Chapter 249: That Little Bastard Is Going to Step In Personally

Lan Ruoting's words that Master Dao had long since been drawn into the realm's disputes left Shang Shuqing looking faintly downcast.

She could not help remembering what Yuan Gang had told her back at Nanshan Temple: what mattered about Master Dao was the man himself, not his cultivation!

And events had indeed proven him right. It was no exaggeration to say that Master Dao had personally dragged brother and sister from a dead end onto a broad road. Even now, it was Master Dao who kept Tianyu Sect in balance, allowing the siblings to develop their territory with relatively little constraint.

She had been the one who had racked her brains to make Master Dao stay. In a sense, she was also the one who had drawn him into these disputes long ago. The thought filled her with self-reproach.

He had already done so much for the two of them and given them such enormous help, yet now they still wanted him to keep taking risks on their behalf. She felt deeply guilty.

Why did she go and comb Niu Youdao's hair and arrange his topknot? It was not because of romantic feelings between man and woman. Was it not simply because she knew how much she and her brother owed him, and since they had no way to repay that debt, she did whatever small things lay within her ability?

She refused to believe her brother and Lan Ruoting were unaware that she combed Master Dao's hair. They merely turned a blind eye and never exposed it. Was that not because they too had no way to repay him, and letting her, a Commandery Princess, do a servant's work helped offset whatever dissatisfaction Niu Youdao might otherwise harbor?

Shang Shuqing shook her head. "He's always the one taking risks for us. We've never given him anything. Instead, he's always giving to us. Anything he wants, he can obtain for himself. What can we possibly give him? What right do we have to keep asking him to risk himself for us?"

Her words left Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting silent.

She then added, "All I can do is perform a servant's work for him, combing his hair and arranging his topknot. Even if I were willing to offer myself to him, he wouldn't want an ugly woman like me. If he wanted women, he could choose freely among the female disciples of the three sects. None of the three sects would object; they would probably be delighted. So nothing further can possibly happen. Don't read too much into it."

With one sentence, she punctured the unspoken little scheme both men had silently shared, leaving them rather embarrassed.

"Qing'er, I didn't mean anything else..." Shang Chaozong looked awkward. Halfway through the sentence, he did not know how to continue.

In truth, he would have been delighted if his sister and Niu Youdao became a couple. His sister was already at that age. He was unwilling to wrong her by casually marrying her to some man who came only for the Shang family's power, and she had pride of her own. She would not willingly marry such a person either.

But the reverse was also true. Given his sister's appearance, what man would willingly marry her unless he came for the Shang family's power? Her face alone was enough to frighten people away.

As for Niu Youdao, no matter how Shang Chaozong looked at him, he thought the man would make an excellent match for his sister. If the two truly joined together, it would be difficult to imagine a better outcome.

He hoped that, given enough time, Niu Youdao would come to see his sister's inner qualities. He hoped affection might grow between them through constant companionship. That was why he had always turned a blind eye.

Yet beneath that explanation, could he really say he had no selfish motives at all? Could he honestly claim he had never thought of binding Niu Youdao to the Shang family through marriage?

And what right did he have to expect a man like Niu Youdao to marry an ugly woman? Why, after all, had Shang Chaozong himself married Feng Ruonan in the first place? There were some things he simply could not explain. He felt guilty, and there was no explanation he could give.

Lan Ruoting naturally harbored the same line of thought. He had not expected the Commandery Princess to understand it so clearly, much less to expose it openly to their faces. He too was genuinely embarrassed.

At last, Shang Chaozong changed the subject with an awkward smile. "Qing'er, why don't you move back here?"

Shang Shuqing sighed faintly. "My conscience is clear. I don't fear what others may think. Living over there also makes it easier for me to communicate between the two sides, and it shows how highly Big Brother regards him. Why do something unnecessary that might make others think our attitude toward him has changed?"

Shang Chaozong lowered his head and said nothing.

Lan Ruoting rubbed his nose and changed the subject. "Commandery Princess, the Princess Consort has been asking about you often lately. You should go see her. Here, you're the only one who truly gets along with her."

