182 Two Difficult Men and the Artist

"That's…"

Yujia spoke with so much hesitation that she was practically screaming at herself on the inside. 

Why was she hesitating? It made her seem guilty! What was she being guilty for? There was nothing wrong with her having some roasted duck with Bo Zhizhong!

She finally forced herself to blurt out, "That's the Third Young Master of the Bo Villa I was talking about before." She turned to Zhizhong. "And that's my senior brother." 

"Oh. That's… the Third Young Master Bo you talked about before?" Yunhe repeated, eyes fixing sharply on Zhizhong, arms crossing.

Yujia understood his reaction. The last time she talked about Zhizhong, Yunhe had confronted her that there had never been a third young master in the Bo Family. Of course, Yujia had listened to him and asked for evidence from Zhizhong himself that he was part of the family, which he gave a faultless response to. 

Yujia had considered then that perhaps Yunhe had recalled wrong. 

So now, seeing the two of them facing each other, she felt like the environment turned uncomfortable. 

However, in the next second, Yunhe dropped his crossed arms, putting on a half-smile. "Noble Bo. Nice to meet you. I know your brother well."

Regardless of his shift of expression, his words were laced with hostility. Yujia recognized it well— his tone was completely different than the peaceful senior brother she knew. 

As for if Zhizhong would pick up on the malice...

Zhizhong finally stopped eating his duck, swallowing the bite he had in his mouth. He stared back at Yunhe. 

"Is that so?" he asked simply, giving nothing more than a blink.

He still remained sitting. He still didn't offer a greeting. He still held a drumstick in his hand. 

Yujia knew that she wasn't the best at etiquette. Seeing the scene in front of her right now, though, with Zhizhong sitting down and eating his duck, completely not acknowledging Yunhe's presence, Yujia knew something was wrong. Something had to be wrong.

Normally, even in the modern world, wouldn't it make sense for Zhizhong to stand and greet Yunhe?

Maybe… he was still deciding what to do. Maybe Bo Zhizhong was slow at reacting to situations like this. Or maybe, Yujia was just overthinking it, and he was just so drawn in by the delicious meat that he only cared for good food, like her. 

But then, after that brief moment of staring, Zhizhong slowly raised a drumstick to his mouth and bit in again. 

The air in the courtyard immediately turned another degree more awkward. 

Yunhe smiled a little wider, his eyes shifting back and forth. 

"Well, Junior Sister, Master sent me to come get you. He just woke up and seems to need to talk to you about something. Go find him," he finally gritted out.

Yujia glanced at Zhizhong, who turned his last drumstick in his hand with careful speculation. He acted as if Yunhe almost didn't exist. He treated Yunhe the same way he would treat his servants— like they were only a speck of dust in the air. 

She didn't know what was wrong with him. Yunhe may have a right to be a little hostile when greeting Zhizhong— after all, he thought that Zhizhong didn't exist and was a fraud— but it didn't make sense for Zhizhong, who didn't know of the fact, to act like similarly chilly and rude?

"O— ka— y." 

She slowly drew out the word, finally tearing her gaze off of Zhizhong. 

Alright. So maybe Ye Yunhe and Bo Zhizhong had some enmity going on.

She didn't know what it was. And frankly speaking, she didn't know if she could help resolve this in any way, shape, or form. They weren't even arguing— just that one side was glaring, and the other side was blatantly ignoring. 

Now Yujia knew what it felt like being a middleman caught between two very difficult individuals. 

So Yujia just took advantage of the fact that Yunhe offered her a solution to this situation. She nodded briefly at Yunhe, then at Zhizhong, and fled the scene. 

Let the two of them solve their problems! She didn't want to be a part of it. 

…

Now that Yujia was gone, Yushang finally set the drumstick in his hand down, staring at her senior brother.

Yushang recognized him. 

Yujia's senior brother was none less than Ye Yunhe, the painting master, Yue Ze's, disciple. He was fairly famous in the capital for being the son of Lingxin's current school head and Master Yue's direct disciple. With Yushang's father being Yue Ze's disciple as well, this elevated Ye Yunhe on a whole other level. 

Hence, Yunhe had been in the palace before, and Yushang did run into him. The two only had a brief encounter, but Yushang recognized his face. 

That was why, the moment he saw Yunhe and noticed the recognition registering in Yunhe's face, he chose not to stand up. If this senior brother was any bit smart, he would notice Yushang's clear lack of response as a silent order to keep his identity hidden. 

Yushang didn't want Yujia to know his identity yet. Today, right after she chose to forgive him, wasn't a wise time either to reveal anything like this.

So he stayed all tensed up, waiting for the situation to pass. The good news was that Yunhe seemed to catch on, never exposing Yushang.

Now, though, he waited for Yunhe to speak up first, which the other did. 

"You're not any Third Young Master," Yunhe accused, setting his scroll on the floor. 

Yushang nodded, finally standing up and dusting his hands. "Indeed." 

The things that would happen next were obvious to Yushang. 

There would be Yunhe kneeling on the floor, the proper way a subject would greet a prince. He would bow to Yushang in the proper way. He wouldn't dare to look at Yushang in the eyes again. 

This was a normal response. Yushang was used to it. He was certain that things would unfold in this manner. And then, perhaps Yushang would thank Yunhe for not revealing his identity, or maybe he woul threaten Yunhe. Maybe the two of the could have a chat about royalty and the importance hidden identities. Yushang had the whole conversation planned out in his head in a second. 

Instead, Ye Yunhe only blinked again, asking, "If you're not the Third Young Master, who are you, then?"