Chapter 60 Foolish Thoughts:
Should we abandon that... foolish idea?
However, he had never practiced the Path of Ruthlessness, so he didn't know how to "give up" a certain thought. He couldn't be like Shen Bingsi, who could petrify for a period of time and then return as if nothing had happened.
Rong Xie raised his left hand and placed it on the back of Shen Bingsi's hand.
Shen Bingsi looked up at him.
Rong Xie pressed down on the back of his hand and pulled his hand out of his palm once again.
Shen Bingsi's expression of joy froze on her face.
“Actually, it wasn’t the Shen family who contacted me this time; I took the initiative to reach out to them,” Rong Xie said softly. “I want to move out and establish my own household.”
"What?" Shen Bingsi didn't understand what Rong Xie was talking about. "Move out? Move to where?"
“Blue Plains,” Rong Xie said.
"Why move to Lan Yuan?" Shen Bing Si suddenly realized. "You're planning to buy a house there? Didn't we say we'd talk about it after we reached the Foundation Establishment stage?"
“...It was my decision to move to Lanyuan,” Rong Xie emphasized. “It was me, not us.”
"What's the difference between you and us?" Shen Bingsi became impatient. He found Rong Xie acting strangely today. He couldn't understand anything Rong Xie said, and the things that happened today were also strange. He thought he was here to save Rong Xie, but he didn't expect that Rong Xie didn't need to be saved at all. He was just standing here chatting with people.
Chatting with... people?
Shen Bingsi turned her head, as if she were discovering for the first time that there was a third person here, and glared at the unfamiliar Foundation Establishment cultivator who had been standing silently to the side.
Shen Bingsi was certain she had never seen this person before. When did he appear? Why was he in the Shen family garden, chatting so happily with Rong Xie?
They... even drank together?!
Shen Bingsi didn't even need to use his five senses to smell the overwhelming stench of alcohol on this person. However, what surprised him was not this, but that Rong Xie, who rarely drank, also had a faint smell of alcohol on him.
The two of them were drinking the same wine, which means that they were not attending different social events on their way here, but were drinking together in the Shen family garden... Shen Bingsi turned her head slightly, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the wine jars lying haphazardly in the four-cornered pavilion, and a bunch of little kids craning their necks to look in this direction like silly geese. All the evidence came together, and the whole story was right before her eyes.
Before Shen Bingsi could ask a question, Lu Yinglin touched his nose and smiled, "Sword Saint Shen, I've long admired you."
Shen Bingsi raised an eyebrow.
"I am Lu Yinglin of the Liujin Sect." Lu Yinglin held a folding fan, cupped his fists, and gave Shen Bingsi a traditional martial arts salute. "I am a member of the Lu family of Qinghe. I happened to be traveling with Junior Brother Rong this time, so I thought I would also like to visit the Shen family and reconnect with our ancestors."
"Do you really need to contact people to maintain ancestral ties?" Shen Bingsi sneered.
Rong Xie frowned slightly.
"Alright, that's enough contacting. You can leave now." Shen Bingsi turned her chin toward the door.
“He is my…” Rong Xie was about to speak up for Lu Yinglin, but Lu Yinglin smiled first and said, “Sword Saint Shen, you may not know, but I am currently handling some of Junior Brother Rong’s affairs, so I’m afraid I can’t go far yet. However, it is still appropriate for me to avoid him for the time being.”
Lu Yinglin turned to Rong Xie and said, "Junior Brother Rong, I'm going back to my room now. Come find me if you need anything."
"I'm sorry to trouble you, Young Master Lu," Rong Xie said apologetically.
Lu Yinglin smiled and nodded to the two men, then walked away unhurriedly. When he reached the Four Corner Pavilion, he waved his fan and beckoned the Shen family members who were standing there to come with him. Although it was the first time they had met him, the Shen family members listened to him and followed him without hesitation.
Only Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi remained in the garden.
"This Lu Yinglin is quite sensible." Shen Bingsi rarely spoke so highly of someone who was so devoted to Rong Xie. "What business do you have with him? It wouldn't be the residence on Lan Yuan, would it?"
Shen Bingsi had already equated Lu Yinglin with the brokers of Lanyuan Brokerage.
