DLMSWSHH Chapter 35

TL: Hua

Chapter 35: New Servant

There was a brief commotion in the crowd.

Naturally, they recognized Ye Qing as well. Archie’s hand jerked; he had personally dug the hole to bury this woman’s corpse yesterday.

Ye Qing had suddenly been resurrected as a servant. The crowd couldn’t understand it, and hushed whispers broke out in the hall.

“Quiet, all of you.”

Madam Mary raised her voice slightly. The menservants immediately stopped whispering. Her gaze swept around the room, and she said coolly: “We are short of maids here, as you all know.”

With a calm face, she continued: “It wasn’t easy to get a newcomer. If she dies too quickly, the Duke and I will both be very displeased.”

The expressions of the crowd shifted instantly. There had indeed been no female NPCs in the haunted house dungeon; the lower-level servants were all male. Female players were rare in this high-risk dungeon to begin with, and even if there were one or two, they usually died quickly due to differences in strength and constitution.

There hadn’t been a female servant in the haunted house for at least fifty years. In that light, resurrecting Ye Qing was almost justifiable.

But—

Archie tilted his head, his gaze cutting through the crowd to land on Zhong Ming’s exquisite profile. He felt that this matter wasn’t that simple.

Having said what needed to be said, Madam Mary stared at the men present for a long moment. After ensuring everyone would behave, she shifted her gaze to Ye Qing behind her.

“You…”

Madam Mary’s gaze fell on Ye Qing’s pale face, and seeing the girl’s blank eyes, her breath caught in her throat. Her lips unconsciously turned downwards, she sighed slowly, and with slight irritation, she withdrew her gaze.

“Go and follow Zhong Ming.”

Her tone was like shooing away a stray dog. Ye Qing, however, was overjoyed and immediately trotted toward Zhong Ming.

“The rest of you, get to work.”

Madam Mary said flatly. At those words, the crowd withdrew their stares from Ye Qing and dispersed.

Ye Qing ran toward Zhong Ming with excitement, but she came to a sudden halt when she saw Li Yizhi standing beside him. She still remembered this terrifying manservant, and her body gave a little shiver.

Coincidentally, Li Yizhi’s mood was quite complex. Seeing her, he gave a thin, cold smile.

Ye Qing was immediately even more afraid to move.

What to do? Standing next to the angel is someone who looks like a gangster.

Fortunately, Zhong Ming seemed to see her distress and stepped forward.

“Are you okay now?”

Zhong Ming asked softly, “Your neck… is the wound all healed?”

Ye Qing felt the young man’s concerned gaze on her and was instantly moved to a whimpering sob. “I-I’m all fine now.”

Seeing the girl suddenly burst into tears, Zhong Ming’s eyes widened in surprise. How does this girl just start crying at the drop of a hat?

“Are you really okay?”

Zhong Ming was worried that Ye Qing might have suffered psychological trauma from being beheaded.

While tears poured out, Ye Qing sobbed, “I’m fine, hic… I’m just… just so moved.”

Zhong Ming said blankly, “Ah? Oh… As long as you’re okay.” Seeing that she couldn’t stop crying, he paused and advised, “Regarding your boyfriend, don’t be too sad.”

Hearing this, Ye Qing wiped her eyes and quickly waved her hands.

“No, no, I can be a bit of a crybaby, you don’t need to mind me.” With red eyes, she said, “I don’t care about what happened before anymore.”

She stared blankly into the air and said: “After dying once, my mental state is much better.”

Zhong Ming: …???

He looked at Ye Qing, wondering if she had been driven insane.

At this point, Li Yizhi cleared his throat and stepped forward, placing a hand on Zhong Ming’s shoulder. “A player’s stats change after being resurrected. Before, physical wounds could be healed, but mental trauma couldn’t. Now, it’s the opposite.”

He gestured to the scar on his own wrist for Zhong Ming’s benefit. “Physical damage can’t be restored, but the mind can remain normal.”

So that’s how it is. Zhong Ming understood.

Ye Qing understood, sniffing as she said, “No wonder I don’t feel sad anymore when I think of Chengcheng… looking back at the past now feels like looking through a layer of glass.”

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and managed a slight smile. “This is actually quite nice. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this light.”

Li Yizhi raised an eyebrow, leaning down to whisper in Zhong Ming’s ear, “Look at that. It even cures love brain.”

Zhong Ming shot him a look, and Li Yizhi immediately struck an innocent pose.

