"Best If You Don’t Do That."

It was the evening of the next day when the group passed through the Phantom City and arrived at the Sanctuary.

Seeing that it was impossible to handle the Evil Sect’s documents tonight, Su Yang deeply expressed his regret and moved the work until tomorrow morning then happily ordered everyone to have a good rest.

After that, he summoned a servant from the Lotus Hall and ordered him to clean out a side room in his courtyard for Gu Feidi to stay temporarily, most importantly, to prepare water for a bath.

Along the way, there was no lake or pond in the second half of the journey. He already reached the end of his forbearance, covered from head to toe in sweat and dirt.

“Preparing the hot water should be your top priority. Oh right, get his clothes ready as well.” Su Yang pointed to Gu Feidi. “He is about the same size as me. There should be some new clothes around here for me, give them to him.”

The Lotus Hall servant accepted the orders, glanced at Gu Feidi who was standing beside the Young Master and nodded before taking his leave.

Soon, the servant filled the soaking tub in the bathroom with hot water, and also set down a clean set of clothes. Su Yang stripped off his dirty clothes and jumped into the water. The temperature was just right as he signed pleasurably in the tub.

There was nothing more comfortable than a hot bath after a tiring journey!

Also, he had a servant wash his hair. The Young Master’s easy and pampered life was amazing!

At the same time, inside the residence side room on the Young Master’s Iris Island.

A servant from Lotus Hall knocked on the door and announced respectfully, “Young Hero Gu, the hot water is ready under the Young Master’s order. Please enjoy the bath at your leisure.”

Su Yang brought Gu Feidi back alone. He didn’t have any luggage, and the petal retainers took away his sword and dagger when they tied him up in the cave.

Hearing that Su Yang had arranged a bath for him, Gu Feidi frowned and asked, “Would there be a change of clothes?”

The servant confirmed, “Please rest assured, a new set of clothes was prepared for you.”

Gu Feidi nodded and motioned to the servant to lead the way.

Once they arrived at the bathroom’s little dressing room, there was a bathtub in the centre of the bathroom. The water was warm and filled with various kinds of petals. A faint fragrance filled the room.

The Evil Sect was rumoured in the Jianghu to have always lived in extravagance and dissipation. A tub of bathwater with flower petals didn’t surprise him.

He waved away the servant and checked the wound on his palm. Seeing that it was healing and fine to touch the water, he took off his clothing and entered the water.

Unexpectedly, in less than the time to drink a cup of tea—or fifteen minutes—the servant pushed the door open and handed him a gauze robe. “Young Hero Gu, please follow me to the soaking tub.”

Gu Feidi: “...”

Why did the Evil Sect make bathing so troublesome?

Fortunately, the soaking tub was not too far away, it was just inside the door on the other side. Gu Feidi put on the gauze robe, walked a short distance along a corridor, and turned a corner to witness the glorious sight of the bathroom’s soaking tub.

The servant stepped back and quietly closed the bathroom’s large door.

This room was obviously a place for proper bathing. The soaking tub was square and three meters on all sides. He couldn’t tell how deep the tub was. The hot steam filled the room, bringing the fragrance of flowers to all corners of the room.

The water surface was naturally covered with petals. Gu Feidi took off his gauze robe and walked near the tub. As he raised his feet to enter the soaking tub.

A naked figure suddenly emerged from under the water. The figure wiped his own face and sighed, “Amazing!”

Gu Feidi was frozen to the spot.

As soon as Su Yang opened his eyes, something heavy jumped into the water and caused the water to splash across his face.

He turned his head angrily and saw Gu Feidi huddled in the pool by the corner, showing only his head. Su Yang watched him gathering petals on the water in front of him, trying to cover his figure under the water.

Su Yang: “...”

He was stunned. “Why are you here?!”

Gu Feidi blushed and said, “Your servant brought me here. I didn’t know you were also here!”

Su Yang didn’t expect to be at fault. He grinned angrily. “This is my bathroom. I can use it however and whenever I like. How about you! You jumped into the tub just because I was here?”

Words were stuck in Gu Feidi’s throat. After a long pause, he murmured, “I don’t have clothes on.”

Where were the rest of the contents? But Su Yang saw he was still trying to gather petals on the water and glanced around at the lack of dirty clothes anywhere. Su Yang immediately understood.

