DLMSWSHH Chapter 4

TL: Hua

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Chapter 4: Fall

There were faint sounds in his ears.

It sounded like someone was calling his name, but the voice was extremely low and distant, as if heard through a layer of water.

He struggled to hear clearly, and the voice grew louder—

“Zhong Ming!”

He snapped his eyes open. The first thing he saw was Matthew’s face. His gaze shifted, and the young man’s green eyes, like a still lake, stared at him.

Zhong Ming felt a wave of dizziness and realized he was lying on his back on the cold floor, with his legs still resting on the stone steps. Why was he lying here?

Confused, Zhong Ming reached out to prop himself up, but his palm suddenly touched something wet and cold. He lifted his hand, and a piercing red color struck his eyes.

The floor was covered in blood.

“!” Zhong Ming’s eyes widened, his breathing hitched, and his legs went weak, nearly sending him falling back down. Fortunately, Matthew caught him in time, grabbing his arm and pulling him up to a standing position.

Zhong Ming’s legs were like jelly. He leaned half his weight on Matthew, staring at the blood on the floor. Fragments of memory flashed through his mind: he had tumbled down the stairs last night, and the back of his head had struck the hard floor with a heavy thud. The intense pain had knocked him out instantly.

Am I not dead? Zhong Ming wondered, his expression dazed.

“Don’t panic,” Matthew’s deep voice sounded. He pressed one hand on Zhong Ming’s shoulder and took his right wrist, guiding his hand to the back of his head. “Feel it. Is there a wound?”

His fingers brushed against his hair, but he indeed felt no wound. Zhong Ming calmed down slightly, though he was bewildered. “…How am I not hurt?”

To roll down from such high steps and not have a single wound?

Matthew released his wrist, though his right hand remained on Zhong Ming’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. The look in his eyes was somewhat meaningful. “…I really didn’t expect…”

“What?” Zhong Ming’s mind was still foggy, and he didn’t catch what was said. Matthew didn’t elaborate, merely shaking his head.

“Who’s there?”

Just then, a sharp, cold female voice rang out. Zhong Ming looked over to see a figure in a black robe emerging from the corridor. It was the housekeeper, Mary. Her pale, withered face appeared from the shadows. Looking at them, her gaze swept over the pool of blood on the floor, and she narrowed her eyes.

“What happened?”

Zhong Ming didn’t even know what had happened himself. Facing Madam Mary’s cold, grey eyes, he couldn’t find an answer.

Matthew spoke up first to answer for him: “He encountered the mistress and tumbled down the stairs.”

The mistress? Zhong Ming froze. Just as doubt arose, his recovering brain immediately retrieved an image.

It was a giant spider crawling slowly down from the top of the stairs. Its body was entirely black, encircled by rings of glowing fluorescent pink light. Its long, bent legs were draped over the steps like a massive net. Its eight eyes were each looking in different directions.

Zhong Ming’s eyes widened. He finally remembered: he had been frightened by that spider, slipped, fell down the stairs, and blacked out.

Madam Mary seemingly hadn’t expected this reason. She frowned and turned her gaze back to Zhong Ming. “Why were you still out in the middle of the night?”

Zhong Ming lowered his eyes, stared at his toes, and whispered, “I… I was scrubbing the steps.”

Madam Mary’s frown deepened. Her thin lips moved, and while her voice wasn’t loud, her presence was overbearing. “A task that was assigned yesterday morning, and you didn’t finish it in an entire day?”

Hearing this, Zhong Ming appeared frightened by her severity. He buried his head even lower, his lips trembling as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words instead.

Matthew explained, “It seems someone was giving him trouble.”

Madam Mary clearly wasn’t buying it, but just as she opened her mouth, Matthew added, “Madam, look at this.”

He reached out and pulled back Zhong Ming’s suit jacket. The trousers underneath had several holes torn from the impact on the steps, yet the skin beneath was fair and smooth, without a single scratch.

Madam Mary’s expression changed instantly. Her eyebrow twitched as she looked at the blood on the floor again. Her countenance shifted several times before her gaze returned to Zhong Ming, her eyes like knives sliding across every inch of his face.

“I truly didn’t expect it to be you…” she muttered. Her lips twisted as she mumbled something; the latter half of the sentence was too low to hear. She looked up at Matthew and turned away. “Take him with you.”

“Yes,” Matthew replied, gesturing for Zhong Ming to follow.

Zhong Ming glanced at the bloodstains on the floor and whispered, “Should I clean up the blood?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Matthew’s words were concise, so Zhong Ming had no choice but to follow. In the blink of an eye, Madam Mary had rounded the corridor and vanished. Zhong Ming followed behind Matthew, looking at his tall back. Questions were popping up one after another in his mind, but despite his swirling thoughts, not a single one escaped his lips. He had already learned his lesson about speaking too quickly yesterday.

They passed through a complex, winding corridor that led to a certain room. Matthew stopped in front of the door. Zhong Ming paused behind him and watched as the young man turned his head, his emerald eyes flickering slightly.

