Chương 16: Pleasant Company

Wednesday right after work, Lin Che immediately got to making the house more presentable, whilst Shen Yue had been preparing each course of dinner since around three o' clock. He moved the vacuum cleaner in parallel lines across the carpet in an attempt to keep his mind away from all the thoughts he had about the guest of honour.

He just couldn't stop thinking about how the man currently en route to this apartment had been responsible for his death in at least one life, and that he was now expected to open the door for him and offer him tea.

"Grab the foldable table from the storage room. We've got more food than the one table can support," said Shen Yue, from the kitchen doorway.

"And you can quit with the vacuum cleaning whilst you're at it — you've already gone through the entire apartment twice over." The smell coming from the kitchen was what Lin Che could only describe as rich and slightly floral. Supposedly, Shen Yue went to the pharmacy earlier that day to purchase some of the ingredients for the evening's meals, making sure to grab the things which actually tasted good and only had a minor effect, as Qi-enriched food was more of a bonus than a serious way to gather energy.

Lin Che was just glad it wouldn't taste like the potion sludge and poison tea he'd been consuming all too regularly. He opened the door to the storage room and fished out the aforementioned table and tucked it under one arm, still smug about his new strength. Body refinement was what Shen Yue called it. The first proper steps into becoming a true cultivator, and something which he'd achieved much faster than the average disciple if you only took this life into account.

He placed the table down in the living room and pulled on the mechanism to extend its length.

"When he asks what I know," he called to the kitchen, "I only know about the community and that cultivators exist. Nothing else."

"Yes," came the response.

"And I'm interested but haven't started anything."

"Yes."

"And if he finds out, Hu Baolin gave me the techniques, right?"

"Yes. Just stick to the script and delegate to me if you're stuck. Otherwise, just be yourself." Lin Che thought about this and decided that being himself would require some editorial intervention. He went back to the kitchen and helped himself to a taste of the broth cooking in the pot whilst Shen Yue was distracted by something else. Ding dong! Ding dong!

"Door," she commanded.

Shen Bowen stood outside as muscular as Lin Che remembered, which he now felt was slightly less impressive than he had initially thought, and wore an outfit which screamed wealth. He wore a branded white shirt and suit trousers, and the watch on his wrist most likely cost more than the entire building they were currently residing in. His hair was slightly greying, but he certainly looked much younger than he really was. Lin Che recalled his interactions with Shen Bowen before the wedding.

The first time he saw his profile picture, he had assumed he was Shen Yue's older brother or some cousin of a similar age.

"You must be Lin Che," he said.

"Yes." Lin Che stepped back from the door.

"Pl—please come in." A thread of Qi from Shen Bowen's eyes hooked onto Lin Che's face and pulled its way through his nostrils and around the brain. From there, it worked its way down, methodically scanning through his entire body, giving him an itching sensation from within. Lin Che resisted the urge to circulate the Hollow Bell Technique to scratch the itch. It came and went in less than a second. Lin Che smiled and took his coat.

"It smells wonderful," said Shen Bowen, as they passed the kitchen doorway.

"Yue-er, you've been practising."

"Sit down, uncle," said Shen Yue, from the stove.

"She always says that," Shen Bowen said to Lin Che.

"Since she was small.

'Sit down, stop hovering.' A very bossy child."

"I can hear you," said Shen Yue.

"I know."

"I like what you have done with the place," he said to Lin Che.

"Really? We haven't done much since moving here." Lin Che was glad that Shen Bowen decided to talk about the housing, as it gave him reason to not look the older man in the eyes and instead look at walls and furniture.

"Exactly. Reminds me of when I used to live here."

"Lin Che, the kettle's ready," shouted Shen Yue.

"Coming!" he called back. Then, in a quiet voice, he said to Shen Bowen, "Please make yourself comfortable. I'll be back with some tea for us." Lin Che left the room.

"You cannot leave me in there alone with him," he whispered to Shen Yue.

"I don't know why you're so scared. Just stick to the script, and if there's silence, there's silence. You don't have to fill in the gaps." Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Look, I can see the food is ready, so come to the living room with us. I'm sure your uncle would love to have a conversation with his favourite niece."

Lin Che poured the tea and sat across from Shen Bowen at the table. Shen Yue sat on the sofa, lighting some incense placed in a bowl on the coffee table.

"Yue-er tells me you've been helping Hu Baolin on the weekends," said Shen Bowen.

"Just started recently," said Lin Che.

"It's interesting work, and very different from logistics."

"How much has it exposed you to? In terms of our community."

"Enough to understand the basics," he replied.

"There's a community and some familiar faces locally, but I'm still learning the herbs and compounds."

"But not the practice itself?"

"Not yet." He paused.

"It's something I've thought about, but Shen Yue refuses to help me start!" He laughed. Shen Bowen looked at him with a bit more focus in his eyes.

"You've thought about it?"

"Who wouldn't. Once you know it exists — it's like all the fantastical things you see in novels are real." Shen Bowen smiled at this.

