Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 20

Chapter 20: Showing Sharpness

Rong Xie settled the children from the Shen family and gave the innkeeper some money, instructing him to find reliable people to look after these children specifically, and not to let them leave the inn before dark until Head Steward Shen returned.

“Rest assured, Immortal Master, I recognize that dark, thin steward; he lodged here last night,” the innkeeper said with a smile.

“Then I’m relieved. Many thanks, innkeeper,” Rong Xie cupped his hands in thanks.

“By the way, Immortal Master, that dark, thin steward left in a hurry this morning and left two people behind. Please see if—”

Before the innkeeper finished speaking, a familiar shout came from the stairs:

“Wang Mu, hurry up and kowtow to your Brother Rong! Beg him to accept you, this pitiful, unwanted youngest brother!”

Immediately following was a series of thumping footsteps running down the stairs, running all the way behind Rong Xie, and with a thud, kneeling on the floor.

Rong Xie felt a tug on the hem of his robe and had to hold onto his belt. Turning around, he saw, as expected, the familiar top of a head with a small bun, turning back and forth at this moment, looking back for his mother’s instructions.

Rong Xie was delayed at the inn for some time, and by the time he set off again, the sun had already risen.

He felt a bit anxious, wondering how things were going on Shen Bingsi’s side, and quickened his pace. However, the two people dragging behind him couldn’t walk fast—

His foster mother dragged Wang Mu along, one old and one young, exerting all their strength to keep up with Rong Xie’s pace, but it wasn’t easy.

Rong Xie stopped and sighed.

“Mother, the attendant boy assessment is very strict. Wang Mu may not necessarily pass. Must you take him there?” Rong Xie asked.

The foster mother smiled apologetically, “Go, of course we go. How will we know if we don’t try?”

“Alright, wait a moment. I’ll set up a formation to take you there,” Rong Xie said.

Under the amazed gazes of his foster mother and Wang Mu, Rong Xie took out a stack of talismans that he had asked Shen Bingsi to write beforehand, placed them in corresponding positions on the ground, touched them one by one with his finger, then stood up, quickly forming hand seals, activating the talismans with spiritual energy, and slowly lifting off the ground.

“Whoa, flying! He’s flying!” Wang Mu shouted excitedly.

“What ‘he’, call him Brother Rong!” The foster mother slapped Wang Mu. “Learn well from Brother Rong. He is a serious great cultivator who was admitted to the Lingjing Sect’s inner sect. He knows no less about these talismans and spells than the Second Young Master.”

Rong Xie knew his foster mother said this at this juncture to curry favor with him, hoping he would be lenient during the assessment. However, it was rare that his foster mother still remembered he had once studied in the inner sect.

“Mother, please come here and hold onto me.” Rong Xie extended his hand to the old woman and the child.

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After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the three landed in front of the main gate of Huanxue Villa.

Wang Mu darted out as soon as he landed. Rong Xie tried to grab him but failed, so he had to attend to his foster mother first.

The foster mother hadn’t spoken the whole way, clutching Rong Xie’s arm tightly. Now that her feet were firmly on the ground, she let go of Rong Xie and gasped for breath.

“Scared me to death, scared me to death!” The foster mother patted her chest.

“Mother, rest a while before going in.” Rong Xie put away the spiritual talismans and rubbed the inner side of his upper arm, which was aching from being pinched. “Uncle Shen and the others should have already started.”

The main gate was half-open, and voices from the courtyard could be faintly heard. The foster mother immediately became anxious and scolded Wang Mu in a low voice, telling him to hurry up and get over here.

Wang Mu was peeking through the crack in the door. Hearing his mother’s summons, he came down from the steps, jumped to the old woman’s side in two or three steps, and shouted in a suppressed voice, “Mom, we came for nothing. Let’s go back!”

“What nonsense are you talking about! You wasteful thing!” The foster mother was furious upon hearing this and slapped Wang Mu’s head hard, causing him to stagger.

Rong Xie felt a chill watching from the side, but Wang Mu was thick-skinned. He rubbed his head and said carelessly, “Mom, they’re taking a written exam inside. We’re not cut out for that. We can’t write or compose essays, so why join in the fun?”

“What do you mean can’t write! What about the Thousand Character Classic and Children’s Words your Uncle Qiu taught you to write?” The foster mother’s anger, which had just subsided, rose again. She raised her palm to hit Wang Mu again, but unexpectedly, her palm couldn’t fall in mid-air, as if blocked by an invisible wall of air.

