With a hot towel over his face, Leyu was soaking in the bath at Jing Garden, pondering over many crucial issues.

Silver Blood Association seems to have easily filled the military fund pool, should new paid DLC be added?

How should the "replacement for the plum" plan be implemented to completely control the production assets of the Silver Blood Association?

Qing Lan is already this old, is it time to sleep in separate rooms?

These tough problems troubled Leyu, causing him to be anxious and unable to sleep at night.

Squeak~

The bathroom door made a creaky sound, causing Leyu to shiver.

Except for the first night after arriving at Xuanzhu County, Leyu never allowed maids to attend to him during his bath. In fact, Leyu never enjoyed the life of being tended to, unlike the Silver Blood nobility. At most, he and Qing Lan would help each other with putting on and taking off clothes.

The servants and housekeeper at Jing Garden knew not to disturb him during his bath. When he first became the head of Jing Garden, the old housekeeper thought he was an old lecher and deliberately had two sweet-smelling young maids suddenly enter the bath to scrub his back, leaving Leyu, who was having fun playing with bubbles in the bath, extremely embarrassed. Immediately after bathing, he deducted the old housekeeper's salary for the month.

Thus, rumors started spreading within Jing Family that the new Patriarch had a secret habit of passing gas while bathing in stealth.

However, as time passed, everyone gradually realized that the new Patriarch genuinely disliked being waited on. In these circumstances, only one person in the entire Jing Mansion dared to cause trouble.

A pair of soft, smooth jade-like hands gently pressed on Leyu's shoulders. He still had the towel covering his face and couldn't see anything, but the familiar scent had already filled his nose.

"How is she?"

"She still wants to stay." Qing Lan, while pressing on his shoulders, said, "She firmly believes that Lord Wanghai's decision is for her own good."

"It is indeed for her own good. However, if using the reason of 'it's for your own good,' does that mean you can make any decision for others?"

Leyi sighed, "She hasn't seen a bad person, never encountered bullying. The people she meets are either kindly fathers or dignified elder brothers. Everyone treats her with courtesy and kindness. A white lotus like Huyan Siluo, raised in such a prominent family, suddenly thrust into the lair of a great villain like me... I can bet that she will definitely cry with swollen eyes under the blankets tonight."

"So do you want to sleep with her?" Qing Lan's hands seemed to linger intentionally or unintentionally on Leyu's neck, as if massaging or as if choking: "I hugged her just now, and I felt quite comfortable."

"If it's only me and Huyan Siluo, and you don't enter this blanket..."

Qing Lan took advantage and clasped his neck.

"...then I certainly wouldn't want to!" Leyu righteously stated, "Without your blanket, I can't sleep!"

"You ghost!" Qing Lan pinched his cheek impatiently, "You still want to sleep together? I don't mind, but can you handle it?"

"Of course, I can handle it, how could I not." Leyu adamantly refused to back down: "It's just that you definitely mind, so I can only grit my teeth and send her home."

"Hmph."

Qing Lan was silent for a long time, then suddenly said, "Actually, she's quite nice; although she doesn't admit defeat verbally, her nature is very gentle, well-mannered. She's very polite when chatting with me. I think we could possibly become sister friends..."

Leyi directly interrupted Qing Lan's monologue, "Here we go, here we go, this traditional episode again. Alright, please start your performance."

"What do you mean!" Qing Lan felt wronged and pushed him, but Leyu remained unbudged.

"Seeing a cute, gentle, well-born young lady sticking to your man, instantly activating the insecurity and self-pity inside you about your origin, and then you start thinking you don't deserve to monopolize this excellent man, willing to share him. As you think about it, you start feeling moved by your own generosity and largess..."

Leyi folded his arms and exaggeratedly said, "Ah, ah, I don't want to create hundreds of episodes of wealthy family melodrama over such silly reasons, but I'm willing to accept the appraisal of being an 'excellent man'."

"What do you know!" Qing Lan's face reddened with anger and frustration, "You're not a woman!"

"I may not be a woman, but I am a person," Leyu said, "I only know that people are selfish. I've never heard of anyone being selfless enough to share their partner, unless it's someone with a special fetish... If you truly don't mind, it means you don't like me anymore, that you see me as mere medicine residue to quench your desires. Shaking with anger and cold, when will this medicine residue stand up again?"

He grumbled in a low voice, "Besides, just because I'm not a woman now doesn't mean the future is certain..."

The young master often spoke strange things, and Qing Lan was accustomed to it, completely ignoring his talk of changing genders.

Although Leyu had already expressed his position, Qing Lan still felt insecure inside and couldn't help but say, "Can you guarantee that you won't change your heart in the future? Won't you get tired of me? If the answer is no, I might as well become sisters with Silo..."

"Of course not," Leyu said firmly.

Leyi's words immediately made Qing Lan lose her composure as her fingernails quietly dug into his flesh.

Leyi scratched his cheek, "No, I just find it strange. Both you and Huyan Siluo, why do you believe in the promises made by the President of the Silver Blood Association? Do you really think the Silver Blood Association is a charitable organization?"

"And even if my promise is sincere now, promises are like fruits on a tree. When they ripen, they are naturally sweet and real, but as time passes, they fall and rot. Promises are the same; they are true when spoken, but they will rot."

"Conversely, if I have no money, no career, and nothing, would you still stay with me?"

"Of course, I would," Qing Lan said firmly, her face full of determination.

"Really, I don't believe it," Leyu said in a Lu Yu-style interview tone, "It's not that I don't trust your promise, I just don't trust the 'you' in the promise. But then why do we need to test each other with promises?"

"If I don't want you to leave me, I should protect the business power in my hands and prevent the external environment from testing you; if you don't want me to abandon you, you should find a way to gain power, show me that leaving you would be a huge loss, that I can't do without you."

"Benefit plus emotion, that's the most stable bond."

"Why do you want me to make assurances? Because you also know that emotion is still too fragile."

"But if you can generate benefits, even if we have no emotion in the future, you can start your life anew."

"Just like I said to Huyan Siluo, men are unreliable, just as I never count on Lan Yan," Leyu waved his hand, "But feelings are a shortcut to self-deception; if you need it, I can say sweet words to you dipped in honey; if you chose the path of benefit plus emotion, then you must go to work every day."

Qing Lan said in a chilly voice, "Saying so much, you just want to trick me into getting up early to work."

"Tsk," Leyu clicked his tongue, "it's really getting harder to fool you."

"Worthy of the Silver Blood Association President, clearly trying to trick people into work, yet able to say it so righteously." Qing Lan said in a sarcastic tone, then Leyu soon felt himself attacked on all his weak spots.

"Ah, ah, a bit sore!"

"Right there!"

Having not been massaged for several days, suddenly getting Qing Lan's full force left Leyu feeling sore all over.

Just as he was about to slump in the bath, the towel on his face was suddenly removed.

Qing Lan exhaled lightly by his ear and whispered, "Thank you."

Leyi was silent for a moment, then turned his head to glance at Qing Lan before standing up quickly, "No need to thank me, it was what I should do. Since there's nothing else, I should go, I'm done with my bath, you take your time..."

"I haven't bathed yet, stay with me."

"Actually, I have an appointment with Yin Minghong to discuss the future of Xuanzhu County, I really don't have time, he's already waiting in the study..."

"Let him wait!"

"If I stay longer, I'll dehydrate, really!"