Chapter 151: Miss Bai Helps Me to the Outhouse

Bai Xiaoyan walked step by step toward Su Yang. As she passed by him, she couldn't help glancing at him, stumbled, and fell to the ground.

"Ouch...!"

By sheer coincidence, she fell right beside Su Yang, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes, wearing a pitiful expression as she waited for the man to help her up.

Su Yang remained seated in his chair, not moving an inch.

"Ouch...!"

Seeing that Su Yang was entirely unresponsive, Bai Xiaoyan let out another miserable cry. The man in the chair looked around, still as a statue.

"Hey, hey, hey! Are you blind? Such an innocent young lady has fallen right in front of you, and you don't even know enough to help her up?" Bai Xiaoyan pouted and said.

"Young lady, are you talking to me?"

Su Yang asked, his eyes hollow and dazed as he looked down at the fallen Bai Xiaoyan.

"Is there anyone else here besides the two of us?"

"I am truly sorry, miss. I have been blind since childhood, so I honestly didn't realize you had fallen...!"

"Where are you, miss? I'll help you up right now...!"

As he spoke, Su Yang stood up from the chair with vacant, empty eyes and began feeling his way forward. With a stumble of his own, he tripped and fell to the ground, his body landing squarely on top of Bai Xiaoyan. Her form felt soft, and a wave of a young maiden's fragrance immediately washed over him.

One of his hands, by pure coincidence, landed right on Bai Xiaoyan's bosom.

"Ah...!"

Feeling the scorching-hot palm, Bai Xiaoyan was filled with burning rage and instinctively swung her hand to slap Su Yang across the face.

However, when she caught sight of the man's hollow, vacant eyes just inches away from her own, her hand froze mid-air, coming to an abrupt halt.

She suddenly remembered that she had just been cursing at him, calling him blind!

A wave of intense self-reproach washed over Bai Xiaoyan!

How utterly despicable she was! The man was merely a pitiful blind person, yet she had plotted to tease him and even cursed him as a damned blind man... !

A profound sense of guilt welled up inside her, one that she felt might take a lifetime to heal... !

"Oh, miss, I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to do it."

Taking advantage of the situation while it was good, Su Yang quickly scrambled off Bai Xiaoyan and reached out to pull her up, his hands continually fumbling over her as he asked, "Miss, where is your hand?"

After helping Bai Xiaoyan to her feet, Su Yang sat back down in his chair, staring blankly ahead with empty eyes, while Bai Xiaoyan looked at him with a gaze full of remorse.

"Um... miss, could I ask you for a favor?" Su Yang asked from his seat.

"What favor? Go ahead."

Filled with guilt and eager to make amends, Bai Xiaoyan immediately perked up when she heard Su Yang asking for help, and hastily replied.

"I have a rather urgent need to relieve myself, but being a newcomer to the prefect's residence, I have no servant to look after me. I have no idea where the latrine is, and I really can't hold it in any longer. Could you...?"

A trace of embarrassment appeared on Su Yang's face.

"Ah...!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Bai Xiaoyan—being an unmarried maiden and a noble young lady of high standing—had never assisted a man to a latrine before. Her face instantly flushed red as she stammered, "How about... I go find a servant to take you?"

"No, no, I really can't hold it. Miss, you just need to guide me to the entrance of the latrine."

"Miss, don't worry, I'm just a blind man. I won't tell anyone."

When those vacant eyes looked at her pleadingly, Bai Xiaoyan's heart instantly softened. Her lingering guilt resurfaced: she had just berated a blind man and even thought of playing a prank on him, and now he was merely asking her to guide him for a trivial matter—how could she refuse?

Besides, he didn't recognize her, nor did he know her name, and they would surely never cross paths again in the future... !

Bai Xiaoyan helped Su Yang to his feet and guided him toward a latrine located in the back garden.

The prefect's residence was governed by strict rules.

There were designated latrines for the servants, which they were strictly required to use, while the masters had their own private facilities.

Naturally, Bai Xiaoyan led Su Yang toward the masters' latrine. True to the prefect's estate, even the latrine was permeated with the faint scent of burning incense, and the waste was cleared away every two hours by servants specially assigned to the task.

"Well, we've arrived. You can go in now...!" Bai Xiaoyan said.

Su Yang reached out, feeling his way forward, and took a few tentative steps ahead. Standing behind him, Bai Xiaoyan felt anxious. Glancing left and right to confirm no one else was around, she gritted her teeth and said, "Come on, I'll help you inside."

With that, she supported him all the way in.

Furthermore, she personally found a stall for Su Yang within the latrine and instructed, "Right here. Don't wander around. Just call out for me when you're done, and I'll wait outside...!"

"Thank you so much, miss."

"You truly are a living bodhisattva."

Su Yang quickly expressed his gratitude.

A living bodhisattva?

Hearing Su Yang's words of thanks, Bai Xiaoyan felt the weight of her guilt lift slightly, and her spirits brightened considerably. She took dainty, hurried steps out of the latrine, while secretly wondering to herself, "How is it that men actually...?"

Having been the pampered young daughter of the prefect since childhood, she was shielded by strict propriety and knew absolutely nothing of such matters. As she grew older, her curiosity regarding these things had only deepened.

After stepping out of the latrine, Bai Xiaoyan tiptoed back in with light, soundless steps, moving as cautiously as a thief.

...

"As expected of the prefect's garden, it actually harbors such rare treasures." A young man holding a folding fan scanned his surroundings with an expression of utter amazement, speaking to his companion behind him.

"Young Master Yuan, this backyard garden was built only after my adoptive father put in a tremendous amount of effort. We've barely seen even half of it yet."

Said Bai Jiaxuan, who was trailing closely behind Young Master Yuan.

"Brother Bai, do you think Xiaoyan will ever accept me?" Yuan Hu asked, a trace of worry flickering across his face.

"Rest assured, Brother Yuan. You have already reached the Fourth-Grade martial artist realm at just over twenty years of age, and your future in martial arts is boundless. Combined with your dashing and romantic appearance, how could Xiaoyan possibly dislike you?"

"If Xiaoyan learns that you asked my adoptive father for her hand in marriage, she will undoubtedly be overjoyed."

Bai Jiaxuan replied.

"That's good, that's good."

Yuan Hu let out a long breath of relief and said, "In a few days, I'll have my father send a matchmaker to formally propose. By then, I'll count on Brother Bai to put in a few good words for me!"

"Naturally."

"By the way, is there a latrine nearby?"

"Of course there is. I'll take you...!"

...

"Brother Yuan, this is the place." Bai Jiaxuan said, pointing toward the latrine ahead.

"Come on, slower, slower...!"

Just as Yuan Hu was about to step into the latrine to relieve himself, a woman's voice suddenly drifted out from within.

Immediately afterward, a woman dressed in a long emerald-green dress emerged from the latrine, supporting a man.

The woman had slipped away from her attending servants to wander the garden; she possessed a slender, graceful figure and a pair of eyes brimming with spirit.

No one else than Bai Xiaoyan!

As for the other man...

Damn it.

Yuan Hu fancied himself far more handsome than this fellow, possessing a refined, scholarly demeanor.

A hypocrite?