NEBM Chapter 9: Tear-Shaped Mole

Even though Shen Zhixian secretly ridiculed his lofty title as “Elder,” especially considering his current lack of skills and the fact that it just didn’t suit him, this time he had no choice but to use his position to intimidate other people.

The disciple knelt on the wet ground with a splash, his face flushed and his eye full of fears. He was too afraid to even make a sound.

Yan Jin silently picked up the overturned wooden bucket, turned, and was about to fetch water again when he heard Shen Zhixian’s voice said, “Put it down.”

Soon after, a gentle force stayed his hand, stopping him from dropping the bucket into the well to draw water.

“Come here.”

Yan Jin obediently placed the bucket on the stone wall but didn’t walk over immediately. In his eyes, being near Shen Zhixian was worse than drawing water daily for Yan Shen.

However, after more than a year of apprenticeship, he knew enough to realize that Shen Zhixian was a person who valued his face the most. He would not want to lose face in front of a little disciple.

Yan Jin pursed his lips and moved over step by step, slow as a snail. He stopped with some distance between himself and Shen Zhixian, bowed his head respectfully, and greeted, “Master.”

Shen Zhixian just wanted to call him over and had no other plans. The spring breeze was a little chilly, and due to Yan Jin’s injury, it wouldn’t do for him to stay out too long in the cold.

Luckily, he’d been practicing the techniques for cleaning and drying clothes. As a result, Yan Jin was surprised to find that his wet sleeves suddenly became dried.

Shen Zhixian turned away from his personal disciple and asked, “Who told Yan Jin to fetch water?”

The junior disciple was too afraid to speak coherently. “Yes, it’s Senior Brother Yan Shen…Ah, no. It’s me…”

Realizing that this might make people misunderstand Senior Brother Yan Shen, he quickly stuttered, “Senior Brother Yan Shen told me to fetch water…I…I was too lazy and told Yan…Senior Brother Yan Jin…This has nothing to do with Senior Brother Yan Shen…”

Shen Zhixian’s eyes slightly narrowed. It seemed as if this little disciple was afraid of involving Yan Shen.

Yan Shen.

Even at such a young age, he still managed to become very popular.

This was probably not the first time that Yan Jin was made to draw water for Yan Shen. But, looking at the situation, it wouldn’t be easy for Shen Zhixian to discover how else they were making life difficult for Yan Jin. What’s more, Shen Zhixian had a hard time believing that Yan Shen knew nothing about this. In fact, it was more likely that Yan Shen contributed to the situation in secret.

This was due to his negligence. After sending Yan Jin back that day, he only instructed people to send medicine everyday while he focused on mastering some necessary skills. As a result, he hadn’t seen Yan Jin in a while.

Shen Zhixian’s voice was slightly cold as he said, “In recent days, Wen Valley’s rice field lacked people. Please clean up and go help.”

As a large sect, it was only natural to have a long-term collaboration with others in order to maintain a steady supply of food. Wen Valley was one of them. It specialized in producing spiritual rice. Recently, they were unable to find enough people to harvest rice and came to ask the sect for help.

The junior disciple turned pale. This was equivalent to a short banishment. There were countless disciples in the sect. Everyone worked hard everyday to climb up the peak of Daoism. As a result, one less day of practicing meant falling behind many others.

But he dared not refuse. Shen Zhixian’s dark temperament was famous in the sect. He could even whip his personal disciple three times, let alone a regular junior disciple…

He didn’t speak and could only accept the order. His hands and feet shook as he withdrew.

As soon as the irrelevant person retreated, the little grass bud immediately rolled out of Shen Zhixian’s sleeve, stretched out his small leaflets, and flung himself at Yan Jin without resentment.

Yan Jin dared not touch Shen Zhixian’s things. The water bath could be explained as unintentional, but if he didn’t avoid it now…The small grass bud saw that he was about to shift aside. Not holding back, it slightly stepped on the ground and jumped up sideways, managing to flutter on to Yan Jin’s sleeve.

Shen Zhixian noticed Yan Jin’s small movements, but he was too amused by the little grass bud. This little guy was really too much. In the past few days, Shen Zhixian had been raising it and even allowed it to drink his expensive medicinal waters. The outcome was that his efforts only resulted in betrayal!

He was about to speak, but then his eyes suddenly caught a hint of blood staining the fabric on Yan Jin’s shoulder. The wound from the disciplinary whip.

Although Shen Zhixian had not personally visited Yan Jin these past few days, he still conscientiously requested that Fourth Elder’s young disciples provide Yan Jin with daily medicines for his injury. The wound caused by the disciplinary whip may not be easy to deal with but many days had already passed. At this point, the wound shouldn’t have broken open so easily.

