Chapter 14

Butler x Young Master (14)

“Alright, I should be going now. Butler Jiang, rest well and recover. I’ll visit you again next time.”

After placing the peeled apple on the bedside table, Li Chengfeng picked up his briefcase, bid farewell, and left.

The VVIP room was decorated as luxuriously as a hotel, quiet and comfortable.

Jiang You, who had been awake for over an hour, could finally move her eyeballs. She glanced around the hospital room and blinked boredly.

Suddenly, a familiar mechanical electronic voice sounded in her mind.

[Hello host, I am your System 2933. You’re finally awake. I’ll keep it brief due to the rapid progression of the plot; the main storyline has changed. The plot from Chapter 1 of the original work will begin ahead of schedule.]

[Finally, I’ve detected that your character breakdown has been too frequent, resulting in a total deduction of 142 points. However, since you’ve actively maintained harmony in the World and reduced the male lead’s corruption value below 50, the deducted points will no longer be counted.]

Jiang You’s eyes lit up.

[But an error has appeared in the World data the male lead’s emotions have become abnormal.]

Jiang You: “?”

[Never mind, there’s no time. Host, you’re on your own now.] 2933 was overwhelmed with work, constantly being called by hosts from other Worlds, and couldn’t stay here for long.

With two beeps, the system quickly went offline.

Jiang You called out several times in her mind but received no response.

What did 2933 mean by the male lead’s emotions becoming abnormal? What kind of abnormality was it?

Before she could figure it out, the hospital room door was suddenly pushed open. With heavy footsteps stopping by the hospital bed, Jiang You heard the person’s slightly hurried breathing.

She shifted her pupils, but before she could clearly see the person’s appearance, her hand resting at her side was unexpectedly grasped. The other person’s palm temperature was slightly high, bringing some damp warmth.

Quite different from the roughness of her own palm.

“Jiang You.”

As the voice fell, Jiang You finally saw him clearly.

Compared to a year ago, the young man before her hadn’t changed much in appearance, still extremely handsome with perfect bone structure that surpassed ordinary people, like a deity.

If a year ago he was surrounded by an aura of ice from glaciers that was difficult to melt, now hidden beneath that glacier was magma about to burst and splatter.

Unfamiliar and full of danger.

Making one’s heart tremble with fear.

“You’re finally awake.”

The young master was still speaking, facing her slender light brown phoenix eyes. His finger pressure was neither light nor heavy, and his usually cold lips curled up in a rare, abnormal smile, the curve faint and elusive.

“Jiang You, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

Jiang You felt flattered and greatly surprised.

So, he cared this much about whether she lived or died.

The young master was really kind.

But why had the young master changed how he addressed her? Didn’t he used to call her Butler Jiang? Now he was calling her directly by name, and she wasn’t quite used to it yet.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you again.” His voice was as cold as ever, yet unusually firm.

Jiang You’s eyes grew tired from moving them. Staring straight at the ceiling, she couldn’t clearly see the young master’s expression. Her body couldn’t move at all, and her exhaled breath misted the oxygen mask.

She wanted to say that the young master didn’t need to do this.

She was the butler, and in the future, it would still be her protecting him, not him protecting her. This not only went against the Butler Handbook’s principles but also violated her original intention.

But her body, having been in a coma for a year, couldn’t support her speaking. She could only listen quietly.

Huo Shu was not a man of many words. After speaking those few sentences, he fell silent. He didn’t leave either, remaining seated in the chair beside the hospital bed. Had Jiang You turned to look, she would have met his unwavering gaze fixed directly on her.

The young man’s eyes were dark and profound, like a vicious wolf eyeing its prey, ready to tear it apart and devour it in the next second.

Jiang You remained unaware. After spacing out for an unknown length of time, she heard the vibration of a phone nearby.

She had thought Huo Shu left long ago, never expecting he would still be keeping her company in the hospital room.

Jiang You was deeply moved.

Remembering their first meeting, the young master had been cold and aloof, ignoring everything she said without even a glance in her direction.

Yet in just over a year, the young master’s attitude toward her had undergone a complete transformation.

“I’ll be right back.” Huo Shu stood up, leaving these words before exiting the hospital room.

Outside the hospital room.

Huo Shu wore a perfectly tailored pure black suit with a similarly colored shirt underneath, the cuffs bearing subtle embroidered patterns.

Beneath his ink-black hair, shadows interlaced as his thick dark eyelashes trembled slightly. Deep within his pupils surged uncontrollable madness and restlessness.

“Young master, President Huo has learned of your return and requests your immediate presence at the old mansion. He also mentioned that the Huo family has already done more than enough for Butler Jiang. Your personal visit to her immediately upon landing is beneath your status.”

The voice through the receiver was respectful, tinged with a hint of fear.

Beneath his status? Huo Shu closed his eyes. When they reopened, all emotion had been devoured by darkness, leaving only icy coldness.

“Understood.”

The call ended.

During Jiang You’s two-month recovery period, she progressed from being completely immobile to being able to slowly take a few steps while holding onto the railings.

A thin layer of sweat formed on her forehead. She took a deep breath to calm her rapidly beating heart.

The car accident on New Year’s Eve had left a hideous scar across her back and abdomen, resembling a centipede too gruesome to look at directly.

The nurses who examined her always looked at her with pitying eyes.

Jiang You didn’t think much of it. To her, this scar was insignificant and unimportant. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about her appearance, but rather that in this World, she was merely an ordinary butler – why bother being concerned about a scar?

“Sit down.” Huo Shu, who had pushed a wheelchair into the rehabilitation room, ignored the stunned gazes around them and gestured to her.

Having completed discharge procedures today, Jiang You felt somewhat reluctant to leave after two months in the hospital. Clutching a bag containing change of clothes, she hurriedly said when she saw the young master preparing to personally wheel her out:

“Young master, there’s no need. I can push it myself.”

How could she let the young master wheel her around? It wasn’t appropriate for their positions.

Before she finished speaking, long, powerful fingers pressed against her right shoulder with just enough force to convey an unyielding attitude.

“Sit quietly.” He lowered his gaze; his deep black pupils fixated on the nape of her neck as if no one else existed. Beneath the surface, terrifying desires suppressed in his heart grew like wildly spreading thorny vines, deeply piercing his internal organs.

Accumulated longing had been dormant for too long, now developing in an increasingly intense direction.

If the 17-year-old Huo Shu only felt possessiveness toward her, then the 19-year-old Huo Shu now felt more ceaseless, overwhelming affection.

Early spring.

The Huo Family Old Mansion remained exactly as she remembered solemn and ancient.

The trees, stripped down to their bare branches, withered and decayed, devoid of any vitality. The air was thick with a putrid, icy chill, empty and desolate, with no sign of human presence.

A year ago, the courtyard had often been bustling with heirs coming and going, but now that most of them had departed, the old mansion felt more like a coffin, utterly lifeless.

Jiang You found it oppressive just to glance at it.

Let alone a group of teenagers barely sixteen or seventeen years old, it was no wonder their characters twisted. Staying in such a place for too long would warp anyone’s mind.

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