Chapter 105: False Benevolence
Rong Xie looked up at the woman in the seat of honor.
He had never met this person, yet this person said he looked “familiar.” It seemed that when he first came here, this person had already seen him in private.
Rong Xie thought of the old woman who had suddenly appeared without a sound. Lu Yinglin had said the old woman was sent by the Clan Head to secretly observe him, as the Clan Head controlled the Lu family disciples’ associations very strictly. In that case, that old woman was likely sent by this “woman.”
The woman sat beside the Old Master, acting as a bridge for communication between the Old Master and others given his inconvenience. The Old Master’s intentions were entirely conveyed by the woman. The power accessible here was immense. Seeing the deferential manner of the Lu family members toward the woman, this person was likely the actual holder of power.
However, none of this surprised Rong Xie as much as the fact that this woman’s voice and appearance radiated an indescribable sense of awkwardness, as if… she were a man!
“This is Madam Mei,” Lu Yingqi’s voice rang in Rong Xie’s ear via secret sound transmission. “He is Great-Grandfather’s second wife. He manages the family affairs.”
Rong Xie suppressed the urge to ask if Madam Mei was a man and bowed to him. “Greetings, Madam Mei. Madam is correct; I came previously with Lu Yinglin.”
“Hehe, Little Brother has quite the means, managing to befriend both of our Qilin young masters,” Madam Mei laughed, his tone carrying a palpable sarcasm. “Those two have been at odds for over a decade. The family couldn’t reconcile them, yet Little Brother can come with this one today and that one tomorrow. Truly good means. It seems our two Qilin young masters will have to rely on Little Brother to mediate between them.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” Rong Xie sensed Madam Mei’s hostility. “It was merely by chance that I know both of them; we aren’t exactly friends. As for the events of ten years ago, that has nothing to do with me. I didn’t participate, so it’s not my place to comment.”
“Heh, Little Brother has a sharp tongue,” Madam Mei’s smile sank. “I haven’t asked for Little Brother’s honorable name and ancestral home?”
“Rong Xie,” Rong Xie replied. He knew these people had investigated him thoroughly long ago. Acting mysterious now was just because they found him an eyesore and wanted to intimidate him. “Currently living near Shengjing. My household registration is there too.”
“Oh? I heard that Little Brother Rong is an adopted child of our old neighbor, the Shen family, and is the attendant boy of the famous Demon-Slaying Sword Saint Shen Bingsi?” Madam Mei indeed shook out Rong Xie’s background. “I just don’t know why Sword Saint Shen’s attendant boy would come to befriend our Qilin young master and meddle in our Lu family’s affairs?”
“Madam Mei knows more than I do myself,” Rong Xie smiled. “I wasn’t aware I had become Shen Bingsi’s attendant boy.”
“What’s the difference? You don’t truly think you are a young master of the Shen family, do you?” Madam Mei laughed sarcastically.
“Not necessarily. Apart from young masters and attendant boys, the Shen family also has ordinary people,” Rong Xie said nonchalantly.
Madam Mei’s thick, dark brows furrowed. This exchange hadn’t produced the effect he wanted. Just as he was about to speak again, the Old Master began coughing violently, making “ah, ah” sounds.
A look of disgust flashed through Madam Mei’s eyes, but he quickly piled on a smile, turned his head, and leaned close to the Old Master’s mouth to listen. He nodded occasionally, then leaned to the Old Master’s ear: “I know, Little Mei is just caring about Young Master Qi’s friend, not some irrelevant idler.”
After the Old Master spoke, Madam Mei didn’t trouble Rong Xie further, turning his attention to Lu Yingqi with a face full of smiles.
Rong Xie could finally breathe a sigh of relief; talking to this male “Madam” made him uncomfortable all over.
Compared to Rong Xie, Lu Yingqi showed no sign of disdain, maintaining his icy demeanor while dealing with Madam Mei’s fiery enthusiasm. After a few exchanges, Madam Mei began arranging servants to attend to Lu Yingqi’s courtyard and, in passing, arranged for Rong Xie to stay in a guest room far from Lu Yingqi’s quarters.
