DLWAV CH94

Third Master Liu’s good mood vanished in an instant.

And then it occurred to him.

What did it matter to him how many concubines Ao Ruize kept in his household?

Why should he feel the slightest bit put out?

But right at that moment, Ao Ruize’s rich, resonant voice came again: “Though if Third Master were willing to grant me my wish, I would be happy to dismiss the entire rear courtyard for Third Master’s sake. From then on, wherever Third Master points, I would never go the other way. Whatever Third Master calls a dog, I would never call a chicken.”

Third Master Liu: “……”

The assembled servants and dancing girls: “……”

Third Master Liu wanted to berate Ao Ruize for his shamelessness, but the words reached his lips and simply stopped.

Because he could clearly feel his own heartbeat suddenly quickening considerably.

Third Master Liu: “……”

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

But trying to articulate exactly what was wrong, he found he couldn’t quite put it into words.

What was beyond any doubt was that his emotions seemed to have been toyed with entirely at Ao Ruize’s will.

Third Master Liu’s brow immediately furrowed.

He deeply disliked this feeling of being manipulated.

So he steadied himself.

But as he had always said, he simply did not like men, and had no intention of cooperating with Lu Dang’s camp.

Which meant he had to come up with another approach to put Ao Ruize off once and for all.

“Is that so?”

Third Master Liu drew his hands back from where they had been hovering near the waists of the two women beside him and said: “Since Mr. Ao is a man of learning, he should be well-versed in the Six Arts of a gentleman.”

“As it happens, Liu finds that lutenist’s playing rather mediocre. It is dampening my mood. Perhaps Mr. Ao would be good enough to take over.”

He figured that since Ao Ruize kept going on about doing whatever he was told, he might as well put that to the test. Musicians were considered to be of lowly status. Asking Ao Ruize to play accompaniment for dancing girls was a blatant humiliation. Surely Ao Ruize would refuse.

At which point, he would have every justification to throw him out.

But to his complete surprise, Ao Ruize agreed with easy grace: “Then allow me to make a poor showing.”

With that, he walked directly toward the lutenist a short distance away.

Third Master Liu: “……”

He then watched as Ao Ruize dismissed the lutenist, took his seat, and began to play.

And critically, his skill at the instrument was genuinely remarkable, every bit on par with his skill as a painter.

String after string answered to his fingers, now like a chorus of birds in full song, now like a clear spring tumbling down a mountain slope, bright and melodious, washing through the mind and lifting the spirit.

The dancing girls nearby no longer knew what dance to perform, and even the foremost lutenist of the south, whom Third Master Liu had spent several thousand taels of gold to engage, couldn’t help but let an expression of open admiration show.

And precisely because the music was so beautiful, wave after wave of drowsiness began to wash over Third Master Liu, who had not closed his eyes in two full days while dealing with the matter of the traitors, and had only been holding himself together by sheer force of will.

Though his mind was still busy turning over: who would have thought Ao Ruize could put up with this sort of thing. It seemed he would have to push harder. Just wait. In a while he would send Ao Ruize off to cook for him. And if Ao Ruize still refused to give up, he would put him to work doing his laundry. Dancing. And drawing his bathwater. Oh, and his feet had been aching terribly from all the running around these past two days. He would have Ao Ruize rub them for him next……

Then Third Master Liu fell completely, soundly asleep.

Right at that moment, Ao Ruize’s hands stilled on the strings.

The moment the music stopped, the dancing girls and the other musicians all stopped as well.

They instinctively turned to look at Ao Ruize.

Ao Ruize rose, gave them a wave of his hand: “All of you, leave.”

Under normal circumstances, no one would have obeyed him.

After all, he was not the master of the Liu household, and the true master of the Liu household had made his low opinion of Ao Ruize quite plain just moments before.

But for reasons no one could quite explain, his tone was entirely unremarkable, yet everyone present somehow heard within it an authority that brooked no question.

The hair on the backs of their necks stood on end for no apparent reason.

By the time they came back to themselves, they were already bowing in assent and withdrawing with the utmost deference.

The steward, who had arrived just in time to witness this, was among them.

Only once they had retreated beyond the covered walkway did they come back to their senses.

Between them, they had seen no shortage of impressive figures in their time following Third Master Liu, but they could say with certainty that no one’s bearing had ever compared to Ao Ruize’s in that moment. Not even the governors and princes they would otherwise never have occasion to encounter in ordinary life.

The steward in particular found his brow creasing.

In their understanding, Ao Ruize should have been a peripheral figure among Lu Dang’s group. Otherwise, why would Lu Dang have sent him out to do something as lowly as trying to seduce their Third Master?

But now, on reflection, if Ao Ruize were merely an ordinary person, how could he possibly command that kind of presence?

He immediately moved to go back.

But right at that moment, Ao Ruize pulled a chair over and sat down beside Third Master Liu, and the moment his hand made contact, Third Master Liu slid directly into his arms.

The steward’s pupils tightened.

His first thought was that something had happened to their Third Master.

Otherwise why would Third Master simply fall straight into Ao Ruize’s arms?

He was on the verge of rushing out.

But in the next instant, he saw Third Master Liu shift and nestle in Ao Ruize’s arms, apparently searching for the most comfortable position.

Having found it, he tucked his face directly into Ao Ruize’s chest.

