Chapter 621 : Personal Attendant (3)
Fan Jin subconsciously glanced at Jun Wu Xie, but he did not detect anything abnormal on Jun Wu Xie's face. When he thought back to the havoc the Rui Lin Army's had caused the Zephyr Academy the day before, he quickly wrongly assumed that that person was someone the Jun Family had arranged for as they were worried about Jun Wu Xie's safety, with her being alone outside.
The Jun Family of the Qi Kingdom were really something! Even a simple attendant of theirs looked... so highly imposing!
"Cough..... It is just great that you are here now. The little dwelling here only has Fan Zhuo and Little Xie. They are both still rather young, and with you here, you will be able to take care of a few things for them." Fan Jin said amicably with a laugh, completely treating Jun Wu Yao as Jun Wu Xie's..... attendant.
Fan Zhuo glanced at his own brother once, and let out one big sigh.
[Although that was what the youth was telling you, but didn't you notice? No matter whether it is the poise and mannerisms, or the imposing aura emanating from him, they were both not what an average man could ever hope to compare with. If such an elite was really a mere attendant, then Jun Wu Xie's family background would be absolutely astounding! But not even royalty of nations and powers, would be able to hire someone like this.]
"I will naturally have them properly cared for." Jun Wu Yao turned and looked at Jun Wu Xie, his eyes filled with adoration.
"The room that Ah Jing used to stay in is currently vacant, so why don't you just stay here? There was nobody to manage this place previously and I had to ask Uncle Gong to send their three meals here daily all this while. We can save him the trouble from now on. You don't need to prepare Little Zhuo's medicinal cuisine, you will just need to take care of Little Xie's meals." Fan Jin started making arrangements with a laugh, in obtuse ignorance. He was thinking that the attendant belonged to the Jun Family after all, and he should not trouble him to take care of Fan Zhuo as well, but getting him to take care of Jun Wu Xie's needs alone shouldn't be too much to ask.
"So..... can you cook?" Fan Jin hesitated a moment before he asked, as he stared at the handsome Jun Wu Yao. The youth standing before him held more poise than the richest young masters in the Zephyr Academy, and that made him wonder if the attendant was able to handle menial tasks of life's daily necessities.
Jun Wu Xie was just about to say something in reply when Jun Wu Yao immediately said: "Yes."
Jun Wu Xie turned to Jun Wu Yao and looked at him with her eyes filled with a strange new glow in them.
"Haha, that's great! I'll bring you to the kitchen. If there is anything lacking, just let me know, and I'll have it sent over." As he spoke, Fan Jin raised his arm and was ready to pat Jun Wu Yao on the shoulder when his gaze met Jun Wu Yao's smiling eyes. His arm froze, and somehow, he just could not seem to lower it.
He suddenly had a very strong feeling, that if he had done that, something bad would have happened to him.
"Sure." Jun Wu Yao did not reject Fan Jin and agreed readily to Fan Jin's arrangements.
Fan Jin proceeded to happily bring Jun Wu Yao to check out the kitchen.
In helplessness, Jun Wu Xie sat down on the chair, while on the other side, Fan Zhuo was laughing uncontrollably.
"Personal attendant? Haha, only my dense brother will believe a word of it. Where is that guy from? Don't tell me that he is just an attendant, I was able to sense his overly imposing aura. Although his attitude towards you was suitably amiable towards you, but those eyes that despised and held in contempt everything under the Heavens was impossible to conceal." As clever as Fan Zhuo was, he did not believe a single word Jun Wu Yao had said earlier.
Jun Wu Xie's expression turned a little strange. She struggled silently a long while before she muttered: "Elder brother."
Fan Zhuo was surprised.
"He is your elder brother?"
Jun Wu Xie nodded. With Fan Zhuo's quick witted mind, even if she did not say anything, he would be able to guess the gist of it as time went by.
Moreover, what filled Jun Wu Xie's mind at that moment was what Jun Wu Yao had agreed to do earlier.
A personal attendant's tasks..... Would it really be alright?
