Mu Jinyu turned to look at Jian Ruyan.
Seeing that she had empty hands and wasn't holding dirty clothes like the other women, he understood she thought those clothes were hers and thus disdained touching them.
A mischievous grin spread across Mu Jinyu's face, and he shook his head, sighing,
"Oh, Ah-Xiu, you're too naive. Did you think that hanging out with your brother for a while meant you understood him?"
"No matter how unhygienic he is, could he possibly be dirtier than you?" Jian Ruyan looked at Mu Jinyu with a disdainful expression.
Mu Jinyu shook his head, "Of course not."
Silently apologizing to Xiang Mantang, Mu Jinyu continued,
"In front of others, especially beautiful women, he acts like he loves cleanliness, but actually, he learned to be a slob from my master!"
"Think about it, I learned healing while he learned killing, so naturally his hands are bloody every day. Over time, he got too lazy to even bathe or wash his clothes, since they'd just get bloody again the next day."
Hearing Mu Jinyu's words made Jian Ruyan feel like there might be some truth to them, so she hesitated and found herself speechless.
Seeing her lips quiver and her eyes struggling to retort, Mu Jinyu kept going, "You don't need to argue; you've never lived with him like I have. I've practically grown up with him since childhood, so I know him much better than you do!"
"Maybe, after he became the Dragon King of Beidou Tianshu, he doesn't need to kill daily and has started to clean up after himself, but here in Yinlong Mountain, you can't imagine how he really lives."
Mu Jinyu spoke earnestly and solemnly, looking quite serious!
It wasn't just Jian Ruyan, even Su Zijin and Gu Xiyan started believing him a bit too.
They looked at him, pity evident in their eyes. One could only imagine how miserable Xiang Mantang's past had been!
Seeing this, Mu Jinyu chuckled inwardly.
What are good brothers for?
For teasing, of course!
After all, he wasn't really lying; in the past, Xiang Mantang genuinely did pile up his clothes without washing. Since, in his view, they were bound to get bloody eventually, unless he had an important mission where even the smell of blood could arouse suspicion; otherwise, he would just pile them up to wash together, or let him help with the washing!
The only part that Mu Jinyu kept from Jian Ruyan was that Xiang Mantang had left Yinlong Mountain many years back and never returned.
So if there were still dirty clothes, how could they possibly still be in Yinlong Mountain?
It was the same with Mu Shao'ai; before he left Yinlong Mountain, he really did leave behind a lot of dirty clothes instructing him to help wash, but Mu Jinyu had discarded them all.
How could they possibly stink up the place three years later?
However, since Mu Shao'ai and Xiang Mantang aren't here now, he could tease them, and they couldn't defend themselves, while Jian Ruyan and the others didn't know these details. To avoid embarrassment, Mu Jinyu naturally blamed them!
"Is that so?"
Jian Ruyan's eyes glazed over, mumbling dizzily, swindled by Mu Jinyu.
"Of course."
Mu Jinyu nodded, then looking at Gu Xiyan and the others, he said, "Let's just throw these dirty clothes away!"
"This..."
Although Gu Xiyan felt there was something slightly off about Mu Jinyu's words, hearing him boldly proclaim to discard the clothes made her hesitate, feeling it wasn't quite right.
Especially based on his story, some of these clothes were Mu Shao'ai's.
Mu Shao'ai was indeed Mu Jinyu's master, so just tossing his clothes aside seems a bit disrespectful, doesn't it?
Gu Xiyan touched the fabric of the clothes and found it to be the same as what Trotsky had mentioned, the one made from the five types of Divine Silkworm Silk, so she took a deep breath and said, "Throwing them away doesn't seem right, and besides, the fabric of these clothes is quite rare, let's wash them instead."
"Alright, if you guys want to wash them, go ahead and wash them. Consider it a tribute to your master. Go on, go on."
Mu Jinyu laughed.
He had gotten used to many of these clothes, and honestly, he felt somewhat reluctant to throw them away directly.
Having them washed and wearing them again was acceptable to him.
"Alright, let's take them for washing then."
After asking Mu Jinyu which clothes belonged to his master, Gu Xiyan and Wen Rou, along with others, took a huge pile of dirty clothes to a nearby pond to wash them.
Mu Jinyu always chose the more old-fashioned clothes, claiming they were Mu Shao'ai's, but the ones that looked more like his own, he had Gu Xiyan and the others help wash as well.
Gu Xiyan just glared at him, told him to wash them himself, and ignored him from then on.
Mu Jinyu looked up at Su Zijin with a pitiful expression and said, "Mom..."
"Alright, Mom will wash them for you. Try not to get them so dirty next time. Your wives would definitely be willing to help you wash,"
Su Zijin said with a smile, then she picked up the pile of Mu Jinyu's clothes that couldn't really pass as Mu Shao'ai's dirty clothes, and looked at another pile, which Mu Jinyu claimed belonged to Xiang Mantang, contemplating whether to wash those too since she was already doing the laundry.
Mu Jinyu, having his own plan, purposely said, "Mom, just wash mine. Ah-Xiang's clothes have been sitting around for a long time; even if you wash them, he won't wear them. Let's just throw them away later..."
"Alright." Su Zijin said, considering Xiang Mantang's current situation, he wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.
Indeed, there seemed no real need to wash the clothes.
She then took Mu Jinyu's pile of dirty clothes and walked toward the pond.
Mu Jinyu glanced at Jian Ruyan, who was looking hesitant, chuckled, and was about to pick up the pile of "Xiang Mantang's" dirty clothes to throw them away.
"Don't throw them!"
Jian Ruyan snapped back to reality, grabbed the dirty clothes with a nervous look, and watched Mu Jinyu warily, scared that he would actually throw them away.
"What are you doing?" Mu Jinyu asked.
Jian Ruyan seriously said, "We can't throw them away; these belong to my brother!"
Mu Jinyu hesitated and said, "But these clothes smell bad, and no one wants to wash them. Keeping them around will stink up the place. If we don't throw them, can you stand having them in your room?"
Considering his words, Jian Ruyan thought for a moment, realized she probably couldn't bear it indeed, and then gritted her teeth and said, "I'll go wash them!"
Then, she too took that pile of clothes and ran towards the pond, seeking advice from Su Zijin and Mu Hongchen on how to hand wash clothes.
She had grown up in a Great Sect at Kunlun Ruins, where she never needed to wash clothes. Since arriving at Dragon King Hall, she hadn't needed to wash clothes by hand either; even her personal items were either washed in a washing machine or not at all by others, and since there were no washing machines on Yinlong Mountain, she really was at a loss.
Su Zijin and the others were quite surprised to see Jian Ruyan also coming to wash clothes, and they seriously taught her how to do the laundry.
Mu Jinyu watched this scene, feeling quite proud inside.
Although he had tricked Jian Ruyan into washing his clothes, having someone like Jian Ruyan, who always seemed so ethereal, wash his dirty clothes was still quite an accomplishment.
Then, he thought about whether or not to honestly tell her after she finished washing the clothes that these clothes were actually his.
Would he get beaten to death?