"..." Rong Xie didn't speak. Shen Bing Si turned around to look at him, only to see a cold face.
“Young Master Lu has helped me a lot, and he hasn’t bothered you in any way, so why can’t you talk to him properly?” Rong Xie said unhappily.
Shen Bingsi knew she was in the wrong, so she readily admitted, "It was my fault. I shouldn't have been so rude to them without asking clearly, and I treated your real estate agent poorly. If we can't agree on the price in the future, I'll cover the extra cost."
In the past, if Shen Bingsi had coaxed him like this, Rong Xie would have come back to his senses.
But this time, Rong Xie still spoke with that cold expression.
“…He is not my broker,” Rong Xie said. “He is the manager of Yuanbao Auction House.”
"Yuanbao Auction House? The Liujin Sect's Yuanbao Auction House?" Shen Bingsi asked in surprise. "What business do you need to handle there this time?"
"I want to sort out what I have on hand and see what price I can get for it so I can find a suitable house," Rong Xie said.
Shen Bingsi stared at him in disbelief.
Shen Bingsi had never considered one possibility—that Rong Xie would really leave him.
It wasn't because they argued and ran away, got lost, or were kidnapped by bad guys. Instead, they calmly packed up their belongings, bought a new house, and moved out of Huanxue Mountain Villa on a sunny day.
Shen Bingsi seemed to hear the sound of something cracking.
"Why??" Shen Bingsi gripped Rong Xie's shoulders with both hands, so tightly that the veins on the back of her hands bulged.
Rong Xie frowned, feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder as if the bones were about to dislocate, and he couldn't help but gasp softly.
“Because I can’t do it,” he said.
Shen Bingsi was briefly confused: "What can't you do?"
“I can’t bring myself to give up that stupid idea.” Rong Xie raised his head, his shoulder numb from the pain. He stared intently into Shen Bing Si’s eyes, unwavering.
"What a stupid idea..." Shen Bingsi was halfway through her anger when she suddenly fell silent, like a duck being choked.
As long as you abandon that foolish idea, we can pretend nothing happened.
I can't bring myself to give up that stupid idea.
As if stung by something, Shen Bingsi quickly withdrew his hand and took a half step back. He stared at Rong Xie in astonishment, wanting to say something, but in the end, he turned his gaze away and refused to meet Rong Xie's eyes.
"Why can't I do it?" he said, almost to himself. "Didn't we always get through it like this before? Why can't things be the same as before, all right..."
Rong Xie stared at Shen Bingsi.
“Yes, it’s possible.” Shen Bingsi seemed to have made up her mind. “The introductory mental technique of the Ruthless Path, Severing Thoughts, is most effective against these sudden distracting thoughts. I will teach you how to sever thoughts when we get back…”
“Bing Si, it’s useless,” Rong Xie said.
"Why doesn't it work? How do you know it doesn't work if you haven't tried it?" Shen Bingsi suddenly raised her head, looking at Rong Xie angrily.
“Because… I don’t want to cultivate the Path of Ruthlessness,” Rong Xie sighed.
To Shen Bingsi's surprise, Rong Xie was actually smiling. Although his eyes were sad and his tone was helpless, his expression was clearly one of laughter, and there was something in his smile that Shen Bingsi couldn't understand.
Shen Bingsi felt a surge of anger rising within him again. He could sense that something was spiraling out of control, and if he didn't take immediate action, his best friend would leave him, something he could never accept.
"Fine, then go ahead." Shen Bingsi sneered. "Go wherever you want. You've already made up your mind, and I can't change it. Huanxue Manor can't keep you here either. Go wherever you want, whether it's Lanyuan or Shengjing. Just use the rare and precious materials in my treasury to bid a good price and buy a big house. Three thousand taels, five thousand taels. If that's not enough, sell the Guangdian Bailan too. Anyway, you don't plan to build your foundation, so keeping it is useless."
Shen Bingsi said one sentence and then realized she had made a mistake.
However, once she uttered the first sentence, the rest came out one after another. What was meant to persuade her to stay turned into a way of asking her to leave. What was not meant to be said turned into a knife stabbing into people's hearts. In the end, Shen Bingsi even became somewhat self-destructive, uttering harsh words in a fit of anger, and her voice trembled.
A deathly silence.