"The two of you..... don't really look alike at all." Fan Zhuo said as he surveyed Jun Wu Xie. Jun Xie had delicate features, but he wouldn't be considered handsome.
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Chapter 622 : Personal Attendant (4)
Jun Wu Yao's flawless face had made Fan Zhuo, who possessed rather exemplary looks himself, feeling slightly inferior. He had never seen someone so attractive looking.
"......" [He was not born from the same parents, obviously they wouldn't look alike.]
Jun Wu Xie grumbled in her mind, but she did not say a word out loud.
Shortly, Fan Jin came back, his face all smiles. He sat down and nagged a while with Fan Zhuo and Jun Wu Xie.
Jun Wu Xie's eyes periodically drifted to look outside throughout the chat. Fan Zhuo noticed Jun Wu Xie's actions and immediately asked his hopelessly dense brother: "Big brother, where is the brother you brought out earlier?"
Fan Jin replied: "He must be in the kitchen."
"........" Fan Zhuo's face stiffened.
Fan Jin continued to prattle on: "Isn't it already noon? He said the time was just right for him to prepare lunch for Little Xie, and I did not want to stop him."
[Fine example of talents nurtured by the Jun Family. He had just come to an unfamiliar place and he was already so diligent. He was the perfect example of one much better than that stubborn and obstinate Ah Jing.]
Fan Zhuo's mouth was twitching at the corners and he hurriedly turned to look at Jun Wu Xie.
But Jun Wu Xie was only frowning slightly, her brow slightly creased with her head slightly lowered, and no one knew what was going through her mind.
In the kitchen, Jun Wu Yao swept his eyes over the heap of fresh green vegetables and different kinds of meat. The smile on his fabulously handsome face did not wane in the slightest and he had just lifted a huge cabbage in his hand when a black shadow streaked in, giving out a shriek!
"Lord! Don't! Nooo! !" A man dressed in all black, looking a little like Ye Sha was suddenly kneeling on the ground before Jun Wu Yao, his face in utter shock, his jet black eyes staring fixedly at the big ball of cabbage in Jun Wu Yao's hand, as if the cabbage was being immensely and unbelievably offensive.
"Huh?" Jun Wu Yao lifted his eyes and looked at the man.
"We could never allow our noble Lord to desecrate those hands in such menial tasks!" The man grieved and lamented as he looked up at Jun Wu Yao, feeling the affront and humiliation, that his Lord had had to touch a raw and unprepared cabbage.
"Why not?" Jun Wu Yao asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I implore Lord to reconsider!" The man begged and pleaded, hitting his head on the floor, as if the sky was about to fall at the next moment.
"Ye Mei, you really should learn from Ye Sha." Jun Wu Yao turned his gaze to look at Ye Sha, who had suddenly appeared at the door.
'Zoom.'
Ye Sha was kneeling before Jun Wu Yao.
"I implore my Lord to reconsider."
Jun Wu Yao's eyes narrowed, suddenly thinking that it was rather dull.
"You guys do it." He threw down the things in his hands and Jun Wu Yao disappeared in an instant.
After they were certain that Jun Wu Yao had left, Ye Mei and Ye Sha finally heaved a big sigh of relief, their faces looking like a huge burden had just been lifted off their shoulders.
If they had allowed their Lord to taint his hands like this, they would have had to kill themselves for their crime!
The Dark Emperor who terrorized all under the Heavens, must not be allowed to be desecrated in such a manner. They would not allow their Lord to be humiliated like this!
As they exhorted and expounded on their endlessly almighty Lord, their hands began to work on the ingredients before them.
Two tall towering men, with cold and stalwart expressions on their faces, began to busy themselves in a small tiny kitchen, completely unaware of how inappropriate they looked in there.
Ye Sha stood before the chopping board, and stared at the clumsy and unwieldy chopper, before turning his eyes to look at the flapping carp on the chopping board.
The next moment, he pulled out the gleaming dagger at his hip, and a flash crisscrossed in the air! The entire carp was perfectly cleaned, cut, and gutted! Ye Sha held a perfect skeleton of the fish in his hand, and disposed of it quickly on the side.
