Chapter 37 A Voice (Part 2)
The encounter with Young Master Hustace in the carriage hadn’t turned Qi Liu’s head. He wasn’t naive enough to believe his fate would be any different from before. His conviction remained firm: every day, he was still making slow progress toward becoming a stableman at the Governor’s Mansion.
However, Young Master Hustace’s smile did change some things. Whether Qi Liu accepted it or not, his situation had, more or less, altered.
Since then, on his journey back and forth to the academy, he no longer had to sit on the lap of his father, the coachman.
The League Guards attending the young master no longer shouted or cursed at him. Even when he was late delivering meals, they never scolded him; at times, they even helped him with his heavy lunchbox.
The wealthy youths striving to get close to the young master now saw Qi Liu in a more complicated light. Their previous simple jealousy had evolved into resentment-tinged envy. Sometimes, these heirs of wealthy families would try to please him with all sorts of rare goods, just to have him put in a good word for them before the young master.
Even some instructors at the academy began to change their attitude towards him. He was no longer a dispensable nobody; he had become a hot commodity, with too many people eager to get information about the young master from him...
His father also hoped he could seize the limited time on the road to make a good impression on the young master and thereby change his destiny...
However, no ripples formed in Qi Liu’s heart. As always, he would offer a smile from time to time.
After all, a voice always lingered in Qi Liu’s ear, guiding his choices. This voice let Qi Liu know that all these changes were merely because people wanted to curry favor with Governor Rostov; they had nothing to do with him, the son of a coachman. What he was experiencing now was fundamentally no different from his father meticulously shoveling horse manure.
Year after year, winter gave way to summer, and after summer, winter returned.
By the age of thirteen, Qi Liu was already proficient in driving carriages. So that year, he successfully stepped towards the destiny he firmly believed in and truly became a coachman. The only difference was that he didn’t take over his father’s position; he simply became Young Master Hustace’s exclusive coachman.
Young Master Hustace was reticent, speaking less each year. He always longed to find someone to truly talk to, but reality was harsh. Few people were willing to genuinely converse with the Governor’s son.