Shi Sheng didn’t make her presence known, instead she headed back to her room. No one here really like her anyway; they didn’t really remember this Young Miss of theirs.
Ji Xiaoyu wanted to ask about who that pretty girl was but Bei Ze’s expression was ugly right now so she didn’t dare say anything. Instead, she got to work after finishing up her homework.
When she didn’t see that girl come down for dinner, Ji Xiaoyu was even more curious about her. She secretly asked the steward, Uncle He, about her. “Uncle He, I saw a very pretty girl in the courtyard this afternoon. Who is she?”
“Oh, that’s our Young Miss. She only just returned today.”
“Young Miss?” Ji Xiaoyu was surprised. ‘I thought the Bei Family only had a young master, Bei Ze. So how come they also have a young miss?’
“Don’t try to dig too much.” Uncle He looked at Ji Xiaoyu. He was an old-timer so he knew about a lot of matters. Though he pitied Bei Zhi, this was a private matter of the master’s house and not the place for servants like them to ask about.
Ji Xiaoyu made an ‘oh’ sound before hurriedly running outside when she heard Bei Ze calling for her.
……
Shi Sheng ate dinner in her room. Lawyer Yan had already prepared the stuff she would need to attend Alice Academy and she was currently sorting them out.
A plaid skirt, a pair of English leather shoes, a blue overcoat, a white coloured blouse and a tie…
‘Looks very fitting with the whole student image!’
Shi Sheng suddenly heard the sounds of a door opening and closing outside. Her room was on the third floor while Bei Ze was living on the fourth floor. ‘No one else should be on the third floor so the only possibility’s Ji Xiaoyu.’
She had just thought this when a ruckus was heard from next door. Only the walls of the studies and lounges were soundproofed, explaining why Shi Sheng was hearing this in the first place.
The noises wouldn’t stop, causing Shi Sheng to grow irritated. ‘The hell is Ji Xiaoyu up to?! Tearing down a house?!’
Shi Sheng wore her slippers and went out into the corridor. She rapped on the door where the ruckus was coming from. Only after around a minute of constant knocking was the door opened, allowing the sounds of music to spill out into the corridor.
Ji Xiaoyu was wearing dance practice clothes and breathing heavily. She was slightly stunned upon seeing the person at the door.
“What are you doing? Tearing down the place?” Shi Sheng’s tone wasn’t very polite. “Even if you don’t feel like resting, I do!”
Ji Xiaoyu hurriedly ran in to shut the music off before saying apologetically, “Sorry Young Miss. I forgot you were living next door.”
‘What the fuck! Just whose house is this?!’
“What’s the matter here?” Bei Ze’s voice could be heard from upstairs. His tone was a bit cold; it seemed like he had been disturbed by the noise.
“I ended up bothering the Young Miss because of my dance practice.” Ji Xiaoyu spoke in a soft voice. Bei Ze looked at Shi Sheng.
“I allowed her to practise here. If you’re bothered, you can move… downstairs.”
“…Is she the servant or am I the servant here? Why should I have to vacate the place for her?”
Bei Ze’s brows furrowed and he raised his voice, “Don’t be unreasonable!”
‘I’m being unreasonable?! If I was really being unreasonable, I’d have taken out my sword and chopped you two up by now!’
“Was there anything wrong with my words?” Shi Sheng met Bei Ze’s gaze.
Her eyes were pitch-black and very cool. The light that reflected off them looked like diamonds flickering. Bei Ze went into a daze.
“Sorry Young Miss, Young Master. Don’t argue anymore. It was my fault, I won’t practise anymore.” Ji Xiaoyu hurriedly spoke upon seeing that the two seemed ready to fight.
“Continue practising. Ignore her.” Bei Ze shifted his gaze and walked forward, pushing Ji Xiaoyu into the room before slamming it shut. This was closely followed by the sounds of music starting again. And they were louder than before.
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘Your grandpa! Think I(bbb) can’t deal with a brat like you?!’
Mansions like these tended to have their own private electric grid. Shi Sheng found her way to the source and snapped the wires. The originally bright mansion sank into darkness and regained its silence.
In order to prevent the electricity coming back online too quickly, Shi Sheng pulled out her iron sword and cut the main wires.
Bei Ze wouldn’t believe Bei Zhi would do this even if you beat him to death, so he only thought it was a malfunction and got the steward to take a look. But the steward called back and told him the wires had been broken and wouldn’t be able to be fixed in a short amount of time. He also said it looked to have been broken by someone on purpose and had already gotten the servants to search the mansion.
“The electricity’s not coming back?” Ji Xiaoyu tilted her head to ask Bei Ze.
“En.” Bei Ze looked like he was currently in his own thoughts since he didn’t say anything else.
Ji Xiaoyu didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with him. “Then I’ll go get some candles.”
There weren’t many candles in the mansion, there were only a few left. As the servants had work to do, the only ones free for them to use was down to two. Ji Xiaoyu took the two candles upstairs and lit them.
Bei Ze stood in front of the window, not moving at all. There seemed to be something off with him.
“Hey, what’s the matter with you?” Ji Xiaoyu furrowed her brows and poked at his back. “You aren’t afraid of the dark, are you?”
There was no reaction.
“He can’t really be afraid of the dark, can he?” Ji Xiaoyu muttered under her breath. Just as she was planning on walking to his front to face him, Bei Ze suddenly turned, walked over to the candles, took one and left the room.
“Where are you going? Hey, you’re walking too fast! The candle’s about to go out!” Ji Xiaoyu stumbled after Bei Ze.
The flame in Bei Ze’s hand got weaker, as if it could be extinguished at any time. Hearing Ji Xiaoyu’s words, he paused to allow the flame time to recover before continuing on his way. He stopped in front of Bei Zhi’s room.
He raised his hand to knock but paused. After a long while, he lowered his hand, turned to look and Ji Xiaoyu and ordered her, “Knock on the door and pass the candle to her.”
Bei Ze handed the candle over to Ji Xiaoyu before turning to walk upstairs.
“All you know how to do is order me around.” Ji Xiaoyu muttered before knocking on the door. However, there was no response even after a long while. She continued knocking but there was still no response.
Just as she was hesitating on whether or not to go in, Bei Ze returned and opened the door. By the light of the moon, they could see that the bed was in a mess but was clearly empty.
Ji Xiaoyu watched Bei Ze scan the room before turning and rushing out of the room. He charged downstairs where Uncle He was overseeing the search. Bei Ze’s sudden appearance caused them to be startled, thinking that someone was chasing after him.
“Have you seen her?”
Uncle He was puzzled. “Wasn’t Xiaoyu together with you, Young Master?”
‘Xiaoyu just came by to get candles. Could she have been caught by the intruder?!’
“I’m not talking about Ji Xiaoyu.”
Uncle He finally reacted. “The Young Miss should still be in her room. I didn’t see her come down.”
“She’s not there.” Bei Ze spoke quickly.
Without waiting for a response, Bei Ze continued, “She’s afraid of the dark. Go get people to look for her.”
Only now did Uncle He remember his Young Miss was afraid of the dark. He hurriedly ordered people to go look for her. The thing that worried him most was whether or not the Young Miss had met with the intruders.
Ji Xiaoyu was dragged into the search party. Inwardly, she was feeling the whole thing was unfair to them. ‘These rich kids are really wilful; they just disappear whenever they feel like it! Don’t they know others would be implicated?
Damned rich people…’