Ye Mei's twin daggers flew in a flurry in the air, and those crisp and fresh vegetables had in the blink of an eye, been cut into bite sized pieces, every single piece the exact same size, without variation.
However.....
Throughout the whole process, the two men's faces were cold and stoic, their eyes chilling to look at. They did not look in the slightest to be preparing a feast, but looked as if they were carrying out a murder.
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Chapter 623 : Personal Attendant (5)
.....
Fan Zhuo stared at the deliciously amazing spread of dishes laid across the table in front of him, his expression showing him stupefied for words. He lifted his head and shifted his gaze to look at the coldly calm Jun Wu Xie, but saw a strange sparkle in her eyes.
[Was that person really Jun Wu Xie's brother?]
[Was he not just an attendant?]
Looking at the table completely filled with fantastic dishes, all of them in no way inferior to food prepared by the greatest chefs, Fan Zhuo could not help but hold that suspicion in his mind.
Even just by looking, he already found them irresistibly tantalizing!
Although Jun Wu Xie's face did not show much of a reaction, but her eyes still finally turned to Jun Wu Yao, who was sitting on one side of the table. Her eyes were filled with suspicion, seemingly asking Jun Wu Yao, whether the table full of dishes were really prepared by him!
She simply could not make herself draw a link between what was before her to Jun Wu Yao.
"They all look simply fantastic!" Fan Jin was wiping at his drool, his stomach rumbling noisily.
"Can..... I..... try it?" Fan Jin stared wide eyed at Jun Wu Yao.
Jun Wu Yao smiled and nodded.
Fan Jin stretched out his chopsticks immediately, and in a flurry, his chopsticks picked food from a few dishes into his bowl, and he started on his meal happily.
The first mouthful that went into his mouth, almost made him cry out tears of joy.
"Bery bery..... ood..... gwew..... cry come....." Fan Jin's mouth was full of food, as he asked Fan Zhuo and Jun Wu Xie to try some, his eyes moist, moved by the taste of the food.
Fan Zhuo smiled awkwardly and nodded to Jun Wu Yao before he picked up his chopsticks.
Jun Wu Xie hesitated another moment before she moved her hand.
As she tasted the food, Jun Wu Xie suddenly turned to look at Jun Wu Yao.
"Nice."
Jun Wu Yao beamed brightly, satisfied.
After Fan Jin complemented Jun Wu Yao on his "culinary talents", hidden outside below the window sill, Ye Sha and Ye Mei who were eavesdropping were almost on the verge of tears.
"The Young Miss said it's nice." Ye Sha said.
"If the Young Miss likes it, that means our Lord will like it. The Young Miss' praise, will be our Lord's praise! I am a little excited by it." Ye Mei rubbed his hands together, his sense of accomplishment suddenly shooting through the roof.
The two men who had walked the lands, taken countless lives, were now hiding below a window sill, feeling so proud of their culinary talents that they were moved to tears.
As long as the Young Miss loves it, just cooking for her was nothing.
Even if she asked for embroidery, they were willing to take up the challenge!
To adequately satisfy their Lord, it was a task that was as tough as reaching the Heavens. But the Young Miss was now obviously easy to "please".
Ye Sha and Ye Mei came to the same conclusion in that instant. Trying to gain the favour of the Young Miss, was more effective than directly trying to win the favour of their Lord!
Having been held captive to Jun Wu Yao's "culinary skills", Fan Jin thanked Jun Wu Yao profusely before he left. Jun Wu Yao listened him out good naturedly, till Fan Jin left.
Fan Zhuo stood up immediately, embarrassed for his brother.
"I apologise. My brother is a little slow. If he has offended you in anyway, please forgive him."
Only the Heavens knew, that this meal was the most painful meal he had sat through in his entire life.
Jun Wu Yao raised an eyebrow.
"He knows." Jun Wu Xie said in explanation.
Jun Wu Yao knew what Jun Wu Xie was saying immediately.
"It's nothing. As long as Little Xie is happy, it's fine." Jun Wu Yao turned to look at Jun Wu Xie, in fact, he had completely forgotten what Fan Jin had said earlier.
