Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 80

Chapter 80: I’ll Cover It

Shen Bingsi flew on his sword all the way to Pleasure City, governed by the Gilded Gold Sect, heading straight for the headquarters of the Yuanbao Auction House.

He entered looking like a baleful star seeking to assign blame, slamming the counter and demanding the owner of the Yuanbao Auction House come out to speak.

The owner wasn’t there, but the Head Chamberlain in charge of all affairs was settling accounts in the back. Hearing the Adjudicator had arrived, he hurried out to welcome him.

“What? Lightning White Orchid? You mean… someone pawned your precious sword?” The Head Chamberlain’s expression changed. He called a helper to bring the collateral registry while inviting Shen Bingsi to sit in the reception room in the back.

The biggest taboo for an auction house was pawning valuable items of unknown origin. Ordinary collateral was one thing, but for precious collateral like the famous Lightning White Orchid, the source and ownership had to be traced. Shen Bingsi storming in to assign blame made the Head Chamberlain mistakenly think a subordinate manager had inadvertently accepted stolen goods and given money to a thief. Now that the rightful owner had come knocking, causing the auction house to lose both money and goods—losing money and goods was bearable, but the key was that the auction house’s golden reputation in the industry would be tarnished. If he found out which fool did this, he would punish them severely.

While soothing Shen Bingsi’s emotions, the Head Chamberlain flipped through the registry brought by the helper, searching line by line. Finally, the entry for “Lightning White Orchid” appeared under his finger. The Head Chamberlain put on crystal spectacles to look—

“Lu Yinglin? Old Lu? How could he make such a muddled mistake?”

“He is muddled. Hurry up and dismiss him,” Shen Bingsi said impatiently. Hearing Lu Yinglin’s name made him feel like a fly was buzzing around his head—not threatening, but very annoying.

“This…” The Head Chamberlain hesitated. Lu Yinglin was a pillar of their auction house with an excellent reputation. How could he make such a rookie mistake? “Sword Saint Shen, could there be a misunderstanding? Why don’t we start investigating from the person who pawned it—Rong Xie. Has Sword Saint Shen heard this name?”

“I have. He’s my friend. What about it?” Shen Bingsi was puzzled.

“…The current situation seems to be that no matter how much you guard against outsiders, it’s hard to guard against those inside. Your friend stole this sword…” The Head Chamberlain followed Shen Bingsi’s lead, but suddenly noticed Shen Bingsi staring at him furiously.

“Who said he stole this sword? I gave him this sword!” Shen Bingsi was livid, looking ready to draw his sword for his friend’s reputation.

The Head Chamberlain was bewildered by his words. “N-not stolen by your friend?”

“No!”

“Then that’s strange. Since the sword belongs to him, there is no problem with this pawn. What is the reason for Sword Saint Shen’s interrogation?” The Head Chamberlain looked at Shen Bingsi in confusion.

Sponsored

“Of course there’s no problem with this pawn. I’m asking—wait, you said this sword is pawned, not auctioned?” Shen Bingsi suddenly realized something, eyes widening as he grabbed the catalog in front of the Head Chamberlain, locking his gaze onto the line for “Lightning White Orchid.”

Indeed: Pawn, Live Pawn, Three Years.

Although Shen Bingsi didn’t know what the squiggly marks on the catalog meant, he recognized the three normally written terms “Pawn,” “Live Pawn,” and “Three Years.”

Even so, he pointed at these three terms and patiently asked the Head Chamberlain what they meant.

“This means the Lightning White Orchid is in a pawned state. It’s a live pawn, redeemable at any time,” although the Head Chamberlain didn’t know why Shen Bingsi’s attitude suddenly improved, adhering to the principle of welcoming guests, he explained the meaning of this entry carefully. “The pawn term chosen is the longest: three years. This means within three years, without the owner’s permission, the auction house cannot resell the collateral privately. If three years pass and the owner hasn’t redeemed the collateral, the live pawn becomes a dead pawn, and its disposal is entirely up to the auction house.”

