't enough to scare them, and they only acted like that when Shu Nian was alone.

Shu Nian showed an obvious hesitation when he opened the door, and he was even annoyed, the guest who saw his crystal-clear heart laughed heartily and said: "Why? You don't welcome my visit?"

"Shào yé went out."

"Really, what a shame...can I come in and have a seat?"

"Oh, sure..." He didn't have any right to turn down a guest, especially when the person outside of the door was the future [1] shǎo fūrén.

[T/N: [1] 少夫人 is shào yé (young master)'s wife.]

"Please help yourself," he allowed Xia Jun to have a seat, he returned to his original position and continued looking at the TV screen silently, after a while he felt he was too rude, and asked, "Would like to drink something?"

"No need for that, I just came back from a cafe, it was really terrible, and you do not know how terrible it is to accompany someone you hate for a drink..."

Shu Nian reluctantly responded with "Oh, really", and it was entirely out of courtesy.

"But I'm really hungry." Xia Jun smiled brightly at him.

Honestly speaking, toward the naïve man who was gentle and silent, she was more interested in him rather than Xie Yan. Very thin, but had a calmness and forbearance of someone mature, wouldn't get angry no matter how much he was bullied, at most he would only smile wryly to show his refusal.

It would easily stimulate the desire to bully him, especially for someone like her who posses such a strong domineering [2] T aura...Oh, strictly speaking she didn't have any problem to devour both genders, but she only prefer Shu Nian to be someone who she could bully...hrmm, she had so many ideas in her mind...

[T/N: [2] 'T' refers to tomboy; the more masculine lesbian.]

"Then I will prepare some refreshment." Shu Nian was about to stand up, and heard her voice: "I don't want sweets, is there something like hot food?"

Shu Nian scrunched his brows awkwardly, he remembered there were many leftover crabs, it had only been a couple of hours, it should still be fresh and delicious, and it was enough to show hospitality: "How about crab?"

"Oh, I really like it! It will be great," Xia Jun smiled and leaned back, "then I will have to trouble you."

Shu Nian watched as the servants didn't come out to do their work, he had to go into the kitchen for the hot dish by himself, he cooked and adjusted the taste, and then came out to serve Xia Jun.

He did everything without any feeling, although that indifferent woman brought him so much pain.

It would be lying if he didn't feel resentful. But he couldn't do anything unpleasant to her. However, he couldn't smile and acted indifferent.

"Wow, really delicious, I like this kind of crustacean, but we never steam it with scallion, I don't mean anything, but have you ever eaten grilled crabs? It tastes very phenomenal."

[T/N: She means no harm when she asks him about that crab and just trying to strike a conversation.]

Xia Jun talked nonstop, he also felt embarrassed to ignore her, he could sit and accompany her, but he wasn't interested in having a conversation.

"It's not bad, do you want to come and join me?" Xia Jun suddenly became the host, asking very enthusiastically.

Shu Nian shook his head: "No need, thank you."

"It's fine, there're so abundant, have some with me."

Shu Nian felt bitter toward her natural hostess attitude.

"No need, thank you."

"Wei, you acting like this, I might get worried that you want to poison your rival." Even though she said that, her hands didn't stop from removing the crabs from its shell.

That kind of joke, Shu Nian could only smile as a reply.

She laughed and quickly finished a heap of crabs, but she still didn't intent to leave, Shu Nian slightly felt to shake her off. There was no way for him to generously talk and laugh freely with a woman who was going to engage with Xie Yan.

Xia Jun's expression gradually changed, and she frowned slightly, uncomfortably pressing her stomach, but still didn't forget to tease him: "Wei, you shouldn't be feeding me with one week rotten crabs to go against me, it's unethical..."

"No, it was just delivered at noon...Miss Xia, are you all right?" Shu Nian looked at her obviously paled face, he became nervous, and helplessly reached out to her, "Miss Xia? You aren't feeling well? Do you want me to call a doctor, or maybe send you to the hospital, Xia..."