His only response was deathly silence.
Shen Bingsi looked up and found Rong Xie looking at him with an indescribable expression, as if he were very surprised, or as if he were very sad.
“You don’t want me to sell the photovoltaic white orchid…” Rong Xie murmured.
"Did you really sell the photovoltaic white orchid?" Shen Bingsi asked.
The two opened their mouths almost simultaneously, uttering similar words at the same time, yet their words carried completely different emotions. Their words and emotions were intertwined and mixed together, making it difficult to distinguish between them. However, the meaning behind them was like an arrow shot from a tangled mess, hitting the target in an instant.
They understood each other's meaning at the same time, and knew that their own meaning had been received by the other. At this moment of exchanging thoughts, some things could not be undone, just like an arrow shot out that will never turn back.
Shen Bingsi took a step back, glanced at Rong Xie as if it were the first day they met, then turned around and transformed into a golden light, shooting into the sky. The huge arc of light pierced the sky, moving cleanly and decisively without the slightest hesitation.
The garden returned to silence, with the windproof lamps by the four corner pavilions illuminating an open space. From the shadows of the artificial hill came a faint sobbing sound, like a wounded animal enduring its pain. If it didn't do this, it would be defeated by cruel fate and never be able to get up again.
After an unknown amount of time, Rong Xie emerged from the shadows. The wrinkles in his clothes and the grime on his face made him look disheveled, but he paid no attention to them. He walked forward listlessly, past the four-cornered pavilion, through the long corridor, and all the way to the west guest room.
He found his room accurately, opened the door, went in, bolted the door, walked straight to the bed, and lay down.
A short while later, there was a knock on the door.
I knocked a few times politely, and when I heard no response, I stopped knocking.
Lu Yinglin's shadow passed by the window paper and disappeared over the other side of his guest room.
The next morning, Rong Xie washed and dressed, changed into a clean moon-white long robe, tied an ice-blue belt around his waist, and tied a matching hairband in his hair. He looked in the mirror and saw nothing wrong, except that his eyebrows and eyes were slightly swollen and his shoulders were aching.
He applied the ointment for a while, and when he looked again, it wasn't so obvious anymore, so he got up and walked outside.
There are still many things to do today, and I don't have time to think about anything else. I also need to be fully prepared to deal with the Shen family and prevent them from causing any trouble.
As soon as Rong Xie pushed open the door, he was startled to see a crowd of people standing outside.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Uncle Shen the Second, accompanied by Steward Shen and a group of servants, who were silently waiting at the door, holding household registration documents and various forms required for the relocation.
Seeing Rong Xie come out, Uncle Shen cleared his throat and led Steward Shen up.
“Rong-ge’er, these are all the paper documents needed to process the household registration transfer. Steward Shen will accompany you with these servants later. You don’t need to worry about it. Just tell him to contact the magistrate.”
Butler Shen also hummed and hawed for a while, and judging from his expression, he was even worse than Rong Xie.
"Thank you, Second Uncle." Rong Xie bowed to Second Uncle Shen. Although he didn't know why they were suddenly cooperating so actively, with the old master's personal order, he figured they wouldn't go too far astray. The sooner they got there, the sooner they could finish.
"And another thing, Rong-ge'er, I don't know what you said to Bing Si, but he seems to have mistakenly thought we forced you to move out, and he made a huge scene last night. You have to explain it to him clearly." Uncle Shen added tremblingly, constantly glancing at Rong Xie's expression.
"..." Upon hearing Shen Bingsi's name, Rong Xie's heart clenched again. "I have already explained it to him, Second Uncle, don't worry."
"That's good, that's good." Uncle Shen patted his chest, and even Steward Shen dared to breathe a sigh of relief.
As they were talking, the door to the next room opened, and Lu Yinglin, dressed in new clothes, came out. He wasn't surprised to see everyone on the floor. He walked up slowly and greeted Rong Xie.
"Young Master Lu." Rong Xie bowed slightly.
"Junior Brother Rong, are you well?" Lu Yinglin's gaze swept across his face, lingering briefly on his eyebrows and eyes, before subtly turning away.
"Isn't this a coincidence? I also have some business to attend to at the yamen today. I wonder if Master Shen could do me the favor and let me hitch a ride?"
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