It wouldn’t look good to be gone from the banquet for too long, so Lu Yunze lingered by the flowerbeds for a while before returning to the dining hall.
As soon as he stepped inside, he was greeted by a wave of enthusiastic cheers and the strong scent of alcohol.
It seemed that after Lu Yunze left, they had drunk quite a bit more. Now, many people’s faces were tinged with the flush of intoxication, and some had even started talking nonsense.
Lu Yunze walked past them and returned to his seat, pretending he had been there the whole time.
When he picked up his glass, he realized it was somehow full again. He clearly remembered finishing it before leaving, yet someone had refilled it.
“Lu-gege, where did you just go? You said you were going to the restroom, but you were gone for so long.” Luo Yao spoke up, her voice so soft it was almost drowned out by the revelry, yet it still reached Lu Yunze’s ears clearly.
“Uh… I just needed the restroom for a bit.”
“Really?”
Luo Yao’s cheeks were flushed from drinking, her eyes half-closed, a look of deep suspicion on her face.
“Really.”
If she found out he’d snuck off during the banquet to discuss buying a midnight snack with a maid, she’d definitely lose her temper.
“Lu-gege, you’re lying~” Luo Yao pointed at his nose, her tone soft and gentle, trying to sound fierce but failing, “Someone just reported to me that you went outside into the courtyard.”
Damn, even that got reported?!
For some reason, a scary thought popped into Lu Yunze’s mind—could it be that Luo Yao had people secretly keeping an eye on him all along?
Probably not, right? Although she sometimes threw tantrums, she was famous for her good upbringing. She… shouldn’t do something that weird.
“Puhahaha, just kidding, how could I do that to you?”
Seemingly oblivious to his guilty expression, Luo Yao giggled and then started talking to herself.
“You must’ve gone outside for some air, right?”
“Ah, yes, yes, I just needed some fresh air.” Lu Yunze breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that Luo Yao wasn’t thinking straight at the moment.
“I know Lu-gege is different from the others, you don’t like this kind of atmosphere. You must’ve felt it was too stuffy in here, that’s why you did it, right? Even I feel the same way. But this is a necessary social occasion—anyone can be absent but I can’t.”
Luo Yao really seemed drunk, and not just a little—she was completely immersed in her own world.
All the things she usually kept bottled up came spilling out at once:
“Always keeping up appearances in front of outsiders is so exhausting.”
“Those people who look down on Lu-gege are just blind fools.”
“I keep feeling like Lu-gege’s been distancing himself from me lately. I even wondered if you had a woman outside. If that’s really the case, I’ll have to assign someone to keep an eye on you.”
Lu Yunze swallowed hard and kept saying reassuring things to put her mind at ease.
“To be honest, you really scared me. I thought Lu-gege had run off outside in the middle of the night. Good thing you were just in the courtyard.”
“Mm, what’s wrong with outside?”
“Lu-gege, are you drunk?” Luo Yao snickered, “Did you forget about that big missing person case lately?”
“Oh, right, that explains why I haven’t seen any servants out at night recently. Because it’s… dangerous.”
As he said the word “dangerous,” the image of someone in a Maid Uniform flashed through Lu Yunze’s mind, and his voice grew softer.
Speaking of which, will Jiang Sui be alright on her own?
If something like the Lan City Missing Person Case happened to her, that would be way too unlucky. Her family’s already broken, she’s drowning in debt—if someone’s targeting her, what could they possibly want?
Thinking back to what happened yesterday afternoon, Lu Yunze immediately had his answer. He had to admit, among their peers, Jiang Sui’s looks and figure were top-tier, not at all inferior to Luo Yao.
It was just that, as a Maid, she couldn’t dress as she pleased, which kept her beauty somewhat hidden.
No one stays unlucky forever, especially not someone as clever as Jiang Sui.
Lu Yunze believed that with her sharp mind, she’d definitely make it back safely.
Thinking this, Young Master Lu speared a big piece of meat from his plate and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing away all his unease.
Hearing Luo Yao still talking about the missing person case, he chuckled, “It’s fine, the Luo Family is powerful—no one would dare mess with us.”
“That’s not necessarily true.” Luo Yao’s worry was obvious. “Didn’t we just lose a Maid recently? She still hasn’t been found, and no one knows what’s happened to her.”
“Huh?”
Lu Yunze’s fork slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.
If even a Maid from the Luo Family had gone missing, then the culprit behind the Lan City Missing Person Case wasn’t afraid of the Luo Family at all.
That meant Jiang Sui’s risk of getting caught up in something terrible just shot up!
His mind, which had just settled, was thrown into turmoil again. He couldn’t even focus on sitting here anymore.
And yet, he’d let her go outside alone.
Cursing himself for being an idiot, Lu Yunze forced himself to calm down and started thinking about what to do if something really happened to Jiang Sui.
