Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 55

Chapter 55: Not Waiting

As soon as Elder Yunfeng walked through the gate of Huanxue Villa, he headed straight for Rong Xie, grabbing his arm and babbling, “Little Friend Rong, you finally looked for me.”

Rong Xie was stunned, looking at him in confusion.

Elder Yunfeng explained that previously, a bunch of them old fellows ran to Huanxue Villa to eat fish, angering Shen Bingsi. Shen Bingsi made a three-point agreement with them: if the villa didn’t invite them, they couldn’t come uninvited. Even if they wanted to visit, they had to notify Shen Bingsi three days in advance.

Because of this, Elder Yunfeng had wanted to visit Rong Xie for a long time, but the villa didn’t invite him, and he couldn’t notify Shen Bingsi, so he could only fret on his own mountain.

“You can’t contact Shen Bingsi either?” Rong Xie caught the key point.

“Hah, exactly. He’s in seclusion at Xue Baoshan’s place; who dares disturb him?” Elder Yunfeng clapped his hands and spread them out.

“…” Rong Xie realized. So Shen Bingsi went to the main peak to enter seclusion.

“Did he say when he would come out?” Rong Xie asked.

“Who can say for sure? I think he’s preparing to break through to the Distraction Stage. At least three to five years, at most eight to ten years…”

Rong Xie didn’t hear Elder Yunfeng’s subsequent grumbling. He only heard “at least three to five years,” and his mind buzzed into chaos.

If Shen Bingsi didn’t come out for three to five years, wouldn’t he be unable to get his identity documents for three to five years?

“But speaking of which, Little Friend Rong, do you know there’s a medical cultivator in the Cloud Mountain Sect named Cui Xingmiao?” Elder Yunfeng asked.

Rong Xie snapped back to reality. “Miss Cui? I know her; she treated me.”

“Then do you know… about that thing between her and Shen Bingsi?” Elder Yunfeng looked mysterious, lowering his voice and leaning closer to ask.

“What thing?” Rong Xie looked blank.

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“That shouldn’t be. How do you not even know this? It caused quite a stir a while ago…”

Elder Yunfeng narrowed his eyes, ready to gossip fiercely, when he heard Rong Xie say, “You mean that incident? Hasn’t it already been clarified?”

“Oh… it has been clarified.”

Elder Yunfeng’s gossiping soul was doused by a bucket of cold water. After a moment, he began to defend himself:

“Clarified is one thing, but as for the facts… we aren’t the parties involved, so we don’t know.”

Rong Xie disliked gossiping about others. If the person was someone close to him, he tabooed it even more. Now, Elder Yunfeng was actually gossiping about Shen Bingsi.

Rong Xie looked at Elder Yunfeng in astonishment, suspecting he was an impostor.

“Besides, that was months ago. Who knows what changes happened in between… Little Friend Rong, don’t look at this old Daoist like that. I don’t want to speculate about Shen Bingsi either, but who told his Dao heart to waver!”

Elder Yunfeng’s words were tantamount to dropping a heavy bomb. Rong Xie was instantly shocked.

“What did you say happened to him?”

“You didn’t notice any signs either?” Elder Yunfeng looked at Rong Xie, somewhat disappointed. “This old Daoist thought you knew something. Aren’t you together every day?”

Rong Xie was in shock and didn’t answer Elder Yunfeng immediately. Elder Yunfeng looked at his expression and realized he knew nothing about it.

Elder Yunfeng sighed. “Little Friend Rong, you are even duller than I imagined. Matters of love between young men and women are uncertain. That’s why severing emotions and love is the hardest part of the Ruthless Path… Shen Bingsi should have listened to me back then and chosen the path of severing appetite.”

Rong Xie’s mind was in turmoil; he didn’t listen to Elder Yunfeng’s long speech at all. His mind was full of one thought: How could Shen Bingsi’s Dao heart waver?

In that Book of Fate, three thousand chapters long, Shen Bingsi adventured, hunted treasures, and slew demons with a backyard full of beauties. His life was limitlessly exciting. Even so, his Dao heart didn’t waver. He held on firmly until the very last moment. Only when the Heavenly Mirror forcibly assigned him a target to prove his Dao did he waver for a moment…

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But only for a moment. After that moment, he proved his Dao without hesitation, breaking through realms at lightning speed.

