Chapter 67 Upside Down:
Rong Xie didn't think much of it and said directly, "It's quite good that you've cleaned it this well. I was quite surprised when I came in."
"Is...is that so?" Shen Yan hesitated. "Oh, I mean, you've been working so hard before, you don't need to do these things anymore. I, we can do them, is that okay?"
Rong Xie glanced at Shen Yan strangely. For some reason, he had a feeling that Shen Yan was distracted and talking to other people. She seemed to be hesitant and rambling each time she spoke, which was very unusual.
“It’s good that you have the intention, but…” Rong Xie hesitated for a moment, feeling that he should still point out Shen Yan’s carelessness. Although it would make Shen Yan feel a little frustrated, it would make her more stable in the future. He turned around and pointed to a clump of weeds in the corner of the steps and flowers and trees. “When mowing the lawn, you can’t just cut the front and leave the inconvenient or unseen areas uncut. After all, the garden is for your own residence, not for others to see.”
"Mmm...mmm." Shen Yan agreed repeatedly.
"And the trimmed weeds, we can't just pile them up in the warehouse. What if they catch fire? It would be terrible! Besides, the warehouse door isn't closed properly, what if the wind blows out? It's obvious you guys just decided to trim the lawn on a whim, and now you don't know what to do with it." Rong Xie muttered to himself as he walked. When he reached the warehouse door, he pushed it open, and the warehouse full of weeds fluttered in the wind. Rong Xie was startled. "Wow!"
Shen Yan quickly stepped forward and slammed the door shut, preventing the tragedy of grass leaves being sprayed out.
"How much lawn did you mow?" Rong Xie asked in surprise.
"Well... it's true, all the grassy areas inside and out have been mowed," Shen Yan said, forcing a smile. He muttered under his breath, "The inside is even worse."
That one sentence made him suddenly straighten up, as if an invisible hand had grabbed his collar from behind.
Rong Xie had just turned around and didn't see Shen Yan's strange actions. He quickly walked to the eaves and beckoned to Shen Yan: "Come and see, this corner where the eaves meet the wall is where spider webs are most likely to appear. Although spider webs don't really bother us, they are a reflection of our mental state. There are spider webs everywhere in the house. How lazy must the owner be? And these mud spots..."
Shen Yan followed, and he would respond with "uh-huh" to whatever Rong Xie said.
Rong Xie sighed and looked at him apologetically: "When I recruited you, I didn't expect to leave so soon. There are many things I haven't had time to teach you, so it's not your fault..."
“Brother Rong.” Shen Yan’s eyes dimmed. Just as she was about to say something, a golden light, as fast as lightning, shot out from the middle door and arrived between the two of them in the blink of an eye.
Shen Bingsi grabbed Rong Xie's shoulder impatiently and blurted out, "Why are you leaving again!"
Rong Xie was taken aback, not expecting to see Shen Bing Si so soon.
Shen Bingsi's impatient temper remained unchanged. His handsome brows were tightly furrowed, and his pair of bright black and white eyes were fixed on Rong Xie. Although he was angry, he was still very handsome. How could he never get tired of looking at him after seeing him so many times since he was a child?
Rong Xie was slightly distracted, his gaze lingering on Shen Bing Si's face for a long time.
Shen Bingsi's agitated emotions seemed to be interrupted by something. His brows relaxed, his breathing calmed down, and his hand that was tightly gripping Rong Xie's shoulder loosened its hold. He glanced to the side and said, "That's right. You were the one who wanted to recruit servants in the first place, and now you're the one who's abandoned them. This whole Huanxue Manor is so big, and they don't know anything. You're really going to leave it to them? With their lazy nature, in less than three months, there will be cobwebs everywhere and weeds all over the ground. You've put so much effort into making the manor better, and now they're just going to ruin it like this. Can you stand it?"
Shen Yan stood to the side, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping herself.
Rong Xie hesitated as expected. In the end, what he was most worried about was Huanxue Manor. The people in the manor knew to eat when they were hungry and to bathe when they were dirty, but the manor itself could not speak. He could only gamble on whether the people in the manor were attentive or not.
