Chapter 84 The People of Nanzhou (Second Update):
Shen Bingsi felt that her mood had been fluctuating wildly after just a few steps in the garden today, but thankfully it turned out to be a false alarm.
However, if Rong Xie continues to wander around outside, sooner or later the fake will become real.
"Where is Rong Xie now? I need to talk to him," Shen Bingsi asked. "Is he in the steward's courtyard of the Great Black Gate?"
“He has already gone back… wait,” Steward Wang called out to Shen Bingsi, “Immortal Shen, Young Master Rong probably already knows your false identity. If you meet him like this, you might expose your true identity.”
Shen Bingsi almost forgot that his identity as the old handyman had been exposed. He nodded and said, "I understand. Is there a convenient place to change clothes?"
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Shen Bingsi and Steward Wang came out of the tailor shop.
Steward Wang looked at the young boy on the ground with pigtails and dressed as a servant: "..."
The child opened his mouth, his voice childish, but his tone was undeniably annoying: "As the saying goes, all's fair in war. Now I'm going to become Manager Wang's nephew... Why are you looking at me like that? Do you know how powerful it is to have mastered the art of bone shrinking to this level?"
Manager Wang didn't know what to say, so he took a breath and said, "Master Shen, my nephew is already in his twenties."
"I don't understand your human hierarchy, and it doesn't matter. Just give me a task right now, like delivering something to Bamboo Lane," the little boy said imperiously, raising his tender chin.
Manager Wang choked. He hadn't experienced being bossed around by his grandson for a long time. Everyone in the family treated him with utmost respect, relying on him as the head of the household for their livelihood... It was quite a novel feeling, to be honest.
"Then... help me deliver an account book." Manager Wang patted himself down and pulled out a booklet about the size of his palm, which he handed to Shen Bingsi.
Shen Bingsi opened it and saw it filled with densely packed numbers: "What kind of ledger is this? Is this his job? Didn't he go home to rest? Why are they making him do the accounting again?"
"..." Manager Wang thought to himself, "I don't have such a fussy grandson!" He explained with a forced smile, "It's not his job. It's about the income from the flowers and fruits in another garden. It's for his reference."
"Oh, I see." Shen Bingsi tucked the booklet into her pocket, waved to Steward Wang, and said, "See you later."
Manager Wang chuckled twice.
Shen Bingsi took two steps, then turned back and instructed Steward Wang not to act as a matchmaker for Rong Xie anymore. She grabbed Steward Wang and made him agree to everything. After saying that she would convey this message to her colleagues, Shen Bingsi left as if she were flying.
Bamboo Lane, a clear afternoon after a snowfall.
Rong Xie showed Linglong around the house and offered her a cup of newly brewed flower tea. Linglong stayed comfortably in the small hall by the water and didn't want to leave. She chattered to Rong Xie about the treasure hunting team, seemingly still trying to recruit him.
“We’re all around Shengjing now. The nobles in the capital are rich and have lots of side jobs. On days when there’s no treasure to search for, we do side jobs for the nobles and live a more comfortable life than before.” Linglong sighed, “It’s just boring.”
"Is it boring?" This was the first time Rong Xie had heard anyone say that Shengjing was boring. Lu Yinglin had praised Shengjing as paradise, and he himself liked Shengjing quite a bit. He used to think about settling in Lanyuan so that it would be convenient to go to Shengjing, but now he found that he couldn't go anywhere without money.
“Yeah, it’s so boring. It’s nothing more than catching people cheating… ugh, ugh, it’s the kind of thing that respectable people can’t do, so they leave it to us. They even ask us to find things that are lost. As long as the money is right, we’ll do anything.” Linglong sighed. “There’s no way around it. It costs money to maintain a team. We can’t exactly ask Brother Zhao to perform on the streets.”
"That's quite interesting. You unravel the mystery, observe meticulously, find the truth, and then there's a reward in the end," Rong Xie said with a smile.
"Actually, it's not like that! It's just simple and brutal: grab an informant, beat him up, and make him tell the truth." Linglong shook her head.
"Ah...I see."
Linglong sighed, reluctantly leaving the soft chair under the glass window. She stood up and bid farewell to Rong Xie: "Brother Rong, I have something to do later, so I won't stay any longer. I'll come to see you again next time. If you come across any interesting cases, I'll let you know."
"Okay." Rong Xie also stood up. "I'll see you out."
"Mmm. If my uncles bother you with matchmaking again, just use me as a shield. That's the most effective way. I don't mind." Linglong said enthusiastically, looking very knowledgeable. "You can't just say that. If you can't see a child bride, then she doesn't exist. My uncles have been in charge for so many years; they're very shrewd. Brother Rong, you'll understand once you stay in the mortal world for a while. It's completely different here from the cultivation world. They... well, I can't understand why an adult can be without a family business, but as long as you don't have a partner, they'll keep trying to find you someone."
Rong Xie noticed that when Linglong said this, he also looked worried, so it seemed that Linglong was also facing the same trouble.
No wonder she's so eager to use herself as a shield.
"As long as this doesn't bother Miss Ling, I don't mind," Rong Xie said.
"Hehe, no problem, no problem. It's settled then!" Linglong raised her hand, wanting to give Rong Xie a high five as a pledge.
Rong Xie didn't understand why she was waving goodbye, thinking it was a farewell: "No rush, I'll see you out first."
"It's a high five as a vow!" Linglong was discouraged, but seeing that Rong Xie was still smiling, she had no choice but to put her hand down.
Rong Xie saw Linglong out the door.