Shen Bingsi listened earnestly, nodding as he listened, as if he were genuinely interested in the auction house’s pawn system.

“However, our auction house’s Manager Lu has always had good credit. The ownership of the Lightning White Orchid should have been verified repeatedly by him. If Sword Saint Shen has no objection to the ownership of this sword, this pawn is valid, and our disbursement is reasonable,” the Head Chamberlain emphasized again.

“Of course,” Shen Bingsi replied crisply.

“Then there’s no problem.” The Head Chamberlain closed the collateral registry. “I wonder why Sword Saint Shen came to assign blame?”

The Head Chamberlain had a temper too. Even if Shen Bingsi had extraordinary status, storming to the Yuanbao Auction House counter to slam the table affected their business. Without a reasonable explanation, it was hard for the Head Chamberlain to pretend nothing happened.

“Oh…” Knowing he was in the wrong, Shen Bingsi touched his neck and said, “Although I gave this sword to my friend, I put a lot of effort into it and don’t want it falling into a third person’s hands for nothing. You can understand this feeling, right?”

The Head Chamberlain wore a polite but distant smile. Shen Bingsi’s image in his heart had plummeted. He hadn’t expected the famed Adjudicator of the cultivation world, the young and promising Demon-Slaying Sword Saint, to be such a stingy person!

Wanting to control how a gift is used after giving it away—pawn or auction? Only those poor, sour scholars would possess such strong possessiveness over a gift after falling out with a friend, right?

“Cough, actually I wanted to say, if this sword is to be sold, could you contact me first? I am willing to buy it back at a high price,” Shen Bingsi said.

Hearing this, the Head Chamberlain’s expression cleared instantly, becoming radiant. He said with a face full of smiles, “Of course, no problem. Sword Saint Shen can buy it now if you wish. As long as the bid is above thirty-five thousand spirit stones, our auction house can go negotiate with the original owner.”

Sponsored

Shen Bingsi cursed “profiteer” inwardly. He bought it for only thirty thousand spirit stones, and now they raised it to thirty-five thousand. Moreover, he was certain the loan given to Rong Xie for this live pawn wasn’t this high; half would be optimistic.

“That won’t be necessary. I see he just pawned it here temporarily; he doesn’t truly want to sell. He’ll redeem it eventually. I’m just saying, if it really reaches the step where he can’t redeem it, I’ll come to cover it,” Shen Bingsi said confidently.

“Hehe, that’s hard to say. People who come to pawn treasures all think they can redeem them at first. As time passes, variables increase. If the owner is in a hurry to sell and we can’t find you, what then? I can’t give this promise.” The Head Chamberlain was an old fox too; he wouldn’t do something with no benefit.

“That’s because you don’t know him. He…” Shen Bingsi wanted to introduce how sentimental and nostalgic his best friend was, but on second thought, why introduce him to this profiteer? He just sneered, “Fine. It’s just thirty-five thousand spirit stones, right? I’ll pre-order it. If he redeems it, pretend this never happened. If he doesn’t, I’ll buy it. Is that acceptable?”

The Head Chamberlain beamed, rubbing his hands repeatedly. “This is good, this is good. Sword Saint Shen is generous after all. I’ll go notify Lu Yinglin right now to stop this bidding.”

“Then I’ll trouble the Head Chamberlain.” Shen Bingsi cupped his hands. Goal achieved, and with no excuse for the fly to buzz around Rong Xie anymore, Shen Bingsi felt refreshed and strode out of the Yuanbao Auction House, head held high.

This trip yielded a bountiful harvest. When Shen Bingsi returned to Huanxue Villa, his complexion had changed. Seeing the three younger ones eating on the steps in front of the kitchen, he even actively threw them spirit stones, telling them to go to the town’s stonemason to have a new stone table made.

Shen Bingsi entered the middle gate happily, leaving the three younger ones looking at each other in dismay.