Turning back, Zhong Ming looked at Ye Qing. He felt a vague, indefinable sense of unease regarding this rule.

Once a player is resurrected, all past grievances vanish into thin air; it was hard to tell if this was a beginning or an end.

Ye Qing gradually stopped crying, her voice a bit raspy as she said, “I’m just so happy to be alive.” She paused, then asked in confusion, “But how long do I have to stay here? Summer break is almost over, and I still have to go do my PhD.”

At those words, the expressions of Zhong Ming and Li Yizhi shifted slightly. Li Yizhi tilted his chin up, his gaze toward Ye Qing carrying a hint of disdainful, condescending pity.

Zhong Ming’s brow furrowed slightly. He didn’t have the heart to tell Ye Qing that she would never be able to finish her doctorate. Instead, he changed the subject: “What… what subject are you studying for your PhD?”

Ye Qing wiped her tears and replied: “Research into the Courting Behavior and Psychology of Female Dolphins in the Alpha Group of the Southwest Pacific.”

Zhong Ming: “…”

Li Yizhi: “…”

The three of them fell into a sudden silence.

After a long while, Li Yizhi blinked slowly. “You… said what?”

Ye Qing repeated it.

Li Yizhi still didn’t get it. He wore an expression of utter defeat.

Zhong Ming only caught the last two words. “Ah… so it’s psychology?”

Ye Qing blinked. “No. It’s ethology.”

Zhong Ming: “…”

“It’s okay if you don’t know it. I know it’s a very niche major,” Ye Qing explained, seeing their choked-up expressions. “But it’s really interesting. I worked so hard to get recommended for admission. I’ve already missed this autumn’s enrollment; I don’t even know if the project will be recruiting next year.”

Zhong Ming: “…”

Well, it’s understandable that this kind of major doesn’t seem to be recruiting.

Li Yizhi asked curiously, “No, I mean, what kind of job do you plan on finding with a major like that?”

Ye Qing froze for a moment. “A job?” She blinked. “I’ll probably do research in a lab. Or maybe I’ll do a second PhD, who knows.”

She paused, then added, “My parents just told me to focus on my studies.”

Zhong Ming and Li Yizhi were both taken aback. It seemed that Ye Qing’s family background was exceptionally good, which explained why she had the confidence to keep studying.

Even someone as cold-hearted as Li Yizhi couldn’t help but show a trace of complexity in his eyes. Ye Qing’s original family was the kind of life countless people dreamed of.

And yet, because of one romantic relationship, she was now trapped here forever.

Zhong Ming bit his lip. “In that case, how did you end up with someone like… him?”

At the question, Ye Qing went silent. Her expression became complicated. After a long while, she finally spoke: “Looking back now, I actually realized a long time ago that there was something wrong with Chengcheng. I just didn’t want to believe it, so I pretended not to notice.”

Her gaze drifted off into the distance.

“My parents really liked Chengcheng. They said our families knew each other well and that he was a boy they’d watched grow up. They felt… that while Chengcheng didn’t have any outstanding strengths, his merit was that he was very honest and would take care of me in the future.”

Ye Qing seemed to remember something, her expression dazed. “Sometimes… I felt like they liked Chengcheng as a son-in-law more than they liked me as a daughter.”

The girl’s expression was calm, but Zhong Ming felt her voice sounded even more bitter than when she was crying. He fell silent, not knowing what to say.

Fortunately, Ye Qing quickly composed herself. She looked up and said, “Ah, let’s not talk about that.” She looked at Zhong Ming. “Since I’ve become a servant now, what am I supposed to do?”

Zhong Ming didn’t actually know what her specific duties would be. However, that question was answered very soon.

In the afternoon, Madam Mary appeared at the door of the first-floor nursery with Ye Qing in tow.

Albert had just finished his math lesson. He was sitting at his desk, pen in hand, tapping it rhythmically against the paper. He swept a dark, sullen gaze over Madam Mary before landing on the trembling Ye Qing behind her.

“Who is she?”

Ye Qing immediately shuddered. In front of her, Madam Mary tilted her chin up slightly and said coolly: “She is the new maidservant.”

Madam Mary stepped slightly to the side, revealing Ye Qing.

“Previously, because there were no female servants, Zhong Ming was temporarily assigned the responsibility of looking after you.”

Madam Mary emphasized the word “temporarily,” her eyes narrowing slightly.

“Since we have a new maid now, she will be responsible for taking care of you.”

Madam Mary’s cold and unquestionable voice hung in the air.