Shen Bingsi stared anxiously at Rong Xie. For the past ten days or so, he had been in this state. The "Heaven-Severing Blade" only solved the surface problem, but it couldn't solve the waves of anxiety surging up in his heart. This had exceeded Shen Bingsi's control over his emotions. In the Heart Sutra of the Ruthless Path, the most basic rule is that emotions are like waves, coming and going quickly. Even if they come in overwhelmingly, as long as I remain unmoved, the waves will pass on their own.
However, the doubts, anxiety, and various tormenting emotions did not pass; in fact, they grew stronger with time. Shen Bingsi could no longer sit in the quiet room and had to come out and walk around in the courtyard.
After leaving, Shen Bingsi discovered a problem.
The villa was still the same villa, but everything about it looked wrong. The grass on the ground was overgrown and messy, the window paper was tattered and torn, the benches under the corridor were covered with dust, and the low trees in the courtyard had become strange, as if they had contracted some kind of disease. Their leaves were falling off one by one, leaving only withered branches. Countless small insects were always flying in the air and kept flying at people's faces.
This is hardly a place for people to live! It's clearly a long-abandoned, deserted village inn, the kind of place Shen Bingsi only goes to when she's on a mission to the Heavenly Mirror!
Shen Bingsi waved her hand irritably, and the little bug instantly turned into powder, but soon, the empty space was filled with new little bugs.
Shen Bingsi released her protective spiritual energy, killing wherever she went, until all the small insects in the backyard were wiped out, and the low branches were all knocked off the ground, leaving the yard in a terrible state...
Left with no other choice, Shen Bingsi went to the front yard. The three children were eating quietly. When they saw him coming, they all turned around with their bowls in hand, their cheeks still moving.
"...Which of you has a wood elemental root? Come with me!" Shen Bingsi asked impatiently.
"..." Fang Renji silently put down his rice bowl, lowered his head and walked towards Shen Bingsi.
Shen Yan and Long Shaoye exchanged a glance, their eyes revealing a sense of shared sorrow.
However, their grief didn't last long; soon after, both of them were arrested.
Under Shen Bingsi's guidance, the three children spent an afternoon tidying up the bedroom courtyard, weeding and pruning.
However, besides the bedroom courtyard, there are other courtyards. The backyard is so big, and after finishing, there's still the front yard. I really don't know how Rong Xie managed to take care of so much by himself before.
Long Shaoye straightened up and sighed, but Shen Bingsi stared at his back for a long time. He felt uneasy for the rest of the time and didn't dare to slack off while working.
Finally, before sunset, the bedroom and courtyard were tidied up.
Shen Bingsi examined the area for a while, seemingly lost in thought. The three younger ones waited anxiously for him to speak. After a long pause, they heard Shen Bingsi mutter to himself, "So the grass doesn't grow naturally. Flower branches need to be trimmed to prevent insects. Strange, where are the grass and branches that were cut before? I've never seen them before."
Shen Yan and Long Shaoye exchanged a surprised glance. Did Master Shen really think Huanxue Manor was self-cleaning? He really hadn't worried about these trivial matters at all, or rather, Rong Xie hadn't made him worry about these things at all.
"Fine," Shen Bingsi snapped her fingers, "Let's go to the warehouse."
Before Shen Yan and Long Shaoye could even voice their opinions, the pile of weeds and dead branches in the corner suddenly vanished with a "poof." A brilliant golden light pierced through the courtyard and disappeared into the empty room in the front yard. The door popped open with a "snap," the golden light landed, and the garbage was dumped inside.
"That's fine. In case he comes back and asks, I'll have something to say." Shen Bingsi was quite satisfied with his solution. He had a history of littering that angered Rong Xie. It turned out that many things that seemed like trash to him were actually everyday treasures to Rong Xie, like these weeds and withered branches... He didn't know what they were good for, but finding a place to put them was the right thing to do!
