“Come here, Er-gou, call for Xiting-gege!”

“Xiting-gege.”

“Ai, you’re so good.”

Liu Xiting was actually Liu Zhenqing’s name in modern times. It could naturally no longer be used here, but fortunately, the old marquis was unreliable, and when Liu Zhenqing wanted to choose a courtesy name for himself, he also agreed. Thus, Liu Zhenqing said from childhood that he would be called Xiting in the future. Of course, he taught others to call him Xiting-gege, which was also a commemoration of his previous life.

One day, he saw Er-gou after a long time, and when he was about to say hello, he heard “Qing-ge.”

There was a question mark on Liu Zhenqing’s face. Why had it changed?

When he asked Er-gou, he just said he wanted to change it and that Qing-ge sounded nice.

When he asked Huo Feihan, he said Er-gou was unhappy when he heard the girls who were close to Liu Zhenqing calling him Xiting-gege some time ago. 

Liu Zhenqing understood immediately. How could a little man have the nerve to call him the same thing as girls? It was too unmanly.

Huo Feihan felt the same way. It was not good to call someone so softly and girlishly when you grew up.

Thus, he accepted the title “Qing-ge,” which did sound pretty good, but he later discovered that it seemed Er-gou was the only one who called him that.

Once, he teased a familiar little sister to call him Qing-ge, and when she blushed and ran away, Li Xingruo gave him a blank look.

Liu Zhenqing looked innocent. Wouldn’t this mean they were closer than if she used “Xiting-gege?”

Li Xingruo called out in a strange voice: “Really? Qing-ge?”^[1]

Liu Zhenqing reacted immediately. From then on, he would never dare to let a girl call him that, as it could easily cause a misunderstanding.

So for the rest of his life, only Er-gou would call him Qing-ge.

When he was waking up in a daze, he seemed to hear someone calling him Qing-ge, and he was suddenly shocked into a cold sweat. And when he regained consciousness, he heard that someone was indeed calling him.

But what they called him was “Uncle Liu.”

Liu Zhenqing opened his eyes and turned to look, only to find two children standing by the bed staring at him. Liu Zhenqing was so startled that he jumped upright and hugged the thing in his arms tightly……it was a pillow.

After big eyes and small eyes exchanged stares, Liu Zhenqing said with a headache: “You two…..never mind Young Master Huo, but Young Lady Huo, how can you come in so casually?”

Huo Yunci said with a pout: “It’s already late in the morning. We waited outside the door for a long time and called for a while, but there was no response, so we thought something had happened to you.”

Liu Zhenqing glanced at the sun outside. He was surprised, not having realized that he had slept for so long.

“And your sleeping posture…..is really terrible,” Huo Yunci said with disdain.

Liu Zhenqing wordlessly let go of the twisted pillow, then said in dissatisfaction: “How is it terrible?”

He just didn’t like to use a pillow when sleeping. He preferred to hold the pillow in his arms with his hands and feet wrapped around it.

Huo Yunci ridiculed: “If that pillow was alive, you would have strangled it to death.”

Liu Zhenqing pleaded not guilty to this charge. It was an exaggeration. When Er-gou was a child, he slept with him in his arms and woke up in this position several times without having strangled him.

Liu Zhenqing touched his face. Had he really been afraid of being strangled? He didn’t know how to resist when he was young, but when he grew up, he knew how to fight for his right to live?

……Wait, his sleeping position…..Liu Zhenqing was frightened for a moment, but then relaxed. It was only the two children. General Huo would not be so unruly as to break into the room in the middle of the night and peek at a person sleeping.

“Ahem. Don’t tell anyone,” Liu Zhenqing said awkwardly.

Huo Yunci just thought he was afraid of embarrassment, and gave a scoff.

“All right, get out quickly. Do you still want to stay and watch me wash and change clothes?” Liu Zhenqing asked with a tigerish face. Huo Yunqian pulled Huo Yunci and rushed out.

