However, she didn't mind, because Le Youran only asked her not to let Xiaoyao escape. There were no other requirements. Whether she could understand what Xiaoyao was doing wasn't something she needed to do.
Of course, she also knew Le Youran might ask her questions later, but she really couldn't understand, she could only tell Le Youran what she knew.
When Xiao Hong saw the finished gauntlets, Le Youran still hadn't come out of seclusion. At this point, ten days had already passed.
However, just when Xiao Hong was wondering why Le Youran still hadn't emerged, Le Youran coincidentally came out of seclusion.
After Le Youran emerged, the entire Le family became lively, because when the master was excited, the servants naturally had to be excited too.
"Youran actually broke through, another step closer to Emperor level!!"
Although Le Youran hadn't reached Emperor level and was still at King level, this breakthrough was significant. She had become much closer to Emperor level. How could this not excite the Le family?
At this moment, the Le family was already preparing to celebrate, while also wanting to ask Le Youran what exactly had happened, how had she suddenly broken through?
But at this time, they discovered that Le Youran wasn't paying attention to any of them, but was going to find an unimportant little servant - Xiaoyao!!
...
...
"What do you want with me? The gauntlets have already been given to Xiao Hong. Don't ask me, I still have work to do."
Le Youran had found Xiaoyao. At this moment, Xiaoyao was chopping wood beside the woodshed. Behind him was a pile of firewood, with each piece basically the same size, all the right size for burning.
He habitually did everything to the best of his ability. Even though he was only a temporary servant here, even though he had been forcibly captured, he still wouldn't deliberately cause trouble, because the Le family seemed to treat him well, good food and lodging, plus high wages.
Xiaoyao had received his wages a few days ago. The Le family paid monthly wages on the first of every month. As a temporary servant, Xiaoyao was also recorded. Xiao Hong had helped him collect his wages.
These wages were quite substantial, more than ten times what he got at the Mo family. Perhaps this was also because at the Mo family, Xiaoyao's wages had been too little, since he was only a low-ranking servant there with the worst treatment.
"It's done? Let's not talk about that first. I want to ask you, about when will Guxing come again!" Le Youran asked. At this moment, what she looked forward to most was Guxing's arrival. She was very satisfied with the effect of this breakthrough, so she came to find Xiaoyao as soon as she emerged from seclusion.
"At the earliest ten days, at the latest fifteen days. By the way, are you also from First Academy Under Heaven? If possible, please take care of her. You understand what I mean by 'take care of,' right?" Xiaoyao said.
"Oh, I understand. I'll make her an even deeper enemy, but I won't humiliate her," Le Youran said.
"... That's not what I meant. I want you to take care of her. You can continue with that idea, but if anyone tries to harass her using their influence, help her out. Just say she's your opponent and no one can touch her. It would be very normal for your Le family to say this!" Xiaoyao said irritably. I won't let you bully the boss - I really want you to take care of her.
"I understand this. Anyone who wants to move against her will have to ask me first. Whether I can break through quickly now depends on Guxing, how could I possibly let others harass her?" Le Youran nodded.
"Thank you!" Xiaoyao said gratefully. Regardless of Le Youran's purpose, thanks were still due.
"You're welcome, this is what I should do! You just said the gauntlets were given to Xiao Hong, what are they like? Where is Xiao Hong?" Le Youran asked, seeming to want to leave to find Xiao Hong. Continuing like this with Xiaoyao didn't have any particular meaning, so naturally she wasn't interested in continuing.
At this moment, Le Youran's expectations for the gauntlets weren't very high, so she wasn't particularly eager to know the answer.
Xiaoyao didn't mind this and just casually replied: "Xiao Hong was just here - she probably went to the toilet. During your seclusion these days, she followed me constantly, except when using the toilet, bathing, or sleeping!"
"... Why?" Le Youran was stunned. She couldn't understand why her maid would follow Xiaoyao. Did they have something going on?
At this moment, Le Youran couldn't remember that this was because of her, she had told Xiao Hong to watch Xiaoyao!
"Isn't this because of you!" Xiaoyao said irritably.
"Me?" Le Youran had already forgotten her instructions, or rather, she couldn't connect these two things.
Xiaoyao looked at Le Youran and said calmly, "Have you forgotten? Before you went into seclusion, didn't you tell Xiao Hong to prepare materials for the gauntlets and watch me so I wouldn't escape? She's been monitoring me like this the whole time!"
"..." Le Youran was silent for a while. She remembered she had made such an arrangement, but she had just said it casually, she hadn't meant for Xiao Hong to constantly monitor Xiaoyao.
