Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 86

Chapter 86: The Woman in the Painting

Upon returning to Huanxue Villa, Shen Bingsi rushed straight to his bedroom. He rummaged through every cabinet and pulled open all the drawers.

“Huh… not here?”

He was looking for an Image Stone. He was in a hurry. The damage from the backlash hadn’t been repaired yet, and he hadn’t used the Heaven-Severing Blade either. Every moment of delay was disadvantageous to him. But he had to find the Image Stone first to record his current feelings, and then use the Heaven-Severing Blade.

This was the best method Shen Bingsi could think of at the moment.

If he used the Heaven-Severing Blade, his thoughts would be severed, and his emotions would cool down. He wouldn’t know what he would say or do. Under those circumstances, he would likely do nothing. By the time he remembered to find Rong Xie again, it would be too late for everything.

If he didn’t use the Heaven-Severing Blade, he couldn’t stabilize his Dao heart. The damage caused by the backlash couldn’t be repaired, and every use of spiritual power would damage his meridians and internal organs. If he continued courting death like this, he would probably collapse before he could win Rong Xie back.

Shen Bingsi could not tolerate such a useless failure happening to himself. Thus, he thought of this method—store his thoughts in the Image Stone first, then use the Heaven-Severing Blade to cut off the thoughts. Once he calmed down, he would execute the ideas in the Image Stone. This way, neither side would be delayed.

Shen Bingsi’s idea was simple: he wanted to chase Rong Xie back. Whatever method it took—committing crimes, conspiracies, or backstabbing—Rong Xie must come back. Back to Huanxue Villa, back to the way things were. He had allowed Rong Xie to live a carefree life outside for too long. It had been so long that things were spiraling out of control, and Shen Bingsi could no longer bear it.

“Where did the Image Stone go?!” Shen Bingsi irritably flipped over the mattress. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck. He remembered the last time he brought an Image Stone into the bedroom, it had upset Rong Xie, who told him he was never allowed to bring Image Stones into the bedroom again, not even in his Golden Light Fish-Pattern Pouch.

Right, that was the time! Following Rong Xie’s instructions, he had stored all the Image Stones in the drawer of the study!

Shen Bingsi suddenly realized his mistake. He sprinted to the study, nearly overturning the solid wood desk, and finally found the Image Stone in the drawer.

At the same time, a sheet of paper that had been stuck in some crevice of the drawer fluttered out, swaying as it fell to the ground.

Shen Bingsi looked down, his gaze fixing on the paper. Clearly, he had many things to do, but the image on that paper seemed to possess magic, drawing Shen Bingsi to stare at it unblinkingly.

Shen Bingsi bent down and picked up the paper.

Drawn on the paper was a young woman with large eyes. Her appearance was indescribably strange. Shen Bingsi felt uncomfortable just looking at it, yet he was involuntarily attracted to her.

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She wore a stern face, as if someone had made her unhappy. Her eyes, already quite large, were glaring roundly. Her eyebrows were a bit thick and full of heroic spirit—not gentle in the slightest.

This was…

Shen Bingsi couldn’t quite believe it, yet he vaguely felt it to be true.

This picture was drawn by Rong Xie. Although Rong Xie didn’t draw often, Shen Bingsi recognized his brushstrokes.

Moreover, since this drawing appeared in the study, who else but Rong Xie would draw in there? The three little ones wouldn’t have the guts.

In short, this was a drawing of Shen Bingsi by Rong Xie.

Yes, it was him.

Although he didn’t know why Rong Xie had drawn him as a female, Shen Bingsi was certain this was himself.

He wasn’t face-blind, especially regarding his own face. He had considerable confidence; if he wasn’t good-looking, Rong Xie wouldn’t have quit being his best friend just to like him. “Liking” someone always had something to do with physical appearance.

The monstrous waves in his sea of consciousness continued to ravage Shen Bingsi’s will. Double vision appeared before his eyes again, the image twisting and spinning, making it hard to distinguish the face on it or the words beside it.

But Shen Bingsi was no longer as anxious as before. Holding the drawing, he did nothing but quietly wait for the dizziness to pass.

Although his head and body were uncomfortable, Shen Bingsi’s mood was extremely delighted. A tingling sense of pleasure filled his chest, spreading up to his throat; even the root of his tongue tasted sweet.

Rong Xie secretly drew him.

Rong Xie secretly drew his portrait and didn’t even tell him, hiding it away to admire privately.

This feeling of secretly hiding it away, this emotion not meant to be shown off, surely had to be more real than those so-called “objects of affection” used to deal with neighbors, right?

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Shen Bingsi didn’t know what “liking” should look like, but judging by common logic, when Rong Xie drew this, he must have liked him very much. Judging by the clarity of the ink, it must have been drawn in the last few months. When Shen Bingsi placed the Image Stone there half a year ago, there was no drawing, which further proved his guess correct.

Which meant, at least for these past few months, Rong Xie must have liked him very much, perhaps to the point of obsession. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have secretly drawn his portrait here—Rong Xie’s cold attitude after leaving Huanxue Villa had once made Shen Bingsi think he had been lied to, that Rong Xie didn’t like him at all and was just using an excuse to leave and start a family.

Now, seeing this drawing, Shen Bingsi’s confidence returned.

Rong Xie had indeed been obsessed with him, and not just casually obsessed.

Drawing him wasn’t enough; he had even written down his temperamental habits, daily quirks, preferred colors, and catchphrases on the side.

“Impatient,” “Walks with the wind,” “Sword idiot,” “Likes to eat while soaking in the bath,” “Likes bright colors,” “Speaks out for justice,” “Talking nonsense,” “What do you plan to do?”…

At the end, there were two black blobs that had been scribbled out, but Shen Bingsi clearly identified the original words as “Infuriating” and “Cute.”