Some things were simply realistic. In the past, when Feng Ruonan threw a temper, told Shang Chaozong to get out, beat him until his face was black and blue at the slightest provocation, or refused to share his bed, Shang Chaozong more or less had to endure it. Now, that temper no longer had the same effect. Shang Chaozong no longer feared the Feng family and had no need to watch Feng Ruonan's expression.

These days, it was the Feng family who had to watch his expression. Shang Chaozong could even make the Feng family pressure their own daughter into yielding. Unfortunately, Feng Ruonan had a hard temper and refused to soften.

Shang Shuqing knew that another beauty had already appeared in her brother's chambers to attend him at night. He was deliberately giving her sister-in-law a lesson!

There was little Shang Shuqing could do about that. She also knew that if not for Peng Youzai, Sect Master of Tianyu Sect, her sister-in-law's temper would probably have driven her brother to write a letter of divorce long ago.

Her sister-in-law refused to yield, and even Peng Youzai, her maternal grandfather, had no reasonable defense to offer. Put that sort of granddaughter in any man's household and no one could call her behavior justified. Beating her husband black and blue whenever she lost her temper, then spitefully refusing to share his bed—what sort of marriage was that? With matters as they stood now, Tianyu Sect would not allow her sister-in-law to lay such heavy hands on her brother anymore. Setting aside the fact that her brother commanded a region and needed prestige before his subordinates, if Feng Ruonan injured him badly enough to interfere with Tianyu Sect's larger plans, even Peng Youzai himself would probably be unable to answer to the sect.

When Peng Youzai had come to Qingshan Commandery, he had spoken to his granddaughter as well, but Feng Ruonan simply would not listen. Every family had its own difficult sutra to recite. What good was Peng Youzai's profound spiritual power in a matter like this?

The two commanderies currently needed her brother. For the sake of Tianyu Sect's interests, there were some things Peng Youzai likewise had no choice but to turn a blind eye to.

She also knew Peng Youzai had secretly sent word to her brother: keeping a few beauties around for amusement was one thing, but he must not take them seriously. The Shang family's next legitimate eldest son had to be born of Feng Ruonan. That was Peng Youzai's bottom line.

With Tianyu Sect here supporting her sister-in-law in matters of the inner household, Shang Shuqing knew her brother could not play too many games either.

At times, she did not even know whether she should sympathize with her sister-in-law or with her elder brother. In family matters, everyone had reasons of their own. It was difficult to say who was right and who was wrong. Shang Shuqing nodded silently, turned, and left to see Feng Ruonan. Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting looked at each other and sighed.

"Should we go meet that Linghu Qiu? I've heard this man has extremely broad connections. I had already heard of him when I was in the capital," Shang Chaozong asked.

Lan Ruoting shook his head. "The rumors may say so, but I don't believe someone spends his life running all over the realm purely for the sake of making friends. A network that broad must have a reason behind it. This man is too complicated. Our strength is insufficient, and there are some things we cannot suppress. Rashly making contact before understanding his background may not be a good thing. Master Dao isn't muddleheaded. He knows what he should do. We shouldn't blindly insert ourselves. When the time comes that we need to meet, Master Dao will naturally arrange it. Your Highness should leave yourself some room to maneuver."

Shang Chaozong nodded slightly...

Rain began to fall, a fine drizzle nourishing all things without a sound beneath the gloomy night. Reeking of wine, Linghu Qiu returned to the small courtyard Niu Youdao had arranged for him.

The door opened. Three Moon Butterflies flew into the room and cast their light. Linghu Qiu, looking extremely pleased, sat down, accepted the tea Hongfu handed him, took a sip, and returned the cup. He asked the two women, "What did you think of the food and wine here?"

Hongxiu smiled. "I've never eaten dishes that delicious in my life. They could truly be called unmatched beneath Heaven. I never expected the food and wine here to be so good. This servant nearly swallowed her own tongue. This trip really wasn't wasted. Even Little Sister..." She glanced at Hongfu and could not stop herself from covering her mouth and laughing.

