Daoist Master of Qing Xuan Chapter 18: The Young Man Outside Town Hall

Xu Hong knew that the Shen family was powerful. He wondered if there was someone who was skilled enough to subdue the five demonic gods, that would be great.

As to why his sister tried to set Shen Ruoxi up, it would probably be out of jealousy, and possibly due to some affairs within the Shen family.

He needed to talk to his sister about it, and find out who was the person who managed to challenge the demonic god.

******

As Shen Ruoxi was Old Master Shen’s only granddaughter, he cherished her deeply. After hearing about her recovery, he was so happy that he had an extra bowl of porridge during breakfast.

Due to his good mood, he even asked about Shen Lian.

Steward Wu knew that it was the right time, and he told Old Master Shen everything that Shen Lian had been up to.

Besides the weird body weight training regime, all Shen Lian had been doing was just reading and writing in his room.

Of course, Steward Wu did not know that Shen Lian had an eidetic memory and perfect recall. During this period of time, Shen Lian had read every book that he could find in his courtyard. He knew all of them by heart, which helped him to understand this world better.

"This child is destined for greatness. He is patient." Old Master Shen was not angered by Shen Lian’s refusal to submit to his authority. If anything, he admired him for it.

As his admiration for Shen Lian grew, he longed to pass his legacy on to him.

Unfortunately, Shen Lian was not too enthusiastic about the riches of the Shen family.

This was quite a blow to Old Master Shen. The thing that he valued the most was nothing in Shen Lian’s eyes.

Regardless, he had Steward Wu to bring Shen Lian over.

He had never lost his composure in the course of business, this could be the first time, and likely not the last.

The meeting was held at Old Master Shen’s study room. When he was young, he could not afford to study; at this age, he did not have the energy for it. He loved buying books, though.

It could well be that he was affected by the concept of "poetry and literature as a family heritage".

This was why every member of the Shen family, even Shen Ruoxi, had their own study room.

After a month of not seeing each other, Old Master Shen thought he had the wrong person when he set eyes on Shen Lian.

In the short course of one month, Shen Lian had undergone notable changes.

Just as the orchids and jade trees, that grew in the house of others.

"I heard that you’ve been studying hard," Old Master Shen started the conversation with random chatter.

"I wouldn’t call it studying hard, it is not as though I’m going to sit for the Imperial Examination." Shen Lian grinned and showed his pearly whites, giving off the aura of a sporty young man.

"There’s no need to study hard when you are born into a family like ours," said Old Master Shen.

It is always good to study, but not excessively. Otherwise, one would be too conservative and confined to traditions.

"I would like to head out tomorrow," said Shen Lian.

"You didn’t ask to go out for the past month, what’s with the sudden request?" Old Master Shen thought Shen Lian should have kept his cool and maintained his composure.

"My mother was buried in the Qielan Temple. I wish to pay my respect," Shen Lian replied calmly.

Old Master Shen did not notice anything strange, what more, his reason was legitimate.

"But this reason is not good enough." Given his soft spot for his late daughter, Old Master Shen was tempted to say yes right away. However, being a trader, his subconscious prompted a negotiation before closing a deal.

"I’ll give you an answer when I’m back," Shen Lian said without hesitation.

"Go ahead then." Old Master Shen did not ask Shen Lian what was the answer that he spoke of. Both of them knew well what this was about.

He knew that Shen Lian was someone who would keep his words. If he did not, that would be a solid proof that Old Master Shen was wrong about him. In that case, Shen Lian would cease to be of importance to Old Master Shen.

After all these years, Old Master Shen could understand things that he once could not. 

As for Shen Lian, he got his permission to head out. He knew that this was his chance.

The man in green was locked up in the jail located in the Town hall. He found out about this through Steward Wu.

Despite Steward Wu’s intelligence, he did not know as much as Shen Lian, someone who came from a world that has experienced information explosion. Steward Wu was not aware of the Art of Conversation.

Even if the other party did not say anything related to a particular matter, one could still deduce the information that he wanted from the conversation.

******

The town hall of the State Capital was big and grand. Rumour has it that all the trees in Mount West, the mountain outside of State Capital of Qing, had been exploited to build such a grand town hall.

This was a mere joke to tease the state officials; it could also be taken to mean that all the state officials below the ranking of Governor were corrupted.

Grasses and trees could grow anywhere; there were some green vegetation in the cracks between the stone tiles, underneath the old trees outside of the town hall.

So long as the green vegetation remained, the landscape will always be full of greenery.

The weather was bad. Gloomy and cloudy, it looked like it was about to rain anytime. A young man stood outside of the town hall. Dressed modestly, there was nothing extravagant about his clothing. But a skilled tailor could tell that he was dressed in expensive garments, made from fine craftsmanship and of exquisite material. 

In Shen Lian’s words, this would be low profile, luxurious, and cultured.

He was not obsessed with enjoyment, but that did not mean that he preferred hardship.

"Materialism is a tool, but one should not be a slave to it." Shen Lian subscribed to this school of thought in both of his lives.

After he left the Shen residence, many bodyguards trailed him. However, after a corner, he was no longer in sight.

The guards who followed him around stared in disbelief, how did they lose a person in broad daylight so quickly?

Shen Lian did not care about what they had to explain to Old Master Shen. He needed to see the man in green.

The governor in the State Capital of Qing had a very special surname, Shuo. He used to explain his surname as the "Shuo" in "Shuo Guo Lei Lei", which meant fruitful. However, the local folks often speak behind his back, said that he was a "Shuo Shu", which meant Manipur bush rat, a type of rodent.

Governor Shuo had a long night amidst the women. When the servant told him that his presence was requested, he was still in bed with his new mistress.

As he did not bring his family along to the State Capital of Qing when he reported as a Governor, he had no qualms about indulging himself in this matter.

"Who is it! Who wants to see me at such early hour?"

"He’s a young man."

"Shoo! I have no time to waste with a child." A fair arm grabbed Governor Shuo’s hand from behind. As the arm caressed him, Governor Shuo could not wait to go another round again.

"He said his surname is Shen."

"It doesn’t matter if his surname is Chen even, I don’t care."

Chen is the royal surname!

"Master, you have to meet this child. He is from the Shen family," the Steward replied gently.

"Which Shen was this again?" Governor Shuo flipped over and shouted his question at the Steward who was waiting outside of the door.

"Master, there’s only one Shen family in the State Capital of Qing."

"I guess I have to meet him then." It took Governor Shuo a huge amount of willpower to get up. He resisted the temptations from his new mistress and got dressed quickly.

He did not fear the Shen family. However, he could not disrespect them either. Otherwise, it would be hard to implement government policies in the State Capital of Qing, which would pose threat to his position as the State Governor.

What more, it was a young man with the surname of "Shen". He immediately knew who the young man was.