When Liu Zhenqing went out and looked around, he realized that the two children were waiting for him to have breakfast.

“Why did you two come to have breakfast with me?” Liu Zhenqing asked in confusion.

Huo Yunqian said with a smile: “Second Uncle asked us to accompany you. He said that you can’t leave the General’s Manor, and that Uncle Liu saved us before, so we must personally thank him.” With that said, the two of them bowed and thanked Liu Zhenqing in a courteous manner.

“You don’t need to thank me. I still relied on your Second Uncle to save my life. By the way, did he come back yesterday? Where is he now?” Liu Zhenqing asked.

“It seems he came back last night and left again this morning,” Huo Yunqian said. “Uncle Liu, it’s better to rest here and recuperate first. With Second Uncle here, he can handle everything.”

“Right, Second Uncle is the most powerful. He can solve any problem.” Huo Yunci sang his praises. It could be seen that the twins really admired their Second Uncle. She then asked curiously: “I heard that your Liu family was involved in the Imperial Examination fraud. Is that true?”

Liu Zhenqing asked the two of them to sit down and talk while they ate. “Do you think it’s untrue?”

The two nodded.

Liu Zhenqing was a little surprised. Regardless of how they had been educated by their mother and uncle, there would at least be all kinds of rumors around them, and they must still dislike the Liu family. How could they still trust them? Was it because his personal charm had impressed them and caused them to respect and admire him? Right, this was the status he should have as a godfather.

Liu Zhenqing inwardly praised himself, but then heard Huo Yunci say carelessly: “I heard that Rong Shiming was identified as the main culprit. Didn’t he steal your fiance? Your relationship is terrible, so how could the Liu family still cooperate with him? There must be something wrong. Compared to that bully, at least you have a decent character.”

Liu Zhenqing hadn’t expected the two children to be so sharp. “I actually don’t know for sure, but I have the same idea as you. Although, how do you know so much……gossip, ah? Aren’t you in confinement?” They actually knew about the finance incident?

“Of course we have many sources of information,” Huo Yunci said proudly.

Huo Yunqian smiled and explained: “It’s because some of Second Uncle’s friends come over on occasion, and they say…..well, some interesting things.”

Liu Zhenqing: ……

Those who worked in the Dongchang and Jinyiwei had the most sources. It was probably because the original owner got involved with Huo Fenglie that their gossip reached these two children.

“So if Rong Shiming is caught and your family is exonerated, will your fiance come back?”

Children were children, and could still ask such naive questions.

Liu Zhenqing shook his head and said: “How can the Ministry of Rites get rid of the relationship after that person was caught for Imperial Examination fraud? The Jiang family is probably in trouble now. And the engagement was not originally broken off because of Rong Shiming.”

The two children immediately stopped eating, and looked at him with bright eyes.

Huo Yunqian asked with rare childishness: “Was it because of Second Uncle?”

Huo Yunci was also curious: “Didn’t you lose your memory? Do you still like my Second Uncle?”

Liu Zhenqing almost spit out his mouthful of bean curd. When he looked up, he saw the two children looking at him seriously as they asked earnest questions, which immediately aroused his bad nature and made his skin itch. After all, he never considered whether a person was young or old when he teased people.

Just as he was about to speak, he felt vigilant and looked around instinctively, afraid that someone would catch him talking nonsense again. However, he remembered that the two children had said their Second Uncle was out, and suddenly couldn’t restrain his wicked mouth: “Ai, of course it’s because of General Huo. Even though I lost my memory, I still like him, ah. If it wasn’t that I didn’t get what I wanted, I wouldn’t be going far away with a broken heart.”

“Really? You’re leaving the capital because…..?” Huo Yunci said in shock.

Liu Zhenqing took a deep breath and said: “I originally kept my heart for the general, but the general turned a blind eye. Besides, I’m a man and shouldn’t have become entangled with him in the first place, but he helped me like this. How could I not be moved? Now I’m staying in the General’s Manor, and I don’t want to think about him too much, but I can’t help it. I got up so late today because I stayed up all night and didn’t sleep until morning.”

