Ch 36: How To Be A Good Lackey

Shao Ye made it sound easy, but now that he actually had to do it, he couldn’t help feeling a little nervous.

He rubbed his hands together, glanced down toward Pei Fangyan’s lap, and hesitated again. It wasn’t that he wanted to back out, he was just worried he might not do a good job.

“Seventh Uncle, wait a moment,” he said. “I’ll go wash my hands first.”

Pei Fangyan gave a quiet “mm,” and Shao Ye immediately ran into the bathroom. He pulled out his phone and quickly searched for simple techniques, but what showed up didn’t look much different from what he usually did himself.

He washed his hands thoroughly. The internet said it was best to use some lubricant. Since he couldn’t find any, he grabbed an unopened bottle of essential oil instead, rubbed it between his palms, and soon his hands felt slick. That should be close enough.

He didn’t keep Pei Fangyan waiting long. After finishing his preparations, he returned to the bedside, met his gaze, pressed his lips together, and said with a sense of ceremony, “Seventh Uncle, I’m starting now.”

Pei Fangyan only gave a slight nod.

Shao Ye looked down again and hesitated, unsure where to begin.

“Maybe forget it,” Pei Fangyan suddenly said. “It’s been fine like this all along.”

What? All along?!

No wonder he always kept a blanket over himself before. He absolutely couldn’t let this continue.

Shao Ye silently encouraged himself. Even if he wasn’t good at it, it had to be better than his uncle just enduring it.

He bent down and adjusted the clothing slightly. When he saw clearly, his mouth dropped open and he let out a soft, astonished “wow.”

Realizing that was inappropriate, he quickly shut his mouth. He had already suspected it would be… impressive—but this was more than expected.

Pei Fangyan watched him quietly.

Shao Ye licked his dry lips, then cautiously gathered his fingers.

He had no real technique at all. To be precise, he had zero technique, only sincerity. Translated on Hololo novels. All ten fingers carried a kind of raw, instinctive approach. While simplicity can sometimes be effective, too much simplicity could also be frustrating.

Shao Ye focused seriously on this new “task,” working diligently. With the oil, everything did feel smoother—and it even smelled nice.

He worked earnestly, not daring to slack off.

But…

A look of confusion gradually appeared on his face. He hadn’t been keeping track of time, but it had definitely been a while. Yet there was no progress at all. Was everything he was doing ineffective?

That didn’t seem right—he felt like he’d already burned quite a bit of energy.

“Seventh Uncle…” he called weakly.

Pei Fangyan raised his eyes, waiting.

Shao Ye pressed his lips together and lowered his voice. “There’s something I don’t know if I should say.”

Pei Fangyan, seeing his hesitant expression, had a feeling it wouldn’t be anything good. “Then don’t say it.”

“Oh.” Shao Ye lowered his head and kept going.

“Seventh Uncle…” After a while, he couldn’t hold it in. He looked up and finally said, “I heard that if this takes too long, it could be a problem. Maybe you should see a doctor sometime.”

Pei Fangyan: “……”

He knew it.

“Shao Ye,” he said, his tone carrying real exasperation this time.

Shao Ye slowed slightly and sincerely advised, “Seventh Uncle, don’t avoid medical treatment.”

He genuinely suspected that his uncle had suppressed things for too long and caused a problem.

Pei Fangyan almost wanted to drag him onto the bed and show him firsthand that there was no such issue. With skills this clumsy, he still had the nerve to blame others. No wonder he had been so helpless the other day.

But then again, what was the point of arguing with him? And his condition didn’t allow him to act on that thought anyway.

He swallowed his words and only said, “Forget it.”

“What do you mean, forget it?” Shao Ye asked, confused.

“You’ll understand later,” Pei Fangyan replied.

Shao Ye still didn’t get it.

In the end, Pei Fangyan couldn’t tolerate his slow, fumbling pace any longer. He reached out, took Shao Ye’s hand, and guided him.

