“One year ago you suddenly disappeared. We all thought you were dead! I never expected you would end up in a small kingdom like Yao City!” Pang Shao and Ye Chu walked into a quiet room on the flower boat. After dismissing the serving maids inside, Pang Shao did not forget to curse Ye Chu once more. At the same time he sighed over his own bad luck. He thought to himself that he had finally taken a liking to a woman, yet somehow in such a remote place he still ran into Ye Chu. From Ye Chu’s earlier attitude, it seemed impossible for him to get close to her now!
“The big eagle has not yet turned into a little bird, and the golden spear has not yet fallen! How could I bear to die right now!” Ye Chu laughed. “But you, be careful not to die suddenly from something like venereal disease!”
Su Rong and Zhang Su’er had just taken their seats. Hearing Ye Chu’s words, their faces flushed red. Their skin, as smooth as congealed fat and tender as water, showed a faint alluring blush that stirred the imagination. Their cheeks were rosy and dripping with embarrassment. Their shy and charming state was utterly captivating! Their cherry lips curved delicately and slightly full, adding a touch of allure. Yet disgust flashed in their soul-searing eyes. Such lewd words had never been spoken in their presence before.
“Still as vulgar and shameless as ever!” Pang Shao thought to himself that anyone who could say such a thing was no less filthy than himself. Yet laughably, people had always thought he was the more vulgar one. Pang Shao saw an empty seat beside Su Rong and Zhang Su’er. He was just about to sit there when Ye Chu plopped down right between the two women.
“Bloody hell!” Pang Shao cursed inwardly. He thought to himself that he could never match Ye Chu’s shamelessness. He had only wanted to sit near Zhang Su’er, but Ye Chu directly sat between the two women, embracing left and right.
“In the end, I still cannot compare to this bastard Ye Chu. He is bold enough and shameless enough!” Pang Shao cursed inwardly. He could only sit across the table with Liang Shan.
With someone suddenly squeezing between them, Su Rong and Zhang Su’er found themselves almost pressed against Ye Chu’s body. They could not help shifting slightly to the sides. Their gazes turned to Ye Chu. Seeing him completely at ease and ignoring their looks, they felt secret resentment yet could do nothing.
“Su Xiaorong! I remember you were quite good at making tea back then! How about it? Brew a few cups for me?” Sitting close to the two women, Ye Chu could almost smell the faint fragrance coming from them. It made his heart race a little. He glanced sideways at Su Rong. Her face was peerlessly beautiful, her skin as white as snow and jade.
“Tea again? Bloody hell, can you not drink wine for once!” Pang Shao was about to go mad. He had known Ye Chu for so long, yet every time they drank, this fellow turned it into tea. A grown man drinking tea like a woman, how could he stand it? Yet Ye Chu always enjoyed it. Back then, to make Ye Chu drink alcohol, they had tried every threat and bribe imaginable. They even told Ye Chu that if he drank, they would find him an empire-famous beauty renowned for her allure to accompany him.
That bribe had worked. Ye Chu agreed that if there was a beauty to accompany him, he would consider drinking. But when they spent great effort and cost to find a beauty to join him, Ye Chu completely forgot his words. He drank tea with that seductive, alluring beauty instead.
The most shameless part was when Pang Shao and the others questioned Ye Chu for breaking his promise, Ye Chu shrugged it off casually. “Do you not know that ‘consider’ is actually a polite way of refusing? Never mind, it is your fault for being born too stupid and not understanding human affairs! How pitiful!”
With those words, Ye Chu left behind a group of stunned people and walked away triumphantly with the seductive beauty, leaving Pang Shao and the others grinding their teeth in frustration yet powerless.
Pang Shao had originally thought that meeting an old friend in a foreign place, and since Ye Chu suggested drinking, he would at least touch some alcohol this time. Yet unexpectedly this fellow was still drinking his damn tea.
“Not even daring to touch wine, how can you call yourself a man!” Pang Shao could not resist provoking Ye Chu.
