SGSHE106

Early the next morning, the courtyard behind the theater was filled with people practicing their morning routines.

As the troupe leader, Xing Ming rose even earlier than the rest.

He had to check for anyone slacking off, keeping an eye on little mischief-makers like Chun Fen and the tiny tots like Li Xia, who was still just a little sprout.

Besides, he needed to practice himself.

“Ten minutes on stage requires ten years of practice off-stage.” If he skipped practice for even two days, he could feel the difference. This was his livelihood, after all, it demanded daily diligence.

However, morning practice wrapped up early that day. On a whim, Xing Ming headed up to the second floor and sat by the window, looking out at the bustling street below.

He hadn’t come up here in a long time.

The sun was just rising, and the street below was already teeming with passersby.

Xing Ming’s gaze swept over several people walking past, and he finally felt at ease.

He had no desire to get close to those sweaty men today, so his guess from yesterday must have been wrong!

He didn’t have some peculiar taste for people who were grimy and unkempt.

As for why such a bizarre thought had crossed his mind in the first place, Xing Ming didn’t want to dwell on it.

It came down to this: once the stranger recovered, he would certainly leave, so there was no point in thinking about it.

At the top of the stairs, Chun Fen was walking up quietly, followed by a little ‘tail’.

Four neat little hair-buns poked up into view.

Then, two pairs of small eyes gazed curiously at Xing Ming.

Xing Ming glanced over at the two little ones: “Have you finished the morning exercises I assigned?”

Chun Fen replied, “Master, we’ve finished them all.”

Five-year-old Li Xia was instantly startled and dumbfounded, wondering how master had spotted them.

Chun Fen led Li Xia to the second floor and urged, “Troupe Leader, why did you come up here? It’s so noisy downstairs. Sister Zhou made vermicelli-filled buns today, let’s go down and have some.”

Li Xia chimed in, “Troupe Leader, have a bun!”

Xing Ming smiled and looked at the precocious Chun Fen. “There’s no harm in watching, as long as I don’t let it bother me, it doesn’t matter.”

No sooner had he spoken than a harsh, abusive voice rang out from below.

Downstairs.

A woman dressed in the attire of the Jin country stood with her hands on her hips, spitting in the direction of the window.

“You low-down wretch! All you do day in and day out is seduce men. And to think there are men low enough to fall for it, they ought to just have that thing of theirs cut right off!”

The woman shouted upward, malice written all over her broad, flat face, a few strands of hair coming loose in her agitation.

Chun Fen leaned against the windowsill to look, his young face flushing red with anger.

It was that woman again!

Chun Fen retorted furiously, “You’re the low-down one!”

The woman downstairs sneered and lashed out at him too: “So, the little low-down brat raised by that low-down wretch has crawled out, has he?”

Laughter immediately erupted from the passersby, Jin people, both men and women.

While an opera house was more respectable than a brothel, it was still considered a lowly, disreputable trade.

The crowd below consisted mostly of laborers who resented how easily the troupe seemed to make money. They were very happy to watch the spectacle.

Xing Ming’s expression turned cold. He pulled Chun Fen back and moved to close the window.

Suddenly, a large hand reached out and pressed down on him, halting his attempt to avoid a confrontation.

Jing Heguang appeared at the window, his brows furrowed and his face dark with anger.

He was powerfully built with a fierce, commanding presence. His stern, imposing air startled the woman downstairs the moment he showed himself.

The Jin woman noticed the coarse cloth garments Jing Heguang was wearing, and her confidence surged: “Oh my, so you really hooked up with a man…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Jing Heguang yanked the wooden latch from the window and hurled it out. It flew from the second-story opening and embedded itself upright into the ground right in front of the woman.

The street was paved with stone slabs, clean and easy to walk on.

But stone slabs are incredibly hard, a single knock against one could split a person’s head open.

Yet, that wooden latch had actually driven straight into the stone?!!

The Jin woman’s unpleasant face turned deathly pale. Terrified, she stumbled back several paces, not daring to utter another word.

Thinking to himself that the System’s perks were pretty good, Jing Heguang spoke: “Did I say you could leave?”

The woman, who had lifted a foot to slip away, froze instantly. She glanced up at Jing Heguang, then caught sight of Xing Ming standing beside him, her expression turning sour.

Her lips trembled: “No…I—I’m not leaving. What…what do you need, sir?”

Her husband loved the performances at this theater. Whenever he watched a show, his eyes would practically glue themselves to the troupe leader. The woman was the jealous sort, which was why she constantly came here to pick fights.

