Chapter 53 They had a fight:?

"Hey, haven't you guys noticed that the atmosphere at the resort has been a bit strange lately?"

"You really have to say..."

In the front yard of Huanxue Mountain Villa, Shen Yan and Long Shaoye chopped wood while muttering to themselves.

"What's the atmosphere?" Fang Renji looked up, fearfully glancing at Shen Yan and Long Shaoye. "Could it be..."

"Could it be... that you noticed it too?" Shen Yan and Long Shaoye were a little surprised. Their little brother was always a few steps behind normal people. If Fang Renji had noticed it, it meant that things had become quite serious.

"Could it be..." Fang Renji swallowed hard, "that Huanxue Manor is really haunted?"

"..."

"puff!"

Long Shaoye couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"What ghost?! We're talking about Brother Rong and the Grand Master!"

"Huh?" Fang Renji was bewildered. "What happened to them?"

Long Shaoye sighed helplessly, "You didn't feel anything at all?"

Fang Renji shook his head.

Long Shaoye looked at Shen Yan: "Yanzi, you speak."

Shen Yan kept frowning, and even when Fang Renji interrupted, he didn't smile.

After a moment's consideration, Shen Yan said, "The head of the manor has not returned for half a month."

The last time Shen Bingsi appeared at Huanxue Manor was half a month ago.

At that time, Shen Bingsi and Rong Xie had just finished a nearly month-long trip and went straight to rest in the backyard after returning.

The next day, Shen Bingsi left on his sword very early. The spiritual energy fluctuations generated when the Shengxie Sword broke through the sky above Huanxue Manor woke Shen Yan from his sleep. He looked out the window and saw the Shengxie Sword flying towards the main peak, trailing a golden arc of light.

At first, Shen Yan didn't find it strange. After all, the Grand Master was both a judge of the cultivation world and a pillar of the Spirit Mirror Sect. It would be strange if he could spare so much time to travel and enjoy himself.

However, as time went by, the head of the manor still hadn't returned. When asked, Brother Rong didn't know what he was doing or when he would come back.

That's very strange.

"The head of the manor is rarely seen, so it's normal that Brother Rong doesn't know his schedule, right?" Fang Renji scratched his forehead.

“No, this is not normal. In the past, even if he didn’t know where the Grand Master went, Brother Rong would know what he was doing, whether he was on a mission or there was something going on at the sect. This time, Brother Rong doesn’t even know that. What’s even stranger is that he doesn’t care.”

The fact that Rong Xie doesn't care is the fatal flaw.

"Think about the last time, the head of the manor went out to handle some matters, saying he would be back in a few days, but he didn't return by then. What did Brother Rong do?"

"Prepare a welcoming banquet in advance, and contact the head of the manor three times a day via telepathy..." Fang Renji sensed something was amiss.

What about this time?

"..." Fang Renji remained silent.

This time, they didn't even take out the communication jade pendant, and they didn't mention the welcoming banquet at all. When Shen Yan and the others mentioned it by chance, they just brushed it off with a calm expression and went on to talk about other things.

Although Fang Renji was simple-minded, he just didn't overthink things; he still observed the things that happened in his daily life.

For a moment, the three children fell silent.

"Could it be that Brother Rong... had a fight with the head of the manor?" Fang Renji whispered.

Long Shaoye sighed heavily and tilted his head to look at Shen Yan: "Yanzi, let me tell you what, this matter is serious. Even Renji's younger brother has noticed it."

"Really..." Fang Renji saw Shen Yan's solemn expression and immediately became uneasy. "How could they have quarreled? Brother Rong and the Master are so close. No one understands the Master's temper better than Brother Rong. How could they have quarreled?"

"You don't understand, do you? The closer people are, the more earth-shattering their arguments can be, because they know each other too well. A single sentence can hit the other's sore spot..." Long Shaoye explained to Fang Renji with an air of great experience.

"Shaoye," Shen Yan said, stopping him.

"See? Yanzi knows I like to talk, and she makes me stop talking all the time." Despite complaining like this, Long Shaoye still stopped.

“Brother Rong is different from us. He’s not the type to argue, and he wouldn’t hold a grudge against the head of the manor over trivial matters. Something serious must have happened. I’m worried…” Shen Yan stopped mid-sentence, looked up, her brows furrowing unnaturally, and called out, “Brother Rong.”

The other two children, who had been crowding around Shen Yan, scattered at the sound and pretended to be working, scraping the bark off the chopped firewood.

"Mmm, Brother Rong!" "Brother Rong is here!"

When Rong Xie came out of the middle gate, he saw the three little ones looking at him with unnatural expressions. He didn't think anything of it and just assumed that they had been caught slacking off.

"Shen Yan, are you going to town today?" Rong Xie asked.

Shen Yan immediately stood up, patted the dirt off her hands, and said, "Brother Rong, what are your orders? I'll go right now."

“Then there’s no need to make a special trip… I just wanted to see if any letter had been delivered to the manor.” Rong Xie hesitated.

"Ah, I just remembered, I need to go to town. A section of the ranch fence is broken, I need to tell Uncle Qiu." Shen Yan slapped her forehead.

“That’s perfect. When you go, please ask the guards if there are any letters from Lanyuan or Shengjing, addressed to… Rong Er,” Rong Xie said.

"clear!"

"Oh, right." Rong Xie called out to Shen Yan, took out three letters from his pocket, hesitated for a moment, and handed them to him, "Please mail these three letters for me as well."

Shen Yan took it and looked at it, her expression changed, but she didn't say anything, she just agreed.

Half an hour later, Shen Yan and Long Shaoye arrived at the guard post of the mountain-protecting array.

