Chapter 3 – Probing
Xiao Ya momentarily drew a blank, she felt that her Young Master was acting strange because his entire body seemed to be emitting a cold aura. Somehow, he was different compared to before, but she couldn't tell how he was different. "Oh, since the Young Master want to go back, then I'll help you back first."
On the way back, the two of them met numerous servants and maidservants, but not one of them stopped to greet Zhou Jiahan. It was as if the two of them were invisible to these people.
Xiao Ya led Zhou Jiahan towards a rather worn-down house. Once they went in, she saw that the inside was a horrible mess with large spider webs here and there and dust covered the entire room.
Upon witnessing this sorry sight, Zhou Jiahan frowned slightly. Was this place even suitable for humans to live in?
The young servant girl found the only stool that was relatively intact compared to all the others, and wiped off the dust with her sleeve. She then smiled at Zhou Jiahan and said, "Young Master, sit here first. I hope that you don't mind that I didn't do any cleaning. You were sick these past few days and you wouldn't wake up no matter what."
"I won't," Zhou Jiahan coolly replied. Her face of indifference caused Xiao Ya's eyes to turn red. "Young Master, you must be blaming me, because you have never treated Xiao Ya like this in the past!"
"Uh…" Zhou Jiahan didn't know what to say. From her point of view, she only met her today so they were no different from strangers.
She really couldn't warm up to Xiao Ya so she forced a soft expression on her face, allowing herself to look a bit more gentle. "Xiao Ya, I'm not putting the blame on you. Anyways, where can I take a bath here? I want to change into another set of clothes."
When Xiao Ya heard what she said, her grief turned into a smile. "Alright, wait right here Young Master."
She then went to outside to fetch hot water.
After Zhou Jiahan took a bath, Xiao Ya helped her applied the ointment that she was holding. She gently smeared it over the greenish-purple bruises covering Zhou Jiahan’s scrawny arm, blowing them softly with her mouth. "Young Master, does it hurt?"
"It's fine, Xiao Ya. My… Mother, why did she pa.s.s away?" Zhou Jiahan was somewhat unaccustomed to saying the word 'Mother'. She didn't know why, but it'd always felt awkward.
She was not familiar with the concept of a mother in her previous life because when she was young, her biological mother pa.s.sed away.
But now, having to say 'Mother' in ancient Chinese, she felt even more strange.
Xiao Ya's gaze darkened when she heard the question. "It should've been a good thing when the Madam was able to marry the Prime Minister, but who would've thought that the Madam would suffer from an unfortunate end? When the Young Master was eight years old, she was suddenly afflicted with a horrible ailment and died, leaving only Young Master left right now. And with Prime Minister never caring much for Young Master to begin with, I only fear he had already forgotten about Young Master's existence by now. It was also because of this reason that Gou'er and those bullies took advantage of the fact that Young Master wasn't viewed with importance to always hara.s.s Young Master!"
Zhou Jiahan got plenty of useful information from Xiao Ya's mouth. So the original owner of this body was the daughter of the Prime Minister. No wonder this residence was so luxurious and beautiful. Except, she was clearly a woman, so why does she need to wear men's clothing in public?
She continued to probe on Xiao Ya. "My Mother must have been really happy to give birth to me at that time."
"Of course! The Madam was also very happy because Young Master was able to avoid a tribulation. That time, Madam wasn't really favored, and it happened to be the day to honor the past emperors so it was required for a few n.o.ble ladies to go to the Buddhist temple to pray and beg for Heaven's blessing. If Madam gave birth to a daughter, she would only be more miserable."
She got enough information from Xiao Ya's mouth, and also understood why she had to appear in public in men's clothing. Actually, it wasn't that bad to crossdress as a man. It would save her a lot of trouble.
After Xiao Ya finished applying ointment, she instructed Zhou Jiahan: "Young Master, you should get a good rest tonight. If there's anything you need, just call Xiao Ya. Xiao Ya is in the adjacent room."
"Why do you still follow me when I'm not being favoured?" This was something that Zhou Jiahan found strange. Shouldn't the average person keep as far away from her as possible? Why was this little servant girl still following her?
Xiao Ya's face turned red, she glanced at him shyly and answered in a soft voice, "Young Master, I will follow you for a lifetime." Once finished, Xiao Ya immediately ran away with not even a trace of her shadow left behind.