Their Third Master didn’t even mind the heat!!!!

No, wait——

The steward: “……”

He no longer knew what to make of the relationship between their Third Master and Ao Ruize.

After all, just one moment ago, their Third Master had been insisting he was going to find a way to drive Ao Ruize away. And in the very next moment, he had burrowed straight into Ao Ruize’s arms.

What could the steward do?

He could only quietly withdraw again, make a mental note of what he had seen, and bring it to Third Master Liu’s attention a little later.

In truth, Third Master Liu did not feel hot at all. In fact, he was sleeping with extraordinary comfort.

Because whatever his face was pressed against was cool and smooth, and if only the space were a little larger, he would have been tempted to tuck his hands and feet in there too.

It was in this state that he slowly opened his eyes, and found himself looking directly at a series of sharply defined lines.

Third Master Liu: “……”

He looked more carefully and realized those were not lines at all. They were firm, well-defined muscles, and the topmost one in particular was hard and substantial, deeply compelling.

Third Master Liu didn’t manage to stop himself in time, and instinctively reached out to touch it.

In the next instant, a low, soft laugh sounded right beside his ear.

Third Master Liu looked up sharply, and found himself face to face with a set of well-defined features, and a pair of eyes full of warmth and laughter.

“Ao Ruize?”

Third Master Liu startled first, then his pupils tightened.

Only then did he realize he was lying in Ao Ruize’s arms.

So there was no longer any question about what that firm, substantial muscle had been.

Third Master Liu: “……”

The tips of his ears turned red in an instant.

He sat bolt upright, rising as he spoke: “You…… I……”

Ao Ruize was entirely unhurried, rolling his aching arm as he said: “The chair was uncomfortable, so I just settled you down on the floor with me. How did you sleep? Rested?”

Third Master Liu, who had barely managed to collect himself: “……”

Was that really the point? The point was…… why had he been sleeping in his arms?

Right at that moment, Third Master Liu noticed Ao Ruize’s movements.

There was no need to guess why Ao Ruize’s arm was aching.

The tips of Third Master Liu’s ears turned even redder.

But he came back to himself quickly.

No. He could not keep letting Ao Ruize pull his emotions this way and that.

Otherwise, what might happen next was something Third Master Liu didn’t dare think through.

Laundry. Dancing. Drawing bathwater. Foot rubs. These had to be put on the agenda immediately.

The foot rub especially. That was an outright humiliation.

But right at that moment, Ao Ruize also caught his gaze, and as though something had occurred to him, smiled and said: “How do your feet feel? I already rubbed them for you earlier.”

Already rubbed them earlier?

Third Master Liu: “……”

Third Master Liu: “…………”

Third Master Liu: “…………….”

Third Master Liu did not feel his feet were particularly comfortable. What he felt right now was that his feet were so hot they no longer seemed to belong to him.

This man…… did this man have absolutely no self-respect?

Though from Ao Ruize’s perspective, this had nothing to do with self-respect.

After all, it was just rubbing his wife’s feet. He had done far more than that before. Or rather, there was not a single part of his wife that he hadn’t——

Though he also knew that if he kept going down that line of thinking, Third Master Liu would go from embarrassment straight to fury.

So he immediately said: “Since Third Master is awake, and the hour is getting late, I will take my leave.”

Third Master Liu, watching him rise and depart with clean, decisive ease: “……”

At that moment, the steward approached and gave Third Master Liu a detailed account of what had happened at midday.

But the moment he finished speaking, Third Master Liu said with absolute certainty: “You almost certainly saw it wrong.”

If Ao Ruize were truly such a remarkable figure, could he really be so…… so utterly without shame?

No, that wouldn’t do.

Not even humiliating Ao Ruize had been enough to make him back down. He had to think of a better method.

Carrying this thought with him, Third Master Liu went straight to his room.

But he turned the matter over and over in his mind, and by the middle of the night still had not arrived at a better solution.

Until finally he couldn’t help but drift off to sleep.

There was just one problem: even with ice basins set up in the room, he still didn’t sleep particularly well.

Mainly because you don’t notice what you’re missing until you have something to compare it to.

After all, no matter how large an ice basin, it couldn’t fill the whole room. Even placed at the head of the bed, the cool air dissipated by the time it reached him.

Nothing like being in Ao Ruize’s arms, which had been cool and smooth no matter how long you stayed there.

Only, the moment that thought crossed his mind, the half-asleep Third Master Liu couldn’t help but recall what he had seen when he woke: those sharply defined lines, and those rock-hard muscles……

At that thought, whether because the ice in the basins had fully melted or for some other reason entirely, Third Master Liu suddenly felt even hotter.

And then, in the next instant, the image shifted.

It became a scene of Ao Ruize kneeling before him, removing his shoes, and beginning to rub his feet.

Ao Ruize’s technique seemed quite exceptional.

Then the image shifted again.

Ao Ruize bent his head and took his toes in his mouth, then moved to his calf……

And the inner thigh was, after all, the most sensitive place on the body, and Ao Ruize happened to have that small goatee……

So before Ao Ruize had even done anything further, Third Master Liu couldn’t help but curl his toes tight.

By the time he raised his head back down and his breathing had smoothed out again, something seemed to dawn on him, and he opened his eyes abruptly.

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