Xing Ming had always kept a low profile, and the woman had thought running into him today was the perfect chance to vent her spite, never imagining a terrifying, deadly figure would suddenly appear.

Jing Heguang gave a cold snort: “Apologize.”

The woman glanced at the wooden latch embedded in the ground, then lowered her head: “S-sorry.”

Jing Heguang looked at Xing Ming, then down at the street: “Who exactly are you apologizing to?”

With a crowd watching nearby, the Jin woman already felt utterly humiliated just by having to apologize.

When Jing Heguang pushed for more, irritation began to rise within her, and it showed on her face.

Jing Heguang watched the shift in her expression as his hand silently picked up the teapot from the table.

The woman: …

The piece of wood in the man’s hand had been driven right into the stone paving, her forehead certainly couldn’t withstand a blow from that teapot!

The woman was quick to read the room and hurriedly said, “Troupe Leader Xing, I apologize! I have a foul mouth and no eyes, please don’t take offense.”

Chun Fen felt a surge of satisfaction and seized the chance to vent: “So now you realize your mouth is foul?”

Li Xia, whose voice still held a childish lilt, was too short to see the street below, but he stood on tiptoe and huffed indignantly, “Bad person!”

Hearing the woman’s apology, Xing Ming, whose composure had been slightly shaken, spoke up: “Let it go.”

Even the government bailiffs knew to show some restraint, but these petty, opportunistic types were the most troublesome. Xing Ming couldn’t be bothered to argue with them.

With those words, the matter was put to rest.

The Jin woman downstairs turned and fled, as if something were chasing her.

The onlookers glanced over briefly before lowering their heads and hurrying away.

The window remained open, letting in the golden light and its warmth.

Chun Fen grumbled, “You’re just too good tempered, Troupe Leader. If it were me, I’d have thrashed her! That woman has come looking for trouble time and again.”

“Let it go. She’s a pitiful soul, too.” Xing Ming stroked Chun Fen’s head, his expression unexpectedly gentle.

Jing Heguang, however, disagreed. He asked from the side, “So that makes ‘you’ the hateful one?”

That woman had accused Xing Ming of seducing men, likely because her own husband’s heart had wandered.

But the opera house wasn’t a brothel, it was merely a place to enjoy a performance.

If the woman wanted to curse someone, she ought to go home and curse the man who had disappointed her!

Xing Ming turned his face slightly, his phoenix eyes glancing sideways as he lifted his chin. “To her, of course I am hateful.”

The red beauty mark on his face was turned directly toward Jing Heguang, tempting him to reach out and touch it.

Jing Heguang twisted the fingertips of Xing Ming’s right hand and thought, should he not wash his hands today?

Jing Heguang said: “She is also very hateful to me!”

Chu Fen nodded vigorously: “she is so disgusting!”

Li Xia: “That’s right!”

Facing the abomination of this third company, Xing Ming laughed. The alienation between his eyebrows suddenly disappeared.

When he smiled, his eyes moved, as if winter was turning to spring.

Jing Heguang is a little…greedy.

He is greedy.

He’s hungry for food.

Just then, Jing Heguang’s stomach let out a loud growl, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

Clearing his throat, Jing Heguang spoke earnestly: “I came looking for you the moment I woke up. My name is Jing Heguang. I am deeply grateful to the young master for saving my life!”

“There is no need for ‘young master,'” Xing Ming said. “You appear to be older than I am. Brother Jing, you may simply call me Xing Ming.”

The two exchanged a few polite words, while Chun Fen and Li Xia stared curiously at this newcomer.

Hearing Jing Heguang speak of the life-saving favor, Chun Fen was reminded of the heroic manner in which he acted earlier for Xing Ming.

With a man like this around, surely no one would dare bully their troupe leader!

Chun Fen spoke up impulsively: “Brother Jing, the plays say that one must repay a life-saving favor by offering one’s hand in marriage. Our troupe leader saved you, so you can’t back out of that!”

Jing Heguang: !!!

You clever, adorable kid, you’ve definitely earned yourself some candied hawthorn skewers!

Jing Heguang smiled and replied, “I won’t back out.”

Xing Ming felt his ears heat up and gave Chun Fen’s ear a playful tweak. “Go fetch some steamed buns and rolls, and bring two bowls of soy milk or grain drink if there is any.”

“Oh.” Chun Fen nodded obediently, though his eyes darted toward Jing Heguang.

