When Li Du arrived at the Ye Mansion with practiced ease, Ye Zhi and the others had just finished their breakfast.
The moment she heard he wanted to, cough cough, hang out, Ye Zhi instinctively thought of bringing Shen Chen along.
Build some goodwill; if anything happens at home in the future, one can ask for a favor.
The trio of Ah Tao, Ye Zhi, and Li Du set off in a grand procession towards Tingling Garden.
Upon arrival, they found the male lead, broom in hand, about to head out to sweep leaves, facing the trio. The scene was quite comical...
What a calamity! How could the male lead be doing such things!
"Shen Chen, you don't need to sweep anymore. You will be my personal attendant. If I need anything, I'll have Ah Tao call you to serve me."
The two beside her were not surprised by this arrangement.
Lately, for some reason, she kept talking about repaying the sins she committed earlier, almost treating Shen Chen like a Buddha.
After all, now he is just a little personal attendant...
But the male lead was not so calm.
By the mansion's rules, the master is the sky; they tell you to go east, you go east; to go west, you go west. When Shen Chen was brought to the Ye Mansion, he was young, and Shen Wan signed a dead contract for him.
In the Daqing Dynasty, contracts for selling oneself generally fall into two types.
One type is a dead contract, where the terms stipulate that after the transaction, family members and the person themselves are not allowed to request redemption of the contract. As for whether the slave can officially revoke slave status to become a free citizen, that is entirely up to the master.
The other type is a living contract, which allows family or the individual to redeem their freedom under specified conditions.
Shen Chen clasped his hands in a salute, bowed slightly, expression calm and undaunted as he declined: "I am rough and clumsy, afraid I might not do well. Please find someone else, miss."
Even though his action was a bow, his facial expression remained as aloof as ever.
"Also, please do not do anything more for me, miss. All previous matters are wiped clean; you owe me nothing, and I am already more than grateful for your sheltering me."
His voice, same as ever, was calm and emotionless.
Before Ye Zhi could speak, Li Du's loud voice rang out.
"Ah Zhi, look at him, just call him a fool…"
After receiving a glaring look, he realized it was not the time for sarcastic remarks and quickly changed the topic:
"Shen Chen, you're wrong here. Whatever Ah Zhi says, you must do it; your dead contract is still in her hands."
The implication being: do what you're told, or else...
To those listening on the side, it seemed like that's what he meant, yet also like it wasn't.
It soon sunk in that this darn Li Du was threatening him once more, and the goodwill he had built up seemed to be vanishing again. Ye Zhi's rosy cheeks suddenly turned pale.
With a pitiably cautious look, she glanced towards the male lead at the door.
As expected!
Though his face was aloof, his gaze had gotten much sharper.
She walked up to the Little Traitor, reaching out with fair hands as smooth as jade and took hold of his gray sleeve.
"Shen Chen, Li Du was just talking nonsense. Please don't get angry; I didn't mean to use your dead contract to threaten you. Please don't be mad, alright? Forgive me, okay?"
Ye Zhi's eyes glittered like stars, styled today in a princess bun with a pearl flower hairpin topped by tassels swaying as she spoke.
Like a Little Fairy.
"Mm."
Just a simple "mm," truly a man of few words, but she was still quite happy and content: "That's wonderful. Go change clothes, let's go out together to watch the dragon boat race."
Li Du and Ah Tao couldn't help but give a thumbs up: Impressive.
This must be the legendary beauty trap!