Shao Ye looked down. Pei Fangyan’s fingers were pale and smooth like jade, a stark contrast to his own skin tone. The scene felt oddly familiar, as if he had seen it before. Lost in thought, his fingers accidentally blocked the motion.

Pei Fangyan glanced at him, not angry, not impatient—just faintly amused.

Shao Ye: “……”

He didn’t even know why he had done that. It just felt like someone had done it to him before, and without thinking, he had copied it.

“Seventh Uncle, I didn’t mean to,” he said miserably.

“I know,” Pei Fangyan replied with a faint smile.

Did he really know? The expression looked a little like he wanted to eat someone.

Under Pei Fangyan’s guidance, the whole thing was finally completed.

Shao Ye used a warm towel to clean up, completely forgetting the earlier awkwardness. Lifting his chin proudly, he asked, “Seventh Uncle, how was I?”

Pei Fangyan thought for a moment and said, “You have potential.”

What kind of evaluation was that? Good or bad?

“I’ll teach you something more useful later,” Pei Fangyan added.

Shao Ye showed an eagerness to learn in this area that was unlike his usual self. He said, “Why wait until later? Seventh Uncle, why not teach me today?”

“Not today,” Pei Fangyan replied. “It’s not time yet.”

Shao Ye still couldn’t quite understand what Pei Fangyan meant. Was it some kind of secret martial arts manual? Why make it sound so mysterious?

But since Pei Fangyan was unwilling, there was nothing he could do.

After accompanying Pei Fangyan for dinner, Shao Ye went out to walk his three little “underlings.” The evening breeze was slightly cool, rustling the leaves overhead along the way.

Ever since the car accident, most of Pei Fangyan’s daily work had been moved to the old residence. Only when something particularly troublesome came up would he go to the company headquarters in person.

When Shao Ye heard that Pei Fangyan was going to the company that day, he immediately ran over and asked to go along. Pei Fangyan nodded and let him get into the car with him.

Standing at the doorway, Steward Liu grumbled inwardly. Shao Ye, as a “steward,” sure meddled in a lot of things, now even following him to the company. Who knew which unlucky person would lose their job today?

The master was also quite strange, always unexpectedly indulgent toward this nephew.

The company headquarters was located in the bustling city center, quite a distance from the old residence. The drive alone took more than an hour.

After getting out of the car, Shao Ye pushed Pei Fangyan inside, with two secretaries following behind them.

The employees found it a bit odd. Why had the boss brought a bodyguard today? Could it be he was meeting some important figure?

Pei Fangyan indeed had a meeting with an important political figure and bringing Shao Ye along would be inconvenient, so he told him to go amuse himself outside for a while.

Shao Ye’s eyes lit up. “Seventh Uncle, can I go see what He Jiahuai and the others are doing right now?”

Hearing how Shao Ye addressed Pei Fangyan, one of the secretaries immediately understood. This must also be a junior from the boss’s family, though this one seemed particularly close to him.

Pei Fangyan directly instructed, “Take him over.”

“Yes, please follow me,” the secretary said respectfully.

Shao Ye followed the secretary to the third-floor office area and took a look around. Since Pei Fangyan had previously said to treat these members of the Pei family as ordinary employees, his cousins were all extremely busy, barely having time to stand still. There wasn’t much to see.

After thinking about it, Shao Ye ordered himself a milk tea and sat in the lounge area, watching with great interest for nearly an hour.

So this was what “other people’s children” were doing. He really should bring his own dad to see this someday, so he might scold him less in the future.

After finishing his milk tea, Shao Ye originally planned to just leave, but then he thought that since they were relatives who would see each other during holidays, he should show some concern. Pumping his fist, he cheered them on: “Everyone, keep up the good work! For the future of our Pei family, all this hardship is worth it. Let me know what you want for lunch, and I’ll go eat it on your behalf.”

Everyone: “……”

This guy is asking to be hit! They had noticed Shao Ye long ago, but they were too busy to pay him any attention. Besides, they considered themselves a level above him and didn’t want to lower themselves to talk to him.

