Chapter 22 - The Help

Xin Jin's eyes were glued to the man named Lu Wén like he was afraid this perfect butler would disappear right before him.

Still, needing to present himself with the right amount of dignity, he cleared his throat and stood up slowly and walked around Lu Wén with his hands behind his back, wanting to appear like an upstanding gentleman, all while scrutinizing the older man intensely.

"Tell me Uncle Wén, why do you want to take up a position within my small family, knowing that there may not be much to do?" Xin Jin asked Lu Wén with a friendly and casual tone, while showing the man a decent level of respect given his years of service.

"Haha. Please, call me Grandpa Lu. " Lu Wén replied with chuckle and a sly smile on his wizened face as he explained his motives clearly,"I believe that although you may be new to Sky City, from what I have seen and heard of your recent actions, I personally believe you and your family are destined for greatness."

"I can't tell you why I feel this way, but you could call it an old man's intuition." He added with a knowing gaze.

"I see." Xin Jin said with a nod.

The two spoke for a few moments longer before Xin Jin took out an employment contract and had Lu Wén sign it.

The latter gentleman was shocked when he saw how much he would be earning a month and he nearly died of disbelief.

The old Butler Lu Wén had assumed that he would make at or near the same amount as when he worked as the Head Butler of the Ma Family, a total of 240 Gold Taels plus expenses per month.

This amount in itself could be considered an astronomical sum for a single employee, but he was considered worth the cost.

The amount written into his contract for his employment with the Xin Family however was a stunning, ridiculous, 20 Spirit Stones.

He was pretty sure that it was wrong at first, and wanted to speak up, but when he saw the nonchalant way in which Xin Jin waited for him to sign his name, he knew that he was the one who had been mistaken.

After coming to terms with this fact, He sighed a little internally, and with a gulp of saliva put his John Handcock on the dotted line, while hoping he wasn't selling his soul.

The thought did cross his mind, albeit momentarily, that perhaps Xin Jin was some sort of Demon.

Just because Lu Wén had never heard of any Demons in the Lower Daemon Realm, That didn't mean they didn't exist somewhere. The Six Daeva Realms were just too vast to say they didn't after all.

After the contract signing was completed, Xin Jin had his new Butler Lu Wén take care of all the miscellaneous hiring of maids and whatnot, since he was by far more experienced in this regard.

The only other person whom Xin Jin took a personal interest in was the you man who would like to become the captain of his personal guard, who would also be in charge of the several dozen guards to be hired.

Unsurprisingly, the individual kneeling before Xin Jin currently was a man by the name of Lu Qiáng, who just so happened to be one of the more talented grandsons of Lu Wén.

Lu Qiáng was in his mid thirties, was considered relatively strong at the 3rd Level of Spirit Master, and had spent some time serving as a guard under the leadership of his uncle, Lu Bing.

"Tell me, are you prepared to face danger while in my service?" Xin Jin asked the experienced guard as they walked through the hallways that were now beginning to bustle with activity as new maids began to run to-and-fro in order to clean, sweep, scrub and do laundry all at the same time.

Lu Qiáng replied with a serious expression as he cupped his first and said with a bow,"I am indeed prepared to risk my body while in your service." He stated determinedly.

"And if I should ask you to sacrifice your life for mine so that I may escape a powerful enemy, would you be willing?" Xin Jin pressed with a narrowed gaze.

Lu Qiáng's face became quite dark as he contemplated the possibility of being used for cover just so his master could escape.

However, this was the trade-off of being a personal guard.

After a brief moment of thought, Lu Qiáng slowly nodded his head, before kowtowing to Xin Jin and stating,"I swear on my Life and Honor that I, Lu Qiáng, shall keep you and those of your house free of harm, or may the Gods strike me with holy thunder."

Xin Jin was very pleased as he wore a faint smile before reaching to help the strong man to his feet.

One of the main reasons Xin Jin decided to accept Lu Qiáng as his personal guard, even with him being Lu Wén's grandson, was that Lu Qiáng was blessed with the 'Mountain Giant Physique' that amplified his physical strength by 2.5x that of anyone else in the same cultivation realm.

In other words, he was incredibly dangerous for anyone in the Spirit Master realm, even peak Spirit Masters, despite being a Level 3 only, and under the right circumstances he could even hold out against a low level Grandmaster.

Xin Jin decided to pay him more than he paid Lu Wén, a total of 30 Spirit Stones a month, because he felt that at some point, he may even be paying people hundreds, if not thousands of Spirit Stones like they were air, so, he might as well start out reasonably.

Once all these matters were dealt with, Xin Jin, with Lu Qiáng in tow, asked the old Butler Lu Wén to hire some construction crews and artists to expand and improve the house by adding a few more gardens, a few Pavillions and some extra rooms for guests as well as a large banquet hall.

He stated to the old Butler that he was willing to pay as much as 200k in Gold Taels in order to have it done as quickly as possible.

"I shall have it done immediately." said the old man, filled with confidence.