Heaven rewards diligence; he fought his way through chaos to become a saint.

The fact that the five major families were able to establish themselves in the county naturally indicates that they had intricate connections with the sects in the prefectural city.

Ye Ci didn't know anything about the "Jinling Sect", but he could guess that it was a fairly large sect in the city.

The sons of wealthy families who learn martial arts will never study at the martial arts school in the county; instead, they will study at the affiliated martial arts school of a major sect.

Shen Zonghan's words were meant to both probe Ye Ci's background and to highlight his own status.

In comparison, Shen Wanzhou was much more candid.

After Shen Zonghan left, Shen Wanzhou even belittled himself, saying that the direct descendants of the Shen family were not good at martial arts and that in the past they would spend money to hire experts when there was trouble. Fortunately, they did have some connections and relationships, so no one usually made things difficult for the Shen family.

The group headed towards the east wing. Shen Wanzhou regained his demeanor as the head of the family and was no longer as destitute as he had been on the run.

He chatted with Li about everyday matters, and occasionally gave his second aunt a few words of advice. When talking about business, both Li and his second aunt showed respect in their eyes, as if they were seeing a wise and respected elder.

The group strolled along at a leisurely pace.

Before long, the fragrance of flowers filled their nostrils. Looking up, an elegant and exquisite garden came into view, planted with all kinds of flowers and trees. The various flowers were layered and delicate, exuding the graceful charm of a Jiangnan garden. Li and her second aunt couldn't help but stop and admire it.

"This place is called the Flower Viewing Pavilion."

Shen Wanzhou pointed to the stone bridge in front of him. Not far from the stone bridge stood an exquisite pavilion with upturned eaves at all four corners and small copper bells hanging from them. When the wind blew, they made a light "ding-a-ling" sound, which was crisp and melodious.

Inside the pavilion sat two women, while several children, led by maids, chased and played among the flowers.

"Father!..."

A woman in a floral-patterned skirt and a gold hairpin was the first to stand up in the pavilion. She was about thirty years old, with a slender figure and still retained her charm.

The other children also looked up and gazed at Ye Ci.

Shen Wanzhou turned to Ye Ci and introduced, "This is my daughter, Shen Xin. My son-in-law passed away a few years ago, and I've been living as a widow ever since..."

"This is Young Master Ye who saved me on the road."

Is this his daughter?! ... Ye Ci was taken aback for a moment, then clasped his hands in a respectful greeting: "Greetings, young lady."

As Ye Ci cupped his hands in greeting, he inwardly mocked himself, thinking back to how Shen Wanzhou was in his sixties, how could his daughter possibly be young?

"How dare a woman call herself a girl?"

The woman, Shen Xin, smiled and bowed, gently calling him "Young Master." She then greeted Li Shi and her second aunt with a deep bow, addressing each of them as "Auntie."

She turned and called out to the other children, saying in turn, "Wei'er, Qi'er, Qing'er, come and greet me."

The three children were one boy and two girls, the youngest of whom could barely walk.

The two older ones were disobedient; they rushed over like a small whirlwind and grabbed Yao Yao first.

"Sister, let's go play."

The youngest stumbled and fell headfirst into Yao Yao's arms: "Ah... Sister."

This left the mischievous Yao Yao completely bewildered and at a loss.

"Stop playing around, let's go eat."

Shen Xin called out softly, then looked at a young girl in the pavilion: "Qian'er..."

The girl in the pavilion put down her book, without getting up, but simply raised her head slightly and nodded calmly:

"Greetings, Young Master Ye."

The young woman wore a moon-white ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), with a light blue shawl over it. A green palace sash was tied around her neck, and a plain jade belt was tied around her waist. Only a white jade hairpin adorned her hair. Her appearance was simple and elegant, yet she could not hide her noble air.

After greeting her, she lowered her head slightly and said no more. Holding a book in her fingers, she appeared to be a well-read and aloof talented woman.

"This is my granddaughter, Shen Yixi."

Seeing that she hadn't introduced herself, Shen Wanzhou took the initiative to speak, his words tinged with affection.

