46 First-Class Helper (1/2)

After lunch, Xia Chunyu headed to the study room. Qing Liu wanted to follow him but he refused. ”You don't have to follow me. I won't need your services for a while.”

Qing Liu stopped in her tracks, feeling a sudden sense of disappointment. After a half a year away, the Master Crown Prince was a completely different person. He was now cold to her and unwilling for her to go near him. Did the heir-son lord find someone he likes? Is is that Miss Ye that Song Qi was talking about?

”Heir-son lord, are you not happy with the presence of your lowly servant?” Qing Liu asked, bitterness evident in her voice.

”You think too much,” Xia Chunyu replied indifferently, walking away without even a backward glance at her.

Qing Liu has been serving him since she was young, right at the time when he was full of curiosity towards the opposite sex. She did not exactly set out to seduce him but something happened between them. From then on, she put in more effort in serving him, and in turn, he treated her differently from the other servants. Xia Chunyu has thought of settling her down properly in the future as his concubine. The people around him all have three or four concubines at hand, so this kind of things did not concern him that much.

However, now, his heart was fully taken over by another woman. It was difficult to even think of entertaining such matters when his heart was still claimed by aching and longing.

Just when he reached the study room, one of his guards reported, ”Young Royal Highness Jing is here.”

Xia Chunyu's lips twitched in annoyance. This little devil is haunting me even on a rare day where I get to rest.

”Brother Chunyu, brother Chunyu!” Helian Jing rushed in without waiting for Xia Chunyu's permission to enter. ”Brother Chunyu, you have to help me think of something! The men I sent have almost flipped the whole of Zhen Jiang over and they still can't find big Raorao.”

Xia Chunyu shot him a glance and slowly said, ”It looks like he is intentionally hiding from you. Why do you bother finding him? Unless you get the constables to put up pictures and offer a reward for a missing person, which you don't want because you don't want to cause gossip, I don't know how else you can find him.”

”Is that the only way?” Helian Jing asked with discontent.

Xia Chunyu frowned, ”I am curious as to who is this big Raorao. How can he make you think of him all the time? You told me he's a male... are you like Zhao Qixuan?”

Zhao Qixuan was the Yong An Marquis heir-son lord. In the imperial capital, there were many aristocrats who are male homosexuals. Most of them just play around, keeping their sexuality under wraps. Zhao Qixuan was the only one who proudly announces his preferences to everyone who will listen. He blatantly professed his affections for the left premier's third son, chasing him undyingly. It caused the third young master to escape from the imperial capital and wander around everywhere, refusing to return to Jin Ling.

”What nonsense are you talking about? I am not that kind of person! I… it is just that I feel bad owing people something,” Helian Jing bluffed, his face flushed red from guilt and agitation.

Xia Chunyu looked at him with suspicion. ”That better be the case. Otherwise, your brother would be more ruthless than Zhao Qixuan's father.”

Helian Jing was slightly distressed. His big brother was vehemently against this kind of things and he was still not 100% sure of his feelings yet.

”Of course not.” Helian Jing muttered, shifting his gaze away.

Xia Chunyu, as hard as he was, could not bear to watch Helian Jing like this. ”When you first met that brother Jin Yao of yours, did he say for sure that he's coming to Jin Ling?”

”Yes.”

”Then did he say why he wanted to come here?”

Xia Chunyu thought that if Jin Yao has a motive for coming to Jin Ling, then it is impossible for him to wander around for thousand miles and just give up. It was very likely that he did not go to Jiang Xi, but instead, came quietly to Jin Ling.

Helian Jing wracked his brain for information to no avail. He was discouraged as he replied, ”No, he didn't say.”

He regretted not probing big Raorao further then. If he had, he wouldn't have to run around like a headless chicken to find him, like he was doing now.

Xia Chunyu asked again, ”If he wants to survive at a place, what is the most probable job he'd do?”

Helian Jing mulled over Chunyu's question. Big Raorao has exceptional cooking skills. If he were to seek a livelihood, he would definitely become a chef. He already sent his men around to look at restaurants and eating houses, but they still couldn't find him.

”He'd be a chef. He is very good at cooking. We managed to hitch a ride with the Li family's trading ship because he helped prepare a wedding feast for the family.”

Xia Chunyu froze.

Very good at cooking? Jin Yao... Jinxuan... Yaoyao...

His heart pounded against his chest, thumping so hard he was afraid that everyone could hear. Is it possible?”

”Are you sure Jin Yao is a man?” Xia Chunyu asked nervously.

Helian Jing broke into laughter. ”Of course, he is a man. We ate and slept together on the entire journey. If he is a woman, surely I would be able to tell.”

Xia Chunyu fell silent for quite a while, bitterly laughing at himself inwardly. He was becoming too sensitive and paranoid. There was no way Yaoyao would still be alive. She was with Sheng Wu when the barrage of disordered arrows rained on him. Even if she fell into the lake, a woman like her would not be able to swim across it.

Although he was extremely unwilling to accept the truth, he had to.