Besides Jun Wu Xie, no one else deserved him to spare them a moment of his attention.
Jun Wu Xie looked at Jun Wu Yao, seemingly like she had something to say to him, but she did not know how to put it in words and she gave up.
Jun Wu Yao would temporarily put up at the little bamboo grove and Fan Jin had informed Fan Qi about it, to allow him to remain in the Zephyr Academy as the personal attendant of Jun Wu Xie.
According to the rules of the Zephyr Academy, they were not allowed to bring their personal retainers into the academy.
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Chapter 624 : Inviting Trouble (1)
But Jun Wu Xie's position in the Zephyr Academy was special. She was Gu Li Sheng's topmost as well as his most favoured disciple, hence, her status shone brighter than anyone else. Moreover, she always holed herself up in the little bamboo grove and had not contact with other disciples, so it was deemed that it would not be much trouble anyway.
Fan Qi had hence agreed to the arrangements.
Little did Fan Qi know, this one decision he made today, would in the very near future, become the key to saving the entire Zephyr Academy.
What was even more unexpected, was that the Zephyr Academy which had just barely regained its calm, would in the near future, see find itself caught in a disastrous calamity that would threaten to wipe them out.....
.....
In the Zephyr Academy's Vice Headmaster's office, Ning Rui's face was pale and ashen as he sat behind his table. Before his table, there was a blood stained stretcher. A white gunny cloth covered the entire stretcher, hiding a human shaped figure under it. The blood had stained the white cloth red, and that garish colour stung at Ning Rui's eyes.
Since night fell yesterday till now, Ning Rui had not moved from behind his table, his eyes never moving away from the blood stained stretcher.
Ning Xin was dead. His one and only daughter was dead.
It had been right before his own eyes, whipped to her death. When she had died, her body had broken in two and she did not even die with her body intact.
After the Rui Lin Army left, Ning Rui had personally gone to retrieve Ning Xin's body, and ordered people to carry it into his office. Ever since then, he had holed himself up in his office, alone with Ning Xin's body, refusing food and drink, his whole person seemingly fallen into a terrifying downward spiral with his line of thoughts.
He had wanted to save Ning Xin then, but he had not been able to do anything.
He was made to watch helplessly, as Ning Xin died before his eyes.
"Jun Wu Xie, Rui Lin Army..... Yin Yan..... Fan Qi..... I will not give up just like this. The day will come that I will make all of you pay, for my daughter's life!" Ning Rui had been repressed a long time, before he squeezed out these words, tinged in rage and hatred, from between his gritted teeth.
His heart was filled with rage and he wished he could exact his revenge for Ning Xin right at that moment.
But he couldn't.
Ning Rui took a deep breath, and suddenly stood up. From the bookshelf behind him, he retrieved a small intricate wooden box.
He opened the wooden box, and lying inside it, was a tattered map made from skin. Ning Rui's eyes glittered chillingly and he replaced the wooden cover over the box. He slipped the wooden box into his body and raised a hand to pull at a book placed upon the bookshelf. The book sprung a trap after it was pulled out and a gap appeared in the middle of the entire row of bookshelves.
With a click, the row of bookshelves slowly parted to the sides, revealing a dark tunnel behind the bookshelves.
Ning Rui clasped his hand over the pocket holding the wooden box and his eyes darkened. He ignited a glowing ember and walked into the pitch black tunnel.
Not knowing how long he walked in the darkness, Ning Rui could only feel the rage and hatred he held in his heart, forgetting the passing of time and his weariness. When the long and seemingly endless path finally showed light at its end, he stepped out of the tunnel.
No one had known, that right in the office of the Vice Headmaster, there was a hidden tunnel leading right into the woods. On one end of the tunnel, was the Vice Headmaster's office, while on the other end, it led to a little wooden hut, hidden deep within the woods.
"Isn't that Ning Rui? What made you want to come here today?" A good looking youth sat smiling on the railing outside the wooden hut. The smile on his face was radiant, but those eyes on his face sent chills up people's spines.