Pei Fangyan’s words were indeed effective. These managers didn’t just treat them like ordinary employees, they practically worked them like beasts of burden. Each of them held back their frustration, thinking that when they eventually took control of the Pei family, they would make these people pay.

At first, seeing all their competitors at the same starting line, even the most outstanding He Jiahuai having to run errands, they had maintained a relatively healthy mindset despite the heavy workload. But now that Shao Ye had appeared, they were finally starting to crack.

Was being a steward really this carefree? If they had known, they would have chosen to be stewards too.

They worked from early morning to late night and only earned a 5,000 yuan monthly internship salary, not even enough for a single night out. Why did Shao Ye get to live so comfortably? Didn’t Seventh Uncle care?

When they inherited the Pei family in the future, the first thing they would do would be to cut off all financial support to Shao Ye’s branch of the family.

After visiting his brothers and sisters, Shao Ye was in a great mood and had a big appetite, eating three full bowls of rice at lunch. After eating and drinking his fill, he collapsed onto the sofa, yawning.

A secretary knocked and entered, seeing Shao Ye lying there without any restraint. Not only was the boss not angry, he even told the secretary to bring a blanket. It became clear that this young man held a very unusual place in the boss’s heart.

The company had run into a rather tricky problem this time. Pei Fangyan found it a waste of time to go back and forth, so he stayed at the company for the next few days, and Shao Ye stayed with him.

Shao Ye felt that he was already fully capable of taking over Steward Liu’s job and hoped the steward at the old residence would step down soon and make way for him.

During this time, Shao Ye was always by Pei Fangyan’s side. Sometimes he even got a seat in meetings. He couldn’t understand anything, but that didn’t stop him from observing Pei Fangyan’s expressions and acting accordingly. Even if his interpretations weren’t very accurate, they were still better than everyone else’s. Gradually, rumors began circulating in the company that Pei Fangyan had chosen Shao Ye as his successor.

However, anyone who knew even a little about the Pei family understood that this was impossible. Only outsiders who didn’t know the situation would take the rumors seriously, even starting to inquire about Shao Ye’s preferences and thinking of giving him gifts to build a connection.

How shallow. Putting everything else aside, just his surname alone made him unfit.

Even if He Jiahuai wanted to inherit the Pei family, he would first have to change his surname back.

Shao Ye didn’t understand much about all this. He only knew that the secretaries around his Seventh Uncle had been treating him better and better lately. Not bad, not bad. As expected of high-quality talent capable of working as his uncle’s secretaries, completely different from the fools in their Old Pei family.

…

Pei Fangyan went off to another meeting. A secretary said that this time the client was from overseas and rather difficult to deal with, so the meeting might last until evening.

Shao Ye waited outside the meeting room for a while. Bored out of his mind, he wandered off toward the office area on the third floor to find some entertainment. Speaking of which, this office space had been specially set aside for the young masters and ladies of the Pei family. The workstations were arranged in a very deliberate way, making it convenient for supervisors to keep watch. Anyone slacking off could be spotted at a glance and reported directly to Pei Fangyan.

Over the past couple of days, Shao Ye had even taken on a part-time role as a supervisor. Translated on Hololo novels. He felt that aside from the steward, he was actually quite suited for the job. He really enjoyed going to tattle to Seventh Uncle.

After getting out of the elevator, just as he was about to head toward the office at the end of the corridor, he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from the stairwell nearby. He immediately changed direction and, without hesitation, hid by the door to eavesdrop.

“Did you really get it?” a woman’s voice asked.

Su Yuexiang!

The moment Shao Ye heard the voice, he recognized who it was. But wasn’t she supposed to be in the old residence? When had she come out?

Standing by the door, he squinted one eye and tried to peek inside. He saw He Jiahuai handing a document to Su Yuexiang, reminding her, “Be careful. Don’t let anyone find out about this.”

What was that? Could it be company secrets?

Su Yuexiang took the document and immediately went downstairs to leave. Shao Ye turned around, took the elevator to the first floor as well, and when he saw her exit through the main entrance, he sent Pei Fangyan a message and called a taxi to secretly follow her.