“What’s the noise!” A voice came from the lakeside, and someone walked over quickly.

“Brother Rong, don’t interfere. This child just needs a beating—” The foster mother stopped halfway through her sentence, suddenly realizing that the person who had just spoken to stop her wasn’t Rong Xie. Her neck stiffened, her cheeks prickled, and she slowly turned her head.

She saw a handsome young man of twenty-six or twenty-seven walking along the river. His steps were swift and his demeanor radiant; at a glance, he was no ordinary mortal.

The foster mother opened her mouth wide, staring blankly as the young man approached.

The young man’s gaze swept over her face once, frowning, but said nothing, and started talking to Rong Xie.

“Why did you come back so late? You made me wait outside for a good while,” the young man complained, but his tone carried a hint of intimacy.

“What were you waiting for outside? Uncle Shen wouldn’t let you in?” Rong Xie laughed.

“How is that possible? I just didn’t want to see him. Seeing him means a pile of rambling nonsense. By the way, he’s still giving a speech inside right now.” The young man gave a thumbs up, pointing to the half-open door behind him.

“He can talk even by himself? How did you give him the exam papers?” Rong Xie asked in surprise.

“I put them on the stone table and cast a Flash Spell. They’ll see them as soon as they go in. Barriers are set up on all four sides of the courtyard; they can only obediently take the exam there and go nowhere else.” The young man proudly showed off to Rong Xie how he managed to handle everything without showing his face.

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“Mm… clever!” Rong Xie clapped his hands.

The young man beamed, seemingly enjoying the praise very much.

The guess in the foster mother’s heart vaguely settled, but she still couldn’t believe this young man was the famous Second Young Master—how noble a person the Second Young Master was, how could he say so much to Rong Xie, a lowly steward? Although the two were childhood best friends, the difference in status was there. With age, the feelings between them should have faded. The last time she came to Huanxue Villa, Shen Bingsi’s voice heard through the transmission jade pendant was quite impatient. The foster mother always felt that was the normal attitude.

Just as she suspected she might be mistaken, Rong Xie turned around.

“This is Nanny Wang from the Shen Clan Estate, and this child is her youngest son, Wang Mu,” Rong Xie introduced to the young man.

The young man nodded once, the remaining smile on his face disappearing, seemingly very impatient with the outsiders who came today.

Then, Rong Xie turned to his foster mother: “Mother, you haven’t seen him for a long time, maybe you don’t recognize him anymore? This is the Second Young Master.”

The foster mother’s eyes widened, staring at Shen Bingsi for a long time.

Suddenly, she squared her shoulders, raised her arms high, and bowed down to Shen Bingsi, shouting, “This old servant greets the Second Young Master—”

Shen Bingsi’s expression changed. He turned half a step to the left, refusing her grand gesture, while simultaneously transforming spiritual energy into an air cushion to support the foster mother’s arms, preventing her from bowing down.

Having done this series of practiced movements, Shen Bingsi still had the leisure to give Rong Xie a look, meaning—”I knew this would happen.”

Rong Xie smiled helplessly and stepped forward to support his foster mother: “Mother, no need for such a grand ceremony. Didn’t you want to take Wang Mu in for the exam? It’s getting late, better go in quickly.”

The foster mother was usually glib, but seeing Shen Bingsi, she became tongue-tied and subservient. While agreeing, she dragged Wang Mu towards the half-open main gate.

Only Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi were left outside the gate.

“Why did those two come?” Shen Bingsi asked.

“Met them on the way, so…” Rong Xie hadn’t expected it either.

“Aren’t you usually very principled? If they’re not on the list, you shouldn’t have let them in.” Shen Bingsi never had a good face for these two who relied on past favors to ask for rewards.

Rong Xie was helpless. When had he ever been strongly principled? It was Shen Bingsi who, despite agreeing to listen to him on the matter of recruiting attendant boys, repeatedly threw tantrums and slacked off.

Shen Bingsi reached out and smoothed Rong Xie’s hair.

Rong Xie snapped back to reality, instinctively dodging half a body width away, looking at Shen Bingsi in confusion, his ears heating up unnaturally.

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Shen Bingsi’s hand paused in mid-air, hesitated, then lowered: “Recruiting people was supposed to save spiritual energy, now you’re using spiritual energy for them.”

