The Birth Of A Villainess

"She said what?" Qu Xing Xu tried to make sure he was hearing things right. He looked up and stared straight into Gu Yan's eyes.

"Young Madam said that she would like to have young master Kael to stay by your side to learn. But she also said that master must not teach him martial arts or the ways of the swords."

"Then what am I supposed to teach him then?" Qu Xing Xu was perplexed at the request that Lin Xiaofei put on his table.

Qu Xing Xu agreed to take the young boy out to learn how to wield a sword after he saw the boy staying in one of the rooms beside their courtyard and the one closest to Lin Xiaofei's room.

As the man who will eventually marry Lin Xiaofei, Qu Xing Xu thought that it would not look good if a man was living in the room beside her room. Kael might be a child now and looked like one, but boys were quick to grow up. In just a week or a month, they'll turn from being a child into a man overnight.

And that is something that Qu Xing Xu didn't want to happen.. For Lin Xiaofei to stay in contact with the grown-up version of Kael.

Hence, he ended up pulling the child to his side. Of course, he planned to personally teach the child how to use a sword but he also planned to send him to the military camp so he could no longer stay inside that room beside Lin Xiaofei.

"That… I don't know." Gu Yan shook his head. His eyes did not meet Qu Xing Xu's as he was staring on the ground where a body was lying.

Gu Yan asked, "Master, is that one of the assassin's last night?"

Qu Xing Xu followed where he was looking at and nodded like it was nothing.

"You should've let me do this task. This will only put dirt in your clothes, master," said Gu Yan. He was the one who was looking forward to teaching the assassins who intruded the Qu residence in his watch a lesson.

Crushing their bones and beating them up won't be enough to cover up the fact that he let assassins take a trip to the Qu residence. If his brothers were to know of this, they would laugh at him and he would be the subject of every conversation that his family would talk about for a week.

"It's fine. I also need to vent up some of this anger I feel inside." He wiped his hand on the handkerchief that Gu Yan handed out to him. "Anyway, there isn't much I can teach that boy if Lin Xiaofei wanted me to not teach him how to wield a sword. Why not just send him to the academy?"

"Besides, I don't have time to look after a child when I'm preparing for my wedding." He threw the handkerchief to the ground, "Why don't you help me and teach that child what he needed to know."

"But Young Madam specifically said that it has to be you, Master."

Qu Xing Xu glared at Gu Yan.

Why was it that it was becoming hard to order the old man? Usually, once Qu Xing Xu commanded him the first time, Gu Yan would undoubtedly do it. There were even times when he did things even before Qu Xing Xu said it, but why was this different from before?

Was it because he was getting older? Or was it because he didn't get any raise?

Thinking like this, Qu Xing Xu said, "I'll add a thousand of gold taels in your wage. Take care of the boy and make sure he learns a lot." He waved his hand dismissively but Gu Yan stayed on his ground.

The old man stood silently and sighed, "Master, young madam seemed to have predicted this and so, she asked me to tell you this if ever you refused to personally look after the child."

"Xiaofei did?" Qu Xing Xu frowned when he saw the old man nodded. "What did she say?" He got curious about what Lin Xiaofei wanted to tell him and asked.

Finally getting his master's attention, Gu Yan cleared his throat before he said, "She said that if you don't look after the boy… then, you will never be allowed to uh… to have a taste of that alcohol she shared with you."

Qu Xing Xu fell silent after what the old attendant said. Meanwhile, Gu Yan who had just said all these wore a confused expression on his face.

He was wondering what kind of alcohol Lin Xiaofei was offering to Qu Xing Xu. There are several alcohols that could be bought in the capital and inside the Qu residence, there didn't seem to be any outages of alcohol. However, these jars of alcohol were hidden and locked away by Qu Xing Xu.

Besides, his master didn't like to drink a lot. The only exception was when he remembered the past and would drink several jars of alcohol to forget.

That is why Gu Yan was positive that his master wouldn't agree even if Lin Xiaofei was the one who offered him a drink. But why would Lin Xiaofei use alcohol to lure his master? Was she hiding a jar of alcohol that was worth more than the jars of alcohol in the cellar combined? Or was she planning to turn his master into a drunkard?

When Gu Yan snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his master, he saw Qu Xing Xu's eyes were sparkling. He also had that smile that looked like he had found his prey and was ready to ambush them in the dark.

"She could've just told me herself. Why must she tell you to say this to me? Now, I lost the chance to get a taste of it again." Qu Xing Xu clicked his tongue upon thinking that he lost the chance to taste her lips against his, "Using a child to bargain with me... Does she really think that I will be chained by that boy?"

"Are you going to do it, Master?" Gu Yan asked despite having an idea what could his master's reply to his question.

"Yes."

"But what are you going to teach him?"

"I don't know." Qu Xing Xu chuckled, "But for now… how about I tour my new student to the dungeon?"