In the past few days, everyone seemed to have their own thoughts.
Whether it was Xiao Zhan who never left the house, Wang Yibo who was not seen all day, or Cui'e who no longer made jokes and fooled around, including Chen Yu who came back from the temple, they were always drinking alone in the yard.
Except for Lao Chen.
The fragrance finally had a clue, and the burden in his heart was finally reduced. He originally came to Beijing with a mission, and he knew the character of his young master. It was naturally uncomfortable to live under someone else's roof for several months.
After finding an opportunity, Lao Chen made the fragrance several times again. Under the guidance of Xiao Zhan, he fine-tuned it several times and finally stabilized it.
The two smelled the faint fragrance in the previously abandoned kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Young master, there is something I want to discuss with you." Lao Chen wiped his sweat and spoke beside him.
"go ahead." Xiao Zhan fiddled with the incense pot in his hand. There was a peach blossom carved on it. It was not a high-end product, but it was made delicately and compactly.
He was wondering if the incense stick could also change the shape of the original candle and put it in a beautiful container to sell it for a good price.
"A few months ago, when I was purchasing, I met a person. He was also from our Xucheng who came to Beijing to do business. He is going back to Xucheng now. He said that he has a house and wants to sell it..." Old Chen didn't finish his words and looked at Xiao Zhan.
"Old Chen, do you want to move out of Wang's house?" Xiao Zhan asked.
"Oh, young master, it's not that this place is bad. The Wang family is full of good people. It's just that it's not our own house after all. I'm worried that you will be wronged."
Xiao Zhan thought for a while, put down the incense pot in his hand, turned his head and said to Old Chen: "Okay, go and ask the price."
The money from selling the house in Xucheng is not small. Three houses can still be equivalent to an old house in Beijing. If you want to revive the Xiao family incense shop, it is not a good idea to stay here all the time.
"Okay, okay, I'll go ask, and discuss it with you later." Old Chen showed a happy face, nodded quickly, turned around and started working again.
This old kitchen is at the back of the east courtyard, facing south. In the afternoon, the sun shines in from the paper window, which will warm the whole room.
Xiao Zhan hasn't made incense by himself for a long time. Taking advantage of the good weather, he stayed here until dark without knowing it.
He asked Old Chen to buy some wax and candle wicks, and asked him to purchase some beautiful and exquisite containers, and told him that he planned to change the appearance of the incense candle.
Old Chen nodded and praised his young master for his good mind, while taking note, muttering to himself, 'I will go to buy it tomorrow, great, great'.
Seeing Old Chen like this, Xiao Zhan felt more cheerful. The family business seemed to have some hope. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when he heard someone calling him outside the yard.
It was Cui'e.
Xiao Zhan stopped what he was doing and walked out the door, and saw Cui'e trotting over.
"What's wrong, Cui'e?"
"Master Xiao, you, go and see, Master Chenyu has tied up Zengqin!"
"What did you say?" Xiao Zhan looked at Cui'e in disbelief, as if he couldn't digest this sentence.
"Yes, I was just about to prepare dinner for you, and I saw Master Chenyu carrying someone into the yard, which scared me. The person was still wearing a cassock. Master Chenyu saw me and called me over to prepare some water in his room."
Old Chen on the side also looked terrified. He had been in the shop for the past few months, so naturally he didn't know about Chenyu and Zengqin.
"Well, I'll go with you to have a look." Xiao Zhan didn't want to join in the fun, but thinking that Zengqin was also his destined person, he couldn't let it go. He washed his hands and followed Cui'e out.
"Master, go ahead, I'll clean up."
"Thank you for your hard work." After saying that, Xiao Zhan followed Cui'e and walked to the front yard.
When the two of them walked to the front yard, the door of Chenyu's room was wide open, and muffled sounds came from inside from time to time.
Xiao Zhan was embarrassed to go over, and hesitantly stood in the corridor. Cui'e also looked curious and leaned over to try to look inside.
The two of them stood in the corridor, one in front and one behind, bending over like this.
"What on earth are you doing?" Zengqin's voice came from the room, accompanied by the sound of friction in his clothes.
"I still want to ask you what you are doing, come back with me." It was Chenyu who was talking, and the sound of chairs colliding was heard again.
