Chapter 421: Chapter 421
Although Xuanwu Wenyuan also felt Shang Lingjian had gone too far—there were quite a few servants here, and using "dog slave" might make many people uncomfortable, and he was prepared to speak to Shang Lingjian about it later—he hadn't expected Xuanwu Lingxiao to openly reprimand him.
He knew Xuanwu Lingxiao's personality well—she was indifferent but not cruel. Even so, she rarely interfered in others' affairs, especially regarding just a servant. This seemed somewhat unusual.
"Lingxiao, he's just a dog slave. Don't be deceived by him. He must have ulterior motives in our Xuanwu family," Shang Lingjian immediately said. He had more than once suspected Xiaoyao's purpose and had specifically investigated him, even finding things that could make Xiaoyao leave immediately. But because he didn't want Xiaoyao to leave, he had kept them to himself.
Ulterior motives? Xuanwu Wenyuan was somewhat puzzled. Follow current novels on novel·fire·net
"I know he has ulterior motives, but he hasn't done anything to harm our Xuanwu family. On the contrary, he's helped me quite a bit," Xuanwu Lingxiao said.
If Xiaoyao heard Xuanwu Lingxiao's words, he would definitely feel very ashamed. I'm not such a good person—I'm right in front of you now, stealing your Xuanwu family's treasures. Although it's just to improve my own abilities, this might harm your interests.
However, I work for you here, so you should give me some benefits. This isn't entirely one-sided loss—there are gains too!!
"Ulterior motives? What do you mean by that?" Xuanwu Wenyuan frowned. To think there was a servant with ulterior motives—why didn't you tell us to handle it?
The Xuanwu family didn't want to keep people with ulterior motives—such people were very dangerous.
"It's , Uncle. Xiaoyao is a strange servant. I don't know how to put it—anyway, he's very strange and quite disrespectful to the master's family," Shang Lingjian said.
"He is a bit strange, but he's always been respectful to everyone. The only person he doesn't respect seems to be you, and that's because of your own actions. You target him all day for extremely ridiculous reasons..." Xuanwu Lingxiao said, leaving some words unsaid because she didn't know how to express them.
What was going on here? How could one person say one thing while another said something completely different?
Xuanwu Wenyuan was somewhat confused. However, he felt Xuanwu Lingxiao's words should be more credible. Her personality was either to not speak or to speak to the point, and she generally didn't lie.
Whether he was respectful or not was one thing, but both seemed to agree this servant was a strange person—this point should be indisputable.
Also, since Xuanwu Lingxiao felt there was no problem, there should indeed be no problem. But this matter needed to be clarified—and now there was nothing else to do anyway...
"Tell me about him. I want to know whether he has any malicious intent toward the Xuanwu family," Xuanwu Wenyuan said.
"He shouldn't have any malicious intent! As for his affairs, I don't know very much..." Xuanwu Lingxiao frowned slightly. She seemed to realize she knew very little about Xiaoyao, but based on feeling, she didn't think he was someone with evil intentions.
"I know about this! After I discovered he had problems, I investigated a bit. He entered our Xuanwu family in March last year, initially working at the monster beast pens. Later, after saving Lingxiao's Yunyun..." Shang Lingjian said.
Shang Lingjian told everything he knew, basically Xiaoyao's experiences here. Except for things Xiaoyao hadn't let people know about, he said almost everything. Being told about these things wasn't really a problem.
He didn't even know about Xiaoyao's incident at Listening Rain Lake. If Xuanwu Lingxiao had told this story, she might have mentioned it, but she didn't have the chance. Also, she felt mentioning it might not be good for Xiaoyao, so she didn't bring it up.
"This really is a strange person, but also a responsible servant. I think although he has other purposes, he should be a decent person," Xuanwu Wenyuan reached a conclusion.
Although Shang Lingjian had embellished things somewhat, Xuanwu Wenyuan could still discern what kind of person Xiaoyao actually was—this was his ability as family head.
With behavior like Xiaoyao's, no one would think he had problems. Not only had Xiaoyao worked as a servant for over a year, he had simultaneously done so many things and contributed greatly to the Xuanwu family. If such a person had problems, then let there be more such people.
Most importantly, Xiaoyao had never actively approached the Xuanwu family's power core or contacted upper-level affairs. If Xuanwu Lingxiao hadn't happened to discover Xiaoyao, there wouldn't even be the current situation.
If such a person could pose any threat to the Xuanwu family, then all the Xuanwu family's servants could pose threats!