“Oh—” He dragged the word out. “You came in naked?”

Gu Feidi lowered his head and did not reply.

Su Yang raised one eyebrow and suddenly remembered that the Young Master of the Evil Sect liked men, which he clearly informed Gu Feidi of.

This was the perfect moment for small and harmless fun. He would never turn down the opportunity to tease the modest little Gu Feidi. This was for the fright to his poor heart for the past two days.

With a mischievous smile, Su Yang moved closer to Gu Feidi, extended his hand over Gu Feidi’s shoulder, and propped it against the edge of the soaking tub.

He gazed down at Gu Feidi and said in a low, husky voice, “Do you know why the servant brought you here?”

Gu Feidi’s expression changed immediately.

Having a great time, Su Yang used one finger to tilt Gu Feidi’s chin up. He touched the short stubble from days of neglect, and his smile widened. “I admit you have a very charming face, not so much on the unkempt stubble. Why don’t you let this Young Master help you trim it off?”

Gu Feidi’s body shivered slightly. It could be from anger, from fright, or maybe from some other reason.

His darkened eyes stared at Su Yang as he whispered, “It would be best…if you do not do that…”

Of course, Su Yang disregarded the warning and moved even closer. His lower leg under the water touched Gu Feidi’s curled leg. Because of the hot water, the skin contact felt extremely smooth.

Gu Feidi’s whole body quivered as he waved away Su Yang’s hand under his lower jaw and dodged to another corner.

“Where can you hide?” Su Yang chased after him with an enigmatic smile. “You can’t use your internal energy right now. You can’t escape from me!”

As he said this, he reached into the water and moved toward Gu Feidi.

Gu Feidi caught and clenched Su Yang’s wandering hand. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if they were burning with rage.

“If you continue this childish act, don’t blame me for what I will do next.” He said in a hateful voice. “Even under the Poisonous Gu’s influence, I can still endure the pain…”

Seeing that Gu Feidi was furious, it wasn’t good for Su Yang to continue his teasing. Otherwise, this little brat would definitely use his internal energy, regardless of the poison.

“Oh! For the sake of your current state, I will spare you just this once.”

Su Yang flattened his lip and moved away from Gu Feidi. He got up from the tub and announced, “I’m leaving. You can have the tub freely to yourself.”

Being someone who had been used to bathing in the dancing studio’s public shower, he exited out of the water without a care in the world.

Gu Feidi immediately looked away but frowned and backtracked in astonishment at Su Yang’s figure that showed no sign of reaction.

Su Yang indifferently took out a ladle from a nearby bucket, scooped up water and washed off the petals and herbs. Then he put on his bathrobe and pushed open the door leading to the dressing room.

From the beginning to the end, he was completely at ease with no hint of embarrassment or deliberately being a tease, as if he was the only person in here.

Gu Feidi sat alone in the soaking tub, stunned by the entire thing. He suddenly lowered his gaze and sighed with a smile.

Two servants entered the room, knelt respectfully by the end of the tub and said, “The Young Master ordered us to help Young Hero Gu to shave your beard and wash your hair. With your permission, please.”

Although the Tengyun Pavilion didn’t pay particular attention to a luxury lifestyle, Gu Feidi, as the Young Lord, was used to being served by his servants. Without saying a word, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the edge, allowing the servants to manage his hair and beard.

Su Yang had changed into a clean set of clothes under the considerate service of the Lotus Hall’s servants. As he was about to return to his bedroom, he suddenly remembered something and asked the servant with the number nine in the Lotus Hall beside him, “Lian Jiu, did you allow them to bring Gu Feidi to my bathroom?”

The question startled Lian Jiu. “The Young Master ordered this subordinate to station Young Hero Gu in your courtyard and prepare the bath, wasn’t it for…”

In the middle of the speech, he immediately knelt and pleaded, “This subordinate had misunderstood your request and overstepped his authority. Young Master, this one deserves to be punished!”

Being in a good mood, Su Yang didn’t punish him. He just said, “Gu Feidi is my guest, not any of those pets or slaves. You should treat him as a distinguished guest and stop making it out as some sort of complicated mess.”

Lian Jiu immediately complied.

That night, both of them rested in their own respective room, living together in harmony.