Xia Jun fell on the floor, Shu Nian felt his whole body froze when she didn't response, he was shocked for a while before kneeling down to shake her, and tried to help her up: "Miss...Miss Xia Jun, are you okay, you..."

He was startled by the unusual color on her lips, hurriedly trying to make a phone call, but the phone fell down and broke because he was too panic. The servants came out and only screamed in panic, and they didn't even help him, he became even more flustered because of their screams, until he couldn't even remember where else could he make a phone call, he slightly held Xia Jun and fumbled around in panic, he suddenly remembered the mobile phone in his pocket, just as he pulled it out shakily, he heard the door being opened.

Xie Yan and others had return.

Without waiting for him to speak, the servants were already screaming loudly: "Master (young master), something happened, it's bad..."

There was no room for him to intervene during the chaos, the ambulance was called quickly, it came to bring Xia Jun to the hospital and Xie jia followed anxiously, and everything happened without him having the time to react.

The house was quiet once again, it felt like the chaos was just a nightmare, and nothing had happened.

Shu Nian was still gasping for breath, his heart was thumping in an abnormal rate in his chest, and his fingers haven't stopped trembling slightly because of nervousness. Could it be that there's really a problem with the food he had fed Xia Jun?

He thought about it, the crabs were still alive when it was tied firmly with a [3] thin straw rope and then steamed, the chef also had been working for a long time, there shouldn't be a problem, and he didn't add anything to it, and her getting sick didn't have any relation with Xie jia.

[T/N: [3] It is harmless and often use to tie crab or when making 粽子.]

When they came back at night, they told him that Xia Jun wasn't in danger, and he was totally relieved, and said a few words: "That's very good, it's great that nothing happen, it would be bad if something happen..."

The response was very casual. He remembered that he should go back to his room to eat the medicine after dinner, without any suspicion, he went upstairs alone after dinner.

After he left, the previously tensed atmosphere at the table loosen slightly, and yet no one said anything.

"Don't know who the culprit is."

"Xia jia won't let it slide, and will investigate about it."

"Poisoning isn't a smart way to kill, it's too stupid, and it is really easy to find out the culprit."

Silence once again.

Xie Yan only had a few bites, and didn't say anything.

"All of you are at home the whole afternoon, and yet this problem also occurred, how do you do your job?" Xie Feng turned to the servants who were waiting for a lashing at the side, "explain everything to me, do you guys get wages for doing nothing?!"

"It wasn't our fault, Miss...Miss Xia said she was hungry and wanted to eat hot food, Shu shào yé went to the kitchen to prepare the food alone, we don't intervene, and didn't know anything..." They didn't bother to make up a lie just to dodge the responsibility.

"Shu Nian made something and gave it to her?" Xie Feng scrunched up his eyebrows.

"Yes..."

After one of the servants exaggerated her story, another one also chirped in: "I saw Shu shào yé went out to buy [4] something..."

[T/N: [4] it is actually 药 but this character can mean medicine, drug or anything with chemical property in it; and yes it also means poison. I chose 'something' (for neutral meaning) instead of poison because it refers to the medicine that SN bought but in their mind it's a poison.]

Mrs. Xie didn't wait for him to finished and snapped: "Nonsense! What kind of thing can he bought easily at a pharmacy? Say whatever you want at home, but if you dare to gossip when going outside, just watch how I'm going to discipline all of you! Leave quickly, don't just stand over here."

No one dared to speak, and left quietly. The three people were still sitting quietly in the dining table, but they didn't move and the dishes already turned cold.

After a while, Mrs. Xie sighed: "I'm afraid he takes things badly...I wouldn't force him if I knew this will happen..."

"Ai, forget about it, even if something really happen, we can still handle it, and it's not a huge problem. Let bygones be bygones, and don't mention about it."

Xie Yan looked at his parents' pained and disgusted expression, and didn't say anything.

After Shu Nian ate his medicine and drank some warm water, he felt slightly better, Shu Nian relaxed and wanted to read a book, but when he saw Xie Yan came in, he sat straight hurriedly: "Young master."