“Do you have nothing you want to ask?”

Zhong Ming lifted his eyelids and stole a careful glance at him. “…No.”

At that, Matthew’s eyes crinkled, and a nearly imperceptible smile touched the corners of his lips. “So obedient?”

Zhong Ming kept his head down and didn’t speak. He felt his head being gently patted twice. Matthew turned and pushed the door open.

Creak—

A bright light hit Zhong Ming’s eyelashes, and he looked up. Behind the door was a spacious, well-lit room. A fire crackled in the fireplace, dispelling the morning chill. Sunlight streamed in through the stained-glass windows, scattering across the thick carpet.

In the center of the room stood a long dining table. On it sat a basket of bread, a large platter of smoked meats, and a glass pitcher filled to the brim with fresh milk.

The air was filled with the sweet aroma of food, a world away from the cramped, cold, and moldy basement.

Even with Zhong Ming’s self-control, after being starved for a day, the scent of food almost made him salivate.

“Sit.”

Madam Mary sat at the head of the table, a monocle perched on the bridge of her nose and a newspaper spread across her lap. She spoke without looking up.

Matthew nodded and sat at the table; Zhong Ming followed suit, sitting beside him. He looked up and immediately locked eyes with a pair of elegant eyes opposite him.

Aside from Zhong Ming, there were five people at the table: Madam Mary, Matthew, a plump and kind-looking middle-aged woman, a tall and refined man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and finally, a young lady sitting directly across from Zhong Ming.

The reason he thought of her as a “lady” was that she was exceptionally young, with smooth blonde hair draped over her shoulders and sapphire-blue eyes. She wore a royal blue velvet dress, buttoned to the top like Madam Mary’s. She carried an air of solemnity and pride.

Zhong Ming looked at her and thought: This must be the kind of woman the Christian Madam Mary admires most.

These were the “upper-level” servants.

The group was clearly curious about Zhong Ming’s sudden appearance at the table. Their gazes swept over the Asian youth repeatedly, waiting for Madam Mary’s explanation.

But she said nothing. With a crisp snap, she folded her newspaper, stood up, and picked up a bell from the table.

With a ting-ling, the people at the table simultaneously lowered their heads and clasped their hands.

Zhong Ming was taken aback, then realized that this was a Christian pre-meal prayer. What was even stranger was that when he heard the crisp sound, his body had spontaneously assumed the same posture.

Why? Zhong Ming closed his eyes, his mind full of doubt, yet his hands were already clasped in front of him in prayer. The sound of morning birds filtered in from outside as he joined the other servants in a chorus:

“Amen.”

With a sense of bewilderment, Zhong Ming slowly opened his eyes to find Madam Mary’s gaze on him. The tight lines around her mouth had softened significantly.

“It seems you also believe in God?”

She spoke, her tone uncharacteristically gentle.

Zhong Ming was stunned. He couldn’t remember if he had any religious beliefs in his past life, so he cautiously remained silent.

Seeing his dazed look, Mary’s expression turned cold again, and her lips moved as she muttered a few words.

She could see clearly that this youth, with his enchanting features, had the most standard prayer posture of everyone present. It was a pity he was dull like a block of wood, quite unlikable.

“Eat,” she said briefly.

Zhong Ming waited for two seconds until someone else at the table picked up their cutlery. Then, he reached out, took a piece of bread from the basket, and took a bite. A sweet flavor spread through his mouth. It was a completely different world from the rye bread downstairs that was hard enough to smash a window.

A full man cannot understand the hunger of a starving one. Zhong Ming finished his bread with great appreciation, ate a piece of sizzling sausage, and drank a full glass of sweet milk. He finally felt as though he had come back to life.

Sated, he set down his knife and fork, which made a crisp clinking sound against the plate. Matthew turned his head, his mouth still stuffed with half a piece of bread. He raised his eyebrows in surprise: “You’re done already?”

Zhong Ming nodded. “I’m full.”

Matthew made an exaggerated expression, his youthful spirit showing through as he teased, “No wonder you’re as thin as a rabbit.”

After that, he went back to devouring his food. Matthew had long limbs; before he even finished what was on his plate, he was reaching for more. Madam Mary frowned at his behavior and let out a light huff.

“No table manners at all.”

Matthew shot her a glance and gave a reckless grin, continuing to eat in large bites.

Zhong Ming secretly observed and found that the atmosphere among the upper-level servants was quite harmonious, closer to a normal colleague relationship, and completely different from the tense atmosphere among the lower-level servants, which was like that of wild beasts in the jungle.

At least, it seemed the servants up here were human; the ones below felt more like—

A memory of Jack’s eyes flashing with a predatory, violent light flickered through Zhong Ming’s mind, and a fitting term surfaced: outlaw.

A short while later, everyone put down their knives and forks. Matthew wiped his mouth, slapped his dirty napkin onto the table, and let out a loud burp. Madam Mary cast him another look of disgust before putting down her newspaper, straightening up, and walking toward the door.

At that moment, the refined young man sitting at the end of the table suddenly looked up. “Madam, who is he?”

