A servant entered the beautiful room currently covered in dimness. The light from the morning sun followed her steps as she prepared breakfast for the lord but frowned as no movement sounded from the lord’s sleeping chamber. Unsure of what to do she slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

“It is not proper for a lady to peek inside a man’s room.”

The maid squeaked and immediately turned around and bowed to the man who just entered the room after her.

“My apologies, Wang! The Zhiji hasn’t come out of his room so I wanted to see if he was awake.”

The maid did not dare look up at the Wang but heard him going to the door. He knocked gently.

“Zhiji, the sun has graced us with its presence. Might you do the same?”

A groan like that of a beast erupted from the room and both the Wang and the maid stared at the closed door fully expecting the Zhiji to come out.

“…”

A smile slowly crept over the Wang’s face but no tenderness could be sighted in his eyes. He slammed the door open and entered the room before smiling at the creature in the bed.

A body slowly rose from the dead and a head of unruly hair met the Wang’s gaze. Two dark and unfocused eyes darted over the room while drool hanged from the corner of the man’s mouth. Yecao Cao hugged his blanket while groaning as the sunlight hit his face and he tried to crawl back under his blanket to find cover from its unrelenting brightness.

Wang’s smile grew wider and he closed in on the boy daring enough to ignore him and pulled off his blanket.

“Get up or I will eat all of the food!”

Yecao Cao’s eyes went wide as he recognized one of his favorite words and threw himself out of the room with an inhuman growl. The Wang chuckled and followed the feral man to the table to watch Yecao Cao grow from a beast to a man for every bite he took. When Yecao Cao finally finished he almost looked gracious if it wasn’t for his unruly appearance.

A groan escaped Yecao Cao’s lips while he rubbed his eyes which only made his bags underneath them more prominent.

“Have you people ever heard about sleeping in?”

“Have you ever heard about rising with the sun?”

“No.”

Wang Yu Jían chuckled and sipped his tea. “I am not surprised but I want to go talk to the Vans today as I fear that they may leave soon now before people might start to suspect them.”

“Why would they suspect the Vans?”

“Because they are foreigners. It is always easier to blame strangers than your kin of crimes,” Wang Yu Jían said with a sigh.”That is the reason why the Emperor was so quick with sending us to investigate. If the people of Dongzhou handle the situation then the Vans will be scapegoats which will hurt our relationship.”

“Let’s just hope that the people of Dongzhou had been hospitable or we will have trouble speaking to them as they would most likely not be so keen to speak with us,” muttered Yecao Cao looking down into his tea like he tried to scry for his future.

“The Vans are not that petty. They are well used to being suspected and blamed for incidents so they should not deny us the right to speak with them.”

“But that will not mean that they will answer our questions.”

“True, well we’ll see the damage done when we talk to the fair folks of Diamanas,” said Wang Yu Jían with a cheery disposition that Yecao Cao did not share. He still cannot comprehend why they need to do this so early in the morning. The day might not wait for anybody but people sure did. 

Yecao Cao dressed rather fancy as he wanted to give a good impression but he still was underdressed compared to the Wang Yu who caught the eye of every woman in the household. The same woman who had to run their legs off trying to exchange words with the Wang who skillfully avoided them.

Both of them left the mansion under the disappointed eyes of the women while Shu Qiang acted as a guide. Wang Yu Jían had first refused but Shy Yong Heng had insisted with a greedy look on his face. This was a good opportunity for Shu Qiang to gain the favor of the Wang and show his competence.

Yecao Cao made Shu Qiang’s life a misery by questioning everything about the city. They only took a few steps before they stopped because Yecao Cao wanted information about the trinket, shop or other things he saw. Shu Qiang threw the Wang a pleading glance but the Wang only smile cheerily while buying the Zhiji plenty of snacks. Almost like he had anticipated that this would happen.

Yecao Cao’s arms were filled with sweets and he looked completely satisfied with his harvest. “Maybe we should find a teahouse. Tea is always good when you eat sweets.”

“The Vans, Zhiji!” Shu Qiang seethed between his teeth. He had not followed them to actually be a guide. He had come to help them investigate and hopefully, steal the glory from Yecao Cao. This was not what he had in mind!

“We can drink tea later, Zhiji. I see the harbor from here and I know that you wanted to meet the Vans,” the Wang said gently and Yecao Cao pouted while glancing at his harvest.

“Fine, we might as well,” he said with a sigh and Shu Qiang lit up which only made Yecao Cao want to turn around to find a teahouse even more. A happy Shu Qiang was a bad omen if he ever saw one.