The clear sky was crystal clear, as if washed clean, and the snow glistened in the sunlight, reflecting off everything clearly.
A lively girl in a pale yellow jacket and a handsome young man in a light blue cloth robe stood facing each other against this backdrop, resembling a beautifully painted traditional Chinese painting, drawing the attention of passersby.
The little boy, who had been running all the way, suddenly stopped, his expression changed abruptly, and he instinctively hid behind the neighbor's fence, clinging tightly to the gaps in the fence to look this way.
"Brother Rong, I'm leaving now!" Linglong waved her hand. "You should go inside quickly, it's cold outside."
Rong Xie smiled and said, "Okay."
Linglong tightened the collar of her coat and walked quickly towards the other end of the alley.
Rong Xie stood in front of the door and watched her walk a distance before turning back into the house.
Just as he was about to go back into the house...
The neighbor's door creaked open, and an elderly woman poked her head out: "Our little Rong has found his ideal girl so quickly?"
Rong Xie smiled and bowed to the woman. He was about to deny it, but then he remembered what Linglong had told him before she left, so he smiled and brushed it off.
There was neither affirmation nor denial, which, in the eyes of the enthusiastic neighbors, was tacit agreement.
"That girl is really pretty, she and Xiao Rong are a perfect match!" the neighbor laughed. "I wonder whose daughter she is? She looks unfamiliar."
Rong Xie's smile faltered slightly. He thought he could just brush it off, but his neighbor was asking too many questions. Not wanting to reveal too much about Linglong, he vaguely replied, "She's from Nanzhou."
"That's so far."
Thump!
A child tumbled down the fence, splashing snow that landed on the steps in front of the neighbor's house.
There wasn't much snow, but it still needed to be cleared again. A neighbor couldn't help but yell, "Whose kid is this, jumping around like that!"
The child, with pigtails and dressed in a servant's outfit, stood with his legs spread in front of the door, glaring fiercely at the neighbor like a little tyrant. The neighbor was so intimidated by the glare that he closed the door and went back inside.
The child turned his head and stared at Rong Xie with a deep resentment in his eyes, leaving Rong Xie bewildered.
"You...want to see me for something?"
This child was actually Shen Bingsi in disguise, posing as a junior steward of the King of Cheng, to deliver account books to Rong Xie.
He came happily, and the thought of seeing Rong Xie soon swept away his depression. He was thinking about what excuse he could find to sit in Rong Xie's room. He also wanted to sit in the flower hall by the water, to eat or drink tea, whatever he wanted. Rong Xie took such good care of the child, he might even invite him to stay for dinner. He hadn't eaten a meal cooked by Rong Xie in a long time, and the thought made his stomach feel empty and aching.
However, Rong Xie was standing in front of the door talking to a wild girl who had appeared out of nowhere, and even watched her walk away.
If someone else had told Shen Bingsi this, she would never have believed it.
Now, however, he is seeing it with his own eyes.
Perhaps it was because the snow reflected too much light, but this scene, like a gleaming blade, pierced Shen Bingsi's vision. He had to close his eyes and pause for a moment before he could recover from the shock of the image.
We promised to be best friends for life, to support each other no matter what happens, and to not let anyone or anything interfere between us. The path of cultivation is long, and we must walk it together...
Was he the only one who believed these words?!
No, it won't happen.
Even if you see it with your own eyes, what does it matter? Seeing is not necessarily believing!
Rong Xie was merely seeing a girl off at the door; perhaps this girl had some business dealings with him, and they needed to go inside to finalize the agreement.
Rong Xie simply smiled at her. As a gentle and understanding person, Rong Xie would smile while speaking to avoid embarrassing others, even if he didn't want to.
Rong Xie simply watched her walk away. It was only natural to hope that someone leaving one's home wouldn't slip and fall in the alley in front of their house, given the slippery roads in the snow.
Thinking this way, Shen Bingsi calmed herself down again.
However, the next moment, a neighbor peeked out from behind the door and asked a question, shattering his illusions once again.
"Our little Rong has found his ideal girl so quickly?"
"That girl is so pretty, she and Xiao Rong are a perfect match!"
"I wonder whose daughter she is?"
...
"He is from Nanzhou."
He is from Nanzhou.
Shen Bingsi felt like he was going crazy. He had seen and heard Rong Xie answer in a gentle yet helpless tone that he was from Nanzhou.
The girl he admires is from Nanzhou.
A bloody taste surged into his throat. Since he began cultivating the Path of Ruthlessness, he had never experienced such a swift and unexpected backlash. He didn't even have time to suppress it with the Blade of Heaven's Severance. His internal organs felt as if they were being churned by a sharp weapon, causing him to shrivel up in agony.
He couldn't allow this to happen, he couldn't... Now was not the time to use the Blade of Heaven.
Shen Bingsi endured the backlash and climbed down the fence to the middle of the road. He felt several forces pulling at his body, making it extremely difficult for him to move. At the same time, his heart was being torn apart, aching as if it were about to shatter. He couldn't even open his mouth to speak. Fortunately, the neighbor wisely shrank back under his glare.
The air was filled with the scent of soapberry and ink, the scent that belonged to Rong Xie. In the past, when Shen Bing Si smelled this scent, no matter how anxious he was, it would be soothed. But this time, he felt as if a piece of his heart had been ripped out.
The familiar aroma was mixed with the stench of blood.
He was acutely aware that Rong Xie was standing right behind him.
But he dared not turn around.
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It's late, hehe (lying down and letting you kick me)
This chapter has some red envelopes dropping! [Poor thing]
Update at midnight tonight.
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