Chapter 13: Zhou Mu, You’re Really Tough

“I want to take a bubble bath. Fill the tub with water and put the towel next to it so I don’t have to go get it, and take out a clean bathrobe and put it next to it…” Yu Chu sat on the edge of the bathtub as he ordered Zhou Mu around.

Zhou Mu had just started to put the water in when he heard a knock on the door of his suite, interspersed with an old, hoarse voice, “Second Young Master, Second Young Master. Wake up, there’s an urgent matter we have to trouble you with, Second Young Master…”

Zhou Mu stopped bending down to test the water and looked face to face with Yu Chu.

It was Uncle Wu.

“Deal with him yourself.” Yu Chu tossed his head in the direction of the doorway with a gloating look on his face, imitating Zhou Mu’s tone from earlier, “But according to my understanding of him, he will eventually choose to report this to Uncle Wu after repeatedly struggling for ten minutes.” Then he returned to his gloating face, “And they immediately sold you out without a moment’s hesitation.”

Zhou Mu got up and left the bathroom, closing the door with his hand, and Yu Chu sat on the edge of the bathtub, unbuttoning his shirt while keeping his ears open for the door.

“Second Young Master, Second Young Master wake up! It’s an emergency, Second Young Master…” The door of the room opened abruptly, and Uncle Wu, who was knocking on the door, stopped his hand in the air. After seeing the person in front of him, his eyes widened slightly, revealing a stunned look. He asked, out of breath, “Zhou Mu, why are you here?” 

Zhou Mu pulled the door open and asked in return, “Uncle Wu, what happened?”

Uncle Wu was followed by a few other hired thugs, and after seeing Zhou Mu, they all started to look at each other.

“Zhou Mu, what time is it? What are you doing in the Second Young Master’s room instead of staying in your own dorm? I was worried that something had happened to you, searching around with other people everywhere.” Uncle Wu’s face instantly went calm, showing his usual ‘friendly old man’ look.

Zhou Mu blamed himself and said, “It was raining and windy tonight, so I thought there’ll be thunder and lightning, and I was worried that Young Master would be scared, so I stayed with him, but I left my cell phone in the dormitory and forgot it. I thought it wasn’t a big deal, so I didn’t report it.”

Yu Chu being afraid of thunder and lightning was something many people in the mansion had heard of, so except for Uncle Wu, the several hired thugs showed a look of understanding.

“So then…” Uncle Wu pointed at Zhou Mu’s wet hair, “you just showered?” He said while smiling, but the smile didn’t reach the bottom of his eyes, “It’s almost five o’clock, but you took a shower, huh? Where’s Second Young Master? Is he asleep?”

Zhou Mu pointed to the live football game on the TV with his chin, “I’ve been watching the game, the Second Young Master just went to take a bath.” The skin under Zhou Mu’s right ear was revealed between the side of his head, and there were two long red blood marks on it that ran all the way to the right side of his neck.

Uncle Wu’s eyes sank and asked, “What’s with the wounds on your neck?”

“Wounds?” Zhou Mu subconsciously reached out to touch his neck.

“Here.” Uncle Wu pointed to the right side of the opposite position.

Zhou Mu’s fingers touched the bloodstain and immediately recalled the incident at the beginning by the forest, when Yu Chu struggled hard to hit him, presumably he got scratched by him during that.

He frowned and hissed very softly, “When did this happen? I didn’t notice, I didn’t feel it.” Then, as if he remembered something, “I think it was when I returned to the island today and was brushed by something when I got off the boat.”

“Is that so?” Uncle Wu stared at the red marks carefully, “This doesn’t look like having been brushed by something, but rather like being scratched by someone.” After saying that, he raised his eyes to look at Zhou Mu, the corners of his mouth were still smiling, but there was a cold aura in those small eyes.

“But I’m the one who scratched him.” A clear voice came from inside the room.

The people at the door looked around and saw Yu Chu standing in the doorway of the bathroom. He was only wrapped in a white bathrobe, showing his wet head and long legs, and was leaning against the door frame looking at them. His face was flushed from the heat, and his eyes were struggling to stay open, his long lashes were slanted down over his eyelids like a sleepy kitten.

“I made a bet with him during a ballgame, he lost and reneged, but I just couldn’t catch him.” Yu Chu said this sentence, then glanced aside, the other four looking everywhere but the person.

The two men were alone in the shower together, wearing bathrobes, one with suspicious red marks, the other with a face full of sensuality. As long as their eyes weren’t blind, they would not think they were watching the game.

A suspicion popped up in everyone’s mind at the same time, and as Yu Chu’s ears gradually began to redden, the suspicion became more and more certain. The hired thugs’ expressions gradually changed, either to astonishment or envy, and one of the thugs, who boasted that he knew Zhou Mu well, squinted his eyes ambiguously at him.

“Uncle Wu, you should go now. I want to rest.” Yu Chu spoke up.

When the hired thugs heard this soft plea, they were all distracted and couldn’t help but let their minds race.

Uncle Wu’s expression became complicated as he looked at Zhou Mu from head to toe, and then said to Yu Chu, “It’s fine, it’s fine, you should rest.” After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the hallway, but stopped after two steps and looked at Zhou Mu again meaningfully, “I will report this matter to Mr. Yu, so you take care of yourself.”

Zhou Mu closed the door and looked at Yu Chu who was still standing at the bathroom door.

“No need for thanks.” Yu Chu raised his chin at him, with a look of smugness and arrogance, and then retreated to the bathroom, closing the door with a slam.

Zhou Mu’s eyes flashed with a smile as he helplessly shook his head.

After a comfortable bath, all his drowsiness was gone, Yu Chu sat up, dried himself with the towel placed next to him, wrapped himself in a clean bathrobe, and opened the bathroom door with his foot.