Rong Xie didn’t mind. The further he was from Lu Yingqi, the more convenient his private actions would be. He had already observed that the people remaining in the Lu main house were ordinary mortals with no cultivation. The Old Master had some cultivation, but it was on the verge of drying up. Madam Mei also had cultivation, but hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment; judging by his aging appearance, he had at most the power of the third or fourth layer of Qi Refining. Rong Xie was currently in his prime, approaching the tenth layer of Qi Refining. Even in a direct confrontation, he wasn’t afraid at all.
Unexpectedly, Lu Yingqi had a different plan.
“Madam Mei need not arrange anything. We won’t be staying. We’ll leave once matters are clarified,” Lu Yingqi said.
As soon as Lu Yingqi said this, the Lu family members and Rong Xie were all shocked.
Coming all this way and not even staying? Wait, this wasn’t part of the plan.
“Yingqi, why are you leaving so soon?”
“You only come back once in ten years; you can’t just leave like this!”
“The various branches are hoping you’ll visit, meet, and chat…”
“And the little ones are waiting outside, just wanting to hear you talk about the Xuantian Sect. Sigh, you can’t go!”
The Lu family instantly surrounded Lu Yingqi. Rong Xie silently cheered for the Lu family from the periphery.
Lu Yingqi seemed somewhat troubled.
The Lu family became even more eager to keep Lu Yingqi.
Lu Yingqi’s face darkened. He released a Silence Spell, and the Lu family’s chatter came to an abrupt halt. Everyone looked like their mouths were clamped shut, staring wide-eyed but helpless.
“I returned only for this one matter, and I informed everyone in advance,” Lu Yingqi said. “If you wish to catch up and reminisce, you can find another day. I have no such plan this time.”
The Lu family couldn’t object and could only stare.
Rong Xie was secretly disappointed on the side. To think even relatives couldn’t keep Lu Yingqi. As expected of a mighty figure of the Heartless Path, he could visit home without staying a single night. It seemed he would have to find a way to drag Lu Yingqi until the Treasure Hunting Team arrived tomorrow.
Lu Yingqi separated the relatives and fixed his gaze on the Old Master. A moment later, he shifted his gaze to Madam Mei: “Madam Mei, I returned for the matter of the attendant boys. Please relinquish control over the attendant boys.”
Lu Yingqi went straight to the point, stating his demand directly. The Lu family members present were shaken. They immediately made “mm-mm-nn-nn” sounds, wanting to express their opinions, but their mouths were sealed by the Silence Spell, rendering them unable to speak.
Rong Xie was also surprised that Lu Yingqi would bring it up so directly. He immediately looked at Madam Mei and the Old Master.
The Old Master remained in his confused state, mouth half-open, leaning back in his chair, showing no reaction to Lu Yingqi’s words.
Madam Mei’s hand holding the teacup trembled. He put down the cup and said slowly, “So it is about this. It would have been enough to write a letter to ask; why come all this way? In a letter, we could have explained things more clearly and thoroughly. Why hurt the harmony face-to-face?”
“…” Lu Yingqi stared at Madam Mei. “I wrote a letter. It was useless.”
“You wrote one? Oh, right, I forgot. That letter was written a long time ago, wasn’t it? I wasn’t in charge back then. The reply should have been from the Old Master. The Old Master’s reply must have explained things more clearly than I could. Why does Young Master Qi need to come ask again?”
Rong Xie listened with secret alarm. Lu Yingqi had written home about this? Lu Yingqi hadn’t mentioned such an important thing to Little Zhi. Little Zhi thought Lu Yingqi knew nothing about the attendant boys. Now it seemed Lu Yingqi likely knew no less than Little Zhi.
