Immortality Starts With Generosity

Manager Lin had the patience to wait for Chen Haoran to sit at his desk before laying into him.

“Young Master what is this meaning of this!”

“This being?”

“Lan Fen, your cultivation, the gold tael!”

He half-suspected those issues were listed in order of importance. He considered Manager Lin for a moment. Chen Haoran felt for Manager Lin’s qi, he didn’t know how different those of a higher realm felt to the senses but Manager Lin’s qi felt like Chen Haoran’s own before he switched methods. Of similar size as well, he didn’t think it was unreasonable to assume Manager Li was at the Fifth Layer of the Qi realm.

Manager Lin was close to his predecessor, his cultivation was higher than his own, and he had made him thoroughly suspicious and aggravated thanks to his recent actions. If this had happened at all within the last four days he would be panicking. Strangely enough, while his heart was beating rapidly he didn’t feel any fear. Perhaps it was because of taking control over his cultivation, or maybe the knowledge that he had at least one person in his corner but Chen Haoran didn’t feel powerless at all in the face of a situation that could go terribly wrong.

“I fail to see the issue here Manager Lin,” he said. “Lan Fen is my wife, is it wrong that I treat her as such?”

“This isn’t like you, Young Master,” Manager Lin said. Seeing as how the Young Master was a piece of shit Chen Haoran was quite glad he wasn’t like him. “What happened with Lan Fen the night of the wedding?”

“What do you think happened?”

“What always happens,” Manager Lin snapped. “You’ve coveted Lan Fen for so long now, why would I think any different?”

Ah, that’s right. How could he forget that Manager Lin was also a piece of shit?

“That’s quite the attitude you have there servant Lin.” Chen Haoran emphasized servant with a venom he didn’t have to fake. Manager Lin knew about the deal made between the Young Master and Lan Yao to deal with Lan Fen and was involved in handling the transaction. Chen Haoran could imagine him handling the details of whatever other misdeeds the Young Master had gotten up to in the past.

He wouldn’t have to feel bad about being an asshole then.

“How I treat my wife is not your concern,” he said. Crossing his fingers together and leveling a stiff glare towards Manager Lin. “How I treat my deals is not your concern.”

Manager Lin looked blank-faced at him, his hand creeping unconsciously towards his goatee.

“How I treat you for disobeying my orders is however something you should be very concerned about.”

“Young Master I-”

“You will have the silver sent to Lan Fen and you will turn in that key.” Chen Haoran commanded. “I will not tell you again.”

This was a risk, he was purely relying on his identity to suppress Manager Lin right now. He didn’t feel secure enough to fire Manager Lin if he even could and while he was confident in the power of his Earth-level techniques he didn’t know how strong Manager Lin was in a fight either.

Fortunately, Manager Lin chose to bend.

“My sincerest apologies Young Master,” Manager Lin said. Bowing lower than he had ever seen him do before. “I am simply worried for the well-being of the estate. Without the money, Lan Yao provided we would run out of funds before we receive next month’s stipend.”

So they’re poor? It did give more reason for the Young Master to be doing Lan Yao’s dirty work besides him being a pervert. Plus that stipend sounded like an allowance from the Chen family, it seemed he wasn’t as cut off from them as he thought.

“It’s not like the money is leaving the manor,” he said. Although he didn’t really care what Lan Fen decided to do with it.

“I still feel uneasy leaving it in the hands of an outsider Young Master,” Manager Lin said. Not moving an inch from the respectful pose he had assumed.

Boy did he have a surprise for Manager Lin then. Thankfully this had an easy answer.

Manager Lin stumbled as Chen Haoran threw him a sack he pulled from out of sight under the desk. When Manager Lin opened it he was almost blinded by the gold taels he saw within.

“Young Master?” Manager Lin said, bewildered. The unstated part of the question was clear.

“If it worries you so much you can keep an eye on Lan Fen,” he had to throw Manager Lin a bone at least until his position was stronger. He’d let Lan Fen know about it, although he didn’t think it would be a big obstacle for her. “There’s no need to worry about money however, there’s more where that came from.”

“Young Master where did you get so many Gold taels from?” Manager Lin couldn’t tear his eyes away from the gold taels.

“Where do you think I could have gotten them from?” Chen Haoran said, voice dripping with derision.

Manager Lin looked confused for a moment but suddenly brightened as if realizing something. While Chen Haoran would have dearly liked to know what exactly Manager Lin thought of he didn’t have a subtle way of going about it. He was getting tired of this conversation anyways.

“You have your orders, get out.”

“As you wish Young Master.”

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Chen Haoran leaned against the door frame to Lan Fen’s room as he watched servants lug chests of silver taels into the hastily emptied guest bedroom right next to it. Lan Fen was next to him, occasionally directing the servants on how she wanted the chests organized.

“Manager Lin is going to be watching you, sorry about that.”

“I expected nothing less given the financially dire straits the estate seems to be,” Lan Fen said. “I am impressed you convinced him at all.”

“I was a little worried I won’t lie,” he said. “He has a higher layer of cultivation than I do after all.”

“I would not be so concerned about that.”

“Oh?”

“The power of Earth-level techniques isn’t to be underestimated. I would not say you are weaker now compared to your previous cultivation, let alone a small Manager Lin.” Lan Fen brushed a lock of white hair behind her ear and he tracked the motion even as he considered her words.

It sounded logical, his current Third-Layer of cultivation was built by devouring his old Fifth-Layer after all and the Canyon Carving Sword would absolutely be stronger than anything Manager Lin possessed so long as he practiced more. He felt giddy the more he thought about it, him the underdog crossing layers and beating those above him. It was an exciting thought.

“Money is still an issue,” Lan Fen said. The last chest was brought in by the servants. “This much is not nearly enough.”

Received Hundred-Fold: 1.5 million Gold Taels

“Don’t worry,” Chen Haoran said. Smiling from ear to ear even as Lan Fen arched a sword-like eyebrow at him. “There’s more money in this place than you think.”

While he didn’t know how much the cultivation materials Lan Fen needed would cost he was sure this much would buy quite a lot indeed. Which meant that he would get even more high-level cultivation resources in return. He felt like a whale ready to splurge on his favorite gacha game practically seeing the cultivation levels fly past him already.

What Manager Lin? He wouldn’t have to be afraid of him or anyone in the manor once his cultivation was high enough. Especially with the boost, the Yellow Dragon River Refinement provided, even Lan Fen only had a mortal level method how much better could his employees have?

In fact, now that he thought about Lan Fen.

“Since I use Earth-level cultivation techniques wouldn’t that mean I’d be stronger than you were once I reach the Ninth Layer?”

Even as he finished speaking he could see the amusement dance in Lan Fen’s golden eyes even as a vicious smile slowly played across her face.

“Ask those who came before you what they discovered.”