Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 6

Chapter 6: A Sleepless Night

【? Isn’t this supposed to be a standard male-lead power fantasy? Why is the male lead’s true love a man? What a waste of my time!】

【Everyone stop arguing. I think this result is totally reasonable. The Ice Emperor doesn’t love anyone, so if he has to love someone, it has to be the person who treats him the best. Who’s more suitable than a live-in male nanny?】

【Bullshit! I think the author just didn’t want to offend either side. Goddess Miao accompanied him the whole way only to sacrifice herself in the end, and let’s not even mention Miss Yingying who challenged the Heavenly Demon alone. I just hope Old Shen doesn’t make things difficult. If you were the author, who would you choose? Choosing anyone would get you flamed to death! Might as well choose a random passerby.】

【Well-reasoned and convincing.】

【The author’s writing is grand and atmospheric. Finishing this novel left me with lingering emotions. Pure enjoyment. Say no more, dropping a money bomb now!】

【Is the author already using AI to suppress comments? Negative review!】

【Try reading the first character of each sentence together?】

【I understand the logic, but who is Rong Xie?】

【The “Wife” in his heart was actually that man! The Head Butler of Huanxue Villa, the forever reliable rear guard, his lifelong bosom friend—Rong Xie!】

【RIP your mom, don’t quote the original text.】

…

The phrasing of the comments was even harder to understand than the novel itself, but Rong Xie still grasped the emotions behind them.

Clearly, readers were dissatisfied with the result that Shen Bingsi’s true love was him.

In the book, he was just a minor supporting character with very few scenes—Shen Bingsi’s butler, a human-shaped spatial bag, appearing only through “phone calls” (another name for the Transmission Jade).

Compared to Fairy Xing Miao, who had deep ties with Shen Bingsi, or Miss Yingying, he was completely insignificant.

Readers believed he was just a “tool man” pushed out by the author to avoid offending anyone.

“Tool man.” From the moment he saw this term, Rong Xie understood its meaning.

Not reading the comments was fine, but reading them made Rong Xie feel like a joke.

He was killed inexplicably, inexplicably became Shen Bingsi’s “Wife,” his death saved the world, and in the end, he was told he wasn’t worthy of Shen Bingsi, just a tool grabbed at random by the author.

No one cared about his feelings.

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If he had the chance to do it over, he would stay far away from Shen Bingsi, leave Huanxue Villa, find a quiet place, and live a plain, stable life.

He didn’t want to experience such earth-shattering heartbreak again…

“Rong Xie? Rong Xie?”

A familiar voice called by his ear.

Rong Xie opened his eyes. In the darkness, a black shadow was hovering right over his face.

Rong Xie sucked in a cold breath and drove his knee upward. With a muffled grunt, the heavy thing pressing on him rolled off.

“Ugh…”

Rong Xie took out a luminous pearl from under his pillow, illuminating Shen Bingsi, who was curled up like a shrimp, clutching his stomach.

Panic seized Rong Xie instantly. He reached out to pull at Shen Bingsi’s sleeve. “Where did I hit you? Let me see, quick…”

Shen Bingsi clutched his stomach tightly, his face twisted, veins popping on his forehead. “It’s fine. It’s a useless part anyway.”

Rong Xie’s face flushed red, his gaze darting away slightly. “Don’t say that…”

“Then what should I say?” Shen Bingsi pressed.

“A-After all, our bodies, hair, and skin are given by our parents; we shouldn’t damage them…” Halfway through, Rong Xie suddenly realized something. He looked up to see Shen Bingsi watching him with a grin, showing no sign of discomfort. “Y-You’re fine?”

“I’ve passed the Nascent Soul stage, after all. Even without activating my protective aura, I’m not that easily injured.” Shen Bingsi stared at Rong Xie’s face. “But you… why were you crying?”

“I wasn’t crying.” Rong Xie froze. The next moment, Shen Bingsi’s hand was already on his cheek. Fingers, slightly calloused from years of gripping a sword, brushed over the soft skin beneath Rong Xie’s eyes. Shen Bingsi murmured, “Still saying you didn’t cry? It’s all wet here.”

Rong Xie felt as if he’d been electrocuted. He shrank back into the bed quickly, wiping his face indiscriminately with his sleeve. “Mm, it’s nothing. I had a nightmare.”

Rong Xie’s evasive attitude caught Shen Bingsi’s attention.

However, the concern was fleeting and left no mark.

“What nightmare?” Shen Bingsi laughed. “Don’t tell me you failed your swordsmanship exam and hid away to cry?”

Rong Xie’s mind was a mess; he didn’t know how to answer.

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Seeing his silence, Shen Bingsi was surprised. “Did I actually guess right? Hey, no big deal. I’ll sneak into that old ox-nose Ling Yunzi’s room and steal the register, change your grade to A-plus. You can dream about that for the rest of the night.”

