Early this morning, the handyman Xu Ziqing got up to work.
Liu Tianfeng's courtyard was different from Niu Yuanshan's small yard; it was larger and more luxurious. Niu Yuanshan's elegant little yard was served by only four handymen. The Liu family's courtyard had a full 15! Yesterday, the butler had even hired 3 new people.
Xu Ziqing was one of these three. Being new, he was certainly assigned the hardest, most tiring, and dirtiest jobs. All residences in the Dao Gate had small dust-removing formations. This meant that even if you were away for a long time, your home would not accumulate dust upon your return. In addition, under normal circumstances, there was no need to do much cleaning. However, this was limited to dust.
As one could imagine, the areas the new handyman Xu Ziqing was responsible for inevitably included the master's latrines.
"I hate this!" The delicate-featured youth, his mouth and nose covered with a cloth strip, cursed inwardly as he worked hard.
He hated that storyteller to the core for toying with his emotions.
"I was so foolish, so foolish."
"I actually believed that if I went to Biyou Terrace on Wumeng Mountain, a master would really come down the mountain to receive me."
"Heh, I'm so foolish, really." He began to wallow in self-pity.
On that night of pouring rain, he had been drenched for so long at the foot of Wumeng Mountain that he had lost his spirit.
Xu Ziqing, oh Xu Ziqing, although all sorts of stories of fortuitous encounters and fated opportunities circulate in the Xuanhuang Realm, how could you be so ridiculous as to think that such a wonderful thing would suddenly fall into your lap?
You are just a mere [Pseudo Spirit Embryo]!
You, on what grounds!?
Just because you've been a sword genius since you were a child, able to learn any mundane martial art sword move at a glance, you conceitedly thought you could become a peerless sword cultivator?
"Wake up! Wake up!" he had smiled bleakly that night.
So what if he had mastered all the mundane sword arts in the world? In front of a true cultivator, wasn't he still utterly defenseless?
"Father, Mother, Grandmother, Little Sister, when will I ever be able to avenge you?" Xu Ziqing looked at the night sky after the rain had stopped, muttering to himself at the foot of Wumeng Mountain.
Despite his delicate features and naturally androgynous appearance, he had actually practiced the sword since he was a child, and his physical qualities were much better than those of ordinary people. Therefore, after being drenched in the rain for so long, his lips were merely pale, and he was otherwise fine. The shivering was just because he was overcome with anger.
With both parents dead and bearing a blood feud, Xu Ziqing was the very model of a standard protagonist.
In his mind, the figure of the storyteller appeared once more. He was so ordinary-looking, yet his words, actions, and demeanor were so flamboyant and narcissistic. At first, when Xu Ziqing saw him suddenly vanish on the spot after speaking, he had only thought that this was a worldly master roaming the mortal realm for fun. Now, having confirmed that the "fun" in his "roaming the mortal realm" was toying with him, Xu Ziqing, he only felt that this storyteller had the air of a demonic heretic!
On that night after the rain had stopped, he had roared to vent his emotions. Then, the delicate-featured youth had fiercely bitten his own lip, almost drawing blood. Instantly awake, he looked towards the cloud-shrouded [Mountain Beyond the Mountains].
The youth secretly swore that since he had already come here, then even if he had to risk his life, he would enter the Dao Gate, no matter the cost!
After daybreak, he began to take action. Unexpectedly, by a stroke of luck, he actually found a way in. The butler of Liu Tianfeng's household was hiring three new handymen.
"What a coincidence? They're hiring handymen today?" Xu Ziqing became excited.
Never mind, a handyman is a handyman. I'll get into the Dao Gate first and worry about the rest later!
But in reality, was it really a coincidence? Don't forget, a certain someone had also been sent here by [The Organization] at this exact time, precisely to go up the mountain as a handyman!
...
...
Xu Ziqing's "Metamorphosis" thus began.
