Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 60

Chapter 60: Stupid Thought

Give up that… stupid thought?

But he had never cultivated the Heartless Path. He didn’t know how to “give up” a thought. He couldn’t be like Shen Bingsi—turn to stone for a while and then come back as if nothing had happened.

Rong Xie lifted his left hand and placed it on the back of Shen Bingsi’s hand.

Shen Bingsi looked up at him.

Rong Xie pressed down on his hand and once again withdrew his own from Shen Bingsi’s palm.

The joy that had just appeared on Shen Bingsi’s face froze.

“Actually, this time it wasn’t the Shen family looking for me. I approached them,” Rong Xie said softly. “I want to move my identity out and establish a separate household.”

“What?” Shen Bingsi didn’t understand what Rong Xie was saying. “Move out? Move where?”

“Lanyuan,” Rong Xie said.

“Why move to Lanyuan?” Shen Bingsi reacted. “You plan to buy a house there? Didn’t we say we’d talk about it later when we reached Foundation Establishment?”

“…I decided to move to Lanyuan,” Rong Xie emphasized. “Me, not us.”

“What’s the difference between you and us?” Shen Bingsi became agitated. He found Rong Xie acting strange today; he couldn’t understand anything he said. The events of the day were also weird. He thought he was coming to save Rong Xie, but Rong Xie didn’t need saving at all and was standing here chatting happily with someone.

Chatting… with someone?

Shen Bingsi turned his head, glaring at the strange Foundation Establishment cultivator who had been standing silently by the side, as if discovering a third person for the first time.

Shen Bingsi confirmed he had never seen this person. When did he pop up? Why was he in the Shen family garden chatting happily with Rong Xie?

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They… even drank wine together?!

Shen Bingsi didn’t even need to mobilize his five senses and six consciousnesses to smell the overwhelming stench of alcohol on this person. However, what surprised him wasn’t this, but that Rong Xie, who rarely drank, also had a faint smell of alcohol on him.

They drank the same wine. That meant they didn’t attend different social engagements on the way, but drank together in the Shen family garden… Shen Bingsi turned his head slightly, glimpsing the wine jars scattered in the square pavilion and the little brats stretching their necks like geese to look over. With all the evidence strung together, the sequence of events was clear before his eyes.

Before Shen Bingsi could ask, Lu Yinglin touched his nose and smiled. “Sword Saint Shen, I’ve heard much about you.”

Shen Bingsi’s eyebrow twitched.

“I am Lu Yinglin of the Liujin Sect.” Lu Yinglin held a folding fan and cupped his fists in a Jianghu salute to Shen Bingsi. “From the Lu family of Qinghe. Coming back this time, I happened to be traveling the same way as Junior Brother Rong, so I thought I’d visit the Shen family to renew our ancestral friendship.”

“Since when do you need to renew ancestral friendship?” Shen Bingsi snorted coldly.

Rong Xie frowned slightly.

“Fine, you’ve renewed enough. You can go now.” Shen Bingsi tilted his chin toward the gate.

“He is my…” Rong Xie was about to speak up for Lu Yinglin, but Lu Yinglin smiled first. “Sword Saint Shen may not know, but I am currently acting as an agent for some of Junior Brother Rong’s affairs. I’m afraid I can’t go far yet. However, avoiding the scene for now is appropriate.”

Lu Yinglin turned to Rong Xie. “Junior Brother Rong, I’ll return to the guest room first. Come find me if anything comes up.”

“Sorry to trouble you, Master Lu,” Rong Xie said apologetically.

Lu Yinglin nodded with a smile to both of them and walked away unhurriedly. Passing the square pavilion, he waved his fan to beckon the stunned Shen family children to follow him. Those children, despite meeting him for the first time, obeyed his words and followed him in a swarm.

Only Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi remained in the garden.

“This Lu Yinglin knows his place.” Shen Bingsi rarely gave such a good evaluation of people circling Rong Xie. “What affairs do you have for him to handle? Don’t tell me it’s about the house on Lanyuan?”

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Shen Bingsi had equated Lu Yinglin with a real estate agent from Lanyuan.