Such a Shen Bingsi could be described as having a Dao heart of iron. How could his Dao heart waver so early?

“No way, Elder, are you mistaken? Shen Bingsi has a Dao heart of iron; how could it waver casually? I haven’t seen any such signs.” Rong Xie frowned.

“You didn’t see any signs? Could it be that you… cough cough,” Elder Yunfeng coughed suggestively, “didn’t pay much attention to Shen Bingsi’s movements? After all, he runs outside all year round; you can’t follow him all the time.”

“Shen Bingsi and I were together the whole time recently. We went out traveling,” Rong Xie said.

“Yes, I know. He reported the same to Xue Baoshan,” Elder Yunfeng paused. “But even if you went out together, if he wanted to go out alone to meet someone, he just had to fly over. Flying there and back wouldn’t delay anything. You probably don’t know, but for a while, to complete a mission for the Mirror Palace, he went to the Forbidden Palace every night. Those Celestial Masters guarding the palace didn’t spot him once.”

“…” Rong Xie really wanted to say he knew, because Shen Bingsi slept with him every night.

“Little Friend Rong, you still don’t understand the human heart. No matter how close friendship is, it can’t compare to romantic love. Shen Bingsi is at that age; it’s a time when wavering is easy. Even if you are together every day, he may not necessarily tell you. With your honest temperament, even if there were clues, you would just turn a blind eye.”

“…” Rong Xie didn’t expect to be evaluated as “honest” by Elder Yunfeng. However, if Elder Yunfeng used knowing about Shen Bingsi’s intimate relationships as the standard, then Rong Xie’s rating should be upgraded to “dishonest,” or “extremely dishonest,” because he not only knew but planned to conceal what he knew.

“There really is nothing between Shen Bingsi and Miss Cui,” Rong Xie said. “They had an unpleasant fallout a while ago and swore never to see each other again.”

“Ah? Is that so?” Now it was Elder Yunfeng’s turn to be surprised.

“Yes. Shen Bingsi even used Invisible Sword Qi…”

“He even used Invisible Sword Qi?” Elder Yunfeng’s eyes widened, then he shook his head. “Tsk, this kid is actually so ruthless. Looks like I underestimated him.”

Rong Xie smiled and asked, “Elder, where did you learn about Shen Bingsi’s Dao heart wavering?”

“Uh, well…” Elder Yunfeng’s attitude became less certain. He stroked his beard. “This old Daoist is just guessing. The kid suddenly appeared at the main peak and wanted to go into seclusion without a word, even asking Xue Baoshan to protect him. If not for some major change, why would he be in such a hurry? I asked him, but he wouldn’t answer, his face black as the bottom of a pot. That kind of behavior usually happens after suffering a setback with women. I was young once too; put yourself in his shoes…”

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Rong Xie understood now. Elder Yunfeng had no evidence whatsoever; he was just guessing blindly and came here pretending to be well-informed. Who is the honest one here?

“Sigh, if it’s not because of Miss Cui, then who could it be? Who is the little vixen disturbing our Sword Saint Shen’s Dao heart?” Elder Yunfeng continued muttering.

Rong Xie felt that letting him run wild would cause trouble sooner or later, so he asked, “Is Shen Bingsi going into seclusion for three to five years also your guess?”

“That isn’t. The amount of spiritual talismans and elixirs they brought in was prepared for long-term seclusion. And he chose the quiet room on the Immortal Praying Platform, obviously not wanting to be disturbed.” Elder Yunfeng was authoritative in this regard.

“So that’s how it is…” The big rock hanging over his head finally dropped. The situation Rong Xie least wanted to happen had happened.

Shen Bingsi’s “petrification syndrome” had flared up again. Although it was delayed by two days—flaring up only after sending Rong Xie back—the severity was no less than any previous time.

This time, he planned to lock himself in the quiet room on the Immortal Praying Platform for three to five years before coming out to face the world.

After sending Elder Yunfeng away, Rong Xie told the three little ones that the Villa Master had gone into seclusion and might not return for a long time.