Because he was born overly delicate-featured, not at all tall and handsome, with a typical androgynous appearance and a strong "pretty boy" vibe, the way the Liu family's butler looked at him was not quite right.
—What a fine boy, as beautiful as a maiden!
He's already middle-aged, what's wrong with being a little perverted?
How could the perceptive Xu Ziqing not understand the meaning in that gaze? He never would have thought that even coming to the Dao Gate to be a handyman would be so... fraught with a different kind of danger! (T/N: a pun where 'crisis' is replaced with a homophone that's also slang for penis.)
Today, after he finished a pile of chores, he was called to a certain place by the butler to assemble. The group of handymen began to move gifts, following the Liu family's master and young master to the small bamboo huts. Along the way, many outer sect disciples respectfully saluted Deacon Liu, then looked sideways at the pile of gifts.
Xu Ziqing looked at the robes they wore and the outer sect tokens hanging from their waists, his heart filled with immense envy. He couldn't help but look down at the handyman's uniform he was wearing. Based on a young man's sensitive self-esteem, even though no one recognized him, he kept his head down the whole way, burying it as low as he could.
After arriving at the bamboo huts, he also kept his head down. It was only during a certain gap that he faintly heard the conversation between the master and a certain young man, and he couldn't help but look up at the other person.
He saw that this person was handsome and dashing, exceptionally good-looking. He was a classic case of handsome bone structure. His brow bone was slightly high, and the ends of his eyebrows were slightly raised, creating the legendary effect of the brow bone shading the eyes, making his pair of jet-black pupils seem even deeper. He had a high-bridged nose, distinct facial lines, and an incredibly sharp jawline. A few strands of hair that weren't tied up properly fell across his forehead, adding a touch of unrestrained wildness. In addition, Chu Huaixu had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, which made his robes hang very handsomely, without any sense of paper-thin weakness.
Whether it was his bearing or his temperament, nothing could be faulted.
As the sunlight shone on his body,
Xu Ziqing couldn't help but stare, dumbfounded. Because he had been told he looked like a girl since he was a child, and was often teased by his peers for being very effeminate after growing up, for some reason, he would always silently pay attention to tall, handsome men, his heart filled with immense envy and yearning. Over time, his level of attention towards such people even surpassed his interest in the opposite sex.
It was also because of this that even though Chu Huaixu was standing with the national beauty Han Shuangjiang, his attention was first drawn to him.
Xu Ziqing couldn't understand how such a charming man could exist in the world. Just now, seeing the smile in his eyes and on the corners of his mouth as he spoke so eloquently and calmly with the Deacon, his bearing was also exceptional.
After being dazed for a few seconds, the sensitive youth, once again because of his self-esteem, lowered his head deeply.
Next, the development of events went down a bizarre path.
Liu Tianfeng was very sure that when he first asked Chu Huaixu if he needed a handyman to serve him, judging from his expression and the hand that had already been raised, he was clearly about to politely refuse. It was understandable. Living with such a peerless beauty, adding a third person would just be more trouble. The old man had been around; how could he not know the stirrings of youth?
But the bizarre scene still happened.
Chu Huaixu casually glanced over, and his gaze was completely captivated by the delicate-featured, short handyman.
He directly shouted, "I want him!"
He even seemed a bit... impatient?
Everyone, including Han Shuangjiang, began to focus their attention.
Xu Ziqing instantly became a little flustered, nearly dropping the gift in his hands.
"Ah? Me?" He hadn't expected this exceptionally handsome man to be pointing at him.
His gaze was so certain!
—I'm definitely taking you!
Xu Zqing's heart began to beat wildly and uncontrollably. He really couldn't understand how his life's encounters could be so erratic in such a short period of time.
Then, a scene he had experienced countless times before, one he was incredibly familiar with, happened.
Xu Ziqing could clearly feel everyone's gaze first looking at his face, then staring at his Adam's apple, and finally looking at his chest...