"Lord Gu Ying." Upon seeing the youth, Ning Rui was immediately respectful, his face serious as he bowed in greeting.
The youthful Gu Ying propped up his chin in his palm, and looked at the wary Ning Rui, and the corners of his mouth curled up as he asked:
"Why are you here today?"
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Chapter 625 : Inviting Trouble (2)
Ning Rui raised his head warily. Although he was feeling endlessly anxious in his heart, he did not dare to let his eyes roam. Although the youth before his eyes looked to be just about the same age as his recently deceased daughter, he was nevertheless clearly aware just how cruel and vicious the handsome youth before him really was.
Killing a person to him was something as mundane as eating a meal and it would not cause him the slightest discomfort.
Even Ning Rui did not dare to act imperiously before Gu Ying.
"I wonder if the other Lords are here today?" Ning Rui said, his voice servile.
Gu Ying leapt off the railing with a laugh, his nimble body suddenly appeared right in front of Ning Rui. A razor sharp dagger was pressed against Ning Rui's throat, its sharp point pricked through his skin, as a drop of blood trailed down his neck.
Ning Rui's heart skipped a beat. Gu Ying's speed was too fast, he had not even seen when Gu Ying had approached him!
"What? Is there something you don't want to tell me?" Gu Ying's eyes reflected the fearful face of Ning Rui, and when the scent of blood wafted into his nose, Gu Ying grew unnaturally excited.
"No..... No, why would I?" Ning Rui was drenched in cold sweat. If not for his burning desire to exact vengeance for his daughter, he wouldn't have dared to come into contact with this bunch of devils.
As malicious as Ning Rui was, before Gu Ying and his companions, he held only terror towards them.
Gu Ying raised his eyebrows and lifted a foot, easily trampling Ning Rui onto the ground.
"What is it, say it quick. I am not interested in watching you about to pee in your pants." Gu Ying said uninterestedly as he toyed with the dagger in his hands, balancing the drop of blood Ning Rui had left on the blade, making it run over its smooth gleaming surface.
The bright red droplet of blood reflected Gu Ying's murderous eyes, looking every inch a demon who had crawled out from a pool of blood.
Ning Rui's innards almost ruptured from Gu Ying's single stomp of his foot, but he dared not utter a single word of complaint and could only clutch at his stomach as he struggled to stand up falteringly, and with a trembling hand, he brought out the little wooden box hidden in his pocket.
The moment Gu Ying saw the wooden box, his eyes flashed with a strange look.
"What? When we gave that to you, we asked you search for it properly, but you had repeatedly stalled and resisted. If not for the Elders asking to spare you your life, I would have slaughtered you then. And for you to bring it here today, what is it supposed to mean?"
Ning Rui hurriedly replied: "My humble self was not stalling nor resisting. I had already sent many groups of people to go to the Heaven's End Cliff, but they had all died at the bottom of the cliff. How would I dare to neglect my Lords' matters? But the Heaven's End Cliff is truly a dangerous and treacherous place."
"I am not interested in hearing your nonsense." Gu Ying said with a chilling laugh.
Ning Rui felt a chill run through his body and he gulped before he said: "I know that my Lords are anxious to have the Heaven's End Cliff explored. After thinking more about it, I came up with an idea. Would my Lord care to hear me out?"
Gu Ying nodded his head impatiently.
"The Heaven's End Cliff is not a place the average person would be able to explore properly. But every individual disciple of the Zephyr Academy are considered elites and they are gathered in great numbers. If we can make all the disciples of the Zephyr Academy go down to the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff together, we just might be able to gain a full understanding of the terrain at the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff in the shortest time possible." Ning Rui suggested cautiously.
"If that can work, then just carry it out."
Ning Rui quickly replied: "I had actually had the intention to do this all this while, but I am still merely the Vice Headmaster, and not the one who holds absolute power in the Zephyr Academy. Above me, there is still the Headmaster and I have discussed this with him before, but the man had been very stubborn and would not agree to it. It is also due to my humble self's incompetence that I am unable to mobilize the strength of the entire academy. I beg for my Lord's forgiveness!"