Chapter 10

Butler x Young Master (10)

After his mother’s death, Huo Shu’s chest was filled with hatred. Everything else was cast aside, including his dreams.

Memories returned to his distant childhood.

His mother had asked him what he wanted to become.

He remembered his answer.

“I want to become a police officer in the future, to punish evil and promote good, to be a great hero.”

Now he had no extravagant desires in his heart, only wanting to become stronger. Only by growing stronger could he avenge his mother.

Huo Shu, who had always been solitary, lowered his head and gazed at his fingers curled on his knees. A subtle change stirred deep within him.

If he had to choose a butler to stay by his side for a lifetime, having her wouldn’t be so hard to accept.

“Young master, let me tell you, when people are in a bad mood, it’s perfect to come to the cinema and watch a movie…” Once Jiang You started talking, she couldn’t stop, thoroughly enjoying herself.

She wasn’t making conversation for the sake of it. Being overly relaxed, she accidentally revealed her naturally chatty nature. Previously, she had to play the role of a taciturn butler, so she couldn’t speak as much as she did now.

Regardless of whether Huo Shu responded or not, she kept talking enthusiastically.

By the time she realized it, they had already arrived at the cinema entrance. She scratched her head and apologized somewhat awkwardly, “Sorry, young master, for disturbing you.”

Huo Shu’s long, slender fingers tightened slightly on the wheelchair armrests, his tone as cold as ever. “Don’t use formal language with me.”

Jiang You: “Huh?”

Huo Shu repeated himself, which was unprecedented.

He didn’t like her using formal address.

It felt too distant.

Jiang You didn’t understand the young master’s thoughts, but she nodded in agreement without hesitation.

“Okay, I promise not to use it.”

After speaking, her eyes scanned the lobby until they settled on the ticket machine. She then pushed the wheelchair to an empty corner and said, “Young master, wait here for a moment. I’ll go get the tickets first.”

Huo Shu nodded, sitting quietly in the wheelchair as he waited. From beginning to end, his indifferent dark eyes remained fixed on her retreating figure.

He watched her queue for tickets, saw her looking around, her ordinary face radiating a brilliance that didn’t match its appearance.

“Classmate Huo?”

A female voice from beside him interrupted his thoughts.

A figure approached, and after confirming that the person in the wheelchair was indeed him, she smiled, both surprised and delighted.

“It really, are you? Classmate Huo.”

Huo Shu’s view was blocked. His dark eyes shifted and settled on the unfamiliar young girl before him.

Her incessant chatter, compared to Butler Jiang’s, didn’t make him feel relaxed at all. Instead, it bred annoyance.

“Classmate Huo, what happened to your leg? Are you injured? Have you seen a doctor? The doctor” Chu Muci, who had come to the cinema with her friends, suddenly came to her senses upon noticing the boy sitting in the wheelchair. She became flustered and lost her composure.

Huo Shu lifted his chin slightly, his eyes narrowing. Without warning, he interrupted her, “I’m fine.”

Chu Muci wanted to say more, but her waiting friends called out to her from the other side.

“Muci, the movie is about to start.”

Chu Muci stopped speaking, biting her lips tightly, her feet rooted to the spot.

“Muci? There’s only one minute left.”

The boy in the wheelchair reminded her expressionlessly, “You should go.”

Chu Muci had no choice but to reluctantly withdraw her gaze, bid a soft farewell, and follow her friends as they left.

Not too far away.

Their voices drifted into Huo Shu’s ears.

“Muci, why are you talking to him? Don’t you know he’s the Huo family’s illegitimate son?”

“Someone of his status isn’t worthy of you at all.”
Their figures gradually faded into the distance until they entered the venue, their voices no longer audible, leaving only the endless clamor and noise around them.

This wasn’t the first time Huo Shu had heard such words.

Almost every day, someone would come to remind him of his low status.

Someone like him didn’t even deserve to breathe in the Huo family. The only reason he could become the heir was because he carried half of Huo Yuan’s blood in his veins.

“Young master, I’ve got the tickets.”

A light, gentle voice cut through the surrounding noise, effortlessly melting the coldness in his eyes.

Jiang You approached him, holding a cola in one hand and a bucket of popcorn in the other. With no free hands to push the wheelchair, she carefully suggested:

“Young master, could you hold this for a moment?”

Huo Shu suddenly lifted his head, his expression visibly freezing for a second. He asked hesitantly, slowly:

“Hold… what?” Her?

Jiang You’s attention was completely focused on the popcorn in her arms. The rich buttery aroma filled her nostrils, making her mouth water repeatedly. She swallowed several times before answering: “The popcorn.”

Huo Shu: “………”

Realizing he had misunderstood, the young man’s ears hidden beneath his hair suddenly flushed red. He averted his eyes, avoiding her gaze, and muttered an awkward “Oh.”

[Zhen Gui]

The cinema screen prominently displayed two blood-red characters.

The next moment, accompanied by an eerie and haunting opera melody, the names of the cast, director, and screenwriter appeared one by one.

From his wheelchair, Huo Shu glanced around the spacious cinema hall – aside from him and Jiang You, there was no one else.

The young housekeeper sitting in the soft chair beside him kept moving, grabbing popcorn and tossing it into her mouth, her cheeks bulging as crunching sounds emerged.

Throughout the two-hour horror film, her gaze never left the screen for even a second, showing extraordinary concentration.

When the movie ended, she pushed him out of the theater.

“It was really good, wasn’t it, young master?”

Perhaps because she was too excited, her words came out somewhat jumbled. She radiated an unusual joy and relaxation.

Huo Shu glanced at the undisguised happiness on her face, raised an eyebrow, and asked: “You like watching this kind of movie?”

Jiang You nodded vigorously, popcorn crumbs still clinging to the corner of her mouth, not affecting her speech speed at all. “Yeah, I love it! When I used to feel stressed, I’d watch horror movies, and I’d feel much better afterward.”

Huo Shu was speechless.

He couldn’t understand why someone would choose to watch horror movies when stressed. Moreover, near the end of the film, she had been crying uncontrollably, tears plopping into the long-empty popcorn bucket.

It was clearly a terrible film with garbage special effects and a plot that was complete nonsense.

Before he could figure it out, she tilted her head and leaned close to his face. “Young master, are you feeling better too?”

Meeting her slightly reddened, clear phoenix eyes that seemed washed clean by water, Huo Shu felt inexplicably nervous. Pretending to be annoyed, he pushed her face away and said coldly:

“Average.”

Jiang You straightened up, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she smiled. “Average is good too, at least it’s a bit better, right? Young master.”

Perhaps infected by her mood, the typically expressionless young man’s face showed a trace of emotion. A faint, almost imperceptible smile flashed in his dark eyes beneath thin eyelids.

Even he himself hadn’t noticed it.

Happy times are always fleeting.

After that, Huo Shu once again returned to his busy studies.

That day remained like a beautiful dream, preserved deep within his memories.

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