“Mm…”

Thinking he had perfectly solved Rong Xie’s problem, Shen Bingsi balled up the quilt end to use as a pillow under his ear, faced Rong Xie, closed his eyes, and prepared to sleep.

Suddenly, he felt a small force pushing him.

“Hm?”

“Can you… sleep over there?” His best friend asked gently.

“No.” Shen Bingsi didn’t even open his eyes, tyrannically occupying the spot right next to Rong Xie’s pillow. “Go to sleep. I’ll go into your dream and beat up that old ox-nose later.”

In the darkness, Rong Xie gazed at Shen Bingsi’s sleeping face.

His brows were bold and spirited, his lips thin and well-defined, showing extraordinary willpower. The corners of his mouth naturally curved upward, brimming with confidence about everything, sometimes bordering on arrogance. Yet, when his face darkened, he was terrifyingly unapproachable, his cold aura enough to intimidate many veterans older than him.

The same face, at the end of the novel, looked soul-lost, like a stray dog. His eyes, usually like black jade, had lost their luster, soaked in a sorrow so thick it couldn’t be dissolved.

“Rong Er, it won’t hurt much…”

Why would it come to that? Why? Where exactly did it go wrong?

Was it something he did wrong in the future? Was it… because he agreed to Dual Cultivation? Was that why Shen Bingsi developed feelings beyond friendship for him? Or was it his lack of boundaries in daily life, always letting the other party hug him and share a bed? Even for best friends, this was too much…

Cold sweat broke out on Rong Xie’s back. He seemed to have realized the root of the problem. But these things he usually ignored and allowed had ultimately led to such a terrifying result. He couldn’t treat them lightly anymore.

To prevent the same tragedy from happening again, he should stay away from Shen Bingsi. He should leave Huanxue Villa and cut off the possibility of ruining Shen Bingsi’s Dao Heart at the source. That way, Shen Bingsi would have no obstacles in his cultivation, and Rong Xie wouldn’t die tragically at the hands of the person who made his heart flutter, the moment those feelings blossomed.

But… if he left Huanxue Villa, where could he go?

Rong Xie looked at Shen Bingsi’s sleeping face and thought about many, many things.

Shen Bingsi slept exceptionally well, even starting to snore lightly.

…

In the latter half of the night, Rong Xie turned his pillow upright to block Shen Bingsi’s face, barely managing to sleep for a while.

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Early the next morning.

Sunlight climbed up the window lattice, shining on the floor in front of the bed.

Shen Bingsi hadn’t slept this soundly in a long time.

As a cultivator, he didn’t actually need sleep. Perhaps his advancement was too fast and he hadn’t shaken off mortal habits, or maybe after running around for so long, returning home to his best friend made him unable to resist relaxing.

The air was filled with a pleasant scent. Such a morning was intoxicating. The smell of soap pods mixed with old books—he could never get enough of it. It was Rong Xie’s scent.

Eyes closed, Shen Bingsi hugged the nearest long object, pulling it into his arms and nuzzling his face against it.

“Mmh…” A comfortable nasal sound.

He rolled over, his leg naturally extending into Rong Xie’s quilt. Rong Xie’s skin was great to touch—smooth, warm, and soft, like heated jade. It was more suitable for skin-to-skin contact than any high-quality silk.

But this time, he stretched for a long while and encountered no obstruction.

Shen Bingsi opened his eyes in confusion.

The long object in his arms was Rong Xie’s pillow. Rong Xie wasn’t in bed.

Shen Bingsi brazenly stuck his leg further into Rong Xie’s quilt. It was cold.

“Hm? Where did he go this early?”

Shen Bingsi did a lap around the garden but didn’t find anyone. He began to realize the severity of the situation.

The washed clothes were still piled in the basin, unhung; the kitchen stove was cold, with nothing to eat; Rong Xie’s Transmission Jade was on the desk, not with him.

A thick sense of foreboding shrouded his heart.

Could it be… Could a demon that appeared once in a millennium have emerged and kidnapped Rong Xie?!

It wasn’t that Shen Bingsi had an overactive imagination; it was just that Huanxue Villa’s defenses were impregnable. Located in the Huanxue Valley, the heartland of the Lingjing Sect, no one could breach the sect’s mountain-protecting array easily. On top of that, Shen Bingsi had added nine layers of barriers the year he moved in, from the main gate to the backyard. To enter without alerting him, there was only one possibility: a millennium-rare demon had appeared, and existing defenses were ineffective against it.

Shen Bingsi felt a prickling pain in his scalp. Subconsciously, he clenched his fists. Every minute he delayed his decision, his friend’s chance of survival decreased by a fraction.