The words Shen Zhixian was about to say trailed off. Finally, he only said, “Follow me,” before promptly turning around and walking away.

The young man behind him hesitated for a moment but still followed some distance away, his body language cautious and defensive. When Shen Zhixian purposefully slowed down, Yan Jin stopped, unwilling to shorten the distance between them.

The little grass bud pulled and moved around on his sleeves, unaware of the tense atmosphere.

Shen Zhixian felt some helplessness. Probably, this time, the punishment must have really broken Yan Jin’s heart. The little hedgehog kept stabbing him with thorns. Shen Zhixian didn’t know when Yan Jin would relax enough to show his soft belly for him to poke.

He imagined what Yan Jin would be like without his obvious hostility and couldn’t help but become lost in thought. When he read the book, Shen Zhixian had liked the protagonist very much. He was silent and forbearing early in the novel. But, the grief in the latter half of the novel caused his heart to blacken, turning him into a devil with long black hair and blood-red eyes.

This made Shen Zhixian felt a bit duplicitous.

At this moment, he was no longer a good brother praying for the protagonist. Instead, he only wanted to completely wash himself clean in Yan Jin’s heart. Regardless of whether Yan Jin’s path was smooth, or whether he would blacken and walk the path of the devil, Shen Zhixian’s only request was for Yan Jin to liquidate and pull him out of the old account.

It was too scary to do anything else.

Yan Jin was the protagonist and was destined to experience much wind and rain in the future. Shen Zhixian was only a small supporting character with a heart injury. Therefore, he should leisurely follow his own path.

As Shen Zhixian was still pondering over this matter, a wave of dizziness suddenly swept over him. His vision darkened, his steps faltered, and his body slanted backward.

Fortunately, he happened to be walking past a tree, and he instinctively reached out to support himself against the tree trunk, using it to stabilize his body.

He wasn’t aware that when he staggered, Yan Jin, who was a few steps away from him, hurriedly took a few more steps back, his face displaying suspicion and one thought: What just happened?

This time, the vertigo came suddenly and left just as quickly. Shen Zhixian sluggishly closed his eyes for a moment, calming himself down. But, there was still a faint palpitation in his chest.

A heart attack?

But, the heart attacks were only supposed to happen occasionally. He only came back just a few days ago and hadn’t even done anything to provoke it. How could it happen for no reason?

Shen Zhixian couldn’t think of a reason, and remembering that Yan Jin was still behind him, he coughed, pulled back his hand as if nothing had happened, and glanced back, saying, “Let’s go.”

In the courtyard where Shen Zhixian lived, there was a small empty house next to his home.

Yan Jin watched as Shen Zhixian instructed two disciples to pick up and sort out the small empty house nearer to the path. His heart jumped with a bad premonition.

Sure enough, in the next instant, this hunch became a reality.

“This house is just sitting empty. You can move here.” Shen Zhixian pretended to casually watch the two junior disciples but closely watched Yan Jin’s facial expression from the corner of his eyes. “As for the teacher…heh, I’ll take care of you.”

With their close proximity, there’s no way he couldn’t increase his favorability status!

Shen Zhixian’s idea was so beautiful that when he saw Yan Jin’s face slightly changed, seeming obviously very reluctant to accept, he quickly interrupted, “Enter. Let’s take a look at your injury.”

The youth pressed his lips tightly together and remained unmoving, his hands subconsciously fisted defensively. He even ignored the little grass bud, who had crawled up his sleeve to his shoulder and was crying, “Chirp, chirp, chirp.”

Shen Zhixian looked at him, and the corners of his mouth tipped up into a slight smile.

Since transmigrating, Shen Zhixian was a bit disgusted with the tear-shaped mole under his left eye. Because it annoyed him, he had also deliberately used the past few days to practice his facial expressions in order to reduce the impact of the mole.

It was a bit effective. But, when he smiled, all his previous efforts came to nothing. The tear-shaped birthmark would vividly rise along with his cheeks, like a moon breaking through clouds, and instantly turning his already handsome face into astonishing beauty.

Yan Jin had never seen Shen Zhixian smile at him, not like this. At this moment, he looked at Shen Zhixian as if he was a beautiful monster that could capture people’s soul with a mere smile.

Yan Jin could only stare in stunned silence.

Then, in the next moment, Shen Zhixian’s smile slipped. He dropped his sleeves and took a step towards Yan Jin, saying in a conscientious and firm voice, “This big child, still so disobedient. Are you coercing Master to carry you in?”

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Xixi: Yan Jin and Yan Shen are not related. Their last names are different in the Chinese script. The Yan in Yan Jin’s name means quiet, while the Yan in Yan Shen’s name means stern or severe. To mitigate any confusions, I’ll be writing out their names in full, even when they’re being addressed by just their last name.