Chapter 396: Chapter 396

His targeting of Xuanwu Lingxiao also had this purpose. Xuanwu Lingxiao's influence was already very strong. Their union would make their descendants even more powerful, with great opportunities.

In any case, Shang Lingjian alone was already quite a headache, so the steward didn't dare say anything to him. Whatever he wanted to do, they could only let him do it. Moreover, he was just observing.

"Xiaoyao, were there any problems with your work yesterday?" The steward asked Xiaoyao.

"Asking him , he'll definitely answer no." Shang Lingjian snorted coldly from the side with a somewhat disdainful expression.

"Yes, how could there not be?" Xiaoyao replied, slapping Shang Lingjian's face slightly and making him feel a bit embarrassed.

"Then speak up! What exactly happened?" Shang Lingjian's face darkened as he said coldly.

Xiaoyao smiled and said slowly, "Yesterday when I was drying books, I had an accident and some books were damaged. But I've already repaired them all. You said such matters don't need to be reported to you."

"Yes, this doesn't need to be reported to me. As long as you can solve problems yourself, just solve them well. Young Master Lingjian, I've taught him about this situation before—this isn't concealment." The steward nodded and replied to Shang Lingjian. Such matters weren't important at all—why trouble you, young master?

When handling these books, sometimes the books themselves were very fragile. Xiaoyao had encountered this several times—books that had already started rotting. But he still used some methods to restore these books to new condition and reported it to the steward.

The steward had thought Xiaoyao was just handling some minor damage and didn't pay much attention. So he explained to Xiaoyao that for damage that could be repaired, there was no need to report it unless Xiaoyao was powerless to fix it.

"Impossible. Those books were completely shattered at the time. How could he repair them? Even if he could, it's impossible to complete it in such a short time. He must still be concealing something." Shang Lingjian expressed disbelief, feeling that Xiaoyao was definitely hiding something.

He suspected that the books Xiaoyao had "repaired" were only superficially intact—the content inside must have discrepancies, or he had simply used other books to muddle through.

"It wasn't any big problem—I solved it in half a day." Xiaoyao replied nonchalantly, as if it really was just a small matter.

"Your concealment is useless. Let's go take a look—don't let us discover you're pulling a fast one." Shang Lingjian said coldly. The more Xiaoyao acted this way, the more certain he became.

He felt Xiaoyao's behavior was because he wanted to indicate this wasn't a big problem, that he could solve it, so others shouldn't investigate!

The more you don't want people to investigate, the more it shows you have a guilty conscience. I'll expose your little schemes and let you know how the word "death" is written.

"This isn't necessary, right? I still have work to do. If you don't believe me, you can check the records—everything we do is recorded." Xiaoyao frowned slightly, not really wanting to go. He simply didn't want to waste the time, but in Shang Lingjian's eyes, this was something else entirely.

This was a sign of a guilty conscience—it must be! Then he definitely couldn't let him have his way.

"Are you not going or not daring to go?" Shang Lingjian said coldly.

Xiaoyao frowned. He didn't want to engage in such verbal disputes, but he had to respond. The other party was a young master here—when asked such a question, he naturally had to answer.

"I don't want to go. I still have work to do."

"You just need to to look at yesterday's books. After that, you won't need to work anymore." Shang Lingjian said, while the steward beside him remained silent. He wanted to say something, but right now Shang Lingjian was obviously targeting Xiaoyao—whatever he said would be useless.

Having been here so long and reached the position of steward, he was someone who could read expressions. How could he not see Shang Lingjian's obvious purpose? He could only lament that Xiaoyao was truly pitiful to have offended him.

The steward also seemed to have heard about Shang Lingjian pursuing Xuanwu Lingxiao, and since Xiaoyao was introduced by Xuanwu Lingxiao, he vaguely understood why Shang Lingjian was treating Xiaoyao this way.

Of course, he didn't think this was normal. He didn't believe Xiaoyao had caught Xuanwu Lingxiao's eye. Usually when Xuanwu Lingxiao came by, she never greeted Xiaoyao. This jealousy was really somewhat inexplicable.

But he had no way to stop anything and didn't want to invite this trouble. Shang Lingjian wasn't someone a small steward like him could afford to provoke.

"Then Xiaoyao, you come along too. Whether it's a misunderstanding can be clarified face to face." The steward said, going along with Shang Lingjian's wishes—this was also helplessness.

"Alright then!" Xiaoyao didn't insist either. Since his supervisor had said so, what could he persist about?