Shen Bingsi took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and levitated into mid-air. Golden light flickered on his forehead as his vast spiritual consciousness surged out like a tide, rushing in all directions, covering the entire Huanxue Valley in an instant.

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At the same time, the elders on various peaks of the Lingjing Sect stopped their morning lectures, turning in shock and suspicion toward Huanxue Valley—What’s wrong with our Adjudicator? unleashing such power first thing in the morning? Has something big happened?

Shen Bingsi’s vast consciousness lasted only a moment before finding the object of his intense worry.

On a mountain path, Rong Xie was carrying a fish basket. A live fish was flopping inside, its brute force causing Rong Xie quite a bit of trouble. He held the basket as far away as possible while trying to maintain his balance, resulting in a weird, twisting walk as he descended the mountain toward Huanxue Valley.

So he went to buy fish.

Shen Bingsi let out a heavy breath.

Transforming into a golden beam of light, he flew toward the valley, appearing before Rong Xie with a whoosh, and reached out to take the fish basket.

“Why did you think of buying fish so early in the morning?” Shen Bingsi asked with a frown, his tone carrying a hint of anger born from relief. “The market is so far away. If you wanted fish, just tell me. I could have gone to buy it, couldn’t I?”

Rong Xie’s face was flushed. The morning exercise had got his blood flowing, and his spirits were much better than during the night. He looked at Shen Bingsi with bright eyes, wanting to say something, but in the end, just gave an “Mm.”

“And your Transmission Jade. How could you go out without it? I wanted to contact you but couldn’t, so I had to use my spiritual consciousness to search, alerting all the elders. I won’t hear the end of it today.” Shen Bingsi preemptively laid the groundwork for the ensuing chaos.

“Ah… sorry.” Rong Xie hadn’t expected Shen Bingsi to cause such a huge commotion and felt a twinge of guilt.

Seeing Rong Xie lower his head, Shen Bingsi’s earlier annoyance vanished completely. He figured Rong Xie must have gone to the market early specifically to prepare a welcome-home feast for him.

“I don’t blame you. What are you making today? I want sliced fish soup.” Shen Bingsi put an arm around Rong Xie’s waist. They lifted off the ground together, gliding smoothly toward the main gate of Huanxue Villa.

Rong Xie wanted to refuse such an intimate gesture, but Shen Bingsi had already taken him into the air, so he had to lean against Shen Bingsi’s arm. The moment his feet touched the ground, he immediately stepped away.

That feeling of unease surfaced again. Shen Bingsi’s gaze narrowed slightly as he looked at Rong Xie.

Rong Xie raised his sleeve to wipe his forehead. His breathing was unsteady, but he answered gently, “Sliced fish soup it is. Freshly sliced meat, deep-fried bones, and soup stewed from the head. It’ll be ready when you get back from the Mirror Palace.”

Shen Bingsi looked delighted. He walked up the steps shoulder-to-shoulder with Rong Xie, entered the house, chatted incessantly about nothing important, changed his outer robe, and then left for the Mirror Palace in high spirits to report on his mission.

Watching Shen Bingsi leave, Rong Xie returned to the kitchen and sighed softly.

He had actually planned to leave this morning. Yes, leave Huanxue Villa for good.

But once outside the villa, facing the towering mountains of the Lingjing Sect, he realized that leaving wasn’t so easy.

After walking on the mountain path for an hour, he finally reached the first populated place—the Outer Sect Market.

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Rong Xie wandered around the market twice. Spotting an old fisherman with decent attire and a simple smile, he hesitated again and again before approaching.

The old fisherman enthusiastically invited Rong Xie to look at his fresh catch. His rough fingers precisely grabbed a plump Heyang fish and held it up to Rong Xie’s eyes. “Sir, look at this! A Heyang fish caught fresh today! It’s so fresh. Soup, steamed, or fried, it’ll be delicious!”

Rong Xie hesitated. “Alright, I’ll buy this fish… But could you chat with me? Where do you live? Is this business easy to do?”

“Sure thing!” The old fisherman stood up nimbly, strung the fish on a scale, and while adjusting the weights, started rambling. “Sir, if you want to hear it, I’ll tell you. Life is getting impossible to live…”

And so, for the next hour, Rong Xie was held captive by the fisherman’s complaints. By the time he snapped out of his dizzy spell, the sky was fully bright.

Startled, Rong Xie realized Shen Bingsi would be worried if he didn’t return soon. He hurriedly thanked the fisherman and took his leave. It seemed that leaving the villa required a more comprehensive plan.

As he walked away, he heard the fisherman sigh behind him: “Where is there a quiet life to be had? It’s all sins from past lives. Only someone like you, Sir, born to enjoy blessings and never having suffered, would call our fishing and woodcutting a ‘quiet life.’ Heh…”