Shen Yan and Long Shaoye looked at each other. They knew there was a ready way to deal with the weeds: take them to the pasture to feed the cattle and sheep, and throw the dead branches into the kitchen as firewood. However, they dared not say it.
Shen Bingsi successfully tidied up a courtyard and felt that he had mastered the secret to managing the villa. He sent the three children to the front yard and took over the tidying up of the back yard himself.
The Victorious Evil Sword shimmered with golden light, weaving back and forth across the blades of grass like a dragon. It cleanly severed the tips of leaves that were higher than a certain height, then swept up by the sword's wind, rolled into a ball, and sent to the corner where they belonged.
Shen Bingsi sat on the steps, her hands supporting her upper lip, her gaze fixed intently on the ancient divine sword swiftly cutting through the grass. Moonlight spilled into the courtyard, illuminating this eerie scene.
A close friend once said that tidying up the yard and the room is like tidying up one's own heart.
Shen Bingsi didn't know this before, but she realized the value of this statement after trying it herself.
When he mows the lawn, his mind becomes strangely calm. Watching the grass blades become more and more orderly and closer to the shape he remembers with his simple actions, his anxiety is miraculously relieved, and his thoughts gradually become clearer.
He discovered the crux of the problem.
More than the fact that Rong Xie liked him, he couldn't bear Rong Xie leaving him.
When he learned that Rong Xie liked him, he was shocked and couldn't understand why his best friend would get so caught up in such a narrow-minded and foolish thing, like those ordinary lovelorn men and women, and insist on using the stupid and narrow emotion of "liking" to describe their more noble and profound friendship.
At that time, he was just confused and a little annoyed, feeling humiliated and angry at being betrayed by the person he valued most. He was not as distressed as he was in the back garden of the Shen family manor.
Pain, indeed, pain. When Rong Xie resolutely said that it wasn't the Shen family forcing him to move out of the household registration, but rather that he wanted to move out on his own, that he wanted to leave Huanxue Manor and move to Lanyuan... Shen Bingsi felt as if she had been stabbed in the back.
That feeling was very familiar; I couldn't move, my strength was rapidly draining away, panic aroused anger, and a surge of urge to crush everything.
Shen Bingsi had experienced that feeling countless times in the ruthless trials set by her sect, and even her most heart-wrenching memories were repeatedly brought up... However, this time in the garden was real.
Rong Xie really wants to leave, really wants to abandon him.
He threw their vow to be best friends for life to the back of his mind, and just because of that foolish thought, he wanted to leave him and even sold the photoelectric white orchid that he had given him!
So... you're so eager to leave him?
Even while he was in seclusion, she secretly orchestrated everything. If he hadn't been summoned out by Tianjing midway through his seclusion, he might have faced an empty Huanxue Manor upon emerging from seclusion.
Is this... what Rong Xie calls liking someone?
Liking someone is a terrifying thing. When you're friends, you can't say hurtful things or do hurtful things, but when you like someone, you can say and do all of those things. Why do you have to like someone? Why does this terrifying emotion have to exist in the world?
Shen Bingsi uttered a lot of reckless words and then ran away without looking back. Only he knew that he wasn't running away out of anger, but because he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to face the possibility that Rong Xie would leave him, so he could only run.
When one's Dao heart is unstable, one direct result of flying on a sword is that before he has flown a hundred miles, the Shengxie Sword plunges headfirst down, making an unprecedented sharp turn, and crashes straight into the grass, creating a large crater on the hillside.
Fortunately, Shen Bingsi's protective spiritual power was still intact. When he crawled out of the pit, he was only a little pale and looked a little disheveled. In short, he looked like a ghost. The small animals in the mountains were so frightened by him that they scattered and fled.
...
It's also possible that the scattering mountain rats and fluttering night sparrows were scared away by the howling and wailing he made while gripping the grass.
Regardless, when Shen Bingsi returned to Huanxue Manor before dawn the next day, she reverted to her extremely cold and ruthless demeanor as a Dao Judge. No one knew what had happened in the desolate mountains thousands of miles away.
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