บท 7: Oh How Time Flies!
บรรณาธิการ: Waffles
Unlike the modern world, this world was not bound by the limitations against consanguineous marriages.
This was the only way to keep the huge fortune of Shen family within the family, and safe from outsiders.
Unless his two uncles could still father children, this would almost be a done deal. Perhaps Shen Ruoxi thought lowly of him, or perhaps she was in love with someone else, but none of these mattered. The will of the family outweighed that of an individual's.
In this case, the will of the Shen family would be the will of Old Master Shen; both were inseparable since long ago.
This allowed Shen Lian to understand what kind of character Old Master Shen was. Weighing his options under these grave circumstances, Old Master Shen brought Shen Lian back to the Shen family without delay.
With his impressive decisiveness, Old Master Shen was destined for greatness no matter what time or age he was born in.
In hindsight, it would seem that even if Shen Lian were to refuse to return to the Shen family, he would have been brought back by force.
If Shen Lian were to be an ordinary person, he would have simply cooperated and accepted his fate. However, this was the last thing that he was going to do.
Despite the obvious benefits – beauty and fortune, Shen Lian knew that he was only a tool.
Maybe in the eyes of Old Master Shen, this was all for Shen Lian's own good; Shen Lian, however, was not about to let himself become a tool for others.
No doubt, the arrangement was beneficial for Shen Lian. The basis of his rejection was pride.
He took a casual glance out of the corner of his eyes. Shen Lian formed his hands into fists – he was still not strong enough!
Not surprisingly, he was under surveillance!
Shen Ruoxi saw how nonchalant Shen Lian was, and how his eyes were darting around, she could not help but to toss her gold hairpin at him.
She was confident in her aiming skills; nine of out ten times she would hit her mark. Even with a mere hairpin, she could direct it to wherever she targetted! Convinced that her hairpin would hit Shen Lian's face, she could not wait to see how angry he would get.
Women took great care of their physical appearance and went great lengths to protect their face from harm. This was why Shen Ruoxi went for Shen Lian's face – she was projecting her weakness onto him.
Though she managed to refrain from getting physical with Shen Lian, aiming her gold hairpin at him, on the other hand, was purely out of reflex.
It could be that Shen Lian's neat and delicate features fuelled onto Shen Ruoxi's wrath and gave rise to her urge to destroy his pretty face.
Shen Ruoxi gasped at what happened next – her gold hairpin was resting between Shen Lian's right index finger and middle finger!
She did not expect Shen Lian to have such impressive sight and reflexes! Clearly, Shen Lian had caught her hairpin.
Shen Lian frowned and stared intensely at Ruoxi, giving off an authoritative air.
With a gentle flick, he sent the gold hairpin flying at Ruoxi. The hairpin was back at its original position – in Ruoxi's hair.
"Shen Ruoxi, I will let you off just this once. If this happens again, I promise to tattoo a flower on your face."
His tone was neither solemn nor threatening. However, his facial expression and his impressive reflexes spoke for him - he was to be taken seriously.
What happened next was predictable, but unexpected.
"You are such a bully!" Shen Ruoxi yelled as she broke into tears.
Her tears were streaming mercilessly down her face as she spoke, alerting the servants nearby.
Shen Ruoxi left with her face in her hands. Shen Lian did not get the chance to speak another word.
Shen Lian was surprised for a moment. However, he then realized how normal it was for a matured Lolita to cry getting bullied.
Words of how Shen Ruoxi was bullied by Young Master Shen Lian who just returned spread across the Shen household; there were many versions of the story, none of which Shen Lian cared about.
...
To the east of Shen's residence was a garden. Old Master Shen would take a stroll at the garden every night. The garden was not just a place for leisure, it was also a place for him to meet with important guests.
The spacious garden was the birthplace of many important decisions that involved the State Capital of Qing.
The setting sun shone brightly on the leaves, determined to dry the droplets on their surface with its remaining warmth.
That was just a poetic way of putting it.
It really was just Old Master Shen holding onto a watering can watering the azaleas. The azaleas in the garden were planted by Shen Lian's grandmother. The fragile flower stocks then grew in abundance, however, Shen Lian's grandmother passed away since long ago.
"I heard that you made Ruoxi cry?" Old Master Shen asked without turning around to look at Shen Lian. Unlike most old people, his hands were not shivering; the water flowed steadily from the watering can right onto the bushes of azaleas, not even a single droplet splattered onto Old Master Shen.
"I did not expect you to take so much interest in me. I must say I'm surprised." Shen Lian smiled. Unlike most in the Shen family, Shen Lian was frank and natural around Old Master Shen.
"Ruoxi is spoilt, but she is a kind girl. Don't you remember how she used to save a portion for you everytime she was given good food?" Old Master Shen spoke softly.
Shen Lian did not remember about all of these. Despite having most of real Shen Lian's memories, he could not possibly remember every single detail.
Furthermore, childhood memories were generally vague and not memorable.
There were many cases where children who used to be close parted ways after they grew up.
Shen Lian knew what Old Master Shen was thinking, but it did not mean that he had to play along. Up until then, Shen Lian still did not know much about him. Shen Lian just thought that it was impressive for him to be where he was having started with nothing.
"I'm the elder brother, and she's the younger sister. I would not be so petty about it."
Shen Lian set out his stance by emphasizing on his brother-sister relationship with Ruoxi.
"I'm passing to you this can of water now. How much you want to water, and how much you want to keep, is entirely up to you now." Old Master Shen gave Shen Lian a long look and passed him the watering can.
Shen Lian took over the watering can knowing that Old Master Shen was referring to the Shen family. Essentially, Shen Lian was being entrusted with the Shen family.
After a few polite exchanges, Shen Lian excused himself from the conversation.
When Shen Lian had finally left, Shen Qingsan walked toward Old Master Shen from the other side of the garden.
"This child has always been intellectually-inclined. The two years that he spent in the mountains had added onto his wisdom, it would seem that he is far better than Ju Er and Wei Er."
Ju Er and Wei Er were nicknames for Shen Lian's cousins.
"Tomorrow is the day of their funeral," Old Master Shen said as he stared at the droplets on the flower petals.
"I've already made the necessary arrangements," Shen Qingsan replied moodily.
"The person from Jiang Hu will be making contact with the Green Bamboo Sect tomorrow," Old Master Shen spoke icily.
As he walked out of the garden, Shen Lian turned around and looked at it; the garden gave off an air of desolation.
One could have amassed a huge fortune, but one would still spend one's life planning for his children, his descendants; this was not what Shen Lian wanted for himself.
What was really on his mind was to find a way to train his weak body, and to be able to hold his own against the Shen family.
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