What Shao Ye didn’t expect was that Su Yuexiang’s final destination was a desolate, run-down cemetery in the suburbs. Before she could even enter, four or five masked men rushed out from the nearby woods and dragged her into a van.

Just as Shao Ye was about to rush forward to save her, his head suddenly throbbed. Someone had struck him from behind.

He covered the back of his head and turned around, only to get hit again.

That was too much! How could someone just hit his head like that? What if it caused damage? Shao Ye grabbed the attacker’s wrist and threw him hard to the ground with a shoulder throw.

The next moment, the masked men who had kidnapped Su Yuexiang rushed toward him, surrounding him completely. Shao Ye rolled up his sleeves, ready for a big fight.

However, the other side had no sense of fair play. Seeing that they couldn’t beat Shao Ye in a straight fight, they all pulled out weapons.

Shao Ye had already been a bit dizzy from the two hits to the back of his head. After getting shocked with a stun baton, he finally lost consciousness completely and fainted.

The masked men hastily dragged him into the van, then drove off with both him and Su Yuexiang.

---

Author’s Note:

【Alright, you shippers don’t have to argue anymore. Now the female lead and No. 6 have both been kidnapped. It’s time to decide who Seventh Uncle truly loves】

: Definitely the female lead. You can tell from this kidnapping. Seventh Uncle has been setting No. 6 up all along. Otherwise how could he get kidnapped?

: He got kidnapped because he meddled too much, okay?

: By the way, what exactly did He Jiahuai give the female lead? Did he really steal company secrets?

: It’s a paternity test report. Actually, Su Yuexiang is the real eldest daughter of the Chu family. She and Chu Jiao were switched at birth.

: I remember Chu Jiao has an engagement with He Jiahuai, right?

: Seriously? So this is a swapped-at-birth heiress plot?

: How many melodramatic CEO novels has the official site been reading?

: What do you people in No. 6’s stream even watch all day? You don’t pay attention to the main plot at all.

: We watch koi. Big, thick koi. I’ve already watched for two and a half hours.

: Another one’s gone crazy. Take them away.

: Let’s seriously discuss who Seventh Uncle will save. The female lead fans and their shippers are already celebrating. Why are the uncle-nephew fans silent? Afraid No. 6 will be abandoned?

: Can’t he just save both?

: The kidnappers might have been sent by Chu Jiao for Su Yuexiang, or maybe they want ransom from He Jiahuai. But why kidnap No. 6 too? They could’ve just left him there, he didn’t even see their faces.

: Maybe they ship uncle-nephew too.

: …

: That actually makes sense.

: Our uncle-nephew CP really appeals to all ages 🐱👏

: I told you, Seventh Uncle is setting No. 6 up, that’s why he got kidnapped!!! This is all part of Seventh Uncle’s plan.

: Seventh Uncle’s true love has always been the female lead! No. 6 is just a lackey. Does he even understand what deep love or restraint is?

: I’ll admit he doesn’t understand restraint. But come to think of it, does Seventh Uncle even have that?

: His legs were crippled for the female lead! Can you at least respect what he sacrificed for her?!

: He’ll definitely choose the female lead without hesitation. Isn’t that obvious?

: You uncle-nephew fans don’t actually think your ship is real, do you? It’s just koi. You know how the official works, anything below the neck gets censored immediately.

: Yeah, He Jiahuai forced a kiss with the female lead for over ten minutes and I didn’t see a single koi. But the moment it’s No. 6, koi show up. What, is No. 6 some kind of inspiration king?

: Keep being stubborn. Several experts have already analyzed that No. 6 is just being set up as a target by Seventh Uncle.

: Oh? Experts have spoken? Then No. 6 is definitely safe this time.

: Alright, alright, I’m off to enjoy a new fanfic about Seventh Uncle going crazy and forcing love on No. 6. No time to argue with you.

: Wait, what? Seventh Uncle can’t even stand up, and he can still do “forced love”???

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