"Let's go!" Shang Lingjian said coldly, then arrogantly led the way. But after a while, he realized he didn't seem to know where these records were kept.

"..." Shang Lingjian paused.

"What's wrong, Young Master Lingjian?" The steward at this moment hadn't thought of the details either, just wondering why Shang Lingjian had stopped.

"You lead the way!" Shang Lingjian said after a moment of silence.

The steward now understood what Shang Lingjian's pause was about. At this moment, he wanted to laugh but knew he couldn't. Now he could only work tremblingly.

"Yes, please follow me!"

The steward led Shang Lingjian and Xiaoyao, who was smirking secretly. This made Shang Lingjian's face much darker—almost ready for a "Keep Away" warning sign.

The steward could only secretly worry for Xiaoyao. You boy don't know how to read the situation at all. Right now he's clearly planning to make an issue out of you, yet you're still provoking him. Isn't this seeking death?

In fact, Xiaoyao felt that since he had already offended the other party, and the other party clearly wouldn't suddenly be kind enough to let him off, why give him a good expression? Giving him politeness before was a matter of etiquette. If he gave him politeness now, that would be debasing himself.

Xiaoyao wasn't the type to debase himself. Well, at least he felt he wouldn't debase himself!!

At the same time, Xiaoyao just didn't want to provoke these young masters and misses, but that didn't mean he was afraid. At worst, he'd just change to another family. He had completed most things here anyway and could set off for Tianyuan Kingdom.

Right now, Xiaoyao truly didn't care. Staying here was certainly good, but leaving wouldn't cause too many problems either!

"I've checked. Yesterday at the fifth quarter of the chen hour, Xiaoyao took out 'Azure Dragon General History,' which had some defects and damp pages. 'Heavenly Crafts' was basically intact..." The person recording book transactions reported all the books Xiaoyao had taken. Each book had detailed records, and the condition of each book was recorded.

Hmph, such detailed records were perfect. This would prove even more that this boy wanted to pull a fast one. A check would expose his concealment.

"At the seventh quarter of the wei hour in the afternoon, Xiaoyao returned them. 'Heavenly Crafts' in perfect condition, 'Xu's Travel Records' in perfect condition..."

The recorder began counting the books Xiaoyao had returned. Each book was reported, completely consistent with what Xiaoyao had taken out—not one was missing. Moreover, everything Xiaoyao returned was in perfect condition, without defects or other problems.

"How is this possible? This must be wrong. How could books taken out with defects be returned in perfect condition? This is too unreasonable. Don't you all find this strange?" Shang Lingjian immediately said loudly, pointing out what he felt was an obvious flaw. How could books returned be in better condition than when taken out, and all in perfect condition?

What did this indicate? It showed this boy had indeed switched them, replacing the books with substitutes. No wonder he wasn't discovered. But this trick was too clumsy—even idiots could see through it.

At this moment, Shang Lingjian suddenly felt like several people were looking at him like he was an idiot. Although they quickly looked away, he could feel it.

"Young Master Lingjian, Xiaoyao's job is to repair books, so naturally he returns repaired books in perfect condition." The steward explained.

Indeed, idiots could see through it—people who didn't know would certainly think this was a big problem, but those who knew understood this was very normal, because the job was precisely to repair these books.

"My skills are passable—I can complete these tasks. No need to reward me; this is what I should do. Can I go now?" Xiaoyao said flatly.

"Yes!" The steward nodded, allowing Xiaoyao to leave. As long as Shang Lingjian couldn't find fault, he still wanted to protect this subordinate.

"Wait, this matter isn't finished. I want to examine those books and verify them. Otherwise, if they just have surface appearance, that would be serious damage to our Xuanwu Family—this is unforgivable." Shang Lingjian still wouldn't let go. He had to be completely certain before giving up, because he didn't believe Xiaoyao could repair all those books in such a short time.

Even piecing together one book might take a whole day and still not work. Now in less than a day, how could they all be repaired? There must be a problem.

"Young Master Lingjian, when I received the books, I already checked them all. There won't be any problems." The book manager said. If he hadn't examined the books, how could he write the evaluation of "perfect condition"? This was his duty—he wouldn't make mistakes.

"You must have overlooked something, weren't paying attention. I want to verify now." Shang Lingjian naturally wouldn't believe a servant's word. In his eyes, the people here couldn't be trusted—he could only rely on himself. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel_fіre.net

"Fine, I'll bring out those books for you!" The book manager said flatly, turning to enter the room to retrieve all those books.