Ye Ci glanced at her briefly and saw that the woman had a beautiful and exquisite appearance, with black hair like a waterfall and skin as white as snow. He praised her in his heart as an absolute beauty.

"Xin'er, the banquet is about to start. Take the children to wash their hands; look, they still have yellow dirt on them..."

Upon seeing the yellow mud, Shen Wanzhou felt a bit nauseous. After saying this, he continued to lead Ye Ci towards the east wing.

"Come on, Brother Ye, I'll show you around some more."

"Who is this?"

A child watched them walk away.

Shen Xin tilted her head slightly and smiled, "This young master Ye is a martial artist. I heard that he risked injury to save your grandfather and killed many bandits along the way."

"Amazing!" A boy clapped his hands. "I want to learn martial arts from him too, and I want to kill bandits."

"it is good."

Shen Xin nodded slightly, watching the young figure go. She felt that Ye Ci was a very composed person.

Regardless, his gaze lingered on Shen Yixi for no more than three breaths, polite and gentle, a rare display of courtesy among martial artists.

Several children clapped their hands in delight and shouted that they wanted to go practice martial arts right now.

Shen Xin smiled and coaxed them to go wash their hands first, then looked at Shen Yixi:

"What are you thinking about?"

Shen Yixi closed the book, casually brushed the crabapple blossoms by the pavilion, and said lightly:

"It's just internal strength; the manor has plenty of experienced martial arts masters. Why bother learning from him?"

Just as Shen Xin, the aunt, was about to take a step, she turned around again, her golden hairpin swaying gently in the breeze.

"I've been there, and although this is the first time I've met him, I think he's quite good. Compared to those martial artists who can't control themselves when they see a beautiful girl, he's many times better. He has a handsome face, and his physique is also better than that of the average man after practicing martial arts."

As she spoke, she gently covered her lips and chuckled, "If it weren't for my advanced age and fading beauty, I would have liked to go up and chat with him, to ask him what kind of danger this trip had been like. This time, the old master went to Jiaozhou, and even Chen Sanshou, a master of the Transformation Realm, didn't return. Instead, this young master became a retainer of the Shen family. There must be a reason for this..."

Shen Yixi didn't even lift her eyelids, and her red lips parted slightly: "Didn't the old man say that he was abandoned by Chen Sanshou and then hid in the latrine to escape with his life? Later, he hid by the roadside and was found by this镖头 Ye (镖头 Ye) on his way back from escorting goods. The old man was grateful for his life-saving grace."

Shen Xin wasn't annoyed at being interrupted. She raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "You should listen to what your aunt is saying. The old man came home smelling terrible. He hadn't even washed himself properly before he rushed to invite the Ye family members back. He even personally came to invite him back. Do you think it was just a side trip... or just killing a few bandits?"

Shen Yixi closed the book and said, word by word, "The Shen family values ​​loyalty and righteousness, and we should repay this life-saving grace."

"If you like him, you can marry him yourself. I will have nothing to do with him."

The evening breeze, carrying the fragrance of flowers, bathed the pavilion in a tranquil hue.

Shen Xin looked a little embarrassed and said, "The old man has always liked you. He just asked me to ask, he didn't mean to force me..."

"I dislike warriors. All the chaos in the world is caused by the use of force to disrupt the law. I have always looked down on them. They may seem to be enduring hardship and training, but in reality, they are just kneeling in a different way."

"Chen Sanshou was once so powerful, but in the end he still became a guest retainer of the Shen family... The way of the world is either to bow down to money or to kneel down to power..."

"Qian'er, don't talk nonsense."

Shen Xin was now somewhat annoyed, feeling that her niece's words were too harsh. Seeing Shen Yiqian stand up, she hurriedly added:

"If you speak nonsense outside, you will only bring trouble upon yourself... Besides, does that mean scholars no longer kneel?"

"Even scholars retain some integrity..."

Shen Yixi left the book in the pavilion and got up to step into the flower clusters alone.

Shen Xin called out, "Dinner!"

They said I caught a cold.