Rong Xie immediately averted his gaze, his heartbeat still accelerating for a moment. So Shen Bingsi had discovered he flew here. His voice became muffled: “Um… actually it’s fine, I used the flight talisman you wrote…”

Injecting spiritual energy into talisman paper in advance was equivalent to saving a ready-made spell. When needed, one only had to take it out and inject a small portion of spiritual energy to activate the charm for it to take effect. Using this method, as long as preparations were made in advance, a lot of spiritual energy could be saved.

After the medical cultivator gave the diagnosis, Shen Bingsi prepared many such talismans for Rong Xie.

“Is that so?” Shen Bingsi didn’t believe it. “I think it’s better to find outer sect disciples to help. At least we don’t have to teach them from scratch.”

“…Didn’t we already agree?” Rong Xie sighed. “You won’t take disciples, and asking them to come over for menial tasks sounds bad if word gets out.”

“What’s the use of sounding good? Since when did I care about those things?”

“Whether you care or not, gossip is fearful…”

“Fine, I’ll maintain the airs of the Villa Master. As for the rest, it’s all up to you.”

While they were talking, the sound of quarreling came from inside the gate.

The two exchanged a look, ignoring private talk, and hurriedly walked towards the front courtyard.

As soon as they entered the front courtyard, they saw Nanny Wang and Head Steward Shen each holding one end of something. They each held half a sheet of exam paper in their hands, evidently torn during a struggle.

Seeing the two enter, Nanny Wang immediately threw the paper away and wailed, “Brother Rong, you must uphold justice for me. You promised to let Wang Mu come in for the exam, so why didn’t they even give him an exam paper!”

Head Steward Shen also looked at Rong Xie with a dark face and scolded, “Little Rong, this is your fault. We agreed on eleven people, not one more. Where did another one pop up from? This isn’t how things are done. You can’t open the back door for Nanny Wang just because she’s your foster mother! Relying on your close friendship with Villa Master Shen to go against the main family’s wishes like this is not the behavior a proper steward should have!”

Seeing both of them attacking at the same time, Rong Xie’s good intentions turned into evidence against him. Shen Bingsi’s eyelid twitched slightly, having already foreseen endless troubles once these people entered. He was about to step forward to shield Rong Xie when he saw Rong Xie walk out himself and say unhurriedly:

“Uncle Shen, calm down. These are two different matters. The villa never said we would only recruit people from the list in your hand. Recruitment is a big matter, naturally we should open the doors wide and seek talents everywhere. Anyone who passes the preliminary screening can take the exam. The final result will be determined by exam scores. These are all publicly verifiable, so where does the talk of opening the back door come from?”

“This…” Head Steward Shen choked.

Nanny Wang clapped her hands in delight, “Exactly, Brother Rong is someone who has seen the world. How would he stoop to your level?”

Shen Bingsi also raised his eyebrows, staring intently at the person beside him.

“But…” Unwilling to lose the upper hand here, Head Steward Shen bit the bullet and bowed to Shen Bingsi with cupped hands, “Villa Master Shen, please be the judge. I’m not speaking ill of Steward Rong, but he has been used to acting tyrannically for so many years, relying on your backing! Nanny Wang and Wang Mu are people from our Shen Clan Estate. Naturally, the recommendation should come from me. I had long put them on the recommendation list, but they didn’t meet Steward Rong’s harsh conditions, so they were filtered out. Bringing them up now is really unreasonable…”

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Rong Xie originally thought Head Steward Shen would come up with some solid arguments, but didn’t expect this. It seemed he was truly at his wit’s end. Rong Xie smiled and said, “Uncle Shen, why do you say this? The list you sent contained a total of thirty-three entries. Excluding duplicates, there were a total of two hundred and seventy-six people. Wang Mu was never among them.”

“Wang Mu, eight years old this year, family are all Shen family servants, all law-abiding. Wang Mu possesses four spiritual roots of Metal, Wood, Water, and Earth, suitable for learning various daily spells and handling miscellaneous villa affairs. He indeed meets the screening conditions but was not listed, so I thought we should give him a chance.”

Head Steward Shen was tongue-tied, staring at Rong Xie, unable to speak for a long time.

Nanny Wang laughed until she leaned back. Beside her, Wang Mu reached out to support her, mouth half-open, staring blankly at Rong Xie.

A certain someone who had been standing aside, struggling to maintain the image of the Great Villa Master Shen, couldn’t suppress the corners of his mouth anymore, clenching his fist behind his back.

“Beautifully done,” Shen Bingsi cheered in a suppressed voice.