"A fair point," he said, taking a sip of his tea.

"I'll say something, and I hope it doesn't come across as intrusive. I noticed when I came in that your spiritual presence is quite substantial for someone without training. I'm sure you have a good birth constitution." He put down his cup.

"If you do end up practising, you'd likely find it will come quite naturally to you."

"That's good to know," said Lin Che.

"But I wouldn't know where to start formally."

"That's being addressed," said Shen Bowen, leaning slightly further. By this point, Shen Yue was also sitting at the table drinking tea, though Lin Che would not have been able to tell you when she joined the discussion, given his panicked state of mind.

"It takes time to move these things, but — if all goes well — within a week or two, you should be able to meet with the main family properly and begin things the right way."

"I'd like that very much," Lin Che said with a sparkle in his eyes, and he meant it too.

Dinner was fantastic. That is to say, both the food known as dinner, and the event known as dinner, were genuinely enjoyable. The conversation moved easily between topics without snagging on any of them, and Shen Bowen was, by all measures, excellent company. He had opinions about the local area and shared stories from when he lived in the neighbourhood and talked fondly about Shen Yue's childhood. At some point, he turned to Shen Yue with a slightly more serious tone.

"The clan is making progress," he said, keeping things cryptic to Lin Che.

"We're closer than we were and the exploration is going well." Shen Yue's hands stilled for a moment.

"How close?"

"Close enough that I'm optimistic. We're not there yet, but the right elements are in reach. I don't want you to dwell on it, but I wanted you to know the direction is good." Lin Che dug at his plate and looked at neither of them, understanding that this conversation was not for him. He understood, vaguely, what parts of it could have meant, gathering that it was probably about his wife's health, which he'd suspected for a couple of lives. He kept his face pleasant and refilled Shen Bowen's tea without being asked.

"Thank you," said Shen Bowen, and the conversation shifted back to the new transit system.

He stayed for just over two hours in total, before heading off back to his residence. Shen Bowen shook Lin Che's hands and said that the evening had been a pleasure and that he looked forward to the next time with more people at the table. The door closed, and the couple breathed out a sigh of relief. The car was waiting at the end of the street, which was where Shen Bowen had asked it to wait rather than outside of the building.

It was an old habit of his, preferring to go for a short walk after an evening to give him a moment that was his own. He got in. The driver took no time to hit the gas once the door closed.

"Any word from the advance team?" asked Shen Bowen.

"This afternoon they confirmed access to the third chamber. The density readings are consistent with what the preliminary survey found, but possibly higher."

"And the Yang Harmony Pill components?"

"Two of the four primary ingredients are confirmed present. The third is probable, but they're still mapping the eastern section. The fourth…" A brief pause.

"They believe it may be in the central chamber, which is sealed." Shen Bowen looked out of the window at the passing street. The central chamber being sealed was not new information, nor was it a permanent obstacle.

"Timeline?"

"Elder Shou believes six weeks. Elder Mao says four months."

"Elder Mao is being cautious."

"Aim for two months. The pill components — make sure the extraction team understands the priority. Everything else in the holy land can wait. The ingredients don't."

"Understood." They drove in silence for a moment, the only sound being that of the vehicle cutting through the air in front of it.

"The boy," said Shen Bowen.

"Sir?"

"Lin Che — my niece's husband. I want you to remove the measure that was placed in his quarters before the wedding." The driver's eyes moved to the mirror briefly and then back to the road.

"The precaution."

"Yes. It's no longer necessary. Remove it carefully — if there are traces, clear them, I don't want anything that could be found or traced back."

"I'll arrange for it tonight." Shen Bowen nodded. He had instructed it to be placed there because Lin Che had been, at that point, an unknown variable in a situation that couldn't afford unknown variables. It had been a contingency measure to nip something in the bud if needed. He didn't enjoy this about himself, but he also didn't pretend that it was something other than what it was, which was that he was responsible for the safety of his niece and of the clan. But tonight, Lin Che had been expectedly normal.

He was someone who knew when to talk and when to pretend he didn't hear things, which was something Shen Bowen liked in his character. His growth potential was high enough to gain entry into the main clan, and his character suggested a passive man who was carried along by circumstance.

The Shen clan's residential compound was itself a small gated community in the suburbs of the city, maintained without ostentation — a contrast to the outfits Shen Bowen preferred to wear. The car passed through the gate and followed the interior road to the main building, where the lights in the upper floors were still on, which meant the elders' council was sitting late again. He got out of the car and was climbing the steps when the door opened. Elder Fang came out.

She was seventy-three years old but looked to be in her early forties, and was rather small and composed. She was also the reason Lin Che's introduction had been delayed by procedural objection for the past month, and the reason why marriage talks had been delayed by an entire generation.

"How was the boy?" she asked. He paused two steps below her, which put them at eye level.

"Well?" she asked.

"He's no threat," he said, and walked past her into the building.