"I originally belonged here, what's the point of going back with you?" Zengqin's voice sounded a little hoarse.
"You belong here? You originally belonged to me."
Cui'e beside him took a breath and bumped into Xiao Zhan, who was also shocked. He didn't expect Chen Yu to be so bold. After all, Zeng Qin was also a monk, how could he say such mean words to him.
"Don't touch me." There was another thin whining sound, followed by clothes being thrown to the ground.
"If you are in heat again, do you plan to tie yourself up again? How long will it take for the injury on your leg to heal?" Chen Yu's tone sounded a little anxious.
Xiao Zhan remembered that Chen Yu was probably talking about Zeng Qin's previous use of the iron chain to tie his feet up every time he was in heat. Over the years, his ankles were already scarred and unbearable to look at.
"Ah..." A soft gasp was Zeng Qin's voice.
Xiao Zhan couldn't listen anymore and wanted to leave. He glanced at Cui'e next to him. Her face was flushed and she didn't dare to breathe. She looked like she was about to burst.
"What are you two doing?"
Suddenly, a voice came from behind.
Xiao Zhan stood up in fear and stepped back, bumping into a firm chest. Before he turned around, he smelled the familiar smell on the man. Cui'e, who had turned her head to take a look, had already turned around, hesitating and frightened.
"Young, young master..."
Xiao Zhan was so scared that he couldn't stand still. His face was red and his heart was beating fast. He almost fell to the side. Fortunately, a pair of hands held his arms and straightened him. But soon, the hands were retracted.
He turned around and looked at Wang Yibo, thinking that he was really embarrassing.
Cui'e, the girl, was very smart. She immediately pretended to go wash clothes for Xiao Zhan and ran away, leaving Xiao Zhan alone and embarrassed.
"What's going on?" Wang Yibo asked.
"Cui'e came to me just now and said that Chen Yu had tied up Master Zengqin. She was probably afraid of something happening, so she asked me to come and see..." Xiao Zhan said a little embarrassedly.
"What did you see?" Wang Yibo asked again.
"No, I didn't see anything."
Although he hadn't done anything wrong, Xiao Zhan always felt particularly flustered, and his tone became awkward.
The two were silent for a while, and then they heard a faint moan from the room, which seemed to be painful and comfortable, followed by a man's low panting.
"Close, close the door." It seemed that Zengqin was talking.
Only a burst of hurried footsteps in the room were heard, the door was quickly closed, and the moaning sounded again as if nothing had happened.
Xiao Zhan's back paused. He was too familiar with such moans, and his whole body was tense.
He should have left here, but his feet felt like they were filled with lead and he couldn't move.
The sky gradually darkened, and the summer night wind always carried some indescribable smell. Xucheng is close to the sea, and it is different from Beijing in summer. There is always a lot of rain.
Beijing rarely has rain, and the air is also very dry.
Wang Yibo hasn't seen Xiao Zhan for a month since he said those words last time.
Cui'e didn't dare to mention this person casually. When she saw him again today, Xiao Zhan felt that he seemed to have lost weight, and he didn't know if it was his illusion.
"How are you these days?" It was Wang Yibo who spoke first, and he coughed.
"Well, I'm fine." Xiao Zhan nodded.
There was another gasp in the room, which made people tremble with fear.
"Is the new medicine useful?"
A few days ago, Cui'e changed Xiao Zhan's medicine, saying that it was better than the previous one, and she specially found a master from the southwest to make it. After taking it for a few days in a row, he no longer fell into a deep coma when he was in heat.
He knew that Wang Yibo had spent a lot of effort to find this medicine. It was said that he had rushed to the southwest at that time just to find out the truth about this famous doctor.
Thinking of this, Xiao Zhan's heart became a little uneasy again, and he also felt a little guilty.
He nodded, which was considered an answer.
Wang Yibo just looked at Xiao Zhan. Under the night sky, the face showed a little uneasiness, which made him more beautiful. His beautiful eyes turned a few times, and he couldn't help but look at himself, because of the voice in Chen Yu's room, the white ears were red as if on fire.
He couldn't help it, raised his hand, and wanted to touch Xiao Zhan's face, but the other party suddenly raised his head.