He was, of course, referring to Zhong Ming. Madam Mary paused her stride and tossed a sentence over her shoulder: “The new manservant.”

With that, she vanished through the doorway. However, because of those words, the looks the others gave Zhong Ming became even stranger.

“…We’ve never had anyone ‘new’ here.”

After a long silence, the manservant with glasses squeezed out the words stiffly. Zhong Ming looked up, and the man reached out to adjust his frames somewhat unnaturally, averting his gaze.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Matthew said casually.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he spoke, the man flared up, snapping to his feet. He had a thin face and a high, hooked nose, giving him a somewhat sinister appearance. His eyes glared at Matthew from behind his lenses as he hissed, “Matthew, how much longer do you think you can stay so arrogant? Just wait until Feng Tang gets back—”

“Tao.” Matthew looked up, his face expressionless. “This has nothing to do with Feng Tang.”

The man called “Tao” clearly didn’t agree. He looked at Matthew, his narrow eyes squinting slightly as his gaze flickered back and forth between Matthew and Zhong Ming, his lips curling into a mocking sneer.

Zhong Ming felt like the man was looking at him the way a villain in a TV drama looks at a victim. He lowered his head, avoiding the man’s eyes.

However, this gesture seemed to prove something to Tao. The mockery on his face became even more pronounced; he let out a derisive snort through his nose, turned, and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

The bang was thunderous. Zhong Ming flinched and stole a glance at Matthew’s expression. He saw the line of the man’s jaw tighten; his lips moved as he muttered a low curse.

Opposite them, the blonde lady glanced at Matthew, wiped the corners of her mouth with her handkerchief, and stood up to leave as well. Throughout the entire meal, she had shown no intention of communicating with Zhong Ming.

Through this single breakfast, Zhong Ming saw clearly that he was unwelcome among the upper-level servants. Perhaps it was the natural rejection of an outsider by a small clique, or perhaps it was for some other reason he didn’t yet know.

Leaving the dining room, Zhong Ming returned to the dark corridor and leaned his back against the wall.

Just then, Li Yizhi happened to walk out. He looked up, and seeing Zhong Ming leaning against the wall, he immediately broke into a delighted smile. “You’re back!”

He bounded up the steps in a few strides and sidled up to Zhong Ming with a grin. “Finished the stairs?” He leaned back against the wall. “I heard you were so scared by the Mistress that you rolled right down the steps?”

Zhong Ming looked up in surprise. Li Yizhi arched an eyebrow at him. “What? You think I’ve spent all these years here for nothing?”

He leaned down, whispering close to the youth’s fair ear, “I’m very well-informed.”

Zhong Ming glanced at him and shifted his body slightly to grab the young man’s right hand hanging at his side. Li Yizhi froze; his phoenix eyes began to curve as a teasing expression surfaced, but it was immediately cut short by the object pressed into his hand.

It was a fragrant, steaming hot piece of bread.

“Eat it quickly,” Zhong Ming whispered. “Don’t let them see.”

Li Yizhi looked at the bread in his hand, his expression shaken. His countenance shifted through several emotions that Zhong Ming couldn’t quite decipher before he knit his brows and blurted out, “You dared to steal their food? Are you crazy?!”

Li Yizhi’s expression was deadly serious, his brow deeply furrowed and the corners of his mouth tight. His usually smiling face now looked exceptionally stern.

Zhong Ming glanced at him and said softly, “It’s okay.”

For some reason, he had an inexplicable confidence in his petty thievery skills. No one at the table had seen him steal anything.

Seeing that Li Yizhi was still silent, Zhong Ming whispered, “Eat up. It’s not good if the others see.”

Li Yizhi stared at him fixedly for two seconds. Finally relenting, he lowered his head and stuffed the bread into his mouth in two bites. After a few chews, his expression froze. He said blankly, “…Now this is what bread is supposed to be.”

With that, he buried his head and ate ravenously. As Zhong Ming watched him, he silently pulled another napkin from his pocket, unfolding it to reveal two glistening, greasy sausages, which he held out to Li Yizhi.

Li Yizhi was so stunned by the aroma he couldn’t speak. He stuffed the sausages into his mouth, swallowed them in a few bites, and tilted his head back, letting out a long sigh of relief. His expression was dazed. “…My life is finally complete.”

Zhong Ming looked at him, a faint smile touching his lips. Li Yizhi turned to look at him and put on a cold face: “Still smiling! Do you have any idea how dangerous this was?”

Zhong Ming could tell he was just blustering and smiled without replying. Li Yizhi made a move as if to pinch his face, but just as the two were fooling around, footsteps echoed from the stairs.

A coarse face emerged from the darkness, eyes immediately locking onto Zhong Ming:

“Hey, newbie.”

Zhong Ming turned and ran straight into Jack’s hideous face. The Caucasian’s bear-like body loomed before him, casting a dark shadow down over him.

“You actually dared to hide from me?”

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You can purchase the translation of chapter 1-50 (epub format) HERE. The second half is coming soon ~~