The next morning, both of them had a tacit understanding of sleeping in, and it wasn’t until late morning where the sun was three poles high when Su Yang instructed his servants to prepare breakfast.

Gu Feidi’s excuse was that he was poisoned and not able to freely use his internal energy. He also hasn't had a good rest since he fell off the cliff. It was very hard to indulge in a good rest and he slept till late morning.

While Su Yang was an expert in sleeping in. If detoxifying Gu Feidi wasn’t on the top of his to-do list, he would have shut himself indoors and slept for three days and three nights.

But treating Gu Feidi’s poison couldn’t wait. As soon as Su Yang woke up, he planned to go through the accumulated documents as soon as possible so he could take Gu Feidi to the Evil Sect’s Forbidden Ground.

Breakfast was usually served at the entrance hall of Su Yang’s residence. Gu Feidi followed a servant of Lotus Hall there, and Su Yang’s eyes immediately lit up. He couldn’t hide his surprised expression.

“You rarely dress this dazzling. You look very good!” He looked at Gu Feidi from top to bottom, said smiling, “Youngsters look the best in bright colours. This helps bring out the spirit in your eyes. Those white and borderline gray outfits don’t suit you at all.”

What the Evil Sect had prepared for Gu Feidi was a sky-blue robe that was both lustrous and vivid, and had a large Yulan magnolia embroidered with silver thread. With the signature characteristics of the Evil Sect, such as wide sleeves, the dropping sashes and belts, making Gu Feidi’s original old-fashioned and upright figure more gentle and elegant.

But Gu Feidi himself clearly didn’t like it as much. He frowned. “I am not a youngster.”

Su Yang didn’t retort, instead, he demanded the servants hurry up with the food.

Gu Feidi sat down at the table and raised his hand to pick up the chopsticks. Su Yang noticed the wristband that was fastened over the cuff of the inner robe, very out of place among the graceful layers of the attire.

Su Yang smirked. “What a strange way to wear your wristband. This is the first time I’ve seen someone wearing it this way. Also, look at how worn out the wristband is. Why don’t you replace it?”

Gu Feidi glanced at Su Yang and explained, “This wristband was made by my mother when she was alive.”

This was the first time that Gu Feidi brought up his family in front of Su Yang, and also the first time Su Yang heard about Gu Feidi’s mother.

He was completely shocked.

Whether it be the Arch-Rivals script or the Jianghu rumours in this world, the information on Gu Feidi’s mother was close to nonexistent. Almost as if being the son of Gu Ruohai, the current Wulin Alliance Leader, was more important. It didn’t matter who his mother was. Gu Feidi's mother was more like an invisible person under the peace and righteous symbol of Wulin Alliance Leader Gu.

Now hearing Gu Feidi’s reason, so his mother had already passed away?

Su Yang thought that he accidentally touched Gu Feidi’s sore spot. Embarrassed and a little apologetic, he said, “Actually, the combination of a traditional robe with a wristband isn’t too bad. A special mix to displace your personal traits…” He ended with an awkward laugh.

Watching the faint blush on Su Yang’s face, Gu Feidi grinned softly and said, “There is no need to take pity on me. It’s been so long that I don’t feel sad anymore. Rather than thinking about my mother, it’s my father’s behaviour that really bothered me.”

Su Yang was startled. “How so?”

Gu Feidi was silent for a moment before continuing, “Their mutual respect between a husband and wife was not as balanced and deep as a harmonious and affectionate couple. My mother’s expectations were too high. She suffered so much and she exercised her grievances unhealthily. That was when she died from her sadness.”

This resulted from a long-standing arranged marriage, planned and agreed to by the families or friends of the bride and groom, with little or no say in the matter themselves. Su Yang understood this clearly. A marriage without emotional foundation, and if the man didn’t develop emotional attachment to the wife, he could still take concubines. But for the wife, she was doomed to be trapped for life. Such a tragic life.

Su Yang’s mouth moved, but he didn’t know how to soothe Gu Feidi’s trouble heart.

There was no negative emotion on Gu Feidi’s face. He fiddled with the exquisite chopstick rack. After a moment, a smile appeared on his face.

He raised his gaze and looked at Su Yang with his starlike eyes. He said in a soft voice, “That's why, if I want to spend the rest of my life with someone, I must find someone who I want to care for, to protect for all of my life, and not let that person suffer any injustice.”