If he had written a letter, things made sense. Lu Yingqi wasn’t coldly refusing to save Little Ya; rather, he already knew Little Ya couldn’t be saved and didn’t believe Lu Yinglin’s actions could save him, so he refused Lu Yinglin…
However, Lu Yingqi hadn’t told anyone about writing home to inquire about the attendant boys and receiving a reply—not even Little Zhi. That was why Lu Yinglin misunderstood him as being cold-blooded.
Some of the fixed impressions Rong Xie had of Lu Yingqi quietly loosened.
“I received the reply. I accepted the reply at the time, but times have changed. Now I have established myself in the Xuantian Sect. I have my own ways to care for the Lu family disciples who come to the Xuantian Sect. There is no need for the family to prepare attendant boys for them anymore,” Lu Yingqi said in a deep voice.
Hearing this, Madam Mei’s thick black eyebrows jumped, and the smile on his face grew stiff. “Eldest Young Master, you are now a favorite of Elder Bai, but you alone cannot care for the entire Lu family’s disciples. Even if you could, what about the disciples going to other sects? No matter how capable you are, you can’t reach into the Liujin Sect and the Lingjing Sect.”
“Then do as other noble families do: recruit children with spiritual roots to be attendant boys, rather than plundering other people’s children and modifying them into attendant boys,” Lu Yingqi said.
“Eldest Young Master, our Lu family cannot compare with those great noble clans. We are just a small family residing in a remote corner. It is thanks to this Spirit Spring Well that we have an advantage over the great clans in cultivating attendant boys. If we give up this advantage, how can our Lu family produce excellent Heartless Path sword cultivators like you?”
Madam Mei spoke righteously, delivering a long speech that sounded entirely for the sake of the Lu family. He also hinted darkly to Lu Yingqi that if not for the modified attendant boys, Lu Yingqi wouldn’t have climbed to his current position.
“Then let them recognize their families, cut the control over them, and give them the choice to stay or leave,” Lu Yingqi said.
Although Lu Yingqi didn’t say much, every word hit the mark. At this moment, Rong Xie began to believe he had truly come to solve the problem.
“Young Master Qi, you are kind-hearted, but have you considered the impact on the family? Our Lu family is a small household. Where would we find the wealth and energy to raise cultivation vessels for others for free, only to let them go freely when they grow up? Even the Charity Hall isn’t that generous.”
Madam Mei laughed, his voice full of disdain. He looked at Lu Yingqi as if looking at a naive young master who didn’t know the hardships of the world.
“Furthermore, those children were unwanted to begin with. Do their families not know what they will face when they send them here? If they sent them anyway, it means they didn’t want them. Unwanted children would freeze or starve to death if left outside. We picked them up and cultivated them with care. It is clearly a meritorious deed, yet the Eldest Young Master won’t let us perform such merit anymore!”
“Does the Eldest Young Master know that because of your one light sentence, how many children in the surrounding ten miles will die silently—in chamber pots, in ditches, in mountain hollows… The families of those children could have had a hope, but now they can’t even have that. Is the Eldest Young Master doing this to accumulate merit and do good, or just to make himself feel comfortable?”
Lu Yingqi closed his eyes, seeming unable to refute.
Madam Mei had walked up to Lu Yingqi while getting agitated, waving his handkerchief and speaking incessantly. Seeing Lu Yingqi speechless, he turned around with satisfaction.
Just as he was about to return to the seat of honor, another clear, gentle voice came from behind:
“If that is the case, treating them as proper attendant boys would be fine. Why teach them the arts of dual cultivation?”
“Whether your estate cultivates attendant boys or something else, I’m not entirely clear. Young Master Lu Yinglin told me about Little Ya. Little Ya seemed to know such things from very early on. He grew up in the Lu family and likely had no other opportunity to learn about dual cultivation, nor would he suggest dual cultivation when Lu Yinglin encountered a bottleneck. Why Little Ya knew these things—surely Madam Mei is very clear?”
Madam Mei’s face darkened, and the smile on his face vanished abruptly.
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