Hongfu said coolly, "This servant ate a little too much today. My table manners may have been somewhat unsightly."

Linghu Qiu waved a hand. "A rare treat. When something tastes this good, it's only natural to eat more. Ah, after coming here, I suddenly feel as though all these years of my life were wasted. Fine wine and fine dishes in endless supply—I ate so well I hardly want to leave. So the liquor Tianyu Sect sells comes from here. At the market price, I probably drank more than ten thousand gold coins' worth today! Ah, and a whole group of monks waiting on us. The refinement of it! Tsk, tsk. My little brother truly knows how to enjoy himself. Compared with this, what we ate before was a joke!"

Hongxiu laughed. "You can't stay even if you don't want to leave. If Sir truly remained here and refused to go, Master Dao would probably become anxious."

Now that Niu Youdao had become sworn brothers with their master, the two servants had naturally changed how they addressed him as well and followed everyone else in calling him Master Dao.

Linghu Qiu knew what she meant. "He didn't mention the horses again afterward."

Hongxiu said, "That was because he didn't want to spoil Sir's enjoyment. You've already become sworn brothers. Once he asks again, will Sir really be able to refuse? Master Dao has already said he won't make Sir deal with the troublesome parts. He'll handle the trouble himself. What he values is Sir's network. Can Sir really avoid accompanying him on a trip to Qi?"

Linghu Qiu narrowed his eyes slightly. "This little brother of mine truly isn't simple. The trip was worth making."

Behind him, Hongfu was kneading his shoulders. She spoke coldly. "When he fixated on the two of us earlier and refused to let go, could he have noticed something?"

Linghu Qiu shook his head. "Unlikely. At most, he saw that you're not ordinary maids. Most of it was probing. He knew I couldn't possibly give him my women. He was deliberately talking nonsense to lay the groundwork for becoming sworn brothers later. If I rejected everything he asked for, there would have been no friendship left to discuss. My little brother's methods are anything but ordinary."

Hongxiu walked to the side and sat. Her voice lowered. "Whether Dong Guo Haoran took part in what happened back then is still uncertain."

Linghu Qiu said, "According to what we found, Niu Youdao should have been the last person to see Dong Guo Haoran alive."

Hongfu said, "Given Shangqing Sect's strength, even if the entire sect had turned out in force, there was no possibility they could have taken the thing away under the circumstances at the time."

Linghu Qiu sighed. "Of course I know that. But Tang Mu of Shangqing Sect and Dong Guo Haoran died one after another in the same year, and many elite disciples were lost as well. The matter itself is suspicious. I never heard of Shangqing Sect having any feud with outsiders that year. If we hadn't noticed Niu Youdao and investigated his background, we probably never would have noticed this point at all. What happened back then was simply too strange. Where exactly did the thing go? Ah, in any case, this investigation is merely convenient. Becoming sworn brothers with him wasn't for the sake of this matter. You're overthinking it..."

Night deepened. Rain fell over Qingshan Commandery, while above Tianyu Sect, where scattered lights glimmered in the dark, the sky was filled with stars.

Peng Youzai was speaking with several elders inside a mountain pavilion. Several Moon Butterflies danced around them, making the scene almost dreamlike.

A disciple swept over, entered the pavilion, and presented a secret report with both hands. "A message from Senior Brother Bai in Qingshan Commandery."

Peng Youzai accepted it and read. The corner of his mouth twitched twice.

Seeing the unnatural look on his face, Chen Tingxiu asked, "Did something happen in Qingshan Commandery?"

Peng Youzai shook his head slightly. "It's the warhorse matter. Looks like that little bastard Niu Youdao is going to step in personally."

Chen Tingxiu chuckled. "Isn't that a good thing? Didn't Sect Master say last year that the brat was crafty and that you wanted him to give it a try?"

"Read it yourself." Peng Youzai casually tossed the secret report to him.

[End of Chapter 249]