The guard post also handled mail delivery and receipt. A large courtyard was built halfway up the mountain specifically for this purpose. The courtyard was very lively. In addition to various letters that needed to be inspected, headless letters without a recipient or address, and letters waiting in line to be mailed, there were also messengers of all sizes—carrier pigeons, falcons, cranes, etc.

Handling letters only took up a small portion of the servants' time. Most of the time, they were feeding birds, cleaning up bird feathers and droppings, and letting the messengers out in shifts to prevent them from fighting or eating each other.

"Receive or send?" the mail handler asked impatiently.

"Send them! There are three letters here, sent from Huanxue Manor," Shen Yan said.

Upon hearing that the letter was from Huanxue Manor, the servant perked up a little: "Where should it be sent?"

"Shengjing." Shen Yan took out three letters and handed them to the servants one by one, reading out the recipient of each letter: "Shengjing Shengping Money Shop, Yuanbao Auction House, Shengshi Brokerage."

"...Drink it." The servant took it and looked at it. "They're planning to sell their property."

Shen Yan and Long Shaoye's expressions both changed.

The servant only said it casually and then forgot about it.

"Is there anything else? If not, don't just stand there, next—"

“Wait a minute,” Shen Yan snapped out of her daze, “we still need to check if any letters have been sent.”

"A letter from Master Shen? No, no." The servant waved his hand.

"No, it was sent to Rong Er at Huanxue Manor."

“Rong Er?” The handyman thought for a moment. “That name sounds familiar.”

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the servant, with his exceptional memory, sifted through a pile of headless letters and found one addressed to Rong Er. However, it wasn't Rong Er from Huanxue Manor, but rather Rong Er from the guard post.

"Next time, make sure that Rong Er leaves the correct address. What's the point of leaving it at the guard post? This Lingjing Sect is so big, how are we supposed to find it?" the servant complained.

After a few groans and thanks to the servant, Shen Yan and Long Shaoye left the guardhouse courtyard.

The two exchanged a heavy look.

If the servant's comment, "They're planning to sell their property," was just a casual jest, then the stack of letters they held was irrefutable evidence.

The letters all bore the same stamp: Shengjing Lanyuan Dental Clinic, with two lines of smaller characters below: "Prosperous Villa, Lanyuan Landscape".

Although Shen Yan and Long Shaoye had never dealt with such a high-end real estate agency before, they still knew what a real estate agency meant. Combined with Bieye and Shanshui, it was essentially a real estate agency that buys, sells, and rents houses.

The same question flashed through their minds at the same time—why is Rong-ge looking at this?

Could it be that Brother Rong is planning to buy a villa in Lan Yuan?

But even if Brother Rong wanted to buy a villa in Lan Yuan, it wouldn't be to the point of having to sell his property, would it?

The head of the estate doesn't seem to be in dire straits.

Unless, of course, the landowner doesn't intend to contribute any money.

"Hiss... I have a bad feeling about this." Long Shaoye scratched his forehead.

"Things may be more serious than we think," Shen Yan said gravely.

"So what do we do now? Hide these letters? Just say we didn't receive them?"

“No,” Shen Yan rejected Long Shaoye’s unreliable suggestion. “Go back first, give the letter to Brother Rong, and then… let him know that no matter what happens, we are on his side.”

"Thank you for your help."

Shen Yan and Long Shaoye returned to Huanxue Manor, handed the letter to Rong Xie, and reported on the situation of sending the letter.

Rong Xie finally received Lan Yuan's letter and breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought something had gone wrong during the delivery.

It turned out that there was a problem with Shen Bingsi's address.

It wasn't a problem in itself, but Shen Bingsi didn't inform the guard post after returning, so the guard post didn't notice and almost delayed Rong Xie's matter.

Such incidents will only increase in the future, since he can no longer rely on Shen Bingsi for help.

"Brother Rong, can I ask you a question?" Shen Yan's voice came from beside him.

Rong Xie stopped in surprise. He had taken the letter and headed to the backyard, but Shen Yan was following him.

"What's wrong?" Rong Xie turned around and saw Shen Yan looking hesitant.

"Brother Rong, you..." Shen Yan gritted her teeth, "Are you leaving?"

"What?" Rong Xie was taken aback.

Shen Yan's eyes held a complex mix of emotions: worry, anxiety, and a hint of melancholy.

Rong Xie glanced at the letter in his hand, as if he understood something.

Shen Yan was more perceptive than he had imagined. If Shen Yan knew, the other two younger ones must have known as well. It's very difficult to keep things from those around you.

“That’s possible,” Rong Xie sighed.

"When?" Shen Yan asked immediately, "Are we going to this place—Blue Plains?"

"...It's possible that we can only say that it's possible."

"Then, can I come along?" Shen Yan asked again.

Rong Xie chuckled: "What are you going to do?"

Shen Yan fell silent. He knew this idea was foolish. He was sent by the Shen family, and his monthly salary came from the head of the manor. If he wanted to make progress in the cultivation world, he still had to rely on the head of the manor's recommendation...

"Don't think too much about it. It's all uncertain," Rong Xie said, softening when he saw Shen Yan's expression. "It's just planning ahead. I can't be a housekeeper here forever. When I can't work anymore, I'll need a place to retire. You guys are still young and have plenty of time. Learn more and help me out sooner so I can rest earlier."

"Is...that's how it is?" Shen Yan felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Of course." Rong Xie patted Shen Yan on the shoulder. "Don't overthink it. Go do what you need to do."

Rong Xie turned and entered through the middle gate, opening the letter as he went.

Shen Yan stopped outside the middle gate, watching Rong Xie walk away.

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I'm back! [Sunglasses]