Chapter 19: The Shen Family
Rong Xie hadn’t expected Shen Bingsi to oppose it so fiercely. He had anticipated that Shen Bingsi wouldn’t want the Shen family getting involved, but when it came to recruiting attendant boys, they had no other choice. While the disciples of the Lingjing Sect came from good backgrounds and were honest, they were ultimately there to cultivate and learn, not to do menial chores for others. Borrowing them for a short time was fine, but keeping them in the villa for the long term would harm Shen Bingsi’s reputation if word got out.
The people sent by the Shen family would, at the very least, prioritize the family’s interests. And since the core of the Shen family’s interests was Shen Bingsi himself, they wouldn’t dare do anything too outrageous.
“The list contains many children from impoverished backgrounds. They possess spiritual roots but lack the funds for cultivation, so their families sent them to the Shen Clan Estate. I think hiring these people to work would be reliable,” Rong Xie explained.
“You’ve already investigated them?” Shen Bingsi’s tone softened slightly.
“The list includes information on their family origins and spiritual root attributes. Do you want to see it?” Seeing Shen Bingsi’s attitude waver, Rong Xie hurriedly walked to the desk, pulled open a drawer, and took out the organized roster of candidates.
Shen Bingsi took the roster and asked as he flipped through it, “How did you think of doing this?”
It wasn’t an idle question; Rong Xie was simply too well-prepared. This thick roster was clearly the result of cross-referencing and filtering multiple lists. The candidates of interest even had small notes written in lowercase script next to them. Although the content was extensive, the key points were highlighted and clear at a glance.
Rong Xie thought to himself that he had been preparing this for quite some days. It all started from the day Shen Bingsi suddenly sent a voice transmission saying Fairy Xingmiao was coming to visit the villa and asking him to prepare…
At that time, he hadn’t just prepared for the reception; he had also prepared to run away.
“Didn’t Miss Cui say it? It’s best if I don’t use spiritual power. There are so many things to do in the villa every day; I can’t handle it all without using spiritual power. With attendant boys here to help, even if they aren’t proficient in spells and talismans yet, sweeping floors and wiping tables won’t be a problem.” Rong Xie smiled.
Rong Xie’s argument was unassailable. Shen Bingsi couldn’t think of a reason to refute it for a moment, and a wave of irritability surged up within him.
“Wait a little longer,” he closed the roster and handed it back to Rong Xie. “Cui Xingmiao’s word alone isn’t final. I’ve invited other medical cultivators. They’ll be coming in a few days; let’s see what they say first.”
The medical cultivators Shen Bingsi had traveled across the three sects to find visited one after another over the next month. Everyone displayed their magical abilities, but the results were largely the same: Rong Xie wasn’t sick, he just had mediocre aptitude. He needed to use less spiritual power and simply rest.
“You can take any heavenly treasures from my vault. Can’t you look again?” Shen Bingsi grabbed the medical cultivators in frustration, refusing to let them leave. ” The world is vast and full of wonders. How can you conclude there’s no other way but to just rest?”
“There are certainly unorthodox methods, it’s just… it’s just…” When pressed, the medical cultivators offered Shen Bingsi some obscure remedies. “Find a furnace cauldron, and then…”
“Enough, get out!” Shen Bingsi pointed unceremoniously at the villa’s main gate.
When seeing them out, Rong Xie inevitably had to apologize profusely, asking the senior healers not to take offense, explaining that Shen Bingsi just had a quick temper, and promising that if they ever needed help in the future, the villa would do its utmost.
The medical cultivators didn’t take it to heart. If Shen Bingsi hadn’t helped them first, they wouldn’t have come for the consultation.
After sending away wave after wave of healers, Rong Xie’s mood shifted from the last shred of hope to numbness.
So what if he was an ordinary person? So what if his aptitude was mediocre? He was physically healthy, free of disease and disaster—how could that not be considered a blessing?
Moreover, he had figured it out. He liked Shen Bingsi and could accept Dual Cultivation with him. In that case, his aptitude didn’t matter, as long as he reached Foundation Establishment before his spiritual roots were exhausted.
As long as he used it sparingly, it would take at least three to five years to deplete his spiritual roots. That was enough time for him to learn an internal cultivation method.