Zhou Mu was sitting on the sofa, fiddling with a medicine box on the coffee table, when he heard the door. He came over and picked him up by the waist then walked towards the sofa.

“What for? Are you really not going to sleep or continue watching the game on the couch?” Yu Chu wrapped his arms around his neck and teasingly blew his breath on the two scratches under Zhou Mu’s ear. Seeing the small goosebumps on his skin instantly emerge, he smiled somewhat triumphantly.

Zhou Mu expressionlessly freed one hand, pinched his mouth shut, turned forward and threw the man down as he walked over to the couch.

“Hey, hey, hey! Be gentle, I’m a wounded person now.” Yu Chu bounced twice on the sofa and hurriedly grabbed the back of it to not fall.

“What a bad attitude. I helped you just now, and you’re already turning your back on me. I should have said that the scratches were left when you put your hands on me and I fought against you.” Yu Chu glared at Zhou Mu with discontent.

Zhou Mu ignored him and dragged a small stool to sit down in front of the sofa, picking up the injured foot and resting it on his knee. The ankle was already swollen to a point where the skin was faintly blue underneath. Then he poured out the medicine from the bottle next to him in his hand, rubbed his hands together, covered Yu Chu’s ankle and began to knead it.

“Gently! Do it gently! Do you even know how to do it? Gently…” Yu Chu was so nervous that he wanted to flick the other’s hand away, but found that his ankle didn’t feel pain, so he slowly relaxed and melted back on the couch.

Zhou Mu’s pressure was just right and his technique was quite skillful. Yu Chu felt that the pain that had been vaguely persistent was gone as his ankle was kneaded comfortably. The room was quiet, only the TV was making a faint sound. Yu Chu smelled the fragrance of medicine, looked up at the ceiling and asked, “Zhou Mu, how many people are there in your family?”

Zhou Mu pressed his thumb and index finger on his acupuncture points and said, “No one.”

“No one?” Yu Chu withdrew his eyes and lay flat to look at Zhou Mu, “Are you an orphan too?”

When Zhou Mu heard his question, he lifted his eyes to look at him, and said lightly, “I’m not an orphan.”

“Oh.”

When he finished massaging Yu Chu’s foot, Zhou Mu packed up the medicine box, picked up Yu Chu and walked to the bed, “The swelling of your foot will go down overnight, and tomorrow when you get up, it will be much better.”

“It’s already tomorrow.” Yu Chu turned his head to look at the curtains that were already letting in light.

“Then the swelling will go down by noon today.”

After Yu Chu was put into bed by Zhou Mu, he deliberately moved inward to make half of the bed empty, and then reached out and patted it, inviting, “Come, sleep with me.”

Zhou Mu turned around and went out, Yu Chu burst out laughing at his back.

“It’s not appropriate for me to go back to the dorm now, so I’ll just lie down on your couch for a while.” Zhou Mu closed the door to his room to the sound of his laughter.

… 

Yu Chu slept until noon, and when he woke up, he found Zhou Mu had left and the room was empty. After he finished washing up, Rugosa knocked on the door and said with some apprehension, “Second Young Master, Master asked you to go to the dining room when you wake up. He wants to have lunch with you.”

Yu Chu was stunned and said, “Alright, I’ll go now.”

It’s been awhile since he crossed over, and except for being drugged by Yu Feng and then called into the office by Yu ShiQing to talk, he hadn’t seen him since. Although Yu ShiQing would often leave the island on business, the two of them never saw each other when he returned, it was a little uncomfortable to hear that he was asked to go to the dining room for dinner.

Yu Chu’s feet were still swollen, so he couldn’t be seen walking slowly. He followed Rugosa down to the first floor of the mansion and walked towards the dining room slowly. These days he ate in his room, and if Rugosa didn’t take him, he would have had to search for it.

The dining room was right next to the kitchen, the space was quite large, the arrangement was also good, surrounded by greenery on all sides. The wall was a bright light blue, with a few quite soothing paintings. There was a long table in the middle, and Yu ShiQing was sitting at one end of it, with a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose, staring at the computer screen on the table with a serious face.

“Father.” Yu Chu entered the door and called out in a respectful but fearful voice.

Yu ShiQing stared at the computer for a while longer before closing the screen, taking off his glasses and cupping the bridge of his nose with his hand while saying, “Xiao Chu, you’re here! Have a seat.”

Yu Chu saw a set of tableware on the empty seat beside him, so he went over and sat there. Two maids came in at the door and quickly took away the laptop and started to serve the food.

When the maids left and closed the door, Yu ShiQing lifted his chopsticks and said, “Let’s eat! The chef was just hired from overseas, have a taste.”

“Okay.” Yu Chu then also picked up his chopsticks and started to eat.

Yu ShiQing was apparently not very talkative during meals, and only focused on the dish in front of him; Yu Chu, having been starved as a child, had always attached great importance to eating, so he didn’t make a sound and only ate seriously.

Just before eating half a bowl, a whistle suddenly sounded from the small garden outside the window, as if something had broken through the air, followed by a popping sound, clear and loud as it echoed into the dining room.

This sound was one Yu Chu had heard a lot. It was the sound of someone being whipped. His heart jolted, because he instantly guessed who was being beaten outside, but his expression didn’t change at all, and he continued to eat as if he had no idea.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

The sounds of the whipping continuously rang out. Yu Chu used a spoon to serve himself a bowl of soup, blew the top of the soup and watched the floating onions, counting in his mind: Two, three, four… 

Yu ShiQing also ignored the sound and only looked down to eat, not even glancing at Yu Chu.

Eight, nine, ten.

A total of ten lashes, before it finally stopped.

During the whole thing, Yu Chu didn’t hear the whipped person let out even half a cry of pain, and he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart: Zhou Mu, you’re really tough.