The Liu family’s First Madam seemed to have short-circuited. For a long while, she couldn’t form a complete sentence.
Shi Huai smiled. “Madam, do you know me?”
The Liu family’s First Madam shook her head, then nodded, then shook it again. In the end, she simply stopped speaking and stared at him blankly.
One of the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old young ladies suddenly let out a squeal, covered her face, and turned away. Her ears were so red they looked as though they might drip blood.
The young lady beside her poked her arm and whispered something.
The girl turned back, peeking at Shi Huai through the gaps between her fingers. Then she squealed again, covered her face, and ran off.
The scene made Shi Huai feel rather awkward, so he hurriedly found an excuse and slipped away.
Qinghe followed behind him, barely managing to catch up.
“Young Master, why are you running?” Qinghe asked, panting.
“Would you rather I stay there and let them stare me to death?” Shi Huai said without turning his head.
Qinghe thought back to what had just happened and couldn’t help laughing.
“Young Master, people stare at you wherever you go now. Do you really need to start wearing a veil whenever you leave the house?”
Shi Huai stopped and turned to look at Qinghe.
“And you still have the nerve to laugh? If you hadn’t taken the wrong path just now, I never would have run into them.”
Qinghe stuck out her tongue. “This servant was wrong. I’ll make sure to watch the road next time.”
Shi Huai shook his head and continued walking.
Shi Huai’s ninth birthday was celebrated at the Marquis’s residence.
Shi Yuanzhi had two tables of food set up in the main courtyard and invited several close relatives. It was meant to be a celebration for his youngest son’s birthday.
Madam Liu was naturally unwilling, but Shi Yuanzhi had made up his mind to hold a lavish celebration this time. She couldn’t stop him, so she could only sit at the table with a dark expression, barely touching her chopsticks.
Shi Huai wore a scarlet robe with a silver-gray belt around his waist. His jet-black hair was tied up with a white jade hairpin, revealing a smooth forehead and a pair of eyes brighter than the stars.
When he entered the main hall, everyone fell silent.
It was not the polite sort of silence. It was the stunned silence of people whose very souls had been struck by something, leaving them utterly shaken.
Among those seated at the banquet were the Liu family’s First Madam and her two daughters, relatives from various branches of the Marquis’s household, and several of Shi Yuanzhi’s colleagues.
Everyone’s gaze seemed to have been drawn to Shi Huai by a magnet, clinging to him and unable to move away.
The Liu family’s First Madam held her wine cup suspended in midair. Wine spilled over the rim and ran down her wrist onto her sleeve, yet she didn’t notice at all.
Shi Huai took his seat, lifted his wine cup, and offered the guests a few polite words, nothing more than the usual “Thank you all for honoring us with your presence,” and similar pleasantries.
Second Miss Liu sat in a corner, cupping her face in both hands. She stared at Shi Huai without blinking, a strange expression hovering between a smile and a lovestruck daze on her lips.
Her elder sister waved a hand in front of her face, but she didn’t react.
“Little Sister, you’re drooling,” her sister whispered.
Second Miss Liu instinctively reached up to wipe the corner of her mouth. When she found nothing there, she realized that her sister had tricked her and angrily punched her once.
Qinghe witnessed the scene and couldn’t help quietly laughing.
Shi Huai naturally saw it as well, but he merely smiled and paid it no mind.
He was already used to such looks.
Wherever he went, people stared at him, discussed him, and praised his appearance.
At first, he had found it uncomfortable. Now, he was completely immune. In fact, he had even developed an attitude of, Go ahead and look. It’s not as if I’ll lose a piece of flesh.
After drinking several cups of wine, Shi Yuanzhi’s face was flushed. He took Shi Huai by the hand and introduced him to his colleagues.
“This is my son, Shi Huai. He ranked first in last year’s special imperial examination, and His Majesty personally ordered that he be sent to the Imperial Academy.”
The colleagues offered one compliment after another. Some praised Shi Huai for his intelligence, while others praised his good manners.
But most of them still couldn’t help letting their eyes wander over his face. Their mouths said, “Your son is truly talented and handsome,” but what they were thinking was, This child’s appearance is completely unfair.
“Ding! Current attractiveness: 99.8/100. Estimated time required to reach 100 points—Peerless Beauty: six days.”
Shi Huai’s heart stirred slightly when he heard the notification.
One hundred points. Peerless Beauty.
He was curious to see what this face would look like once his attractiveness reached one hundred.
And once he reached one hundred, would it continue increasing?
After the birthday banquet ended, Shi Huai returned to Shou’an Hall. He had barely sat down when Nanny Zhou came in carrying a bowl of longevity noodles.
“Young Master, this old servant made these longevity noodles for you. Have a taste.”
Shi Huai accepted the bowl and looked down at the single long noodle inside. A warm feeling welled up in his heart.
“Nanny Zhou, you’re already so old. Why are you still going into the kitchen?”
“If this old servant doesn’t make them, who will?”
Shi Huai lifted the bowl and swallowed the noodle in one bite without breaking it.
“It’s delicious.”
Tears fell from Nanny Zhou’s eyes. She quickly wiped them away with her sleeve and turned to leave the study.
Qinghe was standing at the door. When she saw Nanny Zhou come out crying, she hurriedly handed her a handkerchief.
“Nanny Zhou, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m just happy.” Nanny Zhou accepted the handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes, her voice hoarse.
“Young Master has grown up. Grand Madam must be so happy to see it from heaven.”
Shi Huai sat inside the study, listening to Nanny Zhou and Qinghe’s conversation outside. He couldn’t describe the feelings stirring in his heart.
Six days later, Shi Huai’s attractiveness finally broke through the hundred-point mark.
That morning, when Qinghe came to wake him, the copper basin in her hands fell to the floor for the second time. Water splashed everywhere, soaking the hem of her skirt, yet she didn’t notice.
Shi Huai sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. Seeing Qinghe’s dumbfounded expression, he sighed helplessly.
“Sister Qinghe, what’s wrong with you?”
Qinghe stood there with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide. Her trembling finger pointed at Shi Huai’s face. After a long moment, she finally managed to say, “Young Master… did you… did you grow into your features overnight?”
Shi Huai froze for a moment, then got out of bed and walked over to the bronze mirror. When he lowered his head and looked inside, he was stunned as well.
Reflected in the bronze mirror was a face that left even Shi Huai himself stunned.
It wasn’t merely “handsome,” nor was it simply “stunning.” It was the unbelievable sort of beauty that made one wonder, How could anyone possibly look like this?
His fair skin held a faint flush in the morning light, like the finest white jade tinged by the rosy glow of dawn.
The curve of his brow ridge was a little more pronounced than it had been the day before, and his nose rose high and straight like a jade peak.
His lips were neither too dark nor too pale, their vermilion color clear and pure. The contours of his Cupid’s bow were sharply defined, yet softened by a hint of tenderness.
Shi Huai stared at his own eyes in the mirror.
At their very centers was an inky black so deep it seemed impossible to dissolve. It gradually transitioned outward into a rich amber, with the faintest ring of gold at the edges.
Whenever he moved his eyes, that ring of gold shifted with the light, as if a scattering of broken gold had been hidden within his gaze.
“Ding! The core mission of the Appearance Point System in this world has been completed. Current attractiveness: 100—Peerless Beauty. All appearance attributes have reached their upper limit. All special passive effects have been unlocked.”