After speaking, Liu Zhenqing immediately choked up and lowered his head.

Huo Yunci was stunned after hearing someone say such sincere words for the first time.

Huo Yunqian said quickly: “Uncle Liu, don’t…..don’t be sad. Our Second Uncle is…..a person who is not easily tempted. We never heard of him being interested in anyone while we were growing up. The elders in the family are very worried, and they don’t see Second Uncle relenting and marrying a wife.”

Huo Yunci also spoke quickly: “Right, right, my Second Uncle loves to fight and practice martial arts. He doesn’t care about anything else. In the past, people would send beautiful girls to his door. Second Uncle didn’t even look at them, and just told Uncle Tian to handle it. Mother says that Second Uncle is hopeless. And what’s wrong with men? Some of our ancestors also married men, and our lineage was inherited from the bride marrying in.”

Liu Zhenqing was quite surprised to hear this. He had just made things up casually before, not expecting that Er-gou’s relationship problems would be so serious, ah. Could it be because he was too busy to pay attention to these things and matured late? It couldn’t be because he was in poor health, hahaha. How could that be possible with the Medical Fairy here?

Huo Yunqian continued: “Although it’s a matter of love and can’t be forced……if there is even a faint hope, don’t give up lightly. Then…..Uncle Liu, you…..”

Even the sharp and clever Huo Yunqian didn’t know what to say, let alone the more reckless Huo Yunci.

The two looked at each other in a fluster. They both regretted bringing up this matter, and wished that they could take back their words and apologize on the spot.

“Really? Weren’t you guys rather disdainful of me liking General Huo before?” Liu Zhenqing continued to tease.

“That…..your behavior before was a bit troublesome and annoying, but now…..it’s okay. If you really like someone, it has nothing to do with anyone else,” Huo Yunci said.

Huo Yunqian nodded accordingly.

“The education provided by your Huo family is really good. You are both good children.” Liu Zhenqing looked moved, and the two of them were a little embarrassed by the praise. As a result, Liu Zhenqing changed his tone in the next second and said in a non-serious manner: “But…..”

Before Liu Zhenqing could cheerfully reverse his words, two more figures appeared in his field of vision.

One had a shifting expression and a glint in his eyes, and the other was Huo Fenglie with his normal expression.

Liu Zhenqing was as mute as a strangled goose.

…..What the hell! He’d been played! Hadn’t they said he wasn’t home? It was almost impossible for him to be caught doing bad things in the past, but now he had no good luck, ah.

“Second Uncle?!” The two children were also surprised.

“Second Uncle, didn’t you…..go out?” Huo Yunqian looked back and forth in embarrassment. After all, it wasn’t good to gossip about elders behind their backs.

Huo Fenglie walked to the door steadily but didn’t step in, and Uncle Tian followed awkwardly to stand beside him.

“Young Master Liu…..”

Zhenqing took a deep breath and was about to explain, when he heard Huo Fenglie say with a normal look: “I just received news that the entire Jiang family has been arrested. I came back to ask you about your kidnapping and poisoning not long ago…..and there was also that assassination attempt in the past. Do you have any suspicions about who did it?”

Wait. Why did he just jump to talking business? Huo Fenglie had already mastered this level of calm? 

“Uh…..I don’t know either, but the poisoning was a result of struggles within the home.” Although he was rather shocked at the moment, Liu Zhenqing’s rationality was still there. Regarding the past, if he had no answer, then he wouldn’t answer in order to avoid loopholes. And Liu Zhenqing believed that Huo Fenglie had thought of this because of the arrest of the Jiang family, and must have made a judgment in his heart.

Sure enough, in the next second, Huo Fenglie said in a deep voice: “I understand. I will investigate it thoroughly.”

Liu Zhenqing didn’t know if it was his own illusion, but he felt that Huo Fenglie had some murderous intent when he said this.