"Xiao Nian, I want to ask you, you have to tell me honestly."

Xie Yan sat beside him, his serious and cautious expression made Shu Nian nervous.

"What did you fed Xia Jun?"

"Crabs." Shu Nian answered without knowing the purpose of the question.

Xie Yan looked at him, and asked patiently: "she was poisoned, you know about it, right?"

"......" Shu Nian stunned for a while, he finally understood the meaning of the question, he became speechless for a moment, it looked like he couldn't breathe, and couldn't stop from stammering, "poi...poison? ..."

Xie Yan waiting quietly for his confession.

"Maybe it's...Oh," Shu Nian remembered something, and suddenly explained hurriedly, "when crab and persimmon are eaten together, it will cause diarrhea, maybe she had persimmon before she came here, or...or if she had too much fruits that are loaded in vitamin, and then eat crabs, it can also cause a mild poisoning...you can ask her..."

Xie Yan frowned as if Shu Nian was talking nonsense made Shu Nian even more at loss, murmured for a while, turned around and rummaged the books on the shelf: "There is a source for this, there is a book that explains about it, I will find it and show it to you..."

"It's enough, Xiao Nian"

"..."

"You don't have to lie, just tell me the truth."

"...I told you the truth..."

"Xiao Nian," Xie Yan's patience was wearing thin, "you don't have to deny it in front of me, I won't blame you no matter what, I will understand you, and will definitely protect you. I just want to know the truth, just tell me the truth, what actually happened?"

Shu Nian looked quietly at Xie Yan, his eyes became lifeless, and Xie Yan saw his eyes were glazed with tears for a brief.

But when he looked once again, it seemed to be dry, not only dry, but it was also empty, even the minor little anger that he saw previously was also gone.

Xie Yan waited, but Shu Nian no longer talk, both of them just sat idly like a statue, until Shu Nian began to move, with subtle movement, walked slowly, away from his side, out of his vision and walked away.

Without waiting for his response, Xie Yan's mood became worst, discomfort filled his body by the feeling of being rejected, and he turned speechless.

Xie Yan couldn't sleep well at night, he had a muddled dream, it looked like he was dreaming about Shu Nian, silently looking at him, with his tears rolling down slowly, his emotions were in a train wreck when he woke up, and his chest felt stuffy.

Xie Yan ate breakfast quietly with his parents, such thing happened, no one wanted to speak.

Shu Nian's shadow still couldn't be seen when they were almost finished, Xie Feng's face obviously looked like he was losing his patience: "What's wrong with him? Still brooding? What an attitude, so troublesome."

"I'll go and call him." Although he felt uncomfortable, but Xie Yan worried Shu Nian's body would get worse if he didn't eat.

"Xiao Nian, have you waked up?"

He was ignored as if the person inside was having a fit.

Xie Yan was patient, continued to knock on the door, and spoke gently: "Xiao Nian, it's time for breakfast, aren't you hungry?"

No respond.

"Xiao Nian, don't be troublesome, come out to eat, just ignore about it, and come out."

"Just forget about it if he doesn't want to come out." Even his parents who were in the living room downstairs could hear his voice, and consoled him.

Xie Yan returned to the living room angrily and gave everyone a cold look, he planned to ignore the troublesome man, and couldn't help from gritting his teeth.

Approaching lunch time, he felt numb from the rage, rushed upstairs to bang the door and shout for Shu Nian to come out, he continued to bang the door for a while, everything became out of control quickly, and he suddenly realized that the door wasn't locked from the inside.

His anger immediately disappeared, trembled slightly and pushed open the door anxiously.

Scallion steamed crab — normally cook with ginger and it is something very typical. (picture credit to www.appetiteforchina.com)

Thin straw rope — 粽子 (glutinous rice dumpling) being tied with thin straw rope (picture credit to http://graceshing.blogspot.my)

Anne's Rant:

It's official, the whole Xie jia (jia indicates the whole household; including servants) are trash.

Please note that some part might be incorrect as I don't know how to translate it to English. Mistakes are bound to happen and corrections are very welcome.