Should he tell Luo Yao now and have her stop the banquet to lead a search party for Jiang Sui? No, that’s not realistic.
Go by himself? But he didn’t even know where she was.
He was stuck—he couldn’t move forward or back—his mind a chaotic mess.
At that moment, the phone in Lu Yunze’s pocket suddenly started vibrating. He pulled it out, unlocked the screen, and saw a message.
The contact name he’d saved was: Jiang Sui!
That’s right, because of the milk tea incident yesterday, Lu Yunze had felt guilty and repaid her. Jiang Sui had taken the opportunity to exchange contact info with him—this was their first time messaging.
It was a location pin, along with a voice message.
He tapped on the voice message and held the phone to his ear, hearing the little Maid’s hoarse voice:
“Young Master, save me.”
Shit, something really happened!
Lu Yunze shot to his feet, nearly knocking over the chair behind him. Not only Luo Yao, but everyone nearby turned to look at him.
“Lu-gege?”
“My stomach suddenly hurts, I need to use the restroom.”
“Again?”
“This time it’s serious. Don’t worry, I won’t wander off.”
After all, as long as he was still within Lan City, it didn’t count as “wandering.”
Anyone could see how urgent he was—he didn’t even finish his sentence before running out, leaving Miss Luo behind with a puzzled expression.
Luo Yao picked up Lu Yunze’s plate and sniffed it, muttering, “It’s not spoiled… Maybe Lu-gege’s stomach is just sensitive?”
Before she could think any further, her friends called her to drink again, and she was soon swept back into the joyful atmosphere of the banquet.
Lu Yunze dashed out of the house and skidded to a halt at the door, suddenly remembering his cool motorcycle.
Back in high school, Lu Yunze had been briefly obsessed with motorcycles, dreaming of racing like those riders online. After the college entrance exams, he’d spent his allowance on this street bike—which, as expected, had mostly sat in the garage gathering dust.
Who would’ve thought it would see the light of day again?
With a crisp “whoosh,” Lu Yunze yanked off the dusty cover, revealing a red-and-black street bike that looked like a slumbering beast, fully exposed in all its glory.
Its body was sleek and streamlined, the red paint flickering like flames. The surface was spotless, without a single scratch or mark—hardly any sign of use.
Seeing his old buddy again after so long, Lu Yunze couldn’t help but feel his heart race at its imposing look.
He remembered clearly how he’d gotten fined for running a red light once, and his family had laughed at him for days.
Lu Yunze swung his leg over, put on his helmet, and started the engine.
After twisting the throttle a couple of times to make sure everything was working, Lu Yunze immediately sped up, shooting down the street like a red meteor toward the city center.
He barely wasted a second on the way and soon arrived at the location Jiang Sui had sent.
It was actually in a small alley.
Lu Yunze parked the bike by the curb, grabbed his helmet, and ran inside.
Splash!
He didn’t even bother to look at the puddle he came across—just took a big stride over it. It didn’t matter if his shoes and pant cuffs got soaked.
The deeper he went into the alley, the more the city’s bustle seemed to fade away. It was as if he wasn’t entering an alley, but a tunnel deep in the mountains.
It didn’t take long for Lu Yunze to find the person he’d been looking for.
Jiang Sui was curled up in the shadows of a corner, her whole body crumpled by fear, clutching her left arm.
The moment she saw Lu Yunze, she slowly stood up with her back against the wall, a tired but relieved and pale smile on her face:
“Young Master, you really kept your promise.”
Without a word, Lu Yunze rushed over and was immediately hit by the smell of blood.
Her once-pristine Maid Uniform was now in tatters, especially around her left arm, where the fabric was ripped and soaked with dark red blood.
“You made it just in time—look, here’s your midnight snack.”
The girl’s eyelids drooped, her smile no longer as bright and lively as before, now pale as paper.
Lu Yunze’s heart clenched tight. “Who did this?”
“I… remember, I think…”
“Don’t talk now. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
Lu Yunze grabbed her arm and shielded her as they walked out.
“Midnight snack…”
“Still thinking about food? Your safety is what matters most right now!”
Lu Yunze’s face was terrifying, as if he could eat someone alive. He tossed the troublesome midnight snack straight into the trash can.
If only I’d come a little earlier, would things be different?
If I hadn’t wanted a midnight snack, would Jiang Sui have avoided this danger?
These tangled questions whirled in Lu Yunze’s mind, making him zone out even after getting on the motorcycle.
It wasn’t until a soft, warm body leaned against his back that Lu Yunze snapped back to his senses, finally calming down.
The little Maid sitting behind him gently pressed her cheek against his back, the corners of her lips slowly curving upward.
Such blazing, such intense emotions—just knowing they were because of her made her heart surge and her cheeks flush with heat.
Tsk, tsk, “I won’t fall” but you’re basically in heat already, genderbend protagonists are all the same, tsundere by default.