“Your servant was also caught, and he is with the Liu family in prison. He is only there for supervision and questioning, and there is no serious problem for the time being.”

“Thank you for taking the trouble.”

Huo Fenglie was finished speaking, and turned around to leave. Now it was Liu Zhenqing’s turn to panic. Sure enough, evil deeds must be punished. 

“General Huo, what I just did to tease the Young Lady and Young Master, that was…..”

“I know. There’s no need to say it.” Huo Fenglie stopped with a slight frown. He seemed displeased, and said: “You don’t have to worry. I won’t misunderstand.”

Now Liu Zhenqing really felt stifled, and Uncle Tian appeared to be rather shocked. They had apparently heard everything, and although Uncle Tian believed it, Huo Fenglie did not. This was really…..the grace of heaven, ah.

Uncle Tian hurriedly caught up with Huo Fenglie and left the courtyard, stealing peeks at him along the way. When he had just heard Liu Zhenqing talking from the entrance of the courtyard, the Second Master was clearly in a daze. Although it was unlikely that he would wear an expression of shock due to his temperament, Uncle Tian noticed that the Second Master was a little surprised and uneasy, but definitely not annoyed. Then he suddenly walked in and interrupted after asking Uncle Tian to wait until the person finished speaking, and to pretend not to have heard anything before going in so as not to make it awkward.

But now, he didn’t know what was wrong, but he felt that the Second Master was slightly unhappy.

“Second Master, you…..”

“What is it?”

“What Young Master Liu said, do you really think it’s false?” Uncle Tian couldn’t help asking.

Huo Fenglie’s footsteps almost froze. “He was making a joke to tease the children. Couldn’t you see this?”

Uncle Tian gave a dry smile. He couldn’t see this, and really thought he was sincere. He had never seen such a situation before…..wait…..Uncle Tian suddenly fell into a trance and couldn’t help but touch his beard. He seemed to think of a mischievous little villain who loved to tease people with his words but had an innocent heart.

There really was…..a bit of a blood relationship.

A deep voice suddenly murmured: “He doesn’t like me.”

Uncle Tian looked up in surprise, but Huo Fenglie had already taken a few faster steps, and only his tall and resolute back could be seen. He was a little confused about Huo Fenglie’s attitude. Was he really happy about this…..of course he must be happy about this. Otherwise wouldn’t their Second Master’s attitude toward Young Master Liu……Impossible. It was completely impossible.

. . . . . . .

When the two of them walked out, Liu Zhenqing returned to his senses and saw the two agitated children staring at him.

“You lied to us?” Huo Yunci glared angrily.

“You…..Uncle Liu, how could you do this, ah? And we gave you advice!” The good-tempered Huo Yunqian was also angry.

“Um…..I was wrong.” Liu Zhenqing apologized sincerely, then added: “In fact, I felt that you lacked understanding of the dangers in the world, so I trained you in advance not to trust the words of others.”

“You…..you’re terrible!” Huo Yunci said angrily.

Huo Yunqian calmed down relatively quickly. He probably realized right away that Liu Zhenqing had spoken strangely before, and blamed himself for his lack of vigilance. Now, he hesitated before saying: “Then you……really don’t like my Second Uncle?”

Huo Yunci immediately glared over at him: “Try to lie to us again!”

The corners of Liu Zhenqing’s mouth twitched and he begged for mercy: “Great Aunt, Granduncle, it’s true, I really have lost my memory. I left the capital just to go back to my hometown and recover my memories. I swear, I really don’t like your second uncle. Now I’m very grateful to your second uncle for helping me in such a situation. Grateful!! I also wish that your second uncle will find a beautiful wife as soon as possible and give you an auntie!”

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[1] Not entirely sure what this is about, but my guess is that the 清 qing (pure/just and honest) in LZQ’s name sounds similar to the 情 qing (passion/love). ⮐

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Chapter Twenty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Thirty