CH 4

The cool wind was blowing on his face, but Lu Bai still felt like his body was very hot. The combination of the drug and wine made his brain completely confused. Before he knew it, he had turned onto a small path in the side garden, which was planted with many Osmanthus trees.1 He had loved playing here with Lu Guanguan when he was a child, but at this time, all the servants of the Lu family were now at the reception, so this place seemed extraordinarily quiet and remote.

Lu Bai loosened his tie and sat on the grass, leaning against the biggest osmanthus tree. The moonlight, green grass, and osmanthus tree trunk were nice and cool, and Lu Bai finally felt comfortable. He took a deep breath and gently closed his eyes to rest. Lu Bai didn’t realize that the spiked drink would work so quickly. At this moment, Lu Bai had long forgotten about asking Lu Guanguan to keep an eye on him. The potent mix of alcohol and the drug completely disintegrated his vigilance towards that strange man who had slept with Lu Bai but was not named in the original book. All Lu Bai wanted right now was to sleep comfortably in a cool place, his body was too hot and uncomfortable.

~~~~

A shadowy figure appeared in front of the sweet-scented osmanthus tree and extended its hand toward the ignorantly sleeping Lu Bai. A dark cloud drifted over obscuring the clear, cold autumn moon.

That hand was about to touch Lu Bai’s collar when an icy cold baritone sounded from behind, “What exactly are you planning to do?”

The figure halted its movements.

The dark clouds dispersed, and the moonlight spilled into the small osmanthus forest again. Qu Xueyu’s gorgeous phoenix eyes were revealed as he walked over through the speckled light and shadows in valiant steps to shield Lu Bai behind him.

He stared at the other man, his eyes filled with chilly intensity.

“I was just, uh, checking on him. I was going to wake him up if he was asleep.” The man smiled a little reluctantly, ” Are you his friend? Then I’m relieved, in that case, I’ll go first.” After saying this, he hurriedly left.

Jinghai is a major city, but their circle is actually very small. Although the Qu family is not that close to the Lu family, their relationship is not bad, so they were also invited by Father Lu. The only family that Qu Xueyu cared about in Jinghai, his grandfather Qu, threw him the invitation, so he had no choice but to come. But he really did not want to be involved with his father, stepmother and younger brother in false harmony, which is why he came out here to the side garden and did not expect to bump into Lu Bai.

“Qu Xueyu, I’ll make you look good!” Lu Bai muttered sleepily, not forgetting to rehearse his lines with dedication even in his uncomfortable slumber.

Hearing this Qu Xueyu raised an eyebrow, then partially crouched down. In the moonlight, his entire figure was like a flawless white sculpture. He was rarely this interested in others, yet he found himself scrutinizing the other party’s face that looked as if it had been stained with rouge. This child’s drunken temper is not small, even asleep he was still thinking about teaching him a lesson.

“Brother, are you out here?” Lu Guanguan’s anxious voice interspersed with the sound of footsteps came over, and Qu Xueyu stood up after a beat. Not long after that Lu Guanguan and the housekeeper of the Lu family appeared in the moonlit garden entrance.

“Brother?!” As soon as she saw Lu Bai leaning against the tree trunk, Lu Guanguan’s pupils shrank and she hurriedly ran over, and the housekeeper’s eyes flashed as he followed.

At the reception, Lu Guanguan had been paying attention to Lu Bai as he had asked. Later when she saw that he was looking for Qin Gu, she was about to go forward to protect her brother from being bullied again when Uncle Liu came over to talk to her about the late-night snack the kitchen had prepared for them. Lu Bai was already talking to Qin Gu at the time, so Uncle Liu did not go forward to interrupt him. But in just a few minutes of inattention, Lu Guanguan went to look for her brother again but could not find him anywhere in the main garden, so she was anxious to find him quickly.

“What’s wrong with my brother?” She looked warily at Qu Xueyu.

Qu Xueyu casually leaned against a tree and crossed his arms .”He was already passed out drunk when I came.”

Lu Guanguan looked at Uncle Liu with anxiety in her eyes, as he carefully loaded the sleeping young man onto his back and nodded towards Qu Xueyu, “Thank you, young master Qu, for taking care of my young master, please make yourself at home.”

Lu Guanguan also hurriedly thanked him, “Thank you for taking care of my brother.”

After saying that, they both left in a hurry.

Qu Xueyu’s figure almost blended into the speckled shadows under the tree as he looked at Lu Bai’s back, and let out a low chuckle – he still felt that the child looked familiar.