At the same time, Ye Qing looked up in disbelief, her mouth hanging open as a silent, piercing scream echoed in her mind.

No, please no!

She looked at Albert and froze as she met the boy’s icy stare. She had a condition where she absolutely didn’t want to get close to children, and this young master, no matter how you looked at him, seemed like the type who wouldn’t be easy to get along with!

Ye Qing’s face turned ashen. Remembering her few traumatic encounters with her relatives’ kids, she didn’t want to take a single step closer.

However, Madam Mary turned her head and said sternly: “What is it? Greet the Young Master.”

Ye Qing felt like she was about to shatter.

Under Madam Mary’s freezing gaze, she had no choice. She forced herself to shuffle forward two steps, lifting her eyelids to cautiously steal a glance at Albert.

She saw the pale young boy looking down at her with a gaze that suggested he was looking at a corpse.

Ye Qing: …AAAAAAAHHHH!

Luckily, Albert only spared her one glance before withdrawing his gaze to look at Madam Mary.

“Where is Zhong Ming?”

His tone was as cold as ice.

Madam Mary, however, showed not a hint of fear. “From now on, this maid will serve you.”

The tapping of the pen on the desk stopped abruptly.

Ye Qing stood to the side, not daring to breathe, her head bowed low as she stared intensely at her own toes.

The air in the nursery seemed to stagnate.

A dense pressure filled the space, the air turning thick and suffocating.

Albert’s emerald eyes locked with Madam Mary’s. A moment later, he spoke, but the topic was entirely different: “I want Zhong Ming to move to the first floor.”

He lowered his eyes, giving a cold command: “Connect Madam Sharon’s room with mine. I want him to sleep there.”

Ye Qing didn’t know why the conversation had suddenly jumped to this. She looked up at Madam Mary in confusion.

The woman’s brow twitched. Her expression tightened, becoming even more solemn.

“You must follow the Duke’s orders—”

However, she was cut off mid-sentence by Albert’s sharp interruption: “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Albert stared at her, enunciating every word: “I only want Zhong Ming.”

His expression looked as if he might pounce and tear Madam Mary’s throat out at any second.

“Do you want me to kill you?”

Madam Mary’s brow trembled.

Meanwhile, Ye Qing, watching from the sidelines: …Wow.

At that same moment, Zhong Ming, who was on the second floor repairing a hallway railing damaged by a player, heard a massive crash.

The sound was enormous, like something being repeatedly slammed against the floor. A second later, Albert’s furious roar echoed out: “Zhong Ming! Zhong Ming!!”

Hearing his own name, Zhong Ming’s eyes widened in surprise. He quickly dropped his work and ran down to check.

The moment he reached the nursery door, the chaotic scene inside hit him.

In the relatively small room, everything including the desk and chairs was floating in the air, swirling around as if caught in a tornado. The wooden structures of the entire room were vibrating at a high frequency, making it feel as if the whole house would be ripped apart in the next instant.

Zhong Ming stared at the scene in front of him with astonishment, suddenly understanding exactly what Li Yizhi meant by “nearly tearing the ceiling off.”

Albert stood at the center of the storm.

He was panting heavily, his shoulders heaving up and down with the rhythm of his breath. When he saw Zhong Ming appear at the door, he slowly raised his head.

For a fraction of a second, Zhong Ming saw his pupils narrow into vertical slits.

In the next heartbeat, his expression returned to normal. His emerald eyes reflected Zhong Ming’s face as he offered a smile: “Zhong Ming.”

His voice was soft and gentle, as if that terrifying roar from a moment ago hadn’t come from him at all.

“You’re here.”

Zhong Ming shifted his gaze and saw that within the storm, Madam Mary was barely managing to resist, while Ye Qing had been blown into a corner. She was desperately using a thick, hardbound book to shield herself from the buffeting wind.

Hearing Zhong Ming’s arrival, she turned her head, her hair disheveled by the wind and a streak of blood marking her temple where she had been grazed.

“Zhong… Zhong Ming.”

Zhong Ming looked at her, then turned back. Seeing Madam Mary’s forehead drenched in cold sweat, he knitted his brows and looked at Albert.

“Young Master Albert.”

His brow remained furrowed, his tone uncharacteristically stern: “How can you be so crude toward ladies? It is very impolite.”

Albert froze instantly, his eyes widening. He looked at Zhong Ming with a hint of helplessness: “B-but… they started it—”

Then he saw Zhong Ming’s frown deepen. The lines of his features sharpened into something almost cutting.