“What’s up with the Villa Master now? Did he really go find Brother Rong?” Dragon Shaoye asked with mouth shapes.

“Impossible.” Shen Yan patted his pocket and shook his head at the two, meaning he had already contacted Rong Xie via transmission stone, and Rong Xie hadn’t mentioned anything unusual.

The three played charades for a long time without concluding anything. Finally, they decided Shen Yan would use the opportunity of cleaning to go in and spy on intelligence.

Since Rong Xie left Huanxue Villa, the backyard had been opened to the three younger ones. Considering Shen Bingsi’s limited cleaning abilities, the specific work of managing the villa was still done by Shen Yan and the others. Therefore, their appearance anywhere was reasonable.

At this moment, in Rong Xie’s bedroom.

Shen Bingsi spread his own bedding on Rong Xie’s empty bed and lay sideways on it. A silk net hung from the bed canopy, holding a night-luminescent pearl similar in size to Rong Xie’s old one—Shen Bingsi had found this in storage. Rong Xie’s pearl had long been classified as Rong Xie’s property and left with its owner, leaving only this abandoned one to accompany the equally abandoned Shen Bingsi.

However, right now, Shen Bingsi had swept away his dejection and was enthusiastically reading the letter Rong Xie sent. He had read it several times, but that didn’t stop it from being fresh every time, especially when combined with the vivid impressions from his field trip. The letter became even more interesting. Unknowingly, Shen Bingsi was engrossed.

Sponsored

Until a dull thud came from the floor beside the bed. Shen Bingsi looked up, shifting his gaze from the letter to stare coldly at the ground.

“What are you doing?”

Shen Yan, who had pretended to fall, climbed up from the ground and showed Shen Bingsi the rag in his hand. “Reporting to the Villa Master, I’m wiping the floor.”

“Wiping the floor? Now?” Shen Bingsi raised an eyebrow.

“Mm…”

While Shen Yan was still inventing a reason, Shen Bingsi magnanimously let him off. “Fine, wipe if you want.”

Shen Yan’s eyelid twitched. Something is definitely up.

“Villa Master, where have you been… these past few days?” Shen Yan asked tentatively.

“Didn’t your Brother Rong tell you not to ask where the Villa Master goes?” Shen Bingsi’s gaze remained on the letter paper.

“He did say that…” Shen Yan thought of the long list of Villa Master taboos Rong Xie summarized. So the Villa Master knows he has many faults.

“However, I’m in a good mood today, so telling you is no harm,” Shen Bingsi said in a light tone, seemingly casual. “Your Brother Rong might be coming back very soon.”

“??” Shen Yan jerked his head up, looking at Shen Bingsi in disbelief.

“Sigh, life outside isn’t easy. Renting a house to experience it is one thing, but it’s not a long-term plan after all.”

Shen Bingsi leisurely switched legs, crossing them in a more comfortable posture. The corners of his mouth could no longer be suppressed, curling almost to the sky.

Two days later, Shen Yan finally found an opportunity to go to Yingbin Town. He observed the surroundings carefully, ensuring no one noticed him, before taking out the transmission jade pendant to contact Rong Xie.

Sponsored

He told Rong Xie about Shen Bingsi’s abnormal behavior over the past two days, speculating that Shen Bingsi might have already been to Lanyuan. Moreover, whatever he saw there made him certain Rong Xie couldn’t make it out there and would return sooner or later.

“Brother Rong, are you really doing okay?” Shen Yan asked worriedly.

“I guess so,” Rong Xie said somewhat hesitantly. At this time, he hadn’t found a money-making livelihood yet and was anxious, so he didn’t sound very certain.

However, when exactly did Shen Bingsi come? Since when did the always direct and reckless man sneak around eavesdropping on people?

Rong Xie clutched the transmission stone in annoyance, thinking back for a while. Suddenly, a hunched figure surfaced in his mind.

“It can’t be…”