“…” Rong Xie didn’t speak. Shen Bingsi turned to look at him, only to see a cold face.

“Master Lu has helped me a lot. Besides, he didn’t hinder you in any way. Why couldn’t you speak to him properly?” Rong Xie said unhappily.

Shen Bingsi knew he was in the wrong and admitted it frankly. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have given him attitude without asking clearly, slighting your real estate agent. If the price can’t be negotiated later, I’ll cover the extra cost.”

If it were the past, Rong Xie would have come around with Shen Bingsi coaxing him like this.

But this time, Rong Xie maintained that cold expression.

“…He’s not my real estate agent,” Rong Xie said. “He is a manager at the Yuanbao Auction House.”

“Yuanbao Auction House? The Liujin Sect’s Yuanbao Auction House?” Shen Bingsi was surprised. “What business do you have for them to handle?”

“I want to sort out the things I have on hand to see what price they can sell for, so I can find a suitable house,” Rong Xie said.

Shen Bingsi stared at him in disbelief.

All along, Shen Bingsi had never considered one possibility—that Rong Xie would really leave him.

Not running away in anger after a fight, not getting lost, not being taken by bad guys, but calmly organizing his belongings, buying a new house, and picking a sunny day to move out of Huanxue Villa.

Shen Bingsi seemed to hear something cracking.

“Why??” Shen Bingsi grabbed Rong Xie’s shoulders with both hands. He used so much force that veins popped on the back of his hands.

Rong Xie frowned. The bones in his shoulders hurt as if they were being dislocated. He couldn’t help sucking in a breath.

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“Because I can’t do it,” he said.

Shen Bingsi was momentarily confused. “Can’t do what?”

“Can’t give up that stupid thought.” Rong Xie looked up. Pain made his shoulders feel somewhat numb. He stared straight into Shen Bingsi’s eyes without flinching.

“What stupid thought…” Shen Bingsi was halfway through his anger when he suddenly stopped like a duck being choked.

As long as you give up that stupid thought, we can pretend nothing happened.

I can’t give up that stupid thought.

Shen Bingsi retracted his hands as if stung, taking half a step back. He stared at Rong Xie in astonishment, wanting to say something, but ultimately averted his gaze, no longer meeting Rong Xie’s eyes.

“Why can’t you?” he said as if talking to himself. “Before… didn’t we get by just fine? Why can’t it be like before, perfectly fine…”

Rong Xie gazed at Shen Bingsi.

“You can, you can do it.” Shen Bingsi seemed to have made up his mind. “The introductory mental cultivation method of the Heartless Path, Severing Thoughts, is most effective against such sudden distracting thoughts. I’ll teach you Severing Thoughts when we get back…”

“Bingsi, it’s useless,” Rong Xie said.

“Why is it useless? How do you know if you haven’t tried?” Shen Bingsi looked up abruptly, staring at Rong Xie with annoyance.

“Because… I don’t want to cultivate the Heartless Path,” Rong Xie sighed.

To Shen Bingsi’s surprise, Rong Xie was actually smiling. Although his eyes were sad and his tone helpless, his expression was clearly a smile—a smile containing something Shen Bingsi couldn’t understand.

The agitation in Shen Bingsi’s heart rose again. He could feel something slipping out of control. If he didn’t take immediate measures, his best friend would leave him. This was something he couldn’t accept under any circumstances.

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“Fine, go then,” Shen Bingsi sneered. “Go wherever you want. Since you’ve already decided, I can’t change your mind, and Huanxue Villa can’t keep you. Go to Lanyuan, go to the Capital, go wherever. Take the heavenly treasures in my warehouse and auction them for a good price to buy a big house. Three thousand taels, five thousand taels—if that’s not enough, sell the Lightning White Orchid too. You don’t plan to reach Foundation Establishment anyway; keeping it is useless.”

Shen Bingsi knew he was wrong as soon as he said the first sentence.

But once the first sentence was out, the rest poured out one after another. Words meant to stay were spoken as words driving someone away. Clearly not meaning it, each sentence turned into a knife stabbing the heart. By the end, Shen Bingsi even sounded somewhat self-destructive, throwing out spiteful words, his voice trembling.

