Inside the main residence of the Huang Family, the master of the family, a middle-aged man, stood in the middle of his office as servants rushed around him quietly fixing his clothes. Not far away, a male servant dressed in all black, who looked to be in his twenty's kneeled on the ground quietly without moving an inch.
Master Huang stood without speaking and waited for the servants to finish dressing him, and after glancing at the paper window, noticing it was starting to get dark, waved them away. He then turned to the kneeling man.
"What happened?" He asked.
"This slave just came from the eldest master's residence." The man said without raising his head. Master Huang hummed and slowly walked to his desk with a paper booklet sitting on it, closed. The kneeling man, after noticing Master Huang sitting down, explained everything he heard and saw between Bai Chun and the maid girl. After he finished explaining, the man stayed kneeling without speaking.
Master Huang narrowed his eyes at his words and drummed his fingers on the desk. Suddenly, a chuckle echoed throughout the room. Master Huang, with his lips raised into a smirk, turned his head and looked out the uncovered window that faced towards Huang Hao's residence.
"Well, my son is at that age where such things happen all the time." He said with a sigh, he dropped his head back with his eyes closed, and sat in silence for a minute.
"Don't interfere, I wish to see if my son can handle a simple jumping monkey. If he can't, then he won't make it far in the future." He finally said after thinking for a while. With a chuckle, knowing the drama soon to come.
Back at Huang Hao's residence, Bai Chun stood in the yard with Little Lan standing behind him, her previously flustered expression now calm. As they stood waiting, Huang Hao approached with Little Mu following behind him with a smug smile as she looked around.
Bai Chun looked Huang Hao up and down and noticed his clothes had similar shades of blue but a different pattern.
"You look good in blue." Bai Chun said casually. Huang Hao grinned and looked down at his clothes for a second.
"No need to flatter, you look good in blue too." Huang Hao stopped near Bai Chun. Bai Chun was happy with what he said, smiled.
They both then turned and started walking to the front of the Huang residence, with Bai Chun walking in step with him. Behind them, the two maid girls followed silently.
"We must stop being so formal with each other, we are pretty much the same rank now." Huang Hao said with an obviously fake sigh. With a hint of irony in his eyes, Bai Chun looked around the lavish residences around him as they walked.
"Your residence begs to differ." Bai Chun said his voice sounded off. Huang Hao, without even a pause, laughed and glanced at Bai Chun with a hint of pride in his eyes.
"It runs in the family." Huang Hao sai,d bragging, slightly trying to put Bai Chun in his place. Bai Chun, knowing he is still angry about being teased earlier, smiled slightly.
"You seem annoyed, young master. Why is that?" He asked, annoying him more by saying Young master playfully. Huang Hao glanced at him, his eyebrow twitching as they stopped next to a carriage and stood to the side, avoiding getting on.
Bai Chun turned his head, examining the carriage since it looked different from the one he remembered Huang Hao using, which was simple. The current carriage is mostly wooden with the paneling painted green, giving it a festive air. The nearby servants stood to the side with their heads bowed, waiting for them to leave.
Huang Hao looked at Bai Chun with a tight smile, his hidden annoyance growing at how relaxed he is with him now, feeling like he has no power.
"What do you mean, I'm not annoyed at all." He said, smiling. Before they could continue their subtle argument, a call rang out.
"Master Huang is here!"
Everyone kneeled, including Huang Hao, and turned to looked at Master Huang.
"Master Huang!"
"Father!"
They called out at the same time. Master Huang waved his hand as he slowly approached Huang Hao and Bai Chun.
Seeing him approaching, Bai Chun took a slight step back, not wanting to draw too much of his attention at the moment. Master Huang quickly noticed this and glanced at him, a hint of mirth in his eyes.
"Hmm, Huang Hao, are you ready to go?" He asked with a hum, looking him up and down with a happy nod."
"Yes, Fuqin." He said with a nod. He then indicated with a wave to Bai Chun.
"Fuqin, this is the hunter boy I have been friends with." Huang Hao said with a smile, subtly putting Bai Chun down with his origins.
Bai Chun glanced at him before bowing to Master Huang.
"Master Huang." He said in greeting.
"Hmm, stand straight." Master Huang said with a wave. Standing straight with his usual straight expression, Bai Chun looked Master Huang straight in the eyes. Seeing this, Master Huang looked him up and down before nodding in approval.
"Hmm, seeing as you're wearing light blue, I take that you passed the exam as well?" He asked with a slight smile.
"Yes," Bai Chun said with a light nod, trying to sound respectful.
"Fuqin, he is also the one I arranged for my eighth sister to marry as a secondary qizi." Huang Hao quickly explained. Master Huang glanced at him with a hint of disappointment, knowing his son was underestimating Bai Chun.
His only response to him is just a hum, not wanting to say much to his son. Instead, he glanced up at the sky before looking back at them.
"It's getting late, we need to leave to make it to the banquet on time." With those simple words, the servants around them began moving, quickly placing light steps on the ground at the entrance of Huang Hao's carriage.
While this happened, Master Huang's carriage, which looked better than Huang Hao's, with better wood paneling and the green a slightly deeper color but still with the same color scheme, the servants placed some light steps at the entrance and stood to the side. Quickly, it got quiet as Master Huang climbed onto his carriage with the door being shut behind him.
Huang Hao, with a wave at Bai Chun, stepped onto the carriage with Bai Chun following behind him.
Their servants quickened their steps before they got the horses moving, leading them to the magistrate's office as the sun dipped.