“H… How can such messy words be used to describe a man?” Shen Bingsi muttered to himself.

Rong Xie was getting more and more reckless.

He had read so many books and knew so many elegant words, yet he chose this strange word to describe Shen Bingsi. It showed he liked Shen Bingsi too much—liked him to the point of speaking nonsense.

Shen Bingsi felt his neck heating up. He pulled at his collar and fanned himself. The servant boy outfit was indeed too tight for him, or perhaps the power of the backlash was surging up again. However, he didn’t feel uncomfortable at all; instead, he felt light and airy, as if he were drunk.

Shen Bingsi’s gaze never left the paper. He looked at the drawing and the words again and again.

“Actually, ‘cute’ can be used,” Shen Bingsi pondered. “After all, the person in the drawing is a woman—does he like me appearing as a woman that much?”

Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed through Shen Bingsi’s mind.

This idea was like lightning, instantly tearing through the dark night.

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The confusion, depression, and helplessness from before were all pierced by the lightning, no longer able to blind Shen Bingsi’s eyes.

Shen Bingsi picked up the Image Stone, solemnly placed it on the desk facing him, and then injected spiritual power into it to start recording.

…

That night.

After using the Heaven-Severing Blade, Shen Bingsi’s feverish brain cooled down. He frowned as he observed himself in the mirror, unable to believe this disheveled madman was him. What on earth was he thinking while his Dao heart wavered?!

Indeed, the path of cultivation is like sailing against the current; if you do not advance, you will retreat. Stagnation is terrifying. The Ruthless Path is unlike other paths; a slight deviation in thought can lead to unimaginable consequences.

Like now.

Shen Bingsi, having recovered his mana, instantly teleported into the bathroom. Activating both his water and fire spiritual roots, clouds of steam rose up, quickly filling the small space of the bathroom. Shen Bingsi entered the tub, bathing and relaxing fully to adjust his physical body to its optimal state.

He emerged from the tub expressionlessly, put on a bathrobe, steamed his body and hair dry, walked out of the bathroom, and arrived in the moonlight-bright courtyard.

As Shen Bingsi walked along the corridor, he pondered what to do next.

His current situation was not optimistic. The best choice would be to go into seclusion for a long period to stabilize his Dao heart and completely repair the damage caused by the backlash.

However…

There was a thought that kept tirelessly popping up.

Because it didn’t involve emotions and didn’t affect his Dao heart, the Heaven-Severing Blade hadn’t cut it away.

This fish that slipped through the net was exceptionally tenacious, constantly flopping around in his sea of consciousness, reminding Shen Bingsi: Go look at the Image Stone, go look at the Image Stone quickly!

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By the time Shen Bingsi reacted, he was already standing in front of the study door.

Fine, I’ll watch the Image Stone first, then go into seclusion.

Shen Bingsi went to the desk and saw a crumpled piece of paper on the surface, weighed down by a black stone.

Shen Bingsi lowered his eyes. The paper was face down, but he could vaguely see something drawn on the front, seemingly a portrait.

The black stone pressing on it was the Image Stone.

Shen Bingsi placed his hand on the Image Stone and injected spiritual power. A screen of light appeared in mid-air.

In the light screen, a figure with the exact same face but a completely different demeanor and expression was speaking urgently.

Shen Bingsi’s brow twitched as he reached out to uncover the face-down paper.

“…You want me to turn into this? To go find Rong Xie?”

Seeing the front of the paper, the muscles at the corner of Shen Bingsi’s mouth twitched.

“Yes, Shen Bingsi, this is your only chance. Rong Xie likes you like this,” the Shen Bingsi in the image said menacingly, as if predicting that the one in reality wouldn’t obediently comply. “You can choose not to do it, and Rong Xie will marry the girl from Nanzhou. The next time you visit, you can hold the baby for the two of them—you don’t want that, do you?”

Shen Bingsi closed his eyes briefly. The sea of consciousness he had just swept clean was making waves again. He forcefully suppressed the emotions, and when he opened his eyes again, his black pupils had turned icy cold once more.

From a standpoint of complete rationality, Shen Bingsi felt this matter was incredibly stupid. He couldn’t possibly turn into a woman just to please anyone, nor did he believe doing so could salvage the current situation.

But he had no other way.

Severing thoughts didn’t mean erasing memories; it just chopped the memories related to the distracting thoughts into disjointed pieces. But some memories, even after being chopped, could be clearly recalled by Shen Bingsi—for instance, the girl in the goose-yellow jacket in Bamboo Lane, and the words Rong Xie said with his own mouth: “She is from Nanzhou.”

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“…This had better actually work.” Shen Bingsi lowered his eyes, his fingers brushing over the picture. When they passed over the word “Cute,” his fingertips trembled imperceptibly.

“It will absolutely work.” The Shen Bingsi in the image guessed his thoughts again, speaking excitedly. “Don’t you want to know exactly how much he likes you? Don’t you want to see the way he looks when he’s obsessed with you?”

These inflammatory words did not stir any waves in the eyes of the real Shen Bingsi. He didn’t want to see any of that. He just wanted Rong Xie back by his side, with eyes only for him alone. No one but him could occupy Rong Xie’s mind.

The recording on the Image Stone ended. The light screen flickered twice and vanished.

The study returned to darkness until the first ray of golden light shot out from in front of the desk. Then the second, the third… The golden light pierced Shen Bingsi’s skin, intertwining like gold threads held by a celestial maiden, skillfully outlining a new silhouette. Soon, the gold threads densely wrapped Shen Bingsi’s figure, gradually shrinking, and shrinking again, until a young woman—tall but not excessively so—appeared where Shen Bingsi had stood, wrapped in a loose, large bathrobe, looking indifferently at the mirror.