Chapter Fifteen.

Wei Yi is seated in the study room drafting letters. His attendant Dragon Guard is standing beside him holding a sheathed sword.

"My Lord, tomorrow is Lord Xu Kong's birthday. Will you attend?"Dragon Guard asks breaking the silence between them.

"Of course. That's a great opportunity to find out if he and that lackey Du Yuan are on good or bad terms,"Wei Yi speaks his soft gaze turning into a resentful glare.

"But only the invited will be allowed to attend."

"That's why we have to go as Ziran Sect master's buddies."

"I heard it will be held in the evening."

"It doesn't matter."

Since Xu Kong is more of a hermit,he doesn't invite many people to his birthday banquet. His fellow county officials and Xu Han's friends are the only ones who attend the banquet. Xu Kong always worries about Lord Du Yuan so as the others enjoy the banquet he takes Du Yuan to a more private place to talk and share their worries. Lord Xu Kong's wife Chu Piaoliang takes the girls outside of the hall. Duan Xinyue knows his way when it comes to women so he grabs Xu Han and takes him to join the girls. Xu Han finds it unethical to disturb the ladies but when Xinyue's amusing anecdotes capture the girls' attention he soon agrees inwardly with Duan Xinyue's great idea of joining the girls.

Xu Han's gaze is fixed on Du Bai Xin. He enjoys watching her make different expressions in reaction to Xinyue's stories. He wishes he was the one making her that happy. An approaching familiar figure calls Duan Xinyue out. Everyone looks in the direction of the owner of the voice. The County's Playboy Du Yichen approaches them with a flirty smile plastered on his face. He greets the ladies and invites Duan Xinyue to have a drink with him. The two head out to Du Yichen's carriage. They get in the carriage and head to Qingfeng Pavilion where they drink several pots of wine and finally black out. Meanwhile as Lei Qiang's carriage stops outside Ziran Sect,a whooshing sound of a moving arrow passes by his ear as he alights from the carriage. He looks around and sees a dark figure disappearing into the darkness. He wants to follow the dark figure but changes his mind and decides not because it seems like the attacker is luring him out.

The following day Duan Xinyue wakes up feeling something heavy on his chest. He opens his eyes and sees Du Yichen's head lying care freely on his chest. Du Yichen is sleeping peacefully. Duan Xinyue jumps in shock throwing Du Yichen away. Du Yichen groans in pain as he struggles to open his eyes. Duan Xinyue looks at his clothes and finds out they are still intact but Du Yichen is only wearing his inner robes with the rest of the clothes lying on the floor.

"Did something happen? You should be able to answer as you were sober than me last night."

Duan Xinyue tries to recall the events from the previous night but only the pictures of them blacking out from excessive drinking keep flashing in his mind. Du Yichen quickly gathers his clothes,dresses up and leaves in embarrassment without saying anything.

In the afternoon,Duan Xinyue visits Ziran Sect. Lei Qiang suspects him to be the attacker from last night.

"Last night I slept with Yichen,Master Lei I'm purely innocent,"Duan Xinyue defends himself without minding the choice of words leaving everyone in shock. Even though he's a well known prostitute,him sleeping with Du Yichen is a little too shocking to believe.

"You've misunderstood. We drank a lot so we ended up blacking out on the spot. We didn't engage in anything immoral,"Duan Xinyue explains hoping to clear out the misunderstanding.

There is a moment of silence for a while.

"Actually it's not a big deal for two men to sleep together. Master Lei if you want you can try it with me,"Duan Xinyue speaks in a lower register but everyone present in White Pavilion including the disciples are able to hear him.

The next time Duan Xinyue looks up the tip of Hong Yi's unsheathed sword is about to touch his neck.

"How dare you say such unethical words to my Lord!"Hong Yi roars.

Lei Qiang buries his face in his palms to hide the embarrassment. The disciples present especially Mu Zixin can't help but smile at his reaction. Lei Qiang finally looks up after a while and tells the disciples to leave and come back later. Mu Zixin is reluctant to leave as he wants to enjoy seeing his expressionless master cower away in embarrassment because of a fellow man but Chen Ruolan drags him away.

"Hong Yi," Lei Qiang calls out.

"Yes My Lord,"Hong Yi responds obediently.

"Please remind Young Master Duan about the rules of our sect. I don't want people to keep wondering if he's truly a Ziran Sect disciple because he doesn't know any rules."

Hong Yi withdraws his sword and sheathes it. He grabs a document and hands it over to Duan Xinyue.

"Master Lei your disciple is grateful for forgiving him,"Duan Xinyue bows giving out his sweet smile.