Ye Chu ignored Pang Shao’s taunt completely. Such a low-grade provocation could never affect him. As for not touching alcohol, it was a lingering effect from his previous life. In his past life he had drunk too much and died an untimely death, causing Ye Chu to lose all interest in alcohol. Thinking back to his previous life of debauchery and frequenting nightclubs, he never imagined he could go three years without a drop.
Su Rong was equally surprised to see Ye Chu refuse alcohol. She clearly remembered that three years ago Ye Chu loved drinking and causing trouble when drunk. Many of his heinous acts were done while intoxicated. How could someone like that now drink tea for self-cultivation?
Knowing he could not force Ye Chu, Pang Shao could only pull Liang Shan to drink with him. Liang Shan, invited by Pang Shao, felt greatly honoured and kept clinking cups with him.
He was also shocked by Ye Chu’s relationship with Pang Shao. Pang Shao’s friendliness toward him was clearly because of Ye Chu.
Liang Shan turned to look at Ye Chu, only to see him just then receiving the tea Su Rong had brewed. Yao City’s pearl Su Rong personally brewing tea to accompany him, Liang Shan felt his blood boil at the thought. This was something he had never dared imagine before.
Reaching out to take the teacup, Ye Chu’s fingers brushed Su Rong’s slender jade-like ones, feeling as smooth as silk. Su Rong reflexively pulled her hand back.
Pang Shao saw this scene and felt indescribable jealousy. “Back in the empire, a princess brewed tea for you. Now here you have beauties accompanying you!”
These words made everyone’s gazes shoot toward Ye Chu. Including Su Rong, several people showed surprise and doubt.
A princess?! What princess?! Anyone called “princess” in the empire must hold no low status! Could it be a princess? But if it truly was a princess, such a lofty and noble figure, how could she brew tea for Ye Chu? They looked at Ye Chu with suspicion, feeling more and more that layers of mystery surrounded him.
Pang Shao saw Ye Chu ignore his jealousy. He suddenly thought of something and grinned slyly. “If the princess knew you were in Yao City, I wonder if she would come charging over?”
“Bloody hell!” Ye Chu finally cursed loudly. “If you dare tell that little vixen where I am, you can forget about touching a woman for the rest of your life!”
“I will tell her anyway!” Pang Shao was furious now, his fat face turning iron-blue. Back in the imperial capital, Ye Chu had gone to peep at the saintess bathing and nearly been caught. He escaped quickly. But that was not all. This bastard tricked him by saying, “There is a beauty with curves in all the right places in the hot spring pool.” Without thinking too much, he rushed over and ran straight into the furious saintess who had just come ashore. Thus began his tragic fate. For that entire month, the saintess’s attendants beat him daily. Not a single part of his body remained intact!
Pang Shao kept explaining that he had been tricked by Ye Chu, but the saintess would not believe it. In the end, Pang Shao had to swear a vicious oath: “If I am lying, may I never touch a woman again for the rest of my life!”
Only after seeing him swear such a poisonous oath did the saintess reluctantly let him go. Afterwards she began searching everywhere for Ye Chu, wanting to confirm the truth.
But Ye Chu was clever. By the time she searched, he had long disappeared to who knows where, leaving the saintess helpless.
“This time, I must tell the saintess. Otherwise, who knows how she will deal with me.” Pang Shao shuddered at the memory of those days tormented by the saintess.
Ye Chu suddenly laughed. Looking at Pang Shao, he said, “Go ahead and tell her if you want. But after that, whenever there is something fun, you will have no part in it!”
“Why not?” Pang Shao grew even angrier.
“Because of the rule that ‘during activities, you must listen to me’!” Ye Chu shrugged and smiled. At these words, though Pang Shao was furious, he fell silent and gritted his teeth.
Pang Shao’s silence made Su Rong and Liang Shan widen their eyes. Their minds felt as if struck by lightning. They stared at Ye Chu in disbelief. Liang Shan’s lips trembled as he asked in a shaky voice, “Ye… Ye Chu! What exactly did you do in these three years?”