"Uncle, you don't know..." Shang Lingjian hadn't expected Xuanwu Wenyuan to reach such a conclusion. He wanted to say Xiaoyao's problems weren't just this!
"Forget it. He's just a little servant—no need to say more. Now isn't the time to delve into this," Xuanwu Wenyuan waved his hand, stopping Shang Lingjian from continuing. Having already determined there was no problem, he naturally didn't want to discuss this topic further.
The scene returned to quiet, with everyone silently waiting and watching that door...
Time passed bit by bit, and slowly the hour of zi was about to pass!
"The hour of zi is almost over!" Xuanwu Lingfeng spoke at this time.
"Mm, it seems there's still no movement. How about you go rest first? I'll keep watch tonight," Xuanwu Wenyuan said. There was no need for so many people to stay up all night, and most importantly, these people being here was wasteful.
"I'll stay with Father a bit longer!" Xuanwu Lingfeng said. It was still the beginning—people generally had patience. After another hour, probably no one would have this patience anymore.
"Lingxiao, what do you say?" Xuanwu Wenyuan looked at Xuanwu Lingxiao. The two younger generation members he cared most about here were Xuanwu Lingfeng and Xuanwu Lingxiao. Shang Lingjian ranked much lower.
"I also want to wait a while. I have a feeling something is about to happen," Xuanwu Lingxiao shook her head, then said.
"Since Lingxiao is staying, then Uncle, I'll also wait a while," Shang Lingjian said.
"As you wish. But now you'd better meditate and rest—you might be needed later," Xuanwu Wenyuan said. You definitely won't be needed later, but saying this will make you go rest.
"Yes!" Xuanwu Lingxiao and the others responded, then found positions to sit cross-legged and circulate their energy.
After a while, just as Xuanwu Lingxiao had said, something indeed happened!
Several screams suddenly came from outside, attracting everyone's attention while also causing some confusion. At this time, why was there no movement inside but movement outside?
"Father, I'll go look!" Xuanwu Lingfeng immediately stood up, his figure flashing away, leaving only his voice echoing in the air.
Xuanwu Lingxiao didn't move. She remained quietly meditating. Since Xuanwu Lingfeng was handling outside affairs, why should she intervene?
Not long after Xuanwu Lingfeng went out, something happened in the outer perimeter again, with more screams. However, this time the direction seemed to have changed, and the distance was farther.
"What's happening?" Xuanwu Wenyuan frowned.
"I'll go see!" Shang Lingjian volunteered to go out. This was a time to show himself—otherwise others would definitely steal the opportunity.
Xuanwu Lingxiao had originally wanted to move but now didn't need to. She'd wait!
Xuanwu Wenyuan frowned, and Xuanwu Lingxiao stood up but didn't go out. There were enough people outside already—going out herself would be useless. However, she needed to be ready to provide support at any moment.
"Lingxiao, stay by my side!" Xuanwu Wenyuan seemed to dote on this niece, specifically instructing her. At this time, his eyes remained fixed on that door without leaving it.
When something happened outside at this time, it might just be to coordinate with the person inside—possibly a diversion tactic. Now they absolutely couldn't be careless.
"Mm!" Xuanwu Lingxiao nodded, also watching that door. She understood this principle too—those here just needed to watch this. Outside affairs would be handled by others. They had to trust their companions' abilities.
Trusting companions' abilities was also fundamental to success. Without trust, one would definitely go check on companions' situations, and then couldn't guard one's own position. For an organized force, this was the most unacceptable behavior.
Regardless of whether others could maintain their responsibilities, one had to maintain one's own. Don't interfere with or think about other things!
In fact, Xuanwu Lingfeng was handling things very well outside, arranging everything flawlessly. He was originally being groomed as the future family head—his strategic abilities far exceeded his martial power.
After arranging these matters, he returned to Xuanwu Wenyuan's side to report on outside affairs while also wanting to see Xuanwu Wenyuan's opinion of his arrangements.
"What happened outside?" Xuanwu Wenyuan immediately asked when he saw Xuanwu Lingfeng enter.
"Father, some of our people were attacked, but we haven't caught the attackers yet," Xuanwu Lingfeng said.
"Those attacked weren't seriously hurt. The opponents seemed to have no malicious intent. I suspect they wanted to attract our attention and disperse some of our focus to do something," Xuanwu Lingxiao said.
"How did you handle it?" Xuanwu Wenyuan asked.