Dead silence.

The response was dead silence.

Shen Bingsi looked up and found Rong Xie looking at him with an indescribable expression—surprised, yet seemingly very sad.

“You don’t want me to sell the Lightning White Orchid…” Rong Xie murmured.

“You really sold the Lightning White Orchid?” Shen Bingsi asked.

Both spoke almost simultaneously, saying similar things but with entirely different emotions. Words and emotions entangled, hard to distinguish, yet the meanings shot out like arrows from the chaos, hitting their targets instantly.

They simultaneously understood each other’s meaning and knew their own meaning had been received. In this moment of exchanged thoughts, some things could no longer be undone, just as a fired arrow cannot turn back.

Shen Bingsi took a step back, looked at Rong Xie as if knowing him for the first time, then turned around and shot into the sky as a streak of golden light. A huge arc of light cut through the sky as he left cleanly, without a trace of hesitation.

The garden returned to silence. The windproof lamp by the square pavilion illuminated the empty ground. From the shadows of the rockery came faint sobbing, like a wounded small animal suppressing its pain to avoid being knocked down by cruel fate, never to rise again.

After an unknown amount of time, Rong Xie walked out of the shadows. The creases on his clothes and the dust on his face made him look incredibly wretched, but he didn’t notice. He walked forward in a daze, past the square pavilion, through the corridor, all the way to the west guest room.

He accurately found his room, opened the door, went in, bolted it, walked straight to the bed, and collapsed.

Not long after, there was a knock on the door.

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A few polite knocks. Hearing no response, the knocking stopped.

Lu Yinglin’s shadow passed the window paper and disappeared toward his own guest room.

The next morning, Rong Xie washed and groomed himself, changing into a clean moon-white long robe with an ice-blue belt at his waist and a matching ribbon in his hair. He looked in the mirror; there was nothing amiss, except his eyes were slightly swollen and his shoulder throbbed with pain.

He applied a water spirit compress for a while. Seeing it was less obvious, he got up to leave.

There were many things to do today. He had no time to think about random things. He had to muster all his spirit to deal with the Shen family and ensure no unexpected trouble arose.

When Rong Xie pushed open the door, he was startled to see the ground covered with people.

Looking closely, it was Second Uncle Shen leading Head Steward Shen and a group of servant boys holding household registration papers and various forms needed for the transfer, waiting silently at the door.

Seeing Rong Xie come out, Second Uncle Shen cleared his throat and walked up with Head Steward Shen.

“Young Master Rong, these are all the documents needed for the transfer. Steward Shen will take these boys and accompany you. You don’t need to worry about anything; just let him handle the officials at the Yamen.”

Head Steward Shen also hummed and hawed in agreement. Looking at his face, he looked even worse than Rong Xie.

“Thank you, Second Uncle.” Rong Xie bowed to Second Uncle Shen. Although he didn’t know why they were suddenly cooperating so actively, with the Old Master’s personal order, they presumably wouldn’t do anything too outrageous. The sooner he went, the sooner it would be over.

“Also, Young Master Rong, I don’t know what you told Bingsi, but he seemed to misunderstand that we were forcing you out. He made a big scene last night. You must explain it clearly to him.” Second Uncle Shen added tremblingly, constantly watching Rong Xie’s expression.

“…” Hearing Shen Bingsi’s name, Rong Xie’s heart constricted again. “I’ve already explained it to him. Second Uncle can rest assured.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Second Uncle Shen patted his chest, and Head Steward Shen dared to breathe again.

As they spoke, the door to the adjacent guest room opened, and a freshly dressed Lu Yinglin walked out. Seeing the crowd, he wasn’t too surprised. He walked up unhurriedly and greeted Rong Xie.

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“Master Lu.” Rong Xie bowed slightly.

“Junior Brother Rong, I trust you are well.” Lu Yinglin’s gaze swept over his face, pausing slightly on his brow and eyes before shifting away unnoticed.

“Isn’t this a coincidence? I also have business at the Yamen today. I wonder if Master Shen could facilitate a ride?”