The three little ones’ first reaction was to cheer. Without the Villa Master pressing down on them, the atmosphere in the villa would be relaxed, tantamount to a long holiday.

Then, noticing Rong Xie’s expression, they nudged each other’s elbows and put away their smiles.

“Brother Rong, do you… still have urgent business with the Villa Master? Should we go to the Immortal Praying Platform to plead for you, just speak to the Villa Master outside that quiet room?”

“Yeah, just saying a word shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

The three little ones’ naive words made Rong Xie laugh helplessly. “How could the quiet room on the Immortal Praying Platform be so easy to approach? There’s the Lingjing Sect’s strongest barrier around the platform. Let alone getting close to talk, you can’t even go up.”

“Oh…”

“Then what do we do?”

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What do we do?

If it were before, Rong Xie would have chosen to wait.

Shen Bingsi was a cultivator in his rising period after all. Seclusion for cultivation was too normal. Since he was promoted to a high-ranking disciple, he would go into seclusion every now and then, ranging from a year or half a year to two or three months. Seclusion was generally to solve cultivation problems or to break through to a higher realm, something every cultivator experienced.

To facilitate Shen Bingsi’s seclusion, as soon as they got the layout of Huanxue Villa, they first planned two quiet rooms for seclusion. After that, Shen Bingsi didn’t need to go to the main peak for seclusion; minor problems could be solved directly at Huanxue Villa. Rong Xie would even cook a table of hot celebratory food for him when he came out.

…

If it were two months ago, Rong Xie would also wait. After all, what Shen Bingsi did were major things, while his were trivial matters. As long as Shen Bingsi cultivated smoothly, it didn’t matter if he waited.

But now, Rong Xie didn’t want to wait.

Knowing the destined result of parting ways, Rong Xie didn’t have that much time to wait, to waste on someone else. He wanted to settle the new house and start a new life as soon as possible.

regarding the identity documents, since Shen Bingsi couldn’t step forward, he would go get them himself. He had plenty of spiritual energy now and wasn’t afraid to confront anyone in the Shen Family Manor. If the Shen family played tricks, he would play hardball.

However, the Shen family members were extremely cunning and slippery. Before acting, he needed a thorough plan.

Thinking this, Rong Xie called the three little ones together and carefully asked them about the current situation at Shen Family Manor.

The three little ones told him everything they knew. However, they didn’t have access to much information and could only speak in general terms. As for who managed important documents like the family tree and household registration, they didn’t know either.

“No matter, I’ll ask someone else.”

Rong Xie already had a candidate in mind.

At the inn in Welcome Guest Town, when people came and went at noon, in a private room on the second floor, Wang Mu dangled his legs and ordered dishes from the waiter. After ordering a table full of food, he turned around, grinning. “Brother Rong, all these dishes are delicious. No one knows the chef’s skills better than I do. I ordered a bit too much; what I can’t finish, I can pack up and eat slowly.”

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Having not seen him for two months, Wang Mu seemed to have grown a bit more. His body had shot up, making him look tall and thin. With his dark skin, running over from a distance, he looked just like a wild monkey darting out of the woods.

“You’re at the age where you’re growing; eat more. These are all for you,” Rong Xie smiled.

Wang Mu’s wish was fulfilled, and he beamed with joy. “Thank you, Brother Rong!”

Dishes were served one by one. Wang Mu was dazzled. Holding chopsticks in his hand, he didn’t know which one to pick first, so he asked the waiter for an empty bowl, piled the dishes together, and ate with relish mixed with rice.

When he truly couldn’t eat anymore, Wang Mu burped, drank two more mouthfuls of soup, and looked up with satisfaction. “Thank you, Brother Rong! Last time you asked me to scout for mansions like Huanxue Villa, I found some…”

“Don’t rush to talk about that,” Rong Xie rubbed the teacup with his fingers. “Do you know who manages the household registration documents for those people at Shen Family Manor?”

“Who doesn’t know that? It’s in Second Uncle Shen’s room, in the cabinet under the east-facing window of the study!” Wang Mu said triumphantly, then became alert. “Why does Brother Rong ask this? Could it be…”

Author’s Note: Not much time left for Bingbing’s seclusion. [Doge face]