Wang Yibo's hand stopped in mid-air, paused, stretched his hand to Xiao Zhan's shoulder, gently swept it, and said lightly: "It's stained with some broken leaves."
After that, he put his hands behind his back.
"How long do you plan to eavesdrop here?" Wang Yibo saw that Xiao Zhan didn't respond, and spoke.
"I didn't eavesdrop!" Xiao Zhan subconsciously retorted, his voice slightly raised, and he was worried that the people inside would hear him, so his pupils dilated and his mouth shrank, looking regretful.
Wang Yibo saw Xiao Zhan's eagerness to explain, and couldn't help but chuckle, turned around and prepared to leave. Xiao Zhan saw him leaving and hurriedly followed him.
The two walked to the middle of the yard, one in front and one behind. Xiao Zhan followed behind Wang Yibo, not speaking.
Wang Yibo walked halfway, remembered something, stopped, and said to Xiao Zhan behind him. "By the way, my family holds a banquet every summer, all of which are relatives and friends who have business dealings with us in the past. If my mother asks you and you don't want to attend, just refuse."
"Yeah." Xiao Zhan nodded. He hated this kind of occasion the most, so he would not go if he could.
"This time, it seems that in addition to the people who do business with us, the Fengwang Mansion will also send people, and the pomp will be bigger than before."
Hearing the three words Fengwang Mansion, Xiao Zhan was a little absent-minded, but Wang Yibo's tone was relaxed, and there was no extra emotion on his face.
But Xiao Zhan understood that the relationship between the two of them began to change because of this incident. Now that Wang Yibo mentioned this, it was inevitable that he would feel awkward.
"Old Chen told me." Wang Yibo glanced at Xiao Zhan and changed the subject.
"What did he tell you?"
"He said that he and you planned to move out and found a house."
"Why would he tell you this?!" Xiao Zhan was shocked. It was clear that Old Chen had just informed him of this in the afternoon, so how could Wang Yibo know about it.
"It's not that he took the initiative to mention it to me. He made friends with that businessman and has been doing business with my family for many years. He said that Old Chen was interested in buying that house. I met Old Chen in the morning and asked him about it, and he told me."
"Well, he mentioned it to me this afternoon." Xiao Zhan didn't know what he was worried about, and he felt uneasy again.
The more Wang Yibo acted as if nothing had happened, the more uneasy he felt.
"That's good, so you can concentrate on making incense." Wang Yibo said in a relaxed tone, and it sounded like he really cared about Xiao Zhan, without any selfish motives.
Perhaps he didn't expect Wang Yibo to say this, Xiao Zhan was slightly surprised.
He looked up at the man in front of him, and his handsome face was expressionless.
Under the moonlight, Wang Yibo's face looked softer than before. On weekdays, he always kept a straight face and looked mature because he had to take care of big and small things, but now, somehow, Xiao Zhan felt that he was particularly gentle.
This gentleness gave him a sense of distance.
The two of them just looked at each other, and in the empty courtyard, there was only the annoying cicada chirping, which was growing and declining.
Wang Yibo moved his feet and took a step towards Xiao Zhan, and the distance between the two was shortened. The strong pheromone fragrance on his body came to Xiao Zhan's nose and surrounded him.
Xiao Zhan suppressed his pounding heart and stood still, watching Wang Yibo gradually approaching, pinching his fingers into his palm. This familiar scene was just like the countless times they had entangled in bed, and Wang Yibo would come over to hug him and kiss him.
He couldn't help shaking.
And Wang Yibo just stopped in front of Xiao Zhan, not moving any closer, but the distance was so close that he could hear his breathing.
He whispered: "When you move out, take Cui'e with you. She will take care of you, and you will be more used to it."
After saying that, he took a step back. Xiao Zhan's heart moved, and his hand subconsciously reached out.
Wang Yibo was a little surprised. He lowered his head and looked at Xiao Zhan's hand pulling at the cuffs of his clothes. The person in front of him looked confused, as if he didn't know what he was doing.
"There's a little bug."
Finally, the person who stretched out his hand just lightly swept on Wang Yibo's sleeves, and quickly took his hand back.
Wang Yibo paused, didn't say anything more, just said thank you, and turned to leave.
Watching Wang Yibo leave, Xiao Zhan stood in the yard, feeling lost.