Jing Heguang smiled and nodded back at him, and Chun Fen happily ran off, taking Li Xia with him.

Once the two boys had left, only the two of them remained upstairs.

Xing Ming suddenly remembered the injury to Jing Heguang’s foot and glanced down at it.

When Jing Heguang had stepped out of the room, he had heard shouting, specifically Chun Fen arguing with a woman downstairs, and forgetting his injury entirely, had rushed straight to the window.

He had moved quickly to get there, which explained his sudden appearance.

However, the exertion had aggravated his injured foot, blood began to seep through again, leaving a short red stain on the bandage.

Seeing this, Xing Ming felt a sharp pang in his heart. “Sit down, quickly!”

Xing Ming said, pulling out a bench so Jing Heguang could sit right down.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt much.” Seeing Xingming’s concern, Jing Heguang felt a secret thrill of happiness.

Xing Ming, however, was annoyed by his smile and shot him a glare.

Immediately after glaring, he realized he had been rude. He seemed to have lost all his usual composure around this man.

Xing Ming went to fetch the medicine, unwrapped the old bandage, applied the ointment, and wrapped the leg in a fresh one. Back when his master was still alive, just a couple of years ago, he used to assist Uncle Yu, so he was quite deft at these tasks.

Yet, as he lowered his head to bandage the man’s leg, Xing Ming’s thoughts were in a chaotic whirl.

Just last night, he had been angry at the thought that this man might be deceiving him. Today, the man had helped him, making him feel even more favorably toward him, and then, when Chun Fen made that childish remark, the man had actually gone along with it…

What was going on here?!

Even if he did desire a man, surely a man from the Wu country wouldn’t be lacking for partners?

Or perhaps…was the other man simply struck by his looks and harboring ulterior motives?

Xing Ming thought of his own face and the countless men from the Jin country, who harbored lecherous thoughts but dared not speak or act on them, and he began to form a rough idea of ​​the situation.

He found the men from Jin country utterly off-putting, yet he couldn’t bring himself to dislike this man.

Xing Ming looked up, his gaze resting on Jing Heguang’s face.

Jing Heguang’s eyes widened slightly as he asked earnestly, “What is it?” He then lowered his head, adding with a hint of guilt, “The wound shouldn’t have gotten much worse.”

Jing Heguang had figured it out: Xing Ming had glared at him earlier because he wasn’t taking proper care of himself!

That made perfect sense.

He had a hunch that Xing Ming was his destined lover, which explained why his reactions were always a bit off, and why he was so willing to play along with little Chun Fen’s teasing.

But…Xing Ming’s reactions were a bit odd too!

He didn’t even refute the child’s teasing. Glaring at someone out of concern, one would certainly never do such a thing unless there was a deep sense of emotional closeness.

This also explained why he felt such intense anger regarding the hardships Xing Ming had endured.

Jing Heguang was convinced that there must have been a specific reason why the two of them had been separated in the first place.

The current situation was this: he had lost the memories of their past romance and retained only those from the modern world, while Xing Ming could only wait for him in this world, possessing memories solely of this reality.

They were like…a pair of pitiful souls being put to the test?

Or perhaps a pair of pitiful souls being persecuted?

Or a pair of pitiful souls oppressed by the system and the powers behind the scenes?

But no matter how cruel ‘fate’ might be, Jing Heguang’s goal remained unchanged: to win Xing Ming’s heart.

Xing Ming was thinking to himself: This man is certainly handsome. Compared to last night, he actually looks even better the more he look at him…

Xing Ming blinked, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind.

He voiced it aloud: “That woman was truly detestable!” If not for that woman, Jing Heguang wouldn’t have been injured.

Jing Heguang was momentarily stunned, then broke into a radiant smile.

Xing Ming wasn’t angry about the malice the woman had directed at him personally, instead, he was angry that her malice had indirectly caused Jing Heguang’s injuries to worsen, even though the woman had no direct hand in the injury itself.

Jing Heguang’s heart pounded. In his delight, he became even more attentive to Xingming.

Better not be too direct, Jing Heguang thought, lest I make Xing Ming shy.

He carefully chose his words: “Since you call me brother Jing, I shall call you younger brother Xing. It is truly adorable how it took you until now to realize that!”

Hearing Jing Heguang call him adorable, Xing Ming suddenly realized the implication. Heat rushed to his face, and he could feel his ears burning.

What kind of nonsense is he spouting?!

Saying something like that was practically admitting that he cared about Jing Heguang…

Thank goodness. Thank goodness he didn’t pick up on that.