Of course, Le Youran just smiled about this matter and didn't take it to heart, feeling it was quite normal. Xiao Hong was a responsible maid, this was exactly what she liked about Xiao Hong, which was why she kept her by her side.
"Alright then, I'll wait for her here!" Le Youran sat down on a wooden bench nearby, watching Xiaoyao chop wood. Only now did she carefully observe Xiaoyao's appearance. She discovered he was quite good-looking, and she had a strange feeling, a contradictory sensation of familiarity yet strangeness.
Hmm, she felt she had seen Xiaoyao before, but she was certain she hadn't met him previously. This made her feel very conflicted.
"Kid, have you seen me before?" Le Youran asked. Her way of asking was interesting, she didn't ask if they had met before, but directly asked if Xiaoyao had seen her, because she felt certain she hadn't seen Xiaoyao, while Xiaoyao might have seen her.
"No!" Xiaoyao directly shook his head. He was certain he hadn't seen Le Youran before.
"Where have you been before?" Le Youran asked again.
"Qingyun City!" Xiaoyao answered.
"Qingyun City? Where is that?" Le Youran obviously hadn't heard of this Qingyun City. Qingyun City wasn't very well-known, and it wasn't part of their Great Tang Empire either.
"Tianfeng Kingdom, Qingyun Province!" Xiaoyao answered concisely.
"Never heard of it, never been there either. Then we shouldn't have met, but why do I feel you look somewhat familiar?" Le Youran said.
"Familiar? You must be mistaken. I've never left Qingyun City, this is my first time." Xiaoyao shook his head, feeling this was impossible.
"True, we couldn't have met!" Le Youran tilted her head and thought for a while, then gave up. At this moment, Xiaoyao noticed Le Youran seemed somewhat cute too.
"Miss!" At this time, Xiao Hong appeared. Seeing Le Youran, she immediately greeted her, while also feeling puzzled, why was Miss sitting here chatting with Xiaoyao? Didn't she look down on Xiaoyao?
This was also the Le family's character, always so proud, and Miss had inherited this trait, being very tsundere!!
"Oh, you're here. Let me see the gauntlets!" Le Youran stood up, preparing to leave in a tsundere manner. At this moment, she didn't care much about these gauntlets, feeling they probably wouldn't be too amazing. Of course, she didn't think they'd be too bad either, Xiaoyao had established some trust in her heart, and she knew he probably wouldn't do anything too poor.
Now she felt that as long as she had gauntlets to use temporarily, that was good, so she didn't mind if they weren't great!
"Not bad, not too poor! Better than I imagined, but I feel these things are a bit too cumbersome..." After Le Youran received the gauntlets, she saw they were finely crafted, high-quality items. However, she didn't really like them.
These gauntlets looked quite violent. The entire gauntlet was protected by small armor plates, and the fingertips seemed very sharp. If someone was grabbed, they would definitely have flesh torn off.
Le Youran had seen such gauntlets before, but she hadn't chosen them. It wasn't that she didn't like violent things, but such gauntlets usually sacrificed flexibility and didn't meet her requirements.
But soon, Le Youran discovered she was wrong. When she casually tried them to test the feel, she found these gauntlets actually had even better flexibility than her previous ones. She could fully display her boxing techniques, they were just much heavier, but this wasn't a problem for her at all.
Le Youran stopped in her tracks and tried them for a good while before exclaiming in amazement!
"Eh, these gauntlets are truly incredible! According to different forms, these iron plates actually have different arrangements. No matter what movements I make, there's no obstruction at all, and the gauntlets can even increase power!! Xiao Hong, were these gauntlets made by that kid?"
"Yes, Xiaoyao spent ten days and just finished them not long ago!" Xiao Hong nodded. Seeing Le Youran's expression, she understood that Xiaoyao's gauntlets were unexpectedly good.
"Did you personally see him make them?" Le Youran looked back at Xiaoyao, asking somewhat incredulously.
"Yes, from smelting to crafting, he did it all alone. No one else had contact with him during this process. I can be certain of this!" Xiao Hong nodded.
"..." Le Youran was silent for a while, then turned and walked toward Xiaoyao, directly asking, "Did you make these?"
"Mm!" Xiaoyao nodded and continued chopping wood.
"How do you know how to do this?" Le Youran asked.
"Make gauntlets? The Mo family is a weapon-forging family, I learned a bit. If you didn't dislike extra things, I could add several offensive mechanisms to these gauntlets!" Xiaoyao said casually. These gauntlets had some mechanical design that cleverly allowed the entire gauntlet to have both defensive and offensive capabilities while maintaining extremely high flexibility.
(End of Chapter)