Of Riches and Honour

However, when he gave a thought to that, he was actually closest to Shen Lian other than his own daughter in the entire family.

Shen Qingsan zoned out when Shen Lian nudged him – so it seemed that he had been staring at Shen Lian all this while.

"Come on kiddo, let's head in." Shen Qingsan gave Shen Lian a tight hug. "We could visit your cousin brothers as well," he sighed.

Even though he was not particularly close to his nephews, he was still really upset about their sudden departure from this world.

In spite of his newfound biological connection with Shen Qingsan, he was not used to having an uncle. Back when he decided to live as Shen Lian, he did so out of his guilt for taking over the real Shen Lian's body. However, he was mentally an adult; this was not a change that he could accept overnight.

Moreover, Shen Qingsan was strong. To the frail Shen Lian, his hug was a suffocating one; one could only imagine how uncomfortable it was for Shen Lian.

Shen Lian could no longer breathe. He had no choice but to express his discomfort by coughing. Shen Qingsan took the hint and released Shen Lian from his iron grip. "Look at how skinny you are. You must have suffered a lot back in the mountains. It was my fault for not visiting, I was simply too caught up with other things," Shen Qingsan said apologetically.

Shen Lian did not know what to say; he could not possibly admit that he was weak. He swore to himself that he would get stronger physically. Looking at how strong his spirit, EQ, and memory were, he was arguably more suited to be someone like Jiang Zuo Mei Lang. However, he really hated being physically weak.

Trailing behind Shen Qingsan, he noticed how simple the interior of the residence was. The lack of grandeur gave off an elegant vibe. To be fair, Shen Lian would not have been impressed if the residence was as grand as a palace. After all, Shen Lian was an adult from the modern world, and he had seen a lot back in his time.

Shen Qingsan could not help but notice Shen Lian's composure. Shen Lian did not look around curiously; he was following Shen Qingsan around with grace. 

Shen Qingsan was impressed by how at ease Shen Lian was. Maybe it was his training from the cultivation of Daoism, but his level of easiness was simply unrivaled by anyone of his age in the state.

He thought to himself, 'The old man's crazy idea might be a great idea after all'. 

As Shen Lian and Shen Qingsan walked into the hall, they were greeted by the sight of an old man with white hair. The old man was sharp and did not look lethargic at all. Shen Lian's grandmother – Old Master Shen's wife, had passed on many years ago. Old Master Shen's solitude added to his authoritative presence.

Shen Lian was in awe of Old Master Shen's composure. Even after losing two of his grandchildren, he did not look devastated at all. He was indeed a character with the heart of stone.

Perhaps it was Shen Lian's resemblance with his mother, Old Master Shen felt relaxed immediately after seeing Shen Lian in the hall. "This child looks so much like his mother," Old Master Shen remarked.

After bowing respectfully to Old Master Shen, Shen Lian looked around discreetly. He took notice of the middle-aged man next to Old Master Shen and figured that he was his eldest uncle, Shen Qingshi. Shen Qingshi had grief written all over his face. His eyes were swollen and he looked so fragile that Shen Lian suspected him to be weaker than himself. It would seem that Shen Qingshi had not been resting well.

A beautiful woman stood next to Shen Qingshi. With her thin lips tightly pressed, Shen Lian thought she looked mean. The woman who was not impressed or moved by Shen Lian's presence would be Shen Qingshi's wife, Shen Lian's aunt - Xu.

She did not look particularly sad, mainly because Shen Lian's late cousins were not of her own blood.

On the other side of the hall, stood a mother and her daughter. The mother looked old. She dressed in a simple and minimalistic manner. Her brows were light and sparse, and she looked motherly. There were wrinkles at the corner of her eyes which amplified her charm as a matured woman.

She held hand with a young lady, who looked slightly older than Shen Lian. She was dressed in a simple light green dress. Akin to a lotus flower that was about to bloom, the lady looked fresh and attractive in her own way. Shen Lian's heart skipped a beat when he saw her. Despite that he had seen plenty of beautiful women, the sight of a young lady dressed in traditional clothing caught him off guard.

Most of the beautiful women that Shen Lian had seen in the modern world had gone under the knife.1 In comparison, this lady was not particularly exquisite and did not have perfectly sculpted features like theirs. However, she was a breath of much-needed fresh air. Having been born into a rich family, she had porcelain-like fair skin; a sight that was guaranteed to turn heads.

Even though she could still be considered as a borderline Lolita2 in the modern world, by the standard of this world, she was already of marriageable age. If it was not Old Master Shen who was doting on Shen Lian's mother, his mother would not be unmarried at the age of seventeen.

The mother-and-daughter pair would be Shen Lian's second aunt, Chen and his cousin sister, Shen Ruoxi.

Having spent so many years apart from each other, the Shen family did not know how to behave around Shen Lian. The sensitive circumstances surrounding his birth did not help.

As to why did Old Master Shen invite Shen Lian back to the Shen family, it might be that he had some sort of plans in mind. If Shen Qingshi was proven to be infertile like Shen Qingsan, the Shen family would be left with no heir. At that point, it would not matter if Shen Lian was not related to the Shen family paternally, or if Ruoxi was not a male; Old Master Shen will be faced with a limited choice.

When he was conversing with the adults, Shen Lian remained cautious and alert, on top of paying attention to his mannerism.

Old Master Shen did not show much affection to Shen Lian; perhaps he was too used to being stern, or it might be that he was grieving for the passing of his grandchildren.

When Old Master Shen finally retired to his chamber out of tiredness, Shen Lian's aunt, Xu, glared at Shen Lian in a hostile manner.

Shen Lian knew that Xu would have been pleased if he were to come across as unintelligent. If that was the case, he would not catch Old Master Shen's attention.

After all, Shen Lian's eldest uncle had lost all of his children. What more with his sickness, he might not be able to father any sons in the future. Unlike before, his branch of the family would no longer be entitled to a huge portion of the inheritance. Their share of inheritance would be even smaller with Shen Lian in the picture.

A servant then led Shen Lian to his room. After all these years, Shen Lian was surprised that his room still looked almost the same.

After sending a servant to fetch him a cup of Ginseng tea, he managed to warm himself up. He proceeded with his body weight training.

Body weight training essentially meant training every part of one's body with one's body weight. As compared to machine workouts that target a particular muscle group, body weight training allowed for every part of the body to be trained at the same time.

If someone were to walk in on Shen Lian, one would see that Shen Lian was doing push-ups. With his hands placed firmly on the bed, Shen Lian bent his arms to go as low as possible; as his chest met the edge of the bed, he would straighten his arms and return to his starting position. The motion itself was just too suggestive.

This exercise was actually one of the bodyweight exercises that the Shen Lian knew from his previous life in the modern world. As he felt his body being pushed to its limit, he rose up and rest. Shortly after, he resumed training with a different set of exercises.

When he was done, he could feel his body generated a significant amount of heat energy, spreading to every part of his body. This was the effect of the Ginseng tea that he consumed earlier.