A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 201-Chapter 400)

Their residence spanned over one and a half acres. If one knew exactly how much land cost in Yuejing, one would be speechless for a long while.

Not only was the Qin Clan extremely wealthy, but they also controlled a fourth of the copper mines in the State of Yue. Furthermore, it was said that their clan master possessed remarkable ability and had officials that specifically spoke on their behalf in the royal court.

As such, even the servants of this great and noble household held great confidence, having more sway in their household than other servants.

The gatekeeper of the Qin Residence, Qin Gui, also thought as such.

Every time someone came to the Qin Residence requesting to meet with the clan master, regardless of their identity or background, even if they were a bureaucrat, they were always completely polite towards even a low servant of the Qin Clan and didn’t dare to offend them in the slightest.

As time passed, this caused Qin Gui to feel as if he himself were superior.

Thus, every time someone sought to pay respects and meet someone from the Qin Clan, their gifts naturally couldn’t be small. Otherwise, Qin Gui wouldn’t look upon them favorably; he might even wait three or four days before reporting their presence to a superior.

Naturally, if a great character knocked on their door, Qin Gui would act in accordance to custom, complete loyal subservience.

Towards those young masters and young madams who entered and left the estate frequently, he would eagerly and attentively be at their beck and call.

Although many of the masters whom Qin Gui served weren’t completely satisfied with him, word spread recently that he would be promoted to become an external steward and would go out to take control of some business. After Qin Gui heard this, he became increasingly happy, and in the following days, he felt that his steps were as light as a feather.

Right now, Qin Gui was arrogantly sitting a stool and lying in a shady, cool spot against the gate. This morning, the clan master had left to discuss some business. The several young masters and young madams had already left with their noble friends to take a stroll at Chongshan Temple. Currently, apart from the madams within the estate, only the widowed young madam Biao remained.

This caused to him let out a breath of relaxation, glad of the chance to take a break.

When Qin Gui was half asleep with a light cool wind blowing against them, he suddenly heard the shy voice of a male youth in front of him.

“Excuse me, is this the Qin Residence?”

Just as Qin Gui was about to fall asleep, this voice had disturbed him and woken him up. He felt extremely wronged and couldn’t help but loudly yell with great anger while his eyes remained closed, “Who are you shouting to! Are you wailing at a funeral! Can’t you see that the great Gui is lying down!”

With that said, Qin Gui was completely unwilling to open his eyes to take a look. His face wore an extremely resentful expression.

From the other party’s timid voice, he felt that the owner of the voice was but a minor character who dared to treat him so imprudently.

Qin Gui eventually had a clear look at the person before him, a coarsely-dressed man who appeared about twenty-four years old. He had an extremely ordinary appearance and had an early smell coming from his body. He was clearly one of those country bumpkins that had just arrived from the countryside!

(TL Note: the word meaning country side bumpkin is actually earth steam bun , heh; he's a steambun(idiot) that came from the countryside. )

Seeing this, Qin Gui became increasingly arrogant.

He sat up from his chair, and without saying anything further, he began showering down admonishments nonstop. It was as if disturbing the great Qin Gui’s rest was a severe and unforgivable sort of crime!

While he was reprimanding the newcomer, Qin Gui’s saliva splattered all around and continued spraying there for more than the time it took to make a cup of tea. This rustic youth appeared as if he hadn’t understood the great Qin Gui and appeared to at a loss for words. He could only listen to Qin Gui’s tirade with a foolish expression!

After a long while, Qin Gui clearly vented the fiery resentment within him before reluctantly stopping his verbal attack.

Soon after, he gave the youth a slanted look. It seemed as if he wanted to say something to him. He then casually asked, “What are you doing at our Qin Residence? We aren’t lacking laborers or servants. Hurry up and leave! The servants at this residence aren’t the same as other servants! We won’t take in those with muddy origins. Come back after you find a backer!”

Relying on his past experiences, Qin Gui immediately concluded this youth whose clothes still stunk of dirt was certainly someone who wildly imagined to work at the Qin Residence!

“I’m not looking for work... Qin Yan is my uncle. My family told me to deliver this letter to Uncle Qin!” The youth had recovered from the tempest of verbal abuse. After hearing Qin Gui’s words, he took out a wrinkled letter from his bosom and stuttered, giving Qin Gui an explanation.

“What? The lord is your uncle!”

Qin Gui had felt his mouth go dry, so he went to go take a few gulps from a nearby teapot. But when he immediately heard the youth’s words, he spit out a mouthful of tea from shock and asked this with a face pale from fright.

“This... I also don’t know. But my family had me address him as Uncle Qin!” The youth shook his head with a somewhat embarrassed appearance.

However at this moment, Qin Gui no longer dared to easily mock him. If this person truly had some relation to his own lord, then nothing good would come out of it.

Then after a moment of hesitation, he carefully asked, “That letter, could you let this one take a look at it? Please be at ease, esteemed sir. This one only wants to look at the surface of the letter. He doesn’t dare to tear it open!”

When the youth heard what Qin Gui said, he unexpectedly agreed, nodding his head. As he handed it over, he muttered something, “I originally wanted to hand this letter to you so you could quickly hand it over to Uncle Qin!”

Qin Gui took the extremely wrinkled letter and immediately looked at it several times.

Ordinary servants normally wouldn’t be able to read, but during Qin Gui’s childhood, he had spent half a year in a private school and was actually literate. As such, the much desired duty as gatekeeper fell upon him.

“To be personally opened by Honorable Nephew Qin Yan!”

These large pitch-black words on the letter caused Qin Gui’s heart to beat wildly. From their tone, it seemed the letter was written by his own lord’s senior.

WIth this thought, Qin Gui’s face immediately changed. With great effort, he squeezed out a faint smile and said to the youth, “Young Master, our clan’s lord is not here right now, but his wives are within. Would you like to pass this letter onto his wives?” Qin Gui couldn’t help but greatly change his attitude and immediately upgrade the youth’s title.

“This won’t do! This letter must be personally opened by Uncle Qin!” After the youth hesitate for a moment, he resolutely shook his head.

“So it’s like that. Then should I first make a report to the madams and see how they respond to your esteemed self?”

Qin Gui didn’t dare to let the youth leave. If this were an important matter and he were the one to interfere, then great misfortune would come around to meet him. But if he handed this matter over to the madams, then it wouldn’t matter what he did; as a long-time servant, he had his own scheming.

The youth readily agreed.

After Qin Gui let out a breath of relief, he hastily went to call for a passing servant to help him watch the youth and ran into the residence.

When other servants came across him and saw that he was running as if his buttocks were on fire, they were a bit shocked.