Albert’s aggressive aura collapsed instantly. His lips mumbled for a second before he hung his head.

The storm in the room gradually ceased.

Ye Qing watched as the objects suspended in the air slowly returned to their places. She was dumbstruck, watching the once wolf-like Albert turn as docile as a lamb before Zhong Ming. Her mouth fell open in a daze: “Wow.”

Albert kept his head down, looking somewhat aggrieved.

Seeing the storm stop, Zhong Ming let out a sigh of relief. He stepped forward to stand in front of Albert and knelt down on one knee before the boy.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Albert peeked up at him, his lips pressed tight: “He won’t let you keep taking care of me,” the boy said, his voice full of resentment. “He wants that woman to do it.”

Following Albert’s gaze, Zhong Ming saw Ye Qing and understood the sequence of events. He paused, then reached out to straighten the boy’s slightly messy collar.

“In that case, I will go ask the Duke.”

Zhong Ming raised his eyes to meet Albert’s.

“The Duke seems to be a reasonable man. If I explain it well, he should agree.”

“…Ask him?” Albert frowned, his expression hesitating.

He didn’t actually want Zhong Ming to have too much contact with the Duke. But he also wanted Zhong Ming to stay by his side.

A dark glint flickered in Albert’s green eyes. His power was growing day by day. Madam Mary, whom he couldn’t defeat before, could now be suppressed.

One day, he would kill him. It was only a matter of time.

When that day came, Zhong Ming would belong to him alone.

At this thought, Albert’s expression relaxed, and he nodded.

Seeing his consent, Zhong Ming breathed a silent sigh of relief and stood up: “Then I won’t disturb you any further.”

Albert’s gaze followed him up: “Alright.”

Zhong Ming nodded again and turned to leave the room. Madam Mary frowned at him: “Wait, Xiao Zhong, the Duke has already decided this—”

Zhong Ming’s footsteps faltered slightly. He looked up at Madam Mary.

“Is that so?” Zhong Ming’s expression was calm. “I would like to confirm it with the Duke myself.” He paused, showing a perfectly measured look of confusion: “I don’t think the Duke would mind… is that not allowed?”

Madam Mary was silenced. Recalling the Duke’s attitude, she truly couldn’t bring herself to say that the Duke wouldn’t want to see Zhong Ming.

Zhong Ming waited for a few seconds before nodding to her: “Then I’ll be going. I still have work to do on the second floor.”

He turned and headed for the door, casting a quick glance at Ye Qing, who was still huddled in the corner. The girl blinked, then scrambled to follow him, trailing closely behind as they left the nursery.

“Wow, you’re really amazing.”

In the kitchen, Zhong Ming had pulled out the medical kit Matthew once used. He used tweezers and a cotton ball soaked in alcohol to clean the wound on Ye Qing’s temple. The girl didn’t seem to care much about her injury, looking at Zhong Ming with idolizing eyes.

“How do you make that young master so obedient? He looks so cute, but his personality is just terrible.”

Zhong Ming’s hand moved gently with the tweezers. The wound on Ye Qing’s forehead had stopped bleeding, but there were no signs of it scabbing over. An NPC’s wounds wouldn’t heal; even disinfecting them with alcohol was ultimately futile.

Looking at the wound, Zhong Ming felt a bit worried, wondering if scarring her face would affect her future romantic prospects.

Then he remembered that Ye Qing likely had no chance of ever leaving this place, and his heart sank. He exhaled slowly, lowered his head to pack away the tweezers and alcohol, and looked up to find Ye Qing staring at him.

Zhong Ming blinked, then realized: “Sorry, what did you just say?”

Ye Qing puffed out her cheeks: “Honestly, you boys have no patience at all.” She looked down and opened the book she had grabbed to use as a shield earlier: “Never mind. Let me see what this book is called… Structure and Construction of Wooden Houses. Looks pretty interesting.”

Upon hearing this, Zhong Ming also lowered his eyes and saw the book with the sapphire blue cover in Ye Qing’s hand. He thought to himself that there were actually academic books like this in the children’s room and wondered if Albert would read them.

The next second, his movements froze.

“Hmm… there weren’t many wooden structures in ancient Europe, right? These techniques seem quite primitive—”

Ye Qing was reading with great interest, her finger sliding across the yellowish pages, clearly reading line by line.

Zhong Ming’s eyelashes trembled violently.

He slowly looked up at her: “…You can read it?”