Yes, the key point was that he had to treat Dual Cultivation as a serious internal cultivation method to learn. He had to put aside his shame and learn and improve together with Shen Bingsi…
Putting aside shame was the number one problem for the current Rong Xie. Overcoming difficulties required time, and learning and improving also required time. Therefore, Rong Xie’s urgent task was to delegate the daily affairs of the villa so that these trivial matters wouldn’t consume his spiritual power and time.
As for the ending three thousand chapters later… Rong Xie had already made peace with it. Life is like a journey; what matters is the scenery along the way, not the destination. Having enjoyed three thousand chapters of a happy life, paying a price was only reasonable.
“…Seems like I’m walking the old path again,” Rong Xie muttered to himself.
The version of himself in Offering the Dragon Aotian to the World had done exactly this, ultimately leading to the ending where he was killed to prove the Dao. When Rong Xie first found out, he couldn’t accept it and only wanted to escape. Now that he had calmed down and thought about it, being with the person he liked, living in Huanxue Villa which was built entirely to their liking, and spending long years together—what could be happier than this? One must be content.
“Nothing wrong with the old path. It’s flat and wide, you can see the end at a glance, and there won’t be any accidents,” Rong Xie muttered again, comforting himself.
“What old path?” Shen Bingsi’s voice came from behind. He had been wearing a dark expression lately, his temper particularly short. “Let me see that roster again.”
“Okay!” Rong Xie gathered his thoughts, fetched the roster from the desk, and walked briskly toward Shen Bingsi.
“Why do I feel like you’re so happy about bringing people in?” Shen Bingsi took the roster. “Didn’t you used to hate crowds the most? Once we recruit people, the front courtyard, back courtyard, study, and bedroom will all be full of people. Whatever we do, there will be someone staring from the side. Let’s see if you can still smile then.”
“You can rest assured about that. The first thing when they arrive is to establish their boundaries. If there are places you don’t want them to go, just forbid them from going there,” Rong Xie smiled warmly.
In the past, Shen Bingsi liked Rong Xie’s gentle smile the most. But now, he felt like he had anger with nowhere to vent, like punching a bag of cotton.
Suddenly, he thought of a possibility. Could it be that Rong Xie intended for the study and bedroom to be crowded? That way, he wouldn’t have to be alone with him.
Thinking of this, Shen Bingsi suddenly felt enlightened.
No, he wasn’t enlightened at all; he shut down.
“I leave this matter entirely to you.” Shen Bingsi handed the roster back to Rong Xie and walked away with a blank look in his eyes.
“Huh? But…”
“I’m a bit tired. Just let me know if you need me.” Shen Bingsi waved his hand, his back to Rong Xie.
“…Alright.” Although he didn’t know why a Nascent Soul grandmaster like Shen Bingsi would get tired from looking at a roster, the fact that he added that last part meant he wasn’t washing his hands of it completely. This way, Rong Xie could proceed with peace of mind.
Rong Xie sent the shortlisted names to the Shen family. Seven days later, a Spirit Falcon raised personally by the Shen family patriarch flew to the Lingjing Sect. The Shen family’s reply had arrived.
The reply was contained in a vermilion-lacquered, gold-sealed letter box. The envelope was sealed with wax and several layers of spell incantations that only a Shen family member could open; if an outsider tried to force it open, it would explode.
Rong Xie held this solemn family letter with both hands and presented it to Shen Bingsi’s desk.
“These Shen family people are really interesting.” Shen Bingsi tore open the envelope. Rong Xie leaned in as well. Inside were two thick stacks of letter paper, including a handwritten note from the patriarch, greetings from the male heirs of the main branch, and a long, flowing essay from Head Steward Shen regarding the selection of attendant boys. The gist was that Shen Bingsi had finally come around, that this matter was of grave importance, and that they would fully cooperate to select a qualified successor for the Head Butler of Huanxue Villa.
“…A dog’s mouth spits no ivory,” Shen Bingsi commented.
“How could that be? It looks like the whole page is full of ivory,” Rong Xie smiled.
On the agreed day of the meeting.
