Chapter 5

Butler Young Master (5)

Jiang You felt uncomfortable hearing this, her brows slightly furrowed.

Let alone the protagonist of these words.

What was Huo Shu’s reaction after hearing this? He had no reaction at all, not even lifting his eyelids half an inch, as if he had fallen asleep.

As the footsteps drew closer, Jiang You saw the leader, the second young master of the Huo family, Huo Ye.

What kind of personality did Huo Ye have? Compared to the eldest young master Huo Jing who was often sent on business trips, he was more like the Boss. He possessed the arrogance and conceit of heaven’s favored son, with the only person he truly respected being Huo Yuan – he was Huo Yuan’s most obedient dog.

Yes, exactly like a dog.

Huo Yuan’s limited remaining affection was given only to his youngest daughter, Huo Jing.

The other children, in his eyes, were merely chess pieces for marriage alliances to expand influence, just obedient dogs.

In the Huo family, most of the bullying Huo Shu endured in the early stages came from Huo Ye.

Huo Ye didn’t even dare to breathe heavily in front of his father Huo Yuan, trembling with fear of making mistakes, having lived in an extremely oppressive atmosphere since childhood.

And the suddenly arrived illegitimate child Huo Shu became his emotional punching bag.

Therefore, Huo Ye’s fate was extremely miserable. Huo Shu didn’t take his life but threw him into a mining prison where he had to mine and move bricks every day while enduring torment from fellow inmates.

For a heaven’s favored son like Huo Ye, this was undoubtedly a fatal punishment.

Back to the present.

Huo Ye’s lackeys pressed Huo Shu firmly into the flowerbed soil, the mud staining his neatly pressed suit and pulling out wrinkles. In the dim light, the young man’s face was barely visible.

“What kind of thing are you? How dare you compete with me for allocation?” Huo Ye raised his foot, his expensive leather shoe kicking hard against Huo Shu’s body.

The hard heel brought dull pain throughout his body, yet Huo Shu stubbornly remained silent.

Jiang You saw this scene but didn’t move.

The Butler Handbook explicitly commanded that one must never get involved in the conflicts between heirs.

Even if one’s own heir was injured.

If she intervened, it would count as breaking character.

This was her first world – if she failed due to breaking character, it would only mean gaining little while losing much.

Huo Ye, aware of the butler regulations, glanced sideways at the female butler standing not far away, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his lips.

Even if she helped, Huo Shu wouldn’t escape today.

“You used this face to seduce that bitch from the Chu family, didn’t you?” Huo Ye shifted his shoe to step on Huo Shu’s face, taking the small knife handed by a lackey. The sharp blade reflected a cold, metallic gleam under the moonlight.

His expression remained mostly blank. “Guess, if you lost this face, would that bitch from the Chu family still like you?”

The lackeys exchanged glances upon hearing this, soon revealing identical vicious smiles.

Huo Shu finally opened his eyes, his dark pupils showing none of the fear and panic they expected calm like a stagnant pond.

He looked at them as if watching clowns, his gaze finally settling on Huo Ye, reflecting a faint emotion as if seeing through the sinister, disgraceful maggots hidden beneath Huo Ye’s glamorous, elegant exterior.

“What kind of look is that?” Enraged by the gaze, Huo Ye increased the pressure of his shoe, pressing the person beneath him deeper into the flowerbed until soil covered his eyes and nostrils.

At that moment.

Someone suddenly appeared, forcefully pulling Huo Ye away from the young man, then immediately hauling Huo Shu up from the ground.

The injured youth gasped violently as soon as he stood up. The oxygen flooding his lungs was like sweet dew falling on barren wasteland, lending a faint flush to his nearly bloodless cheeks.

Regaining some awareness, he turned his head and saw an utterly ordinary profile. The phoenix eyes set in that face held a light hue, shimmering with resolute yet gentle light.

Jiang You’s expression remained calm as ever, but inwardly she was panicking like a frantic dog.

Hey, hey, hey! Why did she rush over like that!?

It’s over, it’s over. She’s going to be punished when she gets back.

Sure enough.

Huo Ye, whom she had shoved aside, fell to the ground. When he looked up and recognized who it was, his eyes instantly darkened. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a stern, authoritative voice rang out from behind him.

“Huo Ye!”

Huo Ye’s body trembled involuntarily. He turned his head in a daze and saw a dense crowd of people.

Among them, the one who had called his name was none other than his father, Huo Yuan.

They had been standing there for who knows how long, whispering among themselves and staring at him with peculiar gazes.

Everything that had just happened had been witnessed by them.

They saw the usually arrogant and proud second young master of the Huo family kicking and beating his own brother like a common street thug.

The birthday banquet ended early because of the Huo family’s second young master’s incident.

Back at the Huo Family Old Mansion.

Jiang You’s punishment was to kneel on an iron plate covered with thorns. She had to kneel for a full ten hours before she could leave.

This path was frequently used by the stewards coming and going. The looks they cast for her were a mix of schadenfreude, mockery, and indifference.

The sharp iron wires had already pierced deep into her flesh. The thorns were coated with a hemostatic agent, so no matter how long she knelt, she wouldn’t pass out from blood loss.

But with even the slightest movement, the thorns would dig deeper, intensifying the pain.

“Sigh.”

Jiang You’s forehead was beaded with cold sweat from the pain. Her vision blurred, and shifting shades of red swam before her eyes, yet not a single frown touched her brows.

Why had she rushed over like that?

That resting spot hadn’t been chosen at random. She had known all along that Huo Yuan and other high-ranking members of various families would be there having tea, which was why she had rested there.

She had also deliberately lured Chu Muci to that location.

If Huo Shu appeared at this birthday banquet, he would be stepping on Huo Ye’s sore spot.

Huo Ye would never allow a bastard like him to stand on equal footing, nor would he permit Huo Shu to lay a finger on anything that belonged to him, even if Chu Muci was merely one of the candidates on Huo Ye’s marriage alliance list.

So, upon learning that Chu Muci had met Huo Shu alone, Huo Ye had immediately sought him out.

He had thought it was a secluded spot, but it turned out to be in full public view.

Huo Ye wasn’t faring well either. Having humiliated Huo Yuan so severely in front of all the major families, his punishment was likely to be even harsher than hers.

Huo Shu’s move had been crude and not particularly clever, yet remarkably effective.

If only Huo Ye had used his brain and refrained from provoking him at that moment, he wouldn’t have fallen into the trap.

If Jiang You had just endured for one second back, then, she wouldn’t be kneeling here now.

She wasn’t afraid of pain; she had long grown accustomed to it.

The reason she sighed was because she had broken character.

The System’s punishment wasn’t severe, but for a miser like Jiang You, it was still a heavy blow.

10 points deducted.

Points were useless in this World, but in the retirement world, they were equivalent to money.

System 2933 had told her that once she completed all her tasks, she could retire in her original body. The assets she would have upon retirement all came from the points earned through ratings in each world.

One point could be exchanged for one hundred yuan, and ten points would be one thousand yuan.

“2933, can’t you make it less?” She didn’t feel any pain from kneeling here, but the System’s deduction of money made her heart ache so much she could barely breathe.

[Beep, currently queuing, you are in 19th place]

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