Rong Xie went to the entrance of the Mountain Protection Array early in the morning to pick them up. Unexpectedly, Head Steward Shen had arrived even earlier than him. When he reached the entrance, he saw a mass of black heads—all half-grown children.
These children were lined up in four neat rows, standing like frightened quails. At the very front of the group, a tall, thin, dark-skinned middle-aged man was negotiating with the guards of the Mountain Protection Array.
“You can’t bring this many children in! It doesn’t matter whose handwritten letter you have!” The guards raised their long spears and slammed them on the ground.
“This is for selecting attendant boys for the Great Sword Saint Shen, one of the cultivation world’s three Adjudicators, the Master of Huanxue Villa, Shen Bingsi. If something goes wrong, can you bear the responsibility?” Head Steward Shen shook the letter in his hand, speaking with a haughty expression.
“That still won’t do! The approved quota from above is twelve people. Not one more!” The guards were also very principled.
“Who is your supervisor? Call your supervisor to speak with me!” Seeing that putting on airs wasn’t working, Head Steward Shen became exasperated. “You people who don’t know the gravity of the situation, I tell you, no one does things like this! The future of the Lingjing Sect will be ruined in your hands!”
Seeing that Head Steward Shen and the guards were locked in a stalemate, Rong Xie hurried over to separate them.
However, Head Steward Shen did not thank Rong Xie for his appearance.
“Little Rong, how do you handle things? Why were we stopped by the guards? Didn’t you communicate this in advance?”
Rong Xie wasn’t surprised by Head Steward Shen’s counter-accusation. He smiled: “Uncle Shen, the preliminary list from the Second Young Master indeed only had eleven names. We only applied for twelve entry slots.”
“Don’t pretend in front of me. Others might not know you, but do you think I don’t? You definitely drafted that list. Would the Second Young Master care about such trivial matters?” Head Steward Shen sneered.
Rong Xie took a deep breath, telling himself that dealing with the Shen family meant swallowing some petty grievances. They never listened to others and only did things their own way.
After all, these people shared the same bloodline as Shen Bingsi, so it was better not to offend them. He would just deal with the matter at hand. Once the selection of attendant boys was over and he sent this ‘great deity’ away, he could proceed to the next step of his plan.
“Uncle Shen has misunderstood. I don’t have such great authority. The preliminary list was decided by the Second Young Master. The letter you hold even bears his seal; he cares about this matter very much.” Rong Xie smiled.
“Is that so?” Head Steward Shen’s expression improved significantly. He smoothed out the corners of the letter, admired the seal of the Adjudicator (which Rong Xie had specifically asked Shen Bingsi to stamp) once more, and carefully tucked it into his breast pocket. “Since it is the Second Young Master’s will, we will follow it. But these children are all excellent; will he really not look over them…”
“We can arrange for them to stay at the inn in Welcome Town at the foot of the mountain first,” Rong Xie cut off Head Steward Shen’s words preemptively. “I will arrange this matter. Uncle Shen, please bring the others inside first.”
Head Steward Shen was slightly unhappy, but Rong Xie had given him a way out, and he had to take it. For some reason, he felt like he was being managed by this young steward. “…Fine, the big picture is what matters.”
A short while later, Head Steward Shen led the eleven candidate attendant boys to the main gate of Huanxue Villa. The group was collectively shocked by the scale and grandeur of the villa, standing outside the walls in a daze for a while.
“Such a large villa, yet there isn’t even anyone to answer the door or pass a message.” Head Steward Shen waited for a long time without seeing anyone come out. He recalled the last time Nanny Wang brought her youngest son and hit a wall at Huanxue Villa; she told everyone she met how big and fine the villa was, but that it was empty inside, without even a servant to wait on anyone, and that Rong Xie was enjoying the Second Young Master’s exclusive favor all by himself.
At the time, Head Steward Shen thought Nanny Wang was just spouting nonsense after being rejected. How could such a large villa not have a single person answering the door? Even if the Second Young Master didn’t accept the Shen family, the Lingjing Sect should have sent some pages and maids to wait on their young Adjudicator.
Now it seemed Nanny Wang really hadn’t